Fascinated by the mind stuff..........

Unless you're careful you can live in an hypnotic trance for years, in some cases all your life.

It's a terrible thing to say but it's true.

How do you wake up out of the trance/dream?
It ain't easy.
But] It's doable.

What is life for? Do you ever wonder?

To be happy? To be free? To be rich? To be loved?

None of this............

To be you.

It's not easy to admit you're an idiot, but it helps sometimes.

I'm so aware of nothing.
I'm so enraptured by ideas of who I think I am.
I'm so captivated by my own thoughts.

And all the while I miss my life ..........

Rising up.

I saw a film recently called 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. The Paul Newman character, is an alcoholic. He says he drinks until he feels the click in his head, and then it gets peaceful.

I  sometimes think there is an invisible line we cross, a kind of parallel line that exists, that we have to rise above to feel the click of peace. Below the line we are captivated by our 'stuff', we are submerged, and weighed down by our conditioned mind.

Pranayama and Asana practice helps to remove the obstacles to peace.

What are the obstacles to peace?

Our conditioned reality.

When we do a yoga class, we are maybe not aware of it, but at some point during it the click occurs, and we rise above our problems. Or at the very least, our problems come into clearer perspective, and we feel better.

Problems are what exactly, something we have let get the better of us? It can be anything from a cloudy sky to the death of our beloved. There is an order of intensity between these two imaginary problems, but to a certain extent, it is not the problem, or whatever you want to call it, but the way we react to it, and/or are affected by it that is the point.

Yoga can help, but only if you can overcome your inertia/resistance to doing it.

Yoga is a technology for awakening.

Use the Asana's to wake up.

As you sit around, or whatever you do, and try to work out who you are and what you are supposed to be doing, you are not seeing the power of practicing.
You would rather get drunk and/or stoned and try to forget about it. But you can't. The next thing to do is blame somebody or thing, neighbours, work colleagues, members of the family, the government, anybody will do. It's not that some of these targets for your blaming are perfect and not at fault, it's just that blaming them doesn't really help you, does it?

So forget about 'them' out there, or the tiredness that dogs you, or the problems that you have that are so unique, and do something about it.

What?

Practice, that's what!

Do it or don't.

Your life, and your problems are yours to deal with.

OM

important.

Have you noticed that when you tell people you do or teach yoga they ask, what type of yoga?

There are lots of different types of Yoga, lots of different variations on a theme. I suppose it's okay, as long as you know what you're doing with them.

Have you noticed how every Guru, or Yogic authority, has there own idea about what should and what should not be done in Yoga?

They can't all be right.
On the other hand.
They can't all be wrong either.

So what do we do?

Who do we believe?

What is the goal, what is Samadhi?

I suppose for us mere mortals, feeling good is enough. If we do practices and feel good, that's enough in itself. If you feel good you are more likely to have a better life. You will enjoy yourself more, and you will probably be a better person for it.

A better person?

Better than what?

On man's meat is another man's poison.

Who do we believe?
Who can show us the way?

One thing that most Yoga Guru's and teachers agree upon, is to look within.
When we use the Yogic technologies we are waking up dormant areas of the mind/brain. We are waking up. We are increasing intelligence. I believe this.

What you do with the information is based upon your karmic predisposition towards life. Your biases and conditioning will take you on detours and variations, but enjoy it, until you don't anymore. Then move on.

 All is well.

Die trying.

I re-read the end of my last post.

'Work hard to be happy or die trying.'

We are tyrannised by our own mind - do you realise that?

We think good and positive things, oh yea, why? To counteract the negative things?

Escapism is escapism, whatever form it takes.

You think, this is true.
We all think, this is true.
We have to think, this is also true.

Do we have control over what we think about?

What we think affects the way we feel, true?

Conditioned thinking leads to conditioned behaviour.

We want to be happy? Do we? Then why are we so unhappy? Is it an existential given that we, as humans, should struggle for happiness?

The choices we make, lead to consequences. This is known as Karma.

If you do thirty rounds of sun salutation, and can quote the Yoga Sutras backwards standing on your head, do you think it makes you a better person?

What is life about, becomes, what is 'my' life about?

Your life is a work of art. Start creating and stop wasting your time escaping.

Do yoga or not..........

:)

 

Guru.

The word Guru, means 'weighty one' and 'light bringer' is another.

But what's in a name. A Guru's job is to tell you, you are doing it wrong. Whatever it is.

