All in the mind.

This thing we call the mind is what exactly?

Within this thing we call the mind many things occur - or appear to occur.

We have the ability to remember - to fantasise - to project into the future - to imagine and much more.

But what do these abilities give us?

Thinking is something I believe we all do - all of the time.

It makes absolute sense to me that if you think about things that make you unhappy then you will be unhappy.

As we begin to wake up the question is or becomes - Do we or can we have a choice over what we think about?

Rationally the answer must be yes - right?

Well you know as well as I do how simple the idea of having a choice appears to be and how hard it seems to be to achieve.

I want to remind you 'again' that only one part of the Yogic system has anything to do with the physical realm and that is Asana - the rest is purely to do with the mind.

Some people believe that the 8 limbs are meant to be followed in order from 1 through to 10. (Patanjali) seems to infer this. (I think)

I personally feel that it is not wrong to do a lot of Asana practise, some of us need to, but sooner or later we may need to start taking a look at what we are trying to get away from by compulsively (if I may use that term) doing Asana - (and Pranayama?)

Asana releases tension from the physical body and therefore relaxes the brain apparently - I know that after Asana practise I feel more energised and relaxed.

But really if we care to look a little deeper after Asana practise (if we can keep still for long enough) we may begin to see that this becomes a starting point to turn our attention within - not so that we can escape from some thing - but more that we can begin to look at our-selves with a clear and honest view.

Postures - Breathing - Turning within - Concentrating - Meditating - Surrender and beyond.

And for my next trick . . . .

"With all their promises of paradise you will not hear a laugh"
Bob Dylan - Gates of Eden.

"Life is impermanence"
Gautama Buddha.

I think I am slowly starting to realise (even more) that there is nothing to gain from struggling -
and my experience so far (with or without yoga) has shown me that 'it is all in my mind'.

The conclusion then for me at least is - To take more notice of what I tend to think about and how what I tend to think about affects my outlook and perception of every single thing - including my body chemistry or hormonal output. The 'simple' act of doing this makes it clear to me that 'I' am my own creator and destroyer of peace and anything else for that matter.

This then seems to lead me to the conclusion that if I can stop thinking compulsively then I can create a space in my thoughts - a gap within which is silence and peace and consciousness.

Sat -Chit - Ananda = Being - Consciousness - Bliss

There is only NOW - There will only ever be NOW so why not place our attention here NOW.

"The heresies of today will become the dogmas of tomorrow " Anon

Choices.

The peacock is the symbol of illusion-Maya


If you are thinking too much - feeling too emotional - or generally not feeling as great as you would like to be - What can you do about it?

Answer = 2 things
1. Accept and surrender to whatever it is.
2. Fight, resist and deny whatever it is.

The way I see it there isn't any other choice - and it is a choice isn't it?

Sometimes it may require and act of relaxing surrender too access a 'better' way to be.
Sometimes it may require that you use the tools that you now have from Yoga, i.e Asana-Pranayama - Dharana - etc.

Whatever happens next 'IS' a choice at some level - The more conscious you become - The more conscious is your decision - The more conscious your decision - The faster is the outcome of your decision - Whatever it may be!

'No guru - no teacher - no method.' Van Morrison.

Samadhi.

What is it this mysterious thing? This pot of gold at the end of the Yogic rainbow?

Striving for enlightenment gives the ego something to do.

If you use your imagination and 'wonder' for a while - 'What is this thing called enlightenment?'

After you have done this for ten minutes or an hour bring your awareness to this very moment and ask - 'What am I missing?'

It really is 'the mind' or at least 'the thinking faculty' or ego that seems to have all the power.

'WE' - that is the great seer - the 'EYE' consciousness - the big 'I' consciousness - is with us all the time - it is in the background - ALL THE TIME - waiting to be re-discovered.

Meanwhile the 'small' eye is compulsively victimising us for not being good enough - fit enough - clever enough - enough - enough- enough.

