The concept of time

At this point in your lives, you may feel that you are pressured by time, not having enough time, or constantly finding you need to fit everything into time. You may find you are constantly busy and always behind.

Have you ever noticed that when you have too many pages open on your computer that it begins to slow down, the load burdens it? It is not that you are actually using these pages; you have just left them open. When you realise what has happened you need to go back and close them. This results in inefficiency and clutter, your mind functions on clarity and space not clutter.

All your thought projections of what if’s, maybes, projections of the future and past memories resurfacing uninvited, cause clutter and chaos in our minds.

When there is space in the mind, there is clarity and when there is clarity it allows us to see…

What happens when you break the surface of the water, you can no longer see the reflection clearly; the image is distorted. However when the water is calm and still, it reflects the entire sky in all its entirety and all is revealed in that single moment.

When the mind is clear and present it is capable of seeing clearly, effortlessly and simultaneously all that needs to be seen, all that needs to be done, with not even thoughts required. It moves beyond the limitations of a narrow mind that is tight and confined. With a mind absorbed with false attachment to thoughts, time becomes compressed; an open mind is timelessness itself.

Namaste

Peripheral Vision

Peripheral Vision

Developing your peripheral vision arises simply from choosing to be the seer, hearer and taster. Detaching from your false identification of your mind, it opens up your vision to all that is around you.

When you only seek what you expect to see, your vision becomes narrow and confined, reduced to a preconceived thought…. however when you open up your mind to witness all that is around you, you open up your potential to see everything as it is.

It is like when you are at the beach looking at a rock pool under dark clouds and then the sun comes out. You had been looking in the pool for the last few minutes seeing very little, now suddenly a wonderful landscape has opened up. It was always there; you simply could not see it. The light of the sun illuminated what was in front of you all the time.

Much the same as the enlightenment from within allows you to see clearly all that is.

Releasing tension opening up your peripheral vision

Try this now, sit comfortably and close your eyes gently. Now squeeze all your facial muscles together as tightly as you can, then while keeping your eyes closed, release the contraction all the way up to your hairline.

Enjoy your eyes being bathed in fluid. Release your jaw moving it from side to side, then three dimensionally as if you were chewing something delicious.

With your eyes closed, repeat contracting the facial muscles and then releasing.

Let go of any desire to need to see when you open your eyes. Rather let images come to you, allow your ‘sight’ to arise from behind your eyes to open up your peripheral vision, smile.

Experience the clarity and detail around you.

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Close your eyes and come to the breath

Discover a little about yourself

After a few weeks when students begin studying Self Knowledge I ask them to reflect and write, what is it that has brought them to Self Knowledge, what are they seeking in life?

It may well be something not quite tangible, that cannot be expressed in words yet I would encourage you to look within and find all those dreams, aspirations, things you desired or believed in at one point in your life that have not yet come to fruition. I emphasis that these be your dreams and aspirations not someone else's impositions on you. And if you should find when you do this, that there is simply nothing there that is okay after all, this is the journey where you will find your Self.

You may find this opens up a whole new realm of realisations often taking the students by surprise. Are there really so many things in their life they wish to change, do they really suffer all these anxieties and feelings of uncertainty and fear? In reflecting and writing it helps them to come to their first truth and realisation about themselves, that is, how much they shroud and hide how they feel.

I invite you to do this now, take the time to find a comfortable quiet place and choose a time when you will be alone and not rushed. Make a little ceremony of it, perhaps making a cup of tea or coffee a glass of water. Pause, close your eyes, observe your breath, and then begin to write. Wait for the words to be revealed, they will. You may be surprised by what your reflective writing reveals.

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                                 Close your eyes and come to the breath

Receptivity and openness

A Zen story tells of Nan-in, a Japanese master, during the Meiji era that received a request to meet with a visiting university professor. The professor came to enquire about Zen. Nan-in agreed to meet with the professor and offered him tea. The monk silently prepared the tea, as the professor watched in growing irritation. The monk slowly began pouring the tea into his visitor’s cup. The professor watched incredulously as the monk kept pouring the tea as the cup overflowed. Stop, ‘he said, it is overfill, no more will go in’!

