yogaNexus - Karl Erb » Practice

Why Meditate? Part 1: Top 3 Reasons

Karl — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:31:14 +0000

New FREE Meditation practice
Sundays, 8:20 am – 8:50am
just before 9:00 am yoga class
Yoga Tree Valencia
San Francisco

Meditation may seem like an elusive or esoteric practice, or some woo woo mumbo jumbo that other people do, but “not really for me.” So “Why meditate?” is a reasonable question. Here I offer a few reasons and benefits for humans of all tribes, regardless of experience, denomination and so on. For recent scientific research on meditation see the video segments from ABC News on recent studies on meditation, the link is at the end of this article. Your thoughts? Comments? Questions? Feel free to comment, or share your experience and questions from the practice if you have been coming.

Meditation can:
- Relieve health effects of stress,
- Neutralize emotional suffering,
- Internalize a healthier, whole, self-image and self-esteem.

1. On Stress and Health:
Emotion is the body’s response to thought. Emotions trigger various chemical and physiological reactions, some pleasant and healthy, some unpleasant and harmful to our physiology. By investigating the thoughts, by purifying the mind and becoming more conscious and intentional about our thought-life, we stabilize physiological responses to our perceived unease in daily life. Ill health effects of stress are neutralized.

2. On Suffering:
Pain, aging, illness and and disruptive external factors (people, expectations, situations) are a fact of life; while our suffering is our thought about pain and external forces, or objects of our perception.

Pain is a fact; suffering is our attitude towards pain. Suffering is in fact a choice.

In meditation we learn to observe the thoughts that keep us stuck in unhealthy patterns and false conclusions about physical pain and external factors, people, and situations. Thus the impact of pain and external forces on our intrinsically whole and adequate nature is neutralized.

3. On Identity and Contentment:
We move through each day with varied sense of self-esteem and contentment; we often experience un-ease in our sense of self or in relation to others. We often find our self lacking in some way, whether due to our own understanding of who we are, or influenced by the opinions, judgements and perceptions of others. Ultimately meditation, in the yogic tradition, offers an understanding of our very essence that allows our contented, whole nature to surface by observing and peeling back the layers, roles, stories that we falsely take to be “I”.

These false conclusions cloud our understanding of our own nature: an intrinsically whole, adequate, conscious being – free of lack, free of want, intrinsically secure unassailable contentment. Come home to “I.”

Your thoughts? Comments? Questions? Feel free to comment, or share your experience and questions from the practice if you have been coming.

SEE a collection of videos in an ABC News story on new research on certain effects of meditation
Notice how the article and video address chemical and behavioral effects, but not so much cognitive effects. The sense of self still remains in mind/body/senses and the ego throughout the interpretation of these studies. We’ll ignore the silliness in calling it the “new” science of meditation.

Yoga & Healing: An ongoing discussion

Karl — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 23:17:21 +0000

Karl Erb at Arsha Vidya Gurukulam, 11/11

We held an event Sunday Dec 4th to reconnect, celebrate life and gather as a community of like minds seeking to learn about ourselves and this life through yoga. See below for comments and discussion, feel free to share your thoughts. If you went please comment here on your experience and insights, if not, feel free to contribute to the discussion.

As this body went through cancer this past year and a half I have had many rich exchanges with fellow yoga teachers, yoga students, wellness practitioners, and several times we have thought it would be nice to have those discussions in a larger group, rather than a random encounter on the street as I took walks when between treatments, or on the phone, or the amazing emails I received.

I became very aware of community as an entity in itself, and how when one of us is tugged, all feel the tug. So getting together to meditate, chat and sing with each other just seems right.

I resumed teaching this past week, and re-entry into life and community is a fresh fullness. In the yoga classes I cannot really answer questions people have about the experience, the nature of the illness and treatments, how yoga, nutrition and meditation are part of integrated healing, and how yoga influenced me through the experience. I find I really only can speak of the whole thing in response to questions, and words find ideas that surface in response to specific comments, insights or questions. Likewise, it’d be great for folks to hear each other’s insights.

My time at Arsha Vidya Gurukulam studying Vedanta and practicing meditation for 4 weeks after treatments has also deeply colored my healing and rebuilding and thoughts on resuming daily life. So getting together is a time to explore those questions, as well as hear from others who have shared their experiences with me along this wild road. Many times I hear someone share their experience with healing, cancer, pregnancy and how yoga is a part of their process, and I wish you could all hear each other . And a partial motivation is also a personal thank you to all whose kindness helped get me through this. The learnings of the experience are an offering.

So that is the intention for the gathering, a discussion, Q&A, a group dialog, less than a formed presentation on Yoga and living with cancer, or healing through cancer.

Why Meditate? Part 2 … thoughts on intention and effects.

