"How can we drop negativity, as you suggest?
By dropping it. How do you drop a piece of hot coal that you are holding in your hand? How do you drop some heavy and useless baggage that you are carrying? By recognizing that you don't want to suffer the pain or carry the burden anymore and then letting go of it.
Deep unconsciousness, such as the pain-body, or other deep pain, such as the loss of a loved one, usually needs to be transmuted through acceptance combined with the light of your presence- your sustained attention. Many patterns in ordinary unconsciousness, on the other hand, can simply be dropped once you know that you don't want them and don't need them anymore, once you realize that you have a choice, that you are not just a bundle of unconditioned reflexes. All of this implies that you are able to access the power of Now. Without it, you have no choice."
"The will to observe experience without reaction ( vairāgya ) is the potential that brings about effortlessness . Vairagya literally means "not getting stirred up" and refers to the relationship that arises in the instant one perceives something. Most perceptions pluck the strings of our attachments to variouslikes, dislikes, or ideals. This sets off some type of mental or physical action, which may in turn create suffering... Vairāgya is the willingness to let a phenomenon arise without reacting to it. In other words, one can allow any feature of consciousness- a thought, feeling, or sensation- to play itself out in front of awareness without adding to its motion in any way. This subtracts more and more of the confusion from our experience, leading to profound stillness and clarity.
The vairāgya reveals the newness and originality of the unfolding moment. As we let go of reacting in conditioned way, we are jettisoning the learned patterns we have developed in the past to relate to every aspect of experience. To let go of these is to enter into a spontaneous and unpredictable present, unmodulated by anting, aversion, or other form of self-centeredness. Indeed, what gets "stirred up" in reaction always related to me. The sense of "I" is largely composed of reaction, being an encyclopedic anthology of likes and dislikes, and it infiltrates even our most altruistic thoughts and deeds.
Every time we soften to an experience that would otherwise incite us to react, we break our habit of setting our personal consciousness apart from nature. As vairāgya extends to our most intimate, subtle, or internal rections, consciousness begins to reflect the fact that our self- including our likes, dislikes, and ideals- is made of the same stuff as the rest of creation. All of this stuff, including what feels like "me," is in flux and ubject to cause and effect. The changing properties, or gunas, of this flux are no different in consciousness than in anything else. They modulate along the same lines- guna literally means "strand"- when a feeling like happiness arises and then passes away, as, for example, when a sunset comes and goes...
Patanjali says that nonreaction is the mastery of our tendency to react. Achieving such a degree of effortlessness requires enormous effort... But this is a special type of effort- to allow, to let things be- that becomes refined little by little with steady practice and eventually extinguishes itself. Again, effort may be driven chiefly at first by egoic energies like wanting, aversion, or trying to become something, but every mental or physical action brought about by these energies actually produces more suffering.
For example, as we sit in stillness- meditation- we inevitably find ourselves struggling to acquire power over some aspect of our lives. Without necessarily knowing it, we are trying to feel happy or conquer a physical or emotional problem or to become more attractive to others or simply to do a better job of meditating than we did last time. Each of these types of effort arises from attachment to previous thoughts or actions. Even our desire to let go of all this is mired in concepts about what letting go should feel like or what it might bring us. Nonreaction means no longer operating on the basis of any of these attachments whatsoever."
"12. Both practice and nonreaction are required to still the patterning of consciousness.
13. Practice is the sustained effort to rest in that stillness.
14. This practice becomes firmly rooted when it is cultivated skillfully and continuously for a long time.
15. As for nonreaction, one can recogize that it has been fully achieved when no attachment arises in regard to anything at all, whether perceived directly or learned.
16. When the ultimate level of nonreaction has been reached, pure awareness can clearly see itself as independent from the fundamental qualities of nature."
According to Patanjali, the fundamental predictament of existence, our suffering, is caused by the co-habitation of consciousness and awareness in our minds. There are 5 patterns of consciousness in our minds, and the solution is two-fold: practice and nonreaction. Patanjali defines yoga as a "multifaceted method of bringing consciousness to a state of stillness."
Consciousness versus awareness. The narrative network of one's mind, the thinking brain that is composed of thoughts of the past, the future, and of the self (as opposed to the experiential network of one's mind, the knowing brain that is timeless, selfless, and aware) is our brain's default setting, always turned on. It plays a pivotal role in our ability to survive, always scanning our world for threats, full of negative confirmation bias. It's just making sure that we are ok, but it can cause us great suffering. I believe it is where we store our conditioned responses, patterning of consciousness, our encyclopedic anthology of likes and dislikes, and our bundle of reflexes .
The good news is that neuroplasticity is possible and yoga teaches us how to change the activity and structure of our brains. Rather than trying to ignore our thinking mind, causing further suffering, we simply need to pay attention to our knowing mind, our pure awareness. There is a beauty in the effortlessness required to receive the grace of existing. Awareness is like gravity- we don't need to do anything or be anything different to experience it. The first Yoga teacher in the U.S., Swami Vivekananda, said, "You yourselves are the being that you seek." With practice, we can learn to soften rather than react, tap into our knowing mind and not our thinking mind, as we are not an "encyclopedic anthology of likes and dislikes," and we "are not just a bundle of unconditioned reflexes."
The back of Eckhart Tolle's book holds to secret to not suffering, "To make the journey into the Power of Now, we will need to leave our analytical mind and its false created self, the ego, behind."
Our homework this week is to read chapter 1 of the Yoga Sutras every morning and to pay attention to our attention.
What I noticed in today's reading of The Yoga Sutras Chapter 1 was the ebb and flow of my attention as I read, which mirrored the ebb and flow of the writing. I was aware of periods of time where I was present, focused, and engaged, alternating with periods of my mind drifting. Interestingly, the writing itself shifted back and forth between the predicament and the solution, between discussing the patterning of consciousness and pure awareness, the periods addressing the solution and awareness becoming longer as the chapter progressed, ending with sections on practice and coalescence. Similar to one practicing yoga and mindfulness, our ability to remain present gets stronger and more sustained with more practice.
