Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Becoming Unlimited


Becoming Unlimited

A current ad campaign for a  digital carrier has an actor affirming,   "I have the right to be unlimited!"   In this case, a tiny device that fits in your pocket grants access to a world of unlimited communication.

Yoga is a practice that grants access to the world of unlimited awareness by using a tool as simple as watching the breath.  How does that work?

·      By watching the breath we break the connection of the senses to the outer sources of stimulation and intrusion
·      Watching the breath brings the scattered thoughts under control and brings focus to the mind
·     The body relaxes, the heart slows down, breath rate slows, mental activity lessens.  Awareness of  inner life increases.
·       Watching the mind think,  the identification has shifted to the sou or SEERl.  The mind is not the soul but rather is a limited aspect of the soul.   Therefore, the soul can perceive the mind.
·      You realize you are a unit of awareness, free from attachment, unlimited in consciousness 

 The Practice doesn't create anything but it removes limiting concepts of ego and ignorance so that we find our awareness extending to include greater areas of Reality.   It opens us to new possibilities and ideas that bring solutions to problems that we may not have ever thought possible before.    Einstein famously said that, " a problem cannot be solved from the same level of awareness from which it was created."    When solutions to daily or global problems are sought from the same level of worry, anxiety, fear or greed that caused the problem, the solution is short lived.    Yoga wisdom says instead to hold the known factors of the problem before the mind's eye and relax.   Don't effort in thinking it through, rather, relax and "look".  The truth will reveal itself as the SEER opens to new possibilities.   This is a process of pure creativity and insight.   Expanded insight taken into new behavior evolves our actions as individuals and societies. 

 One of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras in Book 4 implies that we really do not have to know very much, but we definitely have to practice what we do know to realize this unlimited state.   Meditate, breathe, relax.      Stress less, Be more…unlimited.