Karl — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 22:10:39 +0000

New FREE Meditation practice
Sundays, 8:20 am – 8:50am, Yoga Tree Valencia
San Francisco

Yoga is first and foremost a practice, a means, of purifying the heart/mind. The yoga sastra, or source texts, the Yoga Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita, tell us this. Asana, or the posture practice is but a small part of the many practices to focus the mind. So when I say Yoga, I am not referring to the practice of postures, which is more accurately called asana. Then follows the question, purification of mind towards what end? With the mind purified, the Yoga Sutras tell us “The self abides in its own true nature.” (I:3) Ok, so what is that intrinsic nature, that essence? How is it different from what I see, from who I take myself to be? Why is understanding that essential nature a desirable end? Yoga sastra go on to answer these questions. Meditation prepares the heart/mind for that dialogue.

Yoga is first and foremost a practice, a means, of purifying the heart/mind.

The ultimate end is to inquire into, and understand, the essence of our very being, and thus the essence of Nature or Creation itself. The yoga sastra conclude that all human suffering stems from an initial erroneous conclusion about the essence of our being; namely that we are limited in space and time, are born and will die; that we are defined by the limitations of our form, the mind, body and senses, that ego equals ‘I am.’ Thus much of life is spent seeking to acquire what we conclude we do not have, and to retain what we conclude we have. Our thought-life and actions are consumed, defined and limited by these conclusions and pursuits, these likes and dislikes. Noting that suffering is undesirable to humans, the yoga sastra and Upanisads offer a solution to negate suffering: knowing who you are. The sastra reveal that our perceptions and conclusions regarding identity are not accurate; and then offer practices to understand our essential nature, thus resolving all causes of internal conflict, suffering, fear, isolation, unease, insecurity and so on. That is the end, the top of the ladder. Pretty radical proposition, no? So how can this help me today? What does this have to do with meditation?

Meditating upon the meditator
We need to explore the first steps of the ladder; we cannot start at the top, thereby skipping the first rungs. Start far, we will go nowhere; start near we will go far. Knowledge of oneself does not take time, nor occur in time, the preparation does. Moksha, or liberation from confusion, suffering and misunderstanding of one’s nature, is a cognitive process and has a means, and preparation.

These first rungs of the ladder towards understanding our true nature are:

sravana, study of the teachings, the texts, with teachers,
manana, assimilation of teachings through action, and
nididhyasana, a form of meditation on the self where a cognitive shift occurs through practice of self observation and contemplation upon the teachings.

Nididhyasana is a practice of training the mind to perceive itself and its patterns, thereby revealing an intrinsic, constant sense of self, our indispensable nature, our essence, beyond fluctuations of circumstance, body or mood, beyond likes and dislikes, ups and downs, fears and joys. For this reason, the Yoga Sutras assert that meditation, dhyana, is one of the eight pillars of practice defining yoga, the astanga of yoga. In addition, meditation not only clears the mind, the practice affects our physiology, stress responses, and overall physical health as well, even to a genetic level, recent studies show. Those are the side effects.

A pure heart/mind, antah karana suddhi, is necessary to understand and assimilate the teachings of the sastra into daily life. The knowledge of essential nature, or jnana, resolves the misunderstanding, uncovering the heart; and bhakti, devotion, unclutters the heart, freeing the mind for understanding. The two are not separate and never far from each other. Through meditation, accurate perception is cultivated, old patterns drop, our essence is uncovered; practices such as vairagya, or ‘dispassion’ are demystified, understood and assimilated. Nididhyasana is that cognitive assimilation, which disproves our false conclusions about our nature, dropping old stories that no longer serve us. It is similar in practice, yet not synonymous, with what western psychology calls ‘auto-suggestion.’

Assimilating Knowledge of one’s self
If we are simply told, “Fear not, there is nothing lost in death, no cause for grieving, you were never born and will never die,” our responses range from disbelief, doubt, spiritual romanticism, and the latent desire to want to believe this to be true, but concluding it cannot be so. “Sounds nice, but c’mon… ” And yet Arjuna is told exactly that at the beginning of the Bhagavad Gita. Krsna asserts that Arjuna’s essence is Wholeness itself, satcitananda: persistent existence, conscious, aware and limitless. Simply saying so does not bring understanding. The whole dialog between Arjuna and Krsna is the challenging and unfolding of this conclusion. The conclusion has little to do with belief, more to do with understanding. The conclusion cannot be stated, it has to be unfolded through dialog, and assimilated. That you are liberated is to be known; the belief in, or mis-identification with, being limited refuted. Thus abiding in your true nature simply is – in the rich, complete, adequate glory of ‘I am.’ In addition to inquiry and dialog, a clear heart/mind is necessary for assimilating the understanding. Meditation is part of that preparation. In silence is knowledge, in silence is love.