As Rolf recommended, I opened "The Power of Now" randomly and see what paragraph my eyes landed on to receive divine guidance, and I came across the following passage:
"THE EGO'S SEARCH FOR WHOLENESS
Another aspect of the emotional pain that is an intrinsic part of the egoic mind is a deep-seated sense or lack or incompleteness, of not being whole. In some people, this is conscious, in others unconscious. If it is conscious, it manifests as the unsettling and constant feeling of not being worthy or good enough. If it is unconscious, it will only be felt indirectly as an intense craving, wanting and needing. In either case, people will often enter into a compulsive pursuit of ego-gratification and things to identify with in order to fill this hole they feel within. So they strive after possessions, money, success, power, recognition, or a special relationship, basically so that they can feel better about themsleves, feel more complete. But even when they attain all these things, they soon find that the hole is still there, that it is bottomless. Then they are really in trouble, because they cannot delude themselves anymore. Well, they can and do, but it gets more difficult.
As long as the egoic mind is running your life, you cannot truly be at ease; you cannot be at peace or fulfilled except for brief intervals when you obtained what you wanted, when a craving has been fulfilled. Since the ego is a derived sense of self, it needs to identify with external things. It needs to be both defended and fed constantly. The most common ego identifications have to do with possessions, the work you do, social status and recognition, knowledge and education, physical appearance, special abilities, relationships, personal and family history, belief systems, and often also political, nationalistic, racial, religious, and other collective identifications. None of these is you.
Do you find this frightening? Or is it a relief to know this? All of these things you will have to relinquish sooner or later. Perhaps you find it as yet hard to believe, and I am certainly not asking you to believe that your identity cannot be found in any of these things. You will know the truth of it for yourself. You will know it at the latest when you feel death approaching. Death is a stripping away of all that is not you. The secret of life is to "die before you die" - and find that there is no death."
Wow. This was a very powerful passage for me right now for two reasons. 1) I am in the process of decluttering, getting rid of possessions I don't need, trying to articulate which version of myself I purchased it for, does it serve the current season of my life that I am in, what hole was it filling, what identity does it go with and what is the cost of letting it go, etc. And once I declutter, how do I stop myself from going out and buying all the same things again? What is the root cause of buying the clutter in the first place. And 2) I am in the process of concluding a cycle of life coaching focused on self-worth. Today is in fact my 14th and final session. Together we identified that I have a bucket that I have been trying to fill, but it has holes in it. And all the workshops I attend, classes I take, badges I receive, certificates I earn, degrees I get, don't fill the bucket because they just slip through the holes. We dove into what would plug the holes- my self-care practice, my ayurveda, yoga, mindfulness, meditation, and self-growth work over professional development work.
Connecting this passage and my A-Ha's back to the Yoga Sutras, I think it's important for me to acknowledge that I can only fill this wholeness, the pure awareness, when I am taking the time to be intentional about being rather than doing. Below are some examples:
I can sit and be still, rather than buying more books about being still
I can sit in my comfy chair with my cozy blanket and a warm cup of tea, rather than going to TJMaxx, Marshalls, and HomeGoods to find more cozy blankets and the "perfect" mug
I can meditate daily, rather than searching the Internet for the next meditation workshop
I can apply what I learned during the Kripalu RISE program to integrate yoga into all aspects of my life
The more consistent I can be with my practice, the more it will benefit me. "Both practice and nonreaction are required to still the patterning of consciousness." Rather than ebbing and flowing in and out of meditation and yoga, I can integrate it into my being all day every day. I can learn to live yoga, to be yoga, rather than to do yoga. To know rather than to think or believe. This aligns with Coby Kozlowski's approach as well as Rolf Gates' teachings.
Takeaway for today: Just be. Be mindful. Listen to my thoughts and feelings. Observe them like clouds floating by my strong and steady mountain self. I can embrace instinctive meditation and flow like water on this journey of self-discovery.
"I suppose that it takes two to make a relationship into a spiritual practice, as you suggest. For example, my partner is still acting out his old patterns of jealousy and control. I have pointed this out many times, but he is unable to see it.
How many people does it take to make your life into a spiritual practice? Never mind if your partner will not cooperate. Sanity - consciousness- can only come into this world through you. You do not need to wait for the world to become sane, or for somebody else to become conscious, before you can be enlightened. You may wait forever. Do not accuse each other of being unconscious. The moment you start to argue, you have identified with a mental position and are now defending not only that position but also your sense of self. The ego is in charge. You have become unconscious. At times, it may be appropriate to point out certain aspects of your partner's behavior. If you are very alert, very present, you can so so without ego involvement- without blaming, accusing, or making the other wrong.
When your partner behaves unconsciously, relinquish all judgment. Judgment is either to confuse someone's unconscious behavior with who they are or to project your own unconsciousness onto another person and mistake that for who they are. To relinquish judgment does not mean that you do not recognize dysfunction and unconsciousness when you see it. It means "being the knowing" rather than "being the reaction" and the judge. You will then either be totally free of reaction or you may react and still be the knowing, the space in which the reaction is watched and allowed to be. Instead of fighting the darkness, you bring in the light. Instead of reacting to delusion, you see the delusion yet at the same time look through it. Being the knowing creates a clear space of loving presence that allows all things and all people to be as they are. No greater catalyst for transformation exists. If you practice this, your partner cannot stay with you and remain unconscious."
"15. As for nonreaction, one can recogize that it has been fully achieved when no attachment arises in regard to anything at all, whether perceived directly or learned.
16. When the ultimate level of nonreaction has been reached, pure awareness can clearly see itself as independent from the fundamental qualities of nature."
"The will to observe experience without reaction (vairāgya) is the potential that brings about effortlessness . Vairagya literally means "not getting stirred up" and refers to the relationship that arises in the instant one perceives something. Most perceptions pluck the strings of our attachments to variouslikes, dislikes, or ideals. This sets off some type of mental or physical action, which may in turn create suffering... Vairāgya is the willingness to let a phenomenon arise without reacting to it. In other words, one can allow any feature of consciousness- a thought, feeling, or sensation- to play itself out in front of awareness without adding to its motion in any way. This subtracts more and more of the confusion from our experience, leading to profound stillness and clarity.
