Living in Arizona we are all acquainted with sweat on some level. But what is this response of our body’s. Is it good for us? What does it do? Sweating is our body’s natural way of cooling itself. Our body is constantly trying to maintain a general temperature that allows healthy function of cells. We can become too hot either because of the environment we are in or because of the activity we are engaged in is raising our body temperature. When this occurs we have sweat glands all over our body implanted in our skin to help us maintain a temperature that is healthy. What happens is that these glands exude tiny beads of water from our body that covers our skin. This sweat that is covering your skin begins to evaporate and this is the trick. This evaporation insulates you from outer temperatures. It creates a cooling layer around your body. The places in your body you get the hottest also have the highest concentration of sweat glands, like your forehead.

So this evaporative layer is formed around you that not only insulates you from outer temperatures but also cools you on the inside. Blood is moved to arteries closer to the skin, and as this blood passes through these arteries it is literally cooled by this evaporative layer around you. The blood acts like a heat exchange. Taking warmer blood towards the skin to be cooled and taking cooler into the body to control the temperature.

Now let’s get back to heated yoga. You are in a classroom that is 100 degrees, doing yoga. Stretching tendons and muscles. Compressing and cleaning joints while strengthening bones. Now you start to sweat. This puts a beautiful stress on the heart and arteries that convey the warm blood towards your skin as well as the veins that carry it back to your heart.

As this sweat pours, the body makes use of perspiration to help clean out toxins that may be in the skin. The heart starts to pump harder and now our breathing becomes faster to keep up with the oxygen demand of our physical body. An aerobic exercise has evolved.

Heated Yoga provides aerobic exercise. A stress that makes our tissues stronger whether we are dealing with skin, muscle, bone and heart. That is why heated yoga is perfect for someone who wants to regain their health or maintain it. Many say that yoga is not an aerobic exercise. These are people who do not practice heated yoga.

So you may want to give a heated class a try. You might be surprised how good you feel after your done. Inner Vision has many heated classes on our schedule that may work for you. Please come try one and experience these wonderful healthy effects for yourself.

Many blessings. Aaron.

photos by Norbert Rosing

Several years ago Norbert Rosing, a photographer, was traveling with a dog handler around Hudson Bay near the Arctic Circle.  Rosing was photographing a group of tethered huskies at sunset when a hungry 1200 pound male polar bear stalked onto the scene.  Now polar bears and huskies are considered to be natural enemies in the wild and this bear began moving straight toward the sled dogs with a fixed, predatory gaze.  The frantic dogs barked and pulled mightily at their chains, but one of the huskies named Hudson stood up wagging his tail.  As the polar bear lowered his head and plowed toward Hudson, the husky actually bowed into a ‘play’ stance.  The bear stood up on its hindquarters as if considering the husky’s invitation, and then something amazing happened: the two animals touched noses.  The polar bears eyes became soft, claws were retracted, muzzles were opened without bared teeth and the two animals began to play!  They jumped and bowed and rolled on the ground, baring necks and swiping the air with playful paws.  And after several minutes of this the polar bear leaves.

Now if that husky had taken an aggressive stance or if that husky had taken a cowering stance, chances are that husky may not have survived.  The polar bear could have easily killed the husky.  Either stance, aggressive or cowering, and that dog would have been history.  But because the much less-dominant husky assumed a playful position, the much stronger more dominant polar bear was also free to assume the attitude of play.

There is a lab study that had two different groups of rats.  One group was allowed to play all they wanted.  They would pin each other and squeal, they would tumble and roughhouse.  The other group of rats, every time they started to play they were interrupted, they weren’t allowed to play.  After several months of one group allowed to play and one not allowed to play, a collar permeated with the scent of a cat was placed into each of the two group’s enclosures.  All of the rats hid from the strong scent almost immediately with one key difference between the groups.  After a while the group of rats that had been allowed to play started coming our of hiding and began looking around, started exploring.  Was the cat there?  What was up?  The other group of rats that had never been allowed to play, they never came out of hiding.  They stayed hidden and did not come out.  In fact they would have died there if they weren’t made to come out.

Play is something that seems to have no external purpose.  If you ever see otters frisking or dolphins pirouetting or Japanese monkeys rolling a snowball down a hill, if you ever see dogs playing, you can tell there is nothing overt that is trying to be accomplished.  Play has no rational purpose, which can be very good because a lot of times our purposes can be confused or muddled, a little bit messed up or even contrary to what we are seeking in life.  Most animals will play, and what is interesting is the response of the husky to the polar bear.  At first glance you have such an apparent imbalance of nature.  You have a predator, not just any predator but one of the most dangerous powerful predators on earth coming towards you, and your response is ‘Let’s play!”

Such a response hints at how play can be evolutionary.  Because it takes us out of the duality of aggressor or victim, out of the duality of growling and attacking the threat or just whimpering and curling up getting ready to die.  Play is a third option, and this is what Masters use throughout history when they are challenged or people ask them questions.  They don’t respond quite the way that people think they should answer, they choose instead some third option beyond expectations, and this inspired way is play.  For example when Christ was asked if a man was blind because of his own sins or the sins of his father’s, he went beyond the equality and answered the man was blind so the works of God may be made manifest.  Answers like this comes from an awareness of absolute power and a living trust that does not take things too seriously.  The Master’s answer plays with reality, it play with the circumstances until it sees a deeper reality, a different possibility.

In developmental terms, the basis of human trust and the basis of building that trust is largely established through play and experiencing play signals as we are growing up.  So play has the potential to take us out of that paradigm of returning like for like or getting lost in that battle of opposites.  Play takes us out of the extremes of ‘either-or’, ‘all-or-nothing’.  Play allows us to perceive a situation differently beyond judgement, you’re not trying to master or control or dominate or submit, at least not with life-or-death seriousness.  If you do find yourself in such positions within play, these positions are merely roles or masks that you are trying on without identifying these qualities as yourself or using them to define who you are.  Exploring such extremes without clinging to them as yourself is evolutionary because it has the potential to change everything including animosity and conflict that seems hardwired into the very fabric of our beings.

This is what you are looking for in life.  You are looking for ways no to get caught up in the storm, ways not to be a rope that is being pulled in two directions, not to be the candle that is being burned at both ends.  In the practice of yoga this is what abhaya mudra means.  It is just a play, just a dance.  Don’t take it too seriously.  And there is no wrong way to play.  The play is the thing.  Evolution does not keep anything that is not imperative for existence on this planet.  If play has survived, if almost all animals play, then it is somehow important, it somehow has an importance beyond its insignificance and meaninglessness.

The husky is so small compared to the polar bear.  Yet the husky bares its throat in play.  And the polar bear has the husky’s throat in its jaws but its teeth are not bared and its eyes are soft.  They are playing.  When you remember that something is a play you stay out of that duality, that push-pull.  You don’t get caught up in right – wrong, day – night, black – white, victim – tyrant.  Even if you are facing odds or a foe or obstacles that seem formidable and insurmountable, you don’t get caught up, you don’t get steamrolled, you don’t get eaten alive.

