I am always impressed and awed with the power of breath. Many people approach and are interested in a spiritual path due to the fact that one can heal ... one does heal on the road to enlightenment/spiritual development. The breath can HEAL.
I am also fascinated with the fact that the breath is one of the keys on the path of Kung fu, Chi Kung and Yoga... among other paths. One is not able to progress to higher levels without management of the breath.
In panic, fear, anger, anxiety... and other labels we have for various illnesses, the breath can be observed as unsteady, imbalanced, shallow, constricted and otherwise inharmonious.
The breath tells us so many things. Observe your breath. Tell yourself that today you will observe your breath in all moments. This will show you how much awareness you have and how much sleep you engage in during the day. If you promise yourself that you will do this and find you `forget` ... that is a form of sleep... remember the previous blog on fragmented self (many I's and unifyng the self)? If one part of yourself says it will take on this practical challenge, and you find that you 'forget' most of the day, that shows how another part has come forward which is not engaged in the Work at all! Remember, this Work is also about waking up more fully in your daily life. This is a great tool and a useful practical exercise to show you where you are really at.
You will notice how your breath changes around certain people and before, during, and after certain experiences. Follow your awareness and observe without trying to change it ... just watch without judgement and be interested in these patterns you will come to see. How do you breathe? Deeply? In the chest only? Is your breath constricted anywhere? Under what conditions and how...
When we sit for long periods, our breath tends to naturally slow down ... sometimes, when we are engaged in an activity and sitting for a long time we may lose awareness of the breath and how it is flowing. We may not be naturally breathing deeply and fully.
Remember to take breaks, move around a bit, stop .... inhale and exhale slowly 20 long deep relaxed breaths in fresh air during the day ... and do your daily practice with awareness.
When we do Kung fu, Chi kung and Yoga, we cultivate breath awareness and it is a major part of our work. We can feel, in our pulses, the difference before and after practice ... we can feel it in our pulses if we are not engaged in full breath throughout our being ... and this, in turn will affect our inner flows of energy and eventually our physical form and organs.
Check this out yourself (meaning there is research on this) ... it has been found that cancer does not survive in a highly oxygenated system ... it can not grow... it requires an acidic and low oxygen system. How do we eat ... think... breathe ... There is other research with various illnesses and the breath ...
We all have things we work with while here ... while walking our path ... we will have moments - even periods where we forget ... continue to walk on ... apply and use your tools and practical exercises ... remember to avoid labelling, judging, comparing, measuring self and others ... simply work with where you are at ... continue to learn and observe your self ... observe others and learn from them as well.
The breath is a major key ... this is another reason we do formal practices every day ... it becomes clear to us that this really works and we now have a tool to use ... if we REMEMBER ourselves and do the Work.
The breath can HEAL and bring us to higher levels of awareness ... prove it to yourself ... with consistent work over time.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Many I's and Unifying the Self
Today's topic is about unifying the self. One way we have become fragmented is a way in we have all been affected in one way or another ... our experiences growing up with our loved ones, friends, teachers ... strangers .... experiences in life and our ways of reacting/responding to these things.
There are many ways to approach this Work we do. We look at the body and it tells us things. We observe behaviour and it reveals certain things. We use our feelings and intuition and learn from that. We move and learn from that too. Everything we do ... everywhere we go ... every moment reveals something to us if we look, sense, hear, feel beyond the ways we are accustomed to.
Ever wonder why it is that we may have a genuine desire ... a feeling to do something ... a goal ... a dream we may have ... a desire to improve our life or something about ourselves ... a desire to be free from the dramas we engage in - in life and in our relationships .... and come up against inner blocks - or even external circumstances that appear to be preventing us from achieving these things? How about the famous New Year's resolutions ...
When we examine the foundation principles of many genuine spiritual paths, we find a common mention of the unification of the inner self ... an inner and outer harmony and balance in the energy flows. While each path may have a unique way of wording this, it is none the less the same.
