Natural Yoga
Yoga is the reconciling of extremes that is lived.
Natural Yoga is the coupling inherent in respiration ~ circulation.
James Traverse
~~~
The Yoga koan - Who am I?
~
You are OneDual Intelligence - Intuition and Intellect
This pure, wondrous intelligence is acting now, as you are reading this.
The true nature of your bodymind is Intelligence, that is a Current of Stillness.
Its movement manifests with flawless ease and harmony.
Its action is always appropriate to the moment.
It leaves nothing lacking and no residue.
It is OneDuality.
James Traverse
~~~
Yoga is Motion in Stillness, Stillness in Motion
The key to Movement is your Breath - the Definite
The key to Yoga is Space - the Infinite
~~~
"We don't laugh because we are happy,
We are happy because we laugh."
William James
~
The Joy of Being - Being Joy
In the pursuit of happiness, take some time to Be Happy.
Being Happy: There is no way to happiness - Happiness is the way.
Being Relaxed: Trying to relax negates it - Relaxation is Being Natural.
Being Silent: don't try to be Silent - Be Silence.
Listening: You can't try to Listen - Be Listening.
There is no way to Be - Be the way!
~
Space
It is the local mind that relaxes. When the mind is relaxed joy is there naturally.
~~~
There is no path to Truth - There is only the path of Truth!
~~~
Space
Natural Yoga includes and is beyond the local mind.
The key to Natural Yoga is to emphasize Space which means to
emphasize perceiving (not the object of perception).
In Natural Yoga perceiving, silent non-localized awareness,
is the instrument of transformation.
~
Space-Silence is the onedual environment of Natural Yoga.
~~~
OneDuality - Yoga is the means and the end.
~
The meaning of Life
Is it not obvious to you that what you are is Life It-self ?
You are the definition of Life.
You are the medium.
You are simultaneously human and divine.
Life manifests at the only point that it can be, which is the mean
between existence as a localized entity, the Definite,
and dispersed energy/space, the Infinite.
This field of delicate balance is defined as Phi, the Golden Mean.
The Mean, 'field', or 'average' is called Centre - the Standing Wave.
The Centre is the Space where all energies meet, where they are together.
And, these energies flower in the Stillness of Openness.
Centre and Openness are OneDuality - two in One
- they differ in degree and are the same in kind.
This Golden Mean is also defined/measured by what is called the
Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
*All wisdom traditions and all sciences acknowledge the Centre *
(see links to the WaterCourse Way and the Middle Way below)
(intuitively you know centre through balance and what is called zero).
~
This is very much like standing, balancing, on one foot.
The point of balance is the mean (standing wave) of all your attributes and alignment with the laws of natural order.
When you are balanced (following the middle way), you are the definition or meaning of all these laws
being expressed in the unique way called - You - otherwise there is disorder, which is meaningless.
It is also seen in the balance of respiration and circulation
which is the Central Current of Life called Breathing.
~~~
Are there any connections in the images above?
If yes, who or what provides these connections?
~~~
What does mean mean? (note that the definition, meaning, includes both what is called good and bad)
the meaning in part is: mean: define, meaning: definition, mean: medium
mean 1
1. a. To be used to convey; denote: “‘The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words
mean so many different things’” (Lewis Carroll).
b. To act as a symbol of; signify or represent: In this poem, the budding flower means youth.
2. To have as a consequence; bring about: Friction means heat.
3. To have the importance or value of: The opinions of the critics meant nothing to him.
She meant so much to me.
mean 2
1. Selfish in a petty way; unkind. Cruel, spiteful, or malicious. Ignoble; base: a mean motive. Miserly; stingy
mean 3
1. Something having a position, quality, or condition midway between extremes; a medium.
2. means (used with a pl. verb)
a. Money, property, or other wealth: You ought to live within your means.
b. Great wealth: a woman of means.
3. means (used with a sing. or pl. verb) A method, a course of action, or an instrument by which
an act can be accomplished or an end achieved.
adj.
