THE FULLNESS OF NOW.

Our minds can be very much akin to unruly children running around when asked not to, jumping from emotion to emotion, and generally making excessive noise.  That's what "jacked-up" children will generally do...wander...and an unruly or "triggered" mind will allow itself to be jostled off its inner compass, becoming distracted, disassociative, or disturbed from the balance of focus or "neutral calm."  Stress and anxiety would be the classic wonky-wheels reveling in rolling one off their balance.

It's interesting to me when I ask various people about their experience with meditation, because more often than not, there will be a funny reply like..."I can't not think, my mind just won't shut-up!"...or "Not think?  I have to have some kind of mental stimulation all the time or I get bored, why would I want to stop thinking?"  My first consideration of such replies is..."Don't you become exhausted by all that constant inner noise?"  Now, we see this constant mental processing in some peoples' relationships with their smart phones; or the inability to let "interfacing go," and "simply be."

Even those associated with Transcendental Kriya Yoga Meditation, present blogger included, have an occasional oscillation in concentration, and that's fine...what matters is that one develops their own relationship with the serene connection to Universal, inner peace.  Isn't that interesting...that personal inner space should bear any connection with a Universe which we might consider to be beyond our worldly sphere - "out there."  Acceptance, is to liberate the mind from the stress of over-consideration, or worse, random mental chatter, or even more distressing, upsetting emotional projections or "phantom fights" with people who aren't there but "we" still can't wait to give "them" a "piece of our mind," or simply being over-worked with too much multitasking responsibility?  I get mentally short-of-breath just coming up with these examples!

Accept...and Release...you get the idea...constant mental taxation ends in an over-taxed brain, which burns us out, and yet Life...is a long-distance run, requiring occasional rest-stops in order to persevere over Time.

TRANSCENDENTAL KRIYA YOGA MEDITATION...in the beginning, is the cessation (a ceasing...a pause or interruption) of mental distractions achieved through an awareness of the traveling breath, maintaining a one-pointed focus, so as to still the mind's unconscious, random, or pervasive mental activity.  Choose a singular mental focus which directs thought away from attachments to thought-forms whether visual, verbal, or emotionally-charged.  What one is left with, is a "pure space" where the brain's mechanics have stilled, but awareness remains active and constant.  The Buddhists might call this mental-arena, on another level of transcendental purity, "RIGPA," or "The Ground Luminosity."

The classic yoga choices for one-pointed focus meditation would be looking up toward one's brow /  "third eye," while assuming a yoga posture, or I suggest monitoring the tip-of-the-nose focal point to begin with, the "door-person" to the nose portal, because it is the natural place where oxygen enters us and leaves, and following the path of the breath as it travels in and out of us is the simplest method of detaching from the unconscious processes of the mind.

The tip-of-the-nose meditation is even better, when the focus is unified by a focus-conducive yoga posture or "asana," and the beauty of this creativity, is that every posture will create a different inner impression - send forth a particular energy inside that focus - that there is endless variety to what may first seem a "boring" lack of "movement or thought," but I suggest, taking this first simple focus, is only the first of many specially-charged, personal living moments one may experience with a sincere, undistracted approach.

If one chooses to be in a simple, meditative "seat," rather than a moving asana, one may also have a third option for this singular focus...gently placing all fingers (minus the thumbs) in that place between the pectoral muscles, where one may pick-up the subtle thrumming of THE HEART.  This choice may be very calming, and pleasing, for those who prefer a feedback-loop which returns their present consciousness to their own living rhythm.

When one chooses the third-eye as the one-pointed focus, one is connecting their channel to "Source" through their intention-connected, yoga asanas.  Third-eye meditation is enlightenment in process...a relationship visualizing or identifying with The Universe, The Divine, Krishna, Goddess, God...whatever higher power, transcendent destination, channel, or Guides one chooses within the mind's spiritual eye.  Whatever vision gets you through the meditation, as John Lennon might've said, "It's all right, it's all right!"

Something that ought to be understood about me in reading my blog...whatever my personal focuses are in my own practices...as a free-thinking, Transcendentalist offering metaphysical discourse openly, I reserve my right to be freely expressive of any spiritual influences I have ever found value in, and acknowledge...I love it all!  I am not confused, I am diversified!  Some yoga purists may possibly take offense to my ranging in other metaphysical referencing, however, I choose to respect other peoples' very sensitive diversities, in the spirit of inclusiveness, making my yogic sharing an understanding, that ANY PATHS may enjoy these teachings as a means of connecting with WHATEVER spirit-consciousness they honor as INDIVIDUAL preference.

I can't abide by inflexibility or intolerance, regarding spirituality. Separation or division between "you," and "I," or "us," to my mind, is the inflexibility of some religious perspectives. Freedom and inclusiveness are the great spiritual complements to devotion...or else, why bother?  One may be an Agnostic, Catholic, Wiccan, Buddhist, Comedian, or any other religion, and still practice Yoga...each individual will simply connect with their own vision of The Divine, in their individual third-eyes.  One person may see Krishna...someone else will see God, Jesus, or Mother Mary...or one's enlightened mentor who has passed on to the other side...then again, there may be that person preferring to metaphysically envision George Carlin...who's to say?  I really just care about keeping this sharing, "open."


