September Morn

Usually I don’t listen to a lot of music.  The birds in the trees, the dog barking next door, our windchimes on the porch, and even the sound of the traffic on the busy road outside are usually enough to provide a lovely ambient background as I travel through each day.  But today, was a bit different.  Today after the kids went to school, I opened Pandora on my phone and put it on shuffle.

As the music began to play, my ears and my heart recognized a familiar tune.  Seemingly out of nowhere, Neil Diamond appeared through this magical app singing his ballad “September Morn.” It’s not exactly one of his most popular songs, but my heart knows it well.  I grew up listening to Neil with my parents.  By the time I was 12, I had seen him live in concert 5 times.  There are fond memories in the back of my mind of 1981, when all 4 members of my family could sit on the bench front seat of my dad’s Oldsmobile, driving home in a snowstorm and singing “Forever in Blue Jeans” at the top of our lungs after a night out at Ponderosa steakhouse.  And even though Neil was not exactly considered 'cool' for a youth in the 80's, I secretly loved the emotions his music evoked in my family and myself.

And somehow, this song… it wrapped itself around the deepest reaches of my life’s experiences and brought them bounding to the forefront of my mind… as if every moment of my life was happening in that very moment.  As Neil’s words sang a song of the end of innocence, and a certain coming of age, I re-lived, with deep intensity, the days of playing in the driveway with my sister, summers at my grandparents’ home, helping my Granny freeze the peaches in August, silly days of high school antics, the tragic accidents of two close member of my family, meeting my husband, the illnesses and deaths of my grandparents and dad, the birth of my children…

All of these past experiences and all the vibrant emotions surrounding them, happening in the single moment of Now… triggered by a simple song.  Amazing.

It’s as if, through our minds, we can travel through time.  These incredible, inter-dimensional experiences of memory and projection, when experienced in the form of thought, can create and re-create the past and future as if they are happening now.  All of this done through the lens of the emotions we feel as those thoughts arise. 

So in this sense, the emotions that arise through projection and memory can be our greatest teachers in fine-tuning our awareness.

By simply watching the reactions to thoughts in the form of emotions and physical sensations, a certain space is created.  It’s as if we are experiencing the thoughts, memories, and projections of the future from first-hand experience, while at the same time a deeper part of ourselves watches as an observer or witness from afar. 

It’s one of the magnificent gifts of being human, actually: to be an active participant in this Dance of Life; to feel fully the greatest joys and deepest pains, and at the same time rest in that sacred, deeper space and KNOW it all as the grand Dance of Life.

Watching and feeling… feeling and watching… sliding ever fearlessly and playfully between these two.  As this perspective broadens, we let go with more and more ease of the thoughts and emotions, memories and projections to which we so tightly cling.  There comes a profound realization that everything we have been striving so hard to achieve is not what it has appeared to be.   This can be shocking and terrifying, even, to the surface layers of our persona: that part of us which “holds it all together” and “looks good” from the outside.  But when witnessed from that deeper space, there comes a sweet sense of relief as we realize that we can let go of the tight grasp that we are Somebody or that we need to BE Somebody.  With a deep exhale, we can settle into that vast space of Being beyond the thoughts, memories, and projections, creating the space for the totality of All Life to flow through us effortlessly.

We can realize that the details of our lives are part of a much larger picture, all twirling and dancing around together to create what we know as the Universe. We can play in this experience of being human without taking it so terribly seriously; seeing all events, creations, experiences, and the emotions surrounding them as that Divine, creative force bursting into existence in every way possible.

 

And with this, comes an overwhelming and innate gratitude and peaceful joy: a reverence for all that exists in the Universe, even our own judgments, emotions, and pain.  Arising from One, blossoming fully, and returning home again to the unmanifested yet ever-present One Love.  

 

Nature As Ourselves

This article is re-published here from the Ekhart Yoga blog 2014.

We often marvel at the creative splendor of nature. The brilliant streaks of colour in the sunset have the power to move us to tears.....

The delicate grandeur of a flower in full bloom is a wonder to behold. The glimpse of majestic mountains on the horizon is a vision which can leave us breathless.
Nature in its purest form has no ego and so therefore the flower and the mountain actually know nothing of their own beauty. They are simply being, growing, and expressing as they are naturally designed to do. 
The magnificence of nature actually arises from beyond our own perception of it. To spend time in nature usually feels like a coming home of sorts, a reconnection with something within ourselves that is deeper than just our everyday experiences. 
To feel the rich, warm radiance of the sun on our faces is to also connect with the beaming brilliance within ourselves. To feel the sweet melody in the song of a bird is to also sense the sweet song of Life playing within us. And to experience the breathtaking, awesome, majesty of a mountain is to touch the vast, magnificent power which exists in our own selves. All of the beauty, wonder, and creative expression that we experience in nature are simply reminders of the same qualities within ourselves.
A paraphrased summary of the ancient text of the Kena Upanishad states:

“Not that which is perceived with the senses, but that which makes perception possible, know THIS to be the eternal.”

