YOGAHOLES ARE GLORYHOLES

TANTRA & YOGA PHILOSOPHY IN 4 PARAGRAPHS:

            Do the opposite of what is easiest for you to do. Embrace your resistance. Do what you fear. That's the way of the modern yogi. By understanding the eight-fold path of yoga to purify our life, we (yogis) can realize our own divinity & have a transcendent experience of relating directly to God. Yogis believe in reincarnation. The atman doesn't die. Atman is the individual soul, our inner divinity. Braman is all creation, the all-encompassing God. Yoga is the union between the two. Braman is what Atman strives toward, via doing asana, meditation, pranayama, karma yoga, bhakti yoga, and so on.            

The cornerstone of New Age philosophy is that we create our own reality; there is no law of influence, no magical cause & effect, no voodoo. Avoid the dualism of Braman versus Atman, yogis vs. non-yogis, vegetarians vs. meat-eaters, pacifists s. war-fighters. It's all one flowing energy & it's God expressing itself in its infinite creation. The true sages all admit that they don't know anything, that they can't nail down the universe, they merely recognize the fluid nature of the single unified field.            

Begin by letting go of the assumption that death is worse than life. The first step toward resolving our unconscious fear of death is to believe that it's part of God's infinite expression & wisdom. People die in infinite ways. When your body goes, you don't necessarily stop existing. Not being at odds with anything you encounter is the key to happiness. Negative energy & pain stem from being at odds with the world, disagreeing with what IS. Either Everything is God, both the flowers & the cowdung, or nothing is God, & thus there IS no God.            

From the soul's perspective, all is right. (From a humanistic perspective, there is right & wrong, but we still don't know the reasons behind evil.) If it (reality) happens, it's divine will. If it happens, it is the highest order of God's creation. Our job is not to figure out what is good & what is bad, but to love everything. Physical pain is inevitable. Suffering is self-imposed. Love everything as it shows up before you without condemning it, judging it, hating or avenging.   

ADVAITA VEDANTA (PHILOSOPHY OF NONDUALISM)

Advaita brings us freedom from the fear of death. All suffering is based on ignorance & lack of faith. Advaita says, "Don't try to control your mind. The ego tries to control the mind & the narrative of the self. You can't know what you will think or you did think. All control is illusion. There's nobody there to control. (Can you choose your life, your past, your mate, your mentor, your family?) The concept of "I" is just energy manifesting in this way or that & it's connected to the overall divine energy; & it's all a divine game.                

Real yogis & sages have no belief system. They believe only in what you get out o your yoga in the present moment. We only have the "Now." The Now is Non-Dualist. The past & the future depend on dualism. Having a belief system that a behavior is wrong (e.g., alcoholism, overeating) & feel guilty doing it & feel self-hatred creates a cycle of abuse & suffering. Do not condemn the behavior; love it instead & love yourself so much that you can break the pattern. Consciousness is to shed light on sth, & to love it, & to take responsibility for it.  Let go naturally. At the soul level, everything is perfectly orchestrated.            

Whatever you do is an experiment. Listen to your body & psyche, & relate to the world on a universal level, so you can laugh at everything & not let anything bring you down vibrationally. That is a higher vibration than a fanatic purist's: let your heart be open no matter what. If you feel you're being true & you love yourself, & you're happy & honest, it doesn't matter what you eat. Bring your vibration up higher, so that emotionally, spiritually, Physically, you are always in unconditional love & forgiving of yourself & others. Extremes aren't healthy nor happy. Once you realize what you don't like to do, respect it & live in the Now. If you know what you want & won't regret it & it doesn't violate basic Yamas & Niyamas, enjoy yourself without judgment.            

Life is not the projection of our unique fears & desires & fantasies & inherited lessons. All life asks us one simple question "Do You Love Me?" The universe tests us & asks us "Do You Love Me?" Respond with "Yes" (or "Yes, I prefer sth else.") Let go of fanaticism, convictions, elitist beliefs (incl. elitist vegetarianism: it's possible that animals have a karmic agreement to be eaten, for example), It's all ego-driven. Any time "should" comes out of your mouth, your level of consciousness is lowered. Our goal as human beings is to open ourselves to unconditional love & love everything, incl. slavery, racism, the holocaust, for example. To be angry about sth that happened in the past is to take on a suffering inflicted upon you by others. To take an ancestral hatred, even genetically, is to take on karmic disease, karmic addiction, karmic rage. Try to break it for the future generations. Forgive everyone (incl. those who nailed you on the cross, because they only hurt your body & knew not what they were doing). Forgiveness is the way to happiness. There is no right & wrong, choice & control. Life is an experiment. Joy depends on how much we can accept both ourselves &others. We're all changing & flowing & not separated. To say sth is wrong carries a vibration of resistance & polarization.            