Your thoughts? Comments? questions? Is this relevant and accessible?
Any feedback on the Sunday morning meditation if you have attended?

We will explore this practice of nididhyasana, as well as japa, or mantra meditation, imbued
week to week with the key teachings from the yoga sastra in the new Sunday morning
meditation practice at 8:30am in the Valencia studio, then bring the experience into the 9:00
am asana class.

Stand like a Mountain ~ Tadasana

Karl — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 15:23:21 +0000

Tadasana has never been so empowering, so moving – and so elusive – in 27 years of yoga. Not quite a week out from a 5 day chemotherapy treatment, within a year of 4 rounds of 5 day treatments, and facing even more depleting and toxic treatments coming up – I feel wobbly, though not quite so nauseous as the previous day.

Out on a short walk, feet and legs awkward from neuropathy, nerve damage that makes feet numbish, I start feeling myself pulled down as though to fall and I pause, nothing in reach to grab on to. I feel like a tangled Pinocchio strings slack, limbs all akimbo and quaking. I watch the falling as though from within; and then the body starts to adjust, my ankles lift a bit, feet pacing themselves parallelish, knees trying to find uprightness… and the inner thighs fall back, the hip recovering its tilt as in slow motion and I feel my back shift to hold me up. I’m still tilted forward at the hip, short of breath, heart racing, light vertigo affecting my vision, chest collapsed. (pic: BKS Iyengar in Tadasana from Light on Yoga)

As the pelvis settles, back muscles release and I start to breath a bit lower and less bound. I feel my back muscles and skin and glutes drop towards the earth as my torso starts to right itself.

The years of practice in tadasana have the body adjusting on its own, before my conscious mind had a chance to try to stop falling, the memory in the body kicked in and righted me. Tadasana. Find Tadasana.

I am close to standing though it seems my environs are still moving. At this point I become aware of what an effort this slow task of standing has been and all I am facing and faced last year rushes in as though hit in the chest before finding my footing, and will flickers as though snuffed, the breath catches wondering how I will face treatments yet to come as the body oscillates, lumbering off balance with the realization.

The Courage Points
From within the ribs start to expand, breastbone rising as though the puppeteer just woke up. The shoulder blades kick in and I start to feel held up by my back, by my shoulder blades. Ramanand Patel used to talk about a hand behind the breastbone lifting from within – an unconditional love hand, sometimes he would say the hand of Krsna, or simply unconditional love. The sense of lifting from within was what struck me as my side ribs started to lift from back to front, legs slowly finding less wobble, the weight almost settling at the front of my heel bones as the points beneath my outer collar bones start to fill up: the wheel of the armpit chest starts to lift and expand in circumference, shoulder blades meeting the force of the humerus bone pushing back to hold me up and further expand the ribs. Long ago I discovered courage lives in those two points just beneath the outer collar bones. The place we droop when fatigued, sitting unconsciously, or demoralized or lost in what Ramanand would call ‘PMS2′ or Poor Me Syndrome… Unknowingly, I did the mental work last year to learn that is a plateau upon which not to linger…

I stand and lift up the chest; the words of Martin Luther King coming to mind that I use in class when teaching Tadasana sometimes: “No one can ride you if your back ain’t bent!” It has become a sort of blues refrain I have been toying with… Stand Tall, No one can ride you if your back ain’t bent…. Stand Tall… I feel a welling from within as though tears at the challenge and pain or joy and I stand and close my eyes and feel the sun on my face, standing to face what comes. Tadasana, stand like a mountain.

Beyond Belief: Yoga & Vedanta are for Understanding

Karl — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 17:23:00 +0000

It really struck me one year at Swami Dayananda Saraswati’s place when he said “Vedanta is not a matter of blind faith or unverifiable belief, but a matter of understanding.” It hit me then why his teachings sat so well with me. The primary message is listen, inquire, question, discuss and if you disagree speak up and explore or decide it is not for you. Never a matter of ‘take my word for it’ or ‘I believe this is the way it is.’ Devotion or Bhakti too comes from understanding, or Jnana, there is no separation.

[The image is of Shankara, a teacher who developed the lineage and method and approach to Vedanta that has inspired many and been carried through the ages in ashrams and people like Swami Dayananda Saraswati. I will include more of Shankara's teachings over time.]

So much of how we create ‘other,’ or a sense of ‘other’ is through our preferences, likes, dislikes and beliefs. We see separation, separateness when we perceive a belief that is different than our own, often without really verifying nor seeking to understand the difference. Underlying most differences are shared values, perhaps articulated differently. The human mind has a tendency to cling to a story, often in spite of evidence or logical arguments to the contrary.