Now what if we took that response of the husky, and that knowledge that the rats that didn’t learn to play when encountered with a predatory situation remained the victim and would have just died, would have stayed there hidden starving to death until they died… What if we take that understanding and instead of turning it into the outside world, which in and of itself can be incredibly powerful, and instead, what if we turned that inside?  What if you have an internal polar bear coming at you?  What if you have some crisis in your life or some difficult situation or some ailment or illness, or some circumstance coming up at you with a predatory gaze, looking right at you, about to make you lunch?  And the urge to fight or to just cower is so powerful that we may not even see the third option?

What then?

So you have this situation coming at you from within, what do you do if the polar bear is inside?  You have nowhere to run, right?  You can’t go anywhere, you are tethered, chained up.  Well you can fight it.  Sure you can fight!  But remember you only weigh a fraction of that polar bear.  That polar bear weighs TEN times as much as you.  And it is ten times bigger than you.  Fighting it is not really going to do that much, you are just going to make that thing – whatever it is – a little hungrier before it swallows you whole.  And cowering isn’t going to do anything either.  It will just make you a quicker meal.  But what if you were to bow your head and lift your rear-end and wag your tail?  What would happen then?  That choice is a game-changer.  It completely alters the orientation of everything.  It even transforms the polar bear’s orientation.  The polar bear stands up and says “What is this?!?”

Remember if you fight it you make it stronger.  It just gets more determined.  If you cower it continues on its course and you are finished.  That is why the cowering one fights, because it is hopeless if you cower.  But it is hopeless if you fight as well, they are both hopeless.  So how the heck do you play with an illness?  Or with rent that needs to be paid or with some personal or societal tragedy, how in the world are you supposed to play with something like that?

The way to know how to play with it is not going to come from your mind.  If the husky had stopped and thought, “Hmm, I’m going to be eaten, what should I do?  I know.  I’m going to pretend to play,” the husky would have perished.  Play has to be authentic.  Which means that you can’t preplan it, you can’t think it out.  In fact thinking and taking things too seriously is what brought that internal polar bear in the first place.

So what do we do with this internal polar bear?  The clue is that play does not have to have anything to do with facts.  You ever see two kids playing?  Playing war, space aliens, house or superheroes?  They don’t have to have all the props, they don’t need costumes, they don’t have to have everything perfect before they begin, they just begin.  Maybe they just have sticks or a piece of tin-foil.  Or nothing.  Just their imagination.  In fact that’s the only thing essential in play — your imagination.  Now if that husky had been locked into facts, the husky would not have been able to play.  If it truly knew the outer ‘facts’ of what was about to happen it would probably have turned its belly up and quit.  But the husky had something else.  It was able to sense something, feel something beyond the appearance of things.  And this is play as a survival mechanism.

As a human being you can consciously use your imagination, you can call it into focus.  As a human being, what you imagine with focus creates an experience, even if the experience isn’t here.  So you have some ailment or illness and you feel the symptom of it, and normally you’d be like a terrified husky pulling frantically at the chains of your current condition.  Oh my God, here comes the polar bear, I’m dead.  But instead of doing that you crouch, and you become open to play, and as the sensation of dread fades, you feel “Oh, this experience is somehow helping me!  This sensation is somehow supporting me, it is somehow furthering me on my path of healing and wholeness.”

Now the rational mind will look at such a response and say that you are nuts – that you’re crazy!  This is not reality!  But perception and ‘reality’ are very closely bound.  If the husky had tried to rationally figure it out beforehand, the husky would have never tried it.  Its husky brain would have said “You have got to be kidding me.  Play with that thing?!  You are going to expose your throat, EXPOSE YOUR THROAT to that thing?!  You’re going to play and romp around, you are going to turn your back to that thing, you’re going to jump up and down and yip and bark and play with that?!  You’re NUTS!”  The rational mind will say that the ‘facts’ are actually telling you that everything is going down the drain.  That doctor’s report, that evidence, that past due bill, those final words are telling you that it is all over.  And that is exactly what the “facts” were saying to that husky.

But did you notice?  Something strange happened to the polar bear when the husky began to play.   Claws are retracted, muzzle soft, eyes playful.  And something strange will also happen to the ailment or the illness or the financial affliction or the relationship condition or whatever it is that is the polar bear within you when you refuse to fight or to cower.  All you need is to change the inner feeling from one of dread or worry or futility to one of play.  The husky’s action changed the outer circumstance completely from an authentic inner feeling.  Luckily, the husky didn’t try to change the polar bear first or figure anything out.  And luckily your imagination doesn’t require you to change the outside first or figure anything out.  You have two six-year-olds who want to play ‘space alien invading’, they don’t need to have an actual astronaut helmet or an actual laser blaster to play that.  They do not have to wait for the outside to change in order to play.

And neither do you.

You don’t need external evidence.  You don’t have to have external proof before you start playing.   The one thing that you CAN know for certain, guaranteed, is that if you fight it you will make it stronger and if you quit or cower, then you are lunch.  That you can know for sure.  These are real FACTS.  Because both of these reactions are reaffirming the reality and the formidability of what is stalking you.  Those reactions affirm the reality of you as prey.   And so you look at your bank account and you say, “It’s hopeless,” or “Life is so unfair, I always get the short end of the stick, I hate  being poor!”  Or you could respond with something like this:

“Well, there is only one zero after that two right now, but I see three or four zeroes after that two.  I can feel it. It feels good.”

You’re nuts, the rational mind will shriek frantically.  You’re crazy!  You don’t have $20,000, what are you doing???  Ok, well let me ask you another question: Which person will have the better attitude, the one who thinks life sucks and is hopeless or the one playing?  Which person will experience less worry and stress?  Which person is more likely to find an odd job, which person is  more likely to find $20 in the parking lot, which person is more likely to have someone help them out with a gift or a loan?  Is it the person who is grumbling and whining how poor they are all the time or the person who has faith, the person who sees $20,000 in their $20 bank account?  Which person would YOU want to model?  Which person would YOU want to buy a lunch?  Which person would YOU want to hang out with?  Become a person that you would want to hang out with.  That is what Norman Cousins did when he laughed his cancer away. (See: Anatomy of an Illness, Norman Cousins, 1979)

Wherever you are, you always have the ability to imagine that you are in a movie called the “Titanic”.  But with a different ending.  That movie is rereleased in 3D, by the way.  Every movie is being re-released in 3D now.  Star Wars, Titanic, Disney classics, everything is going through the 3D treatment.  Your imagination is your own 3D movie studio.  Remember the rats that stayed in hiding forever after a scare?  Do you know what happens to human beings that don’t play, who don’t have playtime or healthy socialization as kids?  They become mass murderers, they become psychopaths, they take things way to seriously.  And when you are taking things too seriously you have to choose to be either the prey or the predator.  And ultimately these two choices are one and the same.  The predator always turns into the prey.

