What is Yoga?
Yoga ain’t yoga pants, yoga mats, yoga retreats, yoga postures, yoga sex videos, yoga studios, yoga butts, yoga tea, yoga DVDs, yoga music, yoga tops, yoga teacher training, yoga classes, yoga Sanskrit, yoga magazines, or yoga books.
Learning is not school. Schools teach you how to put into practice knowing what they give you. The knowledge that you receive is used in life. You can use schools to educate yourself and practice scenarios so that when you go out in life, you will be successful. School is not life. Life is learning. You will do this for the rest of your life. You will learn. A school is not there to teach you anything except how to learn, and that learning is fun.
Those yoga things can be used to enhance yoga in your life, but these things are not yoga. Yoga teaches you how to put into practice the balance required for life. In a yoke, if two animals are not balanced in the yoke then the wagon will travel in a circle and go nowhere. If two oxen are different sizes what the one driver must do is build a yoke that is longer on one side than the other. This will allow for the large ox to take a majority of the load while the small ox can still take part and help. A yoga teacher like the ox driver will ensure that you are balanced in your connection to the multiverse. This will make sure that you are not overwhelmed by whatever and whoever you are yoked to.
The word yoga comes from the word yuj meaning to yoke or bind. Two animals can pull a wagon using a yoke much easier than one. You yoke yourself with your fellow humans, with the earth, with the sky, with energy flowing through the multiverse because you are much more powerful when are connected to others. Without others, you cannot accomplish anything. Imagine you are alone on a desert island and have no food and water. You are quite powerless to provide adequate shelter and food for yourself. Now imagine one million people on that island. If you all pull together, everyone's lives will be more enjoyable.
Most people live in a universe, other people live in a my-verse or a microverse. What is a universe? Let's break this up into two parts. The first part is uni and this means one. The second part is verse and this means several sentences, a paragraph, or a complete thought. If you live in a universe, there is only one thought or one idea that explains everything. A multiverse is many paragraphs, perhaps a whole book or a library of millions of paragraphs to explain the world that you live in. Do you want to live in one paragraph or do you want to live in a world where there are many different houses to live in? Science has discovered at least fifteen different dimensions that affect our world. These dimensions when working together create matter, gravity, electricity, and us. If you are living in this world you will be more powerful if you can balance all of these energies and houses in your life.
The job of a yoga instructor is to teach you balance. Teaching mental balance is very difficult unless you can read a person's mind and sense their thoughts instantly. Any sport or endeavor requires to practise with something simple that can be done easily, and then advance to a higher lever. Yoga instruction starts off with body positions. This helps you to become more flexible and achieve physical balance. Every time you position a part of your body at a certain angle, move your eyes in a certain direction, breathe in or breathe out… it directly affects a different part of your brain. This helps you to activate or deactivate different parts of your brain by positioning your body.
Body language lets everyone around us know what we are thinking… how we stand, our posture, fold our arms, cross our legs... lets other people know what we are thinking. The more balanced and flexible that we are will signify the power to other people. Their brains recognize this as youth and energy. This will cause other people to respond to you in a more positive way. When we repeat poses that others recognize as powerful and energetic, we are sending a signal to the multiverse and ourselves that we are powerful and energetic. If our body language is one of shame and weakness, this will signal to others our lesser status and how we should be treated by them. This also sends signals to our brains and the multiverse that we are of lesser power.
A yoga teacher will start off with poses to simplify the beginner yoga practitioner. Repeating this three or four times a week will create muscle memory. This is why a weekly routine with yoga is so very important. After too much time away from the practice, you tend to lose muscle memory and the mind-body connection. This connection needs to at least be maintained by many sessions. If you are a beginner there is much work to be done and practicing multiple times throughout the week will greatly enhance your progress. There are seven other levels of yoga that you will need to learn along the way. Each one of these is much more complex than the postures. They are mental postures. You cannot look into a mirror and see what you are doing with these mental postures. You can look in the eyes of people and in the eye of the multiverse, and this will reflect your mental posture.
Yoga is designed to unite you with your surroundings. These surroundings could be the physical world or the spiritual world, or the multiverse. The greeting and the farewell in yoga classes is the word "Namaste." This word means that you, I, and all of this stuff around us are one. When we bring our hands together at our heart or with each other, it symbolizes the uniting of all people and our stuff as one. There are times that you may feel the need to disconnect from the world. This is OK. Yoga philosophy discusses the different door handles we can turn to make disconnecting and reconnecting into our world safe.