Now that I have digressed some...importantly...back to one-pointed focus.  Something else children do very well is explore...and discover..and experience "firsts" with a wonder of "the new."  It is precisely this child-like genius to appreciate the newness of each moment, that one could do well to adopt in Transcendental Kriya Yoga Meditation...that moment-to-moment curiosity of the child for a similar awareness to exploring the moment and sensing where the oxygen actually is, on its travels through one's body, and where thoughts appear to distract, while remaining relaxed in present-mindedness.

Okay, make it a game then, why not?  Become prepared to catch interrupting thought patterns AS SOON AS BLIPS APPEAR, and then blip focus back to your traveling breath before the distraction swirls you on down the pipe-line of distraction from your goal, which is complete, present-mindedness, in purified mind-space.  Ignore the busy-body-blips entirely so that distractions simply fall away, releasing the follicles of your head's pure attention.

Being one with your breath, gives an added ball to bounce in that your mind is actively observing your bodily functions perform, breathing mechanism expanding and contracting, and body in relaxed posture, or also any distractions, physical or mental, entering into consciousness that come from outside the relationship one is having with one's own simplicity.  Notice the space between the self's integrity and the distraction of the phantom-thought pulling focus outside of undivided inner unity with the absolute present, and "presence."

Our consciousness sits atop all of this subtle meditative activity, and gently sifts attachments of distraction into the funnel of "Let Go's," like the "Sifting Sands Meditation Mandala," interactive photo rendered by Vaysha Hirsch.  I invite you to take a comfortable seat, click on this post's image, and be in touch with meditation.  Allow your eyes to relax into "half-mast," gently gazing into the mandala's center, allowing its sifting sands to help you shift into gradual mental calm. Detach from arising thought-pursuits of anything, outside of your dedication to staying with your slow, easy breath, and continued release of the thinking-mechanism...until you sense, without actual "verbal" thought, that your consciousness is "simply present," within this pure feeling of quietude, without any mental ramblings draining your pure energy.

This is pure relaxation of the mind, and it can sit for a good long time once it is comfortable, "it" being your higher consciousness that is somehow seeming to transmit from "somewhere else."  The depth of understanding will come, when one associates with that, "somewhere else," and realizes that that place is still very much connected inside of us.  So what does this mean?

Transcendental Kriya Yoga Meditation may begin with a one-pointed focus on mental-simplicity...but the depth of progressing TK Meditation's "tools," grows to transcend ordinary expectations of inner journey, to eventually experience internal Bliss unlike most earthly sensations...intensified, because this Bliss is not of Earth...and without need for any altered state to help produce.  Bliss is a conduit which finds its lightning rod inside of us, or, we find the lightning rod of Bliss channeled down through us, while our rooted yoga posture anchors us down in foundation with the Earth:  Spirit and Earth united in THE FULLNESS OF NOW.  

Now, I caution all who have paid closer attention to this idea of "Bliss is a conduit."  I am not holding forth techniques for the end result of experiencing Bliss for sensation's sake only...Bliss, being the touching of what is also known as "super-consciousness," of The Source, or "Samadhi."  It is valuable to experience what it is, to touch one's higher channels for Bliss, so that one may attune with the more powerful than human reality of one's true, energetic soul-reality.  After all, this physical form is finite, but WE ARE NOT.  Yoga is less about Bliss, as the learning arc is more about cultivating an equanimity between polarities and sensations. Yoga in its higher, more advanced pursuits, becomes a disciplined "release" of attachment to the connection between one's physical body, which has a limit in Time, and one's immortal soul or purusa, for ultimate liberation.  Bliss or even bliss with a lower case "b," is a discovery granted spontaneously to the sincere, unattached devotion.

What I have just written may be a little much for some to absorb, at the beginning of spiritual considerations, but quite acceptable to those who are already willingly on The Path...still, I thought it important to give you my "metaphysical waiver." My blog begins these understandings of Transcendentalism in a place where anyone may pick up the thread and gradually follow it up the hill...but admittedly, I will take understanding to some more interesting places later...

For now, since we are all still in this existence, and not ready for "The Beyond," yoga is useful in modern life for calming our anxieties, melting our stress, and leading us back to our personal balance with inner and outer well-being ~ yoga is supposed to feel...blissful, or else why do it?  Luckily, there are many rungs to the ladder of bliss to enjoy on The Path...the attainment of Samadhi, being a further distance of exploration to locate.

Returning to where "we are," in this stage of our ongoing conversation, this relaxation in one-pointed meditation, or Dharana, is attentive, serene, recharging, wise in its conservation of precious energy, observing one's bodily functions from a seeming remove from it all in the higher mind (clear of muddy thought clouds), and all with very simple yet committed technique.  Once "there," and realizing, it becomes simple and easy to resonate inside that sacred place, already earned with patience, and one is able to continue being all lightness and effortless non-thought!

Pure awareness! (Take your Mental Holiday)