The act of surrender and deep letting go is aided by Asana - Pranayama etc.

BUT - these things are not especially necessary - ASANA is only one eighth part of the Yogic whole.

Don't waste energy - Do what you need to do for the highest energy return.

There is a big difference between 'energised' relaxation and tiredness - between peace and depression. Omzz

relax even more.

The idea that comes to mind for most people when relaxation is mentioned is another activity - such as watching a movie, going for a walk, listening to some music, having a drink, a meal, a smoke etc.

But when we come to this idea of relaxation with Yoga in mind we come across another thing altogether and we may need to ask the question in this case - Is there any limit to relaxation?

If you are already practicing Asana - Pranayama etc you may already have some idea of what it feels like to really let go and relax.

My first real taste of healing - 25 yrs ago - 10 years before I came across yoga - was through deep relaxation - it was a method known as 'Autogenics'. My first experience of this particular technique was totally transformational. I was very stressed before it and after I was very, very relaxed. It took about 20 minutes to complete.

I believe that the point of yoga has been misplaced and it seems to have become something that is a challenge for our ego etc. Isn't life already challenging enough?

In my opinion Yoga is only a tool - (something to be employed and not employed by) A tool that is used for movement within and away from the outside world - It takes us into the 'Inner' world of our mind/spirit dynamic.

If you look at the 8 limbs of yoga - only 2 of the them have anything to do with action 1. Asana 2. Pranayama - And pranayama does not involve too much action does it?

The action is of inaction - of taking our awareness deep within beyond intellect (dharana) and ideational processes. Taking us so deep that the mind then becomes quiet and we begin to get a deep sense of being (Dhyana).

When we do this we re-set our heart rate and respiration - the mind becomes quiet and peaceful as we realize that we are 'not' our thoughts.

This process, as far as I can tell, does away with any need for lengthy descriptions of what is going to happen to you. Talking about Yoga or talking about the mind and all of it's dynamics and the stuff of the mind in general is merely 'mental gymnastics'. The intellectuals then take over and tell us how it's done and what to think and how to be.

BUT - if 'you' take 'you' very deep within 'you' will find a whole other layer of 'you'. Then it is almost as if 'you' have found a default setting that with a little intention and space 'you' can reset whenever you need to.

If that feels like too much then you may have to find a therapist or some kind of guide to 'talk about thing' for a while. Yoga in it's true form may not be for everybody. If it blows your mind too much you may need a guide of some kind.

And that is another story . . . . . . . . . . .

Relax.

You must remember that Yoga is a tool.

Do not become obsessed with the idea of becoming good at yoga.

In fact do not become obsessed about becoming good at all - it creates too much tension.

Surrender to your deeper self - Be cool with what you can or cannot do at this point in time.

Remembering of course that too little effort gets us no where - and too much gets us miserable.

Yoga - It's a simple plan for complicated people.

All power is here and now - Are you here and now?

That really is simple isn't it.

Yoga is a tool to help you stay here and now !

You either use it or you don't.

no mind - no problem.

Om

I don't know.

I don't honestly know is a refreshing statement of honesty. We should all try and use it more often.

Pranic intensity. . . . . .

It seems to me that there is a whole lot of conflict in the world on so many different levels in all sorts of environments and wherever you go you come across it - even in the ashram!

Maybe we should just accept that conflict is part of life and not get too upset when we find ourselves once more in disagreement with somebody or something or even ourselves.

If we go back to the idea of understanding that life involves tension then we maybe we can eventually come to accept that conflict is also part of it all - In other words internal and external conflict is part of living.

If we try too hard we create too much tension, and if we don't try hard enough there is not enough tension and we fall asleep (metaphorically) and/or literally.

So the appropriate amount of tension is required for optimal results.