People can then move from room to room and from house to house. Yoga will explain how to make this connection without upsetting the multiverse or others around you. People that live yoga are inspired to grow and inspire others to be their authentic selves. Take classes that broaden your scope of what yoga can be, and stick with the teachers that challenge that perspective. Using what you learn from yoga in your life will assist you to connect with the world around you. This is doing yoga. Putting into practice what you learned in the classes is yoga. When you practice you will be rewarded.
Going to school is not life. Going to school is a part of life. Going to school will prepare you for a better life. Life is putting into practice the things that you learn. Your entire life… every minute, every second… will be yoked or connected to your world. Yoga is learning to control and manipulate this connection. This can be for your betterment (Human State) or to empower the lives of others (God State). Some people in yoga revel in their superiority over others. They look down on others for not having the wisdom and knowledge that they possess (Devil State).
There are eight rooms in your house for yoga. Learning about and exploring these eight rooms is what you do in the yoga studio. In the first room you learn why you have doors to your dreams, and what can you do to open them. The second room explains why you need walls in your life to avoid your nightmares. The third room demonstrates how you should hold yourself so that your body has the greatest capacity for strength, flexibility, and wisdom. The fourth room reveals how your emotions are affected by your breathing. The fifth room exposes how sensations can be balanced so that life is not too dull or too overwhelming. The sixth room focuses on how you can improve your ability to concentrate. The seventh room is a series of disciplines that awaken your ability to meditate. The eighth room orchestrates the big picture of your life… what you are a part of, how you can serve, and how you can be transformed.
Things We Do (Room #1)
The doors to your dreams are endless and sometimes it is overwhelming to choose which door knob to turn. Imagine how wonderful life would be if you felt confident in opening doors for others and yourself. There are five different steps that lead you to the next door. The first step is hygiene (cleanliness) of mind and body. Hygiene or sainthood means to get rid of unwanted clutter in your home, in your body, or in your mind. The second step is to find happiness or contentment. If you are satisfied with your surroundings, your body, and your mind this is contentment. When we are contented, we are happy. The third step is the energy that you apply to your house, your body, and your mind. The fourth step is the awareness of who you are (ego), where you live, and whom you live with… this is also called anthropology (study of self). Surrender is the final step you will come to reach a door that will take you onto the next house. Surrender involves understanding what is, and what it means to go with the flow. The multiverse, other people, and other energies surround you constantly. When you fight these and go against the flow, your journey becomes very difficult. Surrendering does not mean giving in or giving up. Surrender means to go with the flow.
Cleanliness (Step #1 to Room #1)
Sainthood. This is something that people strive for or look to others to have to possess. What does the word mean? The words saint, holy, sanitized, or clean all mean the same thing. The Christian Bible is called the Holy Bible or the Sanitized Bible. This involves a constant war between two gods: one was called Yahweh and the other was called Beelzebub. Beelzebub literally means "Lord of Shit" or "Lord of the Flies" which came out of the shit. In the original Hebrew language, the word used was a derogatory form for human excrement. This word could also mean material objects and anything objectionable. When someone says "I have too much shit in my house." it means that they have too much furniture and unwanted things. When someone says "Don't give me any of your shit!", they are saying they consider your opinion to be worthless. The word idol is also translated from this same word most of the time.
Sainthood means to be clean. Clean from unwanted clutter or non-productive activities. A holy man (a clean man or saint) is not distracted by excess material possessions or busy activities. If you wish to be a Holy person, you must ask yourself "How cluttered is my life?" Are your material possessions, possessing your time? How much time do you spend every month cleaning, organizing, fixing, paying to store, or even hoarding from others? Is this how you want to spend your time? How much time do you spend your time earning money to buy more of these possessions that are really not needed? Do your children feel that your glass menagerie has more value to you than they do ("If you break one of these I will kill you!")? To achieve holiness or sainthood, you must rid your life of excess material things and pointless tasks (soccer moms and c-level dads). You will need to assess your life and decide what you really need in your life. Take an inventory of your life. Yoga will help you to evaluate your activities and possessions to figure out the importance of things in your life.
