Swami Samarpanananda Saraswati visits Shropshire...

Meditations and Yoga Philosophy with Swami Samarpanananda Saraswati

Whilst in the Swami's presence you experience calm abundant energy… 

This workshop is about many things; fear, love, attachment, the list goes on… We settle down to listen to whatever wisdom the Swami has to share, posing questions and adding our thoughts as we are taken on a journey inwards...

image (c) peaceyoga

Fear & Attachment; 

Firstly we talk about fear something we are all afflicted by often several times in our life. It is important to conquer fear as it holds us back in many ways, for example fear of loss or fear of failure prevents us taking action whereas without the fear you would simply act and realise the rewards. Fear sits at the foundation of many things, fear comes before ignorance, ignorance comes before judgement, and judgement comes before ego. Our fears when left to rule becomes our character, our lifestyle, our choices.

There will always be struggles to challenge us and those around us in life. It is important to become aware that you can’t fix everyone's problems, accept that they are not your responsibility and trust in the universe that solutions will be provided.

In difficult times learn to give to those who are in greater need and in doing so act only with love and good will follow. If you see a homeless person on the street you should genuinely wish them well with all your heart but do not become attached to their plight as doing this means you will take on their struggles. Similarly if you try to help an addict be supportive but do not fall into fuelling their desires as this will only add to their suffering, instead offer your heartfelt hope that they find the strength to turn away from their addiction rather than fearing they will not succeed. This is not easy to do because we naturally see others plights and often desperately want to help beyond our capability but we need to realise that in offering sincere heartfelt hope we have done all we can it is not our journey to become attached to others challenges.

Consider this next time you are in conversation with someone who holds inhumane beliefs try to guide their thinking to become more humanitarian but if you can not succeed be mindful that you have tried your best, do not feed your own ego with sorrow because you were not able to fix or change someone, do not become attached to their beliefs. Responding with empathy in this situation is acting with love rather than reacting in haste, recognise you have tried your best and distance yourself from on-going attachment, learn to let go. When you have a disagreement with someone be mindful that you do all you can to calm the situation but do not take on the negativity from the situation instead be empathic; put yourself in their shoes and see things from their perspective rather than feeling beaten and taking on their negativity. Do not feel defeated if you do not achieve the outcome you desire however heartfelt your intention instead find peace in knowing you acted with empathy and trust in the universe to provide resolution, as this is trusting in yourself a vital trait in finding your way through life.

When it comes to nutrition be mindful that what you prepare to be consumed is done so with love. If you are unhappy or have altercations with others whilst preparing or consuming food/drink it absorbs the negative energy you then ingest this negative energy. This can be as simple as combining having lunch with making a phone call which ends up in a disagreement, the negative energy created travels into nearby food or liquids, this then becomes poison to you when you consume it.

Meditation and Sensation;

If you notice sensations of pain arising during meditation, be they physical or emotional do not become attached to them, do not try to understand. They could be from recent experiences or they could be linked to events or emotions from many years ago, even from previous lives meaning you may never know the reason they are there. Learn to avoid investing energy into these sensations by acknowledging them but not engaging with them, you can achieve this by learning not to question them. To achieve this non-attachment gently return your attention to your breath bringing freedom from attachment, allowing peace to reside within. Learning to observe rather than engage avoids giving your energy to the experience meaning that the sensation can only dissipate. For example if you watch a burning fire and you simply gaze at it the flames will eventually begin to fade turn to embers and ultimately become extinguished, but if you interact with the flames you add fuel you are engaged with the fire, feeding new energy into it, keeping it alight, you are making the flames stronger. Becoming more passive by simply observing allows each flame to burn out. If you can apply this method to your problems, emotions and sensations you are letting them go, you are putting the flames out and preserving your energy.

Fear, attachment and the ability to let go can be worked with through commitment to Yoga and Meditation. Committing to regular practise creates calmness within encouraging practitioners to work through their klesha, moving towards freedom. 

The 5 Klesha;

The klesha are explained by yogic philosophy as thought patterns. They can also be referred to as afflictions, they are the cause of suffering that repeatedly steer you off course. 