Asana practice can teach us this - E.g - If we try too hard we may create a state of unnecessary tension and become tired quickly (Rajasic) - and if we don't hold ourselves with consciousness we may slouch into the posture and become tired (Tamasic). If we hold the pose with intelligent effort with a steady breath we can hold but also relax into a state of what could be called relaxed tension (Sattva) or integrated intensity.

In effect we can then come out of the tension/relaxation dynamic by waking up to our inherent intelligence which seems to me is activated when we do Asana - Pranayama and Dharana etc with awareness.

'Enlightenment is not something we build or make. If it was it could quite easily be broken and collapse again. Enlightenment is there all the time - it is permanently in the background waiting to be discovered. All we have to do is remove the obscuring elements that hide it!' Quote.

Om

Why do yoga?

In the previous two posts I have tried to describe what is essentially 'present moment awareness' as described much better by Eckhart Tolle in 'The power of now'.

Not wanting to disagree with Eckhart (why would I?) I do find that for me a bit of Pranayama helps me to achieve this state (present moment awareness) much more deeply - it kind of sets the protocol for the rest of the day - i.e peace of mind.

More often than not I do find that I can get captured by certain thought processes that take me very much out of the 'present' moment and into drama. Sometimes these 'thought processes' are very intense and can seem very real, and as 'we' all know by now once these 'processes' get into the body/mind they become physical, i.e, the adrenal/anxiety syndrome. So in order to 'rescue' oneself from this spiral of drama/crisis phenomenon some Asana practice is useful, with some Pranayama as the icing on the cake.

But if it is not appropriate for various reasons to do Asana/Pranayama, then the next best thing is just to become really aware of what it is that is bothering you (from an internal perspective) and look at it as if it was an invading entity and 'not you' - which it isn't . This will usually give some sense of detachment and peace.

A deepening sense of peace and presence is the gift of yoga. Om.

Up and down but staying right where you are . . . .

The phenomenon of feeling that our energy or moods or whatever you want to call them go up and down is an illusion in a way.

According to Arnold Mindell - 'The Shamans Body' - Awareness is a psychological constant. In other words we are always aware. It is just that the clarity or intensity of our awareness is not stable because we drift 'in and out' of the 'here and now' so to speak.

But as we learn to drop our discombobulations and/or mental instability and anchor ourselves in a grounded state of consciousness (because we have an intention to see beyond the rubbish). We will still see this 'up and down' phenomenon in action - but we will be at the same time staying still within our 'ever growing' stability or grounded awareness.

So in effect we can move and stay still at the same time.

The way I see it is unless you do some kind of regular 'remembering who you are practice' you will constantly be at the mercy of so called external actions and reactions - dramas and crises, and this is very boring and very tiring - you can read all about that 'stuff' on facebook - aaaarrrrrgh!

'Get real and get a life.' Quote.

Attach-ment.

I think that my own personal attachment to feeling good (and practicing yoga for that reason) highlights for me the problem of attachment in general.

Yoga practice could be viewed (and used) as a way of controlling, and the tendency towards the need to control could be construed as 'egocentric'. And we are led to believe that the 'ego' is something we need to destroy altogether by some of the more radical Yogi's.

But what does this (idea) of surrender really feel like? Authentic surrender could be viewed as being the opposite of the 'egoic' need for control. How can we maintain a state of 'being' without needing to control our feelings or our highs and lows etc.

I think this is why it is suggested (by some) that 'we' do our practice at the same time each day. If we do 'it' at the same time each day 'we' will find that sometimes it will be a joy and sometimes it will be the opposite. In a sense then, it will not be based on avoiding anything but on just following through on our commitment to 'wake up' or whatever else it is that we use yoga for.

But having said this 'I' know that 'I' can sometimes feel 'not so good' for various reasons and I know through experience that 'I' can more often than not get myself from this 'not so good' space to a 'relatively' better or higher space (for me personally), so why would I not want to do that?