Now when you don’t react by fighting or numbing or cowering, that attacking energy is going to stop, it is going to stand up puzzled on its hind legs and look at you. You’re no longer the victim you are no longer being attacked.  It is confusing.  The situation and the attacking energy becomes confused because the traditional habitual roles are not being played anymore.  And that is a doorway that you step through, and in the stepping through that doorway you then change the perception of the situation with your imagination.  This is helping me to get better, I now see THIS.  I now experience something different then appearances seem to dictate.  A response like this not ignoring the appearance of things, it is a deeper vision rich with play and creativity.  In observing the facts that are here in this moment without reaction, I am now choosing consciously to perceive things differently.  I am perceiving it differently.  And in perceiving it differently, everything begins to change…  EVERYTHING.

Because you have changed, everything you perceive MUST change.

And suddenly you are doing the impossible and playing with a polar bear.  In fact it is now your playmate, your teacher, your helper.  It is helping you to become stronger, more resilient, more alive than ever before.

So we all know what the result is in the outside world of meeting force with force.  Or of cowering and slinking away.  But to stay present in the face of it, all those other huskies reacted and were out of the picture but that one husky stayed present and played.  No running away, so its not ignoring the situation, right?  It’s not like you are saying “Oh there’s nothing happening here, I have nothing to worry about, I don’t have any issue with my bank account, I don’t have to be concerned about this illness or dis-ease, there’s nothing I need to do at all, everything will just take care of itself.”  No it won’t.  Or more accurately, yes it will take care of itself, but it will be ‘taken care of’ based on your reaction of avoidance.  Because ignoring and numbing out is just another form of cowering.  So instead of cowering, you face it.  But you face it in a different way without confrontational energy.  Cowering is confrontational energy just as attacking is confrontational energy because it reinforces the validity of what is preying upon you.  Which then reinforces your role as the prey.

Everything is play.  Anything can be a play.  Anything.  You are consciousness playing in a field of consciousness.  You can perceive anything differently.  And when the play is over, you will not be eaten because you are no longer prey and you are no longer a threat.  You are now friends, you are now companions and you just part ways.  After the initial encounter, that polar bear came back for 10 days in a row to play some more.  So even if the polar bear hangs around it is no longer a threat to you.  And because you have played you can explore new situations, you don’t hide and stay hiding forever, you come out and you explore possibility in your play.  Look at me I can dominate a polar bear!  I can be in the jaws of a polar bear and be okay!  And you move and you make it all a play.  And you discover new things because you are willing to explore and play.  You discover new possibilities, new frontiers within yourself.

Now if you have ever had a dog, and that dog gets into that bowing playful position and looks at you with sparkling eyes, front paws spread out, seat raised, it is extremely hard to resist playing.  You would have to be Scrooge, or very late for work to not play with that dog.  Every cell in your body wants to play with that dog and say “Who’s the good dog?  YOU are, yes you are yesyouareyesyouare!”  That is YOU responding to the invitation to play, that is you wanting to play also.  And that is what will happen to the energy around you when you choose the third option, when you choose to play.

If you remember it is all a play or leela (“divine play” in Sanskrit), then you remember yourself.  You remember that you are the play-maker.  And this “You” cannot be hurt.  Ultimately you are invulnerable.  To believe that you can be attacked, that this invulnerability can be attacked, means that you will also attack things in your world.  When the space alien dies to the cosmic ray blast, the six year-old gets up to play some more.  When you play instead of attacking, your invulnerability remains intact.

So go inside and find something to play with.  And have fun.

With thanks fo rthe inspiration from Stuart Brown.  See below for his full talk on play.

You are the way you are because you tell yourself you are that way.  –Don Juan to Carlos Castaneda

Notice how you are feeling right now.  Become aware of your body, your energy level, your attitude.  What do you notice to be your experience of yourself in this moment?

Now consider this:

You are the way you are because you tell yourself you are that way.

You are the way you are because you tell yourself you are that way.

Over and over and over again.

You are the way you are because you tell yourself you are that way. And you can also take that a little further and realize that the people in your life are the way they are because you tell yourself they are that way.

We are always telling ourselves how we are, we are defining ourselves all the time.  This telling is usually based on the past.  We are always defining other people all the time based on the past.  When you become conscious of it, you become aware of it, you begin to otiose: Wow, I am telling myself how I am right now, I’m defining myself, it is all under the radar it is all unconscious.  It’s all that hidden 85% of the iceberg.  That you are telling yourself that you are a certain way.  That you are telling yourself that this person is a certain way.  This person can be totally different to themselves or other people but you are still seeing them the same way.*

The reason that, in your mind, you are telling yourself how other people are is that you need a supporting cast.  Your false self needs actors to support the false self.  So you have this drama that is your life, sometimes it is rated ‘G’, sometimes it is ‘R’, sometimes it is unrated, and you need a whole cast, sometimes a cast of hundreds to help define who you are.

You need a villain.  You need someone who can play the antagonist.  You need the commiserator.  You need the best friend who agrees with you.

So if you want other people to change that means that you have to change first.  You have to change the movie, you have to change the script.  You have to change from being the actor to being the director and the writer.  You have to be willing to rewrite the script, because if you don’t change, the other people will still keep playing the roles in our movie, the movie of our life.  The same as they always did.

Now sometimes people in your life will change and you don’t want them to change because it messes up your movie.  It’s messing up the plot of your movie.  Don’t they know that they are messing with your script?  And you are going to keep trying to make them play the same role, you’ll say “No, no no!  You’re supposed to say this, you’re supposed to do that.  In fact you will hear them saying this and see them doing that even when they are not doing it.  You will keep seeing them in the old role.  And that won’t change until you change.

You are the way you are because you tell yourself you are that way.

Maybe it’s time you stretched yourself as an actor.  Maybe it is time that you tried a different role, a different part.  Maybe you start to branch out into writing and directing.  When you let go of that old role, when you stop telling yourself that you are a certain way that you have been for a long time, it is a death of sorts  This is the archetype of the resurrection.  You will rise from the ashes of your  old self.  You will be the Phoenix.  You will be reborn, you will be changed, but much must be sacrificed; you must be wiling to let go of the old way of being.  And the tendency to preserve your false self can be very strong.**

In reality its not really much to be sacrificed, in fact it is mostly pain and misery.  But when we are pain and misery and difficulty it seems like everything. It seems like ourself.

So when you are that false self you have a false setting.  You change the whole world to fit your goal.  So it can be beautiful and sunny out but you will see miserable surroundings.  This is really a perversion of your ability to create.  The creator in you being used to see the worst in yourself and others all the time as well as the world and nature around you.  And by not allowing the world or those around you to change you condemn yourself to living your past as your future.

You are the way you are because you tell yourself you are that way.

When you are stuck in that role we often give lip service to changing.  You have the opportunity to change you might say “I’ll try to change, I’ll try to make it, I’ll try to do it.”  But what this really means is “I’m probably not gonna do it.”

“I’ll try to meditate.”  “I’ll try to make it to yoga class.”  “I’ll try to eat better, to eat more fruit and vegetables.”  But you are still really too invested in your role to say it’s going to happen.

Let me ask you a question.  “If you won the lottery and you needed to be at the lottery office by 1 O’clock would you say “I’ll try to be there?”

To that false role, living a life of joy and freedom and love and living a fulfilled life isn’t that important because you’re just going to give it a try.  “I’ll give it a try,” you say to yourself.  And that is okay too, it is all right.  You just realize that.

