From Self-Inquiry to Self-Realization

The path to Self-Realization, liberation, enlightenment, though seemingly simple is not easy. The ego literally defines itself through separation between self and other. To confront this most basic truth of your persona is to confront death. Considering this during Shavasana or our Corpse Pose at the end of a yoga class may be an avenue towards deepening that experience. The personality need not be eliminated to realize the Self but rather our attachments to the persona or the qualities and characteristics of our life need to be released.

The nature of the mind is to judge, to constantly compare and contrast the incoming information with past thoughts and experiences (memories are thoughts too). This process is continuous. Ramana Maharshi directs us again and again back to the Source of I....Who Am I? Who is the "I" that judges? From where does this sense of I arise? He leads us to the origin of ego in a relentless inwards spiral of awareness fueled by that simple and profound question...Who Am I? The basic challenge and irony of self-inquiry is that the ego-mind is the problem (atleast our attachment to it) and yet it is that same mind that poses the question and contemplates the answer to Who Am I?

Einstein gives a wonderful hint here when he said,

"You can never solve a problem from the same level on which it was created".

It is important to recognize that we are posing the question into our depths looking, listening and anticipating a response from an ever-deepening place and space. We are not asking the question in a mechanical and repetitive way nor are we "thinking" about an answer to the question. Try it in silence and let me know your experience!

Byron Katie gives a little more process to lead us along the path of Self-Realization and she is far less likely to use this term. Byron Katie talks of our ability to be happy, "it is our birthright" she says and provides a framework for self-inquiry that consists of 4 Questions and a Turn Around. I am not an expert in this method called, The Work and encourage anyone who is interested to do their own research and more importantly PRACTICE! The "Little Book", a free download and excerpt from Katie's book, Loving What Is, is a great place to start.

Here are the 4 Questions and the Turn-around:

1. Is it true?

2. Can you absolutely know that it's true?

3. How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought?

4. Who would you be without the thought?

Turn the thought around (original thought: Paul doesn’t listen to me.)

a) to the opposite (Paul does listen to me.)

b) to the self (I don’t listen to me.)

c) to the other (I don’t listen to Paul.)

And find three specific, genuine examples of how each turnaround is true in your life.

We will continue this exploration in our next blog but I want to remind you that maintaining a physical yoga practice is an important complement to this work and any work that is designed to take you deeper. Releasing tension and toxins through physical movement will help create space that will support your work.

Namaste,

Steve

Yogi Jayanta

"Who Am I?" and the Father of Self-Inquiry

I wonder how many have taken some time to consider the people and events in their lives that cause them the greatest emotional reactions. These, it will turn out, are your greatest teachers. That may seem like a bit of a stretch but on the path of relentless awareness characterized by self-inquiry everything warrants attention and the work begins and ends within. Your perception is the only thing you can control so that is where the game is won or lost.

The impetus behind self-inquiry is Advaita philosophy or non-dualism; in fact, self-inquiry is like applied non-dualism. The "two" implied by the term duality is everywhere in our lives. In any given moment in your life there is a "you" and an "other"; you are the subject and that which you are perceiving is the object. Duality is the on-going relative reality of subject-object. The suffering in your life is directly related to "the great misperception" of subject and object. The jump from duality to the non-dual perspective where the subject and the object collapse into the state of Oneness or the moment of NOW can seem elusive. Teachers like Eckart Tolle (who I think is awesome, by the way) have done a wonderful job presenting various frameworks for the process of crossing the chasm of duality. Essentially, any process or practice that facilitates the collapse of subject-object is a spiritual practice or yoga.

If Byron Katie is the Mother of Self-Inquiry (in her presence it is clear that she is the Mother) then the great Indian saint, Ramana Maharshi is the Father. He did not provide a detailed architecture of human perception nor did he create a multi-step path leading to the realization of the Oneness that he emanated in his life. Ramana Maharshi's path is the simplest and most direct of all self-inquiring systems. I will let him share his message with you in his words,

"By the inquiry 'Who am I?'.

The thought 'who am I?' will destroy all other thoughts,

and like the stick used for stirring the burning pyre,

it will itself in the end get destroyed.

Then, there will arise Self-realization."

To practice this simplest form of self-inquiry one must simply pose the question, "Who am I?" within their own consciousness. This is not to be repeated mechanically but with an intense longing to discover the very source of the I-consciousness. This practice serves to turn the mind in on itself resulting in a concentrated state of awareness that, if sustained, may lead to liberation from duality or Self-realization. Stay tuned for our next blog, "From self-inquiry to Self-realization". The next time you catch yourself reacting to someone in your life try to be aware of the fact that you are really just reacting to your thought about that person.

