Do you live in radiance? Is your life as you Desire? As humans, we travel the world from awe and innocence, through challenges, loss and pain, and as we age, often end up living with some combination of bitter, sick, complacent, addicted, living in fantasy (deluded) or mired in cultural distractions. Most of us are weighed down and lost in the desires of wanting our circumstances and life experience to be different, but confused by the options and unable to muster the energy, to do things differently. Very few folks manage to rise above the tide of sorrow and accumulated pain of our lives, without some amazing support and tools.
In reflecting upon the many ups and downs of my own life, I have arrived at a few conclusions.
- It is up to you/me to create your/my desired world. (and it isn’t procured by running from the bad / undesirable and seeking the good/desired )
- It is through healing/cleansing that we awaken to the ‘present’, a true Reality.
- Evolution of consciousness is necessary and happening on our planet.
Ok, so how often do you complain, run away from, or fight what is happening in your day-to-day life? These are all forms of resistance; our human way of negotiating through our days, weeks, years, decades, and, dare I say, lifetimes. Our unconscious conditioning creates the Reality we experience, aspects of which we most often do not desire. Whatever the context for these concerns (friends, professional challenges, family, relationships to our body, food, drugs, the environment, etc.), we have patterns of resistance, in the forms of judgment, blame, fear, etc.). These patterns create congestion in parts of our lives, bodies, hearts and minds; ultimately resulting in congestion, and ultimately, diseases of body, mind and spirit.
I speak of this from my own experience; at times I have hated my life, and myself for that matter. It was when I was in such a state of desperation, that I checked myself into a 10-day boot camp, ‘Introduction to Meditation’. It was one of the most difficult things I did, but in a good way. I became very clear that my level of agitation was creating much suffering for myself and subsequently, for those around me. The course was like being put in a cooker; the rather intense pressure helped me soften some of the hardened beliefs I was floundering under. My ego was not comfortable. The wisdom tools helped me pull back from being so identified with my thoughts and emotions. I was in no way feeling successful about meditation, and over time, discovered other practices that released great amounts of tension first, and then others to cleanse at a gentler pace.
The one great tool, still underestimated in this time of yoga expansion, is the Breath. It is the one human physiological tool we can have conscious control over. Most humans allow the primitive brain to direct breathing, which then shifts and changes, often into unhealthy restrictive patterns, in response to life experiences. These degrading changes are all fairly subtle until they aren’t any more… like when you are diagnosed with some disease. So when breath is engaged consciously, it is possible to heal a lot of physiological, emotional and mental conditions. We are opening to the powers within to heal: physical problems start to resolve, as many are manifestations of toxic residues from unresolved and undigested, emotional experiences. Every time you engage in conscious breathing practices, you are doing a mini-cleanse of the Subtle body. Think of it as tuning a fine instrument; you are tightening here, loosening there, to create pathways for the vibrations to flow more harmoniously.
In Yoga, breath practices are called Pranayama, because we are stretching and managing the Prana (=Chi= life force energy) accessible primarily through the breath. Once we have consciously connected to our Life Force energy, we can experience it in various ways. The energy channels and centers (nadis/chakras in yogic speak) are palpable, just like the energy after it rains. We can’t see it, but we can tune into it. So you can learn particular breaths that align your own energy to flow more freely, (resulting in you feeling good), your life begins to take on a more vibrant hue. You can become radiant once again.
Understanding the Subtle Body, mainly understood as the Chakra system, aids the progress of healing in conjunction with building conscious breathing skills. The Chakra System is a clear map of understanding how we receive, store, transform and distribute life energies throughout the body. We can engage in yoga postures, breathing practices and guided visualization / meditations that help up focus towards healing and enhancing positive qualities. All these methods assist our inspiration to live our greatest potentials as humans.
Another amazing aspect of conscious breath practices, is that they send blood flow to dormant parts of our brain and research has shown that these higher centers, result in higher forms of intelligence, including intuitive wisdom, truly a blend of both hemispheres of the brain. Herein lies the potential for evolved human consciousness – to awaken higher states of awareness, which will result in the enhanced perception of realities beyond our 3 dimensional existence. This promise has been foretold in numerous cultural stories of our collective future. It is time for humanity to unify our individual and collective desires for a wiser human that is a guardian for all of life, so our potential can be realized. I hope you will join the forces by committing to engage the practices that nourish the wise human within.