EMOTIONAL WELLNESS - insights

 Higher mind & emotional wellness 

The "higher mind" is the mind of wisdom, intuition, kindness, symbols, power, love, inspiration and a deep trust in ourselves.  

The "lower mind" is the thinking mind, which loops continuously on with the thoughts it is familiar with, resists change, makes everyday, practical life workable and convinces us it is the whole mind, when it is one half of a partnership.

When we feel anxious, bereft of hope and trust, prone to feelings of misery, fearfulness, or stress, we imagine that we need external help - someone, or a miracle - to help transform the conditions in which we live, or that it would require a miracle to move the mind beyond the imprisonment of these feelings. 

The miracle we need is to learn how to use the wisdom in the higher mind, to jump over the 'patterns' of the lower mind. The help we most need is inside ourselves, an amazing resource patiently waiting within us, to be 'googled'.

Yogis have told us for millenia that it is not the circumstance which is the problem, it is the mind which apprehends that circumstance. A circumstance which has the ability to depress thousands, will cause others to awaken more positivity. A circumstance which elicits rage and anger in hundreds, will elicit compassion in others. It is not the circumstance which is the problem, it is the manner in which we conduct ourselves through it - or rehabilitate ourselves, after it. Initially it is the state of the mind which causes our responses. The paradigm which we inhabit. Each response leads to the next response. Then we find the way to change these responses permanently.

Only wisdom from the higher mind can shift us away from the patterns, neuroses, complexes, tensions, scars, traumas and habits in the mind.  We all have these. It depends on life circumstances as to which ones will surface, and when, and to the development of your mind as to how you will ease your way through them.

The only thing you can know for sure is that if you want to be joyful and healthy - how to go about getting that. Here are four suggestions (if they appear not to be the sort of suggestions you wanted, I ask you to reconsider the implication of each) to create a new life for yourself. You have to google them from within. Wisdom and radiance beyond measure, lies inside you.

1. OBSERVE the stuff playing through your mind as if watching a movie.

2. ACKNOWLEDGE that it IS a movie. It exists only as a movie. It is not NOW.

3. DROP : to become happier one has to disengage from the all-consuming movie of the moment. Disengage from, drop, the dazzling miserable thought which is flowing from the subconscious mind, into the conscious mind. You are not repressing or suppressing them - far from it. They have been observed. They have been acknowledged. The next step is not to hold onto them, as immediately as they surfaced, they are Dropped! Miserable thoughts & memories burn you just as surely as a hot potato. You wouldn't hold onto that would you? Instantly input into the mind something wildly beautiful even if unrelated, anything to break the bond with misery.

4. IMAGINE: deliberately imagine yourself as an immensely powerful & amazing person in this world. Get details flowing, really focus on this. Visualising or imagining beautiful things is an extremely potent form of healing the mind, just as visualising, remembering or imagining horrible things is utterly unhealing to the mind.

5. CONNECT: To gain great emotional health one needs to connect with others. To feel for others. To connect one's heart to the rest of creation. Animals, insects, humans, all life which finds itself here, on this planet. Each individual, their sex, colour, culture, etc, needs to be accepted by each other individual. Emotional wellness comes in part by dropping limiting generalities - and opening the heart to goodness. While we are all seemingly different we are quite the same in two ways ... we are having a human experience and all that that might entail in any lifetime, and, we are all Spirit appearing in the illusory form of an individual in order to awaken consciousness in each other.

6. PLAYFULNESS : by yogi Sw Satyananda Saraswati [Sannyasa Tantra page 42]. 

"It is not possible to accept another person as he or she really is, unless there is an attitude of playfulness involved. It is not possible to see a situation as it really is, unless there is a sense of child-like wonder, of play. It is in the fertile arena of play that new possibilities open up; new panoramas, previously undreamt of, show themselves."

7. KARMA YOGA : Not all yoga is about asana, breathing or bandhas. If you have anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, lack the ability to nurture yourself and others or feel that your mental, emotional, social and physical health needs upgrading then Karma Yoga is one of the wonderful yoga practices, for you.