Yes, said the monk smiling, like this cup you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup? I cannot teach one whose mind is already overflowing. Your mind is not free to receive.

When a mind is closed we only see what we expect to 'see'. We do not see or question at all, we drop into judgment and closed minds…

When the mind is open and we see or hear something new, we have to halt in our 'footsteps' and question further, an internal enquiry. We must come to a place of receptivity and openness before we can have the freedom to begin to understand and learn.

Come to the silence of the mind, to this breath, this moment, an inner smile.

Om Shanti

Happiness not subject to loss

What do you want in life?

Invariably what we all seek in our lives is happiness. Not the happiness based on external experiences, which is short lived, and subject to change but a much deeper happiness of contentment, peace, joy, unconditional love and insight. This is a natural desire.

Happiness is our natural state of being and we recognise that being unhappy does not feel right. If happiness is a natural desire why do we not experience it, why are we searching for happiness? Why do we experience such unhappiness?

We do not need to be told one of the things you must do in this life time is to be happy, it is a natural state of being. Yet it alludes so many of us.

We are like the musk deer, always searching for the elusive fragrance, running ourselves to exhaustion searching whilst all the while it is carried within us, we simply do not recognise it. So not realising that happiness is within oneself we search for it outside.

The nature of the external world is one of change, constant change even the mountains are changing albeit slowly. The creation as we know it, is a space-time continuum.

If we want everlasting happiness, which is not subject to loss, then it cannot be created because anything created in time is subject to change in time. Therefore if I seek happiness as a state of being, which is constant and unchanging, I cannot find it in the external world.

Once you recognise that ever lasting happiness cannot be found in the external world it reduces the search somewhat.

Rama asks the question in the Baghdad Gita, 'there is so much suffering and chaos in the world how can I be at peace when there is so much turmoil? Ajuna replied if the sand were hot, when you walk your feet will burn. If the ground is frozen your feet will freeze. If the ground is covered in thistles the thistles would prick your feet. However if you wrap leather around your feet where ever you travel in this world you will carry your happiness with you'.

Once we realise that we carry our happiness within us, nothing has the ability to disturb us. That quiet persistent feeling within each of us, that eternal search to find peace and contentment. It is a returning home to the sanctuary within, our natural state of being. This life’s ultimate journey is to reveal this for our-selves.

Namaste

You cannot see your thoughts clearly if you are in a role

Ok, so about now you may be beginning to feel some of the benefits of your practice, the ability to return to conscious breathing by choice.To silence the mind, being able to dissociate from the false attachment to the ‘I’, and being able to see the true nature of your thoughts in the quiet times. Experiencing less emotional turmoil in your life and then wham you drop back into old patterns of destructive and reactive behaviour.

Invariably you will find this happens when you are around people close to you.

Why does this happen?

Because these are relationships that have a strong pattern of false emotional attachments due to the number of repetitions you have played out in your roles together.

Typically the relationships you have had the longest, such as child, parent relationship will have the strongest and largest pattern of false emotional attachments to it.

Until you become aware of the nature of your mind, even when those roles are identified the maya of the mind will try to continue to keep the false emotions ‘alive’ with living and repeating the past, which is a huge drain on your life force and energy.

All that is required is first to recognise this. Then with this knowledge you will have a heightened awareness next time it happens.

With each repetition and recognition of the unconscious ‘maya’ of roles being played out again and again you will ultimately choose to cut the chain of automatic reactions. You will reach that stage of ‘I have had enough’.

Then you will be able to see the interrelationships for what they are and not get caught up in the emotional ‘maya’. 

Remember you only have one life to choose that is your own, only one mind to manage and that is your own, you do not control other people’s minds, thoughts or actions.

In order to instigate change it must come from within you for you, not with the intent to change another person for they are not yours to control.

Therefore detach from your thoughts to the space and silence. Drop into the present moment and in detachment witness the role you are currently in. Detach from the role and only then will you be able to see things as they are, without blame or judgement.

