There is so much drama isn't there?

There is so much to focus on that is wrong.

Why don't you stop doing that?

Why don't you get a grip on yourself?

You are.

You exist.

Right here and now you have a choice.

Sometimes it seems hard, there's no doubt about that.

It is when it seems to get hard that you have to surrender more.

What do you 'need' to do?

What do you 'want' to do?

Conflict is created in the mind by having so many choices.

If you can relax - you will be more likely to choose what is right for you.

If it's right for you, in a deep connected way, then it is right for everybody.

Take responsibility!

stop listening to yourself

Stop hearing and start listening to yourself.

Do you know the difference?

The chattering monkey mind blathers on and on. It tells us all sorts of things. Some of the things it tells us are not based in any form of grounded reality whatsoever, and much of what it says is based on the past.

The past is gone.

Listen to yourself.

Listen to how you talk to yourself and you will soon become more clear on why your life is the way it is.

Pranayama will help you to wake up!

every day counts

When each day begins.

What do you do?

Do you think about things?

I do.

That's what we do.

We've been doing it for so long now

It's become a habit.

Habits can be broken.

Change begins whenever you want it to.

Do some practice every day.

Asana - Pranayama - Meditation.

Om

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.

What do you think you're doing now?

Why can't you do Yoga everyday?

Or, more to the point, why don't you want to do Yoga everyday?

Can't? Don't want to? Too tired? Too busy?

Get a grip!

If you don't want to do it - don't, go way and do something else.

If you are going to do it, then do it, and shut up complaining.

What do you think you're doing? Do you think it's all pink fairies and butterflies?
The things that you've gone through in your life have had an impact on your nervous system. The way you think, and the way you have been shaped have been caused by your life so far. Stop moaning about it and do something.

If you are unwilling to change, then don't, no one is forcing you. Who do you think wants to listen to your endless complaining, about the economy, the weather, how unfair it all is - we already know that thank you.

Have some respect for yourself and the people around you by keeping your mouth shut for once.

Listen. Breathe. Feel your heartbeat. Breathe more, and deeper.

If you want to drink and smoke and eat shit, feel free, no one is stopping you.

Some Yoga centers have a vested interest in talking rubbish, they need your money.

We don't.

OM

Asana Practice.

Asana practice is a specific dynamic designed to awaken psycho emotional conditioning for release.

Wilhelm Reich, as a scientist in the forties, identified chronic muscular tension in the body. He called it 'muscular armouring' and was the first person based in a psychologically oriented science, as far as I'm aware, that identified this phenomenon.

Chronic muscular armour is part of the mind/body dillema. If there is unacknowledged tension underlying the movements of the body/mind, there cannot be freedom.

This is why psychotherapy alone is limited, in my opinion, and such a long drawn out affair.

Asana's must be done correctly though, and it is worth time learning to do them properly, rather than throwing yourself around, and sweating your arse of, injuring yourself, and wasting time, in a class taught by someone that does not practice themselves, and needs the money.. You might as well go to a bodypump class or something.

There is a big difference between getting high and getting real........

If you want to wake up - get real.

You can go to any number of retreats, workshops, events etc, that will get you high for a while, but the long term investment in an ongoing committed practice will fulfill you on a daily basis, negating any need to escape anymore.

Hari Om to that..........
      

The slave.......

The mind, or the ego, or whatever you want to call this thing that thinks, is your slave.

If not kept in check it becomes a tyrant.

The voice in the head reminding you how terrible life is, how difficult it all is, and how bad it will all be. That one that wakes you up at three am to remind you that life sucks. Or is that just me? :)

So there are tranquilisers; some people apparently need these things. In fact, according to some literature I've read in the past, up to a third of the population of the so called civilised world are on some form of long-term medication. Even if it's half of the number it's still too many.

Numbing out all feelings is not healthy. And being on an emotional roller coaster isn't much fun either.

Yoga practices will keep you alive, will keep you engaged in feeling alive. Sometimes intensely so. When the roller coaster ride carries you away, you can go with it, perhaps even enjoy it. Alternatively you can stop and listen to what's going on inside your head. The trouble with this second option, in my experience, is it's too hard to sit still once the emotions are raging. So in this case one should or could do some intense Asana practice.

