The Cache Syndrome

The Cache Syndrome

Humans suffer from what I would term the ‘cache syndrome’.

In effect, it means that ideas that have been formed in the past become lodged in the mind. These ideas seem to be coming from an indisputable main memory. However, the ideas are only coming from the cache. A temporary location to store ideas that have happened in the past that will help us to live in the future.

The problem arises when we forget to occasionally clear the cache and we accept the formed ideas as concrete reality.

An example of the Cache Syndrome
When Lisa was a little girl, her mother told her that short hair suited her best. (The mother said this because she had four daughters and she didn’t want to have the trouble of maintaining four manes of hair every morning and night, not to mention her own)
Lisa grew up with the idea that short hair suited her best. This idea went into her cache. And there it stayed, without review, until she was 35 years old. A friend of Lisa commented that she’d never seen her with long hair. As Lisa began to say ‘but I look so much better with short hair’ it occurred to her that she, in fact, didn’t know how she looked with long hair, so she wasn’t sure.
This was the beginning of Lisa emptying the cache of information tagged ‘Lisa looks better with short hair’.

The cache syndrome effects all of us on some level or another. Sometimes for quite insignificant ideas, and sometimes for ones that can hurt us for a life time.

Cache’s worth clearing
Any part of your life that brings you unhappiness, disappointment, frustration or anger – its worth taking a look at the ideas surrounding your hurt.

What do you expect from your relationships? – do you still believe what you believed before? Has your ideas changed? And why?
What does it mean to be successful?
How much do you need to ‘own’ before you are ‘happy’?
When is ‘family’ time?
Children need indulgence, not independence. What’s your ideas? Where do they come from? Has life changed you since you were a teenager, or do you still hold the same beliefs your parents gave you? Is it time to review them?

Good luck in your discovery.

An Evening Prayer

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A prayer for closing.

Reflection and Repose

The day has been and gone
And left its kiss upon my skin.

I take this moment to pause
And consider the words of the morning.

I am. You are. We are.
The All. The Creator. The One.

I discovered you in the dappled light.
I lived your essence in my breath.
I gave thanks for the earth’s gifts.
I took another step on my journey.

I’ve cared for my body.
I’ve lived the interchange of opposites
in my breath and with my senses.
Thank you for all that I have.

In giving thanks I salute your gift of life.

Let my actions that were given with love
Spread like wild flowers upon a field.

Let me forgive my lapses,
And accept my humanity.

Love is the language of a positive life.
Let me contemplate my action.

Let me speak, act and think with love,
Especially to myself.

I am. You are. We are.
The All. The Creator. The One.

An Evening Prayer

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A prayer for closing.

Reflection and Repose

The day has been and gone
And left its kiss upon my skin.

I take this moment to pause
And consider the words of the morning.

I am. You are. We are.
The All. The Creator. The One.

I discovered you in the dappled light.
I lived your essence in my breath.
I gave thanks for the earth’s gifts.
I took another step on my journey.

I’ve cared for my body.
I’ve lived the interchange of opposites
in my breath and with my senses.
Thank you for all that I have.


In giving thanks I salute your gift of life.

Let my actions that were given with love
Spread like wild flowers upon a field.

Let me forgive my lapses,
And accept my humanity.

Love is the language of a positive life.
Let me contemplate my action.

Let me speak, act and think with love,
Especially to myself.

I am. You are. We are.
The All. The Creator. The One.

Two Energies in Yoga.

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Mountain Pose in Practice

There are two forces at work.
One is positive and one is negative.
They can be expressed by the Taoist symbol.

One is not more important than the other.
They are interrelated and interdependent.

All of life can be expressed by their interplay.

Hatha Yoga
In hatha yoga, when standing in Mountain Pose, we can tap into these two energies very simply.

* Remember, the exercises in them selves are not magical or a ‘cure all’. The asanas, the meditation, the pranayama – all of these things are tools to help us get to know and express the basic philosophy of yoga – that of unity and wholeness.

Mountain Pose
Try this exercise outside.

Posture
- Feet together or hip distance apart.

- Lift and place the toes. Rock gently from side to side to bring your awareness into your feet.

- As you move up to your knees, see the connection between the feet, though the calf and up into the knee. See, in your minds eye, the connection and flow of skin, blood, and bones.

- Lift and tighten the knees.

- Pull up the thighs.

- Remember, while everything is lifted and aware – it is still ‘ light and strong’, rather than ‘tense and brittle’. Feel the difference.

