Pranasana Yoga

Making the CD - The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

2011-10-26T08:22:00.000-07:00

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and do it. Because what the world needs is people who come alive.

I read this quote by Howard Thurman when I was in the process of making this CD. It resonated ever so deeply as I had felt a vital part of me coming to life: the child within who could enjoy playing, taking all as it comes, enjoying every action without anticipating the fruit. Every step of the way was a reminder that ‘it’s ok to be me’, it’s ok to live life in accordance to what feels right inside. In the process of my recordings I realised even more clearly how some of us (including me), somewhere along the line, loose our own compass – that part of us which knows what we truly want from life but doubt to live it.

I had never set out to narrate poetry and record it. The thought only crossed my mind after a dance workshop when a couple of students came to tell me how much they liked what they heard of the last track I’d played. It was someone narrating parts of Khalil Gibran’s poem on Love. What was slightly disappointing for them was the fact that the music was loud and the words weren’t clear. This is how I came to record my first narration to replace this track on my playlist, in the hope that it will be clearer for my next workshop.

I was not surprised at the joy this little task brought me. Although it was totally different from anything I’d ever thought I’d do, there was a sense of familiarity and total harmony with myself. I was reminded that even as a teenager, my favourite pastime was to read poems that had moved me and share them with friends who came round. I took it a bit further by creating videos and images to go with the words and admittedly when I loaded the first video on Youtube, I felt I was facing the world as myself, with no mask, for the first time. I was excited, thrilled, petrified and very happy at the same time, no doubt that I WAS ALIVE!!

With the encouragement of many of you and everyone who watched those videos came the birth of this project. When I was recording, as I read and reread the poems, I felt myself tuning in to the pulse of life and felt my soul dancing; for that I am ever so grateful. This is the power of poems that have sprouted from the heart of life itself. They strike a note in the heart of the listener till music starts dancing the soul. Kahlil Gibran’s words are powerful as they come from an honest heart and an inquisitive mind. As you read or hear his words, you recognise that he was a man truly involved and fascinated with life and it is my hope that his passion will strike a chord in your heart and you’ll remember that

The best way to act in the play of Life is as the real, authentic YOU!

Listen to Sample

Surprised by Song by Jacky

2011-10-26T08:21:00.000-07:00

It was a sacred Moment, I sat in quiet peace.

Enfolded by the silence of a meaningful release.

Hushed was my heart and quiet

It dared not even whisper low

For the silence was more golden than mortal man could know.

And then there came upon my ear

Heaven sent voices sweet.

Angelic Chimes it seemed to me as I worshipped at His Feet

Voices blending with the silence, rich in harmony

A thousand, thousand callings arranged in melody.

No longer quiet was my heart

Nor wanting silence then,

But filled with joyous rapture with the attention of this hymn.

It swept away the sorrow,

That is not akin to Pain.

Glimpsed I then eternity

And was made whole again.

Simple Life verses Complex Spiritual Concepts

2011-10-25T05:39:00.000-07:00

As I look back on my life I recognize that this so-called spiritual path started at the difficult turning point of my adolescent life. I was 16, was aware of all the pain around me and yet I had managed to be the 'cause of pain'. I was guilty and felt it and wanted forgiveness. So, as one would in total despair, I asked God for his forgiveness, only to realise I hadn't a clue who I was talking to. I asked him/her to show me and if s/he exists to introduce him/herself to me. 25 years has passed since our initial fascinating introduction and I am questioning just how far did I have to travel to get back here, sitting comfortably in my skin.

I am beginning to see that the love affair with the source of life, the yearning for that love inside and the recognition of this miracle of life - which is at the root of all spiritual schools - is what some of us need as a foundation for self love, as a starting point to enable us to be comfortable with who we are. Of course the source and that self love are one in the same.

With every step on this path, we become more familiar to what others have said and with their terminologies. We learn the complicated definitions and the intellectual concepts about ego, consciousness, awareness, oneness...all these beautiful, meaningful and yet sometimes confusing words which make some people feel 'they don't get this spiritual stuff'. All these steps have been necessary for me - personally, but I am seeing more clearly how 'spirituality' is not about 'understanding' and 'believing’ concepts. I would not go as far as calling myself spiritual when I feel I have to 'stop feeling' good when someone praises me in the fear to feed the monster of the ego. I couldn't say I am closer to the source when I feel I have to 'stop feeling' sad for being rejected, blaming the ego for its persistence. In fact, I would say that any system that wants me to put a stop in the reality of my experience of life couldn't possibly help me blossom in the being that I am. Whether it is to 'stop feeling' good or to 'stop feeling' bad, both of these are traps, the having to 'stop' what life is creating in my being is me fighting life at its core. This stopping is different from stopping ourselves telling our life stories, that is something we can learn to do, it's a skill. But wanting to stop to feel 'anything' is what can cut us away from life. Forcing detachment is like wanting to create a mental disease on purpose. If you go to any mental asylums (I have been there to visit friends/family), all you see are detached people completely estranged from life. True detachment is natural, automatic and it cannot be done. It doesn't cut one from life, in the contrary it allows one to be truly involved. It happens when the time is right, when the mind has opened to include, to allow all.

When I pay attention, I hear us speak, saying one thing, in two conversations running in parallel. We say one thing and then judge ourselves as egotistic for saying that. It makes me laugh to see how in the quest to find happiness, we have devoured ourselves from simple straight living.

What spirituality aims to achieve is 'you' comfortable and totally at ease with the way you are now, in all aspects of your life. It's simple to live, but we are very scared to live the life we want. What if I'll be alone? What if all my friends and family think this or that of me and judge me? What if I do something and then regret it? As if these things: regrets, judgements, disappointments, loneliness haven't already entered our life! As if, we don't already know how to deal with them. We live life disappointed while we fear disappointment, lonely because we fear loneliness, scared because we're afraid of fear. What we are scared of the most, we are already living. Why not live it with authenticity, with 'true speech' and 'true actions'. What is the point in believing we're miracles, children of the universe, connected to all if we can't move through life naturally, with ease, according to our truth.

If we can allow this being to naturally act in the world, there won’t be much need for any spiritual books. Although I'd still want to read them all just to see in how many more billion ways can this most simple truth be told: You're OK just as you are. The underlying hurt in my being comes up when I believe 'I'm not OK as I am'. Friends, family and everyone we meet who presses our button - and omg, just how many of these buttons can there be??? - they're reminding us that the beauty of this magnificent show of life includes us and thankfully there is no way out. Can we love ourselves in the midst of recognising our buttons have been pressed? Can we love 'this' manifestation of life too? All spiritual schools aim to have you make peace with you; once you're in peace with you, you're in peace with the world. Once you know you're OK to be you, you know they're OK to be them too and the play

continues each doing what we know best.

Where is the wrong, the mistake in this play just as it is? With you being you?

Can we simplify it all, taking ourselves right back to where we started, where we thought something wasn't good enough? Can we see it was all an illusion?
Dorna Djenab Oct 2011

As Nature Intends

2011-10-12T02:30:00.000-07:00

As Nature Intends

Nature intends in accord with the Divine Will. This is like saying ‘as we think, so we become’.

The purpose of Breathing Practice is to facilitate the realisation that mind is enlivened by awareness, which is its source. This awareness, your deepest self, is often termed ‘I, soul, consciousness, God’, or any other terms that you choose to name it. There are many benefits or fruits along this road, which include improved health and vitality.

With this perfection, whether in the form of a fleeting moment or permanent abode, is the realisation that the Soul is one part of the All, of which it always has been and, will be. This ‘has been’ and ‘will be’ both exist in this present moment, as being and time can only occur Now.

This presence always was. It is prior to the senses, informing and animating them, aiding us through life’s day.

The more aware you are, the more easily you can see that your mind and body are inseparable. What affects one is seen as an effect in the other. We use the expression ‘mind over matter’, implying that mind governs the course for the body’s re-action, whereby cells recreate themselves based upon memory.

When the mind and the senses are focused inward toward their source (awareness), there arises a still point of focus which gives rise to a state of concentration.

Attention to breath enables this distillation and awareness of ‘I’ purity emerges. This takes place as the senses withdraw from external appearances (disturbances) and consciousness releases the mind away from internal fantasy. Unsullied awareness remains.

This further gives rise to the understanding that awareness, which we experience and express through the term ‘I’ is all that there is. The gift of humanity is Self consciousness and the relevance of our journey is to re-establish this awareness. This is opposed to weighing ourselves down in ‘our story’, which requires the constant maintenance of internal dialogue. We know that Energy ‘is’ without birth or death and that it transmutes. The only way that it can do this is via awareness or consciousness.

Through the prolonged practice of concentration, all faculties; namely senses, mind, ego and intelligence are all reabsorbed into their maker. This meditation within and towards the true self culminates in total absorption. It is a state of stillness and utmost peace. It is beyond the mind. It is harmony with everything.

In the spinal column, within the spinal cord, we have what is known by the mystic traditions as the Central Channel; Sushumna Nadi, or the Gracious Path. We could term this a non-physical thread of light. This channel contains the core energy. It is also known as the ‘Thrusting Channel’, ‘Pillar of Light’, and various other names, coined by traditions throughout history. This central axis brings life into and animates the physical body and three dimensional earthly existence.

It is like a wish fulfilling tree or Jacobs’ ladder. It leads to peace.

When the mind is still for extended time periods, when the energy remains within this central core for long enough and, when this is combined with an understanding of the Greater Good, (humans are a collective working towards the same cause) a total absorption or alignment with the inner Self is achieved.

This is a description of the higher stages of practice. That excludes about 99.9% of this planet. However, the saints and sages describe this for us so that we have something to aspire to. This is so we can experience life as humans rather than animals. The sages of past and present also remind us that we contain the exact same Divine Fire within us. Life includes choice. We can focus the heat of this flame inwards and upwards to our Divine Self, which is permanent truth, or allow it to dwindle with insatiable passion for this wonderful yet impermanent world.

To be free, means that we reach a state of non duality. We know that we are ‘in this world’ and don’t attempt to avoid its ghostlike manoeuvres. We embrace it fully, knowing that we are the source of Joy that we experience through earthly matter, via our senses, mind and intellect.

In those moments of freedom which we all experience from time to time, the mind is still. We are often not even aware of our body. We feel ‘a part’ of everything around us. We feel that we belong. We feel at home. There is no longer any sense of separation or being ‘apart’.

Every day the body comes and goes. Some cells die and others are born, as quantum particles dance in and out of existence. Our experience of life can be; “This is all so real” and in the next moment, “My God, it’s all a wash of cosmic illusion!”

These tiny particles, mostly comprised of ‘nothingness’ hold a memory.

Moksha or Liberation, is about understanding that we hold the key to this memory.

In fact we ARE the Key. How humorous is that?!

Every time you breathe in, you regenerate yourself.

Every time you breathe out, you let go of that which you no longer need.

Isn’t that beautiful? J

Awareness provided by consistent breathing practice, re-leases us to the truth that we have mistaken ourselves as ONLY the thoughts in our mind, many of which are projected into it from the outside world and all are from the past.

“I must have a new car.”

“I must be slimmer.”

“I need to change” or “I need some excitement!!”

Life reveals that the TRUTH IS and although our perceptions of it may change like a setting sun, it never does.

This truth is the awareness that we are that root awareness, knowing, feeling and thought ‘I’.

I am. I go, I like, I should, I shouldn’t etc.

This centring or abiding in your ‘I’ self is the destroyer of death. It is the end of living a life to please others. It is following the Yellow Brick Tao, living in this moment of now, wherein we access immense creative potential.

We have seen so many times in history, how one person changes its course. The reality is that we all have this effect, as we are all ripples in this great ocean of existence. Everything that you do, changes those around you. Whether you deem your thoughts and actions as positive or negative, you are always affecting those around you simply by being here.

As this awareness grows within, you begin to experience that you are not your body, mind or ego. All of these things are within you and act as your interface with the world.

Exercise 1. Please SIT or LIE comfortably and OBSERVE YOUR BREATH for a few minutes.

You can sit on the floor using supports (e.g. cushions, pillows) or in a chair if that is more comfortable.

When lying down, you may wish to support the back of your head with a cushion. Make sure that you are ‘warm’ i.e., pleasant room temperature and that the air is as clean as possible.

Observe your breath as it is. Notice that you are aware. If you have wandered, notice this when your mind returns to the presence of being.

Exercise 2. Listen to your breath for a couple of minutes and OBSERVE ANY PATTERNS that are present. Become aware of your mind.

Observe the cyclical nature of your breath and if this alters due to your attention.

Let go of any attempt to control or shape the breath in any way, especially if you have previous experience at this kind of thing J.

What are you aware of?

Whether it is the breath, the body, mind, memories, or energy in motion (E-motion), allow it all to be.

Whether you feel joy or discomfort in any part of your being, be attentive to your level of awareness. Such presence revels in itself and enlightens your consciousness to its unnecessary sufferings and delusions. Life then unfolds as it really is; ever new Joy is revealed from beneath the mirage which we have superimposed upon it.

Trust that your experience is unique to you, whether or not it is similar to what is described here.

Trust that your body, in its present condition, is your greatest teacher, as it reflects part of the nature of your soul.

Listen effortlessly, so that you can interpret the messages it is giving you.

Regular practice will help you to develop these skills if this is all quite new to you.

Many people say that they are totally disconnected from their bodies. They have spent most of their lives living in their heads.