Each klesha has its own associated karma and is sustained by our fear and ignorance that fuels the ego. Ignorance is directly connected to our sense of self and others rather than a sense of oneness. It is the first of the 5 klesha. We can recognise klesha as our cognitive thought; patterns in our thought process that when we are found to be struggling with can be helped by CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy). If you can become aware of your klesha (thought patterns) you may be able to learn to identify which of your klesha could be holding your back and creating an unwanted life for you. You see we can get stuck in a 'klesha loop' where our thought patterns become us or is it we become them? Either way we become guided by them and often wrongly, because of this we become stuck in a life pattern that does not allow us to find our Dharma; to follow our life purpose. Breaking these patterns takes diligence, continued awareness to help us move through life more successfully. 

Take a look back at your life do you see such patterns? Are their recurrent choices and behaviours repeating themselves? Does the same result keep coming up for you in life, the same stumbling blocks? If you can say yes to any of these it is time to identify the cause. The universe may well be showing you that you keep evidently barking up the wrong tree, encouraging you to see that you have lost your way, it's time to step back and address what needs to change so that you can be set free from unhelpful pattern/s, its time to listen to your heart, to truly be guided by your inner knowledge and not the chatter in your head.

1 Avidya; ignorance, delusion
- Inability to see things clearly resulting in false truths about your self such as habitual negative self talk and altered perspective of reality.
Dhyana (meditation) can aid the patience needed in working with this klesha to avoid launching too quickly into the next stage of your path, repeating the pattern rather than moving to the next phase of your journey

2 Asmita; disruption of ego
- Tendency to identify too closely with your ego preventing true connection to your soul, your inner self.
Ahimsa (kindness) and Pranayama (mindful breath control) can aid working with this klesha

3 Raga; attachment to pleasure
- The addiction to sensation of desires such as bad habits that keep you imprisoned in a false reality.
Focusing on cultivating the art of surrender, giving in and embracing change brings the reward of deeper connection to true self rather than comfortable distracting pleasures

4 Dvesha; identifying pain caused by old habits
- Old habits really do die hard creating a cycle of illusion where you remain in false safety unable to step away from misery and self-hatred rather than facing change and gaining personal growth.
Pratyahara (turning inward) the 5^th of the 8 limbs of Yoga can aid working with this klesha

5 Abhinivesha; fear of impermanence, letting go and moving on
- This fear of loss prevents the ability to attain freedom from attachment.
Samadhi (self absorption, divine connection) the 8^th of the 8 limbs of Yoga can aid working with this klesha. Practicing svasana (corpse pose) can be helpful.

 

When your 5 klesha are brought under close surveillance they can become changed. As outlined in the Yoga Sutras of Pantanjali; the 5 klesha are 'the means to liberation'. You can learn to see patterns and begin to change them, this very will of thought connects to your karma and it is said that it is not the actions you carry out but your intentions and your thoughts leading up to those actions that directly effect your karma. Therefore identifying your thought patterns and developing new ways of responding brings greater understanding, revitalises compassion, generates better karma and brings self improvement.

When working through each of your klesha manifest your Sancalpa; your resolve. Whatever you select your resolve to be ensure it is true to your heart for this creates opportunity, for example if you set your resolve to need help to work through the klesha this creates an opportunity for accepting help an energy that brings help to you. 

Wherever you go tread lightly, do not pause to long and offer only love. Nature does not force itself, it does not rush, yet all that is required occurs in time. It trusts in the universe, finds it's path and flourishes. Listen to your heart it knows what you want before you do it is far more intuitive than your head.

If you would like to find out more about Swami Samarpanananda Saraswati please visit this website;
http://www.samarpanyoga.org/Sam.htm

Venue; Time for You, Shropshire
Hosts; Michael & Pat Sclater

Om Yoga Show | Workshop 'Whats IN the Way IS the Way with Mike George'

Day 2 Workshop 1 |  Meditation

Whats IN the Way IS the Way with Mike George
 

 An incredibly simple yet also complex statement, and as we sat through this informative workshop we were guided to realise why. This statement is a question you should be asking yourself frequently.

As we entered the room Mike George spiritual teacher, author and motivational speaker was tucked away in the corner at the back of the room sitting on the floor, smiling, resting his back against the wall. I'm guessing a lot of people entered the room without actually noticing he was there. All other workshops we entered saw the leader making themselves known, standing front and center, welcoming clients in. Mike was different, he was taking a much more subtle approach, watching people entering whilst sitting quietly in the back. I spoke to Mike as we passed him - (I recognised his picture from the show brochure) - I said thank you to him in advance and proceeded to find a seat.