The vairāgya reveals the newness and originality of the unfolding moment. As we let go of reacting in conditioned way, we are jettisoning the learned patterns we have developed in the past to relate to every aspect of experience. To let go of these is to enter into a spontaneous and unpredictable present, unmodulated by anting, aversion, or other form of self-centeredness. Indeed, what gets "stirred up" in reaction always related to me. The sense of "I" is largely composed of reaction, being an encyclopedic anthology of likes and dislikes, and it infiltrates even our most altruistic thoughts and deeds.
Every time we soften to an experience that would otherwise incite us to react, we break our habit of setting our personal consciousness apart from nature. As vairāgya extends to our most intimate, subtle, or internal rections, consciousness begins to reflect the fact that our self- including our likes, dislikes, and ideals- is made of the same stuff as the rest of creation. All of this stuff, including what feels like "me," is in flux and ubject to cause and effect. The changing properties, or gunas, of this flux are no different in consciousness than in anything else. They modulate along the same lines- guna literally means "strand"- when a feeling like happiness arises and then passes away, as, for example, when a sunset comes and goes."
I'm left thinking a lot about what isvara, pure awareness, looks like when we're in relationship with others. There is a saying, "You think you're enlightened? Spend a week with your family and see if you come back still saying that you're enlightened." It's one thing to sit on a cushion or be on the mat and practice mindfulness and nonreaction. It's another to be in conflict with another and remain calm and at peace. A true sign of enlightenment is when one can remain in a state of nonreaction throughout one's daily life.
One of my favorite quotes is as follows, "Peace. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. it means to be in the midst of those things and remain calm in the heart."
Whenever I think I am feeling more calm and at ease, the universe sends me a situation that tests that theory. And while I might "fail" in the moment, my awareness of the fact that I "failed" is one stop closer to nonreaction. A true blessing of living more mindfully is when we can be mindful during the most chaotic and most difficult moments in our lives.
"THE INSANITY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TIME
You will not have any doubt that psychological time is a mental disease if you look at its collective manifestations. They occur, for example, in the form of ideologies such as communism, national socialism or any nationalism, or rigid religious belief systems, which operate under the implicit assumption that the highest good lies in the future and that therefore the end justifies the means. The end is an idea, a point in the mind-projected future, when salvation in whatever form - happiness, fulfillment, equality, liberation, and so on - will be attained. Not infrequently, the means of getting there are the enslavement, torture, and murder of people in the present.
For example, it is estimated that as many as fifty million people were murdered to further the cause of communism, to bring about a "better world" in Russia, China, and other countries. This is a chilling example of how belief in a future heaven creates a present hell. Can there be any doubt that psychological time is a serious and dangerous mental disease?
How does this mind pattern operate in your life? Are you always trying to get somewhere other than where you are? Is most of your doing just a means to an end? Is fulfillment always just around the corner or confined to short-lived pleasures, such as sex, food, drink, drugs, or thrills and excitement? Are you always focused on becoming, achieving, and attaining, or alternatively chasing some new thrill or pleasure? Do you believe that if you acquire more things you will become more fulfilled, good enough, or psychologically complete? Are you waiting fora man or a woman to give meaning to your life?"
"Waiting is a state of mind. Basically, it means that you want the future; you don't want the present. You don't want what you've got, and you want what you haven't got. With every kind of waiting, you unconsciously create inner conflict between your here and now, where you don't want to be, and the projected future, where you want to be. This greatly reduces the quality of your life by making you lose the presence.
There is nothing wrong with striving to improve your life situation. You can improve your life situation, but you cannot improve your life. Life is primary. Life is your deepest inner Being. It is already whole, complete, perfect. Your life situation consists of your circumstances and your experiences. There is nothing wrong with setting goals and striving to achieve things. The mistake lies in using it as a substitute for the feeling of life, for Being. The only point of access for that is the Now. You are then like an architect who pays no attention to the foundation of a building but spends a lot of time working on the superstructue...
So give up waiting as a state of mind. When you catch yourself slipping into waiting... snap out of it. Come into the present moment. Just be, and enjoy being. If you are present, there is never any need for you wait for anything. So next time somebody says, "Sorry to have kept you waiting," you can reply, "That's all right, I wasn't waiting. I was just standing here enjoying myself - in joy in myself."
Centering Practice:
ASANA: body, posture
PRANAYAMA: Breath regulation
PRATYAHARA: Quality of attention, withdrawal of the senses
DHARANA: Concentration
From Yogaeasy.com:
The physical aspect of yoga is the third step on the path to freedom, and if we're being honest, the word asana here doesn't refer to the ability to perform a handstand or an aesthetically impressive backbend, it means 'seat' - specifically the seat you would take for the practice of meditation. The only alignment instruction Patanjali gives for this asana is “sthira sukham asanam”, the posture should be steady and comfortable.
While traditional texts like the Hatha Yoga Pradipika list many postures such as Padmasana (lotus pose) and Virasana (hero pose) suitable for meditation, this text also tells us that the most important posture is, in fact, sthirasukhasana – meaning, 'a posture the practitioner can hold comfortably and motionlessness' .
The idea is to be able to sit in comfort so we're not 'pulled' by aches and pains or restlessness due to being uncomfortable. Perhaps this is something to consider in your next yoga class if you always tend to choose the 'advanced' posture offered, rather than the one your body is able to achieve: “In how many poses are we really comfortable and steady?”
The word Prana refers to 'energy' or 'life source'. It often describes the very essence that keeps us alive, as well as the energy in the universe around us. Prana also often describes the breath, and by working with the way we breathe, we affect the mind in a very real way.
We can interpret Pranayama in a couple of ways. 'Prana-yama' can mean 'breath control' or 'breath restraint', or 'prana-ayama' which would translate as 'freedom of breath', 'breath expansion' or 'breath liberation'.
The physical act of working with different breathing techniques alters the mind in a myriad of ways – we can choose calming practices like Chandra Bhadana (moon piercing breath) or more stimulating techniques such as Kapalabhati (shining skull cleansing breath).
Each way of breathing will change our state of being, but it's up to us as to whether we perceive this as 'controlling' the way we feel or 'freeing' ourselves from the habitual way our mind may usually be.