Conscious breathing will teach you how to integrate your awareness throughout your being. It will allow you to incorporate the dark with the light.

Holistic is non-exclusive and the sum is greater than its seeming parts.

As you progress within, you will recognise these feelings and experiences arising internally and they will help to determine that your true nature is one of perennial fearlessness and JOY.

After you have finished practicing either of the exercises, allow yourself a few minutes to centre. Continue sitting or lying still. If you need to move then do so without concern. A few minutes complete rest will help you to absorb and centre the effects of your session in readiness for the next moment of your day.

Matt Gluck 15th Dec 2009

Are we institutionalised?

2011-09-16T12:59:00.000-07:00

In the film “Shawshank Redemption”, following an inmate called Brook, committing suicide after being freed from living in prison for 50 years, Morgan Freeman (Red), says to Tim Robbins (Andy): ‘These walls are funny. First you hate’em, then you get used to’em. Enough time passes and you get to depend on them. That’s institutionalised.’

When I heard these words, it reminded me that we are all, in a way, institutionalised in the prison walls of the ego. Having wondered and pondered to finally make peace with the ego resurfacing over and over again, I came to the conclusion that its resurfacing was a requirement for a smooth, calm path to true freedom.

Brook felt safe in prison, he was somebody, he had an identity. He knew the rules, the game and everything made sense. The rules he knew clashed with the outside world and although he was now free, the freedom lay heavy on his soul. He could no longer function as all that he’d learnt, was of no use. Inside the walls, there was safety, familiarity, meaning and a sense of control; outside, uncertainly, the unknown and mystery.

The two sides of the walls were so different that he was incapable of marrying them and got lost in the process.

Freedom is something to get used to slowly so that the being can gradually adapt to letting go to the source and find safety in the unknown, security in insecurity and meaning in the mysterious. Years ago, I found myself swearing and cursing from the depth of my heart at the universe / the source because I couldn’t let go of the ego. Today, when it emerges, I thank God. For my coming back to prison, is my way to adapt slowly to the immense power, charge and magnificence of the source.

If Brook had a choice and wanted to be a free man, he would have probably gone back inside every now and again to slowly adjust to the free world. Once he had tasted the peace, the ease and comfort of not having to ask for permission for his next move and for being liberated of the strict and inhibiting life inside, he would have naturally chosen to stay out ‘alive’. If he’d spent enough time outside, while being able to go in when he pleased, the pain of being locked out would come to the surface and he would no longer ‘choose’ to go back.

The pain and darkness of being inside becomes truly apparent by having something to compare it with: the bliss and the light of being free. Only when it becomes totally clear by way of comparison, do we stop choosing the walls. Until then, let the Brook in your being slowly get used to the intensity and magnificence of the free world within.

On the spiritual path the fire of intense desire for freedom has been mentioned by many saints. It is that fire that will keep us on the path, until eventually even the concept of freedom is also thrown away!!

Dorna Djenab (Sept 2011)

Yoga for Addiction

2011-09-06T04:06:00.000-07:00

Addiction is the physical and/or psychological dependency upon a subject or object, which leads to a downward spiral of negativity, where ‘rock bottom’ is seen as a place of intense or unbearable suffering.

The compulsive behaviour accompanying addiction often veers one to an uncontrollable path. Addictions manifest in intriguing ways; smoking, eating, narcotics and alcohol are the more traditional varieties. 21^st Century media has hooked many to an array of alternatives; internet gambling, shopping, social networking,

sex, mobile phones and infinite t.v.

The irresistible urge one may feel to satiate any of these desires is known as ‘the knee jerk reaction’. Such tendency may be genetic and/or conditioned and both involve neuro-chemical behaviour that issues demands to prescribe a ‘hit’. After some time, many minds ask “why?” This inquiry arises from countless episodes of suffering, out of which stem the realisation that banging one’s head against a brick wall can be injurious.

For most, addictions are escapism, attempting to avoid emotions like anxiety and loneliness. As a young boy, I became addicted to medicines (that relieved asthma and allergies) and the thinking and behaviour that accompanied them.

Many years later I saw the cause in the effect. I realised these apparently ‘non physical’ patterns of thinking and feeling create the loop of incarnation. Every time I needed medicine, there was a re-action and I was submerged in an endless drama. One day my unconscious mind spoke to me about attachment as I found myself jotting, “Before and After”. What I saw was that the highs of addiction are accompanied by lows, during as well as after the influence of any substance. Following further examination I found that ecstatic moments can be experienced while withdrawing, abstaining and during retraining periods. What else is the ‘high’ other than the mind’s mistaking the superimposed delight for its non-corporeal self, the true light of experience.

I began to find comfort within discomfort as
“what am I running from?” echoed outward from my core.

One can act or re-act. The former arises out of emptiness, which means anything is possible. The latter, memory, means watching repeats.

How many times have you seen, clutching to pleasure invites pain. What is this pain other than the guru? The addict escapes moments of dis-ease, where they avoid facing withdrawal, which is as much a part of the addictive cycle and fix as the ‘high’.

Interestingly, the symptoms are things like drug addiction, the causes lie within us. To know the world, look within. Today my symptoms are ‘one bar of Green and Black’s too many’. This doesn’t wake me in a sweat of fear in the middle of the night however!

Yoga is divine intervention. Learning to understand pain or discomfort during practice means we can ‘use it and not abuse it’. If you are suffering, how many times a day are you crucifying yourself?

I believe the cure is in the pain. I am not suggesting that yoga is painful but that pain exists to advise us, as does the awareness of our mortality. Years past, in my kung-fu training, I would stand in a horse stance for an hour and suffer, forcing myself to achieve. I was addicted to feeling physical pain and emotional inadequacy.

I have now learned acceptance which leads to the surrender that I am not the doer. I see that I sometimes carry the cross still, but most of the suffering and pain has ended. The discomfort is my work in progress.

Through mindfulness one becomes mindless.

Or as the mother says to her child,

There, there, never mind.

This allows you to find your still edge, where pranayama occurs in asana, or absorption in mudra and bandha, where you experience humanity, being breathed. I know this absorption as Soul and dwell in it daily.

To transcend, the addict must admit addiction and weakness. This births inner acceptance, which enlightens awareness of the deepest self. This happens because when this thought “I am addicted” nestles into the unconscious mind, the higher intellect reveals that “I am” is separate from “addicted”. That’s essentially it. The rest could be seen as choice. Shall I nourish the ‘I am’ or the “I am addicted”?

I’m not suggesting that total relief is instantaneous, but that if you believe the above to be true, then it can be. At the very least, the shift towards ending the suffering begins immediately.

Yoga practice reveals the inner Self is the medicine and that when pain is over; it displays an element of illusion. Experience of ‘an inner self’ is the awakening from the dream that ‘this is all there is’, transforming the mundane into ever new joy. This Self progressively reveals its God-like nature. This is what we have been looking for and awareness chuckles “this is what you have been running away from”.

When we are ready to accept freedom, peace and joy as our birthright, then we are ready to move beyond limiting beliefs such as ‘I need this habit to survive’. In the same way that bandhas are locks which restrain energy and an asana has a zenith beyond which it is termed by another name; one becomes aware of the limiting patterns of an addiction and how yoga practice facilitates a cure.

It teaches us how and when to apply and balance tension and relaxation. An excess of either can be painful. One reaches a milestone where sight of superfluous and detrimental factors arises. At this point it can be easy to let them go. When I take off my reading glasses it doesn’t mean I can no longer breathe. Knowing this, one can conquer old patterns, which have the knack of appearing in new guises.

The wisdom of the body is so great that upon inquiry, it learns to reject things which drain its re-serves. We learn to take refuge in the awakened one within, where stillness and movement intertwine in an ever renewing state.

Asanas

Warrior and horse poses for confidence. Inversions (to give an inverted perspective of one’s current position); standing forward bend, downward dog, plough, shoulderstand and headstand (or half headstand or rabbit).

Pranayama

Kapal Bhati for centering, detoxing and relaxing.

Kapal Bhati on You Tube

Bhastrika for strengthening, cleansing and further raising the vitality. This and Kapal Bhati will increase willpower and raise the generative force through the vital centres of the physical and subtle bodies. This elevation transmutes into spiritual awareness, which may have been snoozing up to this point. Sustained and careful practice removes one from attachment and therefore addiction.

The Bellows Breath On You Tube

Ujjayi breath for calming the nerves and attuning to the inner self. Develops inner grip through the subtle contraction within the throat and how this relates to the other diaphragms, all other connective tissue, the organs and glands, the subatomic and Atmic.

Yoga Nidra (yogic sleep) and Meditation – both play a critical role in helping one to view the unconscious patterns and habitual negative belief systems. With practice these are remedied as they are torn away at their root. They are rewritten with positive feelings and thinking, using Sankalpa (harmonious intention) to give life to a new seed of being. Apply Ujjayi breathing with Antar Mouna, which is to meditate upon the inner silence.

Yoga Nidra Cd Audio's and here also

Matt Gluck :)

Meditation – Dhyana

2011-09-05T08:25:00.000-07:00

Meditation for many is understood to be a practice of sitting or lying down, listening to calming music or words, repeating a mantra, visualising and/or relaxing. Although meditation might happen during these or after (as a result), meditation itself is not a doing.

The doing is the preparation, the invitation, the act of willingness. Once that’s in place, meditation can happen. Not to say that meditation doesn’t happen otherwise, as it does many a time in a day without our conscious knowing.

Meditation is a state of complete awareness without the intermediary of a person. It is not a point where you think ‘oh, I’m aware’ but, rather when the notion of ‘I’ has disappeared and all that remains is awareness being aware of all: Sounds, thoughts, emotions and feelings but, as the sense of being a person has vanished, nothing is grasped, followed or interpreted.

Now the big question is: How can I meditate? And what is the point of it anyhow?

I guess for every person, the ‘how’ can be different as it is proven by the many different techniques that are available. Sometimes a good asana (posture) practice takes you there, sometimes pranayama (breathing), sometimes chanting or a good walk... I used to sit in meditation doing TM and sometimes I had good experiences, glimpses of stillness, highs, bliss and sometimes the total opposite. I saw very clearly how the mind was one day more tamed than others and how I would identify myself as a successful meditator on some occasions and a looser on others! I was often surprised that regardless of the state I would get to, as soon as I was faced with any challenge outside my practice, that state would just disappear. I started seeing that the point of sitting in meditation was to see how easily during the course of the day, our mind controls our life and –because we’re not meditating – we let it run wild. So my meditation instead of being 20 minutes twice a day has become all of my waking hours. Does that mean I walk around with a blissful grin on my face and sound like the Buddha? Absolutely not!! Instead, as many times during the day as I can, I lay the physical foundation in my body by relaxing any tension caused by negative or positive emotions. I ground and surrender to the earth wherever I am, becoming aware of my breath and my surroundings. I let go for a few seconds or minutes of my ‘roles’ and others too, leaving my beliefs, convictions and fears behind as I wait. The quality of this waiting is so relaxed, it’s not really waiting for anything in particular.

There are so many times during the day that this is possible, leaving no excuses for not meditating! Sitting and chatting to a friend, walking, cooking, writing, typing or doing the dishes....I used to wonder how it was possible to let go of everything and yet talk or write. Well, this is how the artist paints or the pianist plays. We can bring this artistic, creative current in everything that we do ALL DAY LONG. A good meditation practice is not necessarily one where we enter a special blissful state or as an artist would say ‘going to the zone’. It is in the decision to turn up for meditation regardless. This decision, the earnestness, is renunciation in action.

As I write now, if I relax my body and let go of all my convictions, fears and the roles I like to play (including one of a teacher), the pen doesn’t stop creating shapes on the paper. It dances as I watch it glide on the paper in harmony with the sounds of my hand making soft swishing sounds. The experience of writing takes on a taste of devotion, of prayer and of meeting. You might say, it’s ok to meditate while writing about meditation but how about when writing a tender for the next biggest sales deal in the office? This is how I see it: As we write there are gaps. There is writing and then a pause, writing and another pause. If you watch carefully everything that we do has this rhythm, we’re not really writing all the time - that would be exhaling without taking any inhalation, which would stop the whole show. So when we pause in action, we can choose to relax, let go, ease the inner tension and allow the experience to take up a totally different quality. As we truly pause in the pause, the action itself changes as we become aware of the silence underneath the actions.

I would like to think of meditation during activities as a way to move literally from the surface of the ocean of life towards the depth where we can hear its loud silence and powerful calm.

As you’re reading or hearing these words, can you become aware of the pauses? Can you ease in to them? Can you rest all your roles, (including that of a ‘thinker’) for a nano-second during the pauses? Can you be ‘no-one’ as you listen or read?

For me, ‘the person’, ‘the ego’ matters; meaning if we deny it, it will bite and sometimes quite hard!! All it wants really it to live a good life, an always better and happier life ;-) So, by denying it, it gets scared, kicks a fuss and creates havoc in our lives. The best way to deal with it is to listen and then to gently takes it where it can find all that it wants. We take it tenderly to the source of happiness: by the ocean of stillness (the pause) and invite it to drink (to wait). Once it has taken the first sip, the tastes is so out of this world that it get drunk and, when it has drunk enough and is ready for more, the ocean pulls it in and the ego disappears. This is when meditation takes place. Meditation is the point where the ocean pulls us in and we vanish. The best we can do is turn up and offer ourselves wholeheartedly.

