Today’s favourite poses: Cat, Child’s Pose, Plank Pose
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: Not enough/very many!
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire by Deepak Chopra)
"In the vastness of the ocean there is no individual “I” clamouring for attention. There are waves and eddies and tides, but it is all, in the end, ocean. In the end, it is all spirit."
The reading further goes on to use the ocean as a metaphor for the universe/our individual/collective souls/consciousness. This resonates with me because it talks about 'One Consciousness’ which is something my favourite Sage and I have talked about, and it also directly relates to what my ‘Guru’, Erik, taught me, as explained in a previous post from another blog of mine:
My favorite silence is the time I spend in meditation. It’s like an entire ocean suddenly becoming extraordinarily calm and still. No storms, no tsunami’s, no hurricanes, no foreign vessels.
Erik explained to me once, the importance of ‘living from the depth’ and not on the surface where all the storms(drama)occurs. To frame it very simply, life has to be spent looking down, or deeper into the ocean, not up at the surface. The surface changes. Stuff blows in with the wind. It gets rough. But beneath the surface, when you go deeper, nothing changes, nothing is affected by what’s happening up there.
When life seems to be really bad/negative/painful, just 'be ok' with the pain. Remember that it is just weather, and it will change. And we can CHOOSE to dive into the tsunami, or just WATCH as the wave passes by. As soon as we try to grasp at things like thoughts, or wishes, or regrets, it becomes futile, as we are merely trying to stop a wave from coming into shore.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Day #28
Today’s favourite poses: Some Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon shiz i made up (no disrespect intended)
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: I honestly couldn't say. Prob. 5 or 10.
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from the Dhammapada, Words of the Buddha)
Live in Joy, In love,
Even among those who hate.
Live in joy, In health,
Even among the afflicted.
Live in joy, In peace,
Even among the troubled.
Look within. Be still.
Free from fear and attachment,
Know the sweet joy of living in the way.
There is no fire like greed,
No crime like hatred,
No sorrow like separation,
No sickness like hunger of heart,
And no joy like the joy of freedom.
Health, contentment and trust
Are your greatest possessions,
And freedom your greatest joy.
Look within. Be still.
Free from fear and attachment,
Know the sweet joy of living in the way.
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: I honestly couldn't say. Prob. 5 or 10.
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from the Dhammapada, Words of the Buddha)
Live in Joy, In love,
Even among those who hate.
Live in joy, In health,
Even among the afflicted.
Live in joy, In peace,
Even among the troubled.
Look within. Be still.
Free from fear and attachment,
Know the sweet joy of living in the way.
There is no fire like greed,
No crime like hatred,
No sorrow like separation,
No sickness like hunger of heart,
And no joy like the joy of freedom.
Health, contentment and trust
Are your greatest possessions,
And freedom your greatest joy.
Look within. Be still.
Free from fear and attachment,
Know the sweet joy of living in the way.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Day #27
Today’s favourite poses: Tree, Cobra, Plank, Child's Pose
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: most of the day
Today’s interesting/thought provoking quote:
As human beings we all want to be happy and free from misery.
We have learned that the key to happiness is inner peace.
The greatest obstacles to inner peace are disturbing emotions such as
anger and attachment, fear and suspicion,
while love and compassion, a sense of universal responsibility
are the sources of peace and happiness.
Dalai Lama
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: most of the day
Today’s interesting/thought provoking quote:
As human beings we all want to be happy and free from misery.
We have learned that the key to happiness is inner peace.
The greatest obstacles to inner peace are disturbing emotions such as
anger and attachment, fear and suspicion,
while love and compassion, a sense of universal responsibility
are the sources of peace and happiness.
Dalai Lama
Friday, January 28, 2011
Day #26
Today’s favourite poses: Dancing Warrior, Triangle, Plank, Pigeon
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 10
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle)
If it is the quality of your consciousness at this moment that determines the future, then what is it that determines the quality of your consciousness? Your degree of presence. So the only place where true change can occur and where the past can be dissolved is the Now.
All negativity is caused by an accumulation of psychological time and denial of the present. Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry – all forms of fear – are caused by too much future, and not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of non-forgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence. Most people find it difficult to believe that a state of consciousness totally free of all negativity is possible. And yet this is the liberated state to which all spiritual teachings point. It is the promise of salvation, not in an illusory future but right here and now.
You may find it hard to recognize that time is the cause of your suffering or your problems. You believe that they are caused by specific situations in your life, and seen from a conventional viewpoint, this is true. But until you have dealt with the basic problem-making dysfunction of the mind – its attachment to past and future and denial of the Now – problems are actually interchangeable. If all your problems or perceived causes of suffering or unhappiness were miraculously removed for you today, but you had not become more present, more conscious, you would soon find yourself with a similar set of problems or causes of suffering, like a shadow that follows you wherever you go. Ultimately there is only one problem: the time-bound mind itself.
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 10
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle)
If it is the quality of your consciousness at this moment that determines the future, then what is it that determines the quality of your consciousness? Your degree of presence. So the only place where true change can occur and where the past can be dissolved is the Now.
All negativity is caused by an accumulation of psychological time and denial of the present. Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry – all forms of fear – are caused by too much future, and not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of non-forgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence. Most people find it difficult to believe that a state of consciousness totally free of all negativity is possible. And yet this is the liberated state to which all spiritual teachings point. It is the promise of salvation, not in an illusory future but right here and now.
You may find it hard to recognize that time is the cause of your suffering or your problems. You believe that they are caused by specific situations in your life, and seen from a conventional viewpoint, this is true. But until you have dealt with the basic problem-making dysfunction of the mind – its attachment to past and future and denial of the Now – problems are actually interchangeable. If all your problems or perceived causes of suffering or unhappiness were miraculously removed for you today, but you had not become more present, more conscious, you would soon find yourself with a similar set of problems or causes of suffering, like a shadow that follows you wherever you go. Ultimately there is only one problem: the time-bound mind itself.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Day #25
Today’s favourite poses: Corpse Pose
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 10-20
Today’s interesting/thought provoking quote:
The outward man is the swinging door; the inner man is the still hinge.”
- M. Eckhart
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 10-20
Today’s interesting/thought provoking quote:
The outward man is the swinging door; the inner man is the still hinge.”
- M. Eckhart
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Day #24
Today’s favourite poses: DDDown DDDog, Child's Pose, Cat, Plank!
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 5
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from the Tao Te Ching)
Can you coax your mind from its wandering
and keep to the original oneness?
Can you let your body become
supple as a newborn child's?
Can you cleanse your inner vision
until you see nothing but the light?
Can you love people and lead them
without imposing your will?
Can you deal with the most vital matters
by letting events take their course?
Can you step back from your own mind
and thus understand all things?
Giving birth and nourishing,
having without possessing,
acting with no expectations,
leading and not trying to control:
this is the supreme virtue.