Daniel Kahneman has been working on applying psychology to behavior and economic decisions, behavioral economics. Through various studies they came to what they call the “Illusion of Validity”.

It’s a problem that afflicts us all, says Kahneman, who won the 2002 Nobel Prize in economics for his work on this subject. From stockbrokers to baseball scouts, people have a huge amount of confidence in their own judgment, even in the face of evidence that their judgment is wrong.

But that mistake is just one of many cognitive errors identified by Kahneman and his frequent collaborator, psychologist Amos Tversky. For more than a decade, the two worked together cataloging the ways the human mind systematically misjudges the world around it.

[In the studies] Kahneman was surprised by the pure visceral power of his own certainty. He eventually coined a phrase for it: “illusion of validity.” ~ Using Psychology to Save Yourself (NPR Story).

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali start with the same premise:
Sutra I.2 “Yogah citta vritti nirodha”

In How Yoga Works there is a beautiful twist on the Yoga Sutra I.2:

Yogah citta vrtti nirodha –
Common translation:
Yoga is the stilling, or quieting, of movements, or fluctuations, of the mind.

How Yoga Works:
Yoga is learning to stop
How the mind
Turns things around.”
~ Yoga Sutra I.2, How Yoga Works, page 109
See blog book review on How Yoga Works

So we do with each other, our own perceptions about ourselves and our perception of the very world and creation of which we are a part. So we do with notions of God and sin and those who believe differently, thereby perpetuating erroneous sense of other through belief – not observation and deduction. So we do with perceptions of Earth, Nature and ideas of whether She is alive or not, and we can and cannot control or manipulate.

Vedanta is taught in a method to clear the fog of belief and unfold understanding through questioning, inquiry, dialog and daily retraining of the mind. Many modern methods, like Marshal Rosenberg’s Non-Violent Communication books or “Compassionate Communication” are based on similar principles and reveal daily practices to catch mechanical illusory thinking and shift towards conscious perception, subject to proof and disproof.

Knowledge, or Jnana, and truth or Satya is that which is no longer subject to correction nor can it be disproved. Since the core problem is perception, is cognitive, solving through action or doing will not work. Correction must come through cognitive solutions, or knowing.

Beyond Belief: A Matter of Knowing
In teaching Swami Dayananda Saraswati asks: “If I ask you if I have a grandfather, you say yes. Is it a matter of belief?” We accept as a material fact that for a human to exist there had to be a grandfather, it is not a matter of belief, of faith. If I show you a watch, is it a matter of belief that there is or was a watchmaker? We accept there has to be a maker.

So it is with the world and universe, whether we attribute the making to the Big Bang or Divinity, we must recognize a source. Vedanta then goes through many well developed explorations in the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita revealing how that maker must in essence be Awareness, or Consciousness, called Brahman, to imply its limitless aspect, beyond name and form or time and space. To go further we would have to anchor our conversation in the verses, the teachings, the method, the practices and the etymology and meaning of words like Brahman and Isvara and Purnam, or fullness, or the Whole. And so we come to understanding, beyond belief. We must shed much of what we unknowingly cling to, we must question, not believe.

If we seek to understand, we would never feel threatened by the beliefs of another, nor would we seek to convince someone of an unverifiable belief. The need to convert or kill heathens dissolves, replaced by empathy and interdependence. Other disappears when we understand Wholeness. The NPR story mentioned above takes the Illusion of Validity into policy and programs, daily life.

I do 6 week courses on the Gita to explore these principles and teachings and bring them down to earth inout our daily choices, relationships, actions. Yoga is Whole Person Wellness Coaching, we will explore this further. We can do online discussions in the forum here, or telephone or webinar based teachings. Let me know if you have an interest, or disagree, do feel free to comment.

Top 5 Tips to Jumpstart your Home Practice

Karl — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 16:44:59 +0000

We all want to, but it just doesn’t seem to get off the ground, or out of the bed. An essential pillar in yoga is congruence in heart and mind, thought and action. There is what Swami Dayananda Saraswati calls the ‘knower-doer split.’ I know I want a home yoga practice, I know it is good for me, I know I like it when done… the doer says “Mañana. Tomorrow.” Internal conflict is a seed that grows, as is establishing new patterns.

A home practice is a challenging pattern to put in place and support. Here I offer some brief tips to help catalyze and support. Of course the tips start from the place there is an assumption of a desire to practice in the first place. Whatever your stripe or tribe of yoga, Anusara, Iyengar, Flow, Glow, Cowabunga, whether seeking to practice meditation, pranayama or the postures… to feed that passion is a glorious thing.