Attendees gently wandered in, choosing there space to sit whilst Mike calmly waited at the back of the room until everyone had settled in. He then comes and sits at the front of the room and begins to speak, you can sense his calmness, it feels deep. This workshop was designed to take us through emotional healing describing how we can use meditation and contemplation to heal our own emotions.

Mike talked to us of Raja Yoga where Raja means Royal and Yoga means Union – so Raja Yoga is the highest path to a re-union with the source, with the divine. But first we have to prepare our self by learning how to meditate.

The workshop is informal, interaction and questions are encouraged throughout. Mike tells us of how he previously led a very stressful life which eventually brought him to question himself and led him to where he is now; no longer stressed, a student of the school of life, which is essentially our own consciousness, and the author of over 10 books.

Mike talks about how hatha yoga tends to focus on physical postures while raja yoga focuses on the posture and alignment of the energy of our consciousness.  Hence the practice of meditation. He tells us how we are ultimately our own guide and navigator in this life.  He talks of the importance of restoring our true self-awareness as this is what we have lost and this is the cause of all our stress and suffering.

He reminds us that the one thing we are not taught is self-understanding and that this is essential if we are to manage our self i.e. our thoughts, emotions and attitudes, in the context of our relationships.  When we can begin to understand ourselves this enables us to deal with everything else. It means we can learn in and from the REAL school the school of LIFE. Mike also highlights the importance of ‘unlearning’ as that is necessary to free our self from the illusions and misperceptions that are the cause of our stress and unhappiness.

Mike teaches us how perception itself is an act of creation, how we bring someone into our own minds (perceive) is how we create them to be. This then leads to projection of our self onto them. If we perceive/create them in a loving way we project that quality of energy back to them.  Similarly if we perceive/create them in a hateful way.  If there are things you have decided that you don't like about someone your belief/opinion of them will shape your perception and you project that back onto them. Meditation helps us to open our eye and hearts to be mindful of this taking place within our consciousness.

Marketing companies project onto us all the time.  They feed us ideas and images, encouraging us to lose our sense of identity in their projection. This then influences our perceptions and the energy we project onto others and the world.  What we project bounces back to us, so if we project love onto a person that tends to be what we get back, and the same for all our emotions. It is really important to remain mindful of our actions and our reactions; they affect us as well as others. Having been unconsciously bombarded by others perceptions we need to truly get to know ourselves again.

Contemplate these;

"How do I know what I know, 

until I hear what I have to say, 

I cannot know what I have until I give it away."

Ask yourself, how often do you actually tune in and listen to your true self, not the myriad of thoughts and reactions running around in your head each day, but your true self, how often do you listen to you?

Have you ever sat talking with friends and suddenly come out with a really insightful comment? This is a moment where you have connected with your inner wisdom, some call this intuition, but in fact you have listened to you. It's only when saying something that you didn't know you knew and hearing yourself say it that you can realise you know it! This inner wisdom is always there to guide us but often we don't hear it as it is drowned out by all our other racing thoughts. It's so important to make time each day to meditate, contemplate, reflect, to relax our minds and connect with our inner guide to discover what we know.

Mike encourages us to write something everyday, be it in a journal or in one of our many digital devices, just write something everyday that comes from within, from your innate wisdom, keep connecting.

So What IS in the Way?

Well firstly our racing thoughts are, but through meditation you can discover what IS in the way in your life, what is blocking you. Many people experience light bulb moments through meditation as they discover what's in the way for them, which is usually what they are attached too in this life. What’s most important is when you have a light bulb moment you must act on it, otherwise you miss the opportunity to change.

We live in an amazing world but its technological advances also mean we expect things instantly. We are agitated, time conscious, living a life full of things we 'should' be doing. Regular meditation can help dismiss the 'should' list and bring patience within but we cannot expect anything from it, we have to wait for guidance from within and some will need to wait a lot longer than others.

Mike then lead us through a short meditation to bring us all to a calm and centered place.