Pratya means to 'withdraw', 'draw in' or 'draw back', and the second part ahara refers to anything we 'take in' by ourselves, such as the various sights, sounds and smells our senses take in continuously. When sitting for a formal meditation practice, this is likely to be the first thing we do when we think we're meditating; we focus on 'drawing in'. The practice of drawing inward may include focusing on the way we're breathing, so this limb would relate directly to the practice of pranayama too.
The phrase 'sense withdrawal' conjures up images of being able to switch our senses 'off' through concentration, which is why this aspect of practice is often misunderstood.
Instead of actually losing the ability to hear and smell, to see and feel, the practice of pratyahara changes our state of mind so that we become so absorbed in what it is we're focusing on, that the things outside of ourselves no longer bother us and we're able to meditate without becoming easily distracted. Experienced practitioners may be able to translate pratyahara into everyday life – being so concentrated and present to the moment at hand, that things like sensations and sounds don't easily distract the mind.
Dharana means 'focused concentration'. Dha means 'holding or maintaining', and Ana means 'other' or 'something else'. Closely linked to the previous two limbs; dharana and pratyahara are essential parts of the same aspect. In order to focus on something, we must withdraw our senses so that all attention is on that point of concentration. In order to draw our senses in, we must focus and concentrate intently. Tratak (candle gazing), visualization, and focusing on the breath are all practices of dharana, and it's this stage many of us get to when we think we're 'meditating'.
The seventh limb is 'meditative absorption' - when we become completely absorbed in the focus of our meditation, and this is when we're really meditating. All the things we may learn in class are merely techniques in order to help us settle, focus and concentrate. The actual practice of meditation is definitely not something we can actively 'do', rather it describes the spontaneous action of something that happens as a result of everything else. Essentially; if you are really meditating, you won't have the thought 'oh, I'm meditating!'…. (sound familiar?)
Many of us know the word samadhi as meaning 'bliss' or 'enlightenment', and this is the final step of the journey of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. After we've re-organized our relationships with the outside world and our own inner world, we come to the finale of bliss.
When we look at the word samadhi though, we find out that 'enlightenment' or 'realization' does not refer to floating away on a cloud in a state of happiness and ecstasy…. Sorry.
Breaking the word in half, we see that this final stage is made up of two words; 'sama' meaning 'same' or 'equal', and 'dhi' meaning 'to see'. There's a reason it's called realization . It's because achieving Samadhi is not about escapism, floating away or being abundantly joyful; it's about realizing the very life that lies in front of us. The ability to 'see equally' and without disturbance from the mind, without our experience being conditioned by likes, dislikes or habits, without a need to judge or become attached to any particular aspect; that is bliss.
Just as the theologian Meister Eckhart used the word isticheit meaning 'is-ness' as referring to the pure knowledge of seeing and realizing just 'what is', this stage is not about attaching to happiness or a sensation of 'bliss', but instead it's about seeing life and reality for exactly what it is, without our thoughts, emotions, likes, dislikes, pleasure and pain fluctuating and governing it. Not necessarily a state of feeling or being, or a fixed way of thinking; just pure 'I-am-ness'.
There's just one catch though – Samadhi isn't a permanent state... Patanjali's Yoga Sutras importantly tell us that unless we are completely ready, without 'impressions' such as attachment, aversion, desires and habits, and with a completely pure mind, we will not be able to maintain the state of Samadhi for long:
Once the mind is pure and we truly do experience a state of Samadhi we can keep hold of, we attain moksha, also known as mukti, meaning a permanent state of being liberated, released and free.
Metta, lovingkindness, is a good practice when one's mind is disturbed. Being kind can still your mind.
Deepak Chopra, "Meditation is not quieting the mind- it's finding the stillness that is already there."
Stilling our minds so we can rest in our true nature.
When in conflict with another, when in a difficult conversation, "Can I bring it on the road?"
Rolf says he gives hiumself grace when he is caught in an unskilled mindset. It is near to those who seek. We create space for that which needs to arise. Things come up. We can have a trauma reaction in which we tighten. Imagine some salt in a glass of water, the water becomes extremely bitter. Now imagine that same amount of salt in a large bucket of water- the effect isn't as strong. Open your space, expand the container. The Buddha used to touch the earth. "What is the earth doing right now?" Think of the earth and of the sky. Expand your container. [The solution to pollution is dilution.] Radiate friendliness toward your 9unpleasant) sensation:
body
breath
quality of attention
open the container
When you're suffering, touch the earth, expand your container. Earth, sky, nature expands your container, moves you from the narrative mind to the experiential mind, from thinking to knowing.
Tibetan Buddhism and Insight Meditation approach this from opposite directions. Equanimity first, or clear your mind and clear your ego making room for equanimity last, equanimity is the hardest.
From positivepsychology.com:
The concept of equanimity holds great significance in Buddhism because of its profound implications for personal wellbeing, ethical conduct, and spiritual development. In Buddhist thought, equanimity also involves treating all beings impartially and without discrimination.
It encourages practitioners to develop a sense of universal compassion and understanding, recognizing the inherent equality of all living beings. By embracing equanimity, we can transcend personal biases, prejudices, and judgments, leading to a more inclusive and harmonious outlook on life.
There is a light within each of us that cannot be added to nor taken away from. This light is always on. Just the wish washes the heart.
The Yoga Sutras Chapter 1 is the general intro. Chapter 2 is the steps, the path to realization. We can't force awakening, but we can put into place the causes and conditions that lead to awakening.
There are 5 afflictions, side effects of feeling "like a self."
1.33 is the brahma-viharas, the "heavenly abodes."
Cultivating friendliness
compassion
delight
equanimity toward all things
The willingness to greet all phenomena with kindliness is the basis of nonreaction (1.15)
THE INNER PURPOSE OF YOUR LIFE'S JOURNEY
"When you are on a journey, it is certainly helpful to know where you are going or at least the general direction in which you are moving, but don't forget: The only thing that is ultimately real about your journey is the step that you are taking at this moment. That's all there ever is... Your outer journey may contain a million steps; your inner journey only has one: the step you are taking right now. As you become more deeply aware of this one step, you realize that it already contains within itself all the other steps as well as the destination. This one step then becomes transformed into an expression of perfection, an act of great beauty and quality. It will have taken you into Being, and the light of Being will shine through it. This is both the purpose and the fulfillment of your inner journey, the journey into yourself."
