Brahmacharya Meditation

Let's start to root in the practice of Brahmacharya, right use of energy. Here we work through an understanding of what we take in + what we give out, consciously + unconsciously.
Connect with yourself, through us.

Transcript

Well, Hi my friend. I'm very happy that you're here. It's a wonderful thing that you show up and that you feel in the mood right now to meditate. Very nice. We're going to talk about and work through and focus on brahmacharya or brahmacharya some people pronounce it this way and the kind of rough translation of this practice and this word is healthy use of energy or right use of energy. So maybe that already has something for you. Maybe you've already just in that little definition you're like okay right got it. And so in the that and coming into this meditation I would really like to ask you to find a position as usual but even more so one that is really supportive. So I would suggest props maybe even your bed pillow something that's like really comfortable you know anything that would support your head your neck your knees your backspace. It's something that would make you feel kind of cozy and that you can really release and not hold on to anything energetically. Soften into yourself and all that good stuff. So I'll give you a little moment to get yourself set up if you aren't already. And then as you come to find that shape that space let's come to soften the corners of your eyes. Let's just let's take an exhale here please. Take an inhalation through your nose. Big exhale out of your mouth. Find a softening and soothing in your chest space as you do that. Let's let's go through a few more inhale softening exhale inhale exhale. I'm going to invite you to bring your awareness to your right foot. Let it be placed. Let it be breathed. Let it be soft. Allow it to settle how it settles without you holding or trying to manipulate or control the way your foot has landed. Let's come to soften all of your toes the top the bottom the sides of your right foot. Let's allow some spaciousness in your ankle. Let's work through your right leg. Soften your shin, Calf, Knees, Quads. Softening so much that it has the ability or it starts to kind of feel as though you're almost draping your flesh, Your muscles, Your fascia off of your bones. Let's bring your awareness to your left foot here. Let it be placed. Let it be breathed. Let it be how it wants to be. No holding. It just is. Soften your toes. Relax through the top, The bottom, And the sides of your left foot. Let's allow your left ankle to be expansive. Soften through your shin, Your calf, Your knee, Your quad. Softening and allowing things to be weighted. Holding space for exactly what they are, How they are. Let it be. Let it be. Let it be. Let it be. In all translations of this. Let your arms soften. Just come to release any tension you're holding in your forehead. You might not have realized but it is happening unconsciously. See if you can even relax your eyebrows away from one another a little bit more. Relax your eyes. Relax your jaw. Relax your teeth. Soften your lips. Soften your mind space just a little. You are in the right place. You look fine. Your mind may be busy and I don't want you to give yourself a hard time for that right now. Sometimes it takes a second to come to. So meet that with a bit of grace, Compassion, Ease. None of us have anything figured out. And even your most experienced teachers still struggle with a busy mind. Let's notice a couple cycles of breath more so than you were already. Let's tune in a little bit deeper maybe even closer to introspective reflection molecular understanding of the breath. I want you to kind of feel it out, Feel the pathway, Know what it does. Reflect deeper on the understanding and knowledge you already have of what breath is, What it does for you, How it works. Follow the exhales with ease. Let's start to think a little bit about brahmacharya. This is the fourth yama. So our fourth practice in the yamas, Niyamas, In the limbs of yoga. So brahmacharya, Right use of energy. It's said that in reflecting on your use of energy and practicing brahmacharya that this is behavior that leads to Brahman. And Brahman in yoga, You may have seen it or read it or heard it, We use this as translated into things like creation, Ultimate reality, Supreme divinity, Supreme existence. This is Brahman. So my first question here coming into this practice and understanding is how do you direct your energy? And let's take that and use that in a way that is reflective of many ways to use your energy, Not just your verbal expressions or what you do day to day, But also your thoughts towards things, Your thoughts towards others, What you're thinking about when someone's talking to you, Your judgments as you observe their face or the way that they look or are dressed. Let's use that in a way of what your energy is like when you are doing something stressful, When you are panicked, When you're worried, When you're washing the dishes and you're a little bit kind of pissed off about something else. Let's talk about energy in the day to day and how it shows up, How it shows up for you, The ways and also the layered experience of all that, How it's not just your energy of getting up, Getting dressed, Eating, Going to work, Coming home. But it is noticed, It is unnoticed, It's conscious, It's unconscious. And if you've landed on something already for an area where you direct your energy, Maybe a relationship, Maybe a way that you talk to yourself, Maybe a way you feel about something you are lacking in or