1. Occupying a middle position; middle; being about midway between two extremes.
2. Intermediate in size, extent, quality, time, or degree; medium.
See: Phi - the Golden Number - Golden Mean
and The Doctrine of The Mean by Confucius
The Watercourse Way Images of Taoism
The Middle Way by Mary Anderson
See also Fibonacci Numbers/Golden Section
~~~
Balance is a means of Wisdom
Wisdom is a means of Balance
your bodymind has an inherent wisdom.
It knows how to breathe.
It has been breathing since you were in your mother's womb.
~
yoga exercise #1: hold your breath
Do you see that after a time your bodymind insists on breathing?
~
your bodymind knows how to stretch and it does so every time you yawn.
Yoga exercise #2: yawn and stretch
Do you see that first, there is the stretch of your breath and, it is
the breath/life-force that moves your body?
Do you know that the stimulation to yawn comes through circulation
as your bodymind natural intelligence's need to expel wastes and inhale oxygen?
~
When you were an infant your bodymind learned how to balance, to stand and
to walk by instinct, by intuition, by imitating others and by trial and error.
Yoga exercise #3: stand on one foot
Do you see that your body attempts to balance on its own?
Note that the more your I-image releases the easier your body balances.
Note that what is called balancing is not static - it is the continuous process
of reconciling extremes - it is a Standing Wave.
~
Although medical science can tell us some of how your bodymind's
natural intelligence operates, much of its behavior is beyond
conventional comprehension.
For example, our scientists cannot cure the common cold -
your bodymind's intelligence usually cures it in 2 - 4 days.
This same intelligence regulates the activities of your body's highly complex
systems such as the circulatory, glandular, respiratory, nervous, lymphatic,
immune, muscular, skeletal, digestive and reproductive systems, etc...
(what regulates the autonomic nervous system; what gives order to the DNA, RNA?)
~
your bodymind has an organic memory of perfect health.
It heals a cut on your finger.
It tells you when your body is hungry, thirsty, sleepy etc.
It meets the demands of your daily life, with such ease, that you are usually
unaware of its functioning (experience your spleen, your liver, your glands, etc...).
It provides clear messages of dis-ease, pain, when something needs attention,
and joyous ones when things are in harmony.
~
Ancient sages, (see Patanjali's Sutras) realized that the same intelligence
that permeates your bodymind is also evident in the rhythm and beauty of
all that is Natural (OneDuality - opposites are a synthesis).
They saw that the fourfold spiral wave~flow coupling of
breathing as respiration and circulation is the template for all of life.
the fourfold spiral wave coupling, flowing, template of:
inspiration - pause - expiration - pause
coupled with
arterial flow - heartbeat pause - venous flow - heartbeat pause
is clearly revealed in
- a day of human life
awakening, daytime, falling asleep, sleep ...
- a day of the planet
dawn, daytime, twilight, night ...
- the four seasons of human life
childhood, adolescence, adult, old-age ...
- the four seasons of the year
spring, summer, autumn, winter ...
- the phases of the moon
first quarter, full, last quarter, new ...
- the female menstrual cycle
ovulation, pre-menstruation, menstruation, and post-menstrual periods ...
- the ebb- flow and flow-ebb of waves
and high and low tides ...
- many artists and intuitive folks have reflected these natural
spirals with the four singing voices, four acts in many plays,
four movements in musical compositions and dance beats,
four line stanzas of poetry and the quatrains of
sacred scriptures and chants, etc...
~
These sages profoundly understood that this template means that the
intelligence of life is holographic, recursive, and self-similar
(holographic as replication; fractal as reproduction).
These insights inspired the sages to create yoga as a means to quiet the mind (local space)
and for us to rediscover harmony with our true nature (global Space).
They composed yoga postures that mimicked the orderly,
organic movements of plants, animals,
and the central principle throughout all of nature -
Balance - the localized Space called Centre.
They created ways to combine rhythms and sequence variations based on
the spiral wave~flow of breathing so that yoga is also recursively self-similar.
The sages realized that the most effective way to facilitate a Silent mind is to
use the I-image to help explore the Stillness of the body. And, as this process
unfolds the local mind sees its limitations, it releases, and the
Heart of Yoga blossoms in and as Space.