Right now, try to Breathe deeply.  If you inhaled more you did not “try”.

There is no try, there is only do.

You either do or you don’t do, once you start to be honest with yourself.  “OK, I’m not doing it.  All right.”  Then you can explore why you are not doing it.  Why you are not changing.  Maybe you don’t really want to change.

Don’t try to read these words.  Read these words.

In fact you are meant to continuously let go.  We are not made to hold on to old experiences, old selves, old judgments.  We are supposed to experience, let it pass through us, let it flow.  We are not supposed to keep it, throw it on a pile an then point to that pile and say “hey, that’s me.”

You are the way you are because you tell yourself you are that way.

It’s not because of what somebody else does or did to you, it’s not because of the weather, or the virus that’s going around, it’s not because of your parents, it’s not because of the car that you drive.  It’s because You are the way you are because you tell yourself you are that way.

Just start to become aware or how many times you are telling yourself how you are, how many times you are defining yourself by how you define others and the world around you.  You make up a story about “them” so you can be who you are in relation to them.  They are mean and you get to be the victim of their meanness.  They are weak and you get to be strong.  They are wrong and you get to be right.  Every time you compare yourself to others you are defining yourself and cementing that self-concept into place.  You are constantly remaking the world in your own image.  How many times are you affirming the past repeating in the present over and over again?

How do I not repeat the past?  Find your heart.  Keep finding the heart so that space right behind the heart softens so the heart can open.  Heart is the center of feeling.  You want to be able to feel otherwise you have to rely on memory and repeating past action.  When you truly feel, not in an overly dramatic way, but you are just sensitive, you feel what is in this moment.  You can respond instead of react.  Responding means that there isn’t a script, you have a choice.

Then you don’t have to try anymore.  In reacting you try.  In responding you be.  And from this present self you do.

About a year ago there was a story about a local man in the newspaper who had some kind of accident and damaged a part of his brain so he had complete amnesia***.  He did not remember his family, he did not remember who he was, he did not remember his house, he remembered nothing of his old life.  So there is this woman visiting him and she has to tell him that she is his wife.  She has to tell him he has grown kids.  And so finally his wife drove him home from the hospital and as they were driving up the driveway he said “this is our house?  This is where I live?”  And she said “Yes.”  And he said, “Who all lives here?”  “Oh, just you and I,”  she answers.  “Well why do we have such a big house?”  They pulled into the garage. “Why do we have four cars?”  He goes into the house.  “Why do I have six watches?”  He is literally baffled, asking these things about his own life.  He doesn’t understand.  What’s happened is that he is no longer telling himself that he is a certain way.  Because he has lost the past he is not defining himself anymore, therefore he is able to experience reality.  He is able t experience what is in this moment.  And so he is asking legitimate real questions.  It is not wrong to have a big house or four cars or six watches.  But now he is asking these questions. These are questions that he has probably never asked of himself when his memory was intact.  He never stopped to think about it.

When you are the actor in that false role, you have all kinds of props surrounding you.  You have supporting players, you have mental soundtracks, you have whole sets.  But what they really are is artificial constructs.  The don’t reflect who you are, they don’t reflect your true self.  They can’t tell you who you are.  Because they are props.  Now again there is nothing wrong with having money or a big house or a lot of cars, but if you use these things to define yourself, to tell you who you are, then you are in a bit of trouble.

You are the way you are because you tell yourself you are that way.  Who is the “You” in that sentence?  Who are “You” anyway?

Become aware of the inner dialogue, become aware of the scripts.  Become aware of what you are telling yourself, how you are defining yourself.  It is all based on the past and this is how we condemn ourselves to repeating the past.  Because we define ourselves based on the past.  And we define others based on the past.  We don’t allow change to happen.  So let yourself be here.  What does it feel like to be here in your life now?  Let go of the past.  Keep letting go of each moment.  You are meant to experience the moment, let it flow through you but not carry it into the next moment.  Think of laughter, do we hold on to the last time we were laughing and relive it over and over again?  Yet we do this with pain all the time.  Keep letting go, let the moment flow through you.  Do not hold onto this moment and make it a possession, let it flow through you.

If you must tell yourself that you are a certain way, why not tell yourself something magnificent?  Not in an egotistical way that makes you better than other people or worse than other people, they are both egotistical.  Throw yourself in the gutter, build yourself a throne, they are both ego.  To see the best, the highest in yourself.  This is what the Master or the Guru does, sees the highest in you until you can see it yourself.  So be your own Guru.  To see yourself in a magnificent story, a story of evolution, of abundance, of joy.  Of healing, of prosperity of love.  It takes just as much effort to see yourself negatively as positively.  And then let go of even this effort so you don’t carry it with you into another story.

If you were to let go of your past and just suddenly appear in your life, what would you find odd?  What would you find strange.  What would make you go, “Really?  This is what I think about most of the day?  This is what I focus on?  Why do I have this?  Why do I talk that way to that person?  How come I feel this way around this person?  And why do I have such a big TV?”

There have been some studies of multiple personality disorder and people who have had amnesia like this**** and sometimes they have a skin affliction or some kind of disease or disorder, and when they are the different personality or when they have forgotten their old self, they no longer have the disorder.  They are no longer constantly defining themselves as their disorder, as their condition.

The good news is that you don’t have to wait for somebody to bonk you on the head  or get some schizophrenic episode.  You can begin letting go now.  Just let go of your attachment to things and defining yourself in relation to others or your ‘stuff’.  It’s not wrong to have things… The way you live in your life is not wrong, none of it is wrong — it is all right and perfect.  But let yourself start to see it anew, let yourself start to se it with fresh eyes.  Just begin to notice and you’ll become aware.

How are you telling yourself that you are?  How are you defining the people around you?  The world around you all the time?  How are you using your powers as the Creator?  If you are truly made in the image of God as the Sacred texts say, how are you using that magnificence?  What kind of world are you creating each day for yourself and others?  And as you notice this you begin to have awareness, you begin to have the ability to create something a little bit different.  Feel so you can choose.

You are the way you are because you tell yourself you are that way.

Tell yourself something magnificent.

* See Yoga Sutra 4.15: Same object, different consciousness, separate path.

**See abhinivesha, Yoga Sutra 2.9.

***See: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/arizonaliving/articles/2010/05/02/20100502lost-memory-gilbert.html

****Colin A Ross: Dissociative Identity Disorder: Diagnosis, Clinical Features and Treatment of Multiple Personality; 2nd edition, New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1996

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We are Made of Stars

For a moment imagine that you are looking into the night sky at a place far away from city lights. Looking up and seeing the Milky Way and all those stars. And as you take in the enormity of this view you come to realize that you are not seeing the stars as they are now, but as they were millions or even hundreds of millions of years ago. The light that is just reaching your eyes now has been traveling for countless eons. In fact, the star that you are looking at might be different now. It might actually be a Red Giant, a White Dwarf, a black hole or maybe even non-existent. So you are actually looking at the past. You are seeing the past as the present. You are seeing the star as it used to be a long, long time ago.

