Archive for May, 2010
Breaking Down The Ego
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In his book, The Infinite Self
Our fears are nothing more than the manifestation of the ego and in order to quit succumbing to its capricious desires, we need to learn to trust in our spiritual infinity. For many people, their egos rule their lives, laying out lists of things and desires to be acquired. If you just bought a fancy new car, well, you may be flying high for about a week, but sooner than later, the insecure ego jumps back in with its endless demands of “get me this”, “get me that”.
The first step to breaking down the ego is understanding that you are not your ego. Your ego is a behavior that you exhibit. You are an infinite being and an eternal energy. It’s just that for many of us, our ego personality may be fearful and resistant, getting in the way of tuning into that all knowing part of us, the higher self. So, our heightened state of awareness and our intrinsic sensitivity to the world around us will be stifled and held back through the grips of the demanding ego.
Second, by learning to quieten the mind through meditation, we can begin to tune into that infinite part of us. Only then do we begin to understand that we are far more than our intellect and rational mind. When your mind dominates you, you are filled with inner dialogue that causes so much mental “noise”, it is difficult to tell apart a warning that comes from your higher self and the fearful ego personality. When the higher self warns you, “don’t go down that street” or “turn left at the street corner”, it is a spontaneous and unemotional experience, that comes from a source of love. When your ego tells you to do or not to do certain things, it does so because it fears entering into a situation that would contradict its views and have its authority challenged, even by your higher self.
The ego has a need for self-importance. It wants to make itself into a God or Goddess, to glorify itself and compete with others. Your ego tells you that you aren’t attractive enough, then commands you to go out and buy a sexy outfit to prove your beauty, by attracting a number of admirers at the club. The ego is also very lazy. It likes to be comfortable and it wants you to serve its needs continuously. You may decide that you will start an exercise routine and a few days later, your ego will come up with all kinds of excuses why not to continue.
Stuart Wilde believes that the ego can be brought into submission through self-discipline. The discipline of rising early. He suggests getting up at 4am and walking in a forest for an hour, for a period of 3 months, in rain or shine. The ego will protest violently at first. It wants to be warm and cozy. By you doing anything to contradict the ego, you are strengthening a higher part of yourself that refuses to be constantly assailed by its wants. Incorporating some form of meditation into your daily routine is also a great form of self-discipline. Wilde recommends meditating 24 minutes a day (one minute for every 24 hours), preferably at 4am, if your ego doesn’t manage to convince you otherwise. If that doesn’t tame the lazy ego, I don’t know what will. Speaking of which, tomorrow morning, I’m rising at 6 am! Baby steps…
Alternate Nostril Breathing
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The yogis believe that emotional and spiritual wellness depends on the balance between these male and female energies (shiva and shakti). Alternate nostril breathing allows us to develop equanimity between these energies, as well as the two polarities of our brains. This helps us become more centered, experience clarity of thought and become more balanced energetically.
At this very moment, you are predominantly breathing through one nostril. This changes about every 90 minutes, when one polarity of the brain becomes more dominant than the other. Test it out by blocking one nostril and inhaling through the other. Then do the same for the other and you will likely discover a difference between the two. According to yogic philosophy, this has important implications on our mental, physical and spiritual health.
The left nostril is associated with the right hemisphere of the brain, which is our feminine and creative mind (shakti or yin). The right nostril is associated with our logical and masculine side (Shiva or yang). Every person has both male and female aspects to their personalities and at different times, one will preside over the other. Breathing through the left nostril (by blocking the right) has a sedating and calming effect, while breathing to through the right is energizing and stimulating.
There are different ways of practicing alternate nostril breathing. Here’s my method as it’s really simple and can be done just about anywhere, provided that you don’t mind that people might give you inquisitive looks if you do this in public.
- Inhale through the left nostril, while blocking the right (to the count of 4)
- Hold the breath for a few seconds.
- Then block the left nostril and exhale through the right (4 counts).
- Inhale through the right nostril to the count of 4
- Block the right nostril and exhale through the left.
- Inhale through the left nostril
- Block the left nostril and exhale through the right.
You can alternate back and forth this way. If you find it’s really difficult to inhale &/or exhale through one nostril or the other, try blocking one and breathing strictly through the congested nostril. After a few minutes, the air passage should clear up and you may find yourself entering into a more serene and balanced state. Once you find that there is a uniformity of air passing through each nostril, you can stop the exercise.