The best ideas come from a liquid network, from water cooler chat, or in our case, the small liquid network is our small breakout rooms. Humans learn best together.
"2.17 The preventable cause of all this suffering is the apparent indivisibility or pure awareness and what it regards...
2.26 The apparent indivisibility of seeing and the seen can be eradicated by cultivating uninterrupted discrimination between awareness and what it regards."
2.35 nonviolence
these things become heightened in our awareness as we read.
2.48 Ture practice of equanimity off the mat. Our state of consciousness can be an agent of change.
2.42 contentment and joy
The power of sangha, the power of togetherness- one of the 3 jewels
From tricycle.org:
3 jewels in Buddhism:
the Buddha (the exemplar),
the dharma (the teachings),
and the sangha (the community of practitioners)
Joy is getting to do what you love to do, what you were born to do. (Happiness is fleeting.)
Contentment in Buddhism is taking refuge in the way things are. The second jewel.
2.42 simplicity of "contentment brings unsurpassed joy."
"Things and conditions can give you pleasure, but they can also bring you pain. Things and conditions can give you pleasure, but they cannot give you joy. Nothing can give you joy. Joy is uncaused and arises from within as the joy of Being. It is an essential part of the inner state of peace, the state that has been called the peace of God. It is your natural state, not something you need to work hard for or struggle to attain."
Pets give us a chance to love unconditionally, to love sincerely. Love is medicine for the soul, both for them and for us.
1.13 (p98) Practice is the sustained effort to rest in that stillness.
Resting in stillness, not grasping it.
1.14 practice
1.15 Nonreaction
2.17 (p102) The preventable cause of all this suffering is the apparent indivisibility...
Abhyasa (practice, action, method)
bring attention to pure awareness:
purusa (pure awareness) in yoga
empty knowing in Buddhism
1) bring awareness to the light that is always on and 2) vrtti (patternings, turnings, movement) cease, knowing is there, turn the radio off and hear the silence
2.47 this occurs as ass effort relaxes and coalescence arises, release time and self and stories
citta (consciousness) + prana (breath, energy) = harmony in your mind
the word for ease in sanskrit actually comes from "the space between the spokes of a wheel"
steadiness and ease
pranavayu - vital breath
Rolf shared the story of how at 6am he had his coffee in the sunrise at Kripalu and did his reading and then he went to class at 6:30am, but he kept his abhyasa (his practice, his action, his method) on his experience, and he felt the frequency in silence and awareness
abhyasa can be applied to breath
abhyasa can be applied to vidya (seeing, wisdom, attention to the soul)
vidya= true knowledge of the soul
you can place your attention on pure awareness
3rd sutra- the light is always on, you can rest in pure awareness
the way to doing is to STOP DOING, like sobriety. Sobriety is always there, like the light that is always on. The way to BE SOBER, the way to DO SOBRIETY, is to STOP DOING, to STOP DRINKING. Sobriety was always there, you just had to stop drinking to experience it.
The light of pure awareness is always on. You gotta give it away to keep it. The state of consciousness we are in cannot predict the next state of consciousness. Allow your mind to rest in the reality of the way things are.
Vairagya (dispassion, ronreaction, nonattachment) (Chip p6) is the "willingness to let a phenomenon arise without reacting to it." Observe or experience without reaction. discerning.
Abhyasa= subtle effort, practice
The "SELF" is like a processed food, like a snickers chocolate bar.
Limbs of samadhi in Buddhism:
Wise effort (asana and pranayama in yoga)
Wise concentration. (Abhyasa)
Wise mindfulness. (Vairaghya)
Samadhi is a state of mental concentration. Samadhi, in Indian philosophy and religion, and particularly in Hinduism and Buddhism, the highest state of mental concentration that people can achieve while still bound to the body and which unites them with the highest reality.
Wise effort and wise mindfulness work together, they partner to lift and support wise concentration to pick the fruit from the tree. It's the concentration that reaches up and grabs the apple.
Can I sustain self-awareness? Yes, supported by wise effort and discernment.
For example, sadness and anger are present. I can observe and name them. But they are not who I truly am. I have to let go of stories and live in my true nature. I can avoid suffering by resting in true nature through discernment.
Vrtti- the patterning, the movements- these are thge coyotes that run through the room. but they light is already there. It's always on.
"Be present as the watcher of your mind- of your thoughts and emotions as well as your reactions in various situations. Be at least as interested in your reactions as in the situation or person that causes you to react. Notice also how often your attention is in the past or future, Don't judge or analyze what you observe. Watch the thought, feel the emotion, observe the reaction. Don't make a personal problem out of them. You will feel something more powerful than any of those things that you observe: the still, observing presence itself behind the content of your mind, the silent watcher...
Identification with the mind gives it more energy; observation of the mind withdraws energy from it. Identification with the mind creates more time; observation of the mind opens up the dimension of the timeless. The energy that is withdrawn from the mind turns into presence. Once you can feel what it means to be present, it becomes much easier to simply choose to step out of the time dimension whenever time is not needed for practical purposes and move more deeply into the Now. This does not impair your ability to use time - past or future - when you need to refer to it for practical matters. Nor does it impair your ability to use your mind. In fact, it enhances it. When you do use your mind, it will be sharper, more focused."
"2.46. The postures of meditation should embody steadiness and ease."
"2.50. As the movement patterns of each breath - inhalation, exhalation, lull - are observed as to duration, number, and area of focus, breath becomes spacious and subtle."
Steadiness and ease. Wise effort. Subtle effort.
"If it is to be a limb of Patanjali's yoga, asane must embody steadiness (sthira) and ease (sukha) not only in an active, external sense, as in selecting a posture and support best suited to profound stillness, but also in an interiorized, receptive way. Moment by moment we must allow our awareness of embodiment to deepen, even as each new wave of sensation buffets our attention and threatens to unmoor it from its fixation in the present...