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Close your eyes and come to the breath

Releasing tension opening up your peripheral vision

Sit comfortably, close your eyes gently, and now squeeze all your facial muscles together as tightly as you can, then while keeping your eyes closed, release the contraction all the way up to your hairline.

Enjoy your eyes being bathed in fluid.

Release your jaw moving it from side to side, then three dimensionally as if you were chewing something delicious.

With your eyes closed, repeat contracting the facial muscles and then releasing.

Let go of any desire to need to see when you open your eyes. 

Rather let images come to you, allow your ‘sight’ to arise from behind your eyes to open up your peripheral vision, smile.

Experience the clarity and detail around you.

Have a wonderful day being present,

Namaste

Conscious Breathing

The following breathing technique is something I recommend you practice every day. It can be done in bed, lying on the floor or, as you become familiar with accessing and breathing into the lower lobes of your lungs even when you are sitting. The benefits are deeply relaxing, it shifts the nervous system into the parasympathetic, which means a state of deep relaxation.

Most of your active working day you will be breathing and utilising the middle lobes of the lungs, this is the breath that gets you up in the morning, showered and out into the world.  It also stimulates the sympathetic nervous system so your body is on alert. This is great but it needs balance because if you don't switch back to lower lobe breathing you will exhaust your body, it is that simple.

We are not designed to constantly be doing which is why in the path of yoga they put rest in, otherwise we simply run out of energy and crash. Despite modern man devising all sorts of medications to keep us going while disguising the bodies intelligent messages to stop I need to rest, we try to artificially keep going by taking drugs and other stimulants. The result leads to more than just crashing, it leads to dis-ease (dis harmony) of mind and body.

Relaxing Breathing Meditation

Lie down on the floor with the appropriate support.

If there is any back pain, then bend your legs, resting your feet beneath your knees. If your neck feels uncomfortable place a small bolster beneath.

Close your eyes, relax your facial muscles and bring your attention to the breath. Rest one hand gently on your lower belly, just beneath you navel and the other hand resting beneath your lower back. Your hands will find a natural resting position here.

Bring your attention to your breath, do not feel the need to change your breath in any way or form simply become the observer of your breath. Notice if there is any movement beneath your hands, perhaps the hint of a gentle swell.

Remember a deep breath is a quiet breath, almost indiscernible from the outside. Deep reflects going deeper and lower in the body, not using your external upper body muscles and tensing your facial muscles.

Now invite each inhalation to be drawn into your lower belly softly expanding the belly upwards, while simultaneously releasing the tension you are holding onto in the lower back, allowing the lower back to gently lift away from the floor.

As you exhale allow the belly to empty feeling your upper hand receding into your belly and your lower back returning to the floor pressing gently into the back of your hand, let go of any tension you may be holding in the lower back. Wait for the next inhalation to arise and repeat the cycle of the belly gently expanding on the in breath, lower back releasing away from the floor and on each out breath, the belly emptying as the lower back returns to the support of the earth. Feel your body riding the wave of extension arising from the breath, much like a wave in the ocean, gently drawing in and then receding, no effort.

Allow your hands to impart and encourage this free flowing movement, once you feel comfortable with the rhythm you may like to rest both hands on your belly or palms up alongside your body. Do not allow any thoughts disturb you, breathe.

Namaste

The Role of Meditation

Meditation is not something you ‘do’ it is a state of being. Ultimately it could be described as samadi, when you are with yourself, as much as when you are with your thoughts as when you are in silence.

Being present in this single moment is meditation.

Being fully occupied in what ever you are doing is meditation. 

Being fully present in your body is meditation.

Meditation is the state of being with yourself, with your breath.

Meditation is not emptying your mind of all thoughts simply to escape them as if they are something to be feared It is a technique to help develop Samadhanam, one- pointedness the ability to maintain discipline and concentration of the mind.  Meditation is a tool to use on the pathway to understanding the true nature of your thoughts for your thoughts will always be there, we need them.

