I ended up with HaraYoga. An awareness of where I am in relation to where I long to be. A focus on my physical, mental and emotional states and how they relate to my longings and intentions.
The eight limbs of yoga, ala Patanjali, usually begin with the Yama’s and the Niyama’s. The Do’s and Don’ts.
My impression was that if I do/refrain from what is suggested, combined with a whole bunch of sun salutations I would eventually be able to breath on command. When I was able to breath, then my mind would relax and I would begin to turn inward. After I turned inward I would be able to concentrate on a candle flame. Then after a time I’d become the candle flame, reach enlightenment, get beamed aboard the Enterprise, replace Captain Kirk and explore distant galaxies called Samadi and Enlightenment.
But first I had to do the Do’s and don’t do the Don’ts. I had to struggle. There was a lot of self judgement in that struggle. I would “should” all over myself with “always” and “never”. I saw that “justify” and “blame” were too often my inhale and exhale.
When I began to actively witness what I was doing, how I was doing it and whether or not it was exactly what I longed to do things started to shift.
And, magically, as I began to watch where/when/how I went to blame/justify I found I had the opportunity, the space, to make a different choice. Not always an easy choice but a choice more in line with who I am when I feel the connection to Source.
It has been my experience that the Do’s arise and the Don’ts disappear automatically, like getting beamed up.
I find that when I breath, when I ground and center, when I move the tension around and out of my body, I transport from wherever I am to a place inside of myself. It’s a different “me” that exists in that inside place. The closest I can describe it is that I become the “hollow feeling” in the pit of my stomach. As I allow that feeling to develop, that “me” becomes everything.
I guess I have some vague sense of my body or exterior sounds but in a detached way. On a few occasions… once a life changing experience with Paul and another as I stood with a hand from Glenn, I have felt the place I think the yogic texts talk about as Samadi, or connected/merged with Source. For me, it is a timeless place of boundless joy.
The Yama’s are the restraints, the yogic “Thou Shall Not’s. They include nonviolence and truthfulness. The say we shouldn’t steal or horde. They suggest, at the least, we should do things in moderation.
The Niyama’s are the traits we should aspire to. Purity, contentment, zeal, witnessing and a devotion to something more than our ego.
When I am in that place of connection; lying, stealing and violence are not even on my radar. There is no resistance to them, because they don’t exist.
And I don’t have to work at being content or present. I am on the bridge of the Enterprise calling for warp 6.
I’m in the place without blame or justification. The place of Hara.
It is my intention to be in that place an ever increasing percentage of the time.
I want to meet Spock. I do yoga as a down payment on my Tricorder.