Now look at your hands. As you look at your hands realize that you are not seeing your hands as they are, you are seeing the past. Look at that person you know. Or the clothes hanging in your closet. Or your face in the mirror. Whatever you are looking at, you are looking at your own face, you are not seeing your face you are seeing a past image of your face. Realize that here too you are looking at the past. You are looking at a situation and not seeing things as they actually are, you are seeing a past image of the situation. Just like the light from those stars. You are seeing things from a long, long time ago.

Now the distance between you and your hands is not such that it takes a vast amount of light years for the image to reach you, but you are still seeing the past. The psycho-emotional distance placing time and space between you and what you are seeing is vast. And it is the same with all that you see. The whole situation could be different now, but you will still be seeing the past.

Whatever you are looking at realize that I am not seeing this as it is. I am seeing the past. I am seeing a past projection, a past perception. A past judgment. A past labeling. I’m not really seeing it as it is. Your husband can be the man you married 10 years ago to you, young and verile and full of life even though he may actually be out of motivation, out of shape and out of passion. Your wife can be beautiful and full of mystery to someone even though to you she seems plain and hardly there. That used TV or old jacket could seem like new to someone else. Whatever it is that you are looking at just realize that you are seeing a concept, a construct. You are seeing something from memory. It is very rare to see something as it is…

Become Like a Child and Enter the Kingdom of Heaven

When a baby is born the neural nets representing habitual perception and thought in the infant brain are largely undifferentiated. This is the realm of possibility without identification with past events and experiences. Thought charged with emotion has not sculpted the brain’s neuronal pathways yet into samskaric tracks or grooves of habit which repeat their patterning even when the outer circumstances may have changed.

This undifferentiation of living without a past allows the baby to see the wonder of the butterfly, the magic of the colored light filtering through a prism of windowpane. With wide-eyed amazement the baby soaks these tinges up with as many senses as possible, seeing their miraculous reality in the present moment. In yoga this is samadhi or conscious integration. In zen this is ‘beginner’s mind’. Either way when we have become aware of this innocence as ourselves, this innocence is married to the full intelligence of knowing who is looking, and that in the old way of looking we were blind.

Who is Looking?

The seer in you, though pure, sees through the distortions of past concepts. Yoga Sutra 2.20

What we see is not related to what is on the outside but it is related to who is looking. So in order for us to keep seeing the past we have to be in the past ourselves.

When we look at our bodies we see our past, a past concept of ourselves, we see a history. We also see an expectation of where that history is going. It is very rare to see things as they are. Now imagine how that makes actions difficult, and the results of our actions binding if we keep acting on inaccurate information, affirming it to be true.

The Seer and the seen exist to reveal the true nature of the One who is looking. Yoga Sutra 2.23

In Sanskrit the word ‘Jai’ means “Oh Yeah!” or ‘Victory’. Buddha said that the greatest victory is victory over one’s self. The victorious action is to be present. It is the simplest thing and yet we make it the most challenging thing: to just be where we are. To be as we are, where we are. What does this mean? It is an allowing. The dropping of contrariness or reaction to what is here that throws into the script of past perception and all of the samskara or habitual behavior that we mistake as choice and living. A victory here would be to know yourself – both the one that is perceiving it all and the one who is reacting and calling this reaction a ‘plan for the future’.

Most planning is done from the place of repeating familiar past karmic patterns because they are made from a place of unconsciousness. The events that you have planned for your day? You are not seeing these correctly either. You are seeing them through the lens of the past. You will not be able to let the day be as it is with its multiple opportunities to step outside of your old self, you will not be able to notice anything new or different or transcendent or transforming if you are unable to see them as they are to begin with. So in your day you will walk by trees that have forty different colors of green, you will walk by sunrises and sunsets, you will walk by people’s eyes and opportunities to touch and to feel and love and you will not notice any of these things because they will not be there, they will be non-existent. Or your expectations will distort them to make sense to who you think you are.

Begin to realize that whatever you are looking at you are seeing things not as they are. Even something as simple as your foot. Just begin to realize this. There is a whole story with that foot, a history. Just as there is with everything else we see. We bring our own meaning to every situation and color it to make sense with our past. And this is how we live.

The Revelation

The binding of the Seer with the seen is lack of awareness. Yoga Sutra 2.24

Our assumptions and expectations shape the world we experience. When the looker is erroneous, so is perception. Where we see struggle there may actually be benefit. The butterfly struggling to emerge from the cocoon may actually be moving a life-giving fluid into its wings. The illness forcing us to stop the way we do things may actually be saving our life. The storm bending the sapling to nearly breaking is actually strengthening the bark and structure of the wood. Where we see something beneficial there may actually be discord. Finding more money to make that last sure bet. Discovering a pill that makes the pain go away temporarily and allows you to keep living the same way making the same choices which caused the pain to begin with. Getting away with a little lie and preserving your reputation. If we see only our labels of things we will most likely miss a deeper meaning. And beyond all ordinary meaning is the realm of pure awareness without labels. A mystical state that can only be felt and not named.

How many things do we miss each day because we are in the past? How many things do we keep seeing the same over and over because we are reliving the past? How many times do we try to change what we see instead of changing ourselves, the one who is looking?

The Miracle of Living

Which center circle is larger?

To actually see what you are actually looking at is an accomplishment. Many times we may look at something and not really see it. When we make decisions based on always seeing the past or on past associations, guess what we keep repeating? When we are the past making decisions based on a perception of the past, guess what we keep experiencing?

Yoga or union is the stripping away of that which is not real. It is not an adding-to or a getting somewhere else, but a revelation of what is already here. Removing the unreal we are left with what IS, and this IS-ness is far greater than our limited perception can comprehend. The miracle in life is therefore not improving one’s self, which would be but an exercise in polishing up the past. Rather, we are to become more in line with what we already are. It is only by changing the one who is viewing that we can can begin to change that which we see. And what exactly might this be?

Thou Shalt Not Worship a False self

To worship a false idol means to place your constant attention on something that is unreal or false. What is in the present is real, all else exists only inside your head. In truth miracles and the state of yoga are available all the time. These seeming miraculous states of consciousness can only be perceived in the present moment. So the journey always starts right where you are. Can you feel the pulse in your fingers right now? Can you feel the texture of what your foot is resting on? To feel these things without adding a story or comparison you had to become present. So what? So today I actually saw the ground. Today I actually experienced a yoga pose that I have done a thousand times. I actually felt what it was like to be in the experience. Today I actually actually experienced falling, without blame, ridicule, guilt or judgment. It was a miracle. I thought falling was a bad thing, it was not what I thought it was. Today I actually felt my yoga mat under my feet. I actually felt what it was like, what my mat felt like. Today I actually felt my two hands joining. I actually began to realize how rich life is. I have only been living 1% of my life. Why didn’t someone tell me this sooner?

Being present is an ongoing practice. You don’t have to do it all in one day. Whatever you are looking at, just be aware of what you are seeing. Then be aware that world can be something more than the idol of your past.

Who is it?

The untangling of Seer and seen leads to absolute freedom. Yoga Sutra 2.25

How can we ever untangle ourselves from suffering if we think we are what we perceive? Another way to lookat this is how can we choose anything in life if we cannot feel our own hands? How can we decide anything of any importance if we cannot experience our breath? How can we plan anything that will lead to a different future if we cannot even feel the ground underneath our feet? How can we make complex decisions in life if we can’t even feel the simplest things which point to who we are?