Contentment (Room #1 Step #2)
Contentment is achieved when you have enough. The difference between a billionaire and a contented person is that a billionaire never has enough. Joy, happiness, and mirth are the result of contentment. Contentment is being curled up with a good book on a rainy day in a dry home with a cup of tea. Contentment is watching your children play, laugh, and enjoy themselves (mirth). There are many forms of laughter. Comedy is a tragedy from a different point of view. So when I step on a rake and it flips up and hits me in the face, you will laugh, and I will cry. When I talk to my friends about this, the following week, I will laugh. Comedy always shows two masks, one laughing and one crying. Comedy is not contentment. Mirth is laughter that comes from unbridled joy. There is no tragedy involved. An example of mirth would be emotions that children feel on a playground of unbridled joy. This creates laughter in the children that do not come from tragedy. The laughter that comes from watching two kittens play is called mirth. Most cat videos on Facebook create mirth. If the cat gets injured or hurt then this is a comedy, not mirth. In your life, it is important to have fun and play like a child. The laughter of mirth is the most healing of all laughter that we have as humans.
Contentment means to be satisfied with a simple life, not always striving to get the next new thing or object. This does not mean that we cannot learn or have goals in life, but are they taking time away from more meaningful moments in life. This requires you to take an inventory of what is really important to you and then express gratitude for what you already possess.
Contentment also comes from doing things for others.
Your Passions (Room #1 Step #3)
What is your passion or burning desire that fuels your fire? What keeps you awake at night in anticipation of what you will be doing the next day? The night before Christmas children cannot sleep. The night before you go to Disneyland, all of the kids will be asking you "Is it time to go yet?" What is the happiest day of the week for people working Monday through Friday? You would think that it would be Saturday or Sunday, it is not. The happiest day is Friday and the most miserable day is Sunday. This is because Friday, you are anticipating the weekend and your mind is fantasizing about all of the possibilities. All day Sunday you are dreading all of the things that can go wrong during the workweek.
Most of us live our lives by accident - we live it as it happens. Fulfillment comes when we live our lives on purpose. Some people in the world like to run around and think that making themselves appear busy. When making themselves busy they are only making fires. They light fires because this is exciting. When there is fire then there is an action that must be taken to put the fire out. This is what a pyromaniac does. There first fire that gets out of control causes a big stir and you have fire trucks and firemen and people rush to observe the fire. They get a large rush of emotions because they were the ones that created this monstrosity. They go on to set larger and larger fires and then they come back to watch the confusion and chaos that goes with this.
When people are bored and feel like they are useless, they will set fires: forget to pay bills, put too much soap in a washing machine, forget anniversaries and birthdays, forget to file taxes, misplace important documents, and not give children or employees proper training or instructions so you will have to follow them and put out their fires constantly. As with a pyromaniac, this is a mental illness. Fires do happen on their own. This cannot be avoided. The question that you need to ask yourself when you talk to your friends is, do you say "Oh I have just been putting out fires.", all of the time? Can we prevent these fires? The answer usually is yes. Have we become enablers by constantly putting out the fires of others? Are you a person that only spends time with your friends or family when they have a fire that is out of control? Are they creating these fires just to get our attention? Are you a fireman?
Self Knowledge (Room #1 Step #4)
To have this incredible feeling of passion, you will need to assess what really excites you. Why do you exist? What is the element that you feel the most comfortable in? This takes an inventory. When is the last time that you felt this extreme drive and passion where time disappeared? When you awoke in the morning, you were eager to get out of bed and get started with your day. This requires a lot of self-examination. We are told by society what we should be doing. In high school, they have career counselors that tell you which job you should be going into. In college, they also assess your abilities and point you in a direction that they feel is right for you. Less than 6% of students go into the field that they receive a degree for because that field was not their passion or burning desire. Is what you are doing to make money or earn a living? Is what you are doing your passion? Making money is a piss poor reason to do anything. Making love is a fantastic thing to do. Would you rather make money or make love?
The Higher Power (Room #1 Step #5)
As human beings, we always learn from other people. Babies learn to speak by listening to and being around their parents. Teenagers learn the social skills of life from older teenagers. When you start a new job, you are taught these new skills that relate to the business. As social beings we are hierarchical. We learn life skills by following sage advice from wise people. This includes wisdom from past ages. By finding a yogi with this wisdom that we seek, we must carefully follow the path directed by them in order to receive benefits from their wisdom.
This may include reading and studying ancient wisdom and weekly classes being directed by a yogi. Reading and studying are very important, a yogi can see into your heart and soul, and help you stay on the path. This is why yoga needs to be a daily practice. If your yoga practice is more about nice clothes and mirrors, you may not be receiving the full benefit of the Yogi. Mirrors and clothes are nice, however, they will not impart to you the wisdom of the ages.