3 Steps to Meditation

•   Relaxation 

•   Concentration 

•   Meditation

Being relaxed in mind and body, feeling settled, will aid concentration and this will nurture meditation. If you happen to become drowsy whilst relaxing with the aim of meditating this is fine just go with it, if you happen to nod off this is absolutely fine don't fight it, but remember that when you wake from this dozing state that's the perfect time to meditate. Don't try to stop your thoughts but equally let them go, just notice them, don't engage with them, let them drift off like a bubble into the sky as you yourself drift towards silence. Meditation leads us to inner peace and with practice we can recall this sense of calm in our daily lives, for example when someone is really pushing our buttons we can project calm to them by reacting without anger this will then bounce back to us avoiding the mutual exchange of anger, bringing balance to the situation.  

Life is the interplay of two energies that we often acknowledge in our conversations with each other:

Human + Being

Form + Consciousness

Matter + Mind

Body + Soul

One is physical energy and the other is non-physical often referred to as spiritual energy – the energy of spirit.

Meditation helps us to realise this and know that we are spirit and not form. The longer you stay in meditation the deeper your awareness of being your authentic self will be.  It’s here you will find the contentment that is deepest happiness, free from desire and overpowering emotions such as anger, sadness or fear, which all have their roots in attachment. Meditation starts with detached observation of your thoughts and feelings, which is when they lose their power to disturb you.

Social well-being 

Mike reminded us to be careful who you surround yourself with, colleagues, friends. He recommended consciously finding others with a similar inclination to encourage us wake up to our innate spiritual nature. Be mindful of what you expose yourself too as we are coloured by the company of others. If you surround yourself with a certain mentality you become that mentality. If you overload on TV Drama you will be sucked into expecting disproportionate reactions in your life too. You need to keep your mind happy, move towards people and events that resonate with you as much as possible.

Attachment and Emotion

What am I attached to that is shaping my sense of identity? What emotions do I feel frequently for they are signals indicating a false sense of identity?   Asking yourself these sorts of questions will help generate insights and answers to help you live a more content life. Take the opinion you have of yourself when you get up from a nights sleep for example, we all form an opinion of our self each and every morning. One of the first things we all do is look in the bathroom mirror, what do we see? A tired face, this springs doubt in our mind we do this repeatedly every morning, noticing the ageing process as we spot yet another wrinkle or the lines under our eyes seem darker. We mistakenly identify ourselves with our body so it’s as if we witness our own decline, with the tendency to feel more and more down about our appearance. Meditation helps you to realise you are not your appearance but the animating energy of your body and that you never age or decay as your true self. The body is just the vehicle you inhabit at this time, yes it's ageing but it’s designed to do so, you need to remember it is not you, it is not your true self. We spend a lot of time and energy looking after our external body, and some of us the internal matter too, but how about remembering to nurture your mind, not just your fleshy mind but your psychic mind, your very spirit, as this is you, your driving force, your truest connection to the divine self and we should nurture it daily with meditation.

Mike explained how our emotions arise using an example of a scratched car incident. The car is your car and someone else purposefully scratches it. Most of us would call up anger as a natural reaction to having our car deliberately scratched but in fact it’s our attachment to the car that causes our anger.  He explained exactly how the ego, the false sense of self, is created in our minds when we identify with what we become attached to. This he explained is actually the root cause of all our stress and suffering. We become our attachments so anger is born from a case of mistaken identity as we ourselves in this scenario became the car. This is not saying that damaging someone’s property is right, but it's showing us where our emotions come from. It is our emotions and our belief that they are caused by others that ensure we condemn others rather than understand them.  But we alone are responsible for our actions and how we feel.  Only when we realise this fully can we learn to respond rather than react, act with grace and consideration rather than blame and condemnation.

The workshop ended with a second meditation where I connected with my inner self, I received 3 strong individual messages, the clarity of voice honestly startled me, I wasn't expecting anything;

•   I'm very scared  

•   I need to heal 

•   You can do it

Light Bulb Moment

I couldn't hold back the tears, sitting there with my eyes closed, trying not to cry out loud the tears ran gently down my face. I thought this may be a light bulb moment, but that was yet to come. These 3 clear messages are all very poignant as I am currently recovering from a serious road traffic injury received whilst cycling in August 2012, the incident left me hospitalised initially through the physical injuries sustained and shortly afterwards I was diagnosed with severe PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). I am undergoing extensive rehabilitation and am currently unable to work due to the physical and psychological injuries I sustained. These messages were truly heartfelt and very clear, I could visualise just how emotionally hurt I was, this is where the tears came from and later in a brief conversation with Mike George he advised that I was attached to being fully recovered and on the other side of all this, this was adding to my emotional state. This was my light-bulb moment to help alleviate the emotional grief I have been suffering from being so physically fit and healthy prior to the incident, to wanting my life back on track. I actually need to focus on the clear messages I received during meditation, I need to learn to accept where I am right now and let go of the attachment to the desire to heal in order to do just that. I am very thankful for Mikes wise words they helped me to realise I can try to find my way by beginning to heal before even thinking about moving on.