It is important to move into new experiences and new situations even though we see our old projections and assumptions because it gives a chance not to react, to let it all be okay. Then the veil can fall away and life becomes a mirror of our own expanding awareness.

We are made from the atomic ejecta of stars. That is what we are made of. When we look at the stars we are seeing ourselves as we were, the universe is showing us the past because that is where we are looking from. It is your inevitable destiny to shine, and then to be the one who perceives the shining.

Today I died to my old self and was reborn into the present moment.

Start by allowing the possibility that there is another way to see things. Feel the pulse which animates your fingers. Close your eyes. Start being who you already are perceiving without distortion the very simplest element of what is already here. And then watch in amazement as a new action moves through you, as you rediscover life and possibility in this now eternal world.

You Are Made of Faith

Shraddhâ-vîrya-smrti-samâdhi-prajnâ-pûrvaka itareshâm

Faith, vitality, mindful recollection, and knowledge of oneness form the path of unity for those not born in the state of yoga. Yoga Sutra 1.20

Long ago there was a village caught in the grip of a great draught that was causing much suffering. All of the people began to worry as the weeks turned to months, and the months to years. It was decided that something must be done, so the local religious leader called for a great gathering in the village circle where everyone was to bring an article of faith to present for the calling of rain. A small boy heard the message and all night he squirmed in anticipation, for he knew exactly what he was supposed to bring.

The morning came and people began to arrive with their sacred objects of faith: relics, statues and other images representing God, pictures of ancestors, talismans and family heirlooms. Soon a great crowd had gathered and the priest instructed everyone to hold up their articles of faith to send their prayers for rain to heaven. At this moment there was a great commotion at the center of the circle. People stepped back to give room and looked on in wonder at the small boy who was holding up his article of faith.

There, at the center of the circle, smiling with eyes closed as if lifting his face into a downpour, the boy stood holding up his article of faith: a raised, open umbrella.

Gotta Have Faith

Religious leaders and spiritual Masters tell us over and over how important faith is. From the New Testament of Christianity to the Hindu Bhagavad Gita and the words of Buddha in the Dhammapada, the message is the same. As our faith is, so are we. We are made of faith. As we think so shall we become.

Faith is a knowing of things not yet seen. To know something we must feel it deeply inside ourselves to be true. Whatever we feel to be true for ourselves indeed becomes our experience, whether that experience is present or not. We may have already experienced this many times anticipating something wonderful that was going to happen, such as a birthday, graduation or Christmas morning. We have also probably experienced its opposite feeling the effects of a difficult meeting or a dreaded appointment well in advance of the actual event. In both cases our faith is the combination of thought with feeling, bringing us the full experience of what we are focusing upon now.

Faith is the outcome of the correct use of imagination and yet it is so much more. We all live by faith, whether this faith is conscious or in conscious, and it is this faith which describes and defines our lives. Conscious faith is the instrument of deepest change, for it is the act of faith that transforms us into the direction of our focus. In this way our personal transformation is limited only by our ability to conceive and what we feel to be true for ourselves and the world around us. However these limits made of ethereal thought or habitual perception can seem more daunting than the highest mountains. Known as our belief system of unconscious/subconscious map of the universe, here is the realm of habit and the dark currents of fear and addiction which keep us swimming in the often painful yet comfortingly familiar waters of lack. Luckily it only takes a small spark or seed of faith to ignite our entire being with transforming light.

Moving Inner Mountains

…for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Matthew 17, 20-21

We can be devoted to many things in life. We show our devotion by giving our attention. In fact, attention is the most valuable thing you have to offer in this lifetime. As we can only think one thought at a time, by focusing on something inspirational, even if that something is small, we begin the process of removing our attention (or worship) from the pain in our lives. To consciously use our attention and direct it as faith in an evolutionary way transforms us beyond old limitations and truly allows us to become the object of our devotion.

Yoga for the Rest of Us…

Few are born in the state of yoga and it is Faith that has the capacity to take the rest of us into the unknown and uncertain which is necessary for all change to occur, Patanjali notes this in the Yoga Sutra when he describes the process of realizing the state of yoga. Faith is the starting point and only after we take the leap of faith does the energy, mindfulness and knowledge of our true Self begin to emerge. The energy and resources arrive as we need and use them and not before. If we just sit back and wait for guarantees or assurances from the outside before we live our lives as we want them to be, we will be waiting for a very, very long time. Instead we must know our path on the inside so deeply that we feel it happening even now, even if the whole world were telling us otherwise. Paramahansa Yogananda knew this when he built many beautiful Self Realization Fellowship temples in the United States in the mid-1900s. At first he would tell people of his plans and the people would exclaim how impossible they were and how many insurmountable obstacles he would face. Soon he learned to start the projects and have them well on the way to completion before announcing them. Then when the naysayers would cry out, he would simply say with a smile “It is already happening and done.” In this way he taught his students that, as we are literally made of faith or directed consciousness (whether that consciousness is habitual or inspired), it is not so much what we have faith in that has the power to transforms us, but the act of faith itself. To have faith in being healthy is to expand beyond a self concept of illness. To have faith in ourselves as generous is to give ourselves the feeling of abundance. To have faith in ourselves as Spirit allows us to transcend the effects of physical limitations. To have true faith in something stretches us and expands us beyond old boundaries, ultimately taking us further than our conception of what we initially understood as real.

Once there was a very devoted student filled with the power of bhakti or love who came to the ashram and was accepted by the master. His devotion to the master and the practices were monumental and garnered the attention of the guru quite often, causing the other initiates who had been their far longer to become extremely jealous. Soon they decided to get rid of this student.

One evening the senior initiates were out walking in the light of a full moon with the devoted student when they came near a cliff edge. ”If you have perfect faith in the master,” they said to the devoted student, “You should be able to step off this cliff and be unharmed.” To their surprise, the student immediately stepped off the cliff edge and disappeared from view. Surprised at their good fortune, the senior initiates ran down the path to the bottom of the cliff only to find the devoted student sitting in meditation unmarked. ”You were right,” the student said. ”The master saved me.”

The senior initiates grumbled at the new student’s luck and came up with a different plan. The next day they heard that a fire was burning nearby and grabbed the initiate, pulling him toward one of the burning homes where a woman was crying for her child and trying to rush into the flames. ”If you have perfect faith in the master,” they said, “you can go into that burning house and rescue this woman’s child without being harmed.” Instantly the student ran into the flames and quickly emerged carrying a crying child wrapped in his arms. ”You were right,” the student said. ”The master saved us!”

The next day all the initiates had gathered at the shore of a large lake to welcome the master back from a long journey. As they stood at the water’s edge the senior initiates had one more plan. If you have perfect faith in the master,” they said, “You should be able to walk on the water and go out and greet the master before he comes to shore even though you cannot swim.” At that moment, without hesitation and to the shock of all who watched, the student stepped onto the water and began to walk out of sight toward the far horizon.

