 Philosopher in Meditation Harmensz Van Rijn, known as Rembrandt (1606-1669) 1632, oil on wood, 28x34 cm, Musée de Louvre, Paris "Divinely I meditate I recently finished an MA program, and within 48 hours, I began feeling anxious. I thought, "I ought to be doing something, creating something, or contributing something... acting, doing." It was challenging to feel content with what I had accomplished or graciously bask in its glory. I worried that perhaps I wasn't enough, that maybe I lacked talent, skills, and worth now that I wasn't writing essays concerning the fallout of colonialism, racism, and other forms of oppression. I felt uncomfortable laying out my yoga mat and pretending to teach someone (for practice). It had been so long since I taught a yoga class, perhaps a year and a half. I wondered, "Is this who I am still? Am I just a yoga teacher? Am I worthy even for that role?" Eventually, my attempts to teach an imaginary student turned into a personal practice which turned into Reiki meditation, a flow of tears, and a moment of mindfulness. Picture it. My hands are in the air, above my head, and I begin saying the Reiki Principles to myself, "Just for today, don't be angry." My hands immediately start coming down as I am not angry, and I feel no radical amount of blockage or energy in that part of my aura/body. So I move towards my throat, "Just for today, do not worry." (Cue the tears). My hands organically come down to rest an inch in front of my heart, "Just for today, be grateful." And they settle there, feeling this pulsing of energy, this warmth, and a need for healing. "Just for today, be true to your way and your being" (more tears), "Be Kind to Yourself and Others." Like a mantra, I repeat these Reiki principles, and I let go. And I let go. And I let go. And here I am. Living in mindfulness means paying regular, calm attention to the present moment. It means checking in with yourself, the weight you might be carrying around, and the shallowness, or depth, of your breath. It means allowing yourself the time and space to be, feel, and process that which is occurring inside you, in your subconscious, and your heart. It means understanding your emotions and the actions they subconsciously cause. In the upcoming weeks, we will learn a silly-looking asana (The Lions Yawn), radical forms of pranayama, and nourishing asanas to add to our yoga flows. We will also practice mindfulness throughout. However, to move towards mindfulness, we must first understand what it is and how it is practiced. The Kriya book we have been working with, A Systematic Course in the Ancient Tantric Techniques of Yoga and Kriya by Satyananda Saraswati, has multiple lessons on mindfulness that we will, of course, explore. Still, for now, I'd like us to look at the painting above. If you'd prefer to be led through this exercise, then click on the audio recording located within the internet version of this blog post now (versus the newsletter as Mailchimp doesn't always include slideshows and recordings in their platform). Email Subscribers --> Click to Listen to Audio The first thing we see is the intense, yellow light of the winter sun outside -- a sun that dazzles without warmth. Then we notice the old man sitting motionless, having turned away from his table and the book he was studying. Is he thinking? Resting? Meditating? We look to the right and notice the low cellar door, then our eyes are drawn to the spiral staircase, but we have barely registered its first few steps when we notice the fire crackling in the grate and the woman stoking it. Finally, our eyes return to the staircase, but it leads only into darkness. The painting is small, the place it depicts is dark, yet we have a sense of immense space. This is the genius of Rembrandt, who leads us on a visual journey through all the dimensions. We travel the painting widthways left to right, from the daylight pouring into the fragile, almost derisory firelight. There's a dialogue established between the sun that lights but does not warm and the fire that warms but sheds no light. Are these the sun of reason and the fire of passion, two ingredients that combine in philosophy? We travel the painting's height by means of the spiral staircase that links the deep secrets of the cellar to the dark mysteries of the upper floor, and we travel its depth, from the background where the philosopher sits to the surrounding circle of shadows. But the sense of space also derives from the subtle interplay between all that is revealed and all that is hidden, where our imagination is crucial -- what lies on the other side of the window, behind the cellar door, at the top of the stairs? The largest of the worlds hidden from our restless eyes is the philosopher's mind, his inner world. Shadows and darkness, a little light, a little warmth, and a working mind -- is that what our inner selves are like? Meditation Means Stopping Stop doing, stop moving, stop twisting and turning. Meditation means withdrawing a little, stepping back from the world. At first, what we feel seems odd. There's an emptiness (no action or distraction) and a fullness (a tumult of thoughts and sensations that we suddenly notice). There's what we lack -- points of reference and things to do -- and, after a little while, there's the calm this lack brings. Things here are not the same as they are 'outside,' where our mind constantly attaches itself to some aim or project, acting or thinking about something in particular, having its attention held by some distraction. The apparent inaction of the experience of meditating takes a little while to get used to. As in Rembrandt's painting, or when we move from light to shadow, we don't see clearly