Just the Perceiver and not the Perceived

I'd been chasing the 'one' experience for twenty years. It had changed my life and turned me from rebellious late teenager into spiritual seeker. I wanted to find that experience again, when it was all so easy. When I was swept away into the eternal. 


And then, just a couple of months back, I sat on my sofa and looked out across the park.  I love the sun. I love light. I let my eyes rest upon the brightness of the sky and it began to shift. The light moved towards me in particles, I could feel its motion, I could see its emanation. 


The light entered into my eye and into my flesh and it was the same as me, just a different expression of me. It merged into my being. It was my body. I followed it further, deeper into my eye and mind until it hit - the One who was aware. Then there was stillness and I began to feel wetness stream from my eyes. 


I was not that which I looked at. I was not that which I perceived. I was not that experience I so longed for. I was nothing. I was all things. I was life itself. I was tiny particles/cells of energy or conscious energy interacting with myself.  


The question became 'How to live life from the awareness of Oneness'. How to embody transcendence?

Beginning the Spiritual Journey

 The questions that come up these days is ‘where did this all begin?’, and ‘what was the impulse that has driven you to ‘here’?’

Rage, frustration, impotence, hatred. I guess these were the driving emotions that took me out of the city. I just couldn’t take it any more. I felt the whole world was driven by lies upon lies and it was killing me. It was like I was frying in my own outrage.

I left university to live as a caretaker on a farm in Nagambie.

While I was there I wrote a lot. Asking myself questions, trying to come to some kind of peaceful resolution. Just trying to live.

I don’t know what I thought would happen. All I knew is that I had to get away from people.  I had to have space in my head. I had to have space to breathe.

Then one day, the world changed. It’s when I had what I took to be a revelation. The things of the world really did reveal some sort of underbelly, or inner quality that I had never guessed at before. I saw what seemed to me at the time the deep reality of the situation. The interconnectedness of all beings. The ultimate Oneness of all.

And in that moment, there wasn’t more to do about it. It was only later, when I started thinking again, that I created a story around it.

The experience itself was quite simple and heartbreakingly profound, but the story I created, the meanings I started coming up with were ridiculously complex.

During the last 6 months, I’ve returned to the simplicity of the experience. I’ve dedicated my living to returning to direct experience and allowing it to unfold without interpretation. To let it penetrate my being without labels and without a story.

Its like nothing I imagined. I kept thinking that it has to be a certain way, that I would need to be able to describe it and that I would need to be able to teach it. But its not like that at all. It’s a funny thing, but there is nothing to teach. It’s more of an unteaching. A removal or a returning of some sort that takes place, but there is no need to express in the way I thought there would be. We’ve already got the thing we are seeking. Now how to express that to a society geared towards attaining? That’s the rub.

Of course, that is part of the prologue too, isn’t it? Well, I’m going to discover something in spirituality, and its going to fit a pattern that I’m familiar with in some way. Its going to fit my ideas. And when it doesn’t, its almost impossible to believe or trust.  It really is easy to overlook. The simplicity of Being.

For more information, you can listen to Adyashanti talking about ‘life without a story’ in one of his free audio downloads. Take a look at the Adyashanti link on the sidebar.  He explains everything much better than I can. 

Photo: Canyelles, Tiffany Jones

Canyelles, Tiffany Jones

India, Albert Vila

Yoga from the Heart - Seane Corn

Seane Corn Demonstrates "Body Prayer" from onBeing on Vimeo.

Yoga Workshop, Espern, Hamar, December 2009 - Part Five

Removing the Layers of Illusion

“we are separate”

Removing conditioning. Removing negative thought patterns, removing limiting beliefs.

We have to be careful now, because we are living in a world where advertisers have understood the mind and how we think. That is, to make money, 'they' study psychology. 

‘because you are worth it’… your kids are worth it – worth what exactly?  Worth what? 

Ask yourself this question. What is your worth? And when did you suddenly start believing you could be bought? ‘Everyone has their price.’ What’s your price?  Where is your treasure? That’s where your heart is. (Top of the cupboard, ‘those shoes’. I never wear them but I love to look at them.They make me feel better when I feel sad.) 

Any time a marketer/advertiser talks to you directly to the heart  through the art of advertising, its because they believe they have tapped into the consciousness of the people. They are selling you solutions to your fears and keys to your desires. They are keeping you hostage to your fears and desires.

Understand what I am saying. You have two buttons. 

Fear and Desire

Everything you do is based on these two things. Think about it. Trace your actions back to the original point.

You didn’t want your mother to be angry at you, you were afraid, so you enrolled in the course.

You wanted to look ‘better’ so you coloured your hair because 'she' looked good like that. 

