Day 2 - Yoga Sutra 1 - Reflections on the Present Moment

Today's Tarka Practice
For today’s reflection, I have chosen Kriyananda’s translation of Patanjali’s first teaching in Book 1 of the Yoga Sutras.

“Now, at an auspicious moment, begins the traditional instruction in yoga”

Here, one of the main ideas of Kriyananda’s translation is his focus on “this moment”. He wants us to consider the important concept of auspiciousness. He wants us to ask “why now”? Why has yoga come into our lives right now, at this particular time?

For today’s tarka see if you can reflect on the importance of yoga in your life right now. For a deeper understanding, you may want to think about how long you have been practicing yoga, why you were called to it in the first place, and what it means to you on this particular day.

Day 5 - Letting Go

Today's Tarka Practice
Being able to let go of things is an important part of your yoga practice. People hold very tightly to things that have happened in their past and often ask me, "how do I let go"? Letting go of something from our past is a very gradual practice that cannot be done overnight; however, there are things we can do to encourage ourselves to let go. Today, I have a practice that you can use to help you let go:

During your meditation practice, bathe yourself in light. Picture light washing over your entire being like a waterfall. Picture this light cleansing you. Every time you think about that thing which you are trying to let go, picture this light washing over you. It doesn't matter if you are standing in line for groceries or at a party; you can always take a few seconds to release your feelings by using light.

In your journal, reflect on something that you need to let go of and freewrite about it. Freewriting involves writing for 10 minutes about the experience without thinking or organizing your writing. Just write about that experience without stopping yourself for 10 minutes. Next, find a quiet place to meditate and try to let go of that experience using the light cleansing technique discussed above.

Day 7 - The Chandogya Upanishad

Today's Tarka Practice
I want you to reflect on this passage from the Chandogya Upanishad...

Brahman is all. From Brahman come appearances, sensations, desires, deeds. But all these are merely name and form. To know Brahman one must experience the identity between him and the Self, or Brahman dwelling within the lotus of the heart. Only by so doing can man escape from sorow and death, and become on with the subtle essence beyond all knowledge.

To get started on your reflection, think of Brahman as meaning "the totality of reality". That is everything in reality both physical and non-physical.

The Atman or Self is one thing in that total reality.

How does this Upanishad help you to understand the relationship between yourself and the total reality? If you are having trouble, think of yourself as one ripple in an entire pond or one wave in an entire ocean. The ripple or the wave is the Self and the pond or Ocean is Brahman.

Day 8 - Reflections on Your Meditation Practice

Today's Tarka Practice

Today, I want you to think about your relationship to your meditation practice. Do you find joy in your practice? How long have you been practicing? What do you wish you could improve on in your practice? What do you struggle with the most in your practice? What comes easy to you? Reflect on your answers to these questions. What insights did you gain my answering these questions? What new discoveries did you make?

Day 11 - The Way We Experience Love

Today's Tarka Practice
To begin today's reflections I have another story to share. This story comes from my own personal journal and talks about my meditation experience in the Zen tradition. This was before I became a student of Kriya yoga and the writing is from about eight years ago. After re-reading this story in my own journal, it struck me how many great lessons are still present. This was a writing about love.
And the story begins...

The faint scent of cedar wood filled the room. Eyes closed, I carefully observed the proper form of the Soto Zen meditation tradition. As my breath eased in and out of my body, I used breath control and intention to push the air deliberately towards my feet. I was focused and felt calm and peaceful until my cat, Egypt, started rubbing her head lovingly against my hand, begging for attention. I did not reach out to pet her; instead, I tried to maintain my locus of control. In order to train my mind, my will, it was essential to maintain proper form. Her rubbing became more insistent, and I felt the hives begin to grow and itch on the back of my hand. They itched like mad, but I refused to move and break form. Again, I used my breath to try to forget the itching sensation that was now cascading up my wrist and forearm. She would not leave me alone, and I was getting very irritated. I did not set out to make irritation the central focus of this meditation. Yet, I sat there still, irritated and itchy. She was not trying to irritate me; she was only seeking love. This love came to me without warning and was not what I expected it to be. I thought to myself, love is often like this. We have expectations about the form it will take and who it will be with. We make judgments about the way we wish it to be, and when it does not meet our expectations, we become irritated. This irritation actually blocks us from being able to receive love. We often want love to come to us on our terms and only when we decide we want it; we want to control it instead of just opening ourselves up and letting it happen. When others demand love from us during inconvenient times, such as during meditation, or while we are busy working on a project, or watching our favorite TV show, we don't notice it; we actually push love away, get angry and then wonder why our partners are irritated, hurt, or angry. Love can be very demanding. When those who seek only to be in our presence approach us, what we need to do is to stop, to listen, to awaken, to pay attention, become fully present in the moment and ask ourselves what is going on here? When others are "begging" for our attention, it is because we have not been giving it. If we tend our relationships as if they were a flower garden, if we nurture them with care and water them regularly, the petals will slowly open and grow towards the light. Instead of acting and reacting, we can just sit openly, listen silently, and awaken to what is being offered here. It is caring, compassion - it is generosity. My cat gave up for a bit, moved away, and sat next to me quietly purring. We rested comfortably in each other’s presence. Neither of us had to do anything. No action needed to be taken. Both of us were able to offer each other love and both of us were open to receive it. Love does not need to be demanding if we are awake. Love moves through us as freely as our breath.

In your journal today, I want you to open yourself to love. As you move through your day, think about your own encounters with love and the effects love has on your state of mind.

How many times did you feel love enter your life today? How did you approach it (did you receive it easily, get irritated, close yourself off, etc.)

Just notice all of your feelings and thoughts surrounding love.

Day 19 - Can you Control Your Suffering?

Today's Tarka Practice

Many of the great eastern religious traditions tell us that suffering is optional. Is it? Do we truly have this much control over how we feel? Both the Gita and the Sutras tell us that we do have this kind of control - that we can control our suffering and that we cause ourselves to suffer. We are told in these ancient texts that it is our thoughts and attitudes towards those thoughts that cause us to suffer. If this is so, then we can learn to control our minds, change our thoughts and change our attitudes. Is this true? What about someone who is mentally ill or someone suffering through a great illness, like cancer? Are they still in charge of their own suffering?

For today's journal entry, I want you to reflect on your attitudes towards suffering. Try to answer some of the questions that I pose above and write down how you feel about each one. Talk about how much control you feel you have over your own life. Try to think of some examples from your experience in which you were suffering and were able to change your attitude in order to allieviate that suffering. Also, write down some examples of when you were not able to change your thoughts and attitudes and continued suffering. What was different about each of the situations you wrote about?

Shanti