reality is what you make (of) it .

Reality is something isn't it - it is definitely something because we hear about it, we talk about it and we think about it.

But do we ever ask - what is it?

Being is the 'act' of being.
Doing is the 'act' of doing.

At any given moment are we being or doing or a bit of both.

Being is an experience of allowing ourselves to be fully relaxed, empty minded and breathing with a calm and peaceful rhythm. In this 'state' we are experiencing our-self 'doing' nothing. In this state the mind is open and clear.

Doing is an experience of engaging our attention for a specific act. Washing up or brushing our teeth is an act of doing. In doing we are or 'should' be fully engaged in 'what' we are doing. For example driving a car warrants our full attention, if we are not fully focused we may have an accident.

But of course we can drive our car or brush our teeth and think at the same time - can't we?

Our awareness is fully or less than fully engaged in either doing nothing (being) or doing some thing (doing) at any given time.

The question is 'who' is the operator of the process. Where does the decision come from to do or be or both? The decision must come from a place of clarity or else it is useless. This is a very important question. Who is operating you right now? - And - Why has this operator chosen to do or be or both?

Hmm ommm.

Too muchos of nothing in particular!

Yoga Asana and Pranayama has served me well throughout the last twenty years.
I notice sometimes that whenever I neglect my practice for some other seeming priority, the quality of my life changes for the worse. It's not a particularly 'big' and noticeable change, but I experience it as 'feeling something's a bit different' - 'not quite right somehow'.

Once this realisation has occurred Yoga becomes the priority again and my energy increases and I fell better.

It's simple but complicated!

'I like to feel good' - is the incentive to practice - that is it!
Why would I not ?
Because my mind (ego) starts to become the 'voice of reason,' telling me I'm too tired - too busy - too sick etc, to do my practice. Aha!

when the music's over turn out the light.

No matter how hard, or easy, you find the Asana practice class. No matter how long you can sit still in meditation. No matter how stiff, or flexible you are. How good, or bad you think you are.

You will eventually have to come to terms with the cold hard facts of existence!

Which are - hmmmm? - Now that's a point, what are they ?

I don't know - but what I do know, is that ,I am responsible for everything I think, feel and do.
I would love to be able to blame someone else for my problems sometimes, but I know I can't now.

We as humans have - a head to think (mind) with - a body (guts) to feel with - and breath (heart) to live with.

When the head - heart and guts are aligned we will have harmony - imbalance is disease.

Are you in balance - do you know what balance is?

Asana - Pranayama - Meditation.

Be good - Do good - Feel good!

Can you - when you need to - stop thinking and feel peaceful?

Not all in the mind!

It's all in the mind it is true :

But our physiology is real too - our energy input is real - no input -no energy = we will probably become tired and miserable and will have to resort to outside help for stimulation - tea, coffee, alcohol, drugs, sugar, nicotine. The very things that are accepted as being a normal part of many people's lives.

BUT - Energy depletion comes from many sources, not least of which is emotionality - followed closely behind by compulsive thinking (or the other way round) - worrying too much - working too much- not enough (proper) relaxation - not eating appropriately - and much more besides.

So if you feel out of sorts, before you consult the oracle or the astrological alignments of Uranus, try checking off the list above e.g, tired, worried, hungry etc.

Depletion of energy is one thing - where do we get energy from and how do we get it is quite another.

Personally I think Pranayama is 'the' source divine of energy and it has saved my soul on more than several occasions.

It kind of goes like this for me:

Something happens and I react (tch, tch) - I think too much about what happened - I then get emotional (but I will never admit it) - I get tired - then I get even more worried - and so on down into a hole of my own digging.

It was at this point, and more often that not before this point, in the past, that I would reach for the smoke, the drink, the whatever, whatever, to make me feel better.

Not having that option now it is a little more difficult, (in a way), but a million times more rewarding to deal with things head on.

So now, once I reach the bottom of this hole, (and I do think it is good sometimes to go to the bottom of it) and sometimes before, I usually 'act', and do something about it.

In other words, I get out the yoga mat and do some asana - pranayama - etc.

I (usually) feel much better as a result, dependent of course on the level of insanity I have reached prior to this point!

After the event, i.e, when I finally become more reasonable again, if if I rationally ask myself what has changed, I can only say that in all honesty that I have moved my body, (asana), and I have breathed in a more conscious way, (pranayama).

The combination of these two actions has changed something and enabled me to enter into a more relaxed and detached state of mind.

Now that this state (of consciousness) has been achieved, I can look a little more closely at 'what' is was/is that is/was upsetting me in the first place.