If you are always fearful of your thoughts, not recognising that the thoughts in themselves are innocent, that it is your false attachment to them that creates your fear and angst, trying to block them will only give them more energy. Remember the more you think about it the bigger it becomes, you amplify the negativity and unrest, the mind becomes even more cluttered. Instead let your meditation be the study, the observation of ones self.

Detach from the thinker and become the observer. You can apply meditation to everything you do in life. It is the act of being present. In stilling the flurry of thoughts and coming back to your natural place of existence, silence.

Hanging out the washing can be a meditation, the touch of the clothes in your hands, the feel of the action of hanging them on the line, the sky, the lawn, whatever is around you, be present, become the seer, the feeler, the hearer. Painting a bedroom wall can be a meditation. Making dinner can be a meditation.

When you bring your presence to this moment you experience the miracle of being present. When we bring presence to our being absolutely everything in our life can be a meditation. And being present brings us to that state of being where we feel at peace, calm, joyous, serene, beautiful. Where we become conscious of the miracle of this life.

At the beginning of every yoga class I include this invocation:

Breathing in my body opens expansive and light

Breathing out I draw inwards, releasing letting go

Dwelling in this present moment

I know this is the only moment.

In this single moment you are with your self, in this single moment there is no fear, or anxiety, no chaos and no problems. You open your mind to a higher level of consciousness, this is the reality of your being.

The state of your mind in unconsciousness is falsified, its total existence is coloured with stories and creations, mostly destructive or negative in their nature. You cannot find your self with a mind that is corrupted. Silencing your mind allows you to rise above the existing false limitations of the mind.

Namaste

What do you want in life?

Address for Happiness

What do you want in life?

Invariably what we all seek in our lives is happiness. Not the happiness based on external experiences, which is short lived and subject to change but a much deeper happiness of contentment, peace, joy, unconditional love and insight. This is a natural desire.

Happiness is our natural state of being and we recognise that being unhappy does not feel right. If happiness is a natural desire why do we not experience it, why are we searching for happiness? Why do we experience such unhappiness?

We do not need to be told one of the things you must do in this life time is to be happy, it is a natural state of being. Yet it alludes so many of us.

We are like the musk deer, always searching for the elusive fragrance, running ourselves to exhaustion searching whilst all the while it is carried within us, we simply do not recognise it.

So not realising that happiness is within oneself we search for it outside.

_______________________

Two brothers were devotees of Lord Shiva and travelled to the forest daily to meditate. Many years passed and then one day Lord Shiva appeared, he said ‘you have both been good devotees tell me what you desire and I will fulfil your wish’.

The first brother said I wish to have a kingdom and he followed with a long list of demands for this kingdom.

It is done said Lord Shiva; he then turned to the second brother and asked what is it you desire?

The second brother thought for a while.  

Then he spoke, it seems to me that there are some flaws with requesting a kingdom, for what if the land is barren and no crops can grow?

What if the neighbours are hostile and there is war?

Or what if my wife was unable to bear children?

The second brother continued, I was wondering why my brother was asking for all these things and then I realised that what he actually wants is happiness. Therefore what I wish for Lord Shiva is ‘happiness’.

Lord Shiva replied I couldn’t give you that.

Why not the brother exclaimed!

I can only give you what you do not already have.

If you asked me for a head I could not give you one because you already have one, as it is with happiness you already have the happiness within you.

I cannot give you what you already have.

It generally takes us quite a few years, decades actually and usually not until we have exhausted every option for finding happiness in the external world before we realise that these things do not bring us happiness.

Let us take a moment here to define happiness vs. comfortable.

To have wealth makes us comfortable not necessarily happy. 

However it is better to have wealth and be comfortably uncomfortable than poor and be uncomfortably uncomfortable.

Now, close your eyes and silent your mind, enter the stillness within. Can you feel the beauty, the peace? Existing in this absolute silence and space. The tools of Self Knowledge allow us to remove our false attachments to reveal this reality.

Namaste

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Close your eyes and come to the breath