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 5
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from the Tao Te Ching)
Can you coax your mind from its wandering
and keep to the original oneness?
Can you let your body become
supple as a newborn child's?
Can you cleanse your inner vision
until you see nothing but the light?
Can you love people and lead them
without imposing your will?
Can you deal with the most vital matters
by letting events take their course?
Can you step back from your own mind
and thus understand all things?
Giving birth and nourishing,
having without possessing,
acting with no expectations,
leading and not trying to control:
this is the supreme virtue.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Day #23
Today’s favourite poses: The Warrior ones, Pigeon, Childs Pose, Tiger Pose
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 10
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from You Tube)
I still love this dude!
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 10
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from You Tube)
I still love this dude!
Monday, January 24, 2011
Day #22
Today’s favourite poses: Down Doggie!
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 5-10, give or take 5 (or 10)
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from Think by Simon Blackburn)
Further to yesterday’s post on Kant (who seems to be somewhat conflictive when it comes to reasoning vs. the existence of God), in his passage from the Critique of Pure Reason:
'Hithero it has been assumed that all our knowledge must conform to objects but all attempts to extend our knowledge of objects by establishing something in regard to them a priori, by means of concepts, have, on this assumption, ended in failure. We must therefore make trial whether we may not have more success in the tasks of metaphysics, if we suppose that objects must conform to our knowledge. This would agree better with what is desired, namely, that it should be possible to have knowledge of objects a priori, determining something in regard to them prior to their being given. We should then be proceeding precisely on the lines of Copernicus’ primary hypothesis. Failing of satisfactory progress in explaining the movements of the heavenly bodies on the supposition that they all revolved round the spectator, he tried whether he might not have better success if he made the spectator to revolve and the stars to remain at rest. A similar experiment can be tried in metaphysics, as regard the intuition of objects. If intuition must conform to the constitution of the objects, I do not see how we could know anything of the latter a priori; but if the object (as object of the senses) must conform to the constitution of our faculty of intuition, I have no difficulty in conceiving such a possibility.’
This is the element that Kant calls ‘transcendental idealism’.
It sounds as though in having experience we thereby ‘create’ a world that must conform to it.
What he wants is an understanding of the way in which concepts like those of things, forces, space, time, causation determine the way we think about the world. The intention is not to deny some element of scientific understanding, or indeed common sense, but to explain how those elements hang together in our thought. It is those thoughts that structure what he calls the ‘phenomenal world’; the world that is both described by science, and manifested to us in sense experience.
‘In our system on the other hand, these external things, namely matter, are in all their configurations and alterations nothing but mere appearances, that is , representations in us, of the reality of which we are immediately conscious.’
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 5-10, give or take 5 (or 10)
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from Think by Simon Blackburn)
Further to yesterday’s post on Kant (who seems to be somewhat conflictive when it comes to reasoning vs. the existence of God), in his passage from the Critique of Pure Reason:
'Hithero it has been assumed that all our knowledge must conform to objects but all attempts to extend our knowledge of objects by establishing something in regard to them a priori, by means of concepts, have, on this assumption, ended in failure. We must therefore make trial whether we may not have more success in the tasks of metaphysics, if we suppose that objects must conform to our knowledge. This would agree better with what is desired, namely, that it should be possible to have knowledge of objects a priori, determining something in regard to them prior to their being given. We should then be proceeding precisely on the lines of Copernicus’ primary hypothesis. Failing of satisfactory progress in explaining the movements of the heavenly bodies on the supposition that they all revolved round the spectator, he tried whether he might not have better success if he made the spectator to revolve and the stars to remain at rest. A similar experiment can be tried in metaphysics, as regard the intuition of objects. If intuition must conform to the constitution of the objects, I do not see how we could know anything of the latter a priori; but if the object (as object of the senses) must conform to the constitution of our faculty of intuition, I have no difficulty in conceiving such a possibility.’
This is the element that Kant calls ‘transcendental idealism’.
It sounds as though in having experience we thereby ‘create’ a world that must conform to it.
What he wants is an understanding of the way in which concepts like those of things, forces, space, time, causation determine the way we think about the world. The intention is not to deny some element of scientific understanding, or indeed common sense, but to explain how those elements hang together in our thought. It is those thoughts that structure what he calls the ‘phenomenal world’; the world that is both described by science, and manifested to us in sense experience.
‘In our system on the other hand, these external things, namely matter, are in all their configurations and alterations nothing but mere appearances, that is , representations in us, of the reality of which we are immediately conscious.’
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Day #21
Today’s favourite poses: Warrior I, II, III, Dancing Warrior
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 10
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from Think by Simon Blackburn)
Kant thought that Locke's 'modern philosophy' had attempted what he called a 'transendental realism', which is untenable. 'Realism', because it insists on a real world of independent objects situated in space and time. 'Transcendental', because this world is outside our own experience, and only an object of inference. But Kant agrees with Berkley that the inference is too precarious.
'I am not, therefore, in a position to perceive external things, but can only infer their existence from my inner perception, taking the inner perception as the effect of which something external is the proximate cause. Now the inference from a given effect to determine a cause is always uncertain, since the effect may be due to more than one cause. Accordingly, as regards the relation of the perception to its cause, it always remains doubtful whether the cause be internal or external; whether, that is to say, all the so-called outer perceptions are not a mere play of our inner sense, or whether they stand in relation to actual external objects as their cause. At all events, the existence fo the latter is only inferred, and is open to all the dangers of inference, whereas the object of inner sense (I myself with all my representations) is immediately perceived, and its existence does not allow of being doubted.'
The question that comes to mind with this video is: "Who created the creator???"
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 10
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from Think by Simon Blackburn)
Kant thought that Locke's 'modern philosophy' had attempted what he called a 'transendental realism', which is untenable. 'Realism', because it insists on a real world of independent objects situated in space and time. 'Transcendental', because this world is outside our own experience, and only an object of inference. But Kant agrees with Berkley that the inference is too precarious.
'I am not, therefore, in a position to perceive external things, but can only infer their existence from my inner perception, taking the inner perception as the effect of which something external is the proximate cause. Now the inference from a given effect to determine a cause is always uncertain, since the effect may be due to more than one cause. Accordingly, as regards the relation of the perception to its cause, it always remains doubtful whether the cause be internal or external; whether, that is to say, all the so-called outer perceptions are not a mere play of our inner sense, or whether they stand in relation to actual external objects as their cause. At all events, the existence fo the latter is only inferred, and is open to all the dangers of inference, whereas the object of inner sense (I myself with all my representations) is immediately perceived, and its existence does not allow of being doubted.'
The question that comes to mind with this video is: "Who created the creator???"