Karma Yoga is yoga based on activity which is performed with the heart. It is any action that is performed ... for yourself, or others, but it must be performed with heart. Karma Yoga is activity performed with kindness. In this way it can be the food you eat, the food you prepare, the house you clean, the gifts you give, the breath you take, the words you speak, the clothes you wear, the thoughts you think.

Kindness which begins with you, emanates from you, to others. This is the very basis of selfless service to humanity. It is also the basis of self-esteem, without which, human beings function at a very low ebb.

Karma yoga causes more vibrancy, better levels of concentration, increased productivity/creativity, because one becomes contented, closely aligned with their own warm-heartedness. Karma yoga is not, as is so often thought, performing actions which have no bearing on you. On the contrary, they benefit your life directly and transformatively, the benefits of which, flow on to others.

Clean your toilets at home with a kind heart. Dress yourself with a kind heart. Prepare dinner for yourself and others with a kind heart. Do each one of the repetitive actions needed for daily life with warm-heartedness. Parent with a kind heart. Perform the duties of your job with a kind heart. Attend to those who connect with you, with a kind heart. Eat your food with a kind heart. Drive out in the busy world around you with a kind heart.

Above all, remember that kindness is not about putting yourself out, or being second-best, or last, it is about you having conscious compassion and acting in a manner which is healing for everyone. Where the feeling is resentment, the heart is closed.

At least try this for one full week and see the difference it makes. The chemistry in your body will become healthier. Endorphins, the happy, healthy hormones will start flowing. There will be a sense of equanimity and love with even the most mundane of tasks, or interactions.

Think Beautiful & create a beautiful Mind.

The effects of Stress in the conscious, subconscious & unconscious minds.

"One of the most important factors that can be concluded from our studies, of both ancient yogic literature and modern scientific text, is that there is not one but hundreds of causes that can create stress. There are doomsday prophecies made and these prophecies are very pessimistic. Does that not cause stress? It may not consciously cause stress, but it does cause stress in the unconscious mind.

Psychology maintains that when you suppress your experiences they recede into the unconscious and emerge in the form of nightmares. Whatever stress you experience in your family, society or life can be accumulated in any part of your mind. Sometimes your stress is conscious, sometimes it is subconscious and many times it is unconscious.

Yoga Nidra v Relaxation

Yoga Nidra is a scientific formulaic relaxation, for arresting debilitating vibrations which cause cellular disrepair and distress in the mind. It is a vastly different creature than 'relaxation'.

With the speed of general life vibrations on a daily basis become ragged through the nervous system, endocrine, immune and all other body systems, at the cellular level. Because of this periods of relaxation are needed to prevent general ill-health or disease taking root at the cellular level.  

There are many yogic techniques which can be utilised for relaxation. Usually power boosting practices such as asana are used to get the prana flowing again, and when this is deemed to have occurred, then the relaxation techniques are implemented. However this is not the only way relaxation can be processed. It can be the complete reverse. Relaxing practices given first and vitalising practices given at the end also works well.  It just depends on how it is done.

The positive vibrations which permeate the body during speediness and stress disrupt cellular processes and health, the positive vibrations which permeate the body during deep relaxation help restore cellular processes back to normal - and help repair any cellular injury that may be taking place. For this reason daily relaxation is as essential as having food or a shower. It is a basic need.

As you increase tranquillity through yogic techniques, you also increase compassionate, intelligent love within yourself, for yourself, and for others. Increasing tranquillity & compassion helps to heal the body, and the mind.

Think always of deeply recallibrating the nervous, endocrine & immune systems. The outcome of this will be far-reaching recalibration into all the systems of the body. And therefore, a recalibration of the mind-set.

Spiritual & emotional maturity thru guna awareness

The most permanent path to emotional maturity lies in having knowledge of the technical aspects of the mind. And there are a number of them. Knowledge of each one is a rung on the ladder to heaven. This article discusses the gunas.