When going into class, the yogi should be given respect and reverence. The yogi is there to guide and direct you. Just showing up for class may have a small benefit, you are out of the house, and you are a wonderful person if you are having problems they can give you love and consideration after the class. You will receive far more benefits from the class by being fully engaged with the information and lessons taught.
Avoidances (Room #2)
In order to be direct with our lives, we attract some things and we must avoid (repulse) others. Each of these things that we need to avoid, maybe attract things that we don't want in our lives. If you want others to be truthful to you, are you truthful with them? If we are violent, we will be attracting more violence in our lives. The only way we can repulse these is by living and practicing the opposite. If you wish to live a peaceful life, you will need to repulse (avoid) violence.
Lying (Room #2 Step#1)
"To thine own self be true, and you cannot be false to any man." This statement has been misinterpreted many times over the years. People that are self-centered (egocentric) will think that this means "Put me first." The statement was meant to say do not lie to yourself, and you will not lie to anyone else. When we examine our lives it becomes quite easy to confabulate or make up a rational story to explain our actions. We could have a position at work of supervising others. The CEO of the company could ask us to berate or humiliate other employees. You could rationalize "I am just doing my job." This is what prison guards did in the holocaust as they were ushering in women and children into the gas chambers. "I was just doing my job."
Learning to be honest with ourselves can be quite painful. This does not necessarily entail confession or revealing every thought or emotion that we have to the world. It does mean knowing our inner self, the driving force in our lives, our passions, our hate, our fears, our loves, our inner demons, and our current State of The Human Condition. We have learned that in The Human Condition we will be in all three states at one time. Those who say "Oh, I am always in the God State" are not being true to themselves. Even those who will proclaim "I am always in the Devil State" again are not being true to themselves. To be honest with yourself, you must become content with all aspects of your motives. You will have to embrace The Human Condition realizing there are different motives that will create the same action. Being honest with others cannot exist unless we are honest with ourselves. Once we become transparent and honest with our own introspection the only option is, to be honest with others.
Being honest with other people does not require that we reveal every fault or mistake that is made. We can be honest in recognizing what exists and then we can use some makeup to cover it over... "Love covers a multitude of blemishes." When we are honest with ourselves, it is easy to uncover the motives and intentions of others. It will become more difficult to say "They lied to me!" because uncovering our own reasoning reveals the reasoning of others. When we yoke ourselves to others, if we are lying to them, the end result is less effective. How many people have played tug-o-war and they act like they are pulling on the rope, but there is no effort on their part? You have diminished the chance of your team winning. Lying to others will only lessen or weaken your efforts. Are you going to yoga to show off your cute clothes and toned body?
Violence (Room #2 Step #2)
Have you ever noticed when there is a war on something that it gains more power? How good has the war on drugs been going? How about the war on poverty? Every time that anyone goes to war against something, it seems to increase in power. Violence is going to war. War is violence. Does domestic violence create a happier and united family? Violence always destroys the work and effort of others. Have you ever gone into your garden and tried to destroy all of the weeds and bugs? The next day you noticed that they were all back in force. In Africa, they tried to control predators and herbivores to enhance modern farming. The end result was the Sahara Desert. Less than 200 years ago many parts of the Sahara were grasslands and flowing water. Today they realized that this war or violence against the predators and herbivores in reality actually destroyed the land that farmers were using. When they went with the flow (working in harmony with predators and herbivores) the land was restored to fertile farmland.
Violence always requires a huge amount of effort. It normally takes you in the opposite direction that you want to go. Nonviolence is going with the flow. Working with the multiverse and what-is is much more productive and energy efficient. Taking this path will allow the multiverse to enhance or increase your efforts. In Kung-Fu you take the energy of your opponent and redirect it. When you push against someone else, what do they do? ...They push back. By absorbing their blow, it has less effect on you and reduces their anger toward you. If someone slaps you, you slap them back instantly, and the fight escalates. Then you both become injured! Nothing is accomplished. Fear is what creates violence.
A non-violent solution requires knowledge and awareness of the multiverse. It requires knowing yourself. You must be true to yourself on what your end goal really is. It requires knowing people. If you don't know people you don't know nonviolence. Much more can be achieved by balancing the needs of others with your own. Non-violence applies to physical, mental, and emotional attacks. To be non-violent requires spending little time in the Lizard Brain, and more time in the human brain. Where do you want to be?
