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In this issue: Yoga Philosophy: Consciousness is Everything Applied Yoga: The Yoga of Presence Life Coaching Pearls of Wisdom: The Art of Being Present Notices:
____________________________________ Yoga Philosophy : Consciousness is Everything"When we think we are one particular thing, and therefore isolated, we indeed become only that one thing and lose the rest. In accepting that we are nothing, we gain the world." Daniel Odier My perception of life and spirituality has come full circle from the days of my adolescence to now. Growing up in my family’s religion I was subject to a teaching that in hind sight seems more like the application of a scare tactic compelling me to submit to an all-powerful and judgmental God. I’m pleased to say that with expanded studies and practice my awareness of the Supreme has developed into more of an adult spirituality based on freedom and spontaneity, completely outside the realm of fear and submission. Looking at the foundation of my adolescent spiritual upbringing has given me great insight into how many of us have developed a fear of God, and as such, a fear of exploring the richness of a spiritually conscious life. I remember being told as a child that we all had guardian angels who watched over us for our protection but they also saw and knew everything we did and thought, reporting it back to "the man upstairs." This scared the bejesus out of me! Indeed, for many of us growing up under the tyranny of the all-seeing-eye-of-God looming over and judging us it was hard to perceive of God as anything other than something dangerous and very separate. Rather than perceiving a harmonious balance of interconnectedness with a loving creative force manifest in all creation we were tormented with a perception of a judgmental God full of wrath, constantly in need of our adherence to rituals of appeasements. I believe this painful dualistic perception has caused untold heartache and isolation in our culture, as well as a deep sense of disconnect between ourselves and the world in which we live. I doubt the adults in my early years were aware of how harmful their presentation of our relationship to God was in its long-term effect; it was what they were taught and so they passed it on. I speculate that I was not the only one who has faced some form of spiritual rebellion. When my heart told me that this fear-based teaching was not right, that God wouldn’t create a world and people within it just to condemn tem for being their very nature. I believe that a major shift of consciousness within our life time has risen from this disconnect and more and more individuals are willing to examine alternative views and go deeper into the exploration of their spiritual nature. I report to you now that it was with great personal relief to have found through my introduction to yoga a different teaching all together. This lead me deeper still into the core of a nondualistic philosophy of who we are and how special this being human is on every level of being. Through Anusara Yoga I was first exposed to Tantra, and then more specifically Kashmiri Shaivism. It was a turning point in my life and spiritual development for it honored my adult intellect and natural proclivity to honor the inherent goodness in life. It taught me to embrace my humanity with all the endearing foibles that come with having a body, senses, desires and passions. In this teaching it is held that Consciousness is everything; all that exists in the diversity of manifestation comes from, and is permeated with, a single consciousness. There is nothing outside of this realm and as such everything is interconnected, a vibrant and unbroken tapestry of life-force and unlimited creativity. Being absolute, containing everything, there is no separation of ourselves or anything from it; we humans are but a small but cherished aspect of the greater whole¾ but part of the whole never the less¾ like a finger or toe is equally not the body but part of it. As manifestations of divine nature we are part and parcel of Absolute Consciousness. Yet, because physical manifestation is but one aspect of this unfathomable absolute it is totally independent of our worship, nor does it require our appeasement in order to exist or be complete. Herein lies our "nothingness" and the source of our freedom. We were created for the simple sake of being our natural selves, free to live, explore our existence and awaken to our unity with our creator and others, or not. In the highest sense there is no "other" than the one, regardless of our degree of awareness of this reality. This concept of unity consciousness and total freedom is a hugely vast and contemplative system of thought of which I am only bit-by-bit incorporating into my world view. Most of our brains tend to glaze-over when we ponder such depth for too long, or we avoid the subject all together. I hold responsible the indoctrination of Western fear-based philosophy for the resistance we have to explore our nature as both physical and spiritual beings. However, when we do venture into the depths of spirituality and personalize the concept of unity consciousness¾ that Consciousness is everything¾ we can begin to develop a useful perceptual tool for understanding our place in the world and break our bubble of isolation. I would like to expand on this because I am sure I am not the only one who has been rattled by the dogmatic teachings of a wrathful and judgmental God. First, it may be useful to take a look at the macro perspective and then bring it down to the micro, our self and the reality we perceive around us. The teachings of the Tantric masters hold that the undifferentiated nature of Pure Consciousness is a single vibratory force of energy; it consciously has chosen to incrementally slow down its vibratory rate into a pulsation that condenses into the multitude of forms we perceive as nature, ourselves included. As such, there is but one "cosmic playdough" that makes up everything. Our scientists quantify a periodical table of the elements as a way to comprehend the substrata of existence; however, the study of subtle energy is relatively new to the West and as such we have only a limited perception of the power and force that animates existence. There is a higher, vibrant, life force that is the cohesive energy that connects, maintains and destroys all creation. This unifying consciousness is of such a vast expanse that it allows for order and chaos to exist at the same time; neither of which can justly be deemed good or bad. Rather, all we perceive are manifestations of patterns of energy free to swirl and