1. There is only today, not tomorrow.
We come back jazzed from a retreat or class or workshop and think, ‘wow, I gotta do those series more often!… I’ll start next week.’ Or when I clear a new space, or get a new mat, or finish this thing at work. This week is just too full. There is only today; am I practicing, yes or no? Granted once a routine is in place, if erratically then helping make the next morning’s practice is a sure unhindered thing comes next.

2. Remove all obstacles; lose interest in your excuses.
Obstacles internal and external are irrelevant and an abdication of will and choice. Set up a nice space the night before. Post a list of poses, sequences, notes from class on the wall the night before, so there is no ‘hmm what should I practice today?’ Use a timer. Plan monthly cycles: first week standing poses, second week backbends, third week twists, fourth week forward bends with inversions practiced throughout. Outhink your mind before it gets to can’t.

3. Practice what is being taught as it is being taught.
For a long period I start classes a certain way to help support learning through repetition and to offer various practice starting sequences over time. I often get questions at the end of class asking what to practice at home, and usually my first response is what was just learned. So yes, it would be a good idea to start practice waking up the legs in upavista konasana with a block behind to wake up the chest, the heart and upper spine. The pose and set up alone are not enough, one must retain the action taught. Legs must be working to support upper body lifting, and not to persist of lower back is not lifting and the legs can’t hold the weight rather than the spine. We used to make notes after class immediately, while fresh, before changing or right outside, quick sketches and notes for actions and props to spark the memory later. Tomorrow.

4. Weave yoga practice into existing routines.
In dialog with students once about practice one person said “It’s so much easier for me to get up for a walk than it is to practice yoga.” So get up 15 minutes earlier, or trim your walk a bit and do some yoga when you get back in. Start nibbling a space to fit it in. If you have a pattern of something you do for yourself already you’re most of the way there. Start weaving in your practice to what you already do.

5. There is no doing it wrong.
As Master Yoda says “Do or do not. There is no try.”
Either we are doing or not doing. Either we are doing our best to be mindful in iterative refinement of action in the body each breath, each moment – or at that moment mind was elsewhere. And we notice. And come back to now, in the body and breath. The refrain of “I’m afraid of doing it wrong” or “It just isn’t like in class” is just not relevant. See Top Tip number two.

All we can do is our best, and that is always glorious.

All is Given Pt. 2: Cultivating attitude of graceful acceptance – karma yoga is bhakti

Karl — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 22:11:04 +0000

Here I offer the principles and verses from the Bhagavad Gita that inform the principles in All is Given Pt1 and delve into the essence of Karma Yoga, which includes Bhakti, or devotion. There is no separate Bhakti yoga in essence. Again, I draw largely from Swami Dayananda Saraswati’s teachings.

In essence Karma Yoga has two aspects:
1. Seeing that each action is an offering, as action itself is given to us, and is not our own.This is called Isvararpana Buddhi, Attitude (buddhi: cognition) of offering to the Source of our gifts – Divinity, Laws of Nature, Beingness, Wholeness. Isvara means ‘that which sustains all and is self-sustaining.’

2. Seeing that results or fruits of our actions are blessings given to us to savor and learn from. This is called Prasada Buddhi

Seeing that I create no action without that which is given to me, my actions are but a giving back, an offering or yajna, I am the medium. When I fail to see this, I take actions to be mine, of the ego or mind-body-senses, and the mind turns things around leading to much misunderstanding and discontent.

Essential Verse: on Desire and The Fruits of Action (II.47)

The key verse that is much misunderstood and thus causes much confusion is verse II.47:

“You have choice over your action, but not over the results at any time.
Do not (take yourself to) be the author of results of action; neither attached to inaction.”

Said another way “Te karmani eva adhikarah, ma phalesu” means “Work alone is your privilege, never its results.” You have choice in your action, but never in the results. Results are determined by laws beyond our control, laws of Nature, which as Emerson explores is manifest in laws of Mind, or One Mind, source consciousness, Isvara, Brahman. The key word here is adhikara or ‘authorship,’ ‘authority over.’

Arjuna too is puzzled and assumes, as we saw in All is Given Pt1, that one must give up desires in order to be happy. This verse, II.47 has been misconstrued to come out like the following:

- You have a right to action, but no right to results of action.
- Do not be attached to the fruits of action.

As Swamiji points out, “Why would one act if not in desire of results?” Action presupposes desire. The key is in seeing results as given, not for us to control. We live in a world governed by laws no created by anyone here. The results of an action are inherent in the action itself.

Prasada Buddhi: Graceful Acceptance
Thus when one’s attitude towards results of action is as one has towards an object received in temple or communion or church, one receives all as a blessing and likes and dislikes are neutralized. This is one of the two key pillars of karma yoga. Of course we have rights to the fruits of our action, of course we are invested in the outcome, else we would not act. Some desires will draw us closer to Wholeness, some away. The discerning mind makes a distinction and a choice. Non-attachment to fruits of action is a non-issue, a red-herring. Swamiji points out action is creative and reaction is mechanical and unconscious. Attitude makes actions conscious.