Have you noticed that?

Do we 'not' have a thing as intelligence? Do we not have a thing called intelligence that is inherent in all of us?

Of course we do.

How do we get in touch with it?

Until we stop investing energy in trying to be something or somebody, and just accept ourselves the way we happen to be, we will never find out true nature.

Relax.

Why do you struggle? What is the point? We are all going to die. We are all going to move on from this plane to another. Even if that 'other' is nothing for all eternity.

Why are you miserable?

Look within and you may see the cause of your suffering.

Let it go.

At this point in time, with so much on offer in the way of advice on health and healing and right living, I think we can at least surmise that the past has somehow affected our ability to be happy.

Yoga practices can wake up the dormant energies and bring you back to life.

Analogy; If you have been taking tranquilisers and/or painkillers all of your life and you stop suddenly, you will feel a lot of pain. So, you will more than likely continue to take the painkillers, it seems easier.

This is the short term solution, and is commonly known as denial.

We have all, to a certain extent employed various means to protect ourselves from the harsh realities of living in this world. But when these behaviours and habits compromise our well being, we need to take a reality check.

Yoga is hard, but so is life. (I Think).

If you think life is easy, leave a comment and tell us how to do it.

Work hard to be happy.

Or die trying. 

If you're not happy .....

If you are not happy, then you really should be looking at the reason why.

There is this thing called denial. It's very subtle. It's the part of you that likes things to stay the way they are.

It can seem as if one part of you wants to change, and another doesn't.

You have been hypnotised. And you are continuing to hypnotise yourself.

Denial is strong.

Are you happy?

That's it. That's the only question you need to ask.

If you are unhappy, there's a reason.

Check yourself out.

Are you fit?
Are you healthy?
Do you feel good?

Who's responsibility is your life? Ask the person looking back at you from the mirror.

Insanity is prevalent now, and it's accepted as normal behaviour.

For example; Working a job you hate, and getting stoned and smashed on the weekend. Then going back to the work you hate on Monday feeling like shit.

Is that sanity? No, but it's so what people do. If enough of them do it, it seems normal.

You would be better off perhaps looking at what you can do about your dreadful life situation. That may make you uncomfortable, and that is the last thing you want to be.

Wake up.

Up and/or Down

Stop trying to get away from your life.
Stop going on a metaphorical holiday every five minutes.
Stay still, stay where you are and change what you think you need to get away from - from the inside.

You are you, aren't you?

Are you you, or not?

If you are not you, then who are you? And if you are you, then what are you doing about it?

Who were you before you were born?

What is happiness?

What is misery?

What creates either of these states?

What you think about has a 'real' impact on the nervous system.
Your body cannot tell what is real and what is not. So when you worry - when you project images of helplessness, fear, and anxiety into your body, via your mind - you are sending a very negative message to yourself.

Why do you do it?

You do it because you have always done it. You don't know any better. This is the reason you need to escape from yourself, via nefarious means, drugs, booze, etc.

Sad ................

You have everything you require inside you. You have the chemistry set inside of you, you just need to know the experiments to perform to get the required results.

For example if you like speed, just think of something that will make you anxious, your heart rate will go up, and you will be speeding. Doh! I know it's not that simple, but you know what I mean, right?

Wake up fool.

You are or you ain't.

I stumbled upon Yoga one day, almost by accident. When I tried it, I didn't think it was a big deal really. I had a teacher that talked too much, and had a big ego. I always enjoyed breathing though. That made me feel good. And feeling good, was what I wanted, always had done.
Eventually I discovered another teacher, he had a big ego too. He had his own Yoga centre, and other people went to it. It was more interesting there. He did lots of breathing, I felt good. But I still wasn't convinced.
Then I got very ill, and was in and out of hospital for a year. At the end of my treatment I was very frail. I went to Yoga. It made me feel better. I liked feeling better, and continued to go, and continued to get better. I was hooked.
After two or three years, my big ego Yoga teacher suggested I do the training. I did.

I didn't sit down one day and decide I wanted to be a Yoga teacher. I became one because I kept putting one foot in front of the other. Some days I felt so bad, I wanted to die. But I went to Yoga, because I knew it would make me feel better. My judgements about my teacher were mine to deal with. Who's perfect?
I'm very grateful to all of my teachers. Just for doing what they did. They, like me, probably have no idea most of the time how much impact they have on certain individuals when they do what they do.

Turn up and practice.

Get real about it.