Claim the ability to choose

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Living in the world means a life full of relationships, with people but also with the objects of the world and the thoughts in the mind. Living in the world means a life full of changes, which occur because of the appearance of time, space and causation. Living in the world means a life full of opportunities and choices, which means dealing with wishes, wants and desires.

‘Living in the world, but at the same time not being of the world’ means playing with and mastering these things, all at the same time, plus gradually growing in non-attachment (vairagya) towards the world and all that it includes. When non-attachment has expanded so much that you are able to set aside everything (for a while), you’ll rest in your True Nature. This means that Yoga (Union) has happened.

Can you imagine a state from which you experience living in the world without being affected by anything that happens around you, not even being disturbed by anything that happens within your mind? This is what is meant by non-attachment. It is a state where love is truly unconditional, because it doesn’t depend on anything, it doesn’t need anything.

Vairagya (non-attachment) is not a practice in itself, but is a result of practice. Which practice do we need to do to expand non-attachment and forever-more rest in unconditional love? In the Yogasutra, vairagya goes together with abhyasa (practice) and both are means to Yoga, to Union (Yogasutra 1.12). Abhyasa means choosing, applying the effort, and doing those actions that bring a stable and tranquil state.

The ability to choose is an immense power that only we, human beings, in this manifestation have. It’s a huge responsibility because it means that within every action you do, within any effort you make, there is a choice. And therefore you are responsible for your actions and their outcome.

If this idea causes some disturbance within you, please try to see it is an enormous opportunity! You have so much capacity, that you, just you alone, can make your life stable and tranquil.  How amazing is that! Your state of stability and tranquility is not dependent on the outside world, but that capacity lies within you.

If you gradually learn to rest into this state, you will increasingly be less disturbed and affected by the ever-changing world. You will forever more live life from a place of love. One way to start is to claim your ability to choose for yourself. I choose to do those actions that will lead me towards a stable and tranquil state! I choose to do those actions that will lead me towards the experience of resting in my True Nature!

To live a life based more on choice means developing your awareness of the options and possibilities that life is offering. This hunger means learning to discriminate: What do I want and what do I not want?  Is this useful or not useful?  Will this lead me towards freedom or will it cause more bondage? Who am I, and what am I not?  The result of allowing the answers to come forward will be discriminatory knowledge (viveka), and it will purify your mind.

To claim your ability to choose, to know your choices, to discriminate, and the knowledge that comes from this discrimination, are all the faculty of mind called buddhi. To purify this faculty is what Yoga is all about.

The discriminative knowledge that comes from this purified aspect of mind, buddhi, is the key to the entire science of Yoga, and is the means to liberation.

A way to discover the capacity of buddhi is to find and use your ability to choose and then decide. Start using it! It’s a strength that resides inside you. Choose expansion of awareness, choose growth in discriminatory knowledge, choose to live in peace, in ahimsa (non-harming), choose to know the higher levels of your being, choose to follow the Path of Yoga, the Path of Union, or choose whatever you want to choose!

The result of abhyasa (practice) will eventually be vairagya (non-attachment). And Yoga (Union) will happen when, as the result of vairagya, the emerging changes of the manifestation within and without are temporarily set aside, to rest in your True Nature.

We all have so much strength residing within us. Feel it when you repeat these words internally; “I can do it, I will do it, I have to do it, and I am going to do it”. Claim the ability to live more happily, lovingly and peacefully.  Claim your ability to choose.

In loving service,
Tripurashakti Brahmacharini
www.tripurashakti.com
www.abhyasaashram.org founded by Swami Jnaneshvara.

My Guiding Lights

By Mark Breadner

You need an external Guru or teacher to help guide you towards your inner Guru, which will always lead you in the right direction. I’m fortunate to have had several inspiring Gurus on my path.

All life is an expression of energy, an expression of the underlying unity of all.  We as human beings are an energetic system, and when we’re flowing we feel good. We feel connected, on purpose, and we feel that there’s a deep knowing guiding us in the right direction.  When we don’t flow, we feel a sense of disconnection – a cutting off from the source.  In yoga this is called avidya, or ignorance of our ESSENTIAL NATURE, which is unbounded consciousness.  This underlying flow state is known as Samadhi.

The way that this is achieved and stabilised is by removing the interruptions on all the different levels of being so that flow can happen.  We have to train the senses, the body, the breath and the mind (both conscious and unconscious) to flow, and then we do the practices to create a state where they all flow together and our essential nature shines through. This is Samadhi, and this is the basis of my teachings with Yogacoach.

Yoga science tells us to go to the inner levels of our being and be guided by that light that is already within us.  If you understand that light within, when you are introduced to that light, you will not look outside of yourself for any other outer guidance.

When you’re starting on the path, it’s important to have someone who can guide and help you.  You need an external Guru or teacher as a means to attain the Guru within – the light within – which will always lead you in the right direction.  As a Yogacoach, we are always guiding our students to connect with this light within, our inner Guru.  Anyone who leads you to this place is your Guru – teachers come in many shapes and forms.

“There is an intelligent momentum that pervades the universe that is moving all human beings towards the perfection that we call God.  Guru is that intelligence.  Everyone’s receptivity to that intelligence varies.  It depends on preparation, which includes the development of non-attachment and practice.  In other words, Guru is always there, but the student may not be ready to receive what the Guru has to offer.  When the student is prepared, the Guru always arrives to help the student do what is necessary to progress in removing the veil of ignorance.  It is said that when the wick and oil are properly prepared, the master lights the lamp.”
Swami Rama

I myself have been incredibly fortunate to have some fantastic teachers, and they all arrived at different times in my life, depending on what I was ready to learn (or hopefully ready to learn).  They have impacted my life in numerous, numerous ways that have been fulfilling and rewarding, and I think in a sense there’s no way to find words to really thank them.  But these teachers have shaped the person that I am today.  They have shaped how I communicate myself and what is offered through the Yogacoach system.

The Yogacoach system is set up in the best possible way that I know how, to use yoga as a model to benefit others – to be of service, and to help people move back to that inner light, that inner Guru, where they can start to live their life from true knowing.

At this point I’d like to talk a little bit about my teachers, to acknowledge them, to thank them, and to give you a little bit of an understanding of how they have influenced my life and influenced the Yogacoach training system.

JULIE HENDERSON
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Julie has been a teacher of mine since 1991. She has a PHD in Somatics and is at the forefront of the understanding and application of evolving studies in consciousness, especially from the understanding of Tibetan Buddhism.

A lot of the language in my writing comes directly from the way Julie communicates information and I’m always hearing Julie in myself when I’m teaching or writing.

The main gift that I’ve received from my relationship with Julie as a teacher, mentor and friend is the understanding that wellbeing is inherent, and that by practicing it regularly above all else, wellbeing will become ordinary.

Julie has written some great books including The lover within and How to feel as good Aa you can in spite of everything.

SWAMI JNANESHVARA BHARATI (SWAMI J)

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Swami J is a direct student of Swami Rama who was the founder of the Himalayan Master Institute. One thing that I really value about Swami J is that he’s taken the direct teachings of Swami Rama and his lineage and put them into a contemporary, easy-to-understand form that is readily applicable to our modern lives.

Swami J’s website is an amazing resource to yogis/yoginis all over the world. My time spent with Swami and the information on his website has helped to greatly deepen my understanding of authentic Yoga.  There are many references to Swami J in my teaching notes as he expresses himself with such inimitable clarity.

Swami J is dedicated to his own deep practice, but he also greatly serves others by communicating the ancient ways to modern society via Facebook and Twitter.

OM GURUDEV – JANGLIDAS MAHARAJ

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Om Gurudev or Guruji to me is an embodiment of love. I first met him in 2000, the first time he’d left India, and was instantly drawn to this diminutive Indian Sage.

In our teachings we talk about being aligned in the three power centres of the body: the base (representing power), heart (kindness) and mind (clarity). The first thing you notice when meeting Guruji is that he’s incredibly loving and accepts beings as they are.  When spending time around him, you also see the power in action as ashrams, schools and medical facilities manifest around him seemingly with ease. And finally, of course, there’s complete clarity where wisdom is always present.

Guruji does very limited verbal teachings. It’s all about meditation with a focus at the heart, using this tool as a primary means to the highest human endeavour – Realising the SELF.

AENPO RINPOCHE
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Rinpoche is a spiritual leader in Tibetan Buddhism. I also met Rinpoche the first time he left India to get rehabilitation for a bad leg and hip injury.