The fruits of our actions are given to us to be savored, gifts, blessings, the fruits of the seeds we manifest with each thought as is so eloquently described in the book How Yoga Works.

Isvararpana Buddhi:Offering Action to the Source
Appreciation of laws of Nature in play before results, even before you begin action, cultivates an attitude of offering actions back, for they do not come from you in the first place. Sameness of mind regardless of out come and right choice in relation to action is yoga.

“Humans are bound by karma (actions)except those done as yajna (offering). Therefore, O Arjuna, do your duty efficiently as a service or Seva, not seeking to control results of action.” Baghavad-Gita III.9

Essence of Karma Yoga
These principles then define karma yoga. Each action understood as offering or yajna and results understood as blessings given make up the essence of karma yoga which by definition includes bhaktior devotion. There is no separate bhakti yoga.

Download Guided Meditation: All is Given
Right click to download to local drive.
All is Given Meditation (18 minutes, 2 MB)

Article on Meditation from Shambala. What do you want to do with your mind?

Karl — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 02:23:57 +0000

I found a good article on meditation by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche at Shambala Times. It goes well with the “All is Given” blog post I wrote recently.

“Meditation is not a recess or a timeout. It’s a deepening and strengthening of the mind, which affects our whole life.”

It’s a brief but rich and eloquent inspiring article.
See “Be Pragmatic in Practice” at Shambala Times.

He closes with the compelling question:

“For example, if we want to have more compassion, generosity, or flexibility, if we want to be a better listener, or to be less reactive at work, we can train those aspects of our mind. So we have to ask ourselves, What is it I want to do with my mind?”

More on meditation and guided audio coming soon. Did anyone use the guided meditation? I welcome feedback.

Download Karl’s Guided Meditation:
This is from a six week Bhagavad Gita Course I taught recently. This was the opening to the fourth session. Right click to download to local drive.
All is Given Meditation (18 minutes, 2 MB)
Karl

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All is Given Pt. 1: musings, Sutras & Gita, and free meditation mp3.

Karl — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 16:35:52 +0000

[NOTE: it's a long one, you may want to print from blog for better reading. You have to read all the way through to download the meditation in mp3 format ]

Is my body mine? Does it belong to me, in terms of rights of ownership? Am I defined by my physicality (gender, species, health, illness)? Are my actions, works and rewards, skills, thoughts, ideas, gifts mine to claim ownership, and thus credit for? From whence does sense of identity come from, “I” sense? Is a thing, a human, the thing in itself and of itself?

In “How Yoga Works” there is a beautiful twist on the Yoga Sutra I.2:

Yogah citta vrtti nirodha -
Common translation:
Yoga is the stilling, or quieting, of movements, or fluctuations, of the mind.

How Yoga Works:
Yoga is learning to stop
How the mind
Turns things around.”
~ Yoga Sutra I.2, How Yoga Works, page 109

Vritti is literally a whirling. Leaves do vrttis in the wind. There is a turning around implied and I see this in a way in this verse I never did before reading How Yoga Works. See blog entry “book: Good Story, Yoga Sutras and Great Teachings – “How Yoga Works” for book review and to order the book.

A key teaching in the Baghavad Gita, and thus Vedanta and Yoga generally, is our mistaken sense of what is what, is a thing a thing in itself? The teaching starts in How Yoga Works in how a bamboo pen is a writing utensil for the captain, and a morsel to eat for the cow, and evolves from there. In Vedanta, and the Gita, we see the teaching in how we are often trying to solve the wrong problem. We start from flawed assumptions or perceptions, and thus problem solve from a false start. If I see a rope, and think it is a snake, and walk out of the way, I am solving the wrong problem. A cognitive problem cannot be solved by action. I need to understand it is not a snake. If I see a snake and know it to be a snake, then the action of walking out of the way is a correct action for an accurately perceived problem (to simplify rich complex teachings over years).

How we see who we are, our actions, the results of our actions are all colored by similar flawed perceptions and misconceptions. How we understand our very identity, the nature of being, the nature of consciousness are all colored by similar flawed perceptions and misconceptions. How we move through the world, understand “I”, “me” and “mine” are likewise colored flawed perceptions and misconceptions. In specific here I want to address sense of ownership, and sense of “I”, “me” and “mine,” and thus often a sense of entitlement of injustice, or unfairness, of “why me?” or likewise pride and thus overlordship over others.

