Category Archives: Yoga

Why Daily Practice?

Carl Jung Red Book Mandala

We like to believe that working and tending our homes and families is enough. Truly, it is a monumental and life’s work.

But if you don’t tend to yourself, your family, work & home will suffer.

Yoga teacher Shiva Rea speaks of the Practice as the dance with your Soul.

Only you can meditate, only you can practice your yoga, only you can create your artwork, only you can make your music, only you can sing your songs, dance your dance, knit, quilt, sew – whatever your Practice is. This is not something that you “have to do,” that you drag your feet as you approach the Practice – it is something that will uplift you and give you more than you offer it.

It is your very Soul, and the opportunity to dance with that place of G-d within you.

I don’t care what your practice is. It might be balancing a spoon on your nose, it might be time spent with your dog. But it’s not just “time alone,” it needs to be something that builds upon itself, that has the potential to spiral up into skill and mastery. If it is time spent with your dog, how does that deepen and grow? (hint: the daily walk is a chore and possibly an escape – unless you add the element of Practice to it) I used to train dogs, and the time spent training them was good for me, too – we both learned and grew. So your Practice is not just sitting with a cup of tea in the afternoon – unless you are striving to make that tea time better in quality with each session.

Let’s say that a cup of tea in the afternoon is your Practice. Can you bless the tea or give thanks, meditate on the people who made this tea possible for you, before you start steeping? How clean is the water? Feel the connection between the water and your own body. Exactly how hot is the water? Are the boiling bubbles “shrimp eyes” (for green tea) or “fish eyes” (for black)? What do you do while the tea is steeping? Is this a time to check in with your body, take a deep breath and let go of your thoughts? Perhaps you want to spend this time in your heart centre, cherishing the things that you love, and opening and expanding to forgiveness, kindness, and love. (hint: this is not a time for thinking-thinking-thinking or problem solving – those are just rumination, and you don’t need to Practice that!) Okay, your tea is steeped – have you blessed the cup which will contain the tea? Do you bless yourself as you take the tea in? How about some gratitude for this moment in time, this simple and nourishing thing? Tea can be a rich and deep spiritual practice, if you open yourself to the Mindfulness of the moment.

This turns your daily cuppa into a Daily Practice, and as you gain mastery, a Daily Ceremony. As you Practice your tea, the quality of the practice and the time spent with your soul will reward you.

The reason we Practice is threefold.

First, to demonstrate our commitment to dancing with our Soul.
Second, to actually dance with our Soul, and
Third, to learn and grow as the soul teaches us through the Practice.

I don’t care what your Practice is, but your Soul wants to communicate with you. Are you giving it the opportunity?

Perhaps your practice can be incorporated in the tending of your life – the way you cook a meal, or expressing gratitude (Grace) before eating. Maybe your practice is something carved out just for you and your Soul – like juggling, balancing spoons on your nose, arts & crafts, yoga, tai chi, sitting meditation – or a daily cup of tea! The simplest of Practices – like just sitting and listening to a piece of music – not doing anything but listening – can reap great inner rewards. Regardless of what your Practice is, it is essential to your Growth as a Human Being.

What daily practice will you commit to? At first, make a small commitment: I will do this for a week. A week is long enough to start seeing the benefits. What about a month? What about every possible day for the rest of your life? There are exceptions, this isn’t about austerity, it’s about the pleasure of Dancing with your Soul.

What daily practice will you commit to?

Asking instead of Telling

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Shaman Explorations – New Zealand Roses

When I go to my acupuncturist, I am sometimes in a lot of pain. She talks to me about what acupuncture is like in China (it’s much more intense), and she tells me that she likes to “ask” my body instead of “telling” it what to do.

This applies to yoga, too. When you are in a difficult position, do you tell your body – commanding it to take a certain shape or form? Or do you ask it, gently reminding it of what you want, and request that you work together?

Starhawk speaks of “Power Over” (command) versus “Power With” (cooperation). The Ra Material speaks of “Service to Self” versus “Service to Others.” Yoga and Buddhism teach of Ahimsa, non-violence. If I understand correctly, one need only be 51% pure when asking, but needs to be 99% pure when telling. Telling is harder work, and more dangerous.

While studying Carlos Casteneda, I learned that he has developed a warrior’s protocol for elevating the human to higher levels of being, called Tensegrity. I have not studied it in depth, but have watched a few videos of it, and I was surprised at how it is TELLING, COMMANDING, not asking for these energetic upgrades.

I have also seen this pumping of energy in many modern kundalini practices, driving the energy through the centres, even when they may not be ready or able to handle the energy. Wouldn’t it be better to ask, instead of tell?

In our polluted and blind society, it may seem necessary to take it to these more intense levels – “shredding” energy balls and grasping and grabbing as much energy as possible.

