This is Yoga, Oneness, Unity, Union with the Divine….
“When we know Holy Truth, all sense of separateness, alienation, fear, and desire ends. We feel our unity with the One and realize that it has never been otherwise.”
(Riso and Hudson, Understanding the Enneagram, 59)
“You cannot possibly say that you are what you think yourself to be! Your ideas about yourself change from day to day and from moment to moment. Your self-image is the most changeful thing you have. It is utterly vulnerable, at the mercy of a passer by. A bereavement, the loss of a job, an insult – and your image of yourself, which you call your person, changes deeply. To know what you are, you must first investigate and know what you are NOT. And to know what you are not, you must watch yourself carefully, rejecting all that does not necessarily go with the basic fact: ‘I am’. The ideas: I am born at a given place, at a given time, from my parents and now I am so-and-so, living at, married to, father of, employed by, and so on, are not inherent in the sense ‘I am’. Our usual attitude is: ‘I am this’. Separate consistently and perseveringly the ‘I am’ from ‘this’ or ‘that’, and try to feel what it means to BE, just to BE, without being ‘this’ or ‘that’. All our habits go against it and the task of fighting them is long and hard sometimes, but clear understanding helps a lot. The clearer you understand that, on the level of the mind, you can be described in negative terms only, the quicker you will come to the end of your search and realize your limitless being.”
In a softly lit room, sit [or stand] as close as comfortably possible to a mirror.
Take a few deep breaths and let them out slowly.
Allow yourself to relax.
Take a moment to look at your own familiar face.
Allow thoughts to drift away. Bring awareness to your eyes.
Keep your eyes soft as you gaze deeply into them.
At first you may feel uncomfortable. (We rarely, if ever, look ourselves in the eye.) But the eyes are the windows to the soul, so take a look into your own.
Continue to relax and soften the gaze.
Find yourself going deeper within until you get a glimpse of the Divine Light that is ever present.
Repeat either silently or aloud, “I am a Divine Being.”….
As you allow your eyes to close, be still and experience any feelings that surface.
Practice two times a day for a week and observe how your newfound feelings and thoughts influence the vision of your True Nature, and other people’s as well. Each time you pass a mirror or think of yourself in any way, reaffirm, “I am a Divine Being.”
If any want to follow me, let them renounce themselves.”
(Jesus in Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23; Matthew 16:24)
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to God as we understood [God].” (Step 3 of the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous)
In Yoga, there are 5 Observances: Cleanliness, Contentment, Discipline, Self-Inquiry, and Surrender to the Divine. This surrender means willingly trusting that there is some sort of big picture in life which we can never truly understand with our small human mind. It means giving our lives over to making the world a better place by our loving presence, by our choice to put the good of others, of the world, over our own petty wishes.
Here is how the Franciscan priest, Richard Rohr, explains surrender:
“Surrender will always feel like dying, and yet it’s the necessary path to liberation. It takes each of us a long time to just accept—to accept what is; to accept ourselves, others, the past, our own mistakes, and the imperfection and idiosyncrasies of almost everything. Our lack of acceptance reveals our basic resistance to life. Acceptance isn’t our mode nearly as much as aggression, resistance, fight, or flight. None of these responses achieve the deep, lasting results of true acceptance and peaceful surrender. Acceptance becomes the strangest and strongest kind of power. Surrender isn’t giving up, as we often think; it’s a giving to the moment, the event, the person, and the situation.”
In Yoga, these teachings on surrender tie into Bhakti Yoga (the path of devotion) and Karma Yoga (the path of selfless service). I believe these ancient spiritual teachings are precisely what the modern world needs to remember and practice so we can help make the world a more peaceful and loving place for everyone.
How good it is to center down! To sit quietly and see one’s self pass by! The streets of our minds seethe with endless traffic; Our spirits resound with clashings, with noisy silences, While something deep within hungers and thirsts for the still moment and the resting lull.… The questions persist: what are we doing with our lives?— what are the motives that order our days? What is the end of our doings? Where are we trying to go?… Over and over the questions beat in upon the waiting moment. As we listen, floating up through all the jangling echoes of our turbulence, there is a sound of another kind— A deeper note which only the stillness of the heart makes clear. It moves directly to the core of our being. Our questions are answered, Our spirits refreshed, and we move back into the traffic of our daily round With the peace of the Eternal in our step. How good it is to center down!
Holistic Yoga & Spiritual Guidance 