Soon the student approached the master’s boat. The master stood up quite amazed to see such a miracle. ”By whose power do you do such a thing?” the master exclaimed. ”By your Grace,” the student replied, bowing his head to heart. ”If just believing in me can cause such miracles,” the master thought, “imagine what I can do myself!” The master decided to join the student standing beside the boat, but before he stepped over he had some initiates tie a rope around his waist in case he should go under.

When the rope was tied, the master stepped onto the water, promptly sank beneath the surface trailing the un-tethered end of the rope with him and was never heard from again.

Faith – the intentional act of Faith itself – is the essence of Self Realization and all transformation. It must be felt completely and known inside as truth while taking full responsibility for the cause of one’s current situation and without unconscious reservation or doubt. What do you have faith in? Is it what you truly want or is it a habit or past programming of consciousness? Is it in something that is greater than your limited self which stretches you, or do you place your attention on your petty and fearful nature? As we literally are faith or directed consciousness, when we intentionally focus with faith and feeling we discover the truest essence of who we are. Then the toys, conditions and objects as motivations of faith begin to fall away and we feel our truest nature. This focus ultimately points us back to our own reflection. Our attention shifts from the object of faith to the one who IS faith itself. Here is the truest gift of faith as a practice: the knowing of the One who focuses and experiences this glorious journey of life as a unified being of consciousness aware of itself.

Jeff Martens is a teacher, writer and co-owner of Inner Vision Yoga. All suggestions are voluntary. Consult a qualified teacher or your physician before you embark on any practice in which you are unfamiliar.

For more inspiring yoga essays click here…

Once I was Blind… Living Yoga on a Cellular Level
By Jeff Martens

by Jeff Martens

santosâd anuttamaha sukha-lâbhaha –Yoga Sutra 2.42  ”Contentment brings unsurpassed joy.”

The art of contentment is the art of fulfillment.  It is the experience of finding what you are seeking in the present moment and becoming rich in what you thought you were lacking, so rich that you can give what you were formally lacking.  The alternative is to always be greedy for the next moment and living in the poverty of constantly lacking what you are seeking.  The Yoga Sutra teaches that when we are content with this moment, our entire being radiates with an inexpressible joy.

Alexander’s army was marching toward India when he heard of a Greek man, Diogenese, who was said to have found true contentment living in Corinth without a single possession.  ”I would like to meet such a man,” Alexander said, curious as to how such a thing could be possible.

After a little searching Alexander came to a man lying naked in the sun beside a river.  ”Are you Diogenese,” Alexander asked.  ”Who wants to know,” the man answered without so much as opening his eyes.  ”I am Alexander the Great.”   The sunbather gave no sign of recognition.  ”Do you not know who I am?  I have come a long way to see you.  Some men would think it an honor.”  Diogenese smiled, but said nothing.  ”I have heard,” Alexander continued, “that you have found true happiness and yet you do not posses a single thing, no clothes, not even so much as a begging bowl.  Is this true?  Have you found supreme joy?”

Reclining peacefully, his eyes remaining closed, Diogenese made no effort to answer.  Alexander studied Diogenese, waiting for a response, admiring the relaxed calmness in his presence.  Indeed, the man seemed to be totally at ease.  ”Can you teach me what you have found?” he asked the naked man at his feet.

“Where are you going, Alexander the Great?”

“I am off to India.”

“Such a long way to travel, and for what?  What will you do there?”

“I will conquer it.”

And then what shall you do, Alexander?”

“I will move on to conquer the next country.”

“And how long will this campaigne continue,” Diogenese asked.

“Until I have conquered all the countries.”

“And when you are through with that?”

“Then I will celebrate as emperor of the world,” Alexander said.  ”Then I should like to rest like you.”

Diogenese laughed, a loud chaotic bray that seemed out of place by the peaceful river.  Alexander noted that Diogenese’ eyes were a deep blue and utterly without greed.  Instead of being angered by the Greek’s laughter, Alexander found himself intrigued.

“Why do you laugh?” Alexander asked.  He had never seen such serene eyes.

“Tell me, is your father alive?” Diogenese asked, closing his eyes again at the emperor’s feet.  This time it was Alexander’s turn to remain silent.  Diogenese continued: ”Would you recognize his bones from the bones of this beggar?”

Alexander closed his own eyes and thought.  He had seen many bones.  Countless battles had taught him that all men’s skulls looked the same.  ”Why did you laugh?” Alexander asked again.

“Because your bones are on a fruitless journey, the same journey as the bones inside my skin.”

“Being emperor of the world is a fruitless journey?” Alexander asked, incredulous.

“In the end it makes no difference what you and your army have conquered.  What you are really seeking is right here and available to you now.  So why do all those things before you rest and find contentment?  If rest is what you are ultimately looking for, then do what I did and give yourself what you are really seeking now.  Let go of this fool’s journey and you can rest right here and now.”

Alexander laughed uneasily.  He had never considered stopping his war.  For the first time he questioned the nature of his quest and his mind rebelled in protest.  To be Emperor of the World was his whole life!  How could a man give up such a thing?  In contrast to his inner turmoil he could see the bronze skin of Diogenese relaxed and glowing, ribs filing and releasing simple breaths into a cloudless sky.

“Sir, your words do have a faint air of truth about them, but how could I give up my life’s ambition?  And yet I know it is strange to say, but your life here now is so beautiful to me.  Perhaps instead there is something I could do for you?  I am an emperor and you may ask for anything, any riches or title your mind could imagine.  Consider for a moment and let me know.”

Diogenese closed his eyes and waved Alexander off.  ”Only step aside,” he said.  ”You are blocking my light.”

“Nothing more?” Alexander asked.

“Nothing more.”

Alexander turned to walk away.  ”Goodbye Diogenese,” Alexander said.  ”I am off to finish my journey.”

“No one ever finishes their journey,” Diogenese called out from his resting spot on the warm sand.

“And why is that?” Alexander asked.

“Because everyone dies along the way.”

And so it was that a short time later in Baghdad, while planning his full campaign into India proper, Alexander died along the way.  His once vast empire was quickly carved up by his generals and disintegrated soon thereafter.

Jeff Martens is a teacher, writer and co-owner of Inner Vision Yoga.  This story is inspired by an ancient parable.  All suggestions are voluntary.  Consult a qualified teacher, your heart  or your physician before you embark on any practice in which you are unfamiliar.

For more inspiring yoga essays click here…

Wild Energy in Backbends

Q: I have noticed that after doing a night of backbends I am filled with this sort of wild energy.  Sometimes it can make it difficult to sleep.  Some off my classmates also have the same experience.  What’s going on?More than any other pose, backbends have the potential to open up the heart, which is the center of feeling.  The heart Chakra in Sanskrit (anahata) means “unstruck sound” and is the bridge between the ‘lower’ self-centered identity and the ‘higher’ True Self.  This is a vibratory center where experience becomes integrated into wisdom through love.  When this center is ‘sounded’ or opened, even physically, one begins to intuitively experience their connection to all things.