But the traditions of Tai Chi, Chi Gung, and martial arts have no need to grasp or shred. There are huge gains and benefits to simply asking. Hold the energy ball, bring it into your lower dantien – there is no need to shred it before “ingesting” it. Your body will take what it needs. Ask, not tell.

This is one of the differences I see between Wizardly or “ceremonial magick” practices and Earth magick. The Wizard commands the spirit to appear, confines the spirit to a circle of his Will, and demands that the Spirit fulfill his request – whether that is teaching, or a command to perform a deed. Wizards create gates, telling instead of asking, to travel the worlds. It is the commanding, the telling, that makes Wizardly practices more dangerous, and involves greater ego. To achieve goals by this method requires 99% purity and dedication to the practice. It is so much easier to ask than tell.

This is also true of nearly all shamanic practices as well.

You don’t demand that you go on a Journey; you ask. You don’t tell your Guardians help you, you ask. You don’t command the Medicine Wheel – you invite it.

You don’t insist that your Helpers appear, you ask for their presence. You offer gratitude when they do appear. This gentle practice helps prevent us from becoming warped and selfish.

The entire multiverse is about relationship. Treat your body as a friend, and it will be your friend. Welcome your Helpers, your Journeys, even your Medicine Wheel as friends.

There is no need to force the rose to bloom. Isn’t the rose more beautiful when it opens naturally? Ask, not tell.

As Above, So Below: Within You, Without You

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George Harrison sings in his song, Within You, Without You:

“We were talking, about the space between us all
And the people, who hide themselves behind a wall of illusion
Never glimpse the truth, then it’s far too late when they pass away

We were talking, about the love we all could share
When we find it, to try our best to hold it there, with our love
With our love we could save the world, if they only knew

Try to realize it’s all within yourself, no-one else can make you change
And to see you’re really only very small
And life flows on within you and without you.

We were talking, about the love that’s gone so cold
And the people who gain the world and lose their soul
They don’t know, they can’t see, are you one of them?

When you’ve seen beyond yourself
Then you may find peace of mind is waiting there
And the time will come when you see we’re all one
And life flows on within you and without you.”

The manifesting triangle in red – is “So below”

The Transcending triangle in Blue – is “As Above.”

The traditional alchemical formula is “As Above, So Below.”

The centre, where the two triangles come together and form a hexagram, corresponds with the Heart Chakra. The coming together of manifesting and liberating energies in the body.

It is the same as Within you and Without you.

Or as I say in my formal sphere – Around me and in me.

Coherence between what is outside of you, and what is inside of you, is the ultimate in health.

When it happens, you will notice synchronicities. The next song you hear might speak to you of what you were just thinking or feeling. Or the flight of a bird across your path might remind you of something you were meditating on – or maybe will just bring you back to breath.

The outside aligns with the inside in coherence.

I made the triangles red and blue because I learned from Tslagi (Cherokee) to say, “Have a Red and Blue Day.” Blue is the sky, reaching for the sky, transcendence. Red is the earth, the path of walking in manifestation.

This is another form of coherence, and your practice of separating inside from outside, using Inside and Outside – will help you bring them into harmony with each other.

Within, Without. Above, Below. Around and In.

All One, in the beautiful harmony of the Heart.

Meditation is Essential

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Medicine Wheel by Carl Jung, from the Red Book

It’s essential to have a meditation Practice.

I can tell you a few that I’ve tried, and what I like and why. It is individual, so you will have to find your own way.

My first exposure to meditation was Yoga, at age 13. But I didn’t know I was doing meditation, I just thought I was learning greater physical control of my body. This was a huge benefit to an adolescent girl! In fact, I made speeches at my school about how it was physically beneficial, but did not have a religious element to it! I now think there is enough in yoga for a lifetime of spiritual development.

Then I found the martial arts, but I didn’t think it was meditation, either. I thought of it as a way for self defense, and physical prowess. I liked being able to beat up testosterone fuelled guys, and it gave me a sense of empowerment. Now that I’ve practiced various forms of marital arts for 30 years (on and off, due to injuries), I think there is enough there for a lifetime of mental discipline and depth of refinement to last a lifetime.

When I first started exploring esoteric subjects, I took up Mindfulness Meditation, as taught by Thich Nhat Hanh. Ah, I thought! Meditation! And it was. I learned to Witness my thoughts, and watched the thoughts become still and deep. I also think it enhanced my magick – my ability to shape my own consciousness to effect change in my life. But I didn’t understand how. Mindfulness meditation was – a tool. It refined my personality, but it was subtle.

