What is your Life Saver? YS II - 33

What is your life saver? Technically one would picture a ring like in the picture on this post. A life saver is defined by www.thefreedictionary.com/lifestaver as :

1. an attendant employed at a beach or pool to protect swimmers from accidents and or
2. a life preserver in the form of a ring of buoyant material

Then you might wonder how does this apply to you? As you know, if you are a reader of this blog, that this blog entitled "Always Be Om," consists of yoga related information related to this theme. So in that context I am now using the live saver as a metaphor.

What got me to think of this subject is the energy of the time we are living in. According to the news we are in" a recession". This is affecting everyone, depending on how they see as I spoke about in the posts on "Thoughts as Eyeglasses" and "Taking Pictures". Thus, whatever we choose can fall between "Bondage and Liberation" for us.

So getting back to the original question of what is your life saver, for me it is my yoga practices. Case in point my practice of swadhyaya, self study which includes studying the yogic texts like the Guru Gita, which is latter part of the Skanda Purana. (The Guru Gita is a Hindu scripture of 182 verses, authored by the sage, Vyasa. It is a part of the larger Skanda Purana.) You can also see the post I did on swadhyaya.

I was feeling a little down noticing some thoughts I was having. I won't go into detail about the thoughts as what you focus on expands, however I do acknowledge the process. So I applied pratipaksha bhavana (a Sanskrit term)- When disturbed by negative thoughts, opposite ones should be thought of. Pratipaksha bhavana is a method which is given as a clue to control and obstruct thoughts in Yoga Sutra II - 33 - VITARKA BADHANE PRATIPAKSA BHAVANAM .

I had not sat down and chanted the Guru Gita for a long time, even though I do play the CD of it from time to time. So I sat down and recited this text. I cannot begin to describe how much better I felt! My focus was no longer on the thoughts I had or how I was going to solve the situation. I was studying my Self and refreshing my self with the text of the Guru Gita. This was better than attempting to numb myself with other alternatives, which as a yoga teacher I do not do anyway. But one can see pretty much that when others do not know of yogic/or other healthy alternatives that they may attempt to "escape" through other means such as drugs, alcohol, food, shopping,etc.

So hopefully I can probe you to ask yourself what do you use as a life saver? Is it a positive tool? Again for me, my tools are the many branches of yoga which are really life savers.

Stay tuned. Check out the workshop I will be doing on 12/14/08 at http://www.bometernally.com/

Swadhyaya

We are all ultimately looking for that joy we have inside of ourselves. There are different things that we do that connect us to that joy. We might realize that is what we are doing especially when we start to ask the question 'Why am I here and what is the purpose of life?' Swadhyaya can lead us to that joy inside. Swadhyaya is a Sanskrit word and is translated as study, reciting aloud, or repeating or rehearsing to one self. It literally means study of the Self.

On the yogic path, which "I" define as a way of life, many tools are needed and we carry all of them. Swadhyaya is a tool in which language and sound becomes an important link to help release that joy we have inherently. It is from my experience of studying spiritual texts that I was introduced to accessing some of my inner joy. I remember one of the evening chants that I attended at the ashram. See the post on Yama and Discipline. I remember looking at a very long string of Sanskrit words for the Shiva Mahimnam Stotram. I was amazed that words could be so long and how was I going to pronounce them? As I attended more recitations of the chant, it began to give me an experience of joy. I could not explain the feeling. Just simply saying a more than mouthful of Sanskrit phrases could bring so much joy. It's like a revelation of "The kingdom of heaven is within".

Just looking at the words on the page could not reveal the depth of beginning to know my "Self" through this venue would reveal. Swadhyaya is a great tool of yoga to discover. There is so much more to say on this topic, however, I will pause here.

Until next time, stay tuned.

Taking Pictures

In the times we live in, everything is documented with pictures. Our phones have cameras, we look at moving pictures, paintings, artwork etc. The media bombards with pictures of people and places whether by television, movies or the Internet. "Celebrities" can't seem to go in public without being harassed by the paparazzi.

I, myself, love to take pictures. In fact I just had a dialogue with someone about it. It got me to think about what the pictures represented. I was looking at some pictures that were taken more than 20+ years ago of myself and family members. I realized that a picture freezes the moment in 'time'. It is amazing to see how the body was at the time - younger.

It is not surprising that we get 'stuck' in how we think. Our mind is filled with endless images. It's no wonder that we have a challenging time to keep the mind quiet or have a clear perspective on things. Then on the other hand, pictures can help us to study events, appreciate nature, can be very soothing to the eye of the soul.

What we have to remember is that "I" that is looking at these pictures, like the body changing, is unchanging. "We are not the body" and this is where yoga comes in as a handy tool to help us navigate through life. Through the discipline of practicing meditation, we can use discrimination as to what we look at and bring into our consciousness. Practicing asanas consciously can help us to move the body and mind from moment to moment. Studying the texts like Patanjali's Yoga Sutras helps us not to be "stuck" in the maze of images that bombard us. The practice can give a clearer, deeper picture of who we really are.

Distractions and Dharana

There are so many distractions today in our lives. Cell phones, ipods, the television, the internet, loud sounds from the airplanes, buses and trains. Especially living in the city. If you happen to live in the surburbs and the country, it might be a little quieter outside, but there still all the gadgets we have to keep us distracted. Distractions can be defined as inattentiveness, misdirection, confusedness.

Many people are stressed out due to the many distractions on a daily basis. This is why we do not experience constantly being present or at peace with ourselves. It becomes too much when there is no mindfulness. So this is where a tool comes into play here. In order to survive the many distractions we need dharana. Dharana is a sanskrit word, which basically means concentration or focus in one direction. Dharana is the sixth limb of yoga as defined in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali I will delve into this work periodically in future posts.

So getting back to the tools we have, concentration on specific tasks and or object can help us with the many distractions in our modern life. And the best way to deal with distractions is to begin to practice meditation or dhyana. Dhyana is an essential part of practicing asanas (yogic postures). Dhyana is essential to every day life.

To be continued...

Tools that Keep Us Centered

Yesterday I spoke about chanting as a tool that keeps me centered. One of the definitions for the word tool is a thing made to help people do work. Another definition is a device that is used to facilitate or perform manual or mechanical work. The latter definition is more suited for this post on tools.
I find I (we) need a tool to stay centered. That centering I call an anchor - a source of security or stability- in life. If there is no anchor one just drifts. We are like ships on the sea and if there is no course of action, no plan, we just wonder here and there with no real purpose or destination. Just like one needs the sun, or light to see, one must have a plan, a goal or one will go nowhere.

Just as there are many tools that one can carry on a tool belt or a tool box, there are many tools that we possess inside of us. For me practicing yoga helps one to access those tools that we don't easily know about as our attention is always directed outside ourselves on material objects. In that myriad of objects bombarding us, we need to access those inner tools to anchor and guide us.

Stay tuned. You can go to http://www.bometernally.com/ and read up on yoga