Author Archives: DonBothell

YOGA AND PARADOX

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A yoga myth, the Bhagavad Gita lays out the yogic world view, and explains paradox, in the form of a tale of a prince, Arjuna, reluctantly facing battle. A manifestation of the godhead in the form of Krishna, acting as Arjuna’s chariot driver, explains why things appear as they do. Arjuna says to Krishna, “My mind is in confusion because in thy words I find contradictions.”

Yogic understanding of 'paradox' explained in 'Bhagavad Gita' through Krishna and Arjuna

Yogic understanding of ‘paradox’ explained in ‘Bhagavad Gita’ through Krishna and Arjuna

As you become more your self and see through your own eyes, the phenomenon of paradox becomes more prevalent. You exercise free will, but recognize a grand design and destiny. Things are the way they are supposed to be this moment, but they should be better.

This is yoga’s higher level of understanding —paradox. The world is trying to pin things down, but you perceive different strata of reality. Light can be both a wave and a pulse. Yoga reveals different dimensions have different rules. We can live in the same world, the physical universe, but, depending on our level of spiritual development, we experience different realities. Many teachers, Jesus as an example, perform what seem miracles, manifestations of a deeper awareness of the natural order. They tell us this is our birthright, to gain this greater awareness.

CHAKRA VISUALIZATION

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THE CHAKRAS ARE UNIQUE AND NEED TO BE DIRECTLY OBSERVED BY EACH INDIVIDUAL MEDITATOR. They may be experienced differently at different times and many descriptions of their nature have resulted. A popular view from the Hindu tradition is that each resembles a lotus flower, with different chakras composed of varying numbers of petals. Each energy center might appear as a world or reality unto itself with its own rules and setting. Observing the function of the chakras, they can each be seen as a vortex of energy, like a cyclone. The vortex of the first chakra spins clockwise, the second, counterclockwise, and the third, clockwise. The direction of spin alternates as the spine is ascended. As the meditator becomes more at home within their chakra awareness, they notice qualities inherent to the direction of spin. The clockwise spinning chakras are dynamic in the sense they tend to project out into reality, like the sexual nature of the first chakra, the expulsion of breath of the third chakra, speaking at the fifth chakra and so on. For this reason, they are thought of as having more masculine traits. The counterclockwise chakras are more receiving, like the nourishment received from the mother through the umbilical cord at the navel chakra, the love received through the heart chakra, and the stimulus received by the third eye. These chakras are thought of as being more feminine in nature.
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YOGA’S KUNDALINI METAPHOR

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Latent Kundalini energy, potent negatively charged apana, reposes in the lowest esoteric center of the body. Pictured as a serpent coiled in the area analogous to the tailbone, it blocks the portal to liberation, the Sushumna.

The yogi entices Kundalini energy up the spine

The yogi entices Kundalini energy up the spine

The sleeping coiled serpent is awakened by the tapas (heat of devotion) of the yogi. The female goddess, in her serpent form, then begins to uncoil opening the door of the channel to the Absolute. The yogi, utilizing the skills learned through much sincere and diligent practice, entices the Kundalini energy up the spine through the Sushumna. Each successive chakra is entered and aroused, provoking full expression of each chakra’s distinctive attributes and further encouraging the ascent, until the crown of the head is pierced and the thousand petal lotus is entered. This is the locus of the static point of the positive, masculine psycho-spiritual energy, the male god, Shiva. This is complete union, the fullest expression of yoga, perfect and unique to yoga. Unlike other spiritual practices, it includes the body. Not only is the mind transcended, the body is illuminated and experienced as the body of the divine. The physical plane is entwined in the higher realms. The ideal of liberation combines with worldly enjoyment.

FOURTH CHAKRA

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Camel Posture

Camel Posture

The fourth, or heart chakra’s, color is a beautiful chlorophyll green and its element is air. The lower three chakras are the material universe and the fourth chakra is the transition point to our divine spiritual manifestation. The heart chakra is the point of transition and the upper three chakras are the higher, or spiritual, centers. The ascending line of energy through the Sushumna  parallels the evolutionary ascent of humankind from animal to spiritual being. A horizontal line, the point of transition, forms a cross. This is the symbol of the fourth chakra. The teachings of Jesus are fourth chakra teachings. “…And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” The Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love” is also an expression of fourth chakra teaching. Astrology, based on observations of earth in relationship to its slowly changing stellar influences, divided earthly time into two thousand year segments, or ages. We are now leaving the segment when the teachings of Jesus were to manifest as the prevailing order. This era, the Piscean Age, shares with Jesus the symbol of the fish. The new age we’re starting to enter is the Aquarian Age, the age of understanding. If we can just get our tails over the fence, we will begin to share the promise of the miracles Jesus taught are our birthright. Weight Loss Through Yoga, Jewel in the Lotus        page 62

A LIFETIME OF YOGA

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Many people have told me they are the lightest they’ve ever been, and feel the best they’ve ever felt when they practice yoga. If you do yoga regularly with a group of people, you can watch them transform. This applies both to people who are just starting their practice, and to people who have done yoga for years, who seem to go on to ever-finer levels of beauty. It is not superficial. Rather, it is a peeling away of the meretricious constructs that cover the perfect expression of Divinity that is our true nature.

Good Yoga — Good Health — Good Life

Good Yoga — Good Health — Good Life

If you practice yoga, even without focusing on weight loss, weight loss may occur if your body is carrying extra weight. An extremely thin person may gain weight. Imagine what can happen when we identify and utilize the processes that cause the body to seek its most perfect, natural physical expression? The yogic philosophy has an understanding of our bodies and the universe they inhabit that extends beyond the scope of our current popular science and medicine. We can use these insights to accelerate the realization of our our ideal form. This form is coiled inside each of us, anxiously waiting to be released.

 

Weight Loss Through Yoga, Jewel in the Lotus  page 162 and 163

SPIRITUAL MOUNTAINS

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This time last year, two friends and I where getting ready for a trek in the Himalayas. Oct. to Nov. is considered a sweet spot between the monsoon and the snows. The air is clearest, none of the haze common in Spring. The Himalayas are the spiritual center for traditional Eastern teachings. I had the pleasure of washing my spirit in the icy waters both Buddhists and Hindus agree are the origin of Holy Mother Ganges, spitting from 108 brass cow heads in the desert alpine village of Muktuena in Nepal The pure white of the surrounding snows mirroring the clear silence of my peaceful soul.10653653_535975129882485_7140998959927369161_n

Tomorrow I’m leaving for a month in Europe. A personal quest to sites honoring the 11th century Cathars. I’m visiting sites where they were burned in southern France — a homage to the sincerity of their conviction — that man can, with work and steadfastness, climb out of the darkness and into the white light of spiritual completeness — perfection — as our divine birthright. [Posted two years ago]

CATCHING MY BREATH

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SO HIGH, SOMETIMES IT’S HARD TO BREATHE… Sometimes you have to walk very slow and occasionally stop to catch your breath. OH! THE BEAUTY…  Surely, LOVE IS ALL!

GOD IS ALL

October — November 2013

Trekking the Annapurna Circuit, Nepal. A subset of the Himalayas, you feel ‘High’ is really a high, and closer to God.

time… Time… TIME NOW

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Since trekking the Anapurna Circuit in the Himalayas two years ago, a major earthquake has destroyed much of our route and last fall over 60 people were killed in a snow storm crossing a 17,200 ft. pass, the same day we crossed, one year later. It reminds me of the fleeting nature of this incarnation, the mountains, the earth, galaxy, universe. Yet consciousness is here now… eternal now.10653653_535975129882485_7140998959927369161_n