Rinpoche is my friend and also my teacher, yet he never teaches anything to me directly. Rather, through his relationship with me, lessons are always sneaking up on me. One of the things that Rinpoche models really well to me, which is also represented in all the spiritual texts, is “living in the world but not of the world.”

He plays cricket, likes Indian dance and movies, yet there is no attachment. And when the serious work needs to happen, he is dynamically active in benefiting others.
Rinpoche lives an ordinary life, but there are so many other aspects playing that make a positive difference to others. One of my favourite places to go is to Aenpo Rinpoche’s monastery in the Himalayan Mountains of Northern India. It’s a place of friendship, love and solitude.

My teachers have inspired me in so many, many ways. They’ve been there to guide me and make me more aware of that essential nature that largely we have forgotten.  Their role has always been to make me aware of that inner reality.  In some ways, I guess they’ve done their job very well, because as I’ve begun to trust this more, my teachers have moved away.  While this brings a sense of sadness to me, I know that their role has been completed.  I don’t spend as much time with my teachers as I used to – but I know that any time that I need them, any time that I’m stuck, they are there for me.  I also know that I can call on the bigger body – energetically, I can connect with my teachers and remember them when it is needed.

Through their guidance, I can only hope to be half as much of benefit to others as they’ve been to me.  The external teacher is really important at the beginning of the path, but their role is just to bring awareness to that inner reality.  Their role is to mirror to us in the places where we get stuck and to give us the practices that are useful or necessary to move beyond this.  As this begins to happen, our consciousness begins to expand and the inner light express itself with a greater and greater intensity. When this happens we are connected to our inner Guru.  At this time it is likely that the external teacher falls away, but they are always there. They’re always present in my words, in my thoughts, in my teachings – this is what we call lineage.

Namaste
Mark

How to overcome resistance to feeling good

By Mark Breadner

All life is energy and we are an energetic system.  When our energy is interrupted and not flowing optimally, we don’t feel so well. But when it flows in the right way, we’re more likely to feel good, to be more loving and to wish others well, and the less likely we are to experience suffering.

When our energies are flowing, fluids flow. Within these fluids is the neuro-chemical information that communicates to us what we’re paying attention to, what we’re feeling and perceiving. The information can be very complex or very simple, such as too fast, not fast enough or just right.

What holds us up
Fluids give the body its stability, resilience and an easy uprightness. It’s the fluids that hold us up – the skeleton provides a framework and the muscles provide softness and movement. Look at a baby when they get to the sitting stage. They have a beautiful uprightness and ease. It’s the fluids that are holding them up, like turning the pressure up on a hose.

Alignment is our natural state
It is natural for our bodies to be in alignment, we actually have to work hard to stay out of alignment.  If given a choice the body would always want to be in this place, it has just been persuaded otherwise. When you remove the tensions and contractions and engage the floppiness, the fluids will hold you up. The fluids also carry information from different parts of the body to consciousness. A simple example of this is when the body is working well, good stuff stays and is absorbed, while the negative and useless stuff is removed.

In practice, we’re always looking at what part/s of the body lack appropriate tone and need to restore pulsation, and what practice does the job best. There is always an optimal rhythm of pulsation that supports wellbeing. If the pulsation is too fast, we feel agitated. If it’s too slow, we don’t feel quite so well. Wellbeing is a rhythm that’s somewhere in the middle.  In yoga, we use the body and energy to regulate that flow.

The optimal rhythm that mirrors wellbeing is different in different parts of the body, so different practices are needed to regulate, for example, the digestive system, the muscles or the respiratory system.

Our systems are always trying to self-regulate and move back into alignment, and mostly the body finds these rhythms. Sustaining proper energy flow is done mainly by preconscious parts of the body, and it’s only when it goes off centre that consciousness is asked to intervene.  In our yoga practice, we try to stabilise these rhythms until wellbeing becomes ordinary.

This process takes time.

Resistance to feeling good
If a change in rhythm is new or temporary, then it doesn’t take long for the body and energy to respond to our invitation to correct itself.

If it’s a long-time habit (Samskara), we have to invite the body to move from what it’s used to, such as not feeling so well, back towards feeling really good.

This takes time because:
1.    We get used to not feeling so well
2.    Feeling good gets associated with something bad happening

If someone has learned the habitual belief that ”If I feel good, someone will be mean to me”, they will be cautious about feeling good.  As they feel more energised, the body will resist the energy by contracting. A common theme is “I will be too big if I let this happen.”