This (ongoing) ability to stay focused and look within is called, Dharana, (concentration).

Which of course (?) leads to meditation, in other words, the ability to sit still in a calm way and look deeply within at our conditioning. And in so doing becoming more aware of myself/ourselves, and what we are doing, and perhaps why we are doing what we are doing, and even more important,
Does it matter ?

:))

"Get out of that without moving" Tommy Cooper.

The Ha and the Tha of it all.

Hatha = 'Ha' (Sun) and 'Tha' (Moon).

Yoga = To yoke or harness or unite or bring together.

Hath Yoga is the integration of opposites - night and day.

In our feelings - (Annamaya kosha), we have the opposites of Joy and Despair.
We constantly hear about the joy of yoga - but when I look around I don't see too much evidence of it. What I do see is a great deal of compulsive behaviour and avoidance of intimacy through too much Asana practise, combined with a too busy work schedule.

Where's the joy, the peace, the bliss absolute?

Well it could just be time to get real, especially if you struggle to find happiness and contentment. The Yoga magazines and wonderful PR'd yoga centers keep telling us how great we will feel if we do yoga - and we do for a while admittedly - until the novelty wears off. Some but not all of us can be left with a feeling of despair, depression and a judgement that - yoga is rubbish and just another thing that hasn't helped us.

People need to understand that yoga is not cosmetic - but it can be - it is not a social networking event - though it can be. What it is - or seems to be - is a deeply radical system of transformation that takes no prisoners.

Now you may think I'm over reacting - but just ask yourself seriously - where do you think you are going with this practice that you are - doing - 'performing'?

Joy and despair are opposite ends of the same spectrum - and in my experience you cannot have joy - unless you are prepared to have and feel despair - but you have to remember of course that all of it is an illusion anyway - because as you may now know - underneath all of the subtleties of feeling and thought there is ananda maya kosha - bliss!

Have you felt that yet?

Despair is 'just a feeling' with bad PR. I see it as the gate way to a profound realization of what lies beyond - if you keep compulsively avoiding it - becomes something you will become terrified of - and like the dragon - it continues to guard the door to the treasure chamber.

My experience of yoga practice over the long term shows me that it is a series of yogic events leading to crisis - then from crisis into a new level of consciousness - then a new series of yoga events leading to another crisis - and on and on - all the while clearing out the dross and uploading new information from the cosmic grid.

Don't give up!

'Waiting for the miracle' Leonard Cohen.

The Truth will/can/maybe set you free?

The truth - now that is something isn't it - what is it?

We are (all of us) made up from sub atomic particles - atoms - molecules - organs - muscles - etc.
We call this the physical layer of reality and feelings are associated with this layer, (annamaya kosha).

FEELINGS are good!

If we don't like the way we feel we generally escape from it and go into our HEAD.

The mind is a very fascinating thing - how can we define the mind? Certain people have taken the mind apart and examined it in the minutest detail - defining imaginary compartments such as the id - the ego - the super ego, etc and much more of course besides. But still we have to deal with our mind on a day to day second to second basis for ALL of our lives - so it would behove us to take a little more responsibility for it - would it not?

To keep it really simple I would say that - what we tend to think about - affects our outlook - and perspective on - the so called outside world.

So from a chicken and egg perspective - is it the mind and what we tend to think about that creates feeling reality - or the other way around - and does it matter?

"I think therefore I am." Descartes said this hundreds of years ago! Did anyone listen?

So we have the mind (manomaya kosha) and we have the body - and in a sense our mind is carried around in our body.

If you have been imprinted in childhood with negative scripts you will (probably) have a tendency towards a negative or pessimistic out look on life - but I am certain that there are exceptions to the rule.

According to what I understand YOGA can (if you do enough of it) - make you aware of your tendencies towards a negative, or, inappropriately, positive, script. And, accordingly, once you have this information (which isn't that hard to get, if you are prepared to look for it) you can then work from a more subjectively authentic place from the inside. In other words you will no longer be in denial about yourself and your values, habits, addictions, etc, etc. Which to begin with can be a little challenging, but it may also be the thing that will inspire you to take the practice a little more seriously as a tool for deeper enquiry - rather than another habit that you have formed to keep you away from yourself. Oh yes this can and is happening now all over the place!

"Inviting and exciting me" Across the Universe. John Lennon.

Get real and get a life!

Good use of Yoga . . . .

It seems to me that yoga has become or is becoming another form of exercise and or a form of relaxation - well of course it is both of these things and a whole lot more.

We get 'stressed' and we seem to get over 'stressed' for various reasons.