No issue has the ability to incapacitate you, unless you determine that this is so.

In this article the technical aspect being discussed is, strange as it may seem, attitude. The yogic opinion is that human experience falls into three attitudes - they are:
1.  heavy, cold and/or dark
2. speedy, hot and/or over-bright, and
3. warm, luminous and/or harmonious.
All behaviour falls into these three categories. Knowledge of this provides you with the very first step to higher understanding, self-knowledge and deep, undisturbable peace.The first two are not desirable, but the third is infinitely desirable. The third way is the way to apprehend our angelic, or cosmic, nature.

The yogic term for attitude which is heavy, dark or cold, is tamas. Tamas refers to all that is resistant, lazy, dark, violent and which is repressive to the advancement of the human psyche - yours and others. Tamas is the hardest and weightiest, to overcome.

The term for the attitude which is speedy, over-bright or hot, is rajas. Rajas refers to all that is selfish, manipulative, restless & edgy -  it is better than tamas and is great for increasing motivation and for getting things going - but it is selfishly ambitious and does not care about others and so it too needs to be overcome.

The term for the attitude which is warm, harmonious and luminous, is sattva. In sattva one understands the ebb-and-flow of life and the divine partnership within all beings. Sattva is the attitude of unconditional love and unselfishness. It is the state of fullness in which one can give and give with no loss or emptiness to themselves. It is the luminous state of true intuitive wisdom and understanding. This is the only desirable state/attitude.

Sattva is that attitude which is warmly radiant, dynamic, courageous and serene. To develop sattva you have to be aware enough to check on each of your interactions, and experiences, during the day. Many people find themselves becoming irritable and even angry with this technique, purely because it is interrupting the patterning in the mind. Before long however irritation is replaced with a sense of personal inspiration and jubilation.

It is the things of ordinary everyday life which we use to increase awareness of attitude.

For example, when you eat today check to see if you are eating tamasically, rajasically or sattvically?

When you agreed to do something today did you agree tamasically, rajasically or sattvically?  In the doing of it, did you actually do it tamasically, rajasically or sattvically?

In modern society we are constantly encouraged to look at all the ins-and-outs of an emotional situation in order to understand our responses/attitudes i.e. our emotional nature.

What we usually want is for the pain to magically go away; apologies or change to come from the ones who have wounded us, or a salve for our conscience for the wounding we have done.

We try various means of 'tapping' into the pain from childhood or past lives such as re-birthing, past life transformations, counselling, tarot readings, astrological advice - all  forms of therapy from other people - and isolation and peace. Receiving limited personal attention may help in some small degree, for the brief time we received this external guidance, but is little more than a balm.

While 'past experience' exploration is a vital and wonderful step in the process of self-healing and helps us to understand experiences and possible reasons for our responses, it seldom gives a solution nor help in any permanent or satisfying way. It's important to go through the story process, because it's important not to by-pass the whys and where-fores of the 'story' altogether. Remember that it is repressive to the mind to block our stories completely, and repression as we all know increases the inner tension, pressing it to ever-deeper levels within the psyche. But you need to remember at all times that there is a technical process to come which will transcend the story.

Air your sad, angry, stressed stories consciously, permit them to be thought and spoken of, dont be afraid of the shadows and shadow-self, but have the intention during the story-telling to gradually wean the psyche away from it.

This process may be slow or quick, it may be an overnight leap for some people, or take years for others. If your mind insists that it’s not possible to use a mind-technique to work with deeper issues, that you have to express the pain completely, then it wont be overnight for you. You will have to go through the full process of finding out that pain is stored in the form of memory - and cannot be expressed finally and completely. The simple fact is that it is possible, and foolproof to use a technical method to overcome the 'stuff' in the mind.

Checking in on the gunas as you go about your daily life will inevitably develop your understanding of each of the three attitudes of mind and cause a revamping, a transformation, in your attitudes. It will be life-changing.