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Day #20
Today’s favourite poses: Down Dog, Child's Pose, Beer Lift....... =/
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 1
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading from: The Bible
(Several BEAUTIFUL translations):
الكتاب المقدس ترجمة فانديك وسميث تفاح بين شجر الوعر كذلك حبيبي بين البنين. تحت ظله اشتهيت ان اجلس وثمرته حلوة لحلقي. نشيد الأنش: الكتاب الشريف كشجرة التفاح بين أشجار الغابة، حبيبي بين الشبان. في ظله اشتهيت أن أجلس. ثمره حلو في فمي
わが愛する者の若人たちの中にあるのは、林の木の中にりんごの木があるようです。わたしは大きな喜びをもって、彼の陰にすわった。彼の与える実はわたしの口に甘かった。
남자들 중에 나의 사랑하는 자는 수풀 가운데 사과나무 같구나 내가 그 그늘에 앉아서 심히 기뻐하였고 그 실과는 내 입에 달았구나
Что яблоня между лесными деревьями, то возлюбленный мой между юношами. В тени ее люблю я сидеть, и плоды ее сладки для гортани моей.
我的良人在男子中，如同苹果树在树林中。我欢欢喜喜坐在他的荫下，尝他果子的滋味，觉得甘甜。
(This has nothing to do with Solomon, in fact i have no idea what it says, but it's another example/sample of totally beautiful written language - a real art form!)
คนที่คบไม่ได้ คือคนชื่อภูมิพลพี่น้องรู้ไว้ ไอ้เหี้ยแอ๊บเนียน ๆ ทำไม่รู้เรื่อง ควยอยู่จะแก่ขนาดนี้ มึงไม่รู้เรื่องอะไรเลยนี่ก็บ้าแล้ว แถมไม่รู้เรื่องจนรวยที่สุดในโลก สามปีซ้อน ถุย
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 1
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading from: The Bible
(Several BEAUTIFUL translations):
الكتاب المقدس ترجمة فانديك وسميث تفاح بين شجر الوعر كذلك حبيبي بين البنين. تحت ظله اشتهيت ان اجلس وثمرته حلوة لحلقي. نشيد الأنش: الكتاب الشريف كشجرة التفاح بين أشجار الغابة، حبيبي بين الشبان. في ظله اشتهيت أن أجلس. ثمره حلو في فمي
わが愛する者の若人たちの中にあるのは、林の木の中にりんごの木があるようです。わたしは大きな喜びをもって、彼の陰にすわった。彼の与える実はわたしの口に甘かった。
남자들 중에 나의 사랑하는 자는 수풀 가운데 사과나무 같구나 내가 그 그늘에 앉아서 심히 기뻐하였고 그 실과는 내 입에 달았구나
Что яблоня между лесными деревьями, то возлюбленный мой между юношами. В тени ее люблю я сидеть, и плоды ее сладки для гортани моей.
我的良人在男子中，如同苹果树在树林中。我欢欢喜喜坐在他的荫下，尝他果子的滋味，觉得甘甜。
(This has nothing to do with Solomon, in fact i have no idea what it says, but it's another example/sample of totally beautiful written language - a real art form!)
คนที่คบไม่ได้ คือคนชื่อภูมิพลพี่น้องรู้ไว้ ไอ้เหี้ยแอ๊บเนียน ๆ ทำไม่รู้เรื่อง ควยอยู่จะแก่ขนาดนี้ มึงไม่รู้เรื่องอะไรเลยนี่ก็บ้าแล้ว แถมไม่รู้เรื่องจนรวยที่สุดในโลก สามปีซ้อน ถุย
Friday, January 21, 2011
Day #19
Today’s favourite poses: Down Dog, Pigeon, Tiger, Child's Pose
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: Zilch so far
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from Wikipedia - Zen)
Zen asserts, as do other schools in Mahāyāna Buddhism, that all sentient beings have Buddha-nature, the universal nature of transcendent wisdom, and emphasizes that Buddha-nature is nothing other than the essential nature of the mind itself. The aim of Zen practice is to discover this Buddha-nature within each person, through meditation and practice of the Buddha's teachings. The ultimate goal of this is to become a Completely Enlightened Buddha
What the Zen tradition emphasizes is that enlightenment of the Buddha came not through intellectual reasoning, but rather through self-realization in Dharma practice and meditation. Therefore, it is held that it is primarily through Dharma practice and meditation that others may attain enlightenment and become buddhas as well.
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: Zilch so far
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from Wikipedia - Zen)
Zen asserts, as do other schools in Mahāyāna Buddhism, that all sentient beings have Buddha-nature, the universal nature of transcendent wisdom, and emphasizes that Buddha-nature is nothing other than the essential nature of the mind itself. The aim of Zen practice is to discover this Buddha-nature within each person, through meditation and practice of the Buddha's teachings. The ultimate goal of this is to become a Completely Enlightened Buddha
What the Zen tradition emphasizes is that enlightenment of the Buddha came not through intellectual reasoning, but rather through self-realization in Dharma practice and meditation. Therefore, it is held that it is primarily through Dharma practice and meditation that others may attain enlightenment and become buddhas as well.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Day #18
Today’s favourite poses: Plank pose, Down Dog, 3 Legged Dog, Pigeon, Cobra
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 10+
A wise man (http://wallscomedown.blogspot.com/) once said, that we are the "AGENTS of change".
I, for one, so appreciate the confidence!! :-)
and now I must 'call it forth'.
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 10+
A wise man (http://wallscomedown.blogspot.com/) once said, that we are the "AGENTS of change".
I, for one, so appreciate the confidence!! :-)
and now I must 'call it forth'.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Day #17
Today’s favourite poses: Down Dog, Child's Pose
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 10
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from The Tao Te Ching verse 16)
Empty your mind of all thoughts.
Let your heart be at peace.
Watch the turmoil of beings,
but contemplate their return.
Each separate being in the universe
returns to the common source.
Returning to the source is serenity.
If you don't realize the source,
you stumble in confusion and sorrow.
When you realize where you come from,
you naturally become tolerant,
disinterested, amused,
kindhearted as a grandmother,
dignified as a king.
Immersed in the wonder of the Tao,
you can deal with whatever life brings you,
and when death comes, you are ready.
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 10
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from The Tao Te Ching verse 16)
Empty your mind of all thoughts.
Let your heart be at peace.
Watch the turmoil of beings,
but contemplate their return.
Each separate being in the universe
returns to the common source.
Returning to the source is serenity.
If you don't realize the source,
you stumble in confusion and sorrow.
When you realize where you come from,
you naturally become tolerant,
disinterested, amused,
kindhearted as a grandmother,
dignified as a king.
Immersed in the wonder of the Tao,
you can deal with whatever life brings you,
and when death comes, you are ready.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Day #16
Today’s favourite poses: Mountain pose, Tree pose, Down-Dog - woof!
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 5 (give or take 5 because I keep falling asleep!)
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from YouTube, because my eyes won't stay open long enough to read more than six words)
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 5 (give or take 5 because I keep falling asleep!)
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from YouTube, because my eyes won't stay open long enough to read more than six words)
Monday, January 17, 2011
Day #15
Today’s favourite poses: Took Erik's class, so ALL of them! (lol)
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 25....(ISH!)
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from The Path to Tranquility by the Dalai Lama)
I've been thinking alot lately about a friend who passed away. I knew him since I was very young. Although I don't want to use this medium to dwell on his death (like I did in the last blog), I want to acknowledge that I miss him so badly I ache sometimes. This is the teaching found on September 9th (the day he died) in the Path to Tranquility:
Leaving aside memory - which allows us to remember, for example, the experiences of our youth - we all have latent and unconscious tendencies that arise under certain circumstances and influence the way our minds react. Such tendencies are the product of powerful experiences in the recent or distant past, which cause us to react unconsciously without our neccessarily remembering those experiences.
It is difficult to explain these tendencies and how they manifest other than by saying that they are the imprints of past experiences on the subtle consciousness.
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 25....(ISH!)
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from The Path to Tranquility by the Dalai Lama)
I've been thinking alot lately about a friend who passed away. I knew him since I was very young. Although I don't want to use this medium to dwell on his death (like I did in the last blog), I want to acknowledge that I miss him so badly I ache sometimes. This is the teaching found on September 9th (the day he died) in the Path to Tranquility:
Leaving aside memory - which allows us to remember, for example, the experiences of our youth - we all have latent and unconscious tendencies that arise under certain circumstances and influence the way our minds react. Such tendencies are the product of powerful experiences in the recent or distant past, which cause us to react unconsciously without our neccessarily remembering those experiences.
It is difficult to explain these tendencies and how they manifest other than by saying that they are the imprints of past experiences on the subtle consciousness.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Day #14
Today’s favourite poses: Dancing Warrior, Bridge, Bent Tree, Cobra
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 15(ish)
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from YouTube)
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 15(ish)
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from YouTube)
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Day #13
Today’s favourite poses: Bridge
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 10 (ish)
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from YouTube)
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 10 (ish)
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from YouTube)
Friday, January 14, 2011
Day #12
Today’s favourite poses: Cobra, Cat, Superman,
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 6
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from The Tao of Inner Peace by Diane Dreher)
Be Still
And discover your center of peace.
Throughout nature
The ten thousand things move along,
But each returns to its source.
Returning to center is peace.
Find Tao by returning to source.
(Tao Te Ching 16)
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 6
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from The Tao of Inner Peace by Diane Dreher)
Be Still
And discover your center of peace.
Throughout nature
The ten thousand things move along,
But each returns to its source.
Returning to center is peace.
Find Tao by returning to source.
(Tao Te Ching 16)
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Day #11
Today’s favourite poses: Down-dog, Warrior, Pigeon, Child, Cat
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 10
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn)
The practice itself has to become the daily embodiment of your vision and contain what you value most deeply. It doesn't mean trying to change or be different from how you are, calm when you're feeling not calm, or kind when you really feel angry. Rather, it is bearing in mind what is most important to you so that it is not lost or betrayed in the heat of reactivity of a particular moment. If mindfulness is deeply important to you, then every moment is an opportunity to practice.
For example, suppose angry feelings come up at some point in your day. If you find yourself feeling angry and expressing it, you will also find yourself monitoring that expression and its effects moment by moment. You may be in touch with its validity as a feeling state, with the antecedent causes of your strong feeling, and the way it is coming out in your body gestures and stances, in your tone of voice, in your choice of words and arguments, as well as the impression it is making on others. There is much to be said for the conscious expression of anger, and it is well known medically and psychologically that suppressing anger in the sense of internalizing it is unhealthy, particularly if it becomes habitual. But it is also unhealthy to vent anger uncontrollably as a matter of habit and reaction, however "justifiable".
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 10
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn)
The practice itself has to become the daily embodiment of your vision and contain what you value most deeply. It doesn't mean trying to change or be different from how you are, calm when you're feeling not calm, or kind when you really feel angry. Rather, it is bearing in mind what is most important to you so that it is not lost or betrayed in the heat of reactivity of a particular moment. If mindfulness is deeply important to you, then every moment is an opportunity to practice.
For example, suppose angry feelings come up at some point in your day. If you find yourself feeling angry and expressing it, you will also find yourself monitoring that expression and its effects moment by moment. You may be in touch with its validity as a feeling state, with the antecedent causes of your strong feeling, and the way it is coming out in your body gestures and stances, in your tone of voice, in your choice of words and arguments, as well as the impression it is making on others. There is much to be said for the conscious expression of anger, and it is well known medically and psychologically that suppressing anger in the sense of internalizing it is unhealthy, particularly if it becomes habitual. But it is also unhealthy to vent anger uncontrollably as a matter of habit and reaction, however "justifiable".
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Day #10
Today’s favourite poses: Child's Pose
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 5
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire by Deepak Chopra)
He starts off by explaining that the individuality of our personal soul is shaped by more than karma, and that our relationships also play an important role in the construction of the souls. He then goes on to explain the different aspects of our existence such as our bodies, our thoughts, our emotions, our personalities etc. He states that our bodies are just recycled cells and our thoughts are recycled information/ideas. The part I was most interested in is when he talks about emotions:
Next, consider our emotions. Emotions are just recycled energy. Emotions do not originate with us. They come and go depending on situations, circumstances, relationships and events. Emotions are never created in isolation, they always come about because of some interaction with the environment. In the absence of circumstances or relationships, there is no emotion. So even though I may fly into a rage, it is not actually my anger. It is anger than has settled on me for the moment. Each emotion is dependent on the context, circumstances, and relationships that define your reality at the moment.
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 5
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire by Deepak Chopra)
He starts off by explaining that the individuality of our personal soul is shaped by more than karma, and that our relationships also play an important role in the construction of the souls. He then goes on to explain the different aspects of our existence such as our bodies, our thoughts, our emotions, our personalities etc. He states that our bodies are just recycled cells and our thoughts are recycled information/ideas. The part I was most interested in is when he talks about emotions:
Next, consider our emotions. Emotions are just recycled energy. Emotions do not originate with us. They come and go depending on situations, circumstances, relationships and events. Emotions are never created in isolation, they always come about because of some interaction with the environment. In the absence of circumstances or relationships, there is no emotion. So even though I may fly into a rage, it is not actually my anger. It is anger than has settled on me for the moment. Each emotion is dependent on the context, circumstances, and relationships that define your reality at the moment.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Day #9
Today’s favourite poses: Child's Pose
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 5
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire by Deepak Chopra)
We each have a soul, but because we are each observing from a differenct place and a different set of experiences, we do not observe the same things in exactly the same ways. The variations in what we observe are based on our minds' interpretations.
Interpretation happens at the level of the mind, but it is our individual souls that are conditioned by experience, and through that memory of past experience the soul influences our choices and interpretations in life. These tiny kernels or seeds of memory build up in the individual soul over a lifetime, and this combination of memory and imagination based on experience is called karma. Karma accumulates in the personal part of the soul, the wave at the core of our being, and colors it. This personal soul governs the conscience and provides a template for the kind of person each of us will turn out to be. In addition, the actions we take can affect this personal soul and change our karma, for better or worse.
The universal, nonlocal part of the soul is not touched by our actions, but is connected to a spirit that is pure and unchanging. In fact, the definition of enlightenment is "the recognition that I am an infinite being seeing and seen from, observing, and observed from, a particular and localized point of view." Whatever else we are, no matter how much of a mess we may have made of our lives, it is always possible to tap into the part of the soul that is universal , the infinite field of pure potential, and change the course of our destiny. That is SYNCHRODESTINY - taking advantage of this connection between the personal soul and the universal soul to shape your life.
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 5
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire by Deepak Chopra)
We each have a soul, but because we are each observing from a differenct place and a different set of experiences, we do not observe the same things in exactly the same ways. The variations in what we observe are based on our minds' interpretations.
Interpretation happens at the level of the mind, but it is our individual souls that are conditioned by experience, and through that memory of past experience the soul influences our choices and interpretations in life. These tiny kernels or seeds of memory build up in the individual soul over a lifetime, and this combination of memory and imagination based on experience is called karma. Karma accumulates in the personal part of the soul, the wave at the core of our being, and colors it. This personal soul governs the conscience and provides a template for the kind of person each of us will turn out to be. In addition, the actions we take can affect this personal soul and change our karma, for better or worse.
The universal, nonlocal part of the soul is not touched by our actions, but is connected to a spirit that is pure and unchanging. In fact, the definition of enlightenment is "the recognition that I am an infinite being seeing and seen from, observing, and observed from, a particular and localized point of view." Whatever else we are, no matter how much of a mess we may have made of our lives, it is always possible to tap into the part of the soul that is universal , the infinite field of pure potential, and change the course of our destiny. That is SYNCHRODESTINY - taking advantage of this connection between the personal soul and the universal soul to shape your life.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Day #8
Today’s favourite poses: Child's Pose
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 20
NAMASTE:
• "I honor the Spirit in you which is also in me."
• "I honor the place in you in which the entire Universe dwells, I honor the place in you which is of Love, of Integrity, of Wisdom and of Peace. When you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, we are One."
• "Your spirit and my spirit are ONE."
• "That which is of God in me greets that which is of God in you."
• "The Divinity within me perceives and adores the Divinity within you."
• "I honor the Spirit in you which is also in me."
• "I honor the place in you in which the entire Universe dwells, I honor
the place in you which is of Love, of Integrity, of Wisdom and of Peace. When you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, we are One."
• "Your spirit and my spirit are ONE."
• "That which is of God in me greets that which is of God in you.
• "The Divinity within me perceives and adores the Divinity within you."
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 20
NAMASTE:
• "I honor the Spirit in you which is also in me."
• "I honor the place in you in which the entire Universe dwells, I honor the place in you which is of Love, of Integrity, of Wisdom and of Peace. When you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, we are One."
• "Your spirit and my spirit are ONE."
• "That which is of God in me greets that which is of God in you."
• "The Divinity within me perceives and adores the Divinity within you."
• "I honor the Spirit in you which is also in me."
• "I honor the place in you in which the entire Universe dwells, I honor
the place in you which is of Love, of Integrity, of Wisdom and of Peace. When you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, we are One."
• "Your spirit and my spirit are ONE."
• "That which is of God in me greets that which is of God in you.
• "The Divinity within me perceives and adores the Divinity within you."
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Day #7
Today’s favourite poses: Pigeon, Warrior III, some crouching tiger laughing dragon thing??
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 10(ish)
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from At Home in Muddy Waters by Ezra Bayda)
The Freeway of Practice. At times practice can seem very confusing. Sitting on the meditation cushion, we may wonder, "What exactly am I doing here?" am I supposed to be staying with my breathing? What about labeling thoughts - how does that tie in? And what about just residing in the stillness?? How do my emotions and beliefs fit in with all the other stuff? Where do I incorporate a forgiveness practice or a loving-kindness practice?
A useful analogy is to see the path of practice as a freeway with several different lanes. All the lanes are going in the same direction, but we choose the lane we need depending on conditions. Let's call the first lane the concentration aspect of practice, such as following or counting the breath. Such a practice is often useful at the beginning of a sitting, to settle our speedy mind. The strength of this practice is that it narrows our range; it helps us develop focus and stability. But this strength is also its limitation. Practice isn't about shutting life out; it's about opening to life, letting life in. Nevertheless, this limited practice is sometimes necessary and useful.
As we settle down in our sitting, we can then move into the second lane, which could be called wide-open awareness. This practice is to hear our thoughts, experience our bodily sensations, and be aware of our perceptions of the environment. Here we might practice dual awareness where we bring around a third of our attention to the sensations of breath and to the perceptions of sound. Within all the other sensations and perceptions that arise. Then we gradually widen the container of awareness to include a sense of our own presence, or own Being. In this place, we become more still and allow our experience to just be.
Lane three is our emotional reactivity, based on believed thoughts. Unbenownst to us, cars from lane three are often utting us off in lane two. The reactivity creeps up on us so that we don't even know it's there. When we sense this fuzziness, we may wonder, "What's the practice here?" The practice in lane three is to work directly with our emotional reactivity. Through thought labeling, we see how our reactivity comes from our endlessly twarted requirements that lfe be the way we want it to be. We then reside in the physical experience of distress, until after some time we may catch glimpses of the deeply conditioned beliefs that keep activating it. This isn't an intellectual exercise, we have to see and experience how these deep-seated core beliefs reside in the body itself. This is riding in lane three, the fast lane, the lane of transformation.
All of these lanes are interconnected. To ride in lane three - practicing with our thoughts and reactions - we need the wider container of awarness of the second lane. In the second lane, we can experience the stillness within which the energy of our emotions - the thoughts and sensations- can move across the screen of awarness without activating our blind belief in them.
To reside in the wide-open awareness of the second lane, we often need the focus and stability of the first lane. In addition we may have to clarify the deep-seated belief systems of lane three; otherwise, these would subtly or not so subtly cover the whole freeway with fog.
The practices of forgiveness and loving-kindness belong to the car-pool lane, because they almost always require taking the ride of practice with another person. Even though this lane is a separate lane with its own particular rules of the road, all of the lanes are going in the same direction - toward waking up. They're all based in the physical reality of the present moment. The point is to take into account where we are as we try to see how to proceed most effectively.
Rarely does practice in a sitting period just flow smoothly along. Intelligent practice requires that we use the intellect to know how to practice. We have to use the discriminating mind to ask two questions: "What's going on right now?" and "What's practice in this situation?" Without such an approach, we'll just ride our own roller coaster-from being totally speedy, to focused, to calm and imperturbable, then back to square one, where we're knee-deep in all of our emitional stuff. And we'll continue to believe that each passing state is our only reality.
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 10(ish)
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from At Home in Muddy Waters by Ezra Bayda)
The Freeway of Practice. At times practice can seem very confusing. Sitting on the meditation cushion, we may wonder, "What exactly am I doing here?" am I supposed to be staying with my breathing? What about labeling thoughts - how does that tie in? And what about just residing in the stillness?? How do my emotions and beliefs fit in with all the other stuff? Where do I incorporate a forgiveness practice or a loving-kindness practice?
A useful analogy is to see the path of practice as a freeway with several different lanes. All the lanes are going in the same direction, but we choose the lane we need depending on conditions. Let's call the first lane the concentration aspect of practice, such as following or counting the breath. Such a practice is often useful at the beginning of a sitting, to settle our speedy mind. The strength of this practice is that it narrows our range; it helps us develop focus and stability. But this strength is also its limitation. Practice isn't about shutting life out; it's about opening to life, letting life in. Nevertheless, this limited practice is sometimes necessary and useful.
As we settle down in our sitting, we can then move into the second lane, which could be called wide-open awareness. This practice is to hear our thoughts, experience our bodily sensations, and be aware of our perceptions of the environment. Here we might practice dual awareness where we bring around a third of our attention to the sensations of breath and to the perceptions of sound. Within all the other sensations and perceptions that arise. Then we gradually widen the container of awareness to include a sense of our own presence, or own Being. In this place, we become more still and allow our experience to just be.
Lane three is our emotional reactivity, based on believed thoughts. Unbenownst to us, cars from lane three are often utting us off in lane two. The reactivity creeps up on us so that we don't even know it's there. When we sense this fuzziness, we may wonder, "What's the practice here?" The practice in lane three is to work directly with our emotional reactivity. Through thought labeling, we see how our reactivity comes from our endlessly twarted requirements that lfe be the way we want it to be. We then reside in the physical experience of distress, until after some time we may catch glimpses of the deeply conditioned beliefs that keep activating it. This isn't an intellectual exercise, we have to see and experience how these deep-seated core beliefs reside in the body itself. This is riding in lane three, the fast lane, the lane of transformation.
All of these lanes are interconnected. To ride in lane three - practicing with our thoughts and reactions - we need the wider container of awarness of the second lane. In the second lane, we can experience the stillness within which the energy of our emotions - the thoughts and sensations- can move across the screen of awarness without activating our blind belief in them.
To reside in the wide-open awareness of the second lane, we often need the focus and stability of the first lane. In addition we may have to clarify the deep-seated belief systems of lane three; otherwise, these would subtly or not so subtly cover the whole freeway with fog.
The practices of forgiveness and loving-kindness belong to the car-pool lane, because they almost always require taking the ride of practice with another person. Even though this lane is a separate lane with its own particular rules of the road, all of the lanes are going in the same direction - toward waking up. They're all based in the physical reality of the present moment. The point is to take into account where we are as we try to see how to proceed most effectively.
Rarely does practice in a sitting period just flow smoothly along. Intelligent practice requires that we use the intellect to know how to practice. We have to use the discriminating mind to ask two questions: "What's going on right now?" and "What's practice in this situation?" Without such an approach, we'll just ride our own roller coaster-from being totally speedy, to focused, to calm and imperturbable, then back to square one, where we're knee-deep in all of our emitional stuff. And we'll continue to believe that each passing state is our only reality.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Day #6
Today’s favourite poses: Warrior, Dancing Warrior, Reverse Warrior
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 15 (ish)
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from The Tao of Inner Peace by Diane Dreher)
Centered, The Tao person looks beyond externals, never flaunting accomplishments or posessions. We can enjoy the blessings of our lives but cannot possess them. They're part of the fluid movement of Tao, part of the process that flows like a river around and through us. When we know this, we've found our center and are one with the Tao.
Lao Tzu tells us:
"The Tao person embraces the One
And lives in peace by its pattern.
Do not dwell on your ego,
and you will discover your soul.
Avoid prideful acts,
and your work will endure.
If you do not compete,
no one on earth will compete against you.
Follow the ancient wisdom:
'Yield and Overcome.'
True peace is achieved
By centering
And blending with life." - Tao Te Ching 22
(Affirmation)
I know my life is peaceful and harmonious.
I am centered, whole and complete.
I have a job, but I'm not my job.
I have a family, but I'm not my family.
I have relationships, but I'm not my relationships
I have a body, but I'm not my body.
I have a cause, but I'm not my cause.
I am one with Tao.
I respect myself and the process.
I harmonize with nature and all others in my world.
I accept greater peace in my life now.
And so it is.
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 15 (ish)
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from The Tao of Inner Peace by Diane Dreher)
Centered, The Tao person looks beyond externals, never flaunting accomplishments or posessions. We can enjoy the blessings of our lives but cannot possess them. They're part of the fluid movement of Tao, part of the process that flows like a river around and through us. When we know this, we've found our center and are one with the Tao.
Lao Tzu tells us:
"The Tao person embraces the One
And lives in peace by its pattern.
Do not dwell on your ego,
and you will discover your soul.
Avoid prideful acts,
and your work will endure.
If you do not compete,
no one on earth will compete against you.
Follow the ancient wisdom:
'Yield and Overcome.'
True peace is achieved
By centering
And blending with life." - Tao Te Ching 22
(Affirmation)
I know my life is peaceful and harmonious.
I am centered, whole and complete.
I have a job, but I'm not my job.
I have a family, but I'm not my family.
I have relationships, but I'm not my relationships
I have a body, but I'm not my body.
I have a cause, but I'm not my cause.
I am one with Tao.
I respect myself and the process.
I harmonize with nature and all others in my world.
I accept greater peace in my life now.
And so it is.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Day #5
Today’s favourite poses: Cat, Cobra, Child, Downward Facing Dog
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 10(ish)
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire by Deepak Chopra)
Yoga Vasishta, an ancient Vedic text says, "The world is like a huge city, reflected in a mirror. So, too, the universe is a huge reflection of yourself in your own consciousness". It is, in short, the soul of all things.
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 10(ish)
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire by Deepak Chopra)
Yoga Vasishta, an ancient Vedic text says, "The world is like a huge city, reflected in a mirror. So, too, the universe is a huge reflection of yourself in your own consciousness". It is, in short, the soul of all things.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Day #4
Today’s favourite poses: Tiger, Cobra, Tree, Warrior I
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 20
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from The Undiscovered Self by Carl Gustav Jung)
The forlornness of consciousness in our world is due primarily to the loss of instinct, and the reason for this lies in the development of the human mind over the past aeon. The more power man had over nature, the more his knowledge and skill went to his head, and the deeper became his contempt for the merely natural and accidental, for that which is irrationally given - including the objective psyche, which is all that consciousness is not. In contrast to the subjectivism of the conscious mind, the unconscious is objective, manifesting itself mainly in the form of contrary feelings, fantasies, emotions, impulses and dreams, none of which makes oneself but which come upon objectively.
....What does lie within our reach, however, is the change in individuals who have, or create, an opportunity to influence others of like mind in their circle of acquaintance. I do not mean by persuading or preaching - I am thinking, rather, of the well known fact that anyone who has insight into his own action, and has thus found access to the unconscious, involuntarily exercises an influence on his environment. The deepening and broadening of his consciousness produce the kind of effect which the primitives call "mana." It is an unintentional influence on the unconscious prestige, and its effect lasts only so long as not disturbed by conscious intention. Nor does the striving for self knowledge altogether shun the prospect of social amelioration, since there exists a factor, which, though completely disregarded, meets our expectations halfway. This is the unconscious Zeitgeist. It compensates the attitude of the conscious mind and anticipates changes to come.
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 20
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from The Undiscovered Self by Carl Gustav Jung)
The forlornness of consciousness in our world is due primarily to the loss of instinct, and the reason for this lies in the development of the human mind over the past aeon. The more power man had over nature, the more his knowledge and skill went to his head, and the deeper became his contempt for the merely natural and accidental, for that which is irrationally given - including the objective psyche, which is all that consciousness is not. In contrast to the subjectivism of the conscious mind, the unconscious is objective, manifesting itself mainly in the form of contrary feelings, fantasies, emotions, impulses and dreams, none of which makes oneself but which come upon objectively.
....What does lie within our reach, however, is the change in individuals who have, or create, an opportunity to influence others of like mind in their circle of acquaintance. I do not mean by persuading or preaching - I am thinking, rather, of the well known fact that anyone who has insight into his own action, and has thus found access to the unconscious, involuntarily exercises an influence on his environment. The deepening and broadening of his consciousness produce the kind of effect which the primitives call "mana." It is an unintentional influence on the unconscious prestige, and its effect lasts only so long as not disturbed by conscious intention. Nor does the striving for self knowledge altogether shun the prospect of social amelioration, since there exists a factor, which, though completely disregarded, meets our expectations halfway. This is the unconscious Zeitgeist. It compensates the attitude of the conscious mind and anticipates changes to come.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Day #3
Today’s favourite poses: Pigeon, Warrior, 3 Legged Dog to Tree pose
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 10
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from The Wisdom of Yoga by Stephen Cope)
Each of us has our own silent War With Reality. And whatever our particular war with reality is, its result is always a persuasive sense of the unsatisfactoriness of the moment. Yogis came to call this duhkha. Duhkha means, literally, suffering, pain, or distess.
The causes of suffering are not seeing things as they are, the sense of "I", attachment, aversion, and clinging to life.
On the other hand, when there is no clinging, no craving, no aversion, no delusion, we are entirely free. We experience sukha or sweetness. Sukha is the happiness that is not colored by craving or aversion.
I've said this before, but just as we create our own reality, we create our own suffering, both on an individual, and collective level.
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 10
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from The Wisdom of Yoga by Stephen Cope)
Each of us has our own silent War With Reality. And whatever our particular war with reality is, its result is always a persuasive sense of the unsatisfactoriness of the moment. Yogis came to call this duhkha. Duhkha means, literally, suffering, pain, or distess.
The causes of suffering are not seeing things as they are, the sense of "I", attachment, aversion, and clinging to life.
On the other hand, when there is no clinging, no craving, no aversion, no delusion, we are entirely free. We experience sukha or sweetness. Sukha is the happiness that is not colored by craving or aversion.
I've said this before, but just as we create our own reality, we create our own suffering, both on an individual, and collective level.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Day #2
Today’s favourite poses: Downward Facing Dog, 3 Legged Dog, Tree pose (shouldn't there be a fire hydrant in there somewhere??)
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 15
Today’s thoughts:
The challenge is to Find a Balance
Between Making it Happen,
And Letting it Happen...
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 15
Today’s thoughts:
The challenge is to Find a Balance
Between Making it Happen,
And Letting it Happen...
Monday, January 3, 2011
Day #1
Today’s favourite poses: Warrior I, II, III, Twisted Pigeon, Angel pose
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 15
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from A Simple Path by the Dalai Lama)
Applying our Understanding of Emptiness – The reason it is so important to understand this subtle point is because of its implications for interpreting our own personal experience of life. When strong emotions arise in you, say attachment or anger, if you examine the experience of that emotion you will see that underlying it is an assumption that there is something objective and real out there which you are holding on to, and on to which you project desirable or undesirable qualities. According to the kind of qualities you project on to a thing or event, you feel either attracted to it or repulsed by it. So strong emotional responses in fact assume the existence of some form of objective reality.
However, if you realize that there is no intrinsic reality to things and events then, of course, this will automatically help you to understand that no matter how real and strong emotions may seem, they have no valid basis. Once you know that they are actually based on a fundamental misconception of reality, then the emotions themselves become untenable. On the other hand, if your understanding of emptiness is not thorough, in the sense that you have not succeeded in negating the notion of intrinsicality completely, then of course your attitude towards emotion will be somewhat ambivalent, and you may just feel that there is some sense in which it is valid or justified.
When you have developed a certain understanding of emptiness, albeit and intellectual one, you will have a new outlook on things and events which you can compare to our usual responses. You will notice how much we tend to project qualities on to the world. More especially, you will realize that most of our strong emotions arise from assuming the reality of something that is unreal. In this way you may be able to gain an experiential sense of the disparity between the way you perceive things and the way things really are. The moral that we can draw from all of this is that he strong emotions which afflict our mind arise from a fundamental stare of confusion, which leads us to apprehend things as real and existing independently. In conclusion, we know that afflictive emotions and thoughts have no valid basis, neither in our experience, nor in reality, nor in reason.
By contrast, your insight into the emptiness of things is not only grounded in reason, but also in experience: it has valid support. In addition, your understanding of emptiness and your grasping at things as real are directly opposed to one another, so one cancel the other out. Since they are opposing forces, and not that one has valid grounding whereas the other does not, the final conclusion we can draw is that the more we deepen our understanding of emptiness, and the greater the power of our insight becomes, the more we see through the deception of emotions, and consequently the weaker those emotions become. Indeed, we come to realize that strong afflictive emotions and thoughts, and their basis which is ignorance, can be weakened, while insight into emptiness can be enhanced.
Minutes with a relatively quiet mind: 15
Today’s interesting/thought provoking reading: (Taken from A Simple Path by the Dalai Lama)
Applying our Understanding of Emptiness – The reason it is so important to understand this subtle point is because of its implications for interpreting our own personal experience of life. When strong emotions arise in you, say attachment or anger, if you examine the experience of that emotion you will see that underlying it is an assumption that there is something objective and real out there which you are holding on to, and on to which you project desirable or undesirable qualities. According to the kind of qualities you project on to a thing or event, you feel either attracted to it or repulsed by it. So strong emotional responses in fact assume the existence of some form of objective reality.