Stress unfortunately for all of us is part of living - where would we be without it? If life was easy we would not be inspired to evolve would we - we would wither and die of boredom.

Anyway the point I am trying to make here is that although it is nice to be chilled and relaxed it is not possible to be that way all of the time - the expression 'get real' seems appropriate here. We get stressed - get over it - we get emotional and upset form time to time - get over it!

Yoga is an ancient technology for the purpose of transcendence of the mundane towards super consciousness - how many times have you experienced super consciousness?

Sadly Yoga seems to have become a vehicle for people to make a lot of money - the big shots of the so called world of yoga start telling us what it is we are meant to be doing as long as we keep handing over the money - WAKE UP PEOPLE!!

Who do you think you are that you need - anybody - to tell you what to do? The answers are tight under your nose. Read the old books on yoga - read different books by different people on yoga and see how most if not all of them disagree with each other.

Oh it has to be done the way of Patanjali or it has to be done this way or that way - SHUT UP!!

We have yoga heroes and hero worship and idiots who praise them in their funny little hats. They lie about themselves in order to make you give them your money - If you need them good luck you deserve everything you get including enlightenment!

"Old Hari Krisna he got nothing on you. Just keeps you crazy, with nothing to do" John Lennon.

Where does it all lead?

Where do you think yoga is taking you?

Do you think yoga is taking you somewhere, anywhere, and if so where, what does it do this yoga thing that you invest so much time and energy in - do you ever wonder?

If we look at ourselves honestly we can see in reality that there is really no where to go and that there really is only 'now' and there will only ever be 'now' - how many times and different ways can this be said by so many different people for so long?

It seems to me that it almost feels like there is some kind of obligation on all of us that we some how have to achieve or become something, and the idea of becoming or of being the best that we can be is a trick of the mind surely - where does that come from?

Why can't we just accept ourselves as we are - are we faulty in some way - are we flawed?
If we try to look at ourselves more clearly what is it that we 'now' lack that makes us feel that we have to become some thing else? Who's standard to we have to rise up to?

What we seem to have however is a 'conditioned mind ' or (ego?) that brings with it low self esteem - neuroses - lack of self confidence, etc, or on the other hand our - confidence - our arrogance - our pride - our detachment and our self worth.

BUT - if we keep still, relax, breathe in a steady rhythm and let the mind become quiet, none of this stuff matters really does it - we just become - we surrender.

The 'who am I' question can keep you running in circles for all eternity - there is no 'I' - there is nothing - there is just what you (choose?) to think - what you (choose) to feel - that creates the so- called reality that you appear to live in. Unless of course you are completely unconscious.

Apparently we 'do' have a choice over - what we feel and what we think - don't we?

So from this perspective we are choosing who we are and what we do with who we are all of the time whether we are aware of it or not.

Some of us (hopefully by now if we have been practising for some time) realise that we are none of that - that we are now and 'being'

So we have 'being' and we have 'doing' - giving the questions 'who are you being?' and 'what are you doing?' a whole new depth - and here enters the dreaded word 'responsibility'

We are or become responsible for everything - no excuses now!

As far as I can tell so far - Yoga is a complete system of healing and you either do it or not.

"When the music's over turn out the light " Jim Morrison.

going up . .

If you are on here reading this it may be because you are interested in yoga.
If you are interested in doing yoga - and are actually practicing yoga regularly - you may find sometimes it seems more challenging - why is that and who cares?

Okay - well the way I see it there is either a state of super consciousness that is achieved through practicing yoga - (all 8 limbs) or there is a state we can achieve (that may or may not be super consciousness) that we can achieve, whereby we don't have to do much at all (e.g Tony Parsons, The open secret or Eckhart Tolle, The power of Now).

The fact that we are 'here and now' and we are always having an experience of being 'here and now' cannot be disputed. However - our experience of being here and now is (usually) dependent upon and affected by many factors, e.g, how we are feeling, what we are thinking about, our financial situation, family dynamics or not, and all sorts of other things, including for some of us, the weather.

But- in the background of this subjective experience of 'here and now' there is a so-called permanent 'I' (Atman?) that is unaffected by anything (it is just being) and - according to the way I understand it - if we can stay more connected to this sense of this background 'here and now being' (Atman?) we will be less, and perhaps even, never affected by the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune again - and as time goes by we may strengthen this supposed connection to 'being' making it more permanent and ongoing - by practicing - otherwise it just evaporates.
It seems that unless we practice something in the way of mindfullness we get swallowed up by the little niggling mind programmes (viruses?) and become sick.

