vinyasa: March 2005

Easter Morning Class- Yes.

You'll be ready for the day.

If you're missing socks or shoes after yoga class in charlestown, speak to this guy.

Another yoga joke

Some Buddhist Monks are talking to a group of people. People are asking mostly polite, respectful questions when finally one woman blurts out to the senior Monk, "you say you've been celibate for 25 years. How can you go so long without having sex?" After a minute of silence, the monk says quietly, "It's easy when you're coming all the time."

Hsin Hsin Ming (excerpt)

"The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences. When (desire) and hate are both absent everything becomes clear and undisguised. Make the smallest distinction, however, and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart. If you wish to see the truth then hold no opinions for or against anything. To set up what you like against what you dislike is the disease of the mind."

Also, see the quote from David Hawkins below.

Introduction to A Course In Miracles blog

Several students have asked about getting started in A Course in miracles.

A Course in Miracles is the new testament of Jesus, written in our time and language. It is unaffected by the motives of institutions, not concerned by the motive for creating a following or a church. It is Jesus talking to us today on a metaphysical and practical level. He clearly explains who we are, what the world is, and what we are to do.

The voice of Jesus is channeled through an unlikely and at first unwilling host. By appearance a little old lady, Helen Schucman was a Professor of Medical Psychology at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. She was Jewish and an atheist. Surely an unlikely person to suddenly report to her boss that she was hearing the voice of Jesus. Her boss was Bill Thetford, who, surprisingly, encouraged her and typed her notes.

She reportedly said early on that if the voice ever uttered bad grammar she would immediately stop. Apparently, the grammar was good enough for her to risk her position and credibility. She “took notes” for 7 years and produced a 1200 page volume that I consider the single most important work ever published. Over 1.5 million copies are in print.

The first time I read it, I shared her skepticism. “If I find a single inconsistency, I'm stopping,” I promised myself. After page 200, I realized that no ordinary human could have written it. I am on my third read. And I seek its counsel almost every day.

Of course if you are looking for controversy, you will find it. But if you are looking for an explanation of your existence that explains who we are and what is important, that explains time and all physical phenomena, and beyond that, this is a good choice. I repeat that it was written in our time and language, so if you also want a spiritual text that is free of the "business" of religion, the heartbreaking possibility that it has been lost in translation or heavily "edited," this is a good choice. If you want a choice written in our time and that speaks to our current level of consciousness, it is possibly your only choice.

Its beautiful Shakespearean/psychological/Christian language is a difficult read in some spots though. If you want a primer that is more accessibly, I recommend Tolle, Power of Now and Stillness Speaks. If you’re so motivated, start right in on The Course. Although it’s a self-study book, I believe that the blog format and the sharing of interpretations can be helpful. Any effort for minds to join, as Jesus advocates, can save us “thousands of years.”The Course acknowledges that it is not for everyone and that there are many ways. If this is for you, you will know it, as I did.

If you are a student of The Course or are about to become one, and would like to join this blog discussion, please email me at philip@urso.com. It is located at different web address.

Yoga Joke

There is a crowd of people sitting at the guru's feet, asking questions about the meaning of mantras. Finally a man in the back stands up and says, "words cannot have any special meaning, this is a load of crap!"

The guru guy looks at him and says, "you're right, words have no meaning at all, you flaming <insert your most shocking swear words here>."

Words are empty by themselves. But as symbols of meaning and intention, they are filled with power.

Spiritual Simplicity

Spiritual growth doesn't have to be hard. There is no need for pain, sacrifice, years of devotion, gurus, study. All you have to do is say, "Please let me see this through your eyes, Jesus," and really mean it with your whole heart. You can substitute the word "Jesus" with any word that represents highest consciousness to you.

The only difficulty is meaning it with your whole heart. Sometimes we need to fall hard before we really mean it. It's easy to mouth words. To mean them unconditionally, without any conditions, without any holding back, is rare in life. But once you feel the surge of it, and you glimpse the joy in it, you finally feel authentic.

In this light you can see that there was never anything to sacrifice.