You were afraid the other kids would laugh, so you lied.

We all do it.

Advertisers are a great enemy of self realisation, because they want you to stay a victim to fear and desire. They need you to feel needy, so that you buy things to fill the hole inside of you, and in thanks, you fill up the hole of their bank accounts with a ton of things you don't really need. If you don't believe me, open a cupboard. Do you need that stuff? Really? How much did it cost and how did it get into your house?  And the next cupboard, and your child's room? How many toys and things do they really use at all?

But advertisers are also our greatest teachers. How often do we respond to advertising because it taps into our fears? I don’t look cool enough, I don’t look rich enough, I don’t have the right coloured sofa, my pet is the wrong accessory for me, by breasts are the wrong size or my penis is too short.  ok then, just notice what advertisers  are tapping, embrace it, accept this fear/desire that you have, but take away the action related. We are just watching, observing.

Fear Desire, Desire Fear.

What if I said that yoga will teach you that you already have everything that you need, right now? How does it make you feel? Happy? Bored? Relieved?

We love the sea-saw of our lives. We must, because we keep living the exact same way all of the time. We get angry, then we get sad, then we are depressed, then we say oh well, and then we accept, then we swing up again, and we’re happy, and then, because she said that, we get a bit resentful again.  Its just a bit circle of events.  We are victims to 'them' and 'out there'.  As long as we are victims, we are not equals, we are not brothers and sisters, we are in a position of weakness and always trying to prove our worth. We can not come together from a position of inferiority of not being good enough. 

It’s a constant change. Impressions, feelings, sensations, emotions. They are constantly changing.

Does this make you afraid? To recognise that life constantly changes? That time really does change your memories and how you feel, and it softens the edges of things past.

Do you wish to hold everything exactly as it is right now? For nothing to change. Have you said that before? ‘I wish everything could stay exactly as it is right now?’   Or ‘I wish things could be the same as they were.’

The mind jumps around all the time. Just watch it. Watch it. Observe its motions. Notice the repetitious behaviour of your mind.

Your mind is a wonderful, amazing and undisciplined chit.

When I talk to you about awareness of the mind, I do not mean mind control, in forcing yourself to believe certain things. I just mean that we would like to shift the relationship we have to the mind.

The One that can see the mind jumping about is what we call the Big Self. The mind that jumps about like a monkey, is the little self. So, we say, instead of the Big Self being lead about by the little  self, lets train the monkey mind to become a powerful ally to the Big Self. So that, we can sleep when we want to, we can concentrate when we want to, we can do what is necessary at anytime we want to, without being a victim to the little self’s demands of ‘I want’ and ‘I need’ and ‘its not fair’ and ‘what about me’isms.

And more, if you suffer negative thoughts, if you suffer depression, if you suffer from your mind’s negative patterns, then yoga is going to be your best friend. And guess what, its not going to cost a euro. Just your time and patience.


Part Four of the Workshop 
Part Six of the Workshop 

What to think about during yoga?

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Personally, my attention shifts between several main purposes, depending on my circumstances.
Because I’m an instructor, sometimes I need to ‘practice’ the form and pay attention to technical detail. I like to listen to other yoga student’s experiences and see how I can incorporate their feelings into my own practice. I do this because it adds to a greater understanding of my student’s experiences. But this practice is physically based and doesn’t fulfill the need I have for meditation in movement.

* Sometimes I concentrate on the breath.

* Sometimes I concentrate on the weight distribution of my body across my feet and hands.

* Sometimes I focus on the stomach lock and ‘lifting’ the perineum.

* Sometimes I focus on the eye gaze and keep my face soft.

And then, sometimes, and more now than at any time before, I experience yoga. Yoga, that is, unity of movement. My focus is on the whole.

The mind is turned off. There is quiet. There is, and I exist within the forms.

And then, I am at one and my heart rings clearly, its vibrations moving like ripples of water on a lake through my body.

How to be unified in your practice?

Begin in the ‘right’ frame of mind
Understand what you are going to do. Turn the chatterbox off. Meditate quietly first and move into asana practice naturally.

Slow
For me, to practice ‘yoga’, I need to go slow. Hold poses for longer. Send your mind outwards. Feel yourself extend.

Smile
The inner smile is just the easiest way to feel one – smile from the inside with your practice. Feel the joy in your body. Let it lift you.

Student Advice
When you go to your yoga teacher – listen, pay attention, learn. Keep your ears open and your mind turned off. Practice with love towards your body.

When you are at home – do yoga. Be unified. Step onto your mat – let the things you have learnt in class disappear – and just be. Then you are yoga – then you are in unity, not wanting to be.

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.

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
q

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.