you believe that you are lacking in, That you're not trying hard enough, It's never good enough, It's not enough, That you're living in urgency a lot and reacting that way and what does that do to the internal self? So bringing your revelations, Your reflections in how you direct your energy, When it shows up for you in these moments, This more light free energy, Have you ever really felt truly joyful, At ease, The safety of healthy energy and then maybe a little bit more heavy energy? Do you feel that more? Is there an equilibrium between you feeling comfortable, Safe, Content, At ease, Sitting, Presence, Being with yourself, Feeling that you're in a healthy mind space? Is there a balance between that and the worry and the concern and the stress and the shoulders up by the ears? They're okay to have both, You cannot have one without the other, It's okay to be a little panicked, Without the panic you wouldn't know what the calm feels like and vice versa. But it's nice to notice how much joy, What is the percentage of joy, Contentment, Ease, Healthy, Right use of energy, Maybe saying no, Maybe withdrawing from something you thought you were going to be able to do, Maybe feeling really present and at peace when you are sitting and delving into a book. I want you to take with you these notice moments, I want you to take with you the equilibrium of healthy and unhealthy practices of your energy, Of your thoughts, Of what you put out, What you take in this exchange, This mutual exchange that's going on between you, Your mind, Your consciousness, Your nervous system, With the environment that you are in at all times, All environments. There's always an exchange, You are even having exchange with my nervous system right now. The mind is not separate from the environment. And so coming into a practice to bring with you, Maybe for the day, Maybe for the hour, Maybe for this last whatever minutes, Pulling out of and playing off of directing your energy, I just want you to think about in that then how do you consciously create. Now with reason, Don't feel as though this needs to be approached in a way that everything that happens to you is a conscious creation of your mind. Don't feel that that's healthy, I don't feel that that's always true, And I do feel like that that can make you feel really bad in yourself if negative things have happened. But I do like the practice, I do like the idea, And it is helpful of course to bring in some nice thoughts when you feel a little bit worried, When you flip your perspective, When you help in your practice, When you're feeling a little bit worried, Maybe just trying to bring in some some lighter thoughts and then see how that helps to consciously create your environment. That it's probably all gonna be okay, That you for the most part are usually pretty taken care of, That you kind of get your needs met a good percent of the time. Maybe you can reflect back on when you already used that mindset to something you were really worried about, You weren't sure if you were gonna pay for something, If you would have enough that you'd be able to eat, To pay the bills, That you could fix the car, And maybe it didn't quite work out the way you wanted to, But something in that probably did. Maybe the times where you were a little younger and you moved out and you were stressed that you were gonna be able to do it, And now you reflect and you're like, Yeah I did it, I guess I did it, I'm here, I made it. So just these really light thoughts, Positive with reason, Ways that bring in your own power, Your own mental space, Your own energy, Practices in which you feel as though you are consciously creating a lot of your life, A lot of your efforts, A lot of your reality, And your environments, Taking care of yourself the way you know you need to be taken care of. You like you to find an exhalation something that feels releasing one that's noticed find an inhale now your ribs to expand just enough just you just start to expand the kind of Goldilocks breath and then release let it go release soft let's take with you today your energy your unconscious unseen choices of words, What you play in your head, How you feel about something, How you're interacting with others in your body language. The joy you might feel for others, The genuine joy and the genuine envy you may also feel for others. I want you to notice those. I don't want you to give yourself a hard time. I just want you to notice them. Can they be rewritten? Can some of them be toned down? Can some of them be toned up? The work is lovely but it's challenging. Every relationship so dynamic, So layered, Complicated but sometimes all very simple, Human to human, Needs met or not, Feeling good or not, Emotional or not. You're welcome to stay as the practice kind of fades out. You can lay. You don't need to move. That's cool. I'll just close practice here. I'd like to hold space for the lineage of yoga, Yoga philosophy, The teachers before me, The teachers after me, Those who taught me what I know and hold space for the teacher of self, You being your teacher and me being mine. I'd like to hold space here on the lower mainland of British Columbia for the unceded, Stolen territories of the Coast Salish peoples. I'd like to hold space for your knowledge, Your dedication, Your interest in being here today and for your support for the Tula space. Thank you so much for sharing practice space with me.

Reviews

Very insightful take on brahmacharya. I really enjoyed the language used and the tone. I felt like I was in a personal one on one meditation. Thank you 🙏