Open your heart center, ground the energy into Mother Earth, expand the energy to meet Father Sky, light up all the chakras, and be a radiant presence as you live your life’s purpose. Sure, no problem. Sounds easy, but, as we all know, NOT!
So what gets in the way? What are the obstacles that prevent us from ‘being our ‘Selves”. In Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, he describes five ‘kleshas’ or afflictions (sutra II-3), which we will cover next week, and nine distractions, the citta-vikshepas (sutra I-30) we will look at today. The root of all of these challenges is unconscious or habituated patterns of behