When we know how much of what we perceive is a trick of the light of our own perception, we are that much closer to witnessing from a more spacious, and thus more compassionate, consciousness.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Paul Muller-Ortega, who is offering a meditation and philosophy workshop at Willow Street Yoga Center this weekend, says that sadhana (yoga practice, incuding meditation), doesn’t just give us “freedom from, but also freedom to.”
The “freedom from” is freedom from suffering. The freedom to” is freedom to move towards light and blissfulness.
When we first come to the yoga mat or meditation cushion, we are usually coming to discover the “freedom from” we have heard about — perhaps relief from aches and pains or disease, perhaps weight loss or improved body image, perhaps lowering anxiety or easing depression. We discover, when we start practicing, that even if we do not get “freedom from” exactly as hoped within a limited view, that discovery of the “freedom to” itself provides a “freedom from” by making that from which we seek freedom less prevailing as the focus of our being.
Some systems of yoga describe the body as consisting of five sheaths or koshas. The outermost sheath is the annamaya kosha, literally the food body. Food, here, is anything we ingest with the five senses. Including sights and sounds. The tantrikas think of themselves as rasikas–ones who taste the very essence of life, who through the practices refine their senses seeking to be able to discern the divine in all being. All sense perception becomes a fully creative, artistic endeavor.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
