Q. What are you doing for practice these days?
G. Namaste.
G. Namaste.
Don't really "do" a "practice" per se as honestly, there is really no one to do it. In total surrender, what manifests is what occurs.
What would appear to others to be practices come and then after some time go away, and then may come back again, or not, and virtually always in a different way. It varies, w/o goal, expectation or intention.
It might be more useful to just tell you what this morning's practice was.
1) Awoke a little before 5, which is pretty typical, and went to my morning "practice area" and put out my yoga mat, sitting cushion, blanket and tea.
2) Just sitting, being present for what might arise, the chant which is the introduction to the Isha Upanishad arose, which it often, but not always does.
3) Chanting of the Sanskrit alphabet, Sanskrit noun endings, and verb endings followed. This occurs sometimes, but not most of the time.
4) What often happens now is chanting of some combination of Upadesa Saram, and verses from the Bhagavad Gita occurs, and occasionally Nirvana Shatkam, for the balance of about an hour. That is what happened yesterday, but it didn't happen today. Today, what manifested was an internal movement, w/o chanting out loud, of Nirvana Shatkam (NS).
This first manifested about 6 weeks ago. Although i have chanted NS thousands of times, there was a movement in consciousness at that time to have it "move through"/"be meditated upon" w/o even internally chanting it, or "saying" the Sanskrit terms.
What emerged was a sensing of every category and concept in NS, feeling it one-by-one and feeling if this was the "true" and "full" understanding. This occurred three different days in sequence and lasted from an hour to 2 1/2 hours. It has been a very deep activity each time. Today it lasted about an hour. It has not occurred in the intervening 6 weeks.
This was followed, as it normally is, by just sitting in stillness, until it ends, all by itself. This was about 5 - 10 minutes today. It can be as long as an hour and a half.
5) Then moved to my yoga asana space, and waited to see what would manifest. The first part was the same as it is 95 % of the time and is one of the posture flows from my book often w/three additional steps included.
The second part today was another posture flow from my book. This was followed by several different series of postures in shorter sequences that often occur together, but not always, in different overall arrangements. This lasted about 50 minutes. It is normally 30 minutes to an hour and a half.
6) This was followed by a complete relaxation lying down. This lasted about 10 minutes today. It can be as long as 40 minutes, but seldom less than 10 minutes.
The whole "practice" lasted about 2 hrs and 10 minutes, which is "typical" but not always what happens. It was about 1 hr and 10 minutes yesterday w/the yoga being done later in the day.
It really is different every day.
Trust this is helpful, or interesting.
Q. Yes, that was very interesting.
G. Namaste.
Following yesterday's discussion, this morning's "practice" was:
a) stillness followed by chanting of OM. This was followed by stillness. After a short time, Upadesa Saram arose and "chanted itself". This was followed by stillness for about an hour. The only arising was a new, creative solution to something that is currently being written. It lasted for a minute or two - wasn't timing it. Stillness immediately followed.
This space/time is where "primary consciousness" typically sends the results of its efforts at problem solving or planning over the last day to "secondary consciousness". There is no movement to suppress this; it has an "immediacy" to it that is singularly lacking in "I, me, my".
The dACC (dorsal anterior cingulate cortex)/dLPFC (dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex) "watching/PCC (posterior cingulate cortex) controlling" network, that Jud's work/PNAS paper revealed, appears to have no difficulty making the distinction. (This was also discussed in an earlier blog.)
stillness
The dACC (dorsal anterior cingulate cortex)/dLPFC (dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex) "watching/PCC (posterior cingulate cortex) controlling" network, that Jud's work/PNAS paper revealed, appears to have no difficulty making the distinction. (This was also discussed in an earlier blog.)
stillness
Great description of a morning practice manifesting itself. Would love a follow up description as detailed as this about a recent mornings practice if possible, i found it very useful.
ReplyDeleteNamaste
Hi Anonymous,
DeleteWas surprised, reading this post from 6 years ago, how similar the fundamental principles and elements are to what manifested this morning. It is still "whatever manifests" and not surprisingly that has evolved over those 6 years.
This morning the first thing that manifested was the "sky writing" of the Sanskrit alphabet, noun ending and verb endings. The actual characters are written in the air as they are chanted now. Wasn't doing the "sky writing" then, which is such a powerful and deep practice as it is only pure Sanskrit phonemes and the characters.
Then there was just quiet sitting for quite a while, followed by a standing posture sequence that has manifested, based on Ramana's Upadesa Saram, which is a cross between a long form Tai Chi practice and yoga.
After that, sitting again, and the kirtan kriyas with Ribhu Gita chanting described in the blogpost "Dancing Hands for Lower Anxiety, Higher Cognition and Awakening" and shown in the related youTube video manifested.
This was followed by the Nirvana Shatakam with Gayatri mudras shown in that blogpost and its related youTube video.
This was followed by six sayings from Ramana Maharshi, Albert Einstein, Adi Da and the Zen master Hakuin.
It took about an hour and 40 minutes.
The order changes every day, but those are fairly common core elements that typically manifest.
i also do a 45 min to an hour yoga practice with a 10 to 20 minute shivasana/relaxation every other day in the late afternoon. This is a totally spontaneous blend of yoga postures done as a vinyasa letting the body do what its great wisdom wants/needs.
Trust this is useful.
stillness
Very useful, there is interest in what the six sayings from Ramana, Albert, Adi Da and Hakuin were? Did you recite them from memory? Read them aloud? Contemplate them?
DeleteThey are the six sayings that are used the most in working with folk. They are used so often that it was easier to memorize them so they could just be recited as needed.
DeleteThey are:
"All beings are from the very beginning Buddhas" by Hakuin Zenji
"Public speeches, physical activity, and material help are all outweighed by the silence of those absorbed in the Self. They accomplish more than others." by Ramana Maharshi.
"No object is worthy of desire...Knowledge is never satisfied...Be the witness only, not needing, not following after...not avoiding, not escaping...not thinking...not even understanding. Stand there and be consciousness only." by Adi Da
"If one wants to abide in the thought-free state, a struggle is inevitable. One must fight one's way through before regaining one's original primal state. If one succeeds in the fight and reaches the goal, the enemy, namely the thoughts, will all subside in the Self and disappear entirely. by Ramana Maharshi
Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect, as well as for the star. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper. by Albert Einstein
Questioner: "Are only the important things in a man's life, such as his main occupation or profession, predetermined, or are trifling acts also, such as taking a cup of water, or moving from one part of the room to another?
Ramana Maharshi replied:
"Everything is predetermined".
Trust this is useful.
stillness