Stealing (Room #2 Step #3)
Every person has their territory. This could be a piece of dirt that you stand on, a rock that you hold, some food in your purse, an idea in your head, a special friendship, or a relationship with a tribe. These are all things that people in The Human Condition use for safety and status symbols in their society. These objects have no real value except in their own minds. When you take something that someone else has flagged as their possession what you are really doing is taking a piece of their soul. You are showing disrespect to them and creating fear.
To embrace non-violence and go with the flow we need to understand what other people feel are their possessions. Pride can be a possession. When we hurt their feelings, we could be taking their pride or self-esteem. To avoid stealing from others requires that you show respect for the territory that they have staked out. A generous person will have a hard time stealing from others. If a generous person needs something most will be more than happy to give to this person when they are in need. Generosity will help you avoid the pitfall of stealing. Understanding abundance will help you to become more generous.
Stealing is driven by fear, a feeling of hopelessness, desperation, the Devil State, jealousy, revenge, and a lack of compassion for others. This takes away from our own inner power and self-respect. To avoid this we need to empower ourselves and others by moving into the Human State, and eventually to the God State. In The Human State, you will realize the abundance that you have created, and in the God State you understand the abundance in the multiverse, and you will work to distribute this cornucopia (abundance) to all.
Hoarding (Room #2 Step #4)
Now have you seen the TV show "Hoarders"? You notice that they have a house full of shit, literally and physically. All of the things in the house have no current use. Many of these items had a use at one time: a pot, a pan, a love letter, a bill, a baby carriage, a TV, a computer, a skeleton, shoes, a dead cat, bookcases, pianos, magazines...
Sylvia Cynthia Stout would not take the garbage out
… so it piled high to the ceiling, lemon rinds, and potato peelings
An Individual is hoarding when they collect more things into their territory than they can possibly use or deal with. When enough shit piles up in your life, it immobilizes you. You cannot walk from room to room, find the fridge, locate the pans, uncover the stove, or locate the toilet… then even more shit piles up! You can also hoard money. Hoarding money takes it out of circulation. Money needs to circulate to be of any value. This devalues the lives of others. In the example of the house, there are many people that need pans, that need a fridge, that need a stove, and would love to have a toilet. Your hoarding of these things diminishes your life, it diminishes the lives of other people. You can also hoard love and compassion. By keeping love and compassion to yourself you are depriving others of your love and compassion. Not only is your life of less value, but you have not alleviated the pain of others.
In envy, you want to harm the person because you don't want them to be superior to you. In jealousy, you harm because you don't want them to take something away from you
Hoarders live on the principle of scarcity. Hoarders live in fear. Hoarders go against the flow. Once you understand abundance, hoarding is not an option.
Minimalism is the opposite to hoarding. Hoarding creates noise in our lives. This noise stops our ability to meditate and become aware of what is. Many wealthy and busy people have a home with very few things in it: a chair, a table, and a bed. This allows them to come home and rest, and not be overwhelmed by objects. Every object that you possess needs to be dusted, cleaned, and adored. This will consume many hours of your life. Do you have objects in your house to impress visitors? ...So many objects that you need to put into glass cases that are never opened to showcase your wealth?
A truly powerful person is willing to give to others. Whether this is physical objects or ideas. The more power that you have, the less that you need to hoard. Understanding the flow in the multiverse you will realize the constant creation, destruction, and recreation that is going on. You cannot own anything. You can only rent it for a short period of time. Your power will be in what you give away, not what you hold close. If you wish for more love, kindness, and respect, this is what you will give away. If you wish for more hate, disgust, and anger… this will be what you give away. If you desire more knowledge, you will share knowledge with others. Would you like to have more money? Then this is what you should be giving away. Have you discovered that money can buy you happiness as long as you are giving it away to others?
Are you noticing that wealthy people will hold large sums of money in the bank? They will have garages full of expensive cars that they never drive. They will have rooms full of furniture that they never go into. They have homes that they never visit. All of this is a result of fear and lack of self-esteem. They are not aware of the abundance and the condition of the multiverse. It is like a person standing on a sandy beach holding a bag of sand and shells, feeling proud of their possessions. Having objects or possessions to enhance our life is not hoarding. Only when we collect these things to the point where we can no longer personally use these for ourselves or use them to benefit the lives of others. Are we just using these objects to enhance our self-worth or our position in The Human Condition in the eyes of others?