Within all of us, fragmentation of the self exists to different degrees. As we grow up, we learn that people do not always appreciate us exactly the way we are. Babies are the first to learn this and it goes on and on from there ... each parent is different, our grandparents are different, our friends and teachers and all others we come in contact with are unique .... we learn from an early age what is acceptable and to whom. We respond to these things by masking the genuine expression of our self in the moment. We all do this in different ways.
Observe a child over time - many very young children (babies...toddlers) will behave more naturally and genuinely whomever they are around. Then there is a point at which they begin to learn, through experience, that when they behave a certain way, different people will react differently. Over time, they gain the awareness that they can attain specific results with a change in their behaviour, tone of voice, words etc. They begin to consciously and unconsciously alter their behaviours in order to get responses they like or to avoid the one they do not. Over time, this solidifies into a set of unconscious behaviour patterns we can call conditioning. With Work, we can alter this conditioning and our personality.
As adults, we are a unique mix of many ways of being ... inside ourselves... we can call this many I's ... there is the I that says I wish to eat well .... there is the I that wants cake and eats it ... there is the I that comes forward around certain people and behaves this way ... there is the I that comes forward around other people and behaves that way.
Life is not rigid ... all of life is moving and changing - even if slowly. Some of us develop rigid ways of being that we present to all people - we may imagine that this is unification, unless we see that we have no flexibility and freedom of expressing and being whatever we feel to be in the moment. Our rigid ways do not allow us to feel or experience many things, and can often be seen in body structure. Our bodies reflect what we hold onto and how we restrict ourselves from feeling and engaging with the energies inside and around us.
Most of us are not aware of these subtle shifts inwardly and we feel and talk of ourselves as though we are One and United inside, while we are not. There are many ways in which to experience that we are not One within ourselves ... here I will mention a few. If we were One (or whole, as some say), then we would have the ability to do what we say we will do ... we would not experience inner conflict, as this is the result of different aspects of ourselves not in agreement with each other, therefore we are divided inwardly ... we would be aware of ourselves as we are with each person, and if we behaved differently around different people, we would do so with the awareness of it ... engaging in the moment and acting according to how we feel with each person with awareness and not due to our conditioning, attitudes, or reactions. Instead, we have excuses, justifications and explanations for why we behave the way we do around different people and we really believe these things ... as though we had no inner responsibility for our selves and the way we behave, talk, hold and express our self.
Control is a good word, here. We have no control over emotional attitudes or reactions when there is no awareness of our inner state ... no inner wakefulness and self-reflection. We feel justified, instead, when we react. Control (not in the usual negative sense of the word), comes with awareness of and engagement with inner and outer movements of energies. The first step is development of awareness and ability to see ourselves as we really are.
Natural is a great word to use here. Prior to the conditioning we are all exposed to, we are more natural with people ... we may behave differently around others - not due to unconscious patterns, but due to a natural expression of what we are feeling in the moment ... this is different - it is genuine. Babies and toddlers are more genuine ... ever hear a toddler say something like - that person smells, mommy - or yuck, that smells bad - when sitting down to eat a meal at a restaurant or your friend's house .... we may cringe, wondering if anyone heard them, but they are genuine and do no know about hurting people's feelings (there is no intention to do so) ... they simply feel and express the truth ... then they begin to learn what is acceptable according to what they are taught. But what is acceptable is not always what they are really feeling, and so they learn to mask what they really feel. What is acceptable is different to different people ... how confusing this is to a young child developing ... soon, for most, it becomes more important to view the outside world and respond according to IT rather than from their own genuine SELF -- with wisdom and discernment developed over time and with proper guidance.
The degree to which we are separated and fragmented from our genuine self depends on our own unique experiences growing up, and how we responded inwardly to these experiences. There are differences in our ways of responding to similar things - even as a child in a similar environment ... working where we are at currently and consistently with useful tools will alter us inside and out. Comparing ourselves to others and/or judging ourselves or others for where we/they are at will not assist us in any way.
