Being connected

Before you heard the word yoga (which means union), the experience of it was available to you. You were able to allow awareness to come into your conscious state. When conscious awareness is present/active, you are able to be aware of/release yourself from, the grip of mind and the senses.  The process of the mind and senses can be observed, because they are not you. Just as you can observe your hand typing on a keyboard, your hand is not you, it is your instrument. The same is true for your mind. Although it is very subtle and a little more challenging to remain engaged with, the tangible effect of being in the grasp or free from the grasp/influence of the mind and senses can also be observed. At this time you are becoming more conscious of your self, more awake to your self and how you tick. You become more of what influences you, your decisions and direction. Your experience, how you feel, is less dictated by the environment you are in. Connected with your self, that part of you that doesn’t change, and is unaffected by events, but can see them as they are.

You might think of it like this…

Once my vehicle was being repaired, and the price given when I went to pay was much more than I was quoted, without good reason. I questioned the cost. Initially people rushed around to find someone who ‘knew’, though who ever that was was out to lunch. I said I could do some work that I had with me in the lounge until they returned, no problem. Then, several reasons were given about what could have happened, or might happen, in order to finish the negotiation. There were a few disgruntled voices as I brought attention back to the facts, however the facts were continually glossed over in sped-up talk about this reason and that, in order to leave what was happening ‘now’. Eventually, when the person who ‘knew’ returned from lunch, I wrote down what I had been quoted, in an itemised way, so that the true facts of the matter had weight, were clear, and unmistakable. They could not be glossed over and disappear into conversation. Then I closed my mouth, did not invest myself emotionally and watched… No matter how much of a diversion might have been made, the truth of what was happening became increasingly apparent. The price came back down to within a few dollars of the original quote.

The truth was unavoidably present. I could have become heated and involved (those thoughts and feelings were probably the initial ones to come up), and possibly ended up frustrated and paying the inflated amount. Fortunately I stepped back internally, observed the internal reactions and stayed focussed on the facts, what was happening ‘now’.

Like the facts that I had written down, awareness brings weight to the present moment, it has gravity, this allows depth, meaning and context to be appreciated. I didn’t try to stop the ‘noise’ but kept returning to the present. I didn’t fight anything. Sitting in the present, knowing the internal and external distractions, I could do what was needed to keep the whole experience in the present and calm. Without being angry or being frustrated but recognising those feelings. I remained connected with myself. It was good practice, and I am actually glad for the practical experience. Though this is a practical example, you don’t have to wait for a seemingly difficult situation to get a deeper appreciation of your experience.

Yoga means union, connectedness. Being connected at a deeper level. We are always connected, but lose touch with this experience at times, and can end up flitting around on the surface, blown around by external influences and thoughts.

Connected inside = Connected outside

Just the facts, sit back, and observe

Sutra 33 from Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras is a cracker. Simple, effective and costs nothing to put into practice. Returns for you are a peaceful, undisturbed mind.

Rather than being in reaction to information received through the senses, being hot or cold, being affected by things adversely such as bad odour, taste or sudden sounds/movements, instead, you could be present and knowing that you are experiencing them. No like or dislike. Knowing that you are not the experience, but the experiencer.

You may notice that…

I am not the cold felt on the skin, heat in the mind (anger/frustration), fragrance, flavour or vision. Nor am I sounds.

You might know…

the above as the experience. Know that you are experiencing them. Appreciate the qualities of the experience while at the same time being aware of yourself. You will have a deeper understanding of the experience and yourself, rather than thinking you are the emotion arising from the stimulus or the stimulus itself. This is one way of cultivating awareness or mindfulness.

This would mean…

that you are ok with the way things are. Contentment. If the experience is to be endured, this attitude will allow you to accept things as they are, and have less reaction, a more calm, peaceful experience and mind, along with a deep appreciation of the experience, and to continue on with life.

If we try to avoid things we immediately set ourselves up for difficulty and tension.