straight away. We have gone inside ourselves, for real. Our inner world was close by, but we never went there. We tend to hang around outside; in today's world of frantic demands and frenzied connections, our relationship with ourselves often goes untended. We abandon our inner world. The outside world is easier to travel and better signposted. To meditate is often to move through a land without paths. In the room where the philosopher is meditating, there's less light, so you have to open your eyes wider. The same is true inside ourselves. There is less that is obvious or reassuring, so we must open our mind's eye much wider. We expected -- or hoped -- to find calm and emptiness. We often find ourselves in a huge, rowdy, chaotic bazaar. We aspired to clarity; we find confusion. Sometimes meditation exposes us to anxiety and pain, to things that hurt us and that we have avoided by thinking about something else or busily doing things elsewhere. Calming Agitation It all looked so simple from the outside! We thought it would be enough just to sit down and close our eyes. But no, that's just the start. It's indispensable, but not enough in itself. So what now? Now we have to work. We must learn to look, to remain slightly apart from the world, sitting just like this with closed eyes. We must learn to allow the tumult to settle. The first thing to accomplish is no more than that, sitting still and quiet for long enough to allow a kind of calm to settle around the chatter of our mind, enough for us to start seeing a bit more clearly. We must not try to achieve it by force or will -- that would only trigger more chaos. We must let it happen, let it come from inside.  Sometimes we have to wait a long time. This process is not something that can be rushed. We would like to speed it up, but no, meditation takes time. In fact, there are days when nothing comes at all, which may come as a bit of a shock and seem out of tune with times that promise us instant, guaranteed results. Zen wisdom has many tales to illustrate this point, such as the one about a student who asks his teacher, 'Master, how long will I have to meditate to attain serenity?' After a long silence, the master replies, Thirty years.' The student looks stricken. 'Er .. that's a very long time. What if I make twice the effort? What if I work really hard, day and night, and don't do anything else?' The teacher remains silent for a very long time and then says, 'Then it will take you fifty years.' Starting to See More Clearly So we have stopped, we have sat down, and closed our eyes. Not to sleep, not to rest, but to understand. We need to understand what we feel and put some order into the chaos that is simply the world's echo within ourselves. We must understand that there are two paths: the path of intelligence (acting, intervening, kneading reality with our will, lucidity, and effort) and the path of experience (welcoming naked reality and allowing it to cover, inhabit and imbue us, in a movement of intensely attentive letting go). Both intelligence and experience keep us in contact with the world, one enabling us to understand it better, the other to feel it better. Each, in its own way, is a perfect path. Neither is superior to the other. We need them both, and we must keep both alive and in working order. To put it more simply, we can say that the first path is that of philosophical thought, while the second (receiving the world without necessarily understanding it, or understanding it but without words, or beyond words) is that of mindfulness. It is the meditative approach of mindfulness that is the subject of the upcoming blog posts. Living in Mindfulness Mindfulness means intensifying our presence in the moment, stilling ourselves to absorb it instead of escaping it or trying to alter it through thought or action. There is mindfulness in the action of the philosopher who turns for a moment from his work of thinking and enters a different mode of being, digesting and assimilating all that his intelligence has just produced or discovered, preparing himself, perhaps, to go further still, and pausing to be aware. So mindfulness is not about creating emptiness, nor is it about producing thoughts. It means stopping in order to make contact with the ever-shifting experience that we are having at the time, and to observe the nature of our relationship to that experience, the nature of our presence at that moment. This is what is happening now if, while continuing to read these words attentively, you realize that you are also breathing and having bodily sensations, that there are other objects in your field of vision besides this blog, that there are sounds around you, that there are thoughts calling you away or murmuring assessments and judgments of what you are reading, and so on. Mindfulness means, just as you are about to erase this email or close this browser tab and move on to the next (perhaps your hand is already poised before you even finish reading these lines), halting your movement and observing, for example, the intention to close the tab, the intention that's already within you. Saying to yourself, 'I'm going to close/turn the page,' rather than doing it without even noticing. Mindfulness means making a tiny space every now and then to see ourselves doing something. You will tell me we don't need to do this in order to erase an email or turn a page. And that is true. On the other hand, it may prove useful at many other times in our lives. Works Cited:
Saraswati, Satyananda. A Systematic Course in the Ancient Tantric Techniques of Yoga and Kriya. Yoga Publications Trust, 2013. André Christophe. Mindfulness: 25 Ways to Live in the Moment Through Art. Replika Press, 2014.