The first is relaxation of even the subtlest bodily efforts... In order to relax into things as they actually are, one must surrender every last drop of the internalized desire to feel good. That desire is shaped by our most cherished ideas about what constitutes good and bad, as well as by ingrained, organic, perceptions of pleasure, pain, and neutrality... Relaxing effort means letting go of limiting internal definitions. Simply put, in asana one must do less to be more...
When we sit, many of the body's micromovements are just the outward manifestation of our reactivity, and the deepening physical stillness of asana as embodiment of the placidity on consciousness's surface. As it calms, the surface of consciousness becomes mirrorlike, and all things - subject, object, and perceiving self- are equally reflected in samapatti..
So an not to be overwhelmed by aversion or doubt, one must continually exert abhyasa, the subtle effort of returnung and rereturning to relaxation and coalescence...
At these times, gently "stacking" the bones more vertically will actually allow effortlessness to deepen. One must, however, distiunguish this from compulsive squirming and fidgeting, our habitual maneuvers to avoid suffering, or dhukha...
This can extend far beyond the sitting cushion. Our growing familiarity with subtle internal experiences helps us to recognize the ways our bodymind contracts in the presence of hurt, delay, desire, and other features of daily life. We bgin to catch ourselvesd earlier in the process of tightening, viselike, around difficulty, disagreement, or frustration. We can then relax, noting how this embodies the intention to know the moment more clearly and openly. Nor is it every wrong to do so, we begin to sense. Loosening the valves seems always to allow things to resolve and wisdom to enter. This imparts both the freedom to act and the freedom not to have to."
"If you cannot be at ease with yourself when you are alone, you will seek a relationship to cover up your unease. You can be sure that the unease will then reappear in some other form within the relationship, and you will probably hold your partner responsible for it.
All you really need to do is accept this moment fully. You are then at ease in the here and now and at ease with yourself.
But do you really need to have a relationship with yourself at all? Why can't you just be yourself? When you have a relationship with yourself, you have split yourself into two: "i" and "myself," subject and object. That mind-created duality is the root cause of all unnecessary complexity, of all problems and conflict in your life. In the state of enlightenment, you are yourself - "you" and "yourself" merge into one. You do not judge yourself, you do not feel sorry for yourself, you are not proud of yourself, you do not love yourself, you do not hate yourself, and so on. The split caused by self-reflective consciousness is healed, its curse removed. There is no "self" that you need to protect, defend, or feed anymore. When you are enlightened, there is one relationship that you no longer have: the relationship with yourself. Once you have given that up, all your other relationships will be love relationships."
"1.33 Consciousness settles as one radiates friendliness, compassion, delight, and equanimity toward all things, whether pleasant or unpleasant, good or bad."
"In common with Buddhist tradition, Patanjali observes that the yogic process is deepened by the cultivation of friendliness, compassion, delight, and equanimity - the four "heavenly abodes," or "brahma-viharas." These are radiated not just inward toward oneself and one's experience, regardless of its qualities, but also outward toward all beings. This willingness to greet all phenomena with kindliness is the basis of nonreaction (1.15)...
Another remedy for distraction is mindfulness of sensations as they arise. Ordinarily we begin to interpret and make associations at the very moment we perceive something. Patanjali here recommends fixing attention on the emergence of each successive flicker of activity (pravrtti) that barises through the sensory mind (manas). This is a powerful vehicle for cultivating nonreaction. The ability to rest at the razor's edge of the present, watching one phenomenon succeed another without getting caught up in chains of rumination, clarifies how the causes of suffering (2.3) breed distraction."
"1.15 As for nonreaction, one can recognize that it has been fully achieved when no attachment arises in regard to anything at all, whether perceived directly or learned."
Attachment is one of the 5 causes of suffering, addressed in Chapter 2 of The Yoga Sutras:
"2.7 Attachment is a residue of pleasant experience.
2.8 Aversion is a residue of suffering.
2.14 This life will be marked by delight or anguish, in proportion to those good or bad actions that created its store of latent impressions.
2.15 The wise see suffering in all experience, whether from the anguish of impermanence or from latent impressions laden with suffering or from incessant conflict as the fundamental qwualities of nature vie for ascendancy."
All of this reminds me of a commonly taught method in meditation to "be the mountain," to stand (or sit) tall and steady, unmoving, unwavering, observing thoughts and feelings and sensations as clouds drifting by. Nonreaction asks us to not just observe them and acknowledge them, but also to welcome them. In instrinctive Meditation, Lorin Roche teaches us to embrace our thoughts with generosity and hospitality. He says to be welcoming, welcome all parts of yourself, as whatever rises is something that needs attention. Go inside yourself and welcome everything that comes, asking, "What do you have to teach me?"
I believe Rolf also said in his lecture at Kripalu "Whispers of Meaning," (I'll have to find my notes later to check) to ask each breath "What do you have to teach me?"
Similarly, Terry, a yoga teacher, says, "Play with whoever shows up on your mat today."
Nonreaction, to me, is observation, acknowledgement, and non-judgment of our feelings, thoughts, sensations, as they arise within us, as well as observation, acknowledgement, and non-judgment of the feelings, thoughts, sensations, words, and actions of others.
"2.46. The postures of meditation should embody steadiness and ease."
"2.47 The occurs as all effort relaxes and coalescence arises, revealing that the body and the infinite universe are indivisible."
"2.50. As the movement patterns of each breath - inhalation, exhalation, lull - are observed as to duration, number, and area of focus, breath becomes spacious and subtle."
Someone in my small breakout room said that these three were the foundation of yoga teaching, and that they had studied these with Rolf for countless hours in their Yoga Teacher Training.
LOSS OF NOW: THE CORE DELUSION
"Even if I completely accept that ultimately time is an illusion, what difference is that going to make in my life? I still have to live in a world that is completely dominated by time.
Intellectual agreement is just another belief and won't make much difference to your life. To realize this truth, you need to live it. When every cell of your body is so present that it feels vibrant with life, and when you can feel that life every moment as they joy of Being, then it can be said that you are free of time."