Selfishness (Room #2 Step #5)
If you wish to move into the God State, you will need something to give to others. Before you can give something, you must receive it. Becoming a teacher will require that you learn first. This means that you will become a disciple of a yogi. Preserving the teaching of the yogi will require you to become the footstep follower. To follow in someone else's footsteps requires great focus and balance. You will spend many hours in practice and meditation to fully understand the teachings of the yogi. This does not mean that you cannot impart newfound knowledge and skills to others as soon as you learn them. The best way to get something is to give it away.
You will need to understand that you may not fully comprehend the multiverse until you are able to expand your education. What you will be giving to others is a mere glimpse of what is. A wise pupil will direct their friends and loved ones to the yogi for more instruction. At first, it will be very important not to deviate from the instructions as you could become lost. This is like taking a trip and using a map. If you deviate from the main route right away, you could end up in a totally different direction than you had intended. Once you become familiar with the route where you want to go, then you can take side roads for a scenic view, and still arrive at the same location.
Choosing a good teacher requires observation of what they are teaching. You will need to interview their students. This will help you to better understand the teacher. Is the teacher letting material objects and obedience to lines and rows dominate their instructions? Are their followers seeking enlightenment or do they just want to show off their new yoga pants and asses? Are the teachers committed to changing the world or are they just victims of circumstance? Is the teacher more concerned about their studio or about you?
Your Posture (Room #3)
Yoga is about connecting your mind to your body. Yoga is about connecting yourself to others around you. Are you comfortable with who you are? Is there something that you would like to change? Are there things that do not need to be changed? Becoming self-aware of who we are and what we are (the ego) is part of yoga. The positions help us to be aware of our bodies and our capabilities. This will also help us to realize the potential that our body has. In reference to The Human Condition which state do we spend the most time in? ...Devil? ...Human? ...God? Can we control this? Can we move from one state to another just as we move from tree to downward dog? Is it that easy? ...Yes.
Every thought that goes through our brain is expressed in positions, twitches, cramps, and how we sit or stand… Others can read our minds by looking at our body language. As deaf people use sign language to communicate thoughts and feelings to others, we are constantly letting others know how we feel. Scientists have found that you can send information to your brain by moving your body into different positions. You can create sorrow, joy, happiness, sadness, or fear in your brain by changing body positions and facial muscles. Postures in yoga help you to gain control over the people on the bus by how you stand, sit, or balance. Each position will send energy to a different portion of your brain.
Being in control of our bodies and minds will enable us to send out the correct information to those around us. They will sense power and ageless wisdom by how we stand, act and walk. Being more aware of who we wish to be will help us send the right signals out to the multiverse. What signals do you wish to send to the multiverse?
What is? Where are we at? Where do we wish to go? If we are not aware of these things then we have no direction. This is just like a piece of driftwood in the ocean going up and down with each wave, being pushed by every tide. Is this how you want to live? Or do you want to be a fine clipper ship? ...using the currents and the wind to take you in any direction that you wish to go. Knowing the ports, knowing the tides, knowing your crew, knowing your pegleg (ARRR!), having your parrot that talks, and controlling your wenches. Or would you rather be a piece of driftwood? Where do you wish to go?
Who is in your boat? Who is in your life? What is your relationship with them? We become weaker on our own, but we become totally debilitated by the wrong people in our lives. The right people empower us and make us stronger. What makes people right or wrong in your life? If you have two people in a car and one would like to go north and the other would like to go south, you will probably end up going nowhere. The right people should have the same intentions and direction that we do. This requires us for being self-aware, honest with ourselves, and honest about other people. You may really like other people, but they don't have the same interest and direction as you. It is not because they are bad, it is because they are not going in the same direction. You may find years later that you both end up in the same place… no problem. The issue is what do you want to be now? ... Are the people in your life helping you get there?
In a yoga studio, there can be many people who are disciples of the yogi. Their level of learning and knowledge will all be in the same direction, but you may find the direction that they wish to take in life could be different than yours. As far as the studio or the classes go you could all become one when you go out into the real world, or you could all be going in different directions. In the studio, you will have a close interpersonal relationship. In the world, you may hardly ever see them. With the people that are around you, do you have a parent-child relationship? ...employer/employee relationship? best friends? acquaintances? leaders of tribes? All these relationships must be identified to keep them in balance. Meditation, listening, and getting rid of unnecessary noise will help us to balance these relationships.