Then came all the esoteric meditations: visualization (holding an image in your mind), ceremonies, and rituals, setting of intent and sending of energy to gather what I believed I wanted. Awesome. But it’s easy to get deluded and charmed by these – and miss the point. The point is – if I was so Great, if I am One with the Universe, then why was I casting spells?

Somewhere in there, I experienced Guided meditation. I hated it. The guidance was always to visualise things which were not in my nature. I would see a mountain, the guided meditation would send me to a grassy valley. I would see a stream, but the guided meditation wanted me to see a hall of doors. Or a staircase. Or whatever!

I do still use guided meditations, mostly to induce a relaxed state in preparation for dreaming or Journeying.

Then, I was initiated into Shamanism. I thought it was meditation at the time, just a different format of the esoteric stuff. It took about 10 years of practice before I started to feel my way and realized that – the theta state, while it can be achieved through meditation, is a creative state with direct access to the subconscious. It would take decades of meditation practice to call it up at will – and yet the drum brings it so simply, so easily.

But after my initiation, I let it drop for awhile, thinking it was just another meditation.

I started sitting Zen. This had value in the silent depths of it. I did not feel it refining me personally, and there seemed to be a lot of “more Zen than thou” games at the Zen Center. But I found it valuable to sit for 15-20 minutes at time when I still could. I had back pain, and it became difficult to sit properly for Zen.

Then I learned kundalini meditations. At the school I went to, it was guided meditations, but it was gentle, and opening. They were guided meditations, coupled with yoga practices and writing and creative exercises. It was like a personal development course, looking at the layers of kundalini and exploring my chakras on different levels. The founder of the school, Genevieve Paulson, is gone, and my teacher no longer offers retreat teachings (but you can meditate with her “in the cloud”)

So – the next thing to try was TM, Transcendental Meditation. I had heard about it at the kundalini retreats, and my boyfriend did it – 2 x 20 minutes a day. There was a “half price special” so I got initiated. It is a basic mantra meditation. There is value to mantra meditation – it can take you deep, fast, and separates you from your thoughts more quickly than Zen or Mindfulness Witnessing. But I started to dissociate, and worried that it was erasing Jan while it was “refining” her. I didn’t feel any refinement, it was just like a deeper sleep.

If you want to try a mantra, don’t pay $$$$ like I did. Try So-Ham. So-ham is the joining of all binaries: In / Out breath, Male / Female, Holding / Giving, Day / Night, Rain / Earth, Wind / Fire. As you inhale (So) see the Yang, as you exhale, see the Yin. As breath comes in (Yang), feel it spread to your body as you exhale (Yin). Ride the So-ham mantra for 20 minutes a day. It will refine you, it will take you to deep states of consciousness, and it will prepare you for exploring in your Journeys.

There is a danger to mantra meditation though. While you are repeating the syllables, you are simplifying your brain – and while it can serve you to be simplified, it effectively works as an entrainment procedure which also makes you vulnerable to outside influence – like mind control. As I was in TM, I was susceptible to all the hogwash that goes with the practice.

After the brainwave flattening and mind control of TM and other rituals of guru practice, I return to shamanic practice.

In shamanism, I fly my own ship. The information and experiences I find in the shamanic Other Consciousness is rewarding, enriching, comforting, and teaching. It requires discipline and balance. Holding on and letting go. I don’t need to worship a specific deity or guru, I don’t need to adopt authoritarian practices or participate in fear based religion.

In shamanism, I am presented the lessons exactly as I am ready for them.

And in shamanism, I start to see the meditative value of my other practices. Pipe ceremony and prayer, medicine wheel and protection. Yoga, where my body becomes guru and guides me to the open spaces Inside. Karate, which challenges my mind and body to synchronize and develop coherence. Walking, which enhances mindfulness. Mindfulness – which enhances my entire life.

Shamanism pointed me back to the practices which are valuable – and meditation is now more integrated into my life. I still have practices – but they are foundations upon which my meditations are built.

In the beginning, chop wood and carry water. In the end, chop wood and carry water. The work is the meditation.

The Neutrality, The Permanence, The I-AM, and That

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Solar Braids by JanCarol

I believe that there is Something

Whether it is “weird action at a distance” or a soul –

That connects All Life together.

That Something is greater than all of us.

A dear friend speaks to me about “The Neutrality.” I had never heard that name used before, but it is useful.

I have always called it The Witness (meditation) or The Self (Advaita Vedanta) or Atman (yoga), Causality (also yoga), the I-AM (Judeo Christian) or That (also Advaita Vedanta), Eternity (many religions) or Permanence.

You can be personal, or you can be neutral.

You cannot be both at the same time, even though that is exactly the definition of you. You can breathe in, and breathe out – and still be both you (the individual) and You (the Divine).

In a personal perspective, your emotions are large, your thoughts are mile-a-minute and you engage with them and ruminate. Your problems are insurmountable, and the next goal is all you want.