At the end of each day...

Learn to re-run your day in your head, seek out your attachments, and identify what is IN your way. Your attachments become your identity, which is always a false identity and that is what’s IN the way, that’s the obstacle.  Use meditation, contemplation, reflection to ‘notice’ what you are putting IN your own way...

 

Further information: You can sign up for Mikes 'Clear Thinking' newsletter here; http://www.relax7.com/ (enter your email address here and you will be sent an email to activate confirmation) Mikes two most recent books are The Immune System of the SOUL and BEING Your Self. 

http://www.relax7.com/diary/

http://www.immunesystemofthesoul.com/
http://www.mythsoflove.com/

'The Eight Limbs of Yoga' #2 of series YAMAS - Satya

'The Eight Limbs of Yoga' post #2

YAMAS - SATYA 

As with AHIMSA this is one of the 5 YAMAS of virtuous restraint which combine to create the first of the 8 limbs of Yoga ... Satya is the act of being truthful.

Sat means; being, reality, root, origin, 'to be'. Ya means; advancing, sustaining. Satya is the practice of supporting reality, being genuine and considerate.

To practice Satya is to remain honest and truthful without prejudice. Patanjali explains in 'The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali' that words do not reflect truth unless they flow from the origin of nonviolence therefore our words should always be considered, honest and never deliberately harmful. This belief sits in harmony with the Buddhist teachings of 'Right Speech'; To converse in 'Right Speech' is to express truths; observations rather than judgments. 

Satya encourages us to consider how we communicate. For instance have you ever noticed your own inner dialogue? If you are experiencing something unwanted such as ongoing pain are you mindful that you accept it as permanent or that you choose not to accept it as your permanent truth? To practice Satya you should not assume your experiences are permanent ie 'my neck always hurts therefore it will always hurt and is to be expected from here on in', this is an untruthful unhelpful inner dialogue, a judgment of the future rather than an observation of the present. You do not know how long the pain you are experiencing will last. It does not mean you should deny that your neck hurts - the aim is to learn to acknowledge that it does hurt today right now in the present moment but resist your attachment to it, your judgment of it, do not become it or indeed let it become you. Observation of the present demonstrates a truer, kinder inner dialogue. When you begin to adjust your inner dialogue your outward dialogue will also begin to change, it will become more truthful, more factual.

Words are our most common and most powerful form of communication they can easily bring happiness or harm to their recipient. Cultivate the courage to remain truthful at all times, even when the whole truth is not known to us meaning we need to be completely honest with ourselves and others. This makes us mindful to not create or sustain a lie thus distorting the truth, being untruthful. 

Satya teaches us to accept what life brings to us rather than become judgmental and therefore avoiding the error of passing our judgments on to others. It is important to act with compassion when there is need for response, to interact with a situation rather than swiftly identifying with your immediate emotional response, this is not to say you should deny your true feelings but that practicing Satya in communication makes you authentic in word and thought, as you are abstaining from speaking in haste. To converse in this way give yourself a moment - a breath or two to compose a nonviolent response. Choosing your words carefully with consideration of their effects avoids you jumping into a hurried and often harsh reaction responding without compassion, the very opposite of Satya.

It is said that our toughest times bring us wisdom for it is our response that becomes our character this guides us to welcome the less comfortable events in our lives responding appropriately, truthfully and compassionately rather than purely emotionally to allow us to gain knowledge and growth. When sadness or happiness knock on your door welcome them in and treat both like an honoured guest. It is important that when we do not like something we are honest and do not lie but also that we show kindness to all in our aversion. 

We can bring Satya into our Yoga practice and into all aspects of our lives, listening, being truthful to ourselves and sharing this with others.

"Just as a flower gives out its fragrance to whomsoever approaches or uses it, so love from within us radiates towards everybody and manifests as spontaneous service." Swami Ramdas

Om Namaste