Freedom in the World

The formless is in all forms and 

all forms are formless,

thus do the Enlightened live freely in the world.

 

Why New Years Resolutions Succeed

There are certain New Year's resolutions we can do that are in harmony with the Winter's Solstice Breath... Any activity that has us turning within will be at harmony with this time of year and therefore have a much greater chance of success. This is basically a Lunar time not a Solar time of year. 

So it is a good time to make and plan New Year's Resolutions that you will launch in the Spring.
It is also an excellent time of year for doing things like:

• A retreat;
• Meditation - both individually and with others;
• Renewing one's practice of meditation or relaxation;
• Writing;
• Enjoying doing 'nothing';
• Editing photos or assembling photo albums;
• Composing Music;
• Sitting by the Fire;
• Solving Puzzles or planning solutions to problems;
• Working on a new craft, knitting, stringing malas;
• Reading a good book;
• Contemplating spiritual teachings;
• Visiting with Friends;
• Taking long hot baths;
• Cooking stews and soups;
• Baking of all kinds;
• Ice Fishing;
• Walking in nature and feeling the stillness - this stillness is how nature renews itself!

Remember, the Winter Solstice only lasts about three months and the the energy of the Spring Equinox begins and that changes everything. 

So perhaps one New Year's Resolution that can be successfully implemented is to allow yourself to enjoy and take advantage of this time of year in whatever ways allow you to relax and renew. 

Why New Years Resolutions Fail

The New Year according to the Roman Calendar falls within the energy cycle of the Winter Solstice.

At the Winter Solstice, all of nature is turning within, returning to it roots, to its source.
Perennial Flowers go back into their bulbs, Annual flowers die, the sap in trees drops into the roots, animals hybernate, the Earth sleeps.

Thus, trying to give birth to or launch a new outward activity runs contrary to the whole flow of the solar breath at this time of year! It ain't a gonna happen.

Tough Love!

I know the Divine Beloved Loves me

Because She just kissed me 

with her tough love!

Life IS our Job

We were offered and agreed to take this job,
To travel from the land of the soul to be born on Earth. Our job came with a purpose, and so our life was given purpose.

The job we took was simply living life,
and it is very hard work!
It is work that lasts a lifetime, however long that may be.

It is guaranteed work.
It presents us with many challenges to be navigated, and problems to be solved.  These challenges and problems were not given to us haphazardly, they are intimately tied to the purpose of our job and life. They could not be avoided.

In return for our effort, our job gives us many rewards, they are not always monetary rewards. Sometimes the rewards are for the soul and are given in ways the mind does not understand.

Finally, sooner or later, we are allowed to retire!
We have accomplished many things at our job of living life, and nothing is labeled good or bad. This is a time of joy, it comes with a sense of accomplishment, knowledge and wisdom from having come to Earth and lived life. Oh, there may be a brief moment of regret - of a wish to have done more or done something differently, but these feelings quickly dissolve for they are but shadows of ego. 

Finally the soul, usually quite tired and ready, is taken from this hard job of life. It rejoices in a new found freedom: Now it can once again get to know itself and joyfully pursue its highest ambitions unfettered. Now it feels the deeper contentment of being back home and at peace with itself.

The job of life was a good one, and we are glad we had the privilege of working and learning so much from that job.  We take all that with us into retirement, all the knowledge, wisdom, joy and pain. We are esteemed in the heavens for having gone to work on Earth and returned, and for all we have gained in this life on Earth.

In retirement we find ourselves feeling new; we are transformed and free from all material denseness, responsibility, illness, and tiredness. We remember! We remember we have a life that exists beyond the cycles of Earthly time and does not end when we retire from Earthly life.  So we remember that dimension of ourselves that is free of death and we become ready to continue our journey and service to God.
 

Practical Meditation: Caught in a Mood - Breathing to Break Negativity

There a few Breathing Techniques that are very simple to use and yet very powerful for restoring balance and vitality when disrupted by Negativity.

Why can we use our breathing to restore balance?  Because it is breath that connects body, emotions and mind. Therefore if we can regulate our physical breathing we also influence the state of our emotions and mind.