1.34 Pranayama is first mentioned. (p13 and p99)
1.32 One can subdue these distractions by working with any of the following principles of practice.
1.33 Consciousness settles as one readiates friendliness, compassion, delight, and equanimity toward all things, whether pleasant or painful, good or bad. (Brahma-Viharas)
1.34 Or by pausing after breath flows in and out. (Pranayama)
p14 "Patanjali lists nine types of distraction that agitate the body-ming or otherwise prevent one from being able to rest in the here and now. He also mentions three of tghe warning signs that indicate thta a distraction has taken hold in consciousness, and offers seven ways to neutralize distraction. These seven principles of practice may derive from diverse yogic traditions already well established in Patanjali's day. As long as we settle on any one principle and stay with it, consciousness can be reoriented toward stillness... Patanjali also makes his first mention of breath regulation, or pranayama. Pausing at the end of the breath phase exerts a kind of gravitational pull on consciousness, focusing it inward and away from distraction."
(p55 and p108) "3.40 By mastering the flow of energy in the head and neck, one can walk through water, mud, thorns, and other obstacles without touching down but rather floating over them.
3.41 By mastering the flow of energy through the solar plexus, one becomes radiant."
(p56) "In 3.40 and 3.41, Patanjali refers to two of the five vital breaths, or prana-vayus, that energize different regions of the body. He never again refers to these concepts, suggesting that they- and probably the shamanic powers as well- weren't central to his system of yoga. Nonetheless, he carefully records a wide range of powers in chapter 3, perhaps to make the Yoga-Sutra more fully inclusive of diverse ancient traditions, or out of deference to influential contemporaries."
(p32) "It is often assumed that by posture (asana) and breath regulation (pranayama) Patanjali meant the movements and breathjing exercises of hatha yoga, widely practiced today. From this one could infer that he considered their mastery a prerequisite for integration. However, as mentioned at the outset, most hatha yoga was probably not devised until the ninth or tenth century, many centuries after the composition of the Yoga-Sutra, and was almost certainly unknown to Patanjali. His modes of asana and pranayama were far simpler, being the physical and respiratory thresholds of the yoking process, coterminous with the other six levels, their sole purpose being to serve as vehicles for interiorization and calm."
(p40 and p104) "2.49 With effort relaxing, the flow of inhalation and exhalation can be brought to a standstill; this is called breath regulation.
2.50 As the movement patterns of each breath - inhallation, exhalation, lull- are observed as to duration, number, and area of focus, breath becomes spacious and subtle."
(p40-42) "The respiratory aspect of yoking is called breath regulation, or pranayama. Like asane, however, it arises from less, not more, physcial effort. By pranayama Patanjali probably means something much simpler than the complex, occassionally strenuous patterns of later tantric practices. In light of these, pranayama (literally "breath energy" plus "discipline, restraint") is generally regarded today as a set of practices in which one consciously directs the breath and its energies in deliberate patterns. Patanjal's emphasis, however, is different: he describes instead the process by which sustained observation of the breath without deliberation brings about natural and spontaneous changes in its qualities, enabling the deepest levels of focus and bodymind stilling, or nirodha... Whichever aspect of the breath one observes- its length, quantity, or region of activity- the effect is to make the unconscious conscious... the observed breath begins to soften and spread out in each of its phases... letting the breath pause after inhalation or exhalation facilitates the settling of consciousness... the breath's agitation often creates or activates other samskaras, initiating a chain of rumination and bodily disturbance. One can see how any attempt to supress the breath might perpetuate this cycle. Patanjali's pranayama brings the cycle to a halt. Absorption in the breath flow, as toward any other object, moves consciousness in the direction of interiorization and calm... Although such a feat may seem magical, its purpose is liberatory. When utterly undisturbed by breath and body motions, the surface of consciousness can be reflective enough to show pure awareness to itself and clarify the true nature of being."
p84 under "The Yoga-Sutra in Light of Early Buddhism"
"Each teacher gives special consideration to energies of breathing, both as a compelling attentional anchor and as a vehicle for calming the bodymind."
HAVE DEEP ROOTS WITHIN
"The key is to be in a state of permanent connectedness with your inner body - to feel it at all times. This will rapidly deepen and transform your life. The more consciousness you direct into the inner body, the higher its vibrational frequency becomes, much like a light that grows brighter as you turn up the dimmer switch and so increase the flow of electricity. At this higher energy level, negativity cannot affect you anymore, and you tend to attract new circumstances that reflect this higher frequency.
If you keep your attention in the body as much as possible, you will be anchored in the Now. You won't lose yourself in the external world, and you won't lose yourself in your mind. Thoughts and emotions, fears and desires, may still be there to some extent, but they won't take you over.
Please examine where your attention is at this moment. You are listening to me, or you are reading these words in a book. That is the focus of your attention. You are also peripherally aware of your surroundings, other people, and so on. Furthermore, there may be some mind activity around what you are hearing or reading, some mental commentary. Yet there is no need for any of this to absorb all of your attention. See if you can be in touch with your inner body at the same time. Keep some of your attention within. Don't let it all flow out. It is almost as if you were listening or reading with your whole body. Let this be your practice in the days and weeks to come.
Don't give all your attention away to the mind and the external world. By all means focus on what you are doing, but feel the inner body at the same time whenever possible. Stay rooted within. Then observe how this changes your state of consciousness and the quality of what you are doing."
"3.35 Focusing with perfect discipline on the heart, one understands the nature of consciousness." (p53 and p107)
"Note that it is by focusing on the heart and not on higher centers that one comes to grasp the nature of consciousness. The heart center is associated with the sense of touch, and focusing on it sharpens one's sense of bodily sensation. The yogas of both Patanjali and Siddhartha Gautama regard bodily sensation as a foundation of mindfulness and therefore a direct path to understanding the nature of consciousness." (p 54)
BEING IS YOUR DEEPEST SELF
"You spoke earlier about the importance of having deep roots within or inhabiting the body. Can you explain what you mean by that?
The body can become a point of access into the realm of Being. Let's go into that more deeply now.
I am still not quite sure if I fully understand what you mean by Being.
'Water? What do you mean by that? I don't understand it.' This is what a fish would say if it had a human mind."