Thomas Moore (the modern author), has written some very good books on 'soul work'. One of these books is called 'Care of the soul' and in this particular book there is a chapter called 'The gift of depression'. So from his perspective ( and as far as I know he is not a yogi) depression or melancholia becomes a gift.

What I think I am trying to suggest is that all that we 'feel' and 'think' no matter how painful or difficult it becomes is relevant as. It allows us to see more clearly into the structure of our current condition. But if we allow the 'ego' to control things and stay attached to the 'feel good' factor all the time I believe we could be somehow avoiding this information.

What I am trying to say continuing on from yesterday. Is that as we go up and down over and over again in our practice etc. Our sense of awakening awareness grows. So we find that we can go up and down but still take with us this sense of awareness. Because as our awareness expands it goes into the unconscious and therefore seemingly painful and uncomfortable places too!

I'm still not sure this is very clear . . . . . . :))

High and Low

What we find if we do yoga or indeed if we do not do yoga is that there are what appear to be in life high's and low's.

Apparently the point of yoga, or one of them, is to awaken from the hypnotic trance that we find ourselves in - most or some of the time.

So when we 'do' our yoga - Pranayama - Asana - etc, we will find that we can at times get very high but unfortunately or so it appears this high will have a corresponding low. What then tends to happen is that (some) people become manically addicted to the high not realising the gift of the low.

The 'low' and the 'high' are very interesting or hopefully will become so the the trepid inner explorer.

Why is this?

This is because as we continue to go 'up' and 'down' we begin to realise that the struggle for enlightenment - Moksha - Samadhi - is just that 'A struggle'. As indeed is the struggle for anything.

But again this doesn't mean that we give up and become deflated. It means that we start to realise things about ourselves. We soon start to see (some of us) that there is no real 'is' - is becomes a relative term and we become relative to the 'is'.

It begins to appear as if it (reality) is all random signals and interpretations. Which in my opinion is getting harder day by day to define on all sorts of levels.

Confusing? Oh yes it is. . . . . . . Sometimes :))

Lacking the discipline . . . .

To be honest there needs to be some effort made to change, we can wish for change but without action there is not much chance of change.

But - Why do we want to change? What - Do we want to change?

Usually we find if we are happy we don't need to change anything. It is only when we become unhappy or dissatisfied with something that we may feel the need to change something.

'IT' seems to me that 'IT' is all in the mind!

Books fill bookstores with answers to the problem - the problem of living - the problem of knowing something for sure - the problem of 'what is it all about?'

BUT - have you noticed that each book has a different solution to the same problem?

Which answer is right?

I believe that first of all you 'really' need to know what the problem is.

It also appears to me that to be restored to sanity we may have to first of all realize that we are mad and to become peaceful we may have to realize how un- peaceful we are.

"The truth shall set you free but first of all it may upset you" Quote.

If . . . .

If you consider yourself to be a practitioner of yoga - then at the very least you 'should' be prepared to look at your ongoing conditioned behaviour and 'challenge' yourself to see beyond it.

You cannot possibly do that unless you actually practise!

Reading about it will just confirm or challenge your personal beliefs about who you think you are and what you think yoga is and can do for you.

There are 8 limbs of yoga and some say they 'should' be worked through in order from 1 - 8 and others say it doesn't matter - Which camp are you in?

Traditionally Yoga or any spiritual practise was not seriously considered by the majority of people until they were a little later on in life (around 40 some say). This is because in the earlier stages of life 'we' are busy with educations, careers and/or raising families. It was only after these 'duties' were left behind that people could find time for any kind of 'spiritual practise'.

This does not seem to be true today. We live in a more 'pleasure/ self seeking' oriented world. So yogic practise becomes something one does to keep fit or to help you relax so that you can enjoy yourself even more.

Well there's nothing wrong with that is there? From the perspective of the 'egoic' small mind, no absolutely not.

But what else is there? What else exists beyond the pleasure/pain drives of so called normal life?

Well that as Shakespeare said is the question - Om