We unconsciously invite in the very thing we resist. So the end of war doesn't come by resisting all violence & protesting war, but by accepting what is & reaching peace by raising the level of our communal vibration; using our free will & creativity, we can change the world for the better, always with detachment, by not resisting the moment. We create our own reality. To be self-referenced, for our own good, is Freedom & Bliss.  Every interaction is infinitely complex & holds in it your entire history.  Whenever sth happens, we tell ourselves "It's Not Me." We follow our intuition with no fear, with open heart, being open channels for God to come through us & help others without much interference or ego investment on our part, without affecting too much. Do not interfere with reality. Do not bark orders ("Don't do this, don't talk to strangers, don't cross the street, don't eat meat or sugar, don't, don't); turn it into positive reinforcement: DO. Everything is God. Lie in bed & wait until you/we feel inspired to act. Even the devil is God. Love this moment. Let go of saying NO. Let go of notions of Healthy & Unhealthy. Be free.  You are you. Everything is God.            

Meditate on: "Can You Know You're Better Off Alive Than Dead?" All yogis aspire to perfect meditation, when they may attain Samadhi, union with the divine, ultimate consciousness. That is the promise of all hatha yoga.            

Your karma in this life may control your next life, but try not to perform in life. Live truly. Things can be true on a physical level (the importance of correct asana alignment) but not on a universal level (does it really matter?). Follow your internal guidance system that shows you how to unravel your inherited belief systems & let go of every personal belief, holding on to only the universal. Advaita recognizes God's diversity & the freedom of all other individuals to believe what they want.  

FOUR MAIN PATHS OF YOGA

They are the 4 ways to Self-Realization into Union (to Yoke) of the Atman soul with the universal Brahman.

1. KARMA: Selfless Service This is the fastest way to enlightenment & the hardest path. A pure humble open heart is necessary. It is the path of altruism or Seva. Take every action with no desire for personal gain. Dedicate your life to helping others & do not worry about personal needs. In reward, you have the simplicity of a life of giving, freedom in daily life, a sublime ego free of pride, & a focused mind as a result of being engaged in mindless action.

2. BHAKTI: Selfless, blind Devotion (to God, a Guru, the elements, a concept like vegetarianism)

3. RAJA: Royal, Patanjali's 8-Limb path & the Sutras (incl. Hatha yoga)

4. JHANA: Knowledge & Wisdom, Intellectual path (study of scriptures, meditation, & liberation from the mind through the mind)

  EIGHT LIMBS OF ASHTANGA YOGA (Yoga Sutras of Patanjali) YAMAS: (The Don'ts; what not to do)

1. AHIMSA: Non-violence; Do Not Kill; Do Not Harm Yourself or Others. Yogis would rather not eat than kill an animal to eat it: that's the basis of vegetarianism. Meat-eating also leads to aggression & violence, not heart-opening love. (In nature some animals eat animals, but they kill them with their teeth & eat all of the kill, blood & organs & brain, not just an overcooked fillet.)

2. SATYA: Truth: The highest rule of conduct; Become Fit for Union with the Divine. Be completely & utterly honest at all times & you will have achieved no-mind enlightenment. The purpose of yogic life is to obliterate the ego. We all do the same things. There is no need to lie & hide or create an image or idea of ourselves. This is the Aquarian age of open exchange of information & free communication. This is the time for truthfulness. Vulnerability & camaraderie & loves evolve out of honesty. Unconditional love is the practice of truthfulness. Always say the negative thing in a positive & thankful way, but speak your truth. Turn it around before you say it so you may see it from the other's point of view, & put it back inside yourself. Speak in as few words as possible, simply, like a child. Say "I feel" rather than "I think", "when you do that, here's how I fee" rather than "Don't", "I'd rather" rather than "You shouldn't do that," but be honest. Start at humility & practice truth speaking first with your spiritual peers or your partner: share any thought in full truth. It's simple & liberating to be always truthful. The truth shall set you free. 

3. ASTEYA: Non-Stealing; Don't Steal Physically, Spiritually, Verbally, Energetically from Others. Don't take what's not yours. Don't use things for their unintended purpose. Don't borrow things for too long. Don't steal others' energy & time. Don't rob another's free will by mental games & manipulation.

4. BRAHMACHARYA: Continence; Life of Celibacy & Self-Restraint; Religious Study; Marriage to God. Restrain yourself from the pleasures of the flesh in order to use your ashakti mojo for spiritual purposes. Yogis can be the householder or the saddhu-renunciate-celibate-sanyasan. Be married to God (& aspire to Devine orgasm.) Start by controlling your sexual fluids & being conscious in your sexual practices. Reconcile sex with the rest of your life. The householder yogi is like a devout Catholic: he can practice sex with a spouse for procreation but not only for pleasure. Masturbation is forbidden, as a waste of sperm & life-force. Cut down sex to once a week, & go down from there. Practice using your sexual energy to do your sadhana (your daily yoga practice), or your life's work. Rather than spending energy convincing someone to have sex with you & playing at being seductive & wanted, you can free up a lot of your time for higher uses. Rampant sex isn't good yogic practice, & sex before yoga practice is esp. harmful to the practice. Having sex without ejaculating is a healthier, freeing, more spiritual practice.