A:

A great leap is taken to reach and access the heart center in the energetic body.  The three chakras below the heart are more concerned with the little self and development as an individual being.  While this development is of course valuable and necessary and even beautiful, the energy at the heart center is several orders of magnitude greater than the energy that comes from functioning at the lower centers alone.  This great leap is taken from the center of power (manipura, solar plexus area – ‘jeweled city’ in Sanskrit) to begin to experience the ever-deeper true power of union and connection with life itself.  In the heart this connection or ‘yoga’ manifests through the experience of love, which is often the first time that we put the needs and happiness of another being above and beyond our own.  In this way the ‘little self’ is surrendered, at least temporarily, and no longer takes up the center of our universe so that we can begin to see and experience life from a much grander perspective than the limitations of mind and ego.

The body and mind instinctively know all this.  When we do backbends we can experience a taste of the energy, grace and vitality that is available to us when we live in a selfless manner, i.e. not identifying with our habits and (‘little-self’) defined limitations.

A deep backbend is energizing and humbling at the same time, reminding us of how vulnerable and strong we are when we open to Grace.  The opening of the heart in this manner as the true center of feeling actually begins to calm the wilder energy released by the lumbar spine and transforms it into an evolutionary experience that connects us to our higher nature and the yoga of joining into all things.  To access this process we must be grounded and engage the center of presence (navel-point), making peace with our ‘lower’ being and ourselves as an individual.  We then move this awareness up to the heart center and have an authentic feeling, which leads to direct experience.  This in turn awakens the head in the correct order (not as leader of the pose but as the center of wisdom that arises from being present and authentically feeling what is in this moment so the soul gains direct experience and becomes wise).

A good yoga teacher will provide the alignment cues necessary to help you to integrate the energy released in your backbends on a physical, emotional and psycho-energetic level.  Such a teacher will understand that not only can misalignment in a backbend cause injury, it can also deepen energetic imbalances in the body that can lead to a troubling feeling of being stuck or ill-at-ease or worse.  Backbends require our respect, attention, humility, breath, presence and integration.  The moment you start using a backbend to ‘show-off’ or as a source of pride, the heart closes and the head will try to take over.  But without authentic feeling, the head can only guess at what true experience is taking place.  Authentic feelings which are always based in the NOW teach us that to access the heart as a center of love and true compassion, we must first become more vulnerable to this moment and leave the integrated but grosser vibratory forces of the three lower chakras at the gate below.Jeff Martens is a teacher, writer and co-owner of Inner Vision Yoga.  All suggestions are voluntary.  Consult a qualified teacher or your physician before you embark on any practice in which you are unfamiliar.

Twists and Calmness

Question: Why do twists, which are often challenging postures, often have such a calming effect?

Answer:  This question can be answered at many levels, which ultimately all flow together, linking physiological and anatomical details to amazing sensations of wholeness and integration.

The muscular-skeletal system provides structural stability and controlled mobility, which allow you to stand erect (rather than collapsing like a rag doll) and protect vulnerable internal organs.  Most joints and other mobile parts of your body can either bend or twist, and the few areas that can both bend and twist are fairly vulnerable to injury.  More specifically, your lumbar spine (lower back) is good at bending, your thoracic spine (chest) is good at twisting, and your cervical spine (neck) is good at both, and thus deserving of special care.

When you do a seated spinal twist, begin by grounding through both sitting bones (the ischial tuberosities at the base of your pelvis) and then move the twist up your spine, so that you get a little bit of twisting through the lumbar, more through the thoracic, and then finish by turning your neck, head, and eyes.  This sequence will protect your cervical spine and it will also help you to feel integrated as your head follows your heart.  Then, as you gain a new perspective by looking back over your shoulder, you will be able to open to that new perspective from a stable and grounded base.  Any expectations that are a product of only looking in one direction will drop away and you can open yourself to the flow of forms and sensations, all of which can be calming at many levels.

The central nervous system includes your brain and spinal cord, which runs through and is protected by the vertebrae that constitute your spine (the spinal column).  Most of the nerves that carry information to and from various parts from your body extend out from your spinal cord.  When you ground, lengthen, and then twist your spine, you subtly re-align your vertebrae, thus relieving unnecessary pressure on those nerves.

Sensations we perceive as pain or discomfort are often signals, transmitted by our nervous system, that some part of our body is troubled.  Twists can often relieve those troubles, and therefore allow our nervous system to relax.  When you twist, you typically expand one side while compressing the other, reverse the sides, and then (hopefully) pause and allow yourself to absorb the effects of the twist.  This process of compressing and releasing squeezes the toxins out of your organs and muscles and then allows fresh blood and nutrients to flow into them, improving their health and making it possible for them to function more smoothly.

Many yogis know that, when done with awareness, deliberately tensing the body can induce greater relaxation when the tension is released; this is why a brief  practice of the rigid corpse posture can sometimes help beginners really relax into savasana.  Twists, by squeezing and then releasing, squeezing and then releasing, may work in the same way.  Not only do they stretch potentially tight or mis-aligned parts of the body, they also induce them to relax.

Finally, there are some very specific physiological and anatomical reasons why spinal twists may be especially calming to the nervous system.  Anatomy texts divide your nervous system into voluntary and autonomic components.  The autonomic nervous system keeps your body working beyond your minds control, although yogis know how strongly our thoughts and actions can affect the autonomic nervous system.  This autonomic nervous system includes two (possibly more) distinct sets of nerves, known as the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.  Twists can affect both, in positive and calming ways.

The sympathetic nervous system speeds your heart rate, it releases glucose into your system, and it opens up the bronchiole passages to allow you to bring in more air with each breath.  It has gotten something of a bad reputation, because it is stimulated by stress and its extreme arousal includes a rush of adrenaline that results in the fight or flight response; however, the sympathetic nervous system can also (very necessarily) get you ready for action in a more calm way.  Adrenaline (as well as cortisol, which has come to be known as a stress hormone) are secreted by your adrenal glands, which are located just above your kidneys.  Because of their location near the mid-line of your body, the adrenal glands are especially likely to be gently squeezed out and reinvigorated by twists, so they will function more efficiently and only release adrenaline and other stress-related hormones when necessary.

The parasympathetic nervous system regulates various bodily functions, such as digestion, under non-active circumstances; it also slows the heart rate and thus has a calming effect.  Much of the information of the parasympathetic nervous system is transmitted through what is called the vagus nerve, which runs from the base of your brain down your spine.  Thus spinal twists should gently stimulate the vagus nerve, allowing it and the calming parasympathetic nervous system to work more efficiently.

Twists also help the alignment of your spine and thus calm the nervous system by relaxing nerves, specifically:
1) There are many many joints in the spine (3 between most pairs of vertebrae) and many many many ligaments, which are highly ennervated.   With good alignment the ligaments and their many nerves relax.
2) Alignment relieves excess pressure on the many spinal nerves (four branches between most pair of vertebrae).

On a psychological level, twists are calming because they help us to literally see things from a new perspective and because they offer a feeling of reduced stress upon completion in the area that was receiving the twist.  The nervous system interprets this decrease in less stress as a “safe” situation that promotes further physical release throughout the whole body.

Answered by Michelle Hegmon, with input from Sarv Varta and Jeff Martens.All suggestions are voluntary.  Consult a qualified teacher or your physician before you embark on any practice in which you are unfamiliar.