If we are caught in a negative mood our breathing becomes reflective of the mood – it becomes erratic, rapid, or out of balance. Lack of balance in our breathing, while not creating negativity, makes us susceptible to its influence and can even maintain it. So, to help break a bad mood or negative ‘mental-emotional habit’ a breathing practice is probably the easiest way to do it.

Poor Mental-Emotional habits, like poor eating habits rob us of our balance, vitality, perspective and the happiness inherent within our heart, any of the following breathing techniques, if practiced regularly, can restore balance and harmony to our lives.

I recommend trying them all and choose the ones you like best to practice. They all have slightly different effects.

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Letting Go Breath

This technique will send away any stress or mood but only if you will let it go.

Through the nose, take as deep an inhalation as you can, hold the breath for a second to build up pressure and then exhale, letting go with a big sigh.  The sigh is optional but it does help in letting go. Then do it again and again until the stress or mood is broken.

Visualization: As you inhale feel your stress or mood being solidified, coalesced and pulled together in to a mental/emotional ball, then when you make the big exhalation just let go of that ball of stress.

Balanced Breathing

This simple regulation of the breathing will balance the tendency to over-react.

Become aware of your breath, let flow in and out through the nose and simply make the inhalation and exhalation of the same duration - so for example inhale 4 counts and exhale 4 counts.

With this practice you take control of your breathing and bring it into balance. Maintain that balance in your breathing for as long as you can - don’t let it go out of balance. The longer the count, the more relaxed you become, but don’t force it, as you start to relax you will find that that the count will naturally become longer, which is fine as long as the inhalation and exhalation are still the same count.

Alternate Breathing (Pranayama)

The alternating pattern of this breath practice is:

Begin with a nice big exhalation, then…

Close right nostril - Inhale through the left nostril,

Close both nostrils - Hold the breath,

Keep left nostril closed - Exhale through right nostril;

Keeping left nostril closed - Inhale through the right nostril,

Close both nostrils - Hold the breath,

Keep right nostril closed - Exhale through the left nostril

        Then breathe in through both nostrils,

        Hold the Breath,

        Breathe out through both nostrils.

Repeat this breathing pattern 3 – 5 times;

Use a ratio of 1:1:1, for example always inhale 5 counts, hold 5 counts and exhale 5 counts; or inhale 7 counts, hold 7 counts, exhale 7 counts.

To make it easier to breathe through only one nostril it is helpful to use your fingers to press against and close the nostril you are not breathing through. When holding the breath simply pinch both nostrils closed.

Optional Visualization: Feel the breath as a flow of energy moving up and down the left, right and middle of the spine – it flows from the base of the spine to the bridge of the nose as you inhale, as you exhale it flows down from the bridge of the nose to the base of the spine. When you hold the breath you can close your eyes and turn your eyeballs upward toward your forehead and curl your tongue up against the roof of your mouth.

Counting Breath

Sit in a chair or on the floor with your spine straight. Relax your body and then relax your breathing, feel as though your breathing is relaxing more and more with each breath.

Now simply become aware of your breathing as it flows gently in and out, in and out.  Feel the breath as it gently touches the nose, calmly flowing in and out. Feel your stomach or chest gently rising and falling as you relax more deeply into the rhythm of your breathing, letting your breath rock you gently in its flow. It’s almost like you are not even breathing, you are just relaxed and your breath is part of an eternal flow and rhythm of life flowing in and out.  Now simply count each inhalation and exhalation, don’t change anything, just continue to be aware of the gentle flow of your breathing until the count reaches 10.  Then if you like, start the count over until you drift off.

Breathing up the Spine

This technique will raise you up and out of any mood.

Breathe in through the mouth and feel the inhalation starting from the base of the spine, feel it flowing up the spine to the forehead. Hold the breath at the forehead for as long as is comfortable and then exhale out the nose, feeling the breath flowing down and out the heart center or center of the chest.

Breathing up the Spine with a positive emotion

This is an extension of the above breathing technique.

       Through the mouth, Breath up from base of the spine to the very top of the head (crown chakra), Hold the breath at the crown chakra and feel Divine Peace, then exhale through the nose and feel yourself being filled with Peace. You can also do this with the feelings of Love and/or Light.