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 Tanya P. Johnson: Morning Call. Technology of (a) mantra, a vector. That which does not exist shall never be. That which exists shall never cease to be. ~ Bhagavad Gita (2:16). Hello my friend, In the upcoming Lesson 3 from A Systematic Course in the Ancient Tantric Techniques of Yoga and Kriya by Swami Satyananda Saraswati, we will become introduced to many new and transformative practices and concepts. First, we will practice a new mudra that has been shown to dramatically improve and detoxify our lymphatic system -- all the while, making a ridiculous face and laughing at ourselves. Mmhmm. Seriously. Have you ever heard of Simha Kriya (The Lion's Yawn)? It looks a bit like this.   Nadi Shodhana Next, we will discover what prana and the pranic body are. As there are many misconceptions about prana and pranayama, we will attempt to inform ourselves by considering religious and traditional aspects. We will also briefly analyze several ancient scriptures. Then we will delve into prana research provided by modern scientists in order to answer the following question, "What do the scientists conclude?" But, as you know, we cannot only learn about prana and the pranic body through scientific discoveries and investigations. We will need to step into the practitioner's role, and with an open mind. Thus, the next step in our program this month calls for the practice of Pranayama: Nadi Shodhana (Stage 1). After this practice, we might find ourselves intrigued, relaxed, and calm yet still wondering, "Where should my awareness lie?" We will attempt to answer the above question through an introductory lecture on "Awareness." Although we have previously and briefly discussed 'Awareness,' we will spend more time discussing its meaning and implications in this lesson. It is vital to understand this concept, as it lies at the very basis of yoga and yogic techniques. And lastly, we will put all these pieces together in order to practice Meditation: Body Awareness (Part 1). The meditation lesson will include a ten-minute audio guide, so lie out your blanket and prepare to relax on the floor on your back and close your eyes for a journey. Daily Practice Programs Lesson 2A Brief & Personal UpdateIt has been a while since I have been here with you, dear reader, and I apologize. I was honestly afraid this would happen. I applied to a Comparative Literature Master's program at King's College London two years ago and was accepted. When I accepted my place in the program, I worried about how I would manage parenthood, my yoga practice, and my academic studies. I wondered how I would maintain balance. It was very challenging, hence my absence. There were moments of harmony and insight and then moments of imbalance and fluctuation. Still, on Wednesday, I successfully turned in a dissertation for a Master's Degree in Comparative Literature from King's College London! I am so grateful for the skills I have gained as a result of my education, in particular my research skills. I cannot wait to use them as I delve further into Yoga philosophy, and I cannot wait to share what I find with you here and on our YouTube channel.
I hope you have been well! Please feel free to send me an update on your life, as well as anything you'd like me to write about or research concerning yoga, meditation, pranayama, and overall well-being. Sending you love. ~ Ashley  CLICK TO VIEW ONLINE In the previous lesson, I shared the importance of regularly relaxing the mind and body and about how relaxation techniques bring about the removal of physical and mental tension. Today I'd like to share a new shavasana/savasana practice with you :) I hope it will help you relax and leave you feeling refreshed. ❤ Today, I've included the following bits of yoga information:
My whole intention here is to help you develop your own yoga practice for a more peaceful life. Eventually, maybe, we will all be able to maintain an intuitive sadhana (spiritual practice) on our own. And... Perhaps we will all feel comfortable sharing what we are learning with the people we care about. Benefiting everyone :) ❤ YOUTUBE INTRO & RECORDINGShavasana Part 1 & 2 SHAVASANA - PART 2 The two parts of shavasana comprise a whole, and as such, the second part should be practiced immediately after the first part, without a break. Technique
Regarding Sleep, Awareness & Benefits.jpg) Thomas Cole [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons Sleep The biggest problem is sleep unless of course, you practice shavasana specifically to remove insomnia. It is the habit of most of us to sleep whenever we achieve a reasonable degree of relaxation. We seem to associate relaxation with sleep and tension with wakefulness. Yet the aim of shavasana is to gain a high state of relaxation while being fully awake. If we fall asleep halfway through shavasana, we lose much of the benefits, because, during sleep, the mind again manifests its usual patterns of worry. By remaining awake and directing awareness to the different parts of the body and the breath in the way described, our awareness is coaxed away from its entanglement with obsessive mental anxieties. So, try to stay awake, even though it is very easy to just drop off to sleep. Awareness Throughout the practice, one should try to be aware of all the processes which we have described in shavasana. However, it is very easy to think of other thoughts and become distracted from the practice at hand. You should not suppress