Natural Yoga honors the wisdom of the ancient sages and, it is the
direct approach to the onedual multi-dimensionality of Life.
Sage Patanjali, who is called the father of Yoga said,
"Yoga is the cessation of identification with the whirl (the world) of the local mind."
(it is the cessation of the I-entity - this the switchover whereby there is an abiding in the natural non-state of Being)
~~~
Natural Yoga is inclusive.
It employs Intellectual Intelligence to provide a clear mental picture of the process,
the poses, and the functions of your bodymind. Thinking - 'making it happen'.
Then it employs Intuitive Intelligence to guide the body by innocently
perceiving sensations while stretching. Feeling-Perceiving - 'letting happen'.
The yogic union of these is Oneness with Space~Flow in the dimension of NOW
~
Breathing is the Direct Approach
Breathing is your Direct Connection to Intelligence
that is beyond human understanding
~
The direct approach avoids intellectual straining, which is a common
misunderstanding of modern yoga practitioners that creates
conflict between where one is now and the future ideal.
~
Natural Yoga is the living union of Motion within Space
where you live completely in the perception, Stillness,
and the sensations of stretching, movements, appear in Silence.
Natural Yoga is a way of being that asserts the fact that yoga is oneduality
- it is the journey and the destination of your Self-Nature.
A way yoga can be defined is to say that the goal is relaxation (space).
The way to accomplish the goal of relaxation is to relax
(this may seem too obvious and simple - this is precisely why the vast majority of folks miss it).
Its global awareness acknowledges the objects of perception, movements,
and it emphasizes the perceiving itself - a Silent Mind.
In Natural Yoga you see that Space is not a state, and, it never leaves.
You see that you leave the Stillness of Space and enter a state of separation-localization
when you, the I-image, emphasize objects.
~
Natural Yoga facilitates absolute Trust in the Pure Intelligence (Space~Flow)
that you are. Its practice reveals that struggle and effort are the
signs that this Trust has not yet flowered. When this is clearly seen,
identification with the whirl (the world) of local mind ceases.
~
It is Movement in Stillness, Stillness in Movement.
or
Movement in Innocence
Innocent Movement
~
The movement is fluid, like water.
The onedual Stillness is reflective, like a mirror.
~~~
Natural Yoga acknowledges how your bodymind functions, and yet it does not
teach you anything - it reveals what is. It shows you that precisely what you
have to learn is not to have expectations.
It is a powerful process to liberate your bodymind from mechanical patterns
and to allow the original source of movements to unfold.
Natural Yoga empowers the body which exists beneath the tensions,
your Authentic Body to act. This direct approach is a deep self-inquiry or
prayer, and the living answer is in the living question which unfolds
in the timeless dimension of NOW.
~
The solution unfolds from the global understanding of the situation itself.
Instant Lesson - Zen story
A huge, rough samurai once went to see a little monk,
hoping to acquire the secrets of the universe.
"Monk," he said, in a voice accustomed to instant obedience.
"teach me about heaven and hell."
The little monk looked up at the mighty warrior in silence.
Then, after a moment, he said to the samurai with utter disdain,
"Teach YOU about heaven and hell?
I couldn't teach you about anything.
You're dirty. You smell. Your blade is rusty.
You're a disgrace, an embarrassment to the samurai class.
Get out of my sight at once. I can't stand you!"
The samurai was furious.
He began to shake all over from the anger that raced through him.
A red flush spread over his face; he was speechless with rage.
Quickly, menacingly, he pulled out his sword and raised it above his head,
preparing to slay the monk.
"That's hell." said the little monk quietly.
The samurai was overwhelmed. Stunned.
The compassion and surrender of this little man
who had offered his life to give this teaching about hell!
He slowly lowered his sword, filled with gratitude,
and for reasons he could not explain his heart became suddenly peaceful.
"And that's heaven," said the monk softly.
~~~
Breathing is the Direct Approach
You are Breathing~Space
You are the Breathing Itself
Breathing is the interface between your body and mind.
Breathing is more subtle than your body and more gross than your mind.
