We completed our third and final session this past weekend. I like three sessions as an orientation type of ‘training.’
Three is the foundation. It is the formation stage of the process.
There are many areas in the yoga map. What most people think of as yoga (poses and movement and stretching) is but one step of one perspective in one area. Hatha Yoga is about movement and poses and breathing and all that. There is Jnana Yoga which is the accumulation of Knowledge, there is Karmic yoga – the path of action and Bhakti Yoga – the spiritual path of devotion.
We looked at the eight limbed path of Yoga……
Note that the poses – asana is the third limb of this path.
We looked at the chakra system……
And then brought is back to the duality of the two….
We inquired into a few yoga poses and a few pranayama exercises and sat in meditation practicing scanning the body at the sensation ‘level.’
This was an interesting series of sessions. I appreciated that we committed to three sessions. I look forward to the next step in this relationship.
The New Age mystical idea that All-is-God has now been corroborated by religion’s long standing enemy, Science!
Quantum Mechanics has provided all of the necessary data which to present a more solid and persuasive case for God than religion ever could.
The Particle/Wave Debate – For a long time physicists debated as to whether energy of existence could be reduced to basic building blocks called particles or whether it was a wave form. Quantum Theory/Physics/Mechanics finds that energy behaves as both a particle and a wave.
Every Particle contains Information – Every particle in the universe is a carrier of knowledge. Every particle is “conscious.” As humans, we tend to assume that only we are conscious, because only we seem to be self-conscious. The human brain is a receiver of the information contained within each particle. The information received by the brain is stored in every single atom of our bodies. For organic beings, the “filing system” provided for every living molecule is DNA.
Every particle communicates with every other particle – Being, after all, but moving points on some infinite wave, particles are in communication with one another at ALL times. Anything one given particle experiences can be experienced by another particle simultaneously. They are all part of the same wave; the same energy flow.
Ok. So let’s try and bring this all together. Remember the three levels of wisdom? So important. They match up perfectly with the three stages of Kripalu Yoga. Three is the foundation or structure…..of anything. Think about receiving and doing intellectual inquiry into this type of information like you are doing a new yoga pose – First, Right Alignment. Dissolve present knowing by being willing to suspend your current conscious and unconscious beliefs.
When you consciously receive by mastering awareness of the first two “levels” of wisdom then you create a more purified channel to the third level of wisdom – Your Individual Personal Authentic Experience! Time to Wake Up. Perhaps this is a way……
As Above So Below
Since every particle carries information and all particles, no matter how distant, are in instant communication then, it follows, that every particle potentially ‘contains’ all the information in the universe. In other words, “AS ABOVE, SO BELOW.” The particle is the universe and vice versa.
Ok. Now this is where it gets a little funky. Now is the time that I would ask you to suspend, not only your beliefs, but your disbeliefs. They are one in the same, aren’t they?
Once upon a time, before the creation of the universe, there was an infinite positive force of energy that some people have the habit of calling ‘God.” This energy filled all reality. There was nothing else besides this Energy, this Light.
One fine day, God decided to share all His Light, which consisted of love beyond love, bliss beyond bliss, and joy beyond joy. But there was no one with whom to share. So, God created a being to act as a recipient, to receive the goodness that God wanted to give. This being of receiving was one giant soul, which encompassed what would later become all the individual souls of humanity, even yours. This being was The Vessel. God filled The Vessel with infinite happiness, whereupon both God and The Vessel lived happily ever after……….
Well, not quite…..
So, what happened? Not much, really. Only the development of the cosmos, including the entire history of human civilization up to and including the present moment, as well as the events that will transpire tomorrow, leading to the final destiny of the world.
From our perspective, that’s a lot. But from the perspective of God, it transpired in less than a blink of an eye.
What happened? the Big Bang happened and The Vessel shattered into infinite particles traveling across space and time and forming the universe.