David Hawkins, The Eye of the I

Spiritual Student

As a serious spiritual student, one has to resign from the self-appointed duties of being the one to judge, correct, control, direct, change the world, and express opinions about everything. As a serious spiritual student, one is no longer obligated to continue these chores and, instead, they are turned over to divine justice. Inasmuch as the mind has no idea what Reality even is, relinquishing these former duties will be a relief and also bring an end to a lot of guilt. It is therefore quite helpful to give up causes and rallies for the oppressed, downtrodden, other victims, and sentimentalities. Each person is merely fulfilling their own destiny; allow then to do so. With detachment, it will be observed that most people enjoy the melodrama of their lives.

Links I like

www.acim.org
http://www.facimoutreach.org/
http://www.baronbaptiste.com/
http://www.dorje.com.au/

a course in miracles (acim) on pain

I thought you might like to see some of this section on "sensation." You may say that it sounds nice, but how do we do it? It all starts with our thoughts. In yoga we are learning that our default ego settings are not absolute. Once we question this, we realize that in every instant we do have a choice- we have the freedom to "change our minds" set forth below Notice the effects of "idle wishes." It is urgent to gain mastery of our thoughts.

It is your thoughts alone that cause you pain. 2 Nothing external to your mind can hurt or injure you in any way. 3 There is no cause beyond yourself that can reach down and bring oppression. 4 No one but yourself affects you. 5 There is nothing in the world that has the power to make you ill or sad, or weak or frail. 6 But it is you who have the power to dominate all things you see by merely recognizing what you are. 7 As you perceive the harmlessness in them, they will accept your holy will as theirs. 8 And what was seen as fearful now becomes a source of innocence and holiness.
W-190.6. My holy brother, think of this awhile: The world you see does nothing. 2 It has no effects at all. 3 It merely represents your thoughts. 4 And it will change entirely as you elect to change your mind, and choose the joy of God as what you really want. 5 Your Self is radiant in this holy joy, unchanged, unchanging and unchangeable, forever and forever. 6 And would you deny a little corner of your mind its own inheritance, and keep it as a hospital for pain; a sickly place where living things must come at last to die?
W-190.7. The world may seem to cause you pain. 2 And yet the world, as causeless, has no power to cause. 3 As an effect, it cannot make effects. 4 As an illusion, it is what you wish. 5 Your idle wishes represent its pains. 6 Your strange desires bring it evil dreams. 7 Your thoughts of death envelop it in fear, while in your kind forgiveness does it live.
W-190.8.2 Pain is the ransom you have gladly paid not to be free.

W-190.9. Lay down your arms, and come without defense into the quiet place where Heaven's peace holds all things still at last. 2 Lay down all thoughts of danger and of fear. 3 Let no attack enter with you.
W-190.10. Here will you understand there is no pain. 2 Here does the joy of God belong to you. 3 This is the day when it is given you to realize the lesson that contains all of salvation's power. 4 It is this: Pain is illusion; joy, reality. 5 Pain is but sleep; joy is awakening. 6 Pain is deception; joy alone is truth.

W-190.11. And so again we make the only choice that ever can be made; we choose between illusions and the truth, or pain and joy, or hell and Heaven.

Under Stress, Regress

One of my favorite sayings.

Under stress, you may regress back to a 4 year old and throw a tantrum, yelling and screaming. If you know someone who yells and screams alot, that may be what's happening. Given more stress, you might regress back further and cry like a baby.

Our default settings suck.

Strong class this morning! Deep hamstring and hip holds. Thanks for coming out in the snow.

Anyway, a student asked me after class about the idea of pain. If I understood her correctly, citing "traditional" religion, she felt that pain was necessary for spiritual transformation. This gives me an opportunity to clarify.

It's weird, but I always think of freedom when I think of pain.

In yoga class, I refuse to call it pain. I call it sensation and emphasize that it is neutral, raw, meaningless. Everything that comes through our senses is meaningless, neutral, until we interpret it. Once we interpret it, it has meaning to us.* Usually we interpret by default without realizing we have a choice and without actually feeling the sensation.

