Yoga Philosophy Discussion And Meditation; The Power Of Mind

The power of the mind! This meditation and discussion brings you to become more aware of what mind is and how to work with it! Enjoy the opening discussion and then sit in silence and watch the chitter chatter!

Transcript

Hello,

Welcome.

Find a comfortable seat and you can either keep your eyes opened or closed for this part of your practice.

I have for the last several years been very intrigued with the mind and how yoga and the practice of yoga also works together with science on developments in improving our lives through improving our thoughts.

So while I'm no expert in the mind at all,

I wanted to share a little bit about what I've learned thus far with you.

Up until now we've done a lot of work just learning about the instructions for this journey of yoga,

But there's a difference between the book knowledge and actually putting it into action.

Just some definitions for you.

Scientists would define mind as the brain in action.

So when you think a thought you create a chemical reaction in the brain and that creates chemical messengers which create a residue called emotion and emotion then elicits a change in your biology.

In that way it means thoughts that start off as immaterial become a sort of material.

They turn into measurable reactions in your system.

And when we think the same thoughts over and over and over again,

Those neurons that fire together continue to wire together and we create these systems or like automatic processes.

Science would say we have a mind for everything that we do.

We have a mind for brushing our teeth.

We have a mind for dealing with stressors.

We have a mind for driving our car because these neurons have over and over and over in our lifetime been firing together.

And when they fire together they get stronger and stronger and stronger and that's where we get a habit.

And we get habits to think and habits to feel and habits of behaving and habits of experiencing the same things over and over again.

How much room are you leaving for the unknown with all of these habits you've created?

So if you're set up in these automatic systems all day long,

You're thinking a thought and feeling a feeling and there's not much room for anything unpredictable.

And you might notice that fearful thoughts lead to more fearful thoughts lead to more fearful emotions and feelings which lead to more fearful thoughts.

And so many times we find ourselves in this loop of thinking and maybe it's not fear but maybe it's negativity or judgment or expectation or victimization.

And so this continuous loop doesn't really give us much room for the unknown.

And that is why we need to meditate.

So when we stop to meditate and we become still we stop these automatic processes and we become open and receptive.

Joe Dispenza who I love all of his talks and his books he says pretty much when you wake up in the morning what we tend to do is we tend to look for familiar feelings we tend to start collecting up our labels and identities and who we are and we might check our social media and check our email and just establish who we are again for the new day to come.

And what that does is it recreates yesterday.

Here's a new strategy to try wake up and meditate.

So before you start attaching to everything in your to do list and your chores and all of the familiar things in your life from yesterday sit in stillness.

What's interesting is that from a biological level scientists would say that when you wake up in the morning and you rehearse all the things that you're expecting to happen in that day so maybe you have some chores to do or some to do lists and there's some people you have to see that maybe you're not really excited about maybe you have to go to work and you get that feeling about going to work.

Scientists would say on a biological level it looks like you've already lived that day because those biological signals have been sent.

So before we've even lived the day we've set ourselves up in a state of expectation of what's to come.

So it's important to take some time and be still and quiet making space for the unknown.

We all have an electromagnetic field around us and it contains messages and thoughts and feelings and intentions and we're constantly broadcasting out as well as receiving inwards so we're constantly sending and receiving information and that electromagnetic field unless you are being extremely mindful is probably looking pretty much the same from day to day so it's very familiar and very predictable.

What we want to do as yogis and people who want to thrive and live happier is to check ourselves and ask what are we emitting every day what's what's the intention every day and that's an intention it's a clear specific thought about where we're going what we're headed towards the energy we want to carry out and what we want to cultivate and that's how an intention can be really powerful when you meditate or before bed or when you're about to start a yoga practice.

And as we set a powerful intention we're able to shift this electromagnetic field and in that way you could kind of say that our mind could carry our body into a new future and so ultimately the topic of today is choose different thoughts get out of the automatic sort of autopilot mental loop that you may have been stuck in for years and years and years and this is ultimately what it means to begin the practice of yoga is to start self reflecting and studying the self to figure out where you've been stuck and where you're able to evolve.

Thank you for joining and namaste.

Now begin to find yourself in a comfortable seated position.

Take your time to find your space and set it up and sit up nice and tall relax your shoulders down away from your ears close your eyes and take a deep breath in and out.

Take a moment to appreciate and acknowledge this being present.

We're going to work our way into generating more and more self love confidence and joy and thus improving our electromagnetic field today.

What is the reason that you forget to love yourself?

As I ponder that question myself I realize it's often a matter of just getting too far away from myself compiling all the to do's and taking care of everyone else and everything else and not setting aside the time for me and so recognize that in this moment as you sit here this is an offering back to yourself this is a moment that you are giving back and loving yourself.

Taking a breath and letting your mind get a little lighter free from any negativity or judgment or expectation.

The teaching is that in the moments that we become truly present our electromagnetic field our vibration and our frequency naturally rise so all you have to do as a starting point is just become present and then keep in mind that love is not something you have to look for it's something that already exists inside of you.

Sometimes it's hidden away covered up by worries and schedules negative thinking.

Notice if that's the case for you and trust that just beneath all of that there is a wellspring of love that is self-generating and abundant.

This is the day and the time to let your walls down a bit.

Feel free to show up right here right now with no defenses just vulnerable open with all of your heart.

Take a long deep breath in and a long deep breath out listening to the sound of your breathing.

Using this moment to focus on emotions how do you feel now and if there's any emotions of resistance that's totally okay.

I want you to think right now about one thing that you love about yourself.

Be your own friend.

One thing that you love about yourself.

Acknowledge it and keep going it's not a race it's not a challenge and it's just about baby steps but this is the time of your life to reconnect to yourself to invite love into your own being and help that love that already exists radiate out and it starts with you.

You deserve to love completely all that you are all your inner magic that you often hide and spread it all over your life and your world and the people in your life connecting to this magical light and enjoying every single ray of it.

What do you love about yourself?

These don't have to be huge impressive things they can be subtle.

Maybe something kind that you've done for someone else recently your natural kindness or compassion.

Maybe it's your creativity.

Maybe you have a special skill or a passion.

What do you love about yourself?

Now placing your hands together over your heart and silently or out loud tell yourself how much you love yourself and it may feel strange at first but with practice this will get easier.

I love you.

I love you.

I love you.

Now I invite you to return to this practice until telling yourself how much you love yourself and acknowledging all the beauty that you are becomes more and more natural and in those moments as negativity and doubt and your fear of vulnerability falls away you will begin emanating at a higher frequency and vibration that will absolutely 100% begin to shift you into a different space into a different loop into different scenarios in your life that bring you more joy peace and happiness.

Thank you so much for practicing with me and namaste.