Then life calls and the ego jumps out of the ocean, apparently unchanged. But the ocean has washed away some of its bits. It goes out, plays its roles and we invite it again on the next occasion, to drink from the ocean. It gets drunk, the ocean pulls it in and the cycle continues. In my opinion this is the wheel of life. Every time the ego merges in the ocean, its solid identity is dismantled slightly. Part of it stays in the ocean and part of the ocean permeates throughout. If we keep to our course (which allows for occasional drifting J), this happens repeatedly, until eventually the ego and the ocean are no longer separate. What comes out to act out and respond to duties and responsibilities is no longer the grasping ego that wants and wants, but the ocean itself embodied within our form.

If you feel meditation hasn’t happened to you, keep on laying the foundation by inviting the ego to drink from the ocean. Pause more in the pauses; relaxing, grounding and easing off from your ‘roles’ when possible. As many times as you can during your waking hours, relax, release, remember to drink and leave the rest up to the ocean.

To find a pearl dive deep into the ocean

Don’t look in fountains

To find a pearl you must

Emerge from the water of life

Always thirsty (Rumi)

Dorna Djenab (September 2011)

Why Are We Happy

2011-07-26T01:10:00.000-07:00

We're all in the pursuit of ever lasting happiness, but seem to look for it somewhere out there. As the years go by and we get a glimpse of how our body/mind works and listen more carefully to life, we learn that happiness is an attitude and that everyone has equal access to the vast ocean of joy!
I hope you enjoy watching Dan Gilbert giving his talk at TED on 'why are we happy', I found the results of researches done amazing so had to share :-) !!

The Power of Now - Rumi

2011-06-17T05:48:00.001-07:00

A reminder from Rumi to discover the power of living in the present moment and surrender to the eternal beauty of the beloved. This message has been around for centuries and is perhaps as old as humanity. Eckhart Tolle has a gift to make this ancient message accessible to so many people living in this New Age.

Click here to watch this poetry video

Yoga For Anxiety Disorders Part 2 (as published in Yoga Magazine)

2011-06-14T10:15:00.000-07:00

Last month we looked at Yoga for Anxiety Disorders, discussing their background causes, symptoms and some of the ways in which yoga helps. This month we continue by sharing some meditation, breathing and postures practices that will all assist when applied at regular intervals in daily life. Practice as little as once a week provides so many benefits.

Relaxation and Meditation

Believe in the power of prayer – open your awareness to your inner most self and see what you are holding in your heart.

Practice Yoga Nidra (yogic sleep) reclining or sitting;

Tune in to your breath, become aware of the top of your head, space above your top palate, heart and abdominal connection. Be aware of the mind-space and allow meditation to arise.

Relaxation will restore the body to heal as all functions stabilise; sleep, diet, heart and brain all begin to smile. Meditation deepens the process, accessing, soothing and enhancing brain function. The unconscious mind arises before the ‘Seer’ revealing the causal impregnation of fear within one’s being. Having re-witnessed this event without attachment, the meditator releases it and reclaims the energy as freedom, simplicity - life.

Begin by contemplating;

What are my stressful feelings and thoughts?

At what point does excitement become stressful?

How ethical is my life?

Am I aware of a deeper purpose?

Am I chasing clouds?

Do I ever let the sky clear?

Go out for a silent walking, breathing, listening or observing meditation.

Sit and visualise revitalising under a soft spray waterfall-meditation.

Yawning Meditation – we all yawn every day. People often get irritated when they need to yawn, are embarrassed or short change their yawn. Yoga practice allows us to look at this from another angle; one that accepts, embraces and transforms stressful energy into vitality. Imagine the effect on the body if stagnant wind is never released. Well, yawning is a part of this process; helping the physical and emotional energy to rebalance.

Laughter Meditation – try one minute - from a quiet chuckle, to voice level, to loud and boisterous. Then pull some really silly faces, in as many different ways that you can. This will help the whole body-mind to relax even more. Then talk in different voices, accents, languages and even gibberish, interrupting the chatter with chuckles, giggles, laughter and even hysterics. Take your time and remember to stop to breathe when you need to. I remember as a young boy, being scared to really laugh as I knew this might trigger (my) asthma. In hindsight I see this is a stifling way to live. Laughter allows us to release pent up tension, whether it be anxiety, anger or grief for example. There are only two base E-Motions (Energies of motion) that move through our system. One is fear, the other love.

Anxiety is not fear, but associated with memories or anticipation of fears and, the attached biological conditioning or habit.

When we practice something like laughter, we can see, as I did many years ago, that there may be tension – inhibition around the whole idea or ability to let go to the ‘meditation’. Simply seeing this tension activates a transformative process. The willingness to relax, settles in to the system at deeper unconscious levels. Gradually, if you are prepared to change, to let go of all that no longer assists your path as a free and creative spirit; laughter, love and life may all flow through you easily. You are once again a Human Being, no longer fretting about all the things you haven’t done in the past or planning and agonising as to how your future will pan out. Life can run its course, teaching you as a loving parent does, such is its nature.

Anxiety results from incessant looping dialogue which attempts to control reality. To move out of this current, come out of your STORY and move into reality. You might ask “How!?” Be aware of trauma, self beliefs etc and the feelings and thoughts that are coupled with them. Be aware of the Triggers (e.g you think someone is pointing the finger at you) and the Knee Jerk Reaction to ENTER the story each time it arises; such as “Oh my God, everything is coming down on me”. Watch each drama closely, with the intent to relax your heart and mind. Writing a diary may help. Instead of passing through the same door over and over, make the choice to differ. This awareness, which is the key, will offer you a moment to reflect, to remember how you would choose to live if you had a choice (and on a soul level we all do); to breathe, to relax into the embrace of something so much larger than the ego can imagine.

The moment anxiety strikes, we must stop and ask, what is it we really want?

Is it truly peace? The old software is the Samskara (Stress Imprint). Sankalpa, (your Intention), is new software, wiring new neural pathways, such as, ‘I relax...’, even if at the beginning you can’t. Have some faith in the process.

Allow life to be and this allows you to be, rather than attempt to shape an impossible egoic expectation. Reality exists inside and outside of this. It is the Self which requires no fixing.

The anxiety may take a while to release. There may not be an instant cure, but there is usually instant insight, relief and inspiration. When the body-mind learns what if feels like to be relaxed again, you can make a conscious moment by moment choice.

Breathing

For Hyperventiltion - Ujjayi (soft vocal in/exhale ‘haaaa’) and Alternate Nostril Breathing; Cover right nostril, then exhale and inhale through left. Switch to the other side. Repeat the cycle five minutes.

Abdominal Breathing – Feel your belly softening as you breathe below and behind the navel a few minutes.

Small Heavenly Cycle – Inhale the warm current into the tailbone, to the crown and down the front body to the tail, making a loop.

Full Yogic Breath. Isolate the body cavities; pelvis, abdomen, ribcage, neck and skull. Starting from the bottom upwards, isolate and breathe into them. Then connect and breathe into them all, from the tailbone to the crown.

Breath Counting - count backwards from thirty to zero.

Kapal Bhati - Exhale ‘ha ha ha ha ha’ through mouth or nose until lungs empty. Then inhale gracefully and repeat; five to ten rounds.

Bhastrika – Practice a dynamic and equally balanced inhalation and exhalation. Try ten to a hundred rounds. Pause and repeat as comfortable. (Avoid with high blood pressure).

If any of these practices trigger symptoms of an attack; observe, maybe continue a fraction, rest and return at a later date.

Postures

Tree

Warrior Poses

Cat

Upward and Downward Dog – three to ten times.

Seated Twists

Bridge

Supine single and double knee raises

Supine Leg Raises (hamstring, back and belly stretches).

Cobra and/or Bow (Frontal back bends)

Plough Pose (supine de-stressor)

Childs Pose (frontal restoration)

Viparita Karani – lie with your legs up the wall.

Knowing we are the same; embodied spirits, entering and leaving with nought but experience and awareness, helps us reconcile our journey, to the ever present summit within.

For more information about Pranasana Yoga, Matt, his book and DVD’s ‘How to Breathe’, Yoga Nidra relaxation Cd’s, coaching and private mentoring, please visit www.pranasanayoga.com or email matt@pranasanayoga.com.

Amazing Dance

2011-06-01T08:13:00.000-07:00

Here is a story that I came across one day and thought you might like to hear - Dorna :).................

In a Chinese modern dance competition on TV one very unique couple won one of the top prizes. The lady, in her 30's, was a dancer who had trained since she was a little girl. Later in life, she lost her entire left arm in an accident and fell into a state of depression for a few years. Someone then asked her to coach a Children's dancing group. From that point on, she realized that she could not forget dancing. She still loved to dance and wanted to dance again. So, she started to do some of her old routines, but, having lost her arm, she had also lost her balance. It took a while before she could even make simple turns and spins without falling. Then she heard of a man in his 20s who had lost a leg in an accident. He had also fallen into the usual denial, depression and anger type of emotional roller coaster. But, she was determined to find him and persuade him to dance with her. He had never danced, and to dance with one leg...are you joking with me?

"No way!" But, she didn't give up and he reluctantly agreed thinking, "I have nothing else to do anyway." She started to teach him dancing. The two broke up a few times because he had no concept of using muscle, how to control his body, and knew none of the basic things about dancing. When she became frustrated and lost patience with him, he would walk out. Eventually, they came back together and started training seriously. They hired a choreographer to design routines for them. She would fly high with both arms flying in the air. He could bend horizontally supported by one leg with her leaning on him, etc. In the competition, as you will see, they dance beautifully and they legitimately won the competition." When I watched this I didn't even realize that she was missing an arm because I was focusing on the guy with only one leg. Really quite amazing! I became aware that the woman's right arm was missing about 1/4 of the time into the clip.

With best regards,

Melody Nafe.

The Evolution Of A Strawberry

2011-05-31T13:38:00.000-07:00

Nature is a great Guru. If we listen to it, watch its actions and surrender to it totally, it will teach and guide us to a place of inner fulfilment and unshakable joy.

Its way is kind and yet clear and strong It never stops to guide and yet, when we turn away from its teachings, it doesn’t’ try, it doesn’t push. It lets us wonder around until, in our despair we tune back and listen carefully, bowing at its feet.

I find solace in its messages and am grateful for the simplicity of its teaching. My brother sent me photos of a strawberry in the different stages of its evolution. As I looked, I couldn’t help but notice the same pattern in our human life. I invite you to watch the short video I made of these photos and let nature speak quietly to your heart. Then if you want, carry on reading or go out in the garden and dance!!

From the moment we are born, we are what we are in our individuality; in the same way that a rose is a rose, an oak tree and oak tree and an apple an apple. We too are what we are and our character / personality has its own unique traits. In the same way that a rose or a tree reflect the beauty, strength and gentleness of life, so can we. The danger, we as human beings face is our resistance to the natural flow of evolution.

In its life a strawberry faces many deaths. It has to let go of being a seed to become a flower. It dies again as a flower to become an unripe strawberry and, as the sun shines the young strawberry dies, turning into a strawberry that will bring sweetness to any palette!

Joking aside, there is no other way for the sweet strawberry to come to existence but through many deaths. Now, I ask you, how many times have you held on so tight to a form of yourself unaware of what you are to become? How many times have you felt so fearful of change, so fearful of death that you have closed up from life and become unyielding and rigid to the point that life could no longer pass through your veins?

We fear the loss of or mourn our past form, blind to the beauty we are becoming, blind to the beauty that we are. You see that blindness, just like bad soil or tough weather, turns the strawberry sour and stop it from ever reaching what it truly is.

I have faced a few inner deaths and although I initially mourned them, I started seeing that they are part of a marvelous journey that unravels the true tantalizing taste of life.

We start to suffer deeply when we are either still mourning a previous from of ourselves: (child, young, lover, wife/husband, mother/father, daughter/son, friend….) or when we feel we have not reached the full evolution we are meant to have or be. The latter would picture me on many occasions!! ‘C’mon, sweeten up woman, what’s wrong, why don’t you learn, why can’t you be …..?!’ How funny, how disastrously ridiculous!!! It takes time and there is absolutely no way to speed up the evolution process without damaging the outcome.

Nature Knows – Trust The Guru

We have been used to so much speed, wanting it all now. Fast food, fast communication, fast growing vegetables and animals…and now fast evolution, fast maturing, fast wisdom…I hear the guru say natural, slow and timely evolution gives more favorable and scrumptious results.

We can enjoy all the stages of our evolution and stop being afraid of letting go of our forms, letting go of our old identities. We can start seeing that all these forms belong to the same unique being and watch how nature spreads its magic transformative dust on us as we blossom into our innate self, reflecting the divine in all stages.

When I look at the last picture, I am reminded that the journey of evolution is not really about me after all. It’s about serving, sharing, giving to all what life has made of us. A strawberry brings joy to the one that consumes it, a flower caresses someone’s eyes and an old tree becomes someone’s shelter. Let us allow life change us many many times, let us die in this love many many times.

As Rumi puts it:

Die die inside this love

And rise in Spirit.

Die, die and cut the ego’s rope

That holds you a prisoner.

Take an axe to the wall and

Dig a way out of the prison.

Die, die before the beautiful King

You will become mighty.

Die, die and rise out of this cloud

You will shine like the glorious moon.

Be silent, be silent,

For silence is the sure sign of death,

From your silence

Life will trumpet louder than sound.