Our default settings suck. They are controlled by the ego and are always some form of fear. So any strong sensation is instantly interpreted by the ego as "pain," which is the ego's default.

Even worse, it's the ego's interpretation from yesterday so we are reliving the past. Clearly we are not present. We absolutely are not experiencing the sensation as it is now. We have given up freedom of choice to the ego at the most basic level. Consider this fact: The ego would never let us really feel anything. This is why even pleasures seem to fade. We're not feeling anything, just reliving past associations which rapidly become dull, as does our whole life.

To really feel anything, we need to be present. In the light of presence, the ego is obliterated. So, under threat of obliteration and before we know it, the ego serves up yesterday's interpretation to save itself. (This goes on pretty much all the time. No wonder spiritual growth is described as waking up from a dream.)

Remember the story of Viktor Frankl: "Man's Search for Meaning?" Tortured in a concentration camp, he realized that he was still free to choose how to interpret everything that happened to him:

Everything can be taken away from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms- to choose one's attitudes in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's way. The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity- even in the most difficult circumstances- to add a deeper meaning to his life.

If we could only make it the first of human freedoms.

We practice learning this freedom in the smallest, safest, simplest way. In vinyasa class when there's alot of sensation, I urge students to try and see it anew. This is the beginning. Practicing. We only need a moment. A gap before the ego rushes forward. To give a new interpretation. Be very interested in what you feel. I offer the feeling of healing, or coolness or just neutrality and letting it be whatever it is. It is urgent to really feel in the present. It's about freedom. Freedom to interpret every situation as it is not as you once did. This illuminates the slavery we submit ourselves to when we operate unquestioning at the ego level of consciousness.

Look, here's the answer: it still might be pain, but by quietly disregarding the ego's interpretation, we wake-up. We then decide what it is. We practice the first of human freedoms. Is pain necessary? Not if we can wake up this way.

The ego unravels from here. We get a glimpse of the ego system. And it doesn't like to be seen. (I think it's embarrassed at what a selfish jerk it is.) So the more you see it, the more it shrinks. The question is now: Who's doing the seeing? Who is watching the ego system? You have finally found yourself. It's a relief to know that we are not our childish ego.

It's truly astounding how much of our life, how much of each day is reliving yesterday. When you take the concept beyond just sensation you see how our relationships are so repetitive,
our lives have been dulled. We have no new experiences because by using past interpretations automatically, we're asleep at the wheel. And our relationships, jobs, level of success, level of consciousness never change because we continually rely on the ego's past interpretation of every circumstance. The ego, which does not exist in the present, likes it that way. By keeping us dulled by past interpretations, it casts its shadow over the present and extends itself into the future. (see ACIM)

As our ego shrinks, we sense another kind of awareness. For some it's in our heart. Maybe in your gut. The Course in Miracles calls it the Holy Spirit, our Internal Teacher. You could say that you have a lie detector in your heart. A bullshit meter inside you. But the problem is we've protected it in a steel box and we forgot about it. Or maybe we're afraid of it. Or maybe we're afraid of losing our identity, our selfish ego? Anyway, what's in the box is so tranquil and the ego is so very loud and persistent it takes a commitment to hear what's in there.

Sometimes when we're quiet we get a strong sense of It. An intuition. As we practice presence, mindful meditation, yoga, in and out of a class, we become more and more aware of It. Deepak Chopra describes It as contextual. It knows the context of you in the whole universe. The Course says that It sees the world with the eyes of love, showing and teaching only happiness, joy. Compare that Teacher to the ego who teaches pain, and shows fearful, afraid, selfish, petty view. So let's see- fear, pain, anger, attack...or happiness and joy?

*It happens as soon as we "name" it. Think of a name as a link to a whole "website" of prior associations. So we name strong sensation as "pain," without even realizing it all these prior associations rush forward. We automatically use these default settings to interpret everything we sense using various names to bring forward their "websites" of associations. We're actually never experiencing anything as it is now.