This gets to the heart of Karma Yoga as Krsna teaches in the Baghavad Gita, which includes devotion, or Bhakti Yoga. Karma Yoga is the understanding of who is the ‘actor’ and of action and thus of results or fruits of action. It is challenging to pull this out of context of the gradual unfolding of teachings in the Gita, which is why I teach a six week course, but I will try. I teach a six week course only because it is unlikely to get people to register for ten weeks or three months.

In the second chapter of the Gita, knowledge of oneself is unfolded, or the knowledge of sankhya and the chapter concludes with Lord Krsna saying that the “person from whom all desires have gone, who is free from attachment, gains tranquility.”* Most of us, like Arjuna, take this to mean we must give up all desires in order to be happy. * (The Teaching of the Bhagavad Gita, by Swami Dayananda Saraswati, which I use to teach the Gita course. I also draw from his 4 volume home study course and his talks I have been to).

It is a long road to unfolding the various misconceptions around who is really the actor. From whence does our ability to act come? And when I don’t get the result I wished from my actions, what at my options in response? Blame, guilt, self-pity? Do I see the source of discontent in the fruits of action in someone else? or is blame and cause relevant at all?

Later, in “All is Given… Part Two” I will identify and address the verses from the Gita relevant here… this piece is getting long for blog attention span, no? How you doing so far?

The main points I set out to make, which apparently wanted set up are these:

The very ability to act at all is given to us. Whether it is simply lifting your little finger, or mastering and instrument, or excelling at your work, or producing art, or ‘mastering’ asana.

And yet it is the “I the doer,” the ego, the personality with name and form who takes credit for successful action, and seeks to pass blame or distance oneself from undesired results of action.

Action presupposes desire, and you are very much entitled to both desire and the fruits of your actions, and no need for detachment from fruits of action as we will see in “All is Given… Part Two.”

The ability to act does not come from the “I the doer” but from the very gift of Consciousness, given to you, and the gift of breath, given to you; as are the fruits of actions given to you to enjoy, relished and savored and received as the blessings they are. You have every right to the fruits of your actions, there is no non-attachment here as we will see in Part Two. Without these first gifts, nothing is possible for the ego with name and human form in the mind/body/sense complex.”

I have been touched deeply with the sacredness of all that is given these days as I battle for health and reclaiming of my small and large intestines, my lungs and inferior vena cava that were being choked by a tumor. How I long for intestines that are free to do their work. Intestines so intelligently put together, such a glorious important function: transforming matter into energy to sustain the very gift of life. As I struggle to breathe and reclaim my lungs each breath stands out a light, a wondrous gift nurturing all other organs and thought and awareness itself. Coming back to life, each organ’s functions shines like a beacon I breath into each morning or when I wake at night.

All is Given
What is mine? Daily I give thanks for all that is given to me: Intestines, given to me. Lungs, given to me. Breath touching every cell, given to me. Blood moving energy and breath to every cell, given to me. Mind that perceives breath, given to me. Consciousness that sees mind perceiving breath, given to me. Intestines, given to me. Food to eat, given to me. Sun that nourishes food I eat, given to me. Kidneys, liver, pancreas, gall bladder, spleen – all given to me. Arms and legs, organs of action, given to me. Each of the five senses to experience the world, all given to me. Hands to work and play music, to touch and love, given to me. Voice to sing, given to me. Who then is doing the singing? The one who gives does the singing, I surrender to being sung with all that is given to me. Who is doing the asana? In truth I am not the doer, I am being done; each asana a manifestion of all that is given and a celebration of the one who gives. Therein is the art, the devotion, the prayer of gratitude in each breath in each asana.

Oh, How the mind turns things around. “Look, look at me and what I have done.” Silly old brain.
In pursuing desires, in relishing results of action, knowing I am not really the actor changes everything. We will look at this further.

Summary:
Understanding All is Given — not choosing tor believing it be so, not positive thinking — but understanding ‘what is’ reveals how and why every action is an offering; every fruit of action is a blessing given to be savored and received, what ever it may be. This is the nature of Karma and Bhakti yoga.

All is Given Meditation mp3
I have attached a link to a meditation I used in one the classes of a recent 6 week Gita course. I hesitate to separate from the unfolding of teachings over time in the course, so I have tried to give it context here. Do let me know if this is accessible and relevant or useful. Writing on these topics is new to me and challenging, hence why I teach small groups of 7-10 and use Swamiji’s book to keep discussion grounded and focused in the text. Watch for upcoming free Chitta Chats ™, free conversations on these topics either where I am staying or in Golden Gate Park or coffee shops.

Download right click to download to local drive.
All is Given Meditation (18 minutes, 2 MB)

Coming Soon
More on context of Karma Yoga in “All is Given… Part Two”, actions and results, and seeing that all is given, and nothing, not even ideas, is really mine. I will go into key verses in the Gita and Yoga Sutras carrying these teachings. Let me know what you think of How Yoga Works and how these ideas are presented.