take form as matter, action and thought. So what does any of this mind-boggling "big picture" philosophy have anything to contribute to an individual who is simply trying to make it in the world? The answer comes in the contemplation of interconnectivity. The ancient masters who experienced unity with higher consciousness developed a teaching method based on the concept that finding God within and perceived to be present in the tapestry of life would open the doors of perception to an intimate love affair with life. Rather than hiding from or struggling to appease an external separate and needy God we can follow a practice of making peace with ourselves. By accepting life as it is we can live fully present in the world, in the moment, and in our individual expansion of consciousness we can find Absolute Consciousness. They taught that we can incorporate all our senses, passions and desires into a perception they called "naked awareness." This is the undressed-up awareness of reality in the moment as being vibrant, pulsing with life, free from the need to be changed or corralled by conditionality. The Tantric masters, or tantrikas as they are often called, invite us to experience life with a full naked awareness as we explore "being" as opposed to "doing." By simply stopping from time to time to listen, observe and get absorbed in the moment we can find a singularity of pleasure that is not conditioned by another’s interpretation of the experience; it is full in the simplicity of the awareness itself. It is free from the conditionality that our inner peace is dependant on accumulation of goods and experiences as well as distractions that keep us from living authentically from our highest nature. Most of us have felt this "being in the zone" experience one time or the other in our life when our total concentration or expanded mind has permitted us to take in the beauty of a natural setting, the smile on a loved one’s face, the elegance of a floating plastic sack picked up by the wind and tossed lazily about (reference the film American Beauty). The key to implementing this "Consciousness is Everything" philosophy into our personal world view and spiritual toolbox is the unconditional aspect to it. We are to take intimate moments of pleasure throughout the day to perceive being present in the moment as something that brings us delight. Delight is the highest aspect of the Divine’s creation. Accepting our freedom to own the experience as uniquely ours we go beyond the condition that another has to validate it. To this point the French author Daniel Odier expounds in his book, Desire, The Tantric Path to Awakening, the idea that intimately utilizing our senses to expand our doors of perception connects us to the source of creation. He uses the Tantric terminology "experiencing the inner tremoring of existence" to refer to our moments of sensing the intimate and vibrant connection as a state of continual present to the world. Kashmiri Shaivism, as a particular school of Tantric philosophy, holds that this manner of "gliding toward freedom and original ecstasy through the senses, desire, and passion" is the most direct path to spiritual advancement. Rather than choosing renunciation and transcendence the tantrikas chose to use the senses and emotions to recognize the vibrancy of Divine Consciousness present in all things: absorption and liberation within the world rather than renunciation of it. By refining our awareness our senses take us directly into an ecstatic and direct communion with reality; we can savor the world in its sweetly complex nature and beyond judgment experience the essence of God. This teaching of constant refinement holds that we can experience our place in the world as a fulfillment of our natural design to have passions and desires; they are tools for perception. Our continuous presence to the world opens us to recognize the hand of God in the essence of all aspects of being, the sublime and the difficult. Because we can come to recognize that even the hardships of life are opportunities for revelation of our true and highest nature we can have an experience of the divine through all degrees of being. We refine our presence in the world through the senses and our response to them, learning all the while what works for us and what does not. This is freedom and spontaneity: freedom because we act from our individual authenticity and spontaneous because it is responsive to the experience itself. With practiced application of this awareness we can refine our perceptions and let intimacy cultivate meaning and inner peace. This is a far cry from the belief system taught me in my youth which instructed me to deny and negate my sensuality and passions¾ to renounce them as temptations distracting me from the goal of ultimately finding peace in the kingdom come. Alas, I’ve been too long in this world and have witnessed too many conflicting views to abrogate my wellbeing to mere faith in redemption. I put my faith in my own direct experience and exploration of desire as a powerful force that brings me into intimacy with life and the here-and-now. I choose to honor my humanity as being intrinsically good and follow a path that is life-affirming, embraces a passion that is free of dependence on any outside source other than my passionate love of life. I choose responsibility and the sweetness of an intimate connection to the presence of the divine within and around me. I recognize desire as a powerful tool to be embraced which creates expanded awareness and unity consciousness. Daniel Odier adds clarity to being fully present to all aspects of life:
___________________________________ Applied Yoga : The Yoga of PresenceHaving stated above that the essence of life is savored by being present to it, moment by moment, it is time to look at how this is done. My fondness for Kashmiri Shaivism and its Tantric philosophy of intrinsic goodness is based on the concept that we do not need ritual and religion to live a deeply spiritual and aware life. It places the highest value in the micro-practices of stopping throughout the day to take notice of the moment and its vibrancy. Shaivism holds that God is in the details so take the time to explore through your senses and note your response. If practiced regularly throughout the day you will become much more in tuned to your surroundings and relationship to the world. A very potent and simple practice is found in stilling yourself enough to bring a quiet awareness to your breath. At first make no attempt to control it, rather, watch and observe. It will quiet and deepen on its own and will take you deeper yet into the presence of