5. APARIGRDHA: Non-Coveting; Non-Greediness; Don't Take What You Don't Need. Let go of all physical material things & bonds, be free of them. Open a flow of material things in & out of your life. Don't hold on to your money as a source of security & happiness. Don't be a packrat. Don't be attached to the past or worry for the future inordinately. Don't be stingy. Share it & spread it around. Practice a voluntary simplicity lifestyle, which frees you from needing too much money. Consolidate phones, cars, houses, bills, material commitments. Eliminate clutter. Believe in the universe to provide for you. Be happy with little. That is affluence. Needing more money limits your freedom. The fewer needs you have the easier it is for the universe to provide. Attachment is based on fear: Resist your attachment to things. You can have lots of things, but don't be attached. You can manifest your desires, but don't be greedy. (Coveting another person is part of this 1st chakra-related Yama; fantasizing & obsessing about someone keeps us in a jail created & imposed by our desire. Holding on to the dead is part of this Yama too.) Live in Flow.

NIYAMAS: (The Dos; what to do)

1. SAUCHA: Purity; Use the elements of Cleansing (Fire, Earth, Air, Water) to Cleanse Body & Mind. Practice: Shower or do a half-body wash (face, arms, feet) before doing yoga or teaching. Avoid low odors. (Use body oil when you teach if you want.) Clean not only the physical body but also your aura, by using the elements. (The earth is used in asanas; air is the breath; the water element is your sweat, fire is the internal rising heat.) Sweating, eliminating toxins, swimming in water, & esp. underwater is a great purification practice. 

2. SANTOSA: Contentment; Patience; Cultivated Through Time. After yoga practice, during Savasana, you need nothing; you are content. Similarly be content in every moment, with your family, your work, your money, your relationships, your body, your life.

3. TAPAS: Austerity; Sacrifice; Dedication; Heat; Anything You Do or Give up in Exchange for Sth. When you practice yoga, you create inner heat (tapas); you give up time & money & other pleasures in life to create this heat. Do more sacrifices: quit eating after 8pm, so you can do yoga early in the morning. When you give sth up, you do tapas to get your intention. Sadhana, or daily discipline, is tapas.

4. SVADHYANA: Study of the Self. Understand your physical, mental, emotional, spiritual body. Differentiate aspects of yourself in relation to the Divine. The question: Who Am I? asked in meditation is svadhyana. What's the purpose of life? Seek & you shall find your path & your self.

5.  ISVARA PRANIDHANA: Faith; Dedication to the Lord. Always trust that God is there & God is good. Cultivate your faith daily. The reason you are a yogi is your belief in the Divine.            

After achieving the 5 YAMAS & 5 NIYAMAS, you can proceed with the practice of ASANAS. ASANA practice should be steady & easy, consistent but never forced. Follow with:

PRANAYAMA (Breath techniques): Once the body is strong & pure enough through asana, learn to cleanse yourself, control your breath, through breathing techniques. Pranayama is subtle & the changes come over a long time.

PRATYAHARA (Withdrawal of the senses; turning inward for self-examination): One of the changes is that you turn inward. Just as we cover the eyes with a black cloth in Savasana, we shut all the doors in daily life, we shut the eyes, we do not judge, do not control, do not use our senses for gratification. We practice self-examination. We are still. We put less emphasis on the outer world & more on inner consciousness. We live as if we were in continuous meditation. (Remember to release the tongue off the roof of your mouth.)

DHAVANA (Concentration; keeping a still mind; being completely focused): Keep a still mind, focused on the front part of your brain, inside your body, & on your breath. Try not to free-float or be scattered. (Put a candle in the center of a circle & look at it.)

DYANA (Meditation): All yogis aspire to perfect meditation. During meditation you get Samadhi, union with the divine. When you fall asleep while you're awake, totally unaware & pure, here & semiconscious, as in Savasana: that is the promise of hatha yoga. As an advaist, you only seek what you get out of yoga in the present moment, the feeling of being all one, not some future reward.

SAMADHI (Union with the divine; ultimate consciousness).   GUNAS, TATTVAS, KOSHAS, KLESAS: THE THREE TATTVAS:

1. SATTVIC: Life-Enhancing; purity, new growth, creative, sweet, & good. After creation, comes the Sattvic stage. It involves sitting in meditation, in peace & celibacy; eating fruit; worshipping Vishnu & Devi.  2. RAJASIC: Active; spicy; aphrodisiac; activity of all types. It is the busy energy of life being lived. It involves doing the yoga poses or asanas; eating curry & garlic, cayenne & onion; worshipping Krishna & Rada/Durga.

3. TOMASIC: Life-ending quality; destruction; decay. At the end of each cycle life changes form & returns to dust. It involves eating meat; worshipping Shiva & Kali. These 3 pervasive qualities work together to create the cycle of life. All 3 are ever-present in our lives. We're always part of this cycle in various ways. And change is beneficial: it precipitates evolution. To be continued…-