With love,

Dorna :)

He Who Caste No Shadow

2011-05-31T13:23:00.000-07:00

To all my friends on the journey, I’d like to thank you for your being, which acts as a mirror.

What has been coming at me like a slow yet unrelenting avalanche, for the last couple of years now, is the play of the darkness that we all contain within. I remember as a child my mother used to ask me “are you the good Matthew or the other one?”!! Without realising it, we all start the self enquiry in to our true nature from a very early age. Are we being good, bad? How is it that we enjoy going into this dark space, but mostly seem to be glad when we’ve come back out?

Anyone studying yoga or any other form of internal process at some point along the journey, be it a few months or years, becomes acquainted with their inner darkness. For many this experience is too daunting an encounter and so they turn away. For others, it is precisely what they have been waiting for, perhaps for a long time.

The opportunity to understand this darkness – know why it exists and remove oneself from the obstacle and injury that it causes is what I would like to write about now. My shadow introduced itself to me over the years, by way of what other people said to me about “me” and naturally through my awareness of not always feeling ‘good’ or ‘right’ about myself and ‘things’.

As I mentioned, this subject has risen at me more voraciously within the last couple of years, increasingly so within the last six months, in which I have been meditating more, thankfully.

When I started to read about this subject twelve years ago, I found myself being drawn to do so by the line ‘he who caste no shadow’. I was enthralled by the idea that a being could be so pure that their inner light prevented the formation of a shadow - this due to their inner light being equal to or brighter than the light which falls upon it. A few years further down the line, I sat in disappointment in Southern India when I found that my guru, who had just walked past me, had a shadow. Pop, went my balloon.

The light of the moon is a reflection of the light of the sun. The light in the eye is the emanation of the soul within. The more in harmony with one’s inner nature as well as outer happenings, the clearer and brighter this light. When I first saw my guru, Sathya Sai Baba (who died just over a month ago in his ashram in Puttaparthi) I sat a long way from him – perhaps a hundred metres. What was clear to me, after he entered the mandir (temple) was that his aura was extra-ordinary.

He was surrounded by a few people and walked around a little. Over the years I have also become aware of the beautiful truth that ‘everything I see is me’. At first it used to bother me that sceptics would say to me, “well you would see that – you know, this great aura around this ‘great spiritual being’ - it’s your projection – it’s what you want to see”. However years on, I have seen the turn around. This is that if we can see in someone else, feel and experience that divinity, the untarnishable purity in another, we are one step closer to recognising, experiencing and returning to that which is purest within ourselves. Since then I am more conscious to honour and recognise that which is delightful and pure within me, while being less judgmental of both my own shadow and those of others too.

I recollect a time in Thailand when someone said to me, “hhhmmm you know, there’s something very divine about you”....... Ignore my ego for a second.... I just want to share a story with you. At that time I enquired into the comment to work out why anyone would say that. Sure, we are all divine, at times more so than others. So why did this person say that to me then?

For a start the person who made the comment had just stepped from a plane from a big Australian city, while I had been trekking, meandering and pondering around some of India’s holiest hangouts. Apart from resting a few days with Sai Baba in Puttaparthi (which started much of my change) I was at the time unattached. I don’t mean single, young and free. I mean at that particular moment, or during those days in question, my mind was free. I wasn’t yearning for this or that or dwelling on what should be. I just was.

This is being.

Not trying or doing, but being.

It’s not new to any of us – it is our essence.

We are human beings.

This state of being would frequently last for days, until at some point it would come crashing down. We have all felt like Moses returning from the highest peak, to find the infidels who had given up their waiting for his Law. We have all felt the guilt and anguish of Adam or Eve for having eaten forbidden fruit.

A thought, or belief, or someone saying something, would trigger a shift and my peace would be shattered in to a million pieces. My heaven would fade and hell returned as though it had never been anywhere and was never going to leave.

Looking back I see this as great, as we can see that both light and dark are omnipresent. They coexist due to the workings of physics and the laws of this nature. It is possible that wise beings have been seen to caste no shadow and it’s also possible that this is purely metaphoric. Either way it’s not really important. I spent many a year, looking for the paranormal, missing what was going on around me. Isn’t the rising of the sun and waxing and waning of the moon proof of the miracle enough?

What became apparent was that I had spent my life running - either towards the light or away from my shadow - without accepting the duality of nature - meaning that I was completely unconscious of my inability to accept just being.

So I ran.

And ran and ran.

I ran and kept running like Dr David Banner, aka the Incredible Hulk.

– always on the run from the big green monster inside.

How daft is that!? Isn’t there a clue in that word ‘inside’....

No matter how much we try to hide from this darkness, it always finds us.

No matter how beautiful the full moon on a clear night, when all you can hear is the sound of an owl, or a fox running away in to the garden briskly...........

.....you can run but you can’t hide.

You’ve noticed how yin contains a white spot of yang and yang contains the black dot of yin..... And so, the light is not complete without its opposite, the dark has no perspective without contrast.

Christ said “when thine eye be single you will be filled with light”..............

When we lift our eyes away from the outer world of opposites, high and low, dark and light, hot and cold, which are all relative and sense related, we return to being. We spend so much time focusing our eye (heart and mind) upon ‘this and that’ ‘past and future’ ‘have and have not’ etc, we are constantly trying to determine reality between a barrage of opposites. This is fine, unless of course this contrast of yin and yang, otherwise known in Tao as ‘the ten thousand things’ leaves us confused, wanting and subsequently suffering.

God, divinity, beingness and consciousness is everything and everywhere. There is nothing s/he is not and yet s/he is also the nothing.

Where there is love, there is divinity. Where there is a lack of love, we could call this the devil, darkness or ignorance. We are all able to create our own hell and label it so when we choose. It’s really very easy.

Often those who can’t find the inner sanctuary within themselves seek to take it away from others. In order to do so, they prey on the faith and purity of the devotee, corrupting it as they see fit to maintain control.

When we close our eyes, there is a light. We may see it, feel it, hear it and know it. I used to see it years back and have been feeling it mostly since. Only recently in my meditations again am I beginning to see the light as a physical manifestation of colour, like the threads of an ecstatic flower, although rather dimly.

Yogis of various traditions have for hundreds if not thousands of years, entered caves to be in the darkness for prolonged periods of time. They discovered that through the absence of outer light, they were able to experience the inner one, that which gives life to the body, mind and senses.

Melatonin, a hormone produced within the pineal gland (third eye), builds up in the body and this creates a chemical reaction. This produces pinoline which affects the pineal, pituitary, thalamus and hypothalamus glands and leads to clairvoyant experiences.

When we travel far out in to darkest space we eventually see rays of light from the nearest star. The Taoists of old discovered that the microcosm (all that is in ‘here’) is a reflection of the macrocosm (all that’s out ‘there’) and so realised if we can return our consciousness deep enough within, we will move through total darkness into light.

When we first enter a dark room at night, it seems that this darkness is total, cloaking all. We may experience a moment of fear. As our eyes and brain adjust, we begin to see aspects of the room or possibly other dimensions occurring within the same space. I have seen shapes and people moving through space (in my room) in deep meditation and remember at times having had my eyes completely closed, yet seen the whole room before me. I have tested this and moved my vision around the room. With my fingers touching my closed eyelids to see if my eyes are really closed, I have been amazed to be able to see so clearly. Is this a product of my mind and memory? I felt it didn’t really matter as awareness was instructing me there is more to us than ‘meets the eye’.

What we believe determines what we see.

When we are born we move from the light into the dark space of the womb, our first and nature’s perfect darkroom. After birth we spend much of our time trying to avoid this darkness having developed the belief that our very life depends on the life giving light of the sun, which of course is true, to an extent. Life coexists without sunlight, such as in the deepest oceans and caves, such as inside one’s heart and lungs. Another truth exists which is that we are so used to turning our gaze outwards that we no longer know how to look within. Each time we feel anxious and start to crave, we move outward to chocolate, tv, friends, internet etc. Yet if we close our eyes and look inside at such times, it can be truly amazing to see life playing out in the inner theatre.

What we attempt to avoid – the angst or restlessness is none other than the shadow – that part that walks along side you, in whose absence you would start to wonder ‘ is something wrong?’ Shamans and yogis have been known to forecast the health and life span of people by observing the shadow, similar to reading the ‘aura’.

What if we were to start investigating our darkness and question why the same feelings, beliefs and thoughts keep reappearing year after year, causing the same discomfort and unrest now, as in the past? I think it’s only a process of nature that we all reach a stage where the discontent and delusions which life brings lead us to investigate, even if only a little, why we are the way we are. What role do these thoughts and feelings play? They reappear each day like worn out tricks popping out of a magician’s hat for the umpteenth year. We’ve seen and heard it all before, yet, they still seem to hypnotise us to see where they go. As if we haven’t been there before. So the time comes when we approach from a tangent, an altered perspective such as in meditation – within the darkness herself – where we see these shadows as flickering images of memory appearing on a very old film slide. This is to say that these images, feelings and beliefs are all superimpositions upon the underlying structure; that which was there before and will remain so always. Awareness....................just pure awareness.

Meditation provides the opportunity to see these film slides which show us glimpses of the past and hopes for the future and the glimpses behind these too. This means we see the cause of the shadows or shapes imprinted on the film. We see the reasons why we have become the way we are....we see the first time we started to believe or feel a certain way and feel the crystalline structure that has formed over this ‘cause’ due to the passing of time and the reinforcement of this pattern through its habitual nurturing.

Then one day, as Buddha reminds us, the time comes to wake up.

We see that we have suffered enough.

In my teens I used to call this the ‘before and after feeling’. I knew if I could implement that ‘aftermath’ feeling before I did something which always left me feeling less divine, I would be able to solve most of my problems.

Well, life is the teacher and she holds no punches. We as egoic beings, grossly identifying with our personality and worldly costumes hammer away at the same old patterns until we just can’t bear the difficulties any more. This was I how I stopped smoking and taking drugs.

The low was far too low and the high.........

It was no longer high.............

It was the empty low, waiting to happen....

It were if you like, as though I had sold my soul...

I had forgotten that life had a purpose,

That my life had a purpose and that to fulfil this purpose is to find joy and peace and all the trimmings which accompany them.

The shadow is the serpent which tempts while we play in the beautiful garden. She is maya, illusion, she is shakti swaying and rising – she is the bliss of consciousness as she moves in to shakti. Shakti which is matter, appears to cause the high, be the giver of power and the ecstasy we seek when we return to the dark side. This matter is the play via the five senses, yet these senses and experience are only as ample as the life force and light which illumines them.

This light is stored in the soul and moves through Siva or consciousness into shakti, the body. We seek ecstasy through this body by eating, singing, dancing and playing as humans do, but blind ourselves in excess. Too much of anything causes stress and so our system finds its way to harmonise. So from the high of the binge, we plummet to the low of the hangover. Too much alcohol, adrenaline, lack of sleep or whatever your tipple and it’s always followed by the down spiral which allows the body, mind and senses to rest and recuperate.

The question that arises is then, ‘is there another way?’ and of course the answer is ‘yes’. Having been battered around the ocean of high waves and deep valleys of fear in which we sense we are drowning, we come to rest in peaceful water in which we learn to embrace that which hides beneath the shadows and causes the mind to want to fly to its next meal.

We learn that we can enjoy that which we think we will find in the high, within the mundane as well. This is learning that the substratum or causal beneath the high yang and low yin, is what we are really seeking. After partying too much there is nothing we are grateful for more than to be able to sleep normally, wake feeling rested and eat because we are hungry. We realise our health is a great wealth which helps us experience a peaceful existence more easily. Sometime after this, when are blessed enough, we have those moments of knowing that we are this substratum – we are what we have been seeking, but missing because we have been looking in all directions except one.

Nature works in cycles – high tides and low, full moon and empty, the zenith and nadir. Humans being an aspect of this, follow suit. When the moon is full we behave in a certain way. We live to our fullest, recover, feel the regret and guilt that may accompany this and then wait as in hibernation for the opportunity to repeat this same pattern again.

When we start seeking the high we are trying to cover the emptiness which we feel within ourselves. This is going to be very difficult and so proves fruitless. Quantum physicists reckon that about 99.9% of the atom is pure empty space. The yogis and mystics of yore realised, through their ceaseless efforts that this emptiness is what we ought to be seeking as it contains the essence of all things. To put this another way, there is the nice saying, “he who possesses nothing, possesses all.” Fair enough I can hear my critic friends saying, “so the beggar down King’s Cross who smells of the dog-ends he lives on - he has it all.......right!!!?” Well, I think it’s down to the individual. Gautama Buddha like many others throughout time, gave up the riches of the palace to find himself. This included trials and tribulations which nearly ended in starvation, until he reached the conclusion of the Taoists before him.

Balance.

We mustn’t always run to the shadow, seeking the high, seeking something to replace the present moment. Yet, we mustn’t always deny this shadow, which is always there when a spirit enters a physical body. Our role is to enquire. To question why we do what we do and what it is we really seek.

As a teacher (one of my stage names), when I see a student needs help, I offer them my light. They sometimes show me their shadow in return. The doubt, the anger, ugliness, jealously, sadness...... and so forth.

When they see I am not scared of their darkness – they have the opportunity to visit it themselves. If however I cower at this darkness and mirror it with my own fear, naturally none of us grow. It is with huge thanks to all the loving beings I have met over the years, who didn’t run from my darkness, but saw the light and dark of a soul needing love, that I am able to write these words today.