thoughts if they arise. Let them occur, be aware of them but simultaneously continue on with shavasana. Benefits Instructions During yoga classes, the teacher gives all the necessary instructions and the practitioner merely listens and carries them out. It is far easier to gain benefits under these circumstances. However, when you practice by yourself you should develop the idea that you are the instructor. Instead of the instructor being in the form of another person, he is now in your head. Mentally repeat the instructions to yourself and then enact them. In this way, you are more likely to maintain awareness throughout the practice. Summary of the Steps of Shavasana Shavasana is a systematic technique which progressively relaxes the body and mind. Therefore, the order of practice is important so that you become more and more relaxed as you work through the technique. The following is a list of the basic steps to possibly metally repeat to yourself throughout the practice:
PAGES OF SHAVASANA (PART 1)Works Cited:
Saraswati, Satyananda. A Systematic Course in the Ancient Tantric Techniques of Yoga and Kriya. Yoga Publications Trust, 2013. SAMAVETA PRANAYAMA Within us, there are various forms of energy that permeate and surround our bodies. These are closely connected with our health, the way we think, and how we react to the external world. Some of these energies are well known: nervous energy, chemical energy, and so on. Yet there are some which are not normally perceived in everyday life of most people. It is these subtle forms, as well as the grosser forms of energy that the practices of pranayama seek to harmonize and manipulate (57). This subject of prana and pranayama will be fully discussed in the next lesson, but in this topic, I will describe one of the most straightforward practices of pranayama called samaveta pranayama as I've understood it based on the amazing book we have been exploring now since March 16, 2020. IN TODAY'S BLOG YOU WILL FIND...
SAMAVETA = TOGETHER The Sanskrit word samaveta means ‘together’. Therefore, samaveta pranayama is a practice where one breathes through both of the nostrils. This might seem to be an obvious and inconsequential statement, but the practice is so named to distinguish it from other techniques of pranayama where the flow of air is directed in one nostril by physically or mentally preventing the flow in the other nostril. Technique for Samaveta Pranayama
Duration of the Retention of the Breath Over a period of weeks slowly increase the time of breath retention from a second or so to a maximum of ten seconds. Do not hold the breath for longer than is comfortable. This is important. With practice, the time of breath retention will increase automatically. If you attempt a higher count and realize that it is causing some tension to arise in your body, perhaps back off and continue with the previous number a while longer. Be kind to yourself. Practice ahimsa = non-violence to yourself, mentally, physically, emotionally, etc. (57). Benefits of Samaveta Pranayama  This is an excellent practice in preparing the lungs for more advanced practices of pranayama. At the time of retention, the amount of oxygen taken up by the blood and the amount of carbon dioxide that is discharged by the blood into the lungs is increased. When people breathe quickly and shallowly, the exchange between the circulating blood and the lungs is very small. The increased exchange during samaveta pranayama helps to revitalize the body and improve one’s health (57). Q & A: Samaveta Pranayama & MoreSome of the things that come up for me while attempting to practice samaveta pranayama are the following:
However, I made a few changes to my life and to my practice... more like, a few commitments. And, as a result, I've been successfully practicing samaveta pranayama for the last three days out of seven total. I'd like to share those with you now :) HERE ARE SOME TIPS THAT MIGHT HELP US SUCCEED
STUDENT QUESTION Yesterday, A student of yoga who happened across my Youtube Channel asked me via whatsapp the following question: "When do I know when it is time to move on from one lesson to the next lesson?" This is a wonderful and intelligent question. Luckily for us, the answer to this question is provided by Swami Satayananda Saraswati on page 36 of the full, unabridged textbook, "A Systematic Course in the Ancient Tantric Techniques of Yoga and Kriya". He says: From our experience, we recommend that the techniques contained in each lesson be thoroughly mastered before progressing on to the next set of practices. Generally, this takes a minimum of fifteen days and on the average, one month. This is very important and an essential prerequisite for the eventual success of your sadhana. I hope the information I have provided here helps you in some way. I'm sending everyone out there a hug and wishing you a beautiful day. ❤ Ashley Works Cited:
Saraswati, Satyananda. A Systematic Course in the Ancient Tantric Techniques of Yoga and Kriya. Yoga Publications Trust, 2013. In the previous lessons, Swami Satyananda described eight exercises to loosen up the body, particularly the legs, in preparation for meditative asanas and other types of asanas. In this topic, we will explain two of the simplest sitting positions, which can be used for various meditation, pranayama, and kriya yoga practices. The following two asanas are very useful in the early stages of practice. However, the best sitting positions are the classical meditative asanas. These are padmasana (lotus pose), siddhasana (accomplished posed for men), and swastikasana (auspicious pose for women). Your aim should be eventually to sit in one of these classical asanas. Therefore, the exercises previously given for loosening up the legs should be continued so that the more advanced meditative asanas can be mastered in the future. SUKHASANA (EASY POSE) This is the easiest of the meditative asanas, and everyone should be able to sit in it. Although it may be used for meditation practices, it has one basic drawback: most of the weight of the body is supported by the small area of contact between the floor and the buttocks. After a period of time, this area soon becomes a little painful. However, this can be overcome to a degree by using a cushion under the buttocks. The other meditative asanas have a larger area of contact between the floor and the body - the weight of the body is supported partly by the buttocks and also by the legs, which reduces aches and pains from developing. Technique
Note: As soon as one is able to comfortably perform any other meditative asana, sukhasana should be discontinued. VAJRASANA (THUNDERBOLT POSE) Many people find this asana a little uncomfortable at first because it is a sitting position that few people ever use. At first, the ankles and knees tend to ache, but with practice, this asana will become most comfortable and almost a joy to sit in. Besides being an excellent meditative asana used by Muslims and Japanese Buddhists, it is the starting pose for a large number of other asanas. The Sanskrit word vajra means 'thunderbolt.' The psychic vajra nadi, which is greatly affected by this pose, is an important energy pathway which carries nervous impulses of the genito-urinary system from the brain. It is the same word that has given the name Vajrayana to a form of Tantric Buddhism, which uses sexual union as part of its spiritual sadhana (practice). The term has various other meanings, all connected with the same subject. As such, vajrasana is said to enable the practitioner to gain control over the sexual functions and direct the energy towards expanding consciousness. Technique
ADVICE FOR BEGINNERS Beginners may find it difficult to sit on their feet without the support of the arms. A good method for loosening up the legs is to support your body weight with your arms and then slowly lower your buttocks towards the feet. Bear the discomfort for a second or so and then take support of your arms again to release the tension. Then again, lower your buttocks and repeat the procedure. With practice, you will find that the tension disappears, and eventually, you will be able to sit on the feet for longer periods without the slightest difficulty. Remember, the loosening up exercises will also help you very much to make your legs more supple and allow you to sit in vajrasana. Beginners who find that their legs and feet ache after a very short time in this position should return to the kneeling position and then sit on the floor with the legs outstretched. Bend one leg, hold the ankle, and vigorously shake the foot until all signs of stiffness have disappeared. Repeat with the other leg. Then again, sit in vajrasana. BENEFITS Vajrasana is one of the few asanas which can be performed after taking meals, as asanas, in general, are strictly contraindicated after food. We actually recommend that vajrasana be practiced for five or ten minutes after meals. The reason is simple: vajrasana is a very relaxing position, conducive to a calm mind and body, so it stimulates the digestive processes working in the stomach. As we have already explained, vajrasana is an excellent meditative asana and, in fact, is the only practical meditative asana for people who suffer from sciatica or sacral infections. Vajrasana has one notable advantage over sukhasana: one tends to automatically hold the spine straight while doing vajrasana, whereas in sukhasana there is more of a tendency to slump forwards. For this reason, vajrasana is far superior to sukhasana once it is mastered. Isabella's Aromatherapy Filled Yoga ClassesWorks Cited:
Saraswati, Satyananda. A Systematic Course in the Ancient Tantric Techniques of Yoga and Kriya. Yoga Publications Trust, 2013.  If you have been following along lately, we are gratefully and enthusiastically working our way through our textbook, A Systematic Course in the Ancient Tantric Techniques of Yoga and Kriya! We have completed Lesson 1, which has prepared our bodies for meditation, but the work continues! Now, as we move forward through lesson 2, we are about to add two more asanas to our daily practice program. The following asana, although reasonably simple, is very beneficial for the whole body, particularly the back and abdomen. The nerves in the spinal cord (the vital link between the body and the brain), as well as the internal organs of digestion are stretched, massaged, and revitalized. In the following blog post, you will find:
If you're reading this in your email box, as always when there are videos, I highly recommend you view this post on your browser instead :) LOVE TO YOU ALL ~ Ashley This pose makes you feel ALL the ZEN ;)SAITHALYASANA |
My MessageLove is the essence of our life. I have written this blog with love, and I offer it to you, dear reader, with the hope that the suggestions offered here will become a vital part of your self-healing and continued well-being. ~ Ashley SEARCH TOPICS
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