being. That such a naturally accessible experience can have such a profound effect within minutes of practice is truly remarkable. Breathing with awareness can become one of the most powerful tools you possess for raising your consciousness. Likewise, breathing with intention can "stop the world" and reset your perspectives while realigning the flow of life-force energy in your body. Emotional and physical health can be enhanced by simply doing what we were programmed to do from our emergence into the world. By breathing consciously we focus the mind and give it a break from the innumerable thoughts that distract us and deplete our energy level. Incorporating a full awareness of our sense is another way to savor the world. Touch, taste, smell, sound, and sight can all be powerful tools for sensing contact with divinity pulses through all creation. This can range from the sensual and passionate touch of your beloved to the intimate caress of a cup of tea. With full attention in the moment feel the texture, warmth, coolness, movement, stillness, flavor, view, emotion, response… Feel the vibrancy of the moment and you will be in a sacred place, in union; this is the pure essence of the art of yoga. Taking awareness into your day to day life is how we empower what we learn on the mat and make it applicable in our daily experiences. I believe that letting go of the intellectualization of our sensual responses is far more effective than trying to label and codify experience. There is a place and time for the intellect yet most of us already have an over-active mind that requires some containment; this is why deepening our connection to feelings is so important. To create inner peace we are seeking a way to maintain an easeful presence within the world. Seeking liberation within the ordinary frees us from the desire to have ever more distractions and enlivens the desire for the simplicity of the moment. When we touch life through reaching out with consciousness then we can draw vibrancy in from an unlimited number of sources. Indeed, I believe there is a whole new movement of consciousness sweeping our culture based on this idea of simplifying our pleasures and needs. The tantrika masters teach that the world was created for the delight of the divine and as such we can use delight as another tool to foster a deepening sense of connection to the simple pleasures of life. Practicing the art of desire for more than just objects we can garner great delight in what the masters call "the incandescence of the tremoring vibration of life." I interpret this to mean possessing a grateful heart, being full of pleasure and passion for life and experiencing the luminosity of making connections to others and a world in which we are intimately a part. It is a simple and yet very profound philosophy. It holds that we express compassion towards ourselves and others, that we engage life and contribute what we can, that we be responsible in our expression of freedom, watchful of our patterns of behavior that are counter-productive to living the highest image of our greatest good. Through this we systematically break down the barriers that a small and ego-based existence create and move into a more vibrant life fully present to the moment. Recognizing the divine in everything requires intelligence and the cultivation of an adult spirituality. This is not a world used to implementing these high ideals so we must recognize that our values and desire are not always recognized and honored by others. Indeed, we frequently have to guard ourselves from the harshness and process through the painful experiences replete in being human. Yet when we stop short of judging the distasteful behavior and discordant conditions we are exposed to we can recognize it all as aspects of the "beautiful chaos" that is life. My conscious response to much of the actions I find distasteful is "I’ve done that;" I recognize that I have fallen short in being the optimal friend, sibling, father, son, employee, driver… By showing compassion and understanding I recognize within myself that much of the chaos and conditions of life has little to do with me at all; I am simply experiencing it. When it does have to do with me I seek to learn from what I recognize¾ or perhaps is revealed to me¾ and move on a bit more the wiser.My goal is to foster a perception that Consciousness engulfs the entirety of all that is and move beyond the limiting "I" consciousness of the ego and mind and be present to reality in its highest essence. I recognize that I am a free and spontaneous actor within that sacred realm, present to life, subtle and refined in my relationship with reality. My job is to do the work of creating a life-affirming practice that includes healthy living, yoga asana, meditation and the cultivation of loving relationships. In this fullness of conscious living I know through experience that I can weather the storms of life and remain vibrant and strong; I can find balance and a peaceful way of being; and most of all, I can be open for unexpected pleasures and opportunities. Supreme Reality perceived in the knowledge that everything both image and reflection, an interconnected consciousness delighting in its own revelation. ___________________________________ Life Coach Pearls of Wisdom : The Art of Being Present Disconnect and isolation have a powerful effect on our lives and our effectiveness in relationships, work, creativity and more. They make finding your direction a daunting challenge when you don’t know what path to follow or why things seem to stay the same no matter how hard you try. This is where my support as your Life Coach can help turn your life around and help you create the vibrancy you desire.To learn more about my services visit www.TheYogaCoach.com or call me to discuss setting up a free introductory coaching session. ___________________________________ Notices :Summer Yoga Retreats
My teaching schedule:
Private Yoga Instruction and/or therapy: For those who want individualized instruction and guidance I also teach private students out of my home. I also offer therapy for individual physical concerns. Private classes are $40 for an hour when a commitment to ten classes is made, or $45 for a single session. Also, I’m available for special group classes at your location. Depending on details, fee is usually $75 per class.
May your heart be filled with peace, joy and light. Namaste, Will PS. Please feel free to pass this newsletter on to your friends. A link to archived issues can be found at http://www.theyogacoach.com/. ____________________________________________
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