Stepping back to the “neutrality,” is like getting into a jet plane and looking down – observing – that tiny city – those emotions become tiny, the thoughts – are just brain firings, and the problems and goals – are just one small life.

You can do both, but a shift is required to even perceive the neutrality (most people can’t do it), then you can Be Here Now, truly in the now.

You can get lost in the personality, and have to remind yourself that the neutrality is still there, you are still connected to the Oneness, and the personality fades as you realise that.

This is how you set the ego free.

It is also how you refine the personality, by ‘witnessing’ it. (a meditation event). By stepping back into the Permanent, your problems and emotions are diminished, but when you return to the Impermanent, the Personality – your experience as a Divine, Permanent Being – influences and changes your personality.

Personality is the things we are as a human. Emotions, feelings, memories, thoughts, identity, history – all the things that make up the individuality.

Causality – or beyond is the permanent part of us.

Papaji and Eckhart Tolle explain. When you ask, “Who am I?” Papaji wants to know – who is asking the question? Who is “I” and who is asking to define I? Eckhart Tolle had a flash of insight when he realised in a state of depression: “I don’t like myself.” He then realised that there is a split between “I” and “Myself,” and in his delving into this split, he found the difference between the Eternal (“I” in this sentence) and the Temporary (“myself” or the personality).

The clearest way to be aware of causality is mindfulness.

My first lesson in mindfulness was about train cars. As you are meditating, your thoughts are train cars going by on the tracks. Your brain’s job is to think, to produce thoughts. In meditation, you let the train roll by, observing the train cars, then letting them go so that the next one can come. To engage in a train car is to “get stuck,” so you go back to the breath, and observe the thoughts again.

Personality is the cars and their contents, and it can be useful to explore the cars and their contents. There is self knowledge, and a move towards individuation, to examine these feelings and what they are teaching you about the human experience. “That” is the observer which watches the cars go by, the cars are always changing, but That is Permanent.

Who is it that observes your thoughts?

That’s Causality.

Once, all of my religion and spirituality existed in personality. “I believe this because -” and I was very invested in religion as the identity of my personality. Now I am finding that I am able to use my personality (the train cars, the body, the emotions, the thoughts, the passions) to drive my own train, and yet I can still, observe it from a position of Permanence.

First, I explored the Personality, to learn more about why I am Human and made this way.

Then, I stepped back into Objectivity/Causality, to detach from the Personality

NOW, I am plunging that Objectivity back into the Personality to infuse my existence with the Holy.

This is also called “not taking it personally” in the Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz.

Neutrality is the observer, the witness, in meditation. I am not thought, feeling, pain, relationships, I AM lies beyond that.

There is a movie. It is projected on the wall. The neutrality is not the story of the movie, nor is it the wall upon which the story is projected. It is not the projector. It is the light upon which all things ride, and the darkness which dances with the light.

Because I am human, I have a mind, and my mind wants to attach to the stories, to the wall, to the projector, to the methods and the practices. But the truth is, I am not those things. I am That.

Neutrality is identifying with the permanent, the Whole, the One, That, the Self, instead of identifying with the personality, the temporary, the emotions, the thoughts, all of the things bound up in individuality.

To Channel neutrality is to open oneself up to the openness and possibility of the Divine, and to let go into that, knowing that all will be well.

The permanent will always care for the impermanent, and has a deeper understanding of the layers of causality in this existence.

From Neutrality comes the drumming, comes the words that I share with the people who ask for them. From the Neutrality comes the connection, the gifts of animal, plant, stone medicine, earth, sea, sky, space. From the Neutrality comes the gifts of the Gods – though the Gods themselves are personality, they, like me, are channels for the eternal gifts.

Is this the Right Path?

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Carl Jung, from The Red Book

Yes, and yes. No and no.

How many colours are in a rainbow?

How many paths are there to heaven?

How many grains of sand on the beach?

The air that you are breathing – who breathed that air before?

The drops of water in the ocean

The stars in the sky

The blades of grass in a meadow.

The number of hairs on a bunny.

The multitude of biological species required to maintain a human

The number of breaths in a life.

How many plant species are there? Fungus? Virus?

Anyone who says that it must be this way or that way – is just wrong. Because we don’t know all the ways it can be.

People have their pet ways, Maharishi said do TM, Papji and Gangaji say “who are you?” Patanjali said, “know yoga,” the tribes of South America say, “learn from the plants,” the Siberian shaman says, “let the drum teach you.” Jews say learn it from the Torah, Christians say learn it from the Bible or the life of Jesus. Buddhists – well you get the idea.

As long as you are learning and experiencing then you are moving on the path, and processing the process, then you are on the right path.