- Tuck the tail bone through – we want the jutting hip bones and the pubic bone on a similar vertical plane.

- Take in a deep breath. As you breath out, gently draw the lower muscles of your stomach in.

- Lengthen through the spine. Long and tall.

- Keep the movements soft, gentle and smile a little with love and care towards your body.

- Lift the shoulders up, roll them back and gently let them settle into place. Check your ribs don’t stick out.

- Relax your arms beside your body

- Lengthen through the back of your neck.

- Soften the face. Soften the back of the neck and head. Soften the jaw. Relax the eyes.

The meditation
Once you are comfortable in your pose. Once you have breathed and felt your body. Take a slightly different perspective. See yourself as one person, standing on the face of the earth. Your feet are connected to the earth. Your head is reaching up towards the sky.

Now, as a matter of fact, you are now in the position for being the perfect conduit for the two energies – just as you stand. The earth is heavy, dark and passive. The sky is light, bright and active.

Begin with your feet. Begin to draw up the energy through the earth up into your body. As you begin to feel ‘something’ – visualize the great expanse of the sky above you. Imagine the energy of the sky begin to pour into your body through your head.

Keep both energies flowing up into your body.

They meet in your centre. In your navel. Your navel is the meeting point for the two energies. You are the perfect vessel to hold these two energies in balance in your body.

Breath.

Continue your practice.

A Prayer for Living

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The Morning Prayer

It is.

I am. You are. We are.
The All. The Creator. The One.

In its expression of itself, it creates me.
In my expression of myself, I express it.

Please guide me –
To discover you in me,
To live through you at every moment,
To live in thankfulness for my life,
To fulfill my life’s potential.

Thank you for my body.
Thank you for my breath.
Thank you for my sense.
Thank you for all that I have.
In giving thanks I salute your gift of life.

Let me remember that my actions reverb.
Let me choose actions that will enhance life.

Love is the language of positive life.
Let me speak, act and think with love.

I am. You are. We are.
The All. The Creator. The One.

The Sacred Parent's Room

I remember never stepping foot into my parent’s bedroom. It was a sacred and off limits place. I didn’t even allow my imagination to try to penetrate the mystery of its interior.

The incident
Ryan, a little friend of my son stopped by today. He asked for a mirror, so he could see himself with a funny hat on his head. My mum sent him into her bedroom, the closest room. He looked into the room, but didn’t step any closer. His face showed a mixture of curiosity and reluctance to step over privacy boundaries.
I said, ‘In you go, its ok.’ And he walked through the threshold of the sacred place.
Watching him threw me back in time. I haven’t seen a child hesitate at a bedroom door for a long time.


What happened to the sacredness of the parent’s bedroom, and why was it presented to me as sacred in the first place?
From my perspective, I’m a bit of a communal dweller, so all spaces are for exploration in my house. You may keep a draw or a box to yourself – not for all eyes, but the rest of our ‘things’ are the use of the entire family – to any reasonable extent. In my previous house, we had only one bedroom, and Jett used to sleep there. I used to sleep in the lounge/dining room, so there was no effort at sacredness. Anything I wanted to keep from Jett, that was of an adult nature, was kept aside.
So, perhaps, houses with less space could contribute to an impracticable application of sacredness.
But what about my mother? The same room I felt incapable of entering, my son Jett has no trouble viewing her space as his space. And she says nothing to stop him.
I don’t know why the parent’s room was off limits before. Perhaps there were more boundaries than there are now?

Entering The Room
There were two reasons when I was allowed to enter the inner sanctum. That was when I was sick and needed something for my throat, and the other time, wasn’t actually me, but my brother. I was on the outside looking in. My mother, it seemed to me at the time, thrashed him on the bed (for setting fire to the cupboard). She says, in her own defense, that she only hit him a couple of times and she was beside herself so wasn’t accountable.

So the parent’s room became a refuge for the sick and the wicked.

Hatha Yoga - a definition

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Hatha Yoga refers to the physical based yoga that is predominant in the west.

Hatha Yoga includes the practices of asanas (poses), pranayama (breath control), dhyana (meditation), yama and niyama (behavior guidelines based on action and non-action).

These practices have developed over time to help students of yoga reach their goals.

The original and ultimate goal of traditional yoga is described in the word – samadhi.

As far as I can understand*, it infers union with, or a merging consciousness, with the supreme consciousness.


The supreme consciousness
The supreme consciousness is one. The goal to merge with it, infers that we are not part of it now, but after practicing the philosophy of unity (as described by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras), we are able to unite with the one.