The yogis consider alternate nostril breathing to be one of the best techniques for calming down the nervous system and reaching an optimal level of health.
The Maharishi Effect: Meditating For World Peace
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In a recent video, Dattatreya Siva Baba announced his plans to discontinue his teachings and writing. He didn’t really explain himself, but simply stated that the most effective way for him to heal the world is by going deep inside himself…
The thought crossed my mind…How can sitting alone in an ashram in the Himalayas serve to cultivate world peace? After all, someone practicing deep meditation is simply cultivating himself. Or is he?
Not according to one study. It’s called The Maharishi Effect.
The Maharishi Effect is based on the principle that an individual’s consciousness is directly linked and influences the collective consciousness.
The study was as follows. “In 1960, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi predicted that one percent of a population practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique would produce measurable improvements in the quality of life for the whole population. This phenomenon was first noticed in 1974 and reported in a paper published in 1976. Here, the finding was that when 1% of a community practiced the Transcendental Meditation® program, then the crime rate was reduced by 16% on average. At this time, the phenomenon was named Maharishi Effect.”more
These experiments were later conducted in many different cities around the world, including Washington DC, one of the most crime infested cities in the United States. The results were astounding! It was predicted that a group of 200 people practicing the Transcendental Meditation Techniques in a city of 4 million could significantly reduce crime rates. So it was of no surprise to discover that in 1987, Washington DC experienced an 11% reduction in crime rates, due to these group meditation practices.
Amazing! But honestly, it doesn’t surprise me. I’ve always believed that we are all deeply connected to one another through a common source of power which we call God. So, imagine what we could do for the world, if everyone of us invested some time into raising their own consciousness?
The Wounded Healer
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Last night I had the opportunity of having my chart read by an incredible astrologer named Barbara Wenninger. I was blown away at her accuracy and her uncanny ability for doing readings of natal, progressive and relationship charts. She was spot on about so many things in my life, particularly about her intuition of me as a Wounded Healer.
As soon as I heard the term “Wounded Healer”, I knew I could identify with it. Carl Jung described the wounded healer as an archetypal dynamic that develops when a patient’s wounds trigger those of the therapist, especially if they are similar to the patient’s. Jung recognized some of the dangers of being a psychologist, in that working with the emotionally or mentally ill, can leave a therapist vulnerable to being infected with their patient’s wounds or potentially reopen old ones.
This is an all too familiar experience for me when I’m working with clients. Being very sensitive that I am, I readily pick up on people’s energies especially when I’m deeply connected with them, during hypnosis sessions. I do take my precautions however by regularly implementing chakra cleansing and shielding rituals into my daily meditation practices, before and after each session. It is a form of energy hygiene for me, without which it would be difficult to really tune in and be able to assess where people are stuck in their lives.
However, you don’t have to be a psychoanalyst or any kind of therapist for that matter, to experience the wounded healer effect. You can be sitting across from a friend, a client or a family member and suddenly they say something about themselves that triggers an emotional response in you. They did not cause you to respond in that way, they simply cast a light in you, what you may have neatly stored away in the dark recesses of your mind…While most people will try to resist and suppress what has bubbled up to the surface, I take it as an opportunity for growth. If I don’t know where my difficulties lie or what wounds I have been trying to conceal, what chance do I ever have of overcoming them? I want to see the rawness of my wounds, up close and personal, so that I know what I’m working with.
Another thing… Sometimes out of our sheer desire to help another human being, we readily become victims of energy vampires, which is a fascinating sphere I have yet to delve into. Some people can drain your energy by constantly recounting their tales of woe. Others draw energy from you through various forms of approval-seeking behavior such as bragging, asking tons of questions or trying too hard to be nice. People who play victim and seek attention by sulking or crying rob us of our energy, IF and ONLY we have consented to giving it to them.
Tantra Yoga: Tongue Meditation
Posted by: | CommentsYour attempts at meditation are likely to be interrupted by the thoughts running through your mind. This tantra yoga tongue meditation will help quieten down the mind or the internal dialogue.
Quieting the mind teaches us how to enter the zen state of “now”, where we are neither plagued by thoughts of the future or thoughts of the past.
I Hope you enjoy this meditation by Dattatreya Siva Baba.