Please stop trying to understand Being. You have already had significant glimpses of Being, but the mind will always try to squeeze it into a little box and then put a label on it. It cannot be done. It cannot become an object of knowledge. In Being, subject and object do not merge into one." (p107)
LOOK BEYOND THE WORDS
"The word honey isn't honey. You can study and talk about honey for as long as you like, but you won't really know it until you taste it. After you have tasted it, the word becomes less important to you." (p 108-109)
This connects so closely to where I am with my yoga and meditation practice, especially in the classes with Rolf and Lorin. I want to write down everything they say. When Rolf leads us in a practice, I have to fight my every urge to write down what he is saying, rather than to epxerience it for myself. I have been studying yoga, rather than living yoga; I have been doing yoga instead of being yoga. I am working on moving from the thinking mind to the knowing mind, from thinking to experiencing. I need to taste the honey, taste the yoga, to move from conceptualization to realization. I have been spending too much brain power reading about, studying, and writing about yoga, rather than letting my body experience the yoga.
HAVE DEEP ROOTS WITHIN
"The key is to be in a state of permanent connectedness with your inner body- to feel it at all times. This will rapidly deepen and transform your life. The mnore consciousness you direct into the inner body, the higher its vibrational frequency becomes, much like a light that grows brighter as you turn up the dimmer switch and so increase the flow of electricity. At this higher energy level, negativity cannot affect you anymore, and you tend to attract new circumstances that reflect this higher frequency.
If you keep your attention in the body as much as possible, you will be anchored in the Now. You won't lose yourself in the external world, and you won't lose yourself in your mind. Thoughts and emotions, fears and desires, may still be there to some extent, but they won't take you over.
Please examine where your attention is at this moment. You are listening to me, or you are reading these words in a book. That is the focus of your attention. You are also peripherally aware of your surroundings, other people, and so on. Furthermore, there may be some mind activity around what you are hearing or reading, some mental commentary. Yet there is no need for any of this to absorb all of your attention. See if you can be in touch with your inner body art the same time. Keep some of your attention within, don't let it all flow out. Feel your whole body from within, as a single field of energy. It is almost as if you were listening or reading with your whole body. Let this be your practice in the days and weeks to come." (p 116-117)
I have been thinking about this passage all week. WHen I am in a meeting or sitting at my desk, I am trying to remain productive at work and focused on what needs my attention while also simultaneously being in my body, being aware of my breath, my posture, my experience, and my feelings about my experience. Every yoga class I have been to with Chip Hartranft, I have been keeping my awareness on my experience in the present moment, focusing in on my body and whether it is steady, yet as ease, whether I am able to be in "subtle effort," or whether I am pushing beyond comfort.
My body has started to crave the yoga asanas- the stretching, the twisting and untwisting, the undoing of the day. I can only describe it at juicy and my body is thirsty for it.
Same with meditation. Dropping in has become a respite. Like coming home to myself.
ACCEPTANCE OF THE NOW
"Surrender is the simple but profound wisdom of yielding to rather than opposing the flow of life." (p 205)
"Focus not on the one hundred things that you will or may have to do at some future time but on the one thing that you can do now. This doesn't mean you should not do any planning. It may well be that planning is the one thing you can do now...
If there is no action you can take, and you cannot remove yourself from the situation either, then use the situation to make you go more deeply into surrender, more deeply into the Now, more deeply into Being...
Do no confuse surrender with an attitude of 'I can't be bothered anymore' or 'I just don't care anymore.' If you look at it closely, you will find that such an attitude is tainted with negativity in the form of hidden resentment and so is not surrender at all but masked resistance. As you surrender, direct your attention inward to check if there is any trace of resistance left inside you. Be very alert when you do so; otherwise, a pocket of resistance may continue to hide in some dark corner in the form of a thought or an unacknowledged emotion." (p 209-210)
I found her sleeping in a Kansas truck stop
In the corner booth
She'd been waiting there for months
And that's the truth
She looked at me with wary eyes
She'd heard all my lies
She was not surprised
She only looked at me
And shook her head
Come back come home
I'm gathering the crumbs and the stones
Been travelling faster than my soul can go
One subject line one click away
But at the end of the day
I couldn't even say
The things that I had done
So I spent the morning sweeping floors
I didn't want much more
Than to do just one thing at a time
And call it mine
Come back come home
I'm gathering the crumbs and the stones
Been travelling faster than my soul can go
Before songs were grooves and lines
Caught in jars like fireflies
The only place a song was held
Soft or razor-sharp
Was is in the heart
Mr. Gatling made a Gatling gun
He said it would end war
Who could send some mother's son through such a door?
But the bullets move at the speed of cold
Drones do as they're told
And the men go home at night and kiss the wife
And watch TV
And never see all those souls untethered floating out to sea
Come back come home
We're gathering the crumbs and the stones
Been travelling faster than our souls can go
Come back come home
We're gathering the crumbs and the stones
Been travelling faster than our souls can go
Faster than our souls can go
Faster than our souls can go
Carrie Newcomer
Yoga Sutra
1.1 And now I begin to guide myself
1.2 into the present moment where the war in my mind will cease
1.3 and I will be able to rest in my true nature
1.4 otherwise I will confuse my thoughts and stories with who I am
Humanity here has a chance to experience freedom. With some instruction, we can experience freedom. Without instruction we will experience suffering.
1.13 abhyasa
1.15 vairagya
Abhyasa- to rest in that stillness, the stillness of a quiet mind
Vairagya- to allow phenomena to arise and pass without reacting to it, discernment (between cittavrtti and and stillness)
Nirodha- stillness, cessation, restriction
Samskara- latent impressions
Abhyasa is attending and allowing. Attending to something, paying attention to something, as well as receiving the experience of what you're attending to. You are resting in stillness, engaging with the stillness, as well as allowing life to hold you. You are attending to you breath and attending to your body as well as being held.
Attending and allowing. Two words, two experiences. Can we combine these two works and two experiences into one experience?
So instead of two separate things (inhale and exhale), you can have one thing (breathing).
Instead of two separate things (abhyasa and vairagya, stillness and discernment, practice and nonreaction), you can have one thing (what would that be called? Yoga?)
"Let the sand settle and your glass clear."