As a great Aghori once said “everything I see is me”

We always have a choice – to experience a new way of being with ourselves or to continue with the old. If we are not truly happy, shouldn’t we seek within to change things?

The Guru is s/he who removes darkness......

When I met Sai Baba he told me, through my meditations, his readings and devotees that..........

I am in him

And he is in me.

He said earth is a big church

And that there is only one language.

This language is of the heart

And is called love.

He said if we want to find God there is only one place we need to look;

And tapped the centre of his chest...................... ;)

When we embrace that we contain both day and night

When we see that both dark and light

Are the Two

That come from the One

And

That this One, sprung forth from itself

Which was the nothingness

By Being with ourself,

Being with the emptiness and darkness

As much as the light

We fuse the two back in to the One

And return to the source from whence we came.

With love,

Matt :)

Heaven, Hell And Adam's Apple

2011-03-23T03:54:00.000-07:00

The wisdom that prophets have shared has been interpreted in so many different ways and today it seems everyone has their own unique view of what religion is all about. In the religious country I was brought up in, the fear of hell and the promise of heaven ruled our education system. My idea of God initially was of a punitive father who showed no mercy and the idea that if I do or think ‘this’, hell awaits and if I do or think ‘that’ I’ll be rewarded, echoed in my mind.

The story of Adam and Eve being exiled from heaven for having given in to temptation and eaten the forbidden apple, is a story that whether we know it or not, has had a deep impact on our psyche. There are things we have to stay away from or else…

Stories like this can either be taken literally or their deeper meaning can be unveiled by paying close attention to our life as it is today. Was this story meant to help us in our life, was it a warning of dangers here? Is there a way out of suffering? Is there a path back to heaven?

What I have come to understand is this:

Life is neither heaven nor hell and yet it can be hell or heaven depending on how ‘we’ see it. A friend of mine recently committed suicide. I remember thinking, the last time I saw her, that this was the hell we had been warned against. She was suffering the most horrific pain, as if literally being burned in fire. The more she spoke, the deeper her pain became. As I was filled with compassion and love for her, I couldn’t help but notice this great suffering was the result of a repetitive story – a horrific interpretation of events she had identified with so much, that she was unable to see she, was not her story. Not realizing that her self-worth is independent from her story, she was losing hers the more she identified with her role.

True self worth, self esteem, self love cannot be found within a story and our endeavours to find it there is as futile as trying to grasp air.

My friend helped me to realise that the journey ‘out of our story’ which can sometimes be hell, into heaven, is a journey we have to make ‘alone’ even in the presence of our fellow travellers, helpers and guides along the way.

You must have experienced this yourself or witnesses it with a friend: One minute everything is perfect, everything is running smoothly and then a trigger pulls and it all turns sour. Everything that was previously wonderful turns ‘wrong’ in a matter of seconds. Most of the time without anything changing on the outside, everything goes back to normal again and we find a way to blame the sudden turn to sourness on our tiredness, hormones, hunger etc. Without denying their effect, finding them as the ‘only’ trigger stops us from seeing another cause that we're often reluctant to face: The power of ‘a thought’.

Between heaven and hell

Lies only one thought

One can help us jump back to heaven, yet another forces us down in hell. Perhaps it is time to take the story of Adam and Eve seriously and stop the temptation of biting on the apple. Today, I see the apple as that one thought that can send me into exile away from myself and everything that I love and cherish. That one thought is different for all of us, some call it a pattern, some call it karma, it is as far as I understand the one thing that has a deep hold on our psyche to the point that when it comes, we lose our strength and joie de vivre. The good news is we have a choice, we can choose to take the bite, or not, regardless of how tempting the apple and its promise. We can still choose not to give in to temptation. We have a choice to follow the thought into its full story - which we may already know by heart – OR let it pass through our awareness like clouds in the sky.

Many of us, can identify and recognize the tempting thought and feel it coming in every cell of our body. The temptation to follow it into a story is caused by the excitement, the emotions, the stirrups of energy and everything BUT stillness. As I sit and meditate, I see how the mind loves stories and how it hates stillness. How it resists being home at ease, at peace and how many a time it will chose movement over stillness. Whether this movement has a negative effect on our being or not, the mind doesn’t seem to take notice as long as there is movement. Movement is great – movement is life but the ability to stop, the ability to choose between movement and rest is a power many of us have yet to tap into. It is this power that will give us the inner strength not to indulge in a dramatic story.

Our responsibility, once the thought is identified, is to question its validity. In the same way that we must question the one that hands us the apple, “is what you’re saying true? Are you trustworthy?”

In our innocence – being trusting as we are – we live life believing

every thought that comes in to our mind.

It is perhaps time to put our investigating cap on and discover which is a lie, which is true – for us.

Self love, is the key ingredient of making this practice a success. Without self love, there is no reason to avoid hell or to help ourselves out of it. So if you keep on biting the apple, keep on loving yourself even more. One way to learn how to resist is to remain conscious at all times. The more aware we become of what happens when we take the bite, the sooner we learn that the promise of excitement is just not worth it.

Once we recognize there is nothing to be tempted for, our job is done. Remain vigilant, very vigilant, not trusting and believing every thought that passes through. Slowly, slowly your mind will fall back to the purity that allows and lets all thoughts to pass without being wiped away by the avalanche of horror stories that some contain.

Heaven and hell exist within us.

The universal soul is not punitive, it is we, that in our innocence have not learnt true self love.

It is us, our will, our choice that moves us away from heaven.

The power is in our hands. Let’s take the warnings and the signs seriously and become truly responsible for our life.

Dorna Djenab March 2011

Anxiety Disorders - Part 1

2011-03-23T03:41:00.000-07:00

Anxiety is a conditioned reaction to stress placed on the nervous system and mind, in order to act in a given situation. When dinosaurs roared, cave-folk instinctively ran in fear. Eons later, this imprint remains – “Whose dinner am I and, where’s mine coming from?” Although we appear to have evolved we are still concerned with letting go of what hasn't yet got a hold of us, or, getting hold of ideas or things that we then have great trouble in letting go of!

Anxiety can range from mild to severely uncomfortable, with a root or cause that may be extremely difficult to pinpoint. Reactions and symptoms are based upon perceptions; thoughts and beliefs belonging to past or future, rather than momentary reality. Both the body and mind stress to unhealthy levels, leaving residue in a diversity of conditions known as Anxiety Disorders.

Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is on the increase. Following the technology revolution of the last thirty years, coupled with consumerism, attachment to the material increases and knowledge of a higher taste declines; people fret about daily affairs, worrying deeply about job surety, family, investments, lack of a pension or almost anything else one can think of. Deep traumas of past; arguments, divorce, abuse, internal, local or global war - all sow karmic seeds. Eventually tension ‘breaks the camel’s back’, leading to potentially debilitating and even life threatening conditions.

As the angst threads through our wiring, it corrupts all of our thinking progressively; chemically imbalanced brains affect our behaviour and performance. Minds and bodies become sick and all relationships suffer.

The causes of common anxiety are genetic as well as environmental. People turn to recreational drugs, eating, shopping, scandal and promiscuous behaviour for assistance. They compound the situation and mask an enlightened solution, which appears more complex to a clouded mind.

With increasing social pressure, facilitated by the Hyper-Net, more youngsters find themselves dancing the bottom few rungs of a greasy social ladder. They chase a mirage created by uncaring and greedy individuals, whose desire feeds the adrenalin of those aspiring to ‘success’.

Other Anxiety disorders include Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress and Social Anxiety Disorder, all of which are frequently treated (as is GAD), with medication and/or psychotherapy. Along with this, other health issues such as depression or high blood pressure are treated as well. There are no guarantees of long term cures and this is coupled with increasing dosage requirements, reduced effectiveness, potential side effects, addiction, withdrawal and high costs. This all suggests there may be a better and more enjoyable route.

Apart from these methods, good GP’s still recommend exercise, diet, sleep and loving support as the base line for treatment. That sounds like yoga to me.

Symptoms

There are a broad range of symptoms which all fall under the category of ‘clenched within the grip of escape or avoidance’; an overtaxed sympathetic nervous system revs constantly, leaving a multitude of symptoms, often long after the ‘trigger’ has disappeared. The mind may receive a barrage of inappropriate and unwanted thoughts, which take on their own life. Compulsions and rituals develop, followed by confusion and loss of power, along with physical signs which include a list so long one could feel anxious just reading it; palpitations, chest pains, breathing difficulty, head ache, lethargy, irritation, nausea, general panic, asthma, skin problems, IBS, depression, lack of confidence and phobias of almost anything imaginable, are but a few.

Simply imagining one’s anxiety can activate it, by triggering the soft wires of the brain’s neuro-net. Fearing colleagues might find out you are being treated for anxiety is another fire-starter. As well as avoidance, lack of positive focus, repeated and exaggerated behaviour typify the psychological profile of many anxious victims.

How Yoga Helps

I believe we exist in a loving universe, yet if this is so, conditions such as

Agoraphobia, Post Traumatic Stress and Social Anxiety, don’t do much in suggesting this is true. Something has gone amiss in our education and social systems.

Yoga exists as a mature and refined option in alleviating anxiety by severing its root, rather than killing weeds with toxic suppressants alone. By this I mean, if you are on medication, continue prescribed dosage, along with regular yoga practice.

To treat anxiety, yoga isolates its cause. It makes one aware gradually, of the factors and their seeds which dictate how one feels.

Yoga practice commences with Self-Love, incorporating cognitive restructuring; students become aware of and face stresses and strains in the body and mind in a ‘controlled environment’. This is very empowering. With persistence, one sees more objectively, noticing the subtle play of tension and relaxation throughout. We let go of the unnecessary and return to simplicity.

The use of breath is our vital medium to regulate both mind and body. Exhalation activates relaxation response, inhalation the ‘get up and go’ nerves. Yoga practice instils growing awareness of the balance of forces; taking life in, letting it flow out again. Breath is life and so knows the key to permanent change.

Postures lengthen and strengthen all bodily muscles, tendons and ligaments, releasing and soothing the system progressively. Practice’s compassionate light reveals fear’s root, allowing release and transformation in to a ‘positive’ current, if this be our choice. When fear locks one’s being and panic seizes the breath, breath-awareness trains the yogin how to counter and rebalance.

Most anxiety sufferers either Shallow Breath or Hyperventilate (accelerated and/or excessively deep breathing); either of which can lead to alarm mode when left unchecked.

Yogic philosophy and psychology highlight how to rebalance, as information seeps in from the divine side. Equilibrium restores through constant willingness to listen effortlessly and let go. Breath and mind restore nerves and feelings to joy and calm. This shifting perspective allows individuals to re-view the status quo from an enlightened state of alchemised enquiry. All emotions, feelings and actions are observed without judgment, reducing tension as the undercurrent of healing intent leads the flow; filling the shadow with light.

Exercises

Loosening exercises – move your joints freely, at whatever pace feels right. Circle, twist and bend; neck, shoulders, elbows, writs, hips, knees and ankles – opening ‘gates’ for the energy to flow more easily.

Massage your forehead and skull, pressing and holding indentations gently for about one minute, especially where there is sensitivity.

Hold the skull front and back. Feel the hands warmth and breathe through from one hand to the other and back.

Breathe in to your belly, legs and ground, to bring surplus energy down.

Massage the wrists for about a minute and your feet the same. Rub the ears a couple of times a day, for a couple of minutes, especially before sleep.

Drink Camomile tea or similar herbal remedies instead of caffeinated and fizzy drinks.

Take hot showers or baths, use essential oils and give/receive massage.

Share your worries with friends and cuddle your pet.

Next month – Anxiety Part 2 – Postures, breathing and meditation techniques to further help with Anxiety Disorders.

There Are No Secrets

2010-11-02T05:05:00.000-07:00

When I first watched the movie ‘The Secret’, I had mixed emotions. One side of me was happy that someone had gone through the trouble to reach so many people and help them see that ‘they are the master of their destiny’ and on the other hand I was disappointed at how it was presented and the emphasis on material richness. It is not my intention to undermine the importance of money and/or power. I have also come to see that sometimes what comes from the outside can affect the inside in the most positive ways. However, I feel that we have been conditioned to the extend that, we find it very difficult to see a life fulfilled without large amounts of money that would afford us what was presented in the film: driving the best cars, living in mansions, sitting in board meeting rooms making corporate decision at the top of a sky scraper…What about people on their deathbed with no abilities to talk or move any muscles apart from one. Are they also ‘the master of their destiny’? I believe so. A film I watched a few years back called ‘The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’ shows precisely that. A victim of a stroke experienced life at its very depth and lived his remaining days in pure bliss. This film showed how true joy and fulfilment is inherent in life itself, only if we don’t have any images and desires to project on it.

I am not surprised that in The Secret they didn’t show a dying man mastering his life, it would hardly be a selling point! Most of us, don’t even want to think about such possibilities, let alone living a full life on a deathbed. In a society with so much emphasis on having, getting and taking, it is no surprise we cannot imagine a life of just being and living, as fulfilling.

THERE ARE NO SECRETS (TO A LIFE OF TRUE JOY)

In fact what we need for a life filled with true happiness is so obvious that our brain doesn’t necessarily register it. It filters what goes through our awareness as we cannot cope with all the data that the brain receives every nano-second; we become conscious of only what the brain allows through the filter. What gets repeated and is always there continuously gets caught and is not allowed to be processed by us consciously; in other words it goes in the background and we become oblivious to it, we no longer SEE it. On the other hand what repetitively changes stays in the foreground of our awareness.