In Natural Yoga - You are Breathed
Here, Yoga does You, and perceiving, which does not require
a doer, is emphasized. Your bodymind's natural intelligence acts
without disturbing its innate Stillness.
It responds to the physical challenges of the pose, to the demands on
breathing, to the precision of timing, to alignment, to the rhythm,
and to the flow of the movement.
It subtly astonishes the practitioner and evokes a returning to innocence.
Consciousness is available and open, and, life effortlessly reveals itself.
~~~
Natural Yoga is the synthesis of your energies with your bodymind's innate
intelligence in such a way that you are absorbed by its current and
a new way of being flowers.
This can be seen with the flow of the breath and its action.
Yoga exercise #4: Innocently watch your breath and ask:
Does this innocent watching have an effect on my breath?
~
~
~
The Current of Being
Breath is Life.
Life is Motion as Relationship.
your bodymind knows how to breathe.
It is the life-force that moves/sustains your bodymind and
the principal source of life-force is your breath.
~
The fourfold spiral of respiration is expiration, pause(space), inspiration, pause(space).
The fourfold spiral of circulation is venous flow, pause(space), arterial flow, pause(space)
The movement of inhalation/inspiration is inward, upward, and forward.
The arterial flow is a stimulation - bringing energy your cells.
The movement of exhalation/expiration is downward, outward, and backward.
The venous flow is an elimination - removing wastes, letting go.
The coupling of inhalation and exhalation is a flowing, living spiral wave~flow.
The coupling of arterial flow and venous flow is a flowing, living spiral wave~flow.
The coupling of respiration and circulation is a flowing, living spiral wave~flow.
When emphasis is given to the perceiving itself these movements
are very distinct, like sounds against the backdrop of Silence
and sensations felt in Stillness.
This is Yoga as Oneness with Space~Flow.
Intelligence flows and flow-ers.
Its homeground is Silence as a Silent Mind.
It has embedded-corresponding planes of Intelligence.
(It flows from higher to lower planes and it flowers from lower to higher planes);
It is current as the current moment and it is the eternal current of Being.
(The spiral wave~flow structure is a figure 8, infinity symbol, that forms as the exhalation completes
and the flow reverses as inhalation, and so on...
the same symbol is seen in the relationship of respiration and circulation
and all corresponding planes of Being)
~
Silent, innocent perception is the living integration of all energies.
The tide of your breath flows with an organic fullness and graceful
movements unfold in Stillness.
Seeing is Doing
You are OneDual Intelligence seeing Itself.
~~~
In Natural Yoga all the traditional yoga postures are explored.
The release into them is effortless because it is the onedual you,
your bodymind's innate intelligence, the life-force, that acts.
The flame of perceiving is used to directly facilitate self-remembering
in which beingness is spontaneously multi-dimensional - NOW.
~~~
For a novice, Natural Yoga provides the opportunity to feel the current
of your bodymind's natural intelligence and the direct approach clearly
shows the power of perceiving as the instrument of transformation.
Novices have the advantage of beginner's mind (space) which is innocent.
An important moment for the beginner is when there is an intuitive glimpse,
a fore-feeling, of what you are naturally.
Then you see the fact that there is nothing to attain.
You see the fact that you already are what you are looking for (space),
and, that any trying to attain something is a movement away from it (space).
Thus the I-image relaxes and what you are naturally is lived (Space~Flow).
As practice matures there is the realization that the Stillness present in deep
sleep, in profound relaxation, and in the pauses (space) after inhalation and
exhalation is the Meditative Mind, and, that Stillness includes Movement.
Simultaneously, you see that the struggle and effort of trying to know Stillness
is the cause of separation-dualism, and, you realize that you can only
surrender to what you already are - onedual intelligence, Stillness-Movement.
The full-flowering is when there is no subject-object and
onedual Space~Flow abides.
This is the Ease of Being.
The living innerstanding of this is the ultimate benediction of life.
This is the Dimension of Now - a realm of timeless being where daily life
is Action in Meditation in Action.
Then, all of life is a celebration that flows
from Space, flows in Space, and returns to Space.
It is Love
return Natural Yoga II