So beyond all the sensory perceptions of colour, feeling, sound and dances of words, language and analysis there is more to what we experience on the surface. It is the sacred essence which inspires the sun to shine, the flowers to grow and our minds to think. It is different from the known, yet it is not unknown.  When it is known as the innermost witness of all cognitions, whether sensation, perception or thought, then it is known.
When we stand speechless and breathless before a brilliant sky or the vast sea or even the delicate wings of a butterfly, we experience the KNOWING of this sacred essence within ourselves and within all. It is beyond what the mind can think or words can describe and at the same time the source of all experiences, thoughts and words, dancing through us and embracing all. 
And when we stand together in the knowing of the grand magnificence which makes perception possible, then our lives evolve with a richness and depth beyond any of our senses or experiences. There comes a sweet gratitude, reverence and deep love for all life, and we become the space for Life to happen and unfold.
Just as the flower grows and blossoms toward the sun.
****Jai Maa!!!****

The Sacred Dimension

This article is re-published from the Ekhart Yoga blog in 2013.                               

      

The awareness of a new dimension of living is arising.  It is not new in the sense that it has not existed until now. On the contrary, it has always existed, even before the concept of existence itself....

It has been here since the beginning of everything we know and also all that we don’t know, cradling and bathing all in its divine, sacred essence.
It is so close and so connected to us that, most of the time, we have not even realized it is there.  In fact, this sacred dimension is so magnificent, so comforting and vast, terrifying and beautiful all at the same time that for most of us to really see it and truly know it would be more than our bodies and minds could handle.  So a bit like wearing a nice pair of sunglasses to filter and buffer the brilliant rays of the sun, our individual egos have built a lovely buffer of a thought-based identity to protect a deeper sense of vast being from being noticed.

Egoic sunglasses

In this process, we have used and depended on the lens of the ego so closely and often that we have forgotten that it is simply that: a lens through which the sacred sun shines. All too often our whole experience of living becomes seen ONLY through the lens of thoughts, analysis, judgment, and ego.  The vivid brightness of this sacred dimension still shines clearly, but we do not see it most of the time because it is filtered by the egoic lens of thought, clinging to a projected image what life should be, an identity, a me.
As a result, our whole experience of life becomes created and led by a thought-based ego.  We get caught up in the tidal waves of analysis, judgment, and emotion.  A very exciting ride, no doubt, but perhaps not quite the whole picture, as we subtly forget that we are wearing the egoic sunglasses to buffer the brilliance of the totality of All Life.  Somehow, the sheer magnificence and sweetness of Life itself gets covered up by the veils of thought-based ego.
The great news is that, despite all the filters and covering up, that magnificence is ALWAYS there!  It is the underlying essence of every breath we take, every thought we have, everything we see, hear, taste, smell and feel.  It IS everything!

Yoga

For some, there is a deeper, internal knowing that there is something more than what we experience through our egoic glasses.  And perhaps somewhere along the path of Life, there becomes a distinct crack in the egoic lens, perhaps though the practice of yoga or other sadhana in which there is an inquiry into the true nature of living.
All of a sudden, the immense, sacred brilliance of the Eternal Sun shines through.  It is overwhelming beyond thought, beautiful beyond compare, so vast. Too much for the egoic mind to hold or filter anymore, so the only thing to do is to let go.  To take off the egoic sunglasses, place them aside, and bask in the radiant brilliance.  To feel fully that we are the vessels through which this Divine Light shines, and to accept and allow this Light to express itself fully without the lens of the ego filtering the brightness.

Terrifying

For many, this collapse of the ego can be terrifying, to give up everything we have built our lives to be???  The identity, the image, the striving, who are we then, if we are not these things?
When we let go lovingly to that which we so tightly cling the egoic concept that we are somebody or need to be somebody when we let go of these, we are free.  There is space: the space for this Sacred Essence of life to flow in all of its magnificent glory without getting filtered or blocked.