This is why life itself – the source of bliss – its substance, its existence goes in the background and we become busy with what ‘happens in life’, which is what changes all the time: our body, our mind, our moods, our status, our relationships and so on...

The permanent, the immovable, solid, still, never changing LIFE out of which all arises and to which all returns, stays in the background and we crave for bliss having it right in front of our eyes. It is so obvious; it is so permanently there, available, that we don’t notice it.

Through the practice of yoga, we focus our attention to our being and less on events, we become so totally present that we start noticing the stillness that is in the background. The moment our awareness shifts to that which has always been right in front of us, the ultimate joy, peace and bliss is ours. This moment can be now! The mastery over our destiny can only happen in the present moment and if it is impossible to shift our perception in a disagreeable situation, all we need to do is INTEND it. No need to worry about what you’ll be attracting next!!

I love the human psyche and how it loves to know ‘the secret’, whatever that may be. I know how much I love it when someone shares a secret with me. That, in its own, makes me feel special and not the content of the secret! I think the reason why we are wired that way – loving secrets and wanting to feel special – is because:

We are tasked from the moment we are born to find ‘the secret’, come to know how special we are and that it wasn’t hidden after all. It was there staring us in the face, behind everything we did, or think, behind our every move. That secret which cannot be shared, when discovered shows us our real face. That secret when revealed puts us on top of the world, not higher than anyone else with ‘bigger and better things’, but on top of the world with everyone else. ‘You are the master of your destiny’, I totally agree with that but, my definition of destiny is my inner experience of life and not what life gives me. The cancer, the stroke, the accident, the job loss is not your choice; you didn’t ask for it, lived your life in a way that attracted it, your choice comes to play in what you INTEND to do with it. Do you intend to keep your focus on what changed (the impermanent) or are you willing to see the background and its breathtaking aliveness, out of which anything can manifest? Are you willing to see this ultimate potentiality, which may or may not hold your healing? When the focus is there or moving towards it, that itself is the healing, that is the resting place and, whether or not the cancer is cured or the stroke is healed, the desire for it, shifts to the background.

What is your intention in the face of living? That intention is the key to your destiny! You can be a king, the ultimate power and beauty that IS by opening your eyes to the ‘open secret’ or you can be enslaved, vulnerable at the mercy of events focused on the surface, on the impermanence.

Yoga’s teaching of Pratyahara (sense withdrawal) for me represents exactly that intention. Our senses keep our brain busy filtering only what changes and stop us from seeing what they cannot perceive. When we take the decision to stay anchored, to stay still despite the stimulus of the senses we have a chance to see the truth, to really live. This is why any practice that brings the attention inwards, moving away from the outside stimuli is an opportunity for us to see this OPEN SECRET.

Dorna Djenab - Pranasana Yoga October 2010

Desire

2010-11-01T14:45:00.000-07:00

I can’t remember how this topic came to my BlogTop, but just remember that I wanted to write about it. I hope that tapping away the keys will remind me. My desire to write about it seems to have waned yet,

yes,

now it is all coming back to me very quickly.

It is, I feel, a sense of duty, to myself and my listeners to get this from here, to ‘t –here’, so that I might feel lighter having done so. When I say listeners, I add for my ego, I have discovered writing to be a great form of alchemy. I’m my number 1 listener! I need to do this so that I may realise.

Real eyes.

I hope this inspires you in some way, pressing buttons, be they ones easy to watch the effects of the unfolding process, or not.

Here I am to press my own buttons and talk to myself about Desire. I hope you are still keen to listen. I assume so as I have learned when one touches the inner self in ‘me’ it is not separate from that inner self in you. Of course there are many layers, strands of DNA, RNA etc that appear to be who we feel and think we are. As the yoga unfolds we are reminded that these are all superimpositions; like when you eat a really tasty lasagne your whole being is going ‘mmmmmmm yummy mmmmmm mmmmm’, bubbling inside as you attempt to reach the very heart of the experience, you-lasagne all merging into this one hearty-fizzle.

No matter how much we attempt to find that ‘core’ in the lasagne, or in senses-body themselves, we will not find it. We can experience it through them and for sure there isn’t anything wrong with this (oh!! thank you creator for all this pleasure, we love you for that), yet I guess, by now, you know where I’m leading, approximately. I hope to have a little surprise or two up my sleeve, otherwise you might become a little weary and decide there are many more enticing opportunities awaiting you in this eternal moment of choices. Like some lasagne in your fridge.

That deepest or core ‘field’ to give it a name is the source of the lasagne (mmmm I wonder what we’re having for dinner tonight – I have an idea or two –something Italian perhaps J) and brings it to life in the same way that all those amazing little atoms collect together to form our bodies do. They are just collections of energy particles that come together and in so doing, ignite the dance of ecstasy that we know as life.

You see, when you break it all down, we are pure energy.

Cool eh!!? We spend most of our lives going around in circles looking for ‘it’, yet often and for many, never quite finding ‘it’. Pressing many buttons and turning many handles, waiting and watching yet, still there is some deeper ‘I haven’t quite got to the heart of this lasagne’ feeling. Where does it come from and go to?? Again, whether it’s a totally far out experience or a blooming downright rubbishy one, that angsty-air seems present.

A couple of things hit me there...

The first was the relationship between spending and earning. This is something that the wonderful Mantak Chia taught me in Thailand. I love Master Chia because he teaches from the heart............He’s a really cool guy who has spent most of his life seeking freedom, ecstasy and truth........ my kind of dude. He’s funny and I meander so...........Mantak Chia says a few things about Energy and money and spending and I think he’s got a point. To sum it up, without detailing body parts, although that ‘gives much away’ anyway, when we have an accumulation of energy, we humans have this tendency to let it all go; it flows away like the wind in the willows, or the waves moving out over the water. We spend it. It goes down and out in one way or another. It may leak out through the body or it may find it’s path via tapping in your pin number down at Brent Cross, they kind of resemble each other.

I hear some saying that’s not me, “I know how to save”. Well that is of course excellent and something that I’m training myself, if not rather slowly, to do myself too.

Once again, there is nothing wrong with any of this. We have been de- signed or pre formulated in a certain way and so we mustn’t beat ourselves up about the things we’ve been doing for the last thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, lifetimes or so. We do however have the option to look at what we do and question why we do it, especially if twirling on the same spot for countless eons has made you slightly dizzy. I know it did so for me. After years of treading (as opposed to floating across) the ‘spiritual path’ aka life, I realised that I was in prison and it was most unpleasant.

So in a moment I’m going to talk a little about earning.

Before I do, I would like to touch on the second underline above, which was present. I’m very confident that you have heard it’s very tricky to be present, if there’s the tiniest speck inside that’s anchoring most of your consciousness in to the future or past, at any single moment in time. You’ve heard of the expression ‘be a gift unto yourself, remain present’. What we do as humans is attempt to move away from anything that is most unpleasant or get glued to things that are lovely. They both lead one into delusion i.e. illusion of what’s absolutely ‘when boiled down to nothing it’s still there’ real.

So, when a parent starts telling their child, “blab bla you know that if you do blab la blab de bla bla it will be your downfall blab la blum” the child will often move away from this rather than listen. I understand this as a child and parent. We all walk our seemingly individual path.

One proof however, at the deepest level of inner fizzing that we are ONE, is that everything we are and do affects everyone around us. Anyway, back to DESIRE........

Of Kings,

De from French meaning ‘of’

and ‘Sire’ meaning nobility.

When I was seven I had really bad flu. Every year in January (I think it was post Christmas blues-excuse) my body found a way to have a week off from school and catching the flu was how it did it.

I remember waking one night in a pool of sweat crying out loudly, ‘I don’t want to be king, I don’t want to be king’ over and over again. My brother found this quite funny. I didn’t at the time, but totally understand you know Maurice!

I’ve been quite sick a few times in my life, at death’s door a couple and in it’s driveway a few. On this occasion I was nowhere near dying but what I always used to experience with flu or anything like it (I got Dengue fever in the Far East and that was a real blaster-coaster), was this sensation of hanging from a thread.

I, my body wasn’t hanging from a thread, but ‘I’ in my body was hanging through this thread and then into my body. It was a divine feeling, like all my rasa or juice was enmeshed within this cord, the deeper layer that I normally screen out because the world keeps me busy typing. I believe this to be an experience of sushumna, the central axis. I have tried, succeeded and failed to reproduce this feeling in meditation many times since.

So what has all this got to do with desire other than my wanting to share this experience for the last thirty five years? In heightened awareness (as Carlos Castaneda put it), we experience insight beyond or deeper than conditioned perception.

By conditioned perception I mean that schooling taught us 1 + 1 makes 2; as opposed to where the heck does 1 come from and why does it make 2? These things are flags or codes and labels that represent a system. There are mathematical ways of viewing reality and there are others, like philosophically. Which angle one chooses isn’t important.

What allows one to experience be-longing (wanting to return to God) is to know in one’s heart that there is something (termed absolute reality, God, Consciousness) that is/imparts intelligence; the juice again, to all that is, was and, isn’t quite yet, (but will be soon by the time something somewhere else is finished doing or being whatever’s been keeping it busy recently).

In the heightened awareness of flu, I was able to remember that there is more to me than body, mind, emotions and senses. Even though a child’s mind isn’t developed, IN-tuition is acute. The conditioned perception of “1 and 1 is 2 and all in all it’s just a’nother brick in the waaaaaa aaaaa aaaaalllll!!” hasn’t fully weeded in. There is purity or reality awareness - this explains how people see ghosts, read minds, heal the sick. They are using parts of the cerebral universe that are normally in slumber. We have not been educated to see ghosts, we were conditioned ‘not to’ because it didn’t fit in with the contemporary mould, in the same way it is said natives didn’t see white mens’ ships (What The Bleep Do We Know) because ‘ships’ didn’t exist in their brains.

‘King’ was and still is that part of me that is beyond this ‘body-mind-organism’ (Ramesh Balsekar of Bombay (“who I asked what’s the meaning of life” and at the age of 90, he replied “who cares!”).

King is that bit that is DeSire; of the noblest essence.

That’s the bit we’re all questing, the greatest stuff/non stuff in being/non being.

When we get lost in the world, I believe if one believes there is more than we see, grace taps, “here, over here, this is what you mean” and all of a sudden, as if by magic, God appears, be it in the form of a shopkeeper (Mr Ben BBC TV1 1971) or a beautiful flower or anything else ‘that stops your world’ (again Carlos Castaneda).

One way street – I remember being seventeen, driving around a part of town that wasn’t my common ground. I had bought something for me and my friends and it was sitting strangely in my lap as I tried to work out why it felt odd and where on earth (near Tottenham Court Road) I was. My head filled with confusion; I found myself driving the wrong way up a one way street, doing what I ought not be doing, school waited tolerantly out in the country side wondering where I was and this police chap looked in at me through the window saying ‘Sunny Jim, you know this is a one way right?!” My mind emptied, my body must have too and I remember thinking ‘Oh God, help me’.

“Just back up slowly, I’ll watch you and don’t do it again, alright” responded Mr Policeman. In that moment I think he turned into Moses and the waves of traffic rose up at his sides.

You see God’s got very big ears - he recognises truth.

I took that moment as a metaphor for my life at the time.

I was troubled with a dying father and exams. I could see how easy it was to pour all my chances away, travelling down the wrong road.

To add to that, my purchase intended for ceremony back in the den, turned out to be a newspaper rap filled with cold fish and chips. I knew something didn’t smell quite right!! Ha haaa!!! What a waste......................

De Sire....

Of kings......

Life’s a one way street and we have that choice each day.

Where shall I turn my gaze?

Okay I can pleasure my body and senses, why not, but unless there is something which reaches out beyond them and to others, then after a certain point, there doesn’t seem any point.

That point of no return is when the energy or awareness has gone beyond its threshold. After that it takes time to renew itself.

Chuang Tzu spoke of the caterpillar dreaming itself as the butterfly, which was actually the butterfly dreaming of the caterpillar dreaming, or was it? (Or as Ramesh Balsekar said “Who cares!!”)

The point is that ‘as we think, so we become’.

Believing is Seeing (Sathya Sai Baba).

Our brain sees and our senses acknowledge what we have permitted our brain to see.

And who are we?

We are Seer of brain.

Which way will I walk the street, up or down?

Will I spend my life going the wrong way

Or EARN my own self respect

by turning the gaze inward and upward to be re-minded of our maker.

We come and we go, of this we are doubtless.

Instead of turning away from our destiny, why not look it straight in the eye so that it may reflect its wisdom through us and out into the world.

This is the message of great mortals, whose atoms still move through our blood.

When we look truth in the face, it smiles and says, ‘I love you, I am you and this is what you are........

What you are here for..................and to do.................... and so, DO IT.

In doing so you are full-filled.

Filled with the fullness of purpose.

This is what we have been dreaming of and this is why desire keeps calling our name.

Our duty to each other as humans is to recognise this calling and follow it all the way.