Your Breath (Room #4)
With no breath, there is no life. You can have a lung full of air and unless it is moving in and out, you will die. Before you can take something in, you have to give something away. Breathing in creates energy in our body. When we breathe out we are giving away part of ourselves. The function of breath is life. Try holding your breath (hoarding). This only works if you are underwater. When we breathe in we sense chemicals and vibrations that surround us. What we breathe in gives our brain and our body energy to function. This is in the form of oxygen and eliminates the waste from the spent oxygen. Other living beings around us take in our waste and send back oxygen.
There are other forms of energy besides air. Breathing is like a posture. Being aware of our breath helps us to understand that we are taking in energy from the multiverse, and then giving it back. Before we can receive more energy, we must empty ourselves. Understanding that everything is a cycle of giving and take helps us to establish our place in the multiverse.
Inhaling through our nose and out through our mouth we become more aware of our surroundings through our sense of smell. Breathing out through our mouth, we become aware of ourselves through our sense of taste. Breathing in through the mouth helps us become aware of the outside world. Breathing out through the nose helps us become aware of ourselves through our sense of smell. Our method, pattern, and rate of breathing will affect our emotional feelings and our way of thinking. Learning how to link these to our physical movements will help us achieve balance in our lives.
Our method of breathing combined with postures will affect different people on the bus. It will reinforce or negate their vote. By practicing your breathing with your postures you will understand how to control and direct your energy in your life. Its better than a Redbull!
When we breathe we are connected to the rest of the world. There is no stopping this. Either we take, or we give… if we stop this process for too long, we die. Breathing just right, and learning how to make the lungs efficient, clarifies our awareness of the world. Big breath, big life…. mindful breath, mindful life… breathe small, move small... breathe big move big. Breathe fear, live fear… Breathe joy, live joy… whatever you want in life you must give away. Breathe it baby, or die!
Disconnecting (Room #5)
Sometimes there are just too many things going on in life. You do not have time to stop and think. When this happens it requires that you disconnect. Disconnecting has become popular, but misunderstood concept. Disconnecting is like going into a quiet room to get away from the distractions of the exterior world. This allows you to examine yourself and your motives. Without knowing ourselves, we cannot know other people or where we wish to go. Excess noise causes us to react. When we react we are operating from the Lizard Brain which severely reduces the number of choices that we have. Normally this involves one of the three F's (fear, food, and procreation). If we are in a fight or argument, then the best thing to do is to disconnect and walk away. This allows us time to get out of the Lizard Brain and make better choices.
In order to become comfortable with ourselves, we need to get away from external distractions. This allows introspection and the ability of self-control. You must learn to like yourself before others can like you.
This disconnection does not entail losing your ego. Your ego is who you are. You do not want to lose yourself, otherwise, you will have no identity. People that have lost their egos will be put into mental institutions where they take on the egos of famous people that others admired such as Napoleon, Elvis, Jesus, etc. You can examine and change your ego, but you never wish to lose it.
Disconnecting should only be for a prescribed time. If it is done for too long a time period, you may never come back. If it is for too short of a time period, you may not have enough time to get out of your Lizard Brain. If it is for the perfect amount of time, you will get right into your Human Brain.
Soccer moms and C-Level dads will never disconnect until they collapse from total exhaustion. This creates chaos and confusion in their lives. They will need to allow themselves and their children time to be bored so that they can foster balance and creativity in their lives. The most creative thoughts come out of boredom.
Concentration (Room #6)
Concentration is where you get rid of exterior distractions. Focus is where you are putting the concentration at.
Focus is what gets you where you want to be. I have learned this while driving a car. Where my attention is focused, this is where I steer the car. If I focus on the road directly in front of me, my driving is erratic and jerky. You need to focus 2-300 yards ahead of where you are in order to have a smooth drive. If you focus only on the current chaos in your life, you will not know where to go. It's best to focus on where you want to go. Where do you want to be a year from now? Where would you like to be ten years from now?
Focus is also required when you hit a metal rod with a hammer. If you have one hand holding the rod, and the other hand swinging the hammer where do you focus? Do you focus on the hand you do not want to hit? Do you focus on the rod that you want to hit? If you are worried about hitting your hand, then you will hit it. The only thing that works in this situation is to focus entirely on the rod and ignore the hand.
Concentration is required when reading and remembering things. When you are reading you are focused on reading. When you are trying to remember you are focused on the subject. Becoming proficient at either one will require concentration. Concentration requires filtering of non-pertinent (non-related) information. The human brain is always on the prowl for new information. While you are reading it may be taking in information about a squirrel, a bird, or the hottie sitting across from you. This is normal. To have focused concentration requires practice. There are exercises that you can do to increase your focus and concentration, mentally and physically. Your yogi will help you with these.