The one can be called many names, but, it is not any of these names. Labels help us to conceptualize an idea, but they can become a hindrance to understanding also.

The practices of yoga are as diverse as there are people who practice. This is the nature of humanity. We have similar goals, but we use different paths to get there. The path you take can be chosen for you (you were born into it), it can be recommended (by a guru, a friend or any out side influence), or you can try to find your own way.

All paths are valid, if the goal of unity is the same one.

Unity
The concept of unity is broad. It is, as with the practice of yoga, as diverse as there are practitioners. Your unity maybe expressed in devotion and submission to a guru. It maybe just trying to feel your body as one living whole. It maybe to merge yourself with the one consciousness (regardless of what you call that one consciousness). All practices of yoga (unity) are valid.

Asana-based yoga
Today, most of the people in the west practice hatha yoga. Although there is a growing interest and study in addressing traditional yoga goals, most people study yoga for fitness and health. This type of yoga, I call asana-based yoga.

Living yoga off the mat
On the other side of the pendulum, we have people who want to explore the very nature of yoga in all aspects of their life. This practice, I term, ‘Living yoga off the mat’.

We are all yoga practitioners. We are all drawn to some aspect of yoga. For the sake of unity, let us allow each and every one of us the same respect in their chosen path, whether its asana-based, or you have immersed yourself in the philosophy of yoga.

* I am not a scholar of Sanskrit, so rely upon other people’s translations of ancient texts.

Namaste
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Living Yoga Off the Mat

Yoga is Unity.

The study of yoga, is the study of unity.

When we, in the West, study yoga, we often mean that we study poses, or asanas. Asanas are a part of hatha yoga, but by no means, its entirety.

Asana based yoga focuses on learning poses, and people are often drawn to it for the positive physical effects of disciplined training. They may, at a later date, discover other positive side effects from practicing asanas.

In contrast, the concept of living yoga off the mat is taking the philosophy of yoga (its foundation stone of unity) with us, even when we roll up our mat. This concept is for people who are interested in putting the theory of unity into ‘real life’.

It includes the study of the self in relationship to itself, the family, friends, society and the world. It includes the study of unity with regards to the environment, politics, sociology, science and religion. It is, in the broadest terms, the study of the application of unity to life itself.

Unity does seem to infer the concept of integral ‘oneness’ or wholeness at some stage of existence.

However, if we are to deal with the reality of the sense of ‘self’ that we experience, the sense of our own individuality, then we need to come to an understanding of how to bridge the gap between me and you, rather than to go into further discussions about why and how we feel isolated. At this point in time, this blog needs to set some boundaries for its expression. There are many other places to discover the why and how of the individual’s sense of isolation.

This idea, of living the philosophy of yoga, is for people who already believe in the philosophy of yoga, and wish to learn, to discuss, to create and be the embodiment of their belief.

I’ll label future posts dealing with this subject as ‘off the mat’.

I created a group on facebook called 'Living Yoga Off The Mat'. If this topic seems relevant to you, consider yourself invited. You need to be signed in to facebook to access this link.

Results of the polls for July 2008

If a person is untidy with their personal belongings, do you think they are unorganised with other things as well?

45% answered sometimes.
27% answered yes.
27% answered no.

11 people answered.


If a person is, by your standard, 'over weight', does this indicate, to you, a corresponding adjective to their personality? (Such as, Homer Simpson, or Chief Wiggim).

60% answered no.
40% answered yes.
10 people answered.

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Three Blogs!

The trinity.

The three is actually, just the one.

Suddenly I have three blogs. It wasn’t intentional, but somehow they have evolved, and if I am honest with myself, they represent three categories.

Patheya.blogspot – Body orientated news (body)

On being human – What I’m thinking about (mind)

The death of me – My current spiritual/philosophical outlook (spirit)

The topics are interrelated, but sometimes I’m focusing on one aspect of the self above the other.

So, if you are a reader of one of these blogs, perhaps its worth knowing about the others, just to have a better overview of what’s happening.

At this moment in time, I’m focused on my spiritual outlook to life, so the patheya.blogspot hasn’t been receiving as much attention as it once did.

The thing about life is it seems to go in cycles… so I’m sure my energy will be focused on the body again in time. I wanted to apologise to anyone who may have expected more articles and news in the patheya blogspot.

You are more than welcome to take a peek into the other blogs for a bit of interesting reading.

As always, comments welcome.