Matt Gluck Pranasana Yoga

October 2010

Change and Transformation

2010-09-03T04:41:00.000-07:00

Yoga brings about transformation as we become more conscious of how we act, move, think and breathe. Once we stop being on autopilot, something starts to shift. In today’s literature there are many self-help books with a lot of emphasis on changing our personality. There are many techniques available that help one to achieve the desired results, behaviour, relationships. Although they are great and have helped millions, some only create change within the dimension of personality. The character changes and is able, with a lot of practice, to become different, acquire new skills and new, more positive beliefs. The ultimate goal of yoga though, is not about changing the character, from having one set of traits to another. The ultimate goal of yoga is transformation; it is real alchemy where dust turns to gold. With transformation, the old ceases to exist completely and the new is born. In yoga, it is our identity that transforms from being one of the character/personality to that of the intelligence, life force which moves all – without which any character can read, write, talk, breathe…

This transformation has been likened to the caterpillar becoming a butterfly, the only difference in our case is that there is no need to become. We already are IT. We already are the ultimate goal, a butterfly, but we insist on believing we are caterpillars.

Every Human being’s essential nature is perfect and faultless, but after years of immersion in the world we easily forget our roots and take on a counterfeit nature (Lao Tzu)

Transformation can occur instantly in any moment, every second/millisecond. All it required is a shift of the mind’s focus from a lie to the truth. The ego makes us believe that we are caterpillars and hence act like one. How can a butterfly believing it’s a caterpillar, fly? It has no wings!! Through yogic practices we understand the mind, we learn to focus it. We start seeing the patterns of thoughts entering the mind, its effect on our emotions. We start recognizing when we are thinking and acting a lie and believing we are less than we truly are. This transformation which is not a ‘becoming’ occurs when the mind sees through the veil of this lie. What do we need to do to see that we are butterflies? We only need to stop believing we’re caterpillars! The more we re-mind (new mind) ourselves of who we are, the more we start living and operating from our true identity which is not the same as acting from a changed character with traits we believe are better or more virtuous. Only through this transformation can we surrender the character and allow it to be used in whatever manner it is fit. That means a total allowing to let the character experience life in ‘every way’ life sees fit. One minute the experience is perceived as a negative nature, the next it would a positive one. In any case, if the character with all its sensations, emotions and, in its totality, is handed back to life as one of its resources, the ‘personal’ experience of life starts to dissolve. So we live life as usual, making choices, doing things according to our likes and dislikes, knowing that all the actions, choices, results are what the intelligence sees fit. Guilt, shame, greed, jealousy, pride, stress and everything we want to change and take away from the personality disappear when we know we are not our personality!!!

I ‘personally’ find using mantras as a great way to turning the mind’s gaze to truth. I have used and still use the traditional mantras and have experienced their immense power, but for the purpose of this article I take a mantra to be a sentence or a word (even a line from a poem) that can switch the mind to the truth. In the same way that in hypnosis, a tap, a phrase or a movement is used to take someone in and out of trance repeating sentences or a word that resonate with you can turn the mind’s gaze immediately. I don’t necessarily mean repeating the same mantra a few hundred times – although it is immensely valuable – I mean it to be used as a reminder whenever it is needed throughout the day. One day, you might find yourself having to remind yourself ten times and another day one hundred, depending on the pull of the events and how much power they have to sway the mind from its course (the Truth). The ones with the strongest pull, the ones that entrap us and keep us believing we are the personality for longer periods, sprout from our samskaras. These events are the ones that are attached strongly to our desires and they seem to be the ones being repeated over and over again. This pattern will repeat itself until regardless of the pull, regardless of all temptations, the mind which has realized there is more peace in Truth, manages not to take the bite on the apple.
I remember that after choosing a mantra that meant ‘There is nothing worth worshipping but the one intelligence that governs all from within and without’, I saw how many times we choose to worship (without realizing) our time, health, image, plans and so many other idols that we choose second after second, leaving us feeling tired and empty without a sense of true satisfaction. As I went through my day, repeating my mantra at different times the importance of what I was focusing on dropped and I could carry on doing whatever I was doing without tension or sense of constricting urgency. The moment stress strikes and negativity engulfs us, that is the moment to use our mantra, that is the moment to turn to Truth, that is the moment to see the wings!! We live our lives in a society where most people believe to be caterpillars, we talk like one, act like one so that we can converse, exchange ideas…we’re actually really good at fitting in, as we’ve done it right from the moment we were born, we imitated to relate, to truly enter the world.

Although necessary, there comes a time when the truth needs to be known. The ugly duck cannot carry on not knowing who he is for long or life can be really tough!!! At one point the duck stops to be and a swan is born. You see all and everything has always been pointing to truth, there was never an ugly duck in the first place; he and everyone around him only believed he was!!! Whenever negativity comes, you’ve simply forgotten - use a mantra, use a mirror, use a question like ‘who am I’ and know that this transformation takes a millisecond and a willing and relaxed mind.

Dorna Djenab August 2010

Grace and Willpower

2010-08-25T07:35:00.000-07:00

When I was a boy, I used to eat my sweets really fast. I always finished before my big brother Maurice.

When I saw that he still had a plentiful supply I often looked up at him sheepishly, to which he responded, "No!!!", before I could open my ever-chewing jowls. I remember feeling rejected yet, simultaneously and on a deeper level, understanding that I was encroaching upon my brother's peace.

I was greedy and didn't know why. It took willpower to keep me from tears.

As my life rolls, the word alchemy seems to play an ever increasing importance. There is something indescribably beautiful about the subtle shifting of one form into another, higher, finer and always-worth-waiting-for transmutation.

For me, it seems that writing is a highly potent means to alchemise my lower self into something durable and perhaps beneficial to more than the small me. It's a method to my madness, a way to focus my pain, insecurity and all inclusive love and inspiration into crystalline design, awaiting anyone's consumption.

I also remember as a boy, sitting on our top-loading washing machine late at night, turning blue with croup.

I remember waiting in the staff room for my mum to come and take me home because my asthma kept me from partaking.

I remember sitting up many nights, resisting medication, pained and torn, yet firm in my mind that the voice inside my heart was telling me to do these things for some reason unknown to me at the time.

I recall lying in bed with Guillain Barre, choosing to ignore all pain and discomfort.

What seems clear, half a life or so later is, what one individual finds easy,

Another may not.

We are all wired by the same frame, yet time lines and stories vary across the tapestry.

I'm still not sure what I am,

but am more convinced as to know

what I am not.

I have always believed in God, because the thought, 'God exists' and its associated feelings,

provided me with the comfort not even an endless supply of maltesers or licquorice allsorts ever could.

Yet I have pondered and continue to......................

as to the difference between

Grace
(like a hand reaching out between the curtains of my heart saying, "Don't worry Matthew, here's a hug"), when I thought I just couldn't continue another moment

AND

Willpower
me resisting receiving this imaginary hug, in order that I may continue to appear strong and independant.

So, you might see from the above example that it seems to me;

Grace, is divine manifestation,

whereas willpower arises in my lower mind

and is something which I appear to have more conscious control over.

This topic came to me a few weeks ago following, as is so often the case, a few really interesting conversations in tandem with 'Grace vs Willpower' heating my marrow, approaching boiling and having no idea which way is 'next'.

Although at times I know I have tremendous will power, I also knew that in weeks gone by; deep down, my most important inner work was slacking.

I knew because of inner friction.

There was dialogue and emotion which I thought had been put to rest.
I also knew because I just strained my back; I overdid the physical side of things, knowing too well that this sometimes arises from ignoring that deepest voice.

The fact that one may hear internal dialogue, doesn't mean there is lack in good spirited intention.
But for me it did.
I knew because the scenery appeared all too familiar.

When one strives to conquer,

yet finds oneself spinning again,

beginning to ponder,

like walking through past-life's ghost town

and no one's around

except the voice in my head,

saying,

"What are you doing? You know this isn't right"

and yet

the force of momentum,

we call it conditioning,

or in yoga, the samskaras ('same-action' or patterns)

turns the record

and buries the heart in the deepening grooves.

Of course it is possible to have many positive grooves or patterns and these are the ones which enable us to do good frequently, smile, help an old person carry a bag and such like.

Yet simultaneously, while all this positive work is going on, now and again, or perhaps even once a day, or more than that, those negative imprints surface like a ravenous monster, biting, clawing, nourishing from the darker side.

Do you ever remember one of your parents saying "What on earth made you do that!!?"

I remember thinking "dunno................"

Years later I understand that it wasn't anything on earth specifically, but more akin to something I had been carrying around prior to that, which I have fed and cared for as

'that part of me which is sacred and private - so keep out!!!"

I have also realised that if you swap the 'a' and 'c' in 'scared' you get 'sacred'.

Embracing and moving out of the darkness provides for our growth.

If the soul returns (I believe it does) then large chunks of life may be consumed in re-membering.

Putting it all together again.

What was I doing?

No, surely my life's not just about going around in a circle called 'Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wed...............'

Why am I really here?

This question fascinated me from the age of fifteen and is still ticking within me like a time clock.

For me, such questioning moments often arise after a fall. The horizon is out of view from the trench, within which I contemplate.

Is it Grace which shows us how to step up in to clear view again?

It is willpower that fills our heart and lungs with courage to commence another round?

Are they the same thing?

I see it as a play of consciousness, a moving towards the divine so that it may enter our hearts.

Sure, there are those who rarely make any effort to do this. In such cases I believe the divine continues to present itself, although perhaps less frequently. A killer may find themself helping an old person across the street. Perhaps this is guilt, perhaps it is God saying there is another way or perhaps, I hear some of you say, he is just stalking his next victim.

I also believe that for this person, there may not be a brighter way, in this life.

They may be travelling through a lot of darkness until finally they realise,

"I can't see. Is this what I really want. Is there a better way?"

I truly believe these 'workings' do go on inside us all.

I sense such views open space for debate, disagreement and even disgust.

All the same, I have always believed in the cosmic law 'karma'; it has made a lot of sense to me. I don't see it as reward or punishment, as these are viewed subjectively from within the story.

Grace comes 'out' when we can no longer find an alternative;

When all seems lost, yet a part of us, deeper than any conditioning, is still open to the truth. From within this opening, it flows outward. It is felt in the heart and circulates through the blood, so that we may know ourselves, if but for a moment, once again.

If we are lucky, we have learned we are not merely the thoughts we hear. We know that some of them are out of place or out of date.

There is that moment of choice before we continue.

It is through repeatedly making the wrong choice, when Grace has been whirring in the background many a year, that we need to dig a little deeper, steel ourselves from the real thief and gain a little grip.

This is willpower.

With sunshine,

Matt :)

2010-08-23T05:57:00.000-07:00

Welcome to all of our new Amazon Friends.

We hope that you enjoy reading, watching and sharing with us, via our

Blog http://pranasanayoga.blogspot.com/

Our website http://www.pranasanayoga.com

YouTube Dorna Djenab or Matt Gluck .

In Joy,

Matt and Dorna :)

How To Breathe - Tune into your Core Muscles - Exercise 8

2010-08-19T08:19:00.000-07:00

Cry Out in Your Weakness

2010-07-25T05:21:00.000-07:00

As I paused before writing about my understanding of Rumi's Poem 'Cry out in your weakness', I thought “So far this Blog seems to be all about pain and suffering!” I guess it's because many are driven to the journey to wholeness through pain in one form or the other.

Buddha said: “Life is suffering”. I hear so many people in their despair quote this as a testimony to the validation of their suffering. Rarely do I hear anyone say: “Buddha then said: 'The root of all suffering is ignorance'”.
Gulp! I guess no-one out there or in here wants to consider themselves ignorant!
Well not ME!!!!

This is the whole point; the ME is the root of the ignorance and ALL suffering sprouts from that.

We consider ourselves as little cells separate from the whole body of creation, fighting for survival against the rest of creation. Although, every cell - via a mesmerizing intelligence - works towards the health of the whole and the whole works for/with every other cell, we still consider ourselves independent, separate and alone!

Although there is a cell as part of a vast universe, all will cease to exist without that intelligence, breathing you right now. You say I breathe. Quite rightly! But, who is the ‘I’? The cell or the intelligence? The cell is what we think we are (the ego), but in reality, the intelligence that drives the cell is our true identity.

Now this is all very nice to know, but one's actual experience of life has come largely via the ego. The addiction to this ‘belief’ or way of perceiving is definitely more difficult to let go of than any other addiction, including cigarettes (and I thought that was hard!!!). No addict can ever heal unless he recognises his addiction, realises when he craves it the most, how he feels without it, how he feels after it.......

The same principle applies with our attachment to the belief that we are the ego. In order to ‘give up’ we have to be alert, diligent in order to see when we identify with our body and our actions (with the cell and it shape and function)? How does it really feel to be identified as the ego? How honestly can we experience life ‘as it is’ without trying to paint a good or bad picture on it? What is the real gain to stay addicted to this belief? Are there any gain at all?!

Like any addiction, it seems that GRACE has a lot to do with healing. Many addicts never think of giving up. Many think of it (which I believe is also Grace) but then see themselves too little or weak to let go, so they give up ‘giving up’. Many try their hardest, manage to give up but give in to temptation so that the cycle continues countless times. Each time this happens one feels lower than low for failing and yet carries on in the hope that one day it all ends (Faith).

At one point, often suddenly, something happens! The addiction falls away as if of its own accord, so easily it is hard to believe it had such a strong hold on us. In our journey to the depth of our being, to our true nature, to our real self, we must have faith and know that it is possible to be relieved from the grip of the ego, from our identification with the personality. It is essential that we don't give up wanting to free ourselves from it. Our intention comes from love; so we need to give into that love and stay gentle with ourselves, especially when we fail. Knowing that this failure is part of the success and not its opposing force!
We don’t fuel the failure-fire, we Intend to break the prison of the mind; this wanting to come out of the trap of the ego is what I hear Rumi refer to in this poem and he reminds me, that as my wanting grows, Grace grows!!!