Elemental Breaths with optional visualizations

This is the most complete and healing breath practice I know. It is composed of 5 breathing patterns that tap upon the healing resources of Mother Nature’s Elements: Earth, Water, Fire and Air.

1.   Earth Breath – The Breath of Regeneration

Inhale through the Nose – Exhale through the Nose

As you inhale through the nose, feel as though you are inhaling the regenerating, vitality of Mother Earth – feel this healing energy fill you whole body. As you exhale out the Nose, Imagine breathing out all your used-up, depleted energy or vitality into Mother Earth and know that Mother Earth receives this depleted energy and recycles it.

2.   Water Breath – The Breath of Life

Inhale through the Nose – Exhale through the Mouth

As you inhale through the nose, feel that you are immersed in an Ocean of fresh, Spring like vitality and you are inhaling this vitality, feeling it flowing through your body and aura like cool, pure stream of life force. Then as you exhale you feel this flow intensify, carrying away all depleted vitality and energy, all pain, all impurities from your body.

Visualization: Imagine your body and aura as a lake and feel as though a fresh spring of this infinite energy were replenishing the lake. Visualize the color of this energy as the ‘Green of Spring’.

As you Exhale Out the Mouth, imagine a darker shade of green energy, like an exhaust stream of used-up, depleted energy being exhaled out the base of the body and into the Earth beneath you.

3.   Fire Breath -  The Breath of Light

Inhale through the Mouth – Exhale through the Nose

As you inhale through the Mouth, imagine and feel as though you are inhaling a stream of light like the sun through the solar plexus, this light spreads out and fills every organ, cell and molecule of your whole body with light. Then as you Exhale out the Nose, imagine this light radiating out through all the pours of your skin and filling your aura, emotions, and mind with light – you become radiant.

4.   Air Breath – The Breath of Freedom

Inhale through the Mouth – Exhale through the Mouth

As you Inhale through the Mouth, feel you are drawing into your consciousness a very refined life force from as far out in the cosmos as you can imagine, draw the energy into your aura thinking of the vastness of space, the Stars or Milky-Way galaxy as you gently inhale this Cosmic Life Force. As you Exhale out the Mouth, imagine your whole aura and consciousness expanding into the heavens.  You have no substance, you are as light and free as the air, there is no heaviness – you are completely free of all denseness.

5. Ether Breath - Simply take one breath of each of the above

Practical Meditation: Caught In A Mood

There are good moods and bad moods, states where we are enveloped in emotions.

If these do not give us a sense of Love, Harmony or Beauty they are "Bad Moods". They totally influence our perception of life events, and they are stressful, creating unwanted thoughts, speech and action! 

They are like a spell cast upon us, usually arising from past trauma, fear, or anger over situations which we can't yet seem to make peace with and let go. We don't want to repress these moods and we don't want to act out but we can hardly stop ourselves from doing so - we feel trapped, even held prisoner by them.  

What to do?

First, we have to break their hold, then find a way to step out of them, to step above them so we can see from another perspective, with a different light not clouded by their influence.

In short we need to find a way, to find the strength to be able to acknowledge them, yet watch them and not react. When we do this, they do not go away but neither do they exert a hold on us. They still come but we recognize them coming, we hear their footsteps and understand how they make us feel - this very recognition robs them of their power and returns that power to us. Theie influence upon us grows weaker until they are simply like flotsam passing by in the water of our consciousness.

My Spiritual Teachers would say to me: "What you have to do is learn to Watch your Breath". Indeed, if we can learn to watch our breathing, observing it, we also learn to 'watch your thoughts and emotions' - we develop a power in ourselves to become aware of our thoughts and emotions before they influence our action.  So just as you don't go around always holding your breath, you no longer hold or grab on to your thoughts and emotions, you become aware of them and some you choose to act on and some you let go. You also learn that your thoughts are not you! They are what they are - often conditioned upon events of the past, or reactions to the present.

In my experience the practices of personal freedom that systemically allow us to break the hold of "Bad Moods" through the power of self-awareness are ZAZEN, Balanced Breathing, and Pranayama. I will share a few of these practices in the next blog.