Namaste,

Steve

Yogi Jayanta

Psycho-Spirituality: A Wikipedia Moment

The jumping off point of any psycho-spiritual model is the concept of Oneness. I was a bit surprised when I started Googling "psycho-spiritual" and realized while there are millions of hits on-line there are no concrete definitions in the major sources. That is both great and discouraging for this blogger: on the one hand it leaves the door wide open to formulate my own definition and on the other it is a shame there is not more work in the traditional psychology space that emphasizes the role of spirituality in mental health. I mentioned that we would be diving into The Work of Byron Katie and I wanted to help set the stage for this simple and yet profound psycho-spiritual process.

A Wikipedia Moment!

As I wrote the term psycho-spiritual and contemplated its meaning one thing that I noticed immediately was that the "spiritual" aspect should come before the psychology. My simple view is that "psychology" relates to the mind and "spirituality" inspires a much broader perspective to include that which transcends the mind. I decided to Wiki "psychology" and what do you know....psychology comes from the Greek psukhe meaning "breath", "spirit", "soul" and logia meaning "the study of". WOW! No wonder there is no definition for psycho-spiritual it is redundant. This leaves us with a bigger problem, how are we going to break it to the field of psychological that they have been missing the quintessential element of their profession...spirituality. There are, of course, many in the field that recognize the importance of spirituality and slowly the field is evolving however I would bet that MANY psychologists do not even realize their profession was founded (atleast named) on spiritual grounds.

Spirituality is Synonymous with Yoga

When we look at the definition for spirituality it is most often characterized by spiritual practices such as prayer, contemplation and meditation. These practices are all central to the discipline of yoga. Any practice that leads us towards the realization of our deepest aspect is yoga. Yoga is an extremely broad body of work that has thoroughly explored every path towards the realization ultimately facilitated by the practices. It almost doesn't make sense to talk too much about the end-game for spiritual practice but rather the practice itself. One of the practices of yoga not much known in the West is that of self-inquiry which brings us back to The Work of Byron Katie.

I will continue to use the term psycho-spiritual because "psycho" has been so misused that to most it is identified with "the mind". Psycho-spiritual then is the application of mental concepts to lead one to spiritual insight, revelation and growth. The cornerstone of psycho-spirituality is the process of taking responsibility for our mind-body system....essentially ending the Blame Game. Practicing self-inquiry is one of the most direct routes to this process and Byron Katie has given us a phenomenal approach. As a starting point consider this: every reaction you experience towards another person is first and foremost a function of your perception of that person. The conclusion is that it begins with you.

Every time you react to someone today, notice how what you are reacting to is your "idea" or "thought" that person. Your thoughts lead to your emotions and ultimately your suffering. The "other" barely figures in except as a trigger for your mind-body system. As we inch towards The Work pay close attention to your reactions and start to make a list of the people and situations in your life that cause you to react. We are getting deeper....

Namaste,

Steve

Yogi Jayanta

The Blame Game: The Greatest Obstacle to Your Intuition is...You

I woke up this morning with a particular radiant smile in my consciousness. Spending 10 years living in a spiritual community gave me the opportunity to meet many Masters and beautiful people who have committed themselves to this path of awakening that I call Beloved Yoga. Every path invariably involves cultivating a deep sense of self-love and self-acceptance. This process brings us to a unique balance of spontaneous creative living and applied intellect through a lens of compassion. Of the many Masters that touched my heart one of the most profound was Byron Katie.

Many years ago she came and did a small workshop from the living room of our home. We had done many but none attracted the crowd of people this one did. Not only was it the most people we who had come to our community for a workshop of this kind but they were not the typical spiritual seeker. These people were not particularly drawn to yoga or meditation or any specific form of contemplative or spiritual practice. These folks were hard-working "regular people" (mostly women, of course) who had recognized for one reason or another that they needed some support on this journey towards being happy.

I watched as Byron Katie shared her profound interpretation of self-inquiry called The Work. I'll never forget that experience, how simply and elegantly she applied her massive psychospiritual depth to the challenges of everyday life. "Ask four questions and turn it around." I can still here her axiom ringing in my ears. She held such a profound presence that you felt as though you were in her embrace from the moment your eyes fell on her. She called everyone "angel" in such an authentic way that you knew she was addressing each person's inherent radiance unmoved by the shadows of fear and unworthiness each of us clung to.

Byron Katie is a spiritual innovator who can help usher in the end of the Blame Game as we learn to take responsibility for everything we think and feel in our lives. This is the first in a new blog series I will be writing where we will embrace The Work and conquer our greatest barrier to intuitive living, us. Our reactive nature, the story we tell ourselves, in short the blame game robs us of the creativity, simplicity and joy that is our birthright. For today, pay attention to your story, observe your reaction and rather than being an active participant in the blame game become part of the audience. The best is yet to come!

Namaste,

Steve

Yogi Jayanta