Meditation (Room #7)
We have all heard the expression "Go with the flow." An example would be if you want to sail a ship from the harbor to the ocean. It will be more efficient if you sail out to the ocean with the outgoing tide. If you come into the harbor, it is easiest if you come in with the incoming tide. There is a flow of energy between people and there is a flow in the multiverse as well. If we can learn this flow and go with it our efforts will be more successful. Learning the flow requires patience, quietness, boredom, and meditation.
If we find ourselves constantly faced with failure this could be because we are going against the flow. Are you trying to force everything in life? Are you upset that your children cannot clean their rooms and do their homework? You could be going against the flow. If you practice with your yogi, they can help you find the flow in any situation that you are in. Once you find the flow, you will not be sabotaging your efforts.
Meditation helps you get out of the Lizard Brain. The Lizard Brain is what keeps us in fear, hunger, panic, and sexual frustration. Meditation helps you to gain control over the human brain by temporarily disconnecting you from the noise of the world. It's like standing on the street corner with busy traffic and having four people screaming at you about four different things. I am sure you understand the feeling. You will not be able to have any decisions or rational choices without disconnecting from all of the noise.
Happiness is created within yourself. Fear comes from outside sources attacking you. Meditation helps you to build this inner world where you can find contentment. Meditation helps you to build a wall to block out the fearmongers. They wish to use fear to control you. This is known as the "Chicken Little Syndrome" If you don't know who Chicken Little is please watch this video.
Meditation is about getting in touch with your inner self. It is not about losing yourself or losing your identity (ego). Meditation is about disconnecting temporarily from the outside world and noise so that you can get in touch with your inner self. If you are still feeling the panic and fear from the Lizard Brain you could temporarily disconnect from everything, just don't stay there too long as you may never come back.
Meditation can be done while you are sleeping. To become more familiar with your inner self keep a notepad by your bed. If you wake up in the middle of the night with an idea or from a dream, write down your thoughts. When you wake up first thing in the morning also write down any thoughts or ideas that you may be feeling. When we sleep ideas that we may have are not always laid out in permanent memory. This is like "51 First Dates" where the heroine woke up every morning with no memory from the day before. By writing down our thoughts we can look at them when we are fully awake and decide their importance.
Meditation can include self-hypnosis. Self-hypnosis is giving your inner self-direction or ideas to follow. This is the same as a hypnotist can make you act like a chicken or think that you are naked in front of a crowd. The beauty of self-hypnosis is that you are in control of where you want your inner thoughts to go. Self-hypnosis can benefit you with mental or physical stress.
If you want to learn the different forms of meditation, you will need to practice with your yogi.
Complete Connection with the Multiverse (Room #8)
The more proficient that you become in the previous seven rooms, the more you will achieve a connection to the multiverse. There are some people who are trying to achieve nirvana or a connection to nothingness. We would like you to become connected to everything. In order to achieve this connection, you will need a better understanding of yourself and the multiverse.
You will need to understand the difference between Zen and Pachi Mama, and the possibility of living somewhere in between. You will need to understand The Human Condition and how you are in all three states at one time (Devil, Human, God States), and how you have the ability to freely flow from one to the other. You will understand that there are many paths and no wrong ways. By embracing the multiverse and what is, you will become far more powerful than trying to fight against the flow.
Balance will be required in any of these activities like arrogance and humility, it is not one or the other, it is both. Another example is pleasure or pain, it is not one or the other, it is both. Often times people fight against evil only to realize that they were looking in a mirror... By attending classes with the yogi, you can learn mental and physical balance in all things. Currently, our minds are connected to our bodies. This is why we need to work on both. You can do one or the other, but this will not be as effective for either.
The more proficient that we become in all eight of these rooms, the closer we will come to understand our own godliness (powerful creator). You will learn to control your mind, you will learn to control your body, and you will learn to control the elements (by turning the thermostat up and down, or carrying an umbrella). We wish to gain this control without forcing our bodies or brains by using chemicals to get there. We all require food, vitamins, and amino acids to sustain our bodies. We do not wish to become addicted or dependent on something that can take control away from us. You can twist your ankle and need a crutch to be able to walk, but if you wish to fly you must learn how you can lose your crutch safely. You must seek a yogi.