enlightenment – Page 2 – Spiritkeep Positive Yoga

Managing Strong Emotions

Managing our stream of strong emotions is like having charge of maintaining and channeling a powerful river.

If we fail to look after the river by clearing away debris and removing obstacles to the natural flow of water, then over time there will be log jams, overflow of the riverbanks, and uncontrollable flooding that destroys or hurts the surrounding environment.

Like the river, if we fail to manage our daily flow of emotions, if we allow them to accumulate by repressing or denying their troubling nature, if we distract ourselves from painful emotions with television, video games, drugs or alcohol, then eventually the buildup threatens to overflow our boundaries or banks.

Like the neglected river, our emotions then overflow, breaking the banks and log jams we have allowed to accumulate through neglect or denial, causing suffering to others, and compounding our own frustration, fear and anger. Like being the diligent custodian of a river, Meditation has proven to help manage the flow of our emotions and it does this in a two-stage aspect.

We have learned that meditation involves primarily pausing the mindlessness of our distracting lifestyle for a period. Because this aspect is what most people have difficulty achieving, yoga and mediation teachers have strived for ways to impart a method to their students to achieve this. Controlled breathing is often cited as a prelude to this state of mindfulness, so I offer my own samples to method on this Link.

The second aspect of mediation involves looking deeply while in the state of mindfulness. This state brings with it enough energy to discover the true nature and origin of the thoughts, emotions and feelings that we experience during mindlessness. By discovering the truth, we are able to direct those troubling thoughts and feelings toward love, compassion and understanding of ourselves and others.

The trouble with emotions and feelings is, some of them are so powerful we think we can’t survive them, so we deny (or repress) them until they explode, causing hurt and suffering to ourselves and others.

Simplified, emotions come, stay for a while, and then leave. Prolonging the “stay” interval through resentments and obsessing, or through distraction or denial, causes a logjam of needless suffering that will eventually overflow unmanageably, but if we practice looking deeply while mindful, we can uproot the sources of painful emotions.

If we know how to breathe our way to mindfulness for periods of 20 minutes or so, then the chaos will roll away, leaving us with awareness that we can survive the storm.

If we practice emotional maintenance, we can experience surviving strong emotions and we can rest assured that the next time they come, we can survive them again.

Experimenters with the Human Condition

Each of us has everything it takes to be full human being. Think of the progression to full humanity like the seeds of an apple tree.

Every apple seed holds the promise of growth to a new apple tree, and each seed contains all of the genetically inherited experience of previous generations of ancestoral apple trees.

Yet also within the seed is a spirit of what we cannot see, let’s call it a wisdom, an intelligence, that knows how to become a fully functional apple tree, with a trunk and branches and blossoms and apples with seeds.

The invisible wisdom is there to start the seed growing, only when conditions are exactly correct. This invisible wisdom also guides the steps from germination to flowering apple tree, as well as applying the inheritance of previous generations as the tree grows, flowers and produces new apples with seeds.

Like the apple seed, you posses everything required to become fully human, but what do you do with, or do you even acknowledge the invisible spirit of wisdom? Do we have to wait aimlessly until conditions are exactly correct for the seed of full humanity to sprout?

Meditation can open a channel of discovery into what it is to be fully human, by clarifying the concept of spiritual wisdom. This first allows us awareness of invisible wisdom. With awareness and determination we can then cultivate favourable conditions for the seed of full humanity to sprout and function as its maker intended.

Too often we dis-function in the human condition, appearing like amateurs freely provided with all the tools, building materials and maintenance equipment for a full construct of humanity.

But we sometimes fail to build the set as given by the invisible wisdom, having discarded the free instruction manual it also provides. We flail around as if lost in a swamp, when meditation can help recover the instruction sheet of what we need for full humanity.

Mindfull Body

We can take a simple step toward better physical and mental health if we are mindful of the effects that our daily living is having on our bodies and minds.

Consider spending a few non-judgmental every day not to worry about your body, or push it harder at the gym, but simply to be in it.

Find a comfortable position, so you feel supported and relaxed.

Close your eyes, or if open, attain a soft, unfocused gaze.

Rest for some moments, becoming mindful of the natural rhythm of your breathing.

When body and mind settle, become aware of the entire body. Be aware of your body resting, being supported by the chair, mat, or the floor.