Freedom

This is our challenge:  to realize that the filter of the ego is there, and set it aside for times only when it is necessary.  To rest, cradled in this Sacred Dimension, deeper and fuller than our minds could ever know ourselves to be.  To let go into the ultimate freedom of not having to be me in a strictly egoic sense, yet at the same time, allowing a Me to arise that is beyond, yet at the same time in balance with, our thoughts.  A Me which is a beautiful vessel through which this Divine, Sacred Dimension can express itself fully without strain or striving.

Pure love

When we truly know ourselves, not as a specific person or identity, but as the space through which Divine Life expresses itself fully, then our experience of living becomes a magnificent journey, embracing every experience of joy, pain, sadness, ecstasy and wonder as an experience of Pure Love in all its amazing, infinite forms.

When The Mind Becomes Still, It Is The Beginning

This is re-published here from an article I wrote for Ekhart Yoga in 2013....

Yoga's Chitta Vritti Nirodha: yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind.
 

I would like to introduce Tracey Cook to you, a dear friend and yogi colleague of mine. I asked Tracey if we could post some of her beautiful writings on our blog now and then, for us all to enjoy. Tracy has understood the meaning of Yoga in it's deepest sense, and she loves writing about it and sharing. Tracey has a way with words, so enjoy, I know I will...
Esther

Yoga just is

After years of travelling a yogic path, twisting my body in crazy poses, riding a beautiful cosmic wave colorful, fractilian energies, breathing deeply, sitting for hours in silent stillness… and playing around with different forms of what we term as “yoga”,  the ideas of what we perceive to be the “practice” to be, are shifting and changing.
Yoga just IS.  It is the great union of body, breath, mind, spirit, in harmony with the Earth, the subtlest of cosmic energies, the entire Universe…  and the magnificent merging of each egoic self with the Grand Divine Totality of All Life.  It is ever-present within each and every one of us, comprising, guiding and surrounding each and every moment.

Who am I?

We do the sadhana:  asanas, pranayama, and meditation as a preliminary “practice” to cleanse, detoxify, and strengthen the body and to clear the mind in preparation for a re-awakening into the experiential KNOWING of this union.  We examine the Supreme Question, “Who am I?” to look at and witness the inner, intricate workings of the mind, all of its twists and turns and dances of ego and emotion, in order to ultimately transcend all process of thought and rest in a state of ego-less peace.

Precious essence

This moment of the awareness and experience of this “knowing”  is unmistakable… that slicing through the heaviness and chaos of the egoic mind to an instant where there is no thought, no mind-based identity, no time, no “me”, in order to glimpse and merge with the magnificent essence of all that is.  These moments can often be triggered within the “practice” itself…like coming out of a shoulder stand and having that indescribable feeling of peace and harmony which goes beyond anything words could describe.   Holding a newborn baby for the very first time, or simply and truly realizing the absolute miracle of living within the beating of our own hearts.  It is in these glimpses that we are reminded of that precious essence which is always there in every emotion, every thought, every experience. …  the realization of the sacred magic of being alive.  And a reminder also of the innate, precious beauty within ourselves.
The experience, awareness and deep knowing of this Grand Union as the sacred space deeper than mind and thought; this is yoga.  And it is just the beginning.

Awareness

Once the “slice” in the ego is made, there is a maturing of the experience and we can rest more and more comfortably and ‘at home,’ in the space much deeper than thought, cradled in this Divine Essence.  Thoughts arise still, although less and less from the egoic mind and more from a space of clarity, peace and Ultimate Truth.  Thus, actions are also more aligned with this Truth, creating an awareness in our individual lives as sweet drops in the One Divine Ocean, expressing and experiencing fully and lovingly with the awareness of the essence of being alive, in all its infinite forms.

Life

This is the grace.  Each breath becomes a lifetime, each experience a gift.  All extremes we experience arise from the same essence:  The Totality of All Life, and the more we align our awareness with this sacred dimension of being, the richer and fuller each moment seems to become.  We begin to watch, experience, feel, allow, act, and react from a space deeper than the egoic mind and thought, a space of Supreme Wisdom, arising from the Totality of All Life… from the Highest form of Love.
The knowing arises that each and every moment holds the entire Universe: all we need to know and have ever known, all wrapped up in the colorful, vibrant package of NOW… in whatever form NOW takes.
And from this arises a deep, wordless gratitude.  As the Earth silently thanks the Sun, so we too thank this vast Ocean of Being for the gift of each and every experience, in whatever form it is delivered.
****JAI MAA!!****
Tracey Cook