We are also born with certain influences, tendencies and characteristics ... some of us look at these things in relation to the energies present at the time of our birth ... natal charts etc. ... we can use these things as another sort of tool to gain insight into our tendencies, and strengths and weaknesses. It is useful to remember that we can Work to alter our level of Being and it is not wise to assume that we are limited to any system's way of viewing or labelling the many ways we appear to be. Personality tools, elemental descriptions, natal charts etc. are wonderful tools to assist with our understanding; remain open to your opportunity to be something NEW, and focus your awareness on NOW ... the work is here and now ... work from where you are here and now ... know how you are here and now ... you are what you are in THIS moment, so this is where the Work always is ...
If we are truly fragmented and disconnected from our genuine self; what do we do differently? How can we access our genuine self? This is what genuine spiritual paths can lead us to depending on our ability to do the Work. For example, taught properly, Yoga, Chi Kung, Kung fu and other Ways are all Paths to the genuine self ... Yoga, Chi Kung and Kung fu are examples of paths which work with the body in order to unify the self and to unite with the Source of all things.
So what do we do with all this? Embark on the journey of a spiritual path and do your Work. Find out for yourself if there is a better way. Know yourself. Develop a higher level of awareness. Learn to see your self as you really are in the mirrors of self-reflection all around you in every day ... not as you wish to see yourself ... or as you are accustomed to seeing yourself ... or according to how others see you ... Enjoy the benefits of discovering how to consciously co-create your world instead of unconsciously attracting things which you are not enjoying ... or which you may superficially enjoy to your own detriment ... Consistent Work over time reveals to us that there is truly more to us and Life than we have experienced.
There are many ways to approach this Work we do. We look at the body and it tells us things. We observe behaviour and it reveals certain things. We use our feelings and intuition and learn from that. We move and learn from that too. Everything we do ... everywhere we go ... every moment reveals something to us if we look, sense, hear, feel beyond the ways we are accustomed to.
Ever wonder why it is that we may have a genuine desire ... a feeling to do something ... a goal ... a dream we may have ... a desire to improve our life or something about ourselves ... a desire to be free from the dramas we engage in - in life and in our relationships .... and come up against inner blocks - or even external circumstances that appear to be preventing us from achieving these things? How about the famous New Year's resolutions ...
When we examine the foundation principles of many genuine spiritual paths, we find a common mention of the unification of the inner self ... an inner and outer harmony and balance in the energy flows. While each path may have a unique way of wording this, it is none the less the same.
Within all of us, fragmentation of the self exists to different degrees. As we grow up, we learn that people do not always appreciate us exactly the way we are. Babies are the first to learn this and it goes on and on from there ... each parent is different, our grandparents are different, our friends and teachers and all others we come in contact with are unique .... we learn from an early age what is acceptable and to whom. We respond to these things by masking the genuine expression of our self in the moment. We all do this in different ways.
Observe a child over time - many very young children (babies...toddlers) will behave more naturally and genuinely whomever they are around. Then there is a point at which they begin to learn, through experience, that when they behave a certain way, different people will react differently. Over time, they gain the awareness that they can attain specific results with a change in their behaviour, tone of voice, words etc. They begin to consciously and unconsciously alter their behaviours in order to get responses they like or to avoid the one they do not. Over time, this solidifies into a set of unconscious behaviour patterns we can call conditioning. With Work, we can alter this conditioning and our personality.
As adults, we are a unique mix of many ways of being ... inside ourselves... we can call this many I's ... there is the I that says I wish to eat well .... there is the I that wants cake and eats it ... there is the I that comes forward around certain people and behaves this way ... there is the I that comes forward around other people and behaves that way.
Life is not rigid ... all of life is moving and changing - even if slowly. Some of us develop rigid ways of being that we present to all people - we may imagine that this is unification, unless we see that we have no flexibility and freedom of expressing and being whatever we feel to be in the moment. Our rigid ways do not allow us to feel or experience many things, and can often be seen in body structure. Our bodies reflect what we hold onto and how we restrict ourselves from feeling and engaging with the energies inside and around us.