By Dorna Djenab July 2010

Suffering

2010-07-20T09:58:00.000-07:00

Good afternoon Friends and Co Travellers.

I hope that you are well and happy and embracing the summer time, wherever it may take you.

It's been a while since we have posted for our Blog and I'm really pleased to be writing today; an opportunity for quality time, that I might know myself better and perhaps entertain you in the process.

For me writing is incredibly cathartic - an opportunity to open my heart-space and bring light to my 'desktop'.

A topic that has been speaking with me lately is that of 'suffering'. We all know it well, I wonder would you like to hear a little more about it now?

I don't know anyone personally, who has never suffered. The sages and mystics of whom we read and fall in love with, rarely seem to have avoided it's grasp altogether. Yet, they have transcended it and spend the remainder of their days telling us that we too 'are the same'.

Such people, have somehow BeCome enlightened.

They have Come to Being in the light.

They have transcended (gone beyond the five senses) or, moved beyond the norm to emerge into, or out of, a separate reality.

They have worked with the Light and the darkness, to know themselves intimately.

They have a nice expression in Thailand, "Same same, but different".

Now, in all honesty, I haven't got a clue what this might mean to a Thai mind, (although I'm hoping that through writing, some quantum download will occur, whereby I will)...

The sage or mystic opens his or her eyes to a fresh and ever new existence. Trees are still trees and rubbish still smells yet, equal beauty is now experienced in all things.

For me, this moment has come and gone many times.

I mean,

I have awoken and slumbered and awoken again countless times since.

I am aware that this is the 'normal' process for most of us. The path to awakening, liberating, letting go, becoming enlightened or however else you would like to term it, is usually gradual, perhaps with a few atomic eruptions here and there to lift us on our toes and keep us dancing a while, lest we forget.

I have suffered a lot in this life.

I imagine that you have too :)

I know there are countless beings who have suffered much more than I.

I pray for all that still do.

I hit a rock bottom one day (1998) and cried out, "Ouuuuch that rock’s hard!”

Actually it was more like, “Oh God, I cannot take this anymore!!! Please help!!"

Did you do that ever?

I bet you did, in some small, even unconscious way.

I realised that I existed in a place of suffering that no longer held any intelligence, because there was no change - only more and more pain. No matter what I did, or didn't do, the pain throbbed a continuous cycle of destruction.

Not just physical pain, but deep psychic and soulfully rooted angst.

The kind of pain where you find yourself sitting in a mental prison, being tortured with abuse and you look up at the guard to say,

"please, please, stop, I cannot take this any longer"

and s/he looks at you,

s/he is you,

same face, voice, piercing eyes.........

s/he really is you, saying......,

"Are you sure?"

Then there's a part of me/you saying,

"I don't know actually, can I?

Perhaps I will?"

Actually,

I bet I can,

I shall, no I shan't" and so on, perhaps forever and ever...

Each time I have done this, the cross just got heavier.

Some will relate to this more than others; for me the pattern wore me down.

In 1999 I moved here to Herts.

I came from a broken life, one which I had wrecked myself.

I am not ashamed to admit this.

When I landed in Elstree, life kindly placed me in a flat which had written on the front door, (in invisible ink)

'Heaven or Hell'.

Many suffer because of external affliction; being abused, beaten, bullied; all that kind of 'horrendous' unpleasantness.

I was aware that I had suffered in my life due to circumstances beyond my control, but had also experienced a lot of self inflicted pain. When I started to question the 'self inflicted' aspect, I began to see a deeper truth that shocked my personality-mind.

Interesting things can happen when you spend a lot of time in stillness.

I lived alone for seven years and during these first few years, that's when I woke up.

I mean I woke up consciously, as opposed to having a moment of keen awareness and then drifting off again for another few years.

One day while sitting still for a few hours, something happened.

Or rather didn't.

I don't mean that I sat motionless like a stone, screaming out to move (although I have done that; it's another story)....

but that I sat, without wanting.

I sat without music or television, I didn't care for people, or not care for them either.

My teacher was Boobie (top page), a wise old cat.

I just sat, a bit like the Boobster up there, except mostly on the floor, spine erect, more like a yogi than soft white pawed Felix Monster.

I had little work and few friends and each day was the same.

So there I was sitting on a hard warm wooden floor. It was May and the sun shone on to the blinds from outside.

I had been doing a lot of gazing – I have always been fascinated that you can gaze at one spot just right, focusing on an object for support and, if you relax and hold the gaze steady, the whole room starts to move into one focal point. I noticed object by object, merging in with the first, which I believe was a plant. It’s like a black hole; everything moves inwards to the centre.

I sat in the cobbler's pose (soles of feet together) and my breath seemed to stop.

And then, there was heat.

Tremendous heat rose from my pelvis and moved its way through my spine, filling my head.

Astonishing experience,

Which came out of nowhere.......

I sat watching an ant walking past me calmly.

Quite clearly it wasn't concerned.

Not hungry, lonely, scared,

Just,

An Ant.

This ant and the floor across which it traversed were not separate. Where the ant went, the floor went. Wherever the floor had come from, that's how the ant got to be 'here'. 'Here' was ever so clearly 'there' and 'there' positively 'here'. Both were 'nowhere' of any particular destination because they appeared to be 'everywhere'. All existed simultaneously and this 'nowhere' was so only, 'now and here' which was the same place that I had always been and even more clearly could and would only ever be.

Pheeeewww :) What a relief that is.

During this whole 'moment' which has always been going on and which will never end,

the ant, floor, walls, room, etc., all dissolved in me and I, in them.

I couldn’t establish the difference between anything, although I didn’t know this at the time, because I wasn’t there.

'Same, same, but absolutely no separation whatsoever'.

A short while later, maybe a few minutes, the Awareness began to shear again, as though the ant became the ant, the floor knew it was a floor and I was me again.

Same same, but now different.

My mind had returned and therefore, separation existed.

Ego arose, ergo I purity diluted itself.

I remained in this state for days, with little food or sleep.

These days remain as peaceful memories of the moment I awoke to being.

What is so amusing is that these moments occur for many of us, frequently, especially as small children. We take it as the norm, the keen awareness of the second attention, that which normally escapes the perceptive mind.

I knew that something profound had happened, largely by the lack of food and sleep intake, quiet in my mind and peace in my heart.

I knew that I had come home at last.

As the spring turned into summer the peace faded, replaced with a mind filling with noisy grey clouds.

The suffering and sufferer returned!

Naturally I wanted to know why.

Why and how the peace came, went and suffering too.

In brief, it is all about identification.

Who I think I am.

Or more precisely the act of the thinking and believing or rather misbelieving, causes our suffering.

It’s a case of mistaken identity in which the Seer in us (that part of me that merged with the ant et al), recedes to the rear and the senses blind the mind to this true inner light.

Seer gives light to intellect, mind, ego and senses.

The game of life is to know the source, the Seer, which is one with seeing and seen.

To know that this Seer or Awareness is who we are, taking form in a sense-mind reality gives rise to liberation.

Of course if Seer, Seeing and Seen are all a part of this Awareness then so too, senses, mind and body must be too.

Yes?

No?

Yes, they are – It’s the back-seat driver thing. In this scenario the back-seat driver is the ego, attempting to seize control. Soul or seer is the real driver, guiding intellect and mind as to which way to turn. Ego, by way of divine-design mistakes itself to be THE SELF, the ‘one and only’ and this, is where all our problems arise.

Why and how does consciousness works this way?

Why is there ego, which causes this interference in the transference of informative perception?

Ego is the character, the personality, persona or mask that interfaces with the world.

As the years pass, this mask sets and with it, the Story of Humanity.

“That’s mine, this is yours, there’s the line, cross with permission, or at your perrrrrilllll!!!!!!!”

This is the evolution of mass (human) consciousness.

Think of the Lemming myth. Their one consciousness evolved so that they would all commit suicide together, following each other blindly. Many lemmings, but being driven by one deep underlying belief.

And so today.....................

Many humans following the same deeeeeeply rooted belief system. This has led us all away from Soul and outward towards the material world, which changes so rapidly that we just can’t seem to keep up.

There is a well known expression; “The pain goes on, the suffering ends”..................

As awareness shifts inward toward the Seer, when we suffer, our perception arises from a new perspective in which ‘I’ am not the body in pain, or the ‘poor me, again (and again)’ – rather I am the observer of this story.

I watch myself playing a repeated drama in which I derive pleasure, followed by pain (or vice versa) via this cycle of creative being.

What goes up, must....................

So where there’s pleasure (related to the senses) this is followed by some kind of low, no matter how subtle.

As an addict, I observed myself deriving much of my kick from the withdrawal and it’s comrades ‘guilt’ ‘shame’ and ‘blame’.

When I decided that I was truly tired of suffering, I realised that I had caused or created most of the pain and all of the suffering.

I hear some say; “And so the rape victim is the cause of his/her own suffering, can you really be saying this?!”

I am saying the rapist causes the pain, the victim is any party suffering.

As a young boy I was repeatedly abused by my neighbour, so I have some understanding of this.

I know that people have reasons for what they do and don’t do.

I see this as their business.

Mine is to forgive.

To Give in the Fore.

In being this, I see my story, which is impersonal.

I hope this helps you in some small way.

In truth,

And with love,

Matt :)

The Bellows Breath - Removing Blockages

2009-11-23T15:02:00.000-08:00

The bellows is known as one of the most important of practices. The reason for this is because of the effect that it has upon the psyche. With regular practice one is able to remove deeply embedded restrictive patterns which blocks or obstruct one’s ability to break free.
Let me give you an example which applies to all of these techniques and which applies specifically here. You may become aware of thoughts such as, “Well I can’t do that, I’m just not good enough.”
When you observe thoughts like this arising from deep within your subconscious mind, thoughts which you had no idea existed you will be amazed. It will become quite clear to you that, as I said earlier on, the only person that has ever been in your way is you. This can be a shocking realisation, but at the end of the day, it’s true. It’s as clear as a ray of light
You will very easily be able to say to yourself,
“I am good enough!”
You may well find this quite amusing, as did I.
I found myself saying to myself many times,
“I am good enough!!!” not because I felt that I had to make up for lost time, but because if felt sooooo good.
In fact it felt truly amazing.
It was a rebirth.
You will realise that you have always been good enough and are empowered to take great leaps of faith.
With this confidence comes new found inspiration. Ideas will flow in, creative projects will knock at your door. You will see how easy it is to take the reins,
And set course for the sunset of your dreams
If you are seeking to lose weight for example, you will be able to see clearly HOW to go about this, without getting in your own way.
You will see HOW to use all of the Breathing Practices, combined with your existing knowledge, to formulate your plan. You will be able to see your goal because your mind will be clear. You will be able to see yourself as your inner self has been prompting you with, these strong urges and signals to change.
One of the major things is that you will get out of your own way!!
You will stop berating yourself for all of your previous failures in life. You will stop pulling yourself down for feelings of inadequacy. You will give yourself the space to make mistakes. You will see that mistakes and failures are all a part of success. They are an integral part without which there is no progress, growth or change.

Extracted from ‘How To Breathe’ Book and accompanying DVD Box Set, by Matt Gluck.

Khalil Gibran on Pain - Narrated by Dorna

2009-11-23T12:19:00.000-08:00

This poem of Khalil Gibran from 'The Prophet' is a great reminder that pain is the divine taking us to a different dimension of life. We don't need oppose and resist it. Pain is inevitable but, suffering is optional. The only reason we suffer with our pain is that we do not want to accept its existence and do not recognize its value. We take pain as a punishment that we don't believe we deserve. In truth, pain chooses us when it sees that we are ready for transformation.

Khalil Gibran on Love - Narrated by Dorna

2009-10-05T13:52:00.001-07:00

When Love Beckons to you follow him

I love this poem because it is a calling to trust life completely no matter what is happening on the outside. It is an invitation for total faith in the generosity, gentleness and compassion of life. Although it sometimes feel tough on the outside and we feel we’re being ripped from all that was dear to us, every step of the way is to take us deeper into the kingdom of God. If we live our life hiding from difficulties and doing absolutely everything in our power to avoid them, although on the outside it might look like we have an easy life, on the inside we are hardening as we are stopping the stream of life from entering our being nourishing us and washing away all the unwanted, poisonous beliefs. The only way to live a fulfilled life is to stay completely naked and open to its current. The more open we are, the more we allow it to wash away impurities by any means it sees fit. The more we bathe in its purifying flow, the more it will reveal its secrets to us. The more we listen, the more we’re in love with all that we see, all of it, including the separate being that we seem to be.
Love is life and life is love, pure unconditional love. In order to truly receive life's blessing, all we have to do is say "yes" to all that happens and allow it to change us to the point that we can make changes. Changes happen when we say "yes", because saying "yes" opens our eyes. When we say yes and don't quiver by challenges, we see everything clearly, as it is without our perception being tainted by the fear of change. When we say "no", we hide and are unable to see the whole picture. We fail to see all the signs guiding us to make changes. We say "no" because we are afraid that our structured, pre-defined view of life might change and revolutionise the way we live it. By saying "yes" you let life crack open the prison door of your heart, and you'll be surprised as how big your heart can grow when it's allowed to have wings and be free.