Buddha's Gift of Mindfulness

Yesterday was celebrated by many as Buddha's birthday and in honor of the Awakened One I thought we could reflect on a verse of the Dhammapada.

"The mind is very hard to perceive, extremely subtle and wanders at will.

Let the wise person guard it; a guarded mind is conducive to happiness."

The mind is hard to perceive because it is the instrument of perception, it is extremely subtle in the face of the denseness of our attention and focus and it wanders faster than we are able to witness. How then, can we guard it? A guard is attentive, watchful, single-pointed. The guard holds the needs of another as supreme to their own. Be the guard of the mind today. Watch it closely. Notice the thoughts arising in reaction to the events you are perceiving throughout the day. Notice the effect of thoughts on your emotional nature. Sometimes you will not be present to the thought that triggers the emotional response, these are opportunities to root out the source which lie in our own pain and attachment.


I try to hesitate before blaming another for these reactions. This can be harder at some times than others and harder with some people than others. Usually we do not want to see the pain that lies at the heart of our reactions and the ego will do almost anything to scramble out of the way of that awareness. We practice being present on the yoga mat and on the meditation cushion so that we may cultivate the strength of presence that will allow us to remain steadfast in that trigger moment when our buttons get pushed. We practice being the guard so that we are protected from ourselves as are those around us protected from our reactive tendencies.


Be mindful this day, do one thing at a time and take it to completion. It is Friday and the end of the week so let us work with awareness and intention. I think of my desk which carries the residue of a busy week and will be mindful as I resolve things that have been left unresolved. Resolution is an effect of mindfulness and mindfulness may have never been articulated as beautifully and passionately by anyone as it was by the Awakened One, the Buddha. Thank You!


All the Best,


Steve

"Who Am I?" and the Father of Self-Inquiry

I wonder how many have taken some time to consider the people and events in their lives that cause them the greatest emotional reactions. These, it will turn out, are your greatest teachers. That may seem like a bit of a stretch but on the path of relentless awareness characterized by self-inquiry everything warrants attention and the work begins and ends within. Your perception is the only thing you can control so that is where the game is won or lost.

The impetus behind self-inquiry is Advaita philosophy or non-dualism; in fact, self-inquiry is like applied non-dualism. The "two" implied by the term duality is everywhere in our lives. In any given moment in your life there is a "you" and an "other"; you are the subject and that which you are perceiving is the object. Duality is the on-going relative reality of subject-object. The suffering in your life is directly related to "the great misperception" of subject and object. The jump from duality to the non-dual perspective where the subject and the object collapse into the state of Oneness or the moment of NOW can seem elusive. Teachers like Eckart Tolle (who I think is awesome, by the way) have done a wonderful job presenting various frameworks for the process of crossing the chasm of duality. Essentially, any process or practice that facilitates the collapse of subject-object is a spiritual practice or yoga.

If Byron Katie is the Mother of Self-Inquiry (in her presence it is clear that she is the Mother) then the great Indian saint, Ramana Maharshi is the Father. He did not provide a detailed architecture of human perception nor did he create a multi-step path leading to the realization of the Oneness that he emanated in his life. Ramana Maharshi's path is the simplest and most direct of all self-inquiring systems. I will let him share his message with you in his words,

"By the inquiry 'Who am I?'.

The thought 'who am I?' will destroy all other thoughts,

and like the stick used for stirring the burning pyre,

it will itself in the end get destroyed.

Then, there will arise Self-realization."

To practice this simplest form of self-inquiry one must simply pose the question, "Who am I?" within their own consciousness. This is not to be repeated mechanically but with an intense longing to discover the very source of the I-consciousness. This practice serves to turn the mind in on itself resulting in a concentrated state of awareness that, if sustained, may lead to liberation from duality or Self-realization. Stay tuned for our next blog, "From self-inquiry to Self-realization". The next time you catch yourself reacting to someone in your life try to be aware of the fact that you are really just reacting to your thought about that person.

Namaste,

Steve

Yogi Jayanta

The 9 Yoga Myths

This week we completed our blog series, Breaking Through the Yoga Myths. We discussed 9 Myths that tend to keep people from experiencing the depth of yoga. They may also be described as "excuses". Each of the 9 Yoga Myths below are linked to the original blog posting in case you missed it.

#1. I'm Not Flexible

#2. Yoga is a Religion

#3. I Don't Have Time

#4. I'm Too Tired

#5. I Can't Meditate, My Mind is Always Racing

#6. I Have to be Thin for Yoga

#7. Real Men Don't Do Yoga

#8. Relaxation is a Waste of Time

#9. Yoga Begins and Ends on the Mat

The number of ways we can convince ourselves that making time for ourselves to cultivate relaxation and awareness in our lives is virtually unlimited. Start to notice how your mind/ego robs you of opportunities to go deeper into relaxation and compassion that you know would improve the quality of your life. Find a yoga class or other mind-body activity and take positive steps towards improving your mental and physical health.

To Your Health,

Steve

Yogi Jayanta

Don't Just Set a Resolution...Be Resolutionary!

Most of us have realized from painful experience that lasting change rarely occurs as a result of a New Year's Resolution. Why is it that we are so often incapable of becoming the person we want to be? Too often, resolutions are inspired by fear and are set up as self-imposed expectations that reinforce the gulf between who we think we are and who we think we want to be. It is time to establish our resolutions from a deeper place; 2010 is a year of deepening. People are beginning to understand the profound nature of the present moment and will begin taking action from this place. Rather than another New Year's Resolution, now is the time to become Resolutionary.

Reaction or Resolution?

In many cases our resolution is inspired by a negative self-image adopted from society or an influential voice in our lives. For example, we compare our bodies to those we see in the media and decide the way we look is bad. The pain from this comparison becomes the fuel for our change. The resolution is not sustainable and we end up in that familiar negative spiral that reinforces the unworthiness that inspired the resolution in the first place.

Gratitude: The Power of the Resolutionary

The resolutionary recognizes gratitude as the true power behind sustainable transformation. Chis Walker told me once "Don't leave anything until you love it." This is great advice rooted in the awareness that love is more empowering than fear. Love and gratitude are intertwined. The Resolutionary uses self-love as the inspiration behind this path of living transformation. The traditional resolution is based on fear and limitation and lacks fundamental acceptance. Be grateful for the miracle of your body and and allow the spontaneous gratitude for this sacred mystery to fuel your growth and expansion in 2010.

From Expectation to Anticipation

The old-school resolution is a self-imposed expectation and expectation is the root of all evil. OK, that may be dramatic but spend some time contemplating the possibility the expectations you put on yourself and those you place on others are the heart of the suffering that creeps into your life day by day. Expectation states that we will be "happy when...". Expectation is one of the root problems with the New Year's resolution. Let me introduce a new word to replace the thorny and insidious seed of suffering known as expectation. This word frees us from the dependence on some future event to be OK with ourselves and instead brings us back to the present moment. To access the present moment there is a requirement for a deep sense of acceptance and honesty, this is the starting point for a life-altering New Year's Resolution. This new word that holds the seed of freedom and guides the Resolutionary back to the moment of now is ANTICIPATION. The official definition describes anticipation as "pre-sentiment or pre-knowledge". Anticipation brings us immediately into the experience of our resolution rather than emphasizing the gulf between where we are now and where we hope to be as is the case with expectation.

A Resolutionary Practice

In order to anticipate we must make the experience of fulfillment real in our minds and bodies. Consider this an invitation to imagine the greatest version of yourself for 2010. The Resolutionary takes time to sit in silence and practice gratitude. Give yourself the gift of 5 minutes per day to sit and breathe with awareness and simply be grateful. Let gratitude flood your body soaking every cell with liquid light. Even now, you can simply breathe with awareness, relax the body, allow the mind to be and reconnect with the Source of life, with your Beloved. Gratitude is the mystical power that fuels authentic transformation and is the direct experience of your own essence. Gratitude is the fuel of the Resolutionary, fill up every single day and soon you will be filling up with every single breath.

Don't wait for some future moment to be the highest version of yourself. The future is a fantasy and the past is over; the Resolutionary realizes their transformation here and now. May this year be full of transformative moments and big-time gratitude. To all the Resolutionaries out there, I wish you a very HAPPY NOW YEAR!!

PRANA...more than meets the eye!

Hello All

I ran into a fact of human perception that I thought was relevant in our on-going exploration of prana. According to neurological research, human beings are "only aware of 2,000 bits of information out of 400 billion bits of information we are processing per second." As a percentage, you are only aware of 0.0000005% of the information your mind-body system is registering...and we thought using only 10% of our brain was dramatic! To implicate a discrepancy this large into our lives is very challenging but let me help to give a small example of how this may work. Look around you, right now... what you see? Now, try to be aware of just how much you are actually seeing in this fresh new moment of now and how much you are simply remembering, based on past conditioning. It is VERY difficult to separate the two but spend some time on this exercise with people you meet and with the places you go and you will notice, if you are willing, just how quickly we default to conditioned responses as opposed to perceiving and experiencing what is right here right now.

Cosmic and solar prana are all around you even now as are radio waves, electromagnetic fields and many other phenomena that we do not see. With training and practice, certain subtle phenomena can become visible through heightened sensory perception that is a bi-product of concentration. These experiences however are only revealing a tiny portion of the full spectrum of reality that surrounds us in any given moment. Perhaps the biggest lesson as we scratch the surface of our perception and begin to deepen our awareness is that of humility.

What you thought may not actually be but rather possibility may be reality...

We will dive into the depth of awareness at Beloved Yoga and Meditation tonight starting at 7 pm....be there or be square ; )

Be out of the box.

Namaste,

Steve

Yogi Jayanta

FOODMATTERS

Hello All,

I hope you are enjoying the wrap up to your week. The central practice of yoga is awareness first and foremost which is like a never ending spiral that dives into the present moment through body, mind and spirit. One of the areas in which our culture has slipped into the habit of ignorance and neglect is food. Every human being on earth knows the very simple and extremely inconvenient truth that, our bodies are what we eat.

Take a moment and recall what you have nourished your body with this week and be honest with yourself. Consider the meals you have eaten, the snacks and the choices you have made. Look at the ingredients on the labeling if you are eating processed foods, consider the source of the foods, the animals and plants, the human hands and hearts that have assisted in the planting, harvesting, preparation, innovation, distribution, transportation and all the many elements involved in getting food to your body.

In my experience, simplicity is always the answer to life's pressing issues of energy, vitality, health and wellness. Give yourself the gift of awareness and forgiveness when it comes to food and nutrition. Our recent Beloved Yoga workshop featured delicious organic food prepared with the intention of love and gratitude. You could feel the difference.

I have attached an invitation from Monique Bastien, one of those special people who share the gift of abundant health through food. Please consider attending the movie screening of FOODMATTERS....because it really does!

Claudette will guide our Saturday morning class at 8:45am. Our yoga practice helps purify the body and release toxins that invariably come through the food we eat and the air we breathe. A regular yoga practice is the perfect remedy for your mind and body.

Namaste,

Steve
Yogi Jayanta


Subject: Invition to Raw food and Movie

Hi Everyone,

I'd like to invite you all to Dinner & a Movie. That's right! On Sunday Nov. 1st from 4-7pm. That's this Sunday at Sobey's community room, Yarmouth.

There is a $10.00 charge per person at the door to cover the cost of the food. The Movie (Documentary) called 'FOOD MATTERS' is free. You do not want to miss this!

You can watch the trail by clicking on this link:http://www.foodmatters.tv/

You will find more information in the attachment.

Please reply ASAP if you will be attending. This way I'll know how much food to prepare.

See you Sunday at 4pm.


Monique Bastien
http://www.makingitraw.com
monique@makingitraw.com

Detachment

Hello All,

While we enjoy this beautiful Fall season I thought it appropriate to consider that central aspect of yoga known as detachment. My mother actually reminded me as we appreciated the majestic colors of the changing leaves that what manifested as such diversity and inspired such beauty was actually death happening before our eyes. Perhaps hidden in plain sight is the key to our enlightenment.

Yoga is a very rich word that is the practice, the process and the product of enlightenment. To realize the Great Joy that is the fruit of faith requires a certain letting go that can be called detachment. This concept is present in most faith-based traditions. The Buddha said that all suffering in life is caused by attachment. In the Aramaic language of Jesus the Christ, to be attached was to be unripe and that word was translated through Greek and Latin as "evil" and to be detached was to be ripe and that word became "blessing". To practice detachment is then to be blessed in the ancient Christian concept.

There is an ancient yogic axiom related to detachment that simply says, "praise and blame, no difference". Consider for a moment the actuality that praise and blame in the form of words are actually subtle vibrations of sound that travel from a person's vocal chords through the air and are received through our hearing sense. The brain interprets specific vibrations as words and the mind then interprets those words based on past experience (conditioning) which then stimulates the endocrine system leading to an emotional reaction based on our conditioning. Before you realize what happened, you have been triggered into a new emotional state without any consciousness whatsoever. How many of our relationships play out this way throughout the day? Be aware.

Begin by simply observing this process occurring again and again throughout your day. Through our yoga and meditation practice we cultivate the ability to remain present with this mind-body drama without defining ourselves by it. These intellectual approaches assist us in realizing the deeper aspects of detachment but direct experiences of these states of consciousness are the building blocks of yoga. This is why we are meeting to practice yoga (and meditation) this evening at 7pm. Hope you can make it. I may even praise you if you make it and blame you if you don't but SO WHAT?!

Unconditionally Yours,

Steve

Yogi Jayanta

Earth

Hello All,

Spent some beautiful time enjoying the outdoors today walking on the sacred Nova Scotia earth. Tonight we had decided to do some concentrated work on our lower body, strengthening legs and our connection to the earth. This class will concentrate on developing our connection to the earth and the fruits of that connection that manifest as feelings of safety and security. We will continue to develop our ability to be simultaneously engaged and relaxed. This skill may manifest in your moment as being aware of your interiority, body and sensation while also remaining present with external perception, senses and relationships. This is another interpretation of the balance that we achieve by harmonizing mind and body. Even now you can split your attention with 50% internally focussed and 50% concentrated on your external moment. Experiment with your awareness. You will be amazed at your abilities to concentrate and to remain present with whomever you are.

Hope to see you tonight at the Boathouse.

Namaste,

Jayanta