Friday 18 August 2017

overwhelmed

A stressful situation can hit at any moment, out of the blue, and can escalate quickly without warning.

What can you do when the heat of the moment has taken over? How do you react when you are experiencing strong emotions such as fear, anxiety? Is it even possible to turn it around? Maybe you already have a tool or technique that you employ that has been successful for you and that's great!


But what if kicking and screaming is about the only reaction accessible to you at the time? - which is not bad if that's how you feel. Better to express 'yo self and release it, then to keep it bottled up.

And what if there was another way to resolve the issue and move through the thick fog of emotions, would you consider the alternative?

A technique that I have used many a time is known by the acronym, RAIN.  It is simple in its recall, but its application is one that must be practised again and again (like Yoga) - but its pay off is well worth it, I assure you.  It takes a brave soul to make the journey inward...

RAIN is taken from the tradition of Kriya Yoga - the practise of internal action.  It helps one to stand in the fire of their own emotions; to burn up the impurities of one's past experiences, behavioural patterns and most of all the conditioning that happens as a result.  Maybe it could work for you!

But, don't take my word for any of this  - try it for yourself and see if it works for you (or not :))

So, here it is...

RECOGNIZE - Recognize what's happening right now. Recognize that yes, I am having an uncomfortable experience (whether you can name it or not, matters not).

ACCEPT - Accept that yes, I am having this experience - an uncomfortable one (whether you name it or not, still does not matter). Accept that yes, I am somewhere in the fear body at this moment without trying to change anything. Just accepting and acknowledging that yes, this feeling and moment, too, shall pass.

INVESTIGATE - Investigate further if you haven't recognized or accepted what you are feeling or experiencing. Investigate what this fear might be about?

NON - ATTACHMENT -  Create a non- attachment to it.  Try not to attach yourself to the concept of "I'' as having the experience.  According to Yogic Philosophy,  there is no permanent sense self that remains solidified indefinately, we are constantly changing; evolving. This falls in line with the law of impermanence with governs our very existance.  Thoughts are just the same-- impermanent, and so must come and go; arise and fall. Our thoughts do not make up who we are!





Friday 4 August 2017

breathe | and begin again...

This quote came to me at a time when I needed to hear these exact words.
Simple. Yet profound when applied.
May it free your mind the way it did mine.


It isn’t about getting to that happy place and staying there,
but having the strength to journey back inward; to begin, yet again.
Whether through achievement or defeat,
the work is to stay with our Yoga practice...
Whether things are going well or not...

and just breathe...and begin again


If we can meet both Success and Failure with equal likeness,
we can be free.
These practises are the pathways of Yoga
The mind tracks that will help us cut through the illusions
that prevent us from seeing clearly.

If we run from what scares us and chase only after our desires,
the mind never settles.
It is constantly looking for the next best fix
to soothe the fluctuations of the whirling mind.

Instead of remaining still and present with whatever comes our way,
we are held a prisoner of our own minds,
stuck in the past; chasing the future.

To remain equal in mind through pleasure and pain- this is Yoga.
It is not a straight and tidy road, but it is a worthwhile and fruitful one.
And one that must be practised again and again.


Chapter 3, Verse 6 of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras,
an sacred ancient text depicts the Yoga journey well...

Only through Yoga, Yoga is known

Only through Yoga, Yoga progresses

One who is patient with Yoga

Enjoys the fruits for a long time