So it seems (to me) that there needs to be a conscious intention to become - whether it is permanently self realized or a millionaire or both! - whichever way you go - otherwise you will be swallowed up by all of the stuff you previously (thought) you had transcended.

According to what I understand yogic technology gives us the tools to do that very thing.

So the question is - if (according to Tolle and Parsons) we don't have to do anything to achieve enlightenment (if such a state even exists) then why do we need the complications and hardships of yoga?

If we look at these two characters we may find that before they went on to become the people that they are now ( enlightened or whatever, although neither of them claim to be) they were in fact struggling for answers themselves - up to the point with Tolle that he was considering killing himself - So in fact for them to say it is all very easy to do now that they have arrived is one thing - but to actually describe the journey towards this state (apart from buying their books and attending their workshops/conferences etc) is quite another.

And of course there is the old saying 'it is better to travel in hope than is it to to arrive' - which may actually sum up the practice of yoga for many people who blindly attend yoga classes and or therapy sessions of some kind' hoping' for some kind of change to occur, while meanwhile they carry on in living their lives stumbling from one fix to another day in day out!
Magical thinking I think describes this state.

Allow yourself the luxury of becoming really miserable some time - see what happens!
Apparently the start of spiritual practice is disappointment - so go and get really disappointed about something and see what happens - and stop being scared of whatever it is that scares you e.g getting miserable and disappointed.



"Man is the creator of his own heaven and Hell" ? quote.

"Find out who you are and then find the courage to be that person." quote.

"Don't follow leaders, watch the parking meters" Bob Dylan. Subterranean homesick blues.

experiment of mind

If we could think of the mental programmes that run through our lives as a virus it may give us a more clear idea of what we are up against.

I picked up this idea from William Burroughs who said something to the effect: 'thoughts are like viruses that we have picked up somewhere.' - I think he was looking at it from the perspective that the mind in it's (natural?) state 'should' be quiet and peaceful and that thoughts are like insidious little viruses that annoy and irritate us.

The thinking part of the mind is sometimes referred to as the 'ego' and the 'ego' is seen by some as being something that we need to 'get rid of'.

But if we are a little reasonable about this we could just say that thinking too much is not good for us for many reasons and it would be nice to be able to stop thinking once in a while so that we can enjoy the peace of the natural condition of the mind - and as we now know (us yogi's) we can achieve this state of mind - IF WE ACTUALLY HAVE AN INTENTION TO DO SO.

But it seems easier (for some of us) to get drunk or have a smoke or stuff our faces until we achieve a level of relaxation - the trouble with this is that when it all wears off we are left not only with the original tension but we also have a hangover. I know that some people think this is the normal way to function and I suppose it is - if you want live in an 'Eastenders' script.

But on the other hand- the ego - with all of it's tricks and habits, justifications and rationalisations is not just going to give up and go away (is it?) - it may take some time and effort to be able to even realize that we even have a choice - a choice about what we think about and when and why we think about things, at all.

'Life is impermanence' Buddha.

'There ain't no guru can see through your eyes'. John Lennon. 'I found out.'

What is the truth?

Where does truth come from?

Our minds and our thoughts appear to be conditioned by our personal life experiences - most psychologists would agree with this - our experiences (some of them) seem to be random events such as accidents and illnesses - so we appear to be shaped by random events - which we could call karma!

Our experiences surely will have an effect on our psychological perspective and therefore on our outlook on life in general.

Is it our feelings that trigger out thought processes or our thought processes that trigger our feelings - and more importantly - does it matter?

So - what is the truth?

We know instinctively what the truth is - but we have been corrupted by something.

"Mummy are you angry with me? (mummy is raging). No darling of course I'm not!"

The above example is all you need to know where the problems begin - the child trusts it's instincts ( mummy are you angry) and God as Mummy in this case) tells child that it's instincts are incorrect (no darling of course I'm not) - child becomes confused and eventually abandons itself and it's authentic feeling (truth) to begin the long search for it ( the truth) again from someone or somewhere else.

If you use Yogic technology you will see and feel the truth - the problem is - can you handle it?

It can become very painful so some of us find that we need a cushion to soften the impact of the truth and here we have the - guru - teacher - therapist - this is all very well but there must come a time when we have to feel the truth more directly - how do we know when this is ?

When you no longer need to be told what to think - do - or say.

pranayama

Alternate nostril breathing works every time - Try it!

Do you like listening to the constantly jabbering mind? Can you make it stop?

Do you think the feeling of despair is an imaginary thing? Do you think it serves any purpose?

If you look at it all from the perspective of a rational scientist what does it all mean this thing called life?

Before you rush into a set of habitual dynamics do you ever stop to ask - what am I doing?