Jnana Yoga – is about acknowledging and releasing all that is not Divine. It is about changing any tamasic and rajasic attitude to sattvic. Right then, at the time you notice it.

In this way you still experience the old old stories ,and the burdening conditioning, but with such a different awareness that you will be able to release them so that you are freed to be in the tranquillity and dynamism of the present moment, neither in the past, nor in the future.

Breathing through the chakras

A simple, yet efficient and immediate way to work with the mind is by breathing through the chakras. The yogic name for this is chakra shuddhi, the practice ranges from the simple form to deeper more elaborate forms.

 Ungrounded - want to stabilize the mind? Breathe through the perineum. This will mean you are breathing through mooladhara chakra, the chakra which increases the capacity for stability in physical, mental and emotional health.

 

Sad - want to feel flowing and beautiful? Breathe through the tail-bone. This will mean you are breathing through swadhistana chakra, the chakra which increases the capacity for non-gratification in physical, mental and emotional health. (Non-gratification includes not indulging in emotional reactions, have them, drop them; not having requirements, or expectations on others, letting life flow; etc).

 

Angry - want to feel strong and noble? Breathe through the navel. This will activate manipura chakra, the chakra which increases will-power, integrity, nobility, endurance, self-esteem and inner strength.

Being critical of self or others – want to feel compassionate and loving? Breathe through the sternum. This will activate anahata chakra, the chakra which increases softness, unconditional compassion, empathy, open-heartedness, generosity and connection with the Divine.

Bad conscience - or need inspiration? Breathe through the pit of the throat. This will activate vishuddhi chakra, the chakra which transforms negative to positive. Pessimism to optimism. Impurity to purity. Poor communication to eloquent communication. Fear of change, to joy in change. Surrender to the flow of life.

You can breathe through the chakras at any time, all of them, or just one. Breathing through chakras cannot unbalance them. Breathing through one chakra benefits all the chakras, and it is a practice that know one would ever know you were doing. Do it when stopped at red lights. When walking out and about in everyday life. When listening to others talking. You can also find 5 - 30 minutes to sit and breathe through the chakras. A beautiful meditation to do regularlyis to breathe through, and chant aum into,  each chakra.

DESIDERATA

"Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.“

”

Max Ehrmann, 1927 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desiderata

Get Children outside into the fresh air
to enjoy free Movement and Nature

It is all too obvious that most children today move from the house, to the car, to the schoolroom, to the car, to the mall,to the house. Nearly their whole lives are spent indoors.  There is a little bit of fresh air at recess and lunch time - and children they can actually play with - but is it enough?

Inside the house they move to the little window that has become life and there they play games. Not real games, virtual games. They don't interact with children after school, but a robot. The computer. And once engaged there children can't bear to leave a movie, a game, or any other virtual reality to participate in actual reality. 

It is always the right time to get children 
outside and into nature 

every day after school. 

To walk and chat and just hang out, naturally. 

To eat apples and throw the core on the ground 

for a bird or a worm to enjoy.

Take your children walking along your street, other people's streets, see how others are living; go barefoot on the beach, play in the local park, honour the wetlands. 

You don't even have to have conversation, just enjoy the peace, feel the air. Find a hill to walk up. Find a tree to climb. Find a hill to run down. Find puddles to splash in. 

Dress up to enjoy the rain, the wind, the sun, whatever the weather, go out and be in it! It's good for you and your children's health. It's joyful.

Somewhere, somehow inspire them outside and into nature!

Then bring the children home to a real home where there is food to prepare and eat - and things to do ... feed their pets, do their homework, hobbies and creative things to do.  

Outdoors contributes greatly to inner peace and calm in children, whereas robot interaction causes stress on the nervous system. Walking moves the muscles peacefully helping to release stress. Walking together is bonding, and aids in that feeling of belonging - playing with robots and watching movies encourages feelings of alienation and unreality (not that the child can cognise this).

Look after the children, they are the future carers of future children.
Take the children into nature, they are the future carers of this planet.