Now, begin to focus attention on a particular area of the body, or proceed in sequence: toes, feet, calves and thighs- pelvis, abdomen- lower back, upper back- chest, shoulders- arms and hands- neck, face, and scalp.

Spend several minutes focussed on each body section, as you notice the various sensations the body transmits.

The moment you notice your mind has wandered, return your attention to the last part of the body you remember.

The body scan practice helps you to anchor where you are in the here and now.

It can also help you become more attentive to bodily signals from stress, fear and anxiety. Noticing this, you can take steps to relieve the tension before it presents as a mental or physical problem.

Mental Massage Therapy

As our bodies require a good circulation of body fluids to eliminate toxins, our conscious minds can benefit from a type of psychic circulation that comes from mindfulness and meditation.

We instinctively rub or massage a painful spot on our body to stimulate circulation and remove the toxins that are causing the pain. When we touch the spot it hurts; this is the same as touching a knot of stored consciousness in the mind. When we see, read, speak or think of a past hurt, it comes up into the conscious mind where we react to it again.

Practicing mindfulness and meditation is like practicing massage to a knot in a muscle of the body; similarly, mindfulness works on our stored consciousness of experiences.

Without the treatment of mindfulness, a mental knot can crystallize into a lump that is toxic to our mind consciousness. Practicing mindfulness allows us to detect and transform the toxin and over time to eliminate it.

Embracing the knots of anger, sadness and regret in our stored consciousness is like practicing massage to a sore body. Mindfulness can create the type of energy that allows psychic pain to dissolve and be flushed out.

The Ties that Bind Us

Everyone has internal stores of pain, anger and frustration caused by our judgments toward others who have been unkind or insulting to us. Taking these slights personally causes internal formations that are like ropes that bind us and obstruct our freedom.

If we don’t know how to cut these internal ropes and transform them, a knot will form that tightens every time that we meet someone who is unkind or insulting. Over time, the knot begins to crystallize into a hard lump of irritation. We might try drugs, alcohol or mental diversions to relieve the pain of these irritations. This complicates the issue, causing ropes and knots of addiction.

But through mindfulness, we can find these knots, and through meditation we can experience transformation by untying them.

Be aware that formations caused by pleasure can cause suffering and lost freedom.

The pleasure of falling in love is a huge internal formation. When falling in love we are not free – we can all think only of our beloved – we cannot study, we cannot work, we think only of the object of our love. When falling in love becomes an internal knot we become unstable.

When we taste, hear, or see something pleasant, then that pleasure can become a strong internal knot. When the object of pleasure disappears, we miss it, we search for it, expending much time and energy to re-experience it.

If we consume alcohol, go to the casino, view pornography or violence, and begin to like it, the liking starts an internal formation in the body, in the mind, due to the sensations caused. We begin to look for more of the substance or act, and become very anxious when we see it running out or it is gone. We are not even finished with the first one, and already we are thinking of ways to get more. The knot crystallizes.

Pleasant or unpleasant, internal formations remove our liberty.

The first step in untying the knots is admitting we have them.

Prayer and Meditation can help us accept how they were caused.

Mindfulness can prevent new knots from forming.

Elusive Mindfulness

We forget that people are so naturally creative and observant that they can perceive the truth and create new truths within their own experience, if they are willing to observe it. Creating a blank canvas or framework for the truth, and having some faith in the process, is all that is required, but that is a tall order for most of us.

Mindfulness can elude us because we have been conditioned that enlightenment is a commodity that others hold, that mindfulness is earned or worked for, or we pay others to dispense it as therapy at a tropical retreat, or as room service, in appealing flavours.

Seeking mindfulness can imply work in a temple or with a guru, of turning every stone, using mental cunning, devising trickery, creating illusions or visions, impersonating something or someone else, as if we can attract the spirit though self deprivation, suffering or hard toil.

We are conditioned to believe that “working hard” and “sacrificing” is what yields concrete results and benefits in material terms. No Pain, No Gain, has become the modern catchphrase.

But the elements of mindfulness are not a state achieved by a trick or technique; mindfulness is a way of being, especially away from the guru, at home after the retreat and in the world outside of the temple.

With this concept, we can be people of faith in learning to use mindfulness to create a psychic clearing, or a blank canvas, on which the divine can bring action toward truth. Seeking, we will find, but it is our own responsibility to be observant and seize the opportunity of happiness.