However, if you realize that there is no intrinsic reality to things and events then, of course, this will automatically help you to understand that no matter how real and strong emotions may seem, they have no valid basis. Once you know that they are actually based on a fundamental misconception of reality, then the emotions themselves become untenable. On the other hand, if your understanding of emptiness is not thorough, in the sense that you have not succeeded in negating the notion of intrinsicality completely, then of course your attitude towards emotion will be somewhat ambivalent, and you may just feel that there is some sense in which it is valid or justified.
When you have developed a certain understanding of emptiness, albeit and intellectual one, you will have a new outlook on things and events which you can compare to our usual responses. You will notice how much we tend to project qualities on to the world. More especially, you will realize that most of our strong emotions arise from assuming the reality of something that is unreal. In this way you may be able to gain an experiential sense of the disparity between the way you perceive things and the way things really are. The moral that we can draw from all of this is that he strong emotions which afflict our mind arise from a fundamental stare of confusion, which leads us to apprehend things as real and existing independently. In conclusion, we know that afflictive emotions and thoughts have no valid basis, neither in our experience, nor in reality, nor in reason.
By contrast, your insight into the emptiness of things is not only grounded in reason, but also in experience: it has valid support. In addition, your understanding of emptiness and your grasping at things as real are directly opposed to one another, so one cancel the other out. Since they are opposing forces, and not that one has valid grounding whereas the other does not, the final conclusion we can draw is that the more we deepen our understanding of emptiness, and the greater the power of our insight becomes, the more we see through the deception of emotions, and consequently the weaker those emotions become. Indeed, we come to realize that strong afflictive emotions and thoughts, and their basis which is ignorance, can be weakened, while insight into emptiness can be enhanced.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
And so it Begins
My first 2 blogs were a cry for help. (Not in general, but from one person specifically) When the help didn’t come, (drop the ‘p’ and add another ‘l’ and that pretty much covers it) I then realized that not only do I have to help myself, the next blog I write has to be for ME. So no more cries for help, but a plea for salvation. Writing these little online journals (or tech-venting as I like to call it) has been so incredibly healing for me. It helped pull me out of my deepest despair, and process a great deal of pain, anguish, and fear. However most of it has been RE-active, whereas I would prefer to try to be PRO-active. So I’ve decided I am going to try a little life experiment where for 100 days I will be practicing DAILY yoga, meditation, and inspirational reading to help me reduce stress and develop clarity and balance in all aspects of my life. Sort of like a little trip to the YMCA (Yoga, Meditation, Clarity, and Assimilation)
I am the type of person who needs a fair amount of discipline and routine to thrive. And I tend to be somewhat pensive in my thought process (a deep thinker, which unfortunately often just ends up causing elevated levels of stress and anxiety when combined with my tendency for being rather sensitive and occasionally emotionally high-strung). However, I do find it really perplexing when people completely 'turn off' and just trudge through life, without any serious thought or observations as to the purpose, meaning, or significance of it all. I believe that it’s crucial to at least TRY to uncover the 'hidden Mystery'. In fact, shouldn't that be our main quest in life as members of the limited, yet divine human race?
So this is just a way for me to further my awareness, or develop my consciousness so to speak. Although I’d say I’m really rather SELF aware already, I now realize, in this phase of my life, that being aware of ‘self’, is simply not enough. However, one thing I have been acutely aware of about myself for many years now, is that I am such an ‘all or nothing person’. If I can’t be perfect, then I may as well let everything go to shit. That is one of the biggest reasons I now have the word ‘Balance’ tattooed on my forearm. Of course life is never going to consist solely of love and joy and peace, and sugar coated goodness. Sometimes there will be pain and sorrow and shit covered awfulness. There will always be, and always should be, good with the bad, joy with the sorrow, and sunshine and with the storms. After all, how can we appreciate a sunburn without a few good thunderbolts? .......I wonder if it's possible to not only weather life's proverbial storms, but to actually learn how to catch a few of those thunderbolts along the way?? I'll have to ask my guru about that one.
Anyway, I need to keep in mind that just because I am on this little ‘quest’, I don't have to be a saint, nor do I need to be perfect or give up all forms of forms of ‘fun’. Having said that, I am also going to do my best to try to avoid things like alcohol, sugar, sex (yeah right), non-nourishing foods and negative thoughts/people. Things that cloud the mind or make things complicated. But let’s be honest, I’ve always had a bit of a wild child inside me, and every now and then there’s going to be a slip up or two. For example, I already have a couple of wild nights planned with the girls that could end up in total debauchery because, well, they always do! And besides, friendships, laughing and cutting loose once in a while, are all soooo important in life…....it’s all about Balance right??!
Namaste!
I am the type of person who needs a fair amount of discipline and routine to thrive. And I tend to be somewhat pensive in my thought process (a deep thinker, which unfortunately often just ends up causing elevated levels of stress and anxiety when combined with my tendency for being rather sensitive and occasionally emotionally high-strung). However, I do find it really perplexing when people completely 'turn off' and just trudge through life, without any serious thought or observations as to the purpose, meaning, or significance of it all. I believe that it’s crucial to at least TRY to uncover the 'hidden Mystery'. In fact, shouldn't that be our main quest in life as members of the limited, yet divine human race?
So this is just a way for me to further my awareness, or develop my consciousness so to speak. Although I’d say I’m really rather SELF aware already, I now realize, in this phase of my life, that being aware of ‘self’, is simply not enough. However, one thing I have been acutely aware of about myself for many years now, is that I am such an ‘all or nothing person’. If I can’t be perfect, then I may as well let everything go to shit. That is one of the biggest reasons I now have the word ‘Balance’ tattooed on my forearm. Of course life is never going to consist solely of love and joy and peace, and sugar coated goodness. Sometimes there will be pain and sorrow and shit covered awfulness. There will always be, and always should be, good with the bad, joy with the sorrow, and sunshine and with the storms. After all, how can we appreciate a sunburn without a few good thunderbolts? .......I wonder if it's possible to not only weather life's proverbial storms, but to actually learn how to catch a few of those thunderbolts along the way?? I'll have to ask my guru about that one.
Anyway, I need to keep in mind that just because I am on this little ‘quest’, I don't have to be a saint, nor do I need to be perfect or give up all forms of forms of ‘fun’. Having said that, I am also going to do my best to try to avoid things like alcohol, sugar, sex (yeah right), non-nourishing foods and negative thoughts/people. Things that cloud the mind or make things complicated. But let’s be honest, I’ve always had a bit of a wild child inside me, and every now and then there’s going to be a slip up or two. For example, I already have a couple of wild nights planned with the girls that could end up in total debauchery because, well, they always do! And besides, friendships, laughing and cutting loose once in a while, are all soooo important in life…....it’s all about Balance right??!
Namaste!
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