Patanjali’s 33rd sutra (chapter one)…

describes a method by which the mind is made peaceful and can remain undisturbed. Awareness is needed, and it will take a little effort on your part, but so does trying to avoid things such as pleasant or unpleasant feelings, which creates tension and disturbance! Patanjali describes an attitudinal awareness, attitudes you might have toward different situations, events and people, that will leave you with this desirable state of mind. It is desirable not only for normal day to day happiness, but also for progress in yogic pursuits and for many a spiritual path. In Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras it is described as one method for the removal of obstacles in the path of yoga.

Sutra 33: Cultivation of opposite virtues

In Four Chapters On Freedom, a commentary on Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, Swami Satyananda says that you cannot practise concentrating the mind unless it is made peaceful in nature. He goes on to say that the best way to achieve this state of mind is told within this sutra, 33. He says that by cultivating then ‘maintaining this attitude, that is, friendliness to the happy, compassion for the unhappy, gladness about the virtuous and indifference to those who are full of vice, the mind of the aspirant becomes free from the disturbing influences and as a result it becomes peaceful and undisturbed’.

Swami Satyananda goes on to describe some of the different feelings that cause disturbance in the mind and their effect of coming in the way of peace and meditation.

How does it work? Swami Satyananda again, ‘The fourfold attitude which he [Patanjali] asks us to develop gives rise to inner peace by the removal of the disturbing factors, not only from the conscious level, but also from the deepest parts of the subconscious’.

Sowing the seed, Sankalpa

Sankalpa is often asked about by those who hear the word for the first time during Yoga Nidra. ‘What was that thing you said, that word… I can’t remember…’ My free Yoga Nidra is a short form, so does not have Sankalpa. My Yoga Nidra with Sankalpa will be available soon. I often describe it as a positive statement of intent, to give clear direction to the energy of the mind. To achieve that which you wish to manifest in your circumstance. Succinct, positive, statement. Translated it means resolution, or resolve.

Satyananda suggests that ’If you know what you wish to achieve in life, Sankalpa can be the creator of your destiny’, and, ‘Anything in life can fail you, but not the Sankalpa made during Yoga Nidra’. He has also said that, in Yoga Nidra, it may be ‘the most effective means of training the mind’. At a time when you are in a less intellectual mode, the mind is calm, the Sankalpa can go deep and have effect. Yoga Nidra time. Just before and just after the practice, it is mentioned to repeat your Sankalpa. Satyananda also says, ‘The resolve you make at the beginning of the practice is like sowing a seed, and the resolve at the end is like irrigating it’.

If you practice yoga (which includes Yoga Nidra and meditation) making efforts toward a steady calm bodymind, then Sankalpa will have more force and be able to penetrate more deeply than when the mind is dissipated. The state of Yoga Nidra is the state in which the mind can receive your Sankalpa. Satyananda again,’Each of us has the power to remould our own mental structure’, ‘no fear or obsession is so deep rooted that it cannot be changed’.

It needs to not be an intellectual affair. It needs to be repeated with a sense of willpower and feeling in order for it to go deep. This combination gives the Sankalpa ‘the juice’, more energy, than a mere intellectual knowing of what the Sankalpa you have chosen is.

It is easy for the intellect, if void of experience, to disregard the importance or potency of this aspect of practice, as there seems no tangible way of Sankalpa having any effect. The mental repetition of Sankalpa is a movement of energy. You might consider/contemplate, that where there is consciousness there is energy, and vice versa. Affect one, and you affect the other. Once you have experienced the Sankalpa coming to fruition, there is no mistake. You know. You cannot beat experiential knowledge, the facts are before your eyes, and what seemed to be an intangible thing has become manifest and shown the effect of the cause. This has been my, and many others’, experience.

So, it is a resolve thought of by yourself, and you keep it to yourself. Don’t change it, until it comes to fruition. It is helpful to know your direction when making a Sankalpa. In Swami Satyananda’s words it is ‘a determination to become something or to do something in your life’, that is made alive by repeating it mentally during Yoga Nidra with strength of will and feeling.

What strengthens your will power and your internal feeling capacity? A topic for another post maybe…

What is your Sankalpa? (no, don’t tell me)

Where I have quoted  Swami Satyananda, it has been from his book, Yoga Nidra.