Listen closer & feel

When ready, it comes to our attention that we express emotions on the surface which are hiding what is really going on inside.  This is a kind of unconscious split that prevents us from living in our integrity, blocks clarity, and postpones life choices that enable us to feel harmony. Various breathing practices can be used to help us get to the bottom of what is really going on. What if its possible to tune in, raise awareness, and truly listen to the signs and signals of the body in a whole new way? What if we could shift from thinking about what happening to allowing all emotions to flow? Breathwork is one tool that allows us to get in touch with our true selves.

We are each responsible for our happiness.  We create it, manifest it or stand in our own way for reasons only we can uncover at our own pace. We are each the architect of our reality.  We choose our thoughts, our preceptions, our responses or emotional reactions to external forces.  All-the-while, we each possess all tools required to our expand consciousness, see each event  from a different point of view and transform our lives. We can shift from living unconsciously in fear to living consciously by vibrating love. At any moment, we have the power to listen closer, change how we think and feel. Reminding ourselves to follow intution can help us reframe life and death.

Breathe more mindfully

Today, during a breathwork workshop, we explored a variety of situations. It dawns that we have the choice to function unconsciously, which implies allowing emotion to take control, or, we can be present, grow more aware, choose to respond consciously to whatever unfolds. We explored what it feels like to breathe as we experience different emotions, where the rhythm of the breath changes as well as the signs and signals of the body. Go ahead, reflect on what is happening within you right now. Scan the body. Focus on the breath as energy flow. What stands out? Could it be that something invites closer attention? What are you willing to see?

If you wish to breathe more mindfully, are curious about the nature of the ideal breath and are ready to explore breathing techniques that empower you to live a fuller life, contact us for details about our next breathwork event to be this Tuesday, October 6, 2020 on the Sunshine Coast.

5 Revelations about priorities

Ponder 5 Revelations or ah-ha moments that require no thought. Breathe the way into each one, sensing the growing connection you have with yourself, heartfelt priorities. 

1. Feel why having money is not true wealth

2. Tune into love as the ultimate success.  Unconditional love and trust are conscious intelligence that unfold as we live through the heart.

3. Accept you have no time. The present is the only real time. No past or future exist. We are not results of the past. We simply are.

4.  Consciously connect with the Earth, whatever this means. Discover that once it begins nothing can stop it

5.  Notice as we take responsibility for our thoughts, we take responsibility for every choice and experience. 

Uncover your motive

Two men visit a Zen master, looking for advice.

The first man says: “I’m thinking of moving to this town. What’s it like?”

The Zen master asks: “How was your old town?”

“It was terrible. Everyone was mean. I hated it.”

To that, the Zen master replies: “This town is much the same. Don’t move here.”

After the first man leaves, the second man enters and says: “I’m thinking of moving to this town. How is it?”

Again, the Zen master asks: “What was your old town like?”

“It was wonderful. Everyone was friendly. Just looking for a change.”

The master replies: “This town is very much the same. I think you will like it here.”

There is always more than one reason why we do things. The mind tells us one reason, the rest of the body offers other insight often overlooked. What we seek is what we find. Why we do what we do matters as much, if not more, as the experience itself. The rhythm of our breath offers clues to our underlying motivation for action. Focusing on the breath and engaging in breathing exercises can reveal what we run from or tward or whether we are truly present.

Ultimately, what we find is determined by how we chose to seek and what we are ready to make conscious. All behaviours and life choices are pointers to what is going on inside ourselves.  We are the creator.  Every moment our thoughts and feelings are creating every moment and direction of our lives. Uncovering our motive for a geographic move or other life change is something we only reveal to ourselves when ready. Ponder the role of mindfulness and mindlessness...

Moving beyond addiction

The subject of addiction is a popular topic for mediation. Ponder the the following:

"You look very insecure, sitting up there in your tree", said one highly-ranked Chinese official to a Ch'an master who enjoyed his life perched in the treetops. "Oh ho, good sir, YOU look very insecure to ME, down there on the ground!" replied the delighted master.

This often referenced Chan story contains a message which, we are told, the official was wise enough to understand. It was the official, whose life and fortune depended upon external favour and considerations, who was insecure. These were his unconscious addictions, the foundation upon which his life was built, on "shifting sands". It was his attachment to these external conditions that created his insecurity, his instability and restlessness.

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One day, the Buddha and his monks were walking down a road and were confronted by a frantic and miserable farmer racing down the road. He stopped them, saying "Good monks, I have lost my oxen, they were travelling this way. Did you see them?" The Buddha sadly replied, "No, we have not seen them. Perhaps they took the fork in the road back there." At this, the farmer wailed and continued his complaint. "Only this summer, locusts ate all my crops? What will I do?" and he ran crying down the road. The Buddha watched him go, and turned to his friends, saying "Dear monks, do you know how lucky you are? You never have to worry about your oxen or crops."

Thought and memory are the same. Until we know the difference between thought and awareness, no clarity arises. We are taught to take for granted our memories constitute who we are. Yet, 'who I am' in this moment, is not a thought. It is unrelated to what we think we have ot not. Rather, it is felt. As we are fully present, all that exists is awareness. Who is being aware? The monks know Being and no-One are the same, that is, everything. No-One is everybody. We cannot allow awareness to arise if we keep reverting to memory. The moment we feel a lack within, we feel separate, incomplete, like something is wrong or missing. This leads to addiction, the perceived need to fill a void. We do everything in our power to fill it, talk about it, do something to enable us to feel good about ourselves.

Alcoholism or other addictions allow people to experience what it is to feel uninhibited freedom. Becoming addicted to dark thoughts keeps one focused on and perpetuating the focus on the pain body. Until we realize the very nature of being is infinite. It cannot be destroyed. We forget we are whole, awareness. This starts the sense of lack, which brings separation, and the need to fill a voice from which emerges addiction and fear.  We are not afraid of something. We are simply fear. This fear exists because we are convinced something is lacking. We have lost trust not only in others but also ourselves.  The thought arises how could I be free of addiction? There is the amnesia of what is universal. You cannot prove it, you can only live it.

Similarly, when a person wants to know about love, he may read books, watch movies and hear about other people's experiences Yet, One does not know what love is until one begins to feel love, feel the love inside the self. Until he tastes love, feels it inside himself, he cannot know it.  Truth is not something we can prove. It is self-evident. We exist. When we wish to prove, we revert to memory and get lost in the quagmire.  As long as we live grounded in memory, we will fear death, old age, sickness , of so many things, everything.

The awakened sages call a person wise when all his undertakings are free from anxiety about results", says Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. Jesus too said that the Kingdom of Heaven is ever-present. Of course, the problem is, everyone is not always fully present. We are in the future, we are in the past, we are in our memories, we are in our anxieties, we are in our fantasies! Why? Because we are attached to our story; our personal narrative. We play it inside our head constantly. As we cook, we daydream. As we drive, we fantasize. As we work, we consider what better job there is for us out there. And as we love, we all too often do the same thing. So rarely are we simply aware of what we do, simply mindful.