We know that universally, Nature abhors a vacuum. Creating a blank canvas for mindfulness to appear creates a sort of vacuum, wherein Nature works to fill the empty space with possibility for transformation and healing. It is up to us recognize and nurture possibility into ability, which leads to growth.

By setting an anchor or still point within each practice, we create a reference or pause, from which we can gain energy for the next steps of the journey.

Letting Go of Results

In Europe and North America we are results driven people, this proven by the paradox that we likely come to meditation and mindfulness practice because of pain, anger, depression or fear, with avoidance of these symptoms as the goal.

The “goal” paradox is, that the benefits of meditation/mindfulness appear when we deliberately unfocus on fixing problems. When a student says they are interested in being more relaxed, enlightened or pain-free, what they really say is, “Right now, I am not okay, I can’t accept where I am at”.

But with practice, we discover that eliminating the drive for results can yield something like what we want; better awareness of our natural psychic balance, despite the unbalance. Acceptance becomes a key that unlocks the door to enlightenment.

If we are teaching meditation and mindfulness it is essential to embody this concept of natural innate balance in the face of students who come to us results driven, wanting to get somewhere, anywhere, other than where they are at right now.

But befriending ourselves right now is prelude to an enlightenment that germinates naturally, without force, flourishing under the right conditions that meditation and mindfulness create.

The teacher’s own practice and talk should embrace the knowledge and confidence that a willingness to accept all student’s innate ability for mindfulness creates a global climate that conducts growth and inhibits scepticism, doubt or inhibition.

Chants, Rants and Trance

There’s no doubt that concentrating on rhythmically repetitive sounds and motion from a group in unison can induce a trance like state, often quickly and to nearly everyone. But are these extra sensory experiences enlightenment, entertainment or self-illusions?

Contrast chanting with a silent, motionless meditator, who, rather than loudly chasing after and trying to induce bliss, is breathing to a pattern, waiting for the right conditions where bliss develops spontaneously. To a North American or European observer, the ease of this meditation is deceptively difficult, the results neither quick nor observable. It’s difficult to brag about this type of meditation.

If you are focused primarily on provable results that can be seen, discussed at a party, boasted and documented on video, then chants are the way. A visit to a public Buddhist centre might loudly confirm this suspicion. But what do the monks do when no visitors are watching?

Fixing attention on the meditative breath develops awareness of the present moment, or “Right Concentration“, coupled with a parallel depth of understanding. This, instead of trying through volume and repetition to force conditions causing a lost track of time, space or consciousness.

Through breathing mediation we can learn to stay in reality, not seek hallucinations or illusion. By awareness of this moment, this time in reality, we can take guidance from the past and provide for the future. But it’s less impressive than chanting!

Morality in 2014

It is appropriate on the first day of 2014 that we examine “morality” as the first step to creating the conditions fo r enlightenment to appear. Ponder this: Instead of perusing enlightenment, if we create the right atmosphere, it will appear unaided.

Morality has three subsets; right speech, right action and right livelihood, but lets consider the big picture of morality first.

Practicing morality is abstaining from all thoughts, actions, words and deeds, that harm other people. This benefits society overall, but we also abstain because they harm ourselves and prevent the right conditions for enlightenment to appear.

Attempting enlightenment without good morality is counterproductive because self performed unwholesome action – insulting, killing, stealing – generates great agitation, especially in the mind and body of the perpetrator.

This agitation prevents introspection because, like it’s impossible to see into the depths of the pool of water when it is turbulent, so our mind must be calm and clear to see our inner and outer truths.

Abstaining from all unwholesome actions of thought, action or speech, gives the mind the conditions needed to become peaceful enough for introspection. Meditation can accelerate the process.

There is still another reason why morality is essential: the performer of morality is working toward the ultimate goal of liberation from all suffering.

While performing good morality, we can’t be involved in actions that will reinforce the very mental habits he seeks to eradicate. Any action that harms others is necessarily caused by and conjoined with craving, aversion, and ignorance.

Morality is necessary not only for the good of society but for the good of each of its members, and not only for the worldly good of a person but also to creating a clearing that enlightenment can appear in.

Morality contains right speech, right action, and right livelihood, all topics deserving a new post.

Peace an abundance to all in 2014.