Most of us are not aware of these subtle shifts inwardly and we feel and talk of ourselves as though we are One and United inside, while we are not. There are many ways in which to experience that we are not One within ourselves ... here I will mention a few. If we were One (or whole, as some say), then we would have the ability to do what we say we will do ... we would not experience inner conflict, as this is the result of different aspects of ourselves not in agreement with each other, therefore we are divided inwardly ... we would be aware of ourselves as we are with each person, and if we behaved differently around different people, we would do so with the awareness of it ... engaging in the moment and acting according to how we feel with each person with awareness and not due to our conditioning, attitudes, or reactions. Instead, we have excuses, justifications and explanations for why we behave the way we do around different people and we really believe these things ... as though we had no inner responsibility for our selves and the way we behave, talk, hold and express our self.
Control is a good word, here. We have no control over emotional attitudes or reactions when there is no awareness of our inner state ... no inner wakefulness and self-reflection. We feel justified, instead, when we react. Control (not in the usual negative sense of the word), comes with awareness of and engagement with inner and outer movements of energies. The first step is development of awareness and ability to see ourselves as we really are.
Natural is a great word to use here. Prior to the conditioning we are all exposed to, we are more natural with people ... we may behave differently around others - not due to unconscious patterns, but due to a natural expression of what we are feeling in the moment ... this is different - it is genuine. Babies and toddlers are more genuine ... ever hear a toddler say something like - that person smells, mommy - or yuck, that smells bad - when sitting down to eat a meal at a restaurant or your friend's house .... we may cringe, wondering if anyone heard them, but they are genuine and do no know about hurting people's feelings (there is no intention to do so) ... they simply feel and express the truth ... then they begin to learn what is acceptable according to what they are taught. But what is acceptable is not always what they are really feeling, and so they learn to mask what they really feel. What is acceptable is different to different people ... how confusing this is to a young child developing ... soon, for most, it becomes more important to view the outside world and respond according to IT rather than from their own genuine SELF -- with wisdom and discernment developed over time and with proper guidance.
The degree to which we are separated and fragmented from our genuine self depends on our own unique experiences growing up, and how we responded inwardly to these experiences. There are differences in our ways of responding to similar things - even as a child in a similar environment ... working where we are at currently and consistently with useful tools will alter us inside and out. Comparing ourselves to others and/or judging ourselves or others for where we/they are at will not assist us in any way.
We are also born with certain influences, tendencies and characteristics ... some of us look at these things in relation to the energies present at the time of our birth ... natal charts etc. ... we can use these things as another sort of tool to gain insight into our tendencies, and strengths and weaknesses. It is useful to remember that we can Work to alter our level of Being and it is not wise to assume that we are limited to any system's way of viewing or labelling the many ways we appear to be. Personality tools, elemental descriptions, natal charts etc. are wonderful tools to assist with our understanding; remain open to your opportunity to be something NEW, and focus your awareness on NOW ... the work is here and now ... work from where you are here and now ... know how you are here and now ... you are what you are in THIS moment, so this is where the Work always is ...
If we are truly fragmented and disconnected from our genuine self; what do we do differently? How can we access our genuine self? This is what genuine spiritual paths can lead us to depending on our ability to do the Work. For example, taught properly, Yoga, Chi Kung, Kung fu and other Ways are all Paths to the genuine self ... Yoga, Chi Kung and Kung fu are examples of paths which work with the body in order to unify the self and to unite with the Source of all things.
So what do we do with all this? Embark on the journey of a spiritual path and do your Work. Find out for yourself if there is a better way. Know yourself. Develop a higher level of awareness. Learn to see your self as you really are in the mirrors of self-reflection all around you in every day ... not as you wish to see yourself ... or as you are accustomed to seeing yourself ... or according to how others see you ... Enjoy the benefits of discovering how to consciously co-create your world instead of unconsciously attracting things which you are not enjoying ... or which you may superficially enjoy to your own detriment ... Consistent Work over time reveals to us that there is truly more to us and Life than we have experienced.
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