When we are moving to a ‘state of yoga’, expanding our consciousness from an individual sense of self to Universal Self and trying to stabilize the rhythms that mirror this, we need to do a little practice and rest.  Let the body get used to what’s being suggested, so that when you do it again, you can do a little bit more or for a little bit longer.

Build slowly to a strong, stable practice
By doing this process, we get used to “resting in being” and many people are scared of this. So often in practice, people focus on doing difficult things and work really hard, but when we flog ourselves in Yoga, I think we’re doing harm.

Strong practice in itself is not a problem, although it should be allowed to build gradually so that the body has all the resilience, flexibility, skill and strength to expand without hurting itself. Your body will love the practice and be more responsive to it if you don’t force yourself in the beginning.

Ultimately Yoga is a methodology of receding our awareness inwards. Patanjali states that to do this you need a body that is steady and comfortable, that has a balance between strength and surrender. This is a gradual process and it cannot be forced.  When we achieve this, the body is balanced – almost like a zero point.  Here it ceases to be an obstacle and our awareness will go beyond the body, move inwards and expand.

Reference: How to Feel as Good as You Can in Spite of Everything, Julie Henderson (1995).

Wellness Warrior

Australian Yoga Journal, January 2011

Mark Breadner, 45, attended his first yoga class when he was seven—at home with his mother as the teacher. It was not until he was 27 and studying with T.K.V. Desikachar that he understood yoga as a way of life. Over the past 20 years, he has used his holistic and therapeutic approach to yoga as a teacher and trainer with leading yoga schools in Sydney as well as working with elite athletes including swimmer Ian Thorpe and surfer Mick Fanning. Last year he established YogaCoach, a holistic teacher training school that helps yogis and their students reach full potential in all aspects of life.

Download Australian Yoga Journal article.

The Future of Yoga Teaching

By Brook McCarthy

Yoga was first taught in ancient times by a Master passing on its numerous techniques and complex philosophy to one student at a time. In modern-day yoga classes of 60 students or more, one-to-one teaching may appear a luxury. But Mark Breadner believes that the future of yoga teaching is better qualified, more authentic yoga teachers specialising in niche markets, and one-to-one yoga coaching.

“Taking something out of context renders it meaningless,” says Mark. “Doing asanas is not doing yoga unless we understand and study the other components that make up yoga. If you’ve learnt to just teach asana, come learn to teach yoga with us.”

Crowded yoga market
Yoga has become a mainstream physical activity in Australia and yoga teacher training courses abound. But many teachers struggle to differentiate themselves, and older, more experienced teachers are still attracting committed students. All of which doesn’t leave much room for the newer teacher to attract students to their classes.

Yogacoach begins from the premise that the yoga teacher must live and experience all facets of yoga to be able to teach effectively. The syllabus incorporates the whole methodology of yoga, and teacher trainees deepen their understanding of all aspects, from the physical body and energy systems to the unconscious mind.

They are supported by Mark, a teacher trainer with 15 years experience teaching teachers on yoga courses both nationally and internationally, and Tanya Halleday.

Tanya specialises in teaching in the corporate arena, sharing insights into the day-to-day stresses of the modern office-bound person. Mark’s background in corrective exercise therapy and injury rehabilitation, combined with qualifications in Exercise Kinesiology, led him to specialise in training elite athletes such as Ian Thorpe, members of the Olympic Swimming Team, pro-surfer Phil MacDonald and members of the Rip Curl pro-surf team.

Finding your teaching niche
Mark and Tanya are strong believers in the need for yoga teachers to specialise in a niche. Working closely with teacher trainees through weekly mentoring sessions, regular assessments and case studies, as well as specialists from other areas, Mark and Tanya help students decide on a niche for their yoga teaching.

“From teaching prenatal yoga, ‘mums and bubs’, children or teens, to elite sportspeople or drug and alcohol rehab, there’s lots of areas where the philosophies and practices of yoga can be put to good use,” says Mark.

“The yoga teacher as a coach is really a modern-day guru who supports the student to live well. To live up to the responsibilities that the student confers on the teacher, the yoga teacher needs to work from a comprehensive, complete system that not only gives them the tools to teach well, but supports their own wellbeing and continuing development.”