Much love,
~Karl

Practice: Just because… appetite

Karl — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 16:13:38 +0000

” ‘For the past eighty years I have started each day in the same manner,’ wrote Pablo Casals in his memoir, Joys and Sorrows. ‘I go to the piano, and I play two preludes and fugues of Bach. It fills me with awareness of the wonder of life, with a feeling of the incredible marvel of begin a human being.’ ” ~ from Practicing – A Musician’s Return to Music by Glenn Kurtz, given to me when in the hospital. ~K.

Swami Dayananda Sarasawati told a story once of “a fellow who I would walk by in the morning, always in headstand… and when I walked back, still in headstand,” and he slaps he knee and rocks in laughter as only he does. “Now that is appetite!” He went on to elaborate on what he meant by appetite, the hunger for practice, not seeking to master “fancy yoga poses” or do something different every day, but appetite for simple repetition of what is to be done, for daily life… I wish I could remember his exact words, I feel I am not doing it justice. I remember taking away something to the effect of “cultivate appetite… daily.”

I try to remember this mornings when I feel I do not have the energy or wind for yoga practice, or mind is too restless to sit, nor the patience, nor the desire. If I can make it to sit and do the Invocation to Patanjali, these days quiet in my mind, as breath is weak, then something happens. When I used to chant it out loud, or if I try now, something even larger happens. The first sound of the morning, invoking lineage and timeless yoga teachings, touching that cord through time, through so many yoga students become teachers who have brought the practice now to me. The sound awakens silence and awakens me, snapping me into now, into practice, into appetite. The invocation breaks through sleep and doubt as the morning sun peels back the night, the sound is sound of morning like the birdsong, always greeting the day singing, each sunrise.

These days I have the need to go to bed early and am waking at or just before dawn. This was not the case when I was working, and had such a restless mind at night needing something, music, TV, eating out… to unwind at night. Likewise waking time was a little later, and yoga practice start times erratic, sometimes afternoon or evening if I had to be onsite for work early. Whatever time, the invocation serves to slice through the mind’s spinning and ground us in readiness for practice.

Practice not because it’s yummy and will feel good or you want to see pleasure. Practice not because it is always uplifting, seeking the euphoria endorphins through distracted movement, looking for that up. Practice not because it is easy, nor gentle when feeling weak. The gentle laziness is often himsa, causing harm. I will write about ahimsa,”doing no harm” in practice soon. The weak parts of body and mind need practice and will protest, “It hurts.” The not doing is causing harm, the hours at the desk is causing harm, the long commute is causing harm, the two weeks bedridden not eating letting muscles go weak and dull caused harm, now you ask of that choked body to work? Of course it hurts! Because it hurts, we stop? No. We connect to breath, to focus, to determination, to invocation, to gratitude for gift of breath, this breath. The lazy leg in a posture is causing harm, just as overdoing it, over stretching, or overworking causes harm. Kindness and healing is not indulging the laziness and calling it gentle, nor showing off how hard one can work. Health is a constant maintenance. “Use Caution and Be Bold!” as I often quote BKS Iyengar. The benefits of yoga then are revealed in many facets.

Practice not because, today, I happen to have the time and did not yesterday or will not tomorrow. Practice not because I am now in yoga class and someone is watching my cool pose. Practicing not to seek praise for practicing, or having to announce that I have. Practice just because it is what is to be done. With repetition, with appetite. With bold curiosity, and passionate inspiration surfaces if not already present.

Like chopping wood, or carrying water once was, or is for many; it is what is to be done. Just because. “But I don’t wanna.. not in the mood, too tired, it’s just not like class…” As my teacher Ramanand has said to me “Lose interest in your excuses.” See them, say them out loud and laugh. Stand in Tadasana and go through the excuses aloud, looking in the mirror and laugh at that mind! I’m serious. Do it. Don’t just laugh as you read this, and think “good idea.” Do it.

The invocation to Patanjali connects us to our teachers, their teachers and ultimately that first teacher, Brahman, Isvara, the one who sustains all and is self-sustaining. Krsna tells Arjuna “I was the first student and the first teacher. Then I taught the sun, the elements…” Connect to that thread. The earth knows to spin, the sun knows to come up, the birds know to sing… just because it is what is to be done.

Tips for home yoga practice coming soon, to break through the “I don’t wanna.. What shall I practice? etc…”

What tricks do you use to help motivate you? Do you have a certain space you keep clear? A way you start each time? do tell….share your appetite, we all learn and benefit and pull each other along. I know you are pulling me along, many thanks.
~Karl