Would you say you were happy and content with your life the way it is and if not - why not?

Alternate nostril breathing works every time - Try it!

If you are or think you are sick you 'should' go to a doctor (I think).
I was told over a period of several months in 1993 by various so called alternative health professionals that I was suffering from a number of things too long to mention - when I finally went into the hospital literally at deaths door I was diagnosed with acute myeloid luekaemia!

'Trust Allah but don't forget to tie up your camel."

Peace.

'Let the sun shine in"

Question: Do you own your thoughts or do your thoughts own you?


Question: Have you seriously considered who is the 'I' that is making all the decisions in your life?


Question: Are you happy with the 'I' that is directing your whole life now?


Last question: How often from your own 'I' decisions do you practice yoga on your own?

Thats the way to do it.

The simple answer it seems to me is to - 'sit still relax and breathe'.

That is what the Buddha did under a tree somewhere one day and he didn't move for quite a while before becoming enlightened.

If you read Eckhart Tolle 'power of now' he was depressed and going to jump off of a bridge when he became enlightened.

It helps (for me anyway) to do some pranayama and asana before I sit still to breathe - but it isn't necessary all the time - for me it depends what is going on inside of the cracker factory.

Sit still and relax and you will probably find more than likely that your mind will hammer you into submission before you hammer it into submission - so don't try - just watch and relax.

I did an experiment - I chose not to do asana and pranayama for a couple of weeks - I was okay and felt relaxed most of the time. But I just felt something was missing (well I would wouldn't I?)

What was missing in my opinion was 'prana' or my connection to it.

If you read the 'celestine prophecy' he describes people getting 'energy' (prana?) from looking at beautiful things such as flowers etc.

If you read about prana you find from the explanations given that it is all around us all the time - but we seem to lose connection to it - How? - Quite simply because we are thinking all of the time - we are in our heads so much that we somehow close off the supply to prana - to connect to it must have something to do with being conscious of it's existence in the first place - and we cannot be conscious of anything if we are compulsively worry/ thinking/ etc - Can WE ?

Really?

It appears to me that there is a simple solution to the problem of living in this world - but I just can't seem to grasp it!

So I will assume that if what I read has any truth and the ego is the cause of my suffering. From this it must follow logically that if the the ego is the cause of my suffering then the ego must go!

But is also seems that the way I currently relate to the world is via the ego - how am I expected to destroy the one thing that I 'seem' to need.

So I let go of the idea of destruction and think about transformation of the ego - this appears to make more sense.

Immediately I am drawn to the idea of positive and negative thinking patterns and I think well then all I have to do is become more positive - which as we all know is easier said than done - but realise in reality (whateverthatis) I am still more or less the same person I have always been.
In other words sometimes I appear to be positive and sometimes I appear to be negative.

The teacher tells us and we listen and we decide if what this person is telling us has any value.
At this point in time it seems that there are so many people that think that there way is the right way.

The question "do you want to be right or do you want to be happy" from 'A course in miracles'.
Is a good one. I want to be happy - but I want to be right as well it seems. If I seriously question this idea of wanting to be right - it becomes at some level ridiculous - many of the teachers I have met want to be (and absolutely) think that they are right. (including me some times I might add).
I feel more insecure when I think I am not right - until I laugh at myself!

Really though!

If you read about any of the great men that have left a legacy of wisdom of some kind.

From :Buddha : Jesus : through to Niechtze : Jung blah blah blah and on and on.

We find that there has been a certain level of suffering before the so-called achievement, spiritual experience/insight, philosophy etc came into being.

Even when you hear Eckhart Tolle (current saviour of the world) he was thinking of throwing himself off of a bridge at the time of his break through and insight. (Which I love by the way)

So what do we want?

Without being dramatic (unless you really feel you have to be) without lying to yourself (unless you really have to) can you really see any benefit from doing yoga?

If the answer is no - why are you on here?

If the answer is yes - then what are you actually doing in the way of regular practise?

Relax Now!!

Ha ha ha. Well I know I've done my fare share of running around but it seems to me that some people just live a life running from one workshop event - retreat - holiday etc to the next.

Yes I am being judgemental aren't I? So I shall relax and so should they!

Just what is it that you think you haven't got that you need to find somewhere?

Are you just angry, sad, depressed and trying to get away from it somehow ?

Relaxation is a physical form of acceptance of self - exactly as it is right here and right now!

What's wrong with that?

"Blind man running through the light of the night,
With an answer in his hand,
Come on down to the river of sight,
And you can really understand"
Neill Young - Don't let it bring you down.