I don't really want to be a tranquil person all the time. Sometimes it's just not appropriate to say noting and bear all with a poker face. Sometimes I still 'need' to tell someone how I feel about what they are doing and how they appear to be affecting me.

There is thinking, and there is having thoughts that you are aware of.
There is feeling, and there is having feelings that swamp you.

Then there is the breathing connection to self. Becoming conscious through choice about who you are now and what you want to do about it.

What are you doing? prt 2

When you think. I mean when you really think consciously about what you are doing, how does it make you feel?

Are you satisfied/happy/peaceful?

There can be, if you look closely enough enough, an underlying anxiety that is always looking for a fix. We want to feel comfortable, and we want to feel relaxed. We compromise our energy to get what we think we want. One of the major driving forces, base chakra survival stuff, is the need and the requiring of money.

How much do you need? Have you worked it out lately?

Because one of the most popular ways to avoid life, living and intimacy, with oneself and others, is to work your arse off and tell yourself you're doing something good.

Money is necessary, that much is true. But this drive I see to get it, is life negating.

The other extreme is to live in denial of deeper connection to oneself through feeling. This is done in another creatively avoidant way. Going to endless workshops, retreats, holidays, and etc, and kidding yourself that you are 'working' on yourself.

Don't lie.

Anxiety is real. It's fear manifest. Fear manifests in an arena of doubt. Doubt is 'not knowing'

What don't you know?

When you meet someone that has the answer ask them; what is it they know that you don't.

I believe yoga, as a practical tool, will connect you deeper to who you really are.
I believe we all have natural talents, and I think Yoga can put you in touch with those talents. To reach the layer of authentic experience may require you to travel through layers of conditioning, in the form of discomfort and pain.

Yoga Asanas,  are psycho-spiritual templates. These practical positions of the body will realign and awaken the inherent intelligences in the system.

The nervous system, the hormonal system are information highways inside you - listen to them.

If you begin to listen deeply to yourself you will begin to drop the need for someone to show you the way.

Can you be bothered to live?

What do you call life?

What are you doing with this gift you have been given?

Yes, it's all relative.

You may be happy, until you realise that you are not.

How does this happen?

When you wake up to the fact that you are not awake.....

Definitely disturbing information.

Yoga can help to connect you to a deeper sense of aliveness. An aliveness that will make - what you consider to be aliveness now, appear as a dream.

Who can you blame for your misery?

Ah well.........

Yoga can help.

Time is an illusion.

You are always here. Why try and escape?

Going on holiday, is literally changing the scenery.

Perhaps changing the scenery gives the illusion that you are not here anymore, and now you are somewhere else, you can forget about being here, and become someone else.

Ridiculous huh?

What is it this need to escape from ourselves, this need to occupy all of this illusion of time?

'Oh, only another hour to go, and I can leave.'

It's funny isn't it.

Why do you suffer?

What seems to cause suffering is, doing something you don't really want to do.

On reflection, I realise now, the times of most extreme suffering for me, or extreme unhappiness, were the times I was 'not' being true to myself.

But then I say, 'well I was ignorant, I didn't know any better.' But, the truth of the matter is, I was scared to trust, and scared to let go and allow my deepest desires to manifest themselves.

Now what is it you said you are doing with this gift called life?

it used to bother me but not anymore :)

It always bothered me. 'Why do people go to such extreme lengths?' I wondered. 'Surely once they've realised the truth they don't need to go to Yoga classes, or workshops and retreats anymore?' It bothered me.

But now it doesn't.

Once you have realised that you are not your thoughts, where is there to go?

What is there to do?

There is a saying; 'Before enlightenment, chop wood, fetch water. After enlightenment chop wood, fetch water.'

So what? Nothing changes?

Well, there is another saying; 'For those that don't know, there is no answer possible. For those that do know, there is no answer necessary.'

Profound huh? :)

It doesn't matter what you have done. It doesn't really matter what you do now either.

What matters? Or to be more precise, what matters to you?

What are you doing?

Everything arises from, and returns to nothing.

Unless

Unless you commit to change, nothing will happen.

Yoga is a commitment.

Yoga is transformation.

You are miserable because you can't see the real truth.

What are you going to do?