Why did it shatter? Why did Happily Ever After give way to Miserably Ever More? Did we do something wrong? Wait! There is was no “we”, there is was only the original vessel. Did God get angry with us? Is this punishment? Is it a joke? Maybe it is some horrible mistake?
Are we each a particle of the original Vessel that was created to receive God’s beneficence. Is there a way back “hOMe?” Or, are we destined to live out our lives in quiet separation?
In our second session we, briefly, reviewed the 5 koshas and other 5 step processes that we brought into our awareness on the first session.
Then I introduced the 3 stages of Kriplau Yoga –
The 3 Elements of the Vipassana Meditation technique
The 3 columns found in The Tree of Life –
Reiterating the value of flowing information through the three levels of wisdom according to The Buddha –
Then we checked out a few yoga poses and a breathing exercise.
As I am guiding this group I am becoming more and more aware of the potential secret that may be found in The Fibonacci sequence and The Golden Mean – Phi.
I look forward to our 3rd session this Saturday. I am planning on touching on the 2 and the 8.
Let’s use some of our “tools” we have been using in yoga, meditation and mapquesting sessions for confronting, exploring and understanding:
First, suspend belief and disbelief
Second, Remember that we receive “information” in three layers. Initially, something comes into our awareness. We hear about it or we read a book about it. Then, we may choose to pursue some intellectual inquiry about this thing. We talk about it, research it, try its ‘practices and techniques. And then we have a direct personal experience with this thing that has come into our awareness field.
Third, we learn through metaphor…..After receiving the perspective offered then compare it to other maps we have experienced. For example, can you locate where the ego lives in the Vipassana technique? Is it in the realm of consciousness? Perception? Sensation? Reaction? The Physical?
Listen to this short video. I have attached the other video he was referring to from the movie Revolver. He is talking about Ego.
The battle is within. The Ego seeks pleasure and avoids pain. If you allow the ego to run free then the momentary reactions of liking and disliking will create formations (Sankharas) of craving and aversion. These creations then mold a perspective through which consciousness flows.
So, I am guiding a three session introduction to meditation. ‘mindfulness and yoga for a new group. We are meeting once a week for 45 minutes. Recently had our first session and this is a ‘recap.’
First of all, I am very excited to be working with this group because they are a business involved in the health and wellness field and they are exploring “alternative” approaches to integrate with their current systems and procedures which is primarily a mainstream western medical approach.
Since my motivation for trying yoga 23 years ago was to enhance my healing path….and….I am very familiar with western medicine with having to engage with the diabetes since 1976…..it is almost a dream come true to work with doctors and nurses and their support staff.
In our first session we covered the three levels of wisdom according to the Buddha: 1. Received Wisdom, by reading a book, listening to a lecture…etc. This level is the awareness level, 2. Intellectual Wisdom. via inquiry, study, testing a practice or application and 3. Direct Personal Experience, the highest level of wisdom which one incorporates what they “know” via their experience into their perspective.
We brought into our awareness the yogic philosophy of The Koshas. There are five of them and they are the five “layers” or “veils” or “bodies” that make up a human being: The Koshas are:
The Five Koshas
We juxtaposed the five Koshas with The Buddha’s 5 processes that make up a human being, the growth process and The Kripalu BRFWA Process of Transformation:
Kosha The Buddha Kripalu GROWTH
1. Physical. Physical Breathe Confusion
2. EnergyReaction Relax Exploration
3. Mental/Emotional Sensation Feel Incubation
4. Higher Self Perspective Watch. Illumination
5. Bliss Consciousness Allow Celebration
I think……that the next step in integration of western style medical perspective and alternative Eastern Style medical perspective will be a willingness to expand the perspective of what we are, who we are and why we are. We are not simply our physical bodies. In fact, the physical is but less than 1% of the all that is. This is not my opinion but is scientific fact according to Quantum Physics. More on this in a later session……The TRUTH is that we are not human beings having a spiritual experience but rather we are spiritual beings having a human experience.
Over the next two sessions we will explore this from all three levels of wisdom using the practice of meditation, mindfulness, yoga and mapquesting.
I left the group with the assignment of practicing BRFWA. In this post I further challenge the group to contemplate what their current “Creation Story” is.
Now, I know that there are several “camps” of thought on this question. There is one camp that has ruled out any further thought on this question. They have determined we live in a physical universe and that a creation story is simply that….a story. Evolution is adequate in answering any questions of creation and existence. There is another group that has contemplated this question and just determined it is unanswerable. This group is generally not interested in any further inquiry. There is another group that has adopted the creation story of a religion. Most religions have their own creation story. And there is another group that is truly seeking. Perhaps, this group is stuck in seeking?
Nevertheless, in this first session we talked about the ability to suspend belief and disbelief for the practice of meditation and yoga. To cultivate a state of inquiry and openness as we explore. To “empty our cup” of what we believe, think we know or have discounted and put in the disbelief column of our awareness and, therefore, perspective.
However, the practice of yoga is a spiritual path. There is no doubt about that. The destination is Samadhi or connection to Source. So, it behooves us to at least contemplate this Source, our origin and our current relationship to it.
Now, I know I am pushing the envelope here with what I am copying and pasting. However, if you choose to read further do so with an open and inquiring mind. Don’t seek confirmation with your current belief system. Just follow the Buddha’s path – Let it come into your awareness, seek to understand and note your experience with it. It is a writing from one of my Kabbalah teachers on the Torah portion of the week. See how it applies to our practice …… Don’t worry if you don’t understand some terms or references. Just try to receive the message my teacher is communicating . Enjoy….
Until the revelation of the Zohar, whenever this section of the Bible was read over the millennia, the challenge was always in understanding how to construct the Candelabra out of one piece. But the Zohar shows us the deeper significance of this section and what it can teach us about our own lives.
In questioning the construction of the Candelabra, Moses indicates the difficulty for us today to connect with the totality of the Lightforce of God in the physical world, which is limited. The difficulty of creating a Candelabra represents the difficulty in creating unity—unity between ourselves and God. This is what the Zohar tells us was the deeper significance of what God and Moses discussed.
The only thing that can sustain us in every aspect of our lives is the Lightforce of God, which means having a connection with the Flawless Universe. But because we are unfamiliar with it, chaos reigns supreme in every aspect of the physical world. There is not an aspect of physicality that does not experience chaos in some form—death, decay, and so on.
The physical world is fragmented. Take medicine, for example. It is difficult today to find a general practitioner; if you have something wrong with your arm, you go to an arm doctor, if you have something wrong with your finger, you go to a finger specialist. There is no longer a connection to the totality.
What the Zohar teaches us is that we must examine the body and connect to the whole. This is what holistic medicine is about—unifying and connecting the physical body with the Lightforce of God, which is already complete.
This week, the example of the Candelabra teaches us that there must be a totality of connection; it cannot be broken or segmented. This is a very deep lesson.
We can acquire this kind of knowledge from the Zohar and transform our consciousness. Before we can demand that we live in a totally Flawless Universe, we have to have unity within ourselves. We should work to remove that which creates division, not only within us but also towards others. The purpose is to not only create a unified system, but also to create a unified person. We have to strive to create that unity within ourselves, which creates unification between the realms of the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge. This does not mean that we pay no attention to the physical. We are talking about a state of consciousness by which the physical world does not influence our decisions. Unfortunately, most of us succumb to the physical world.
We have the power in our consciousness to override and elevate ourselves. No matter how difficult the physical weighs upon us, we can still rise above. This is what we are trying to achieve.
Any time the challenges of the physical world become the deciding factor, we distance ourselves from the Flawless Universe. This week the story of the Menorah reminds those who permit the physical world to control them, how to be whole. The most important aspect of Beha’alotcha is to understand that if we have difficulties on the physical level, it is because our consciousness still permits the physical world to dominate us. As an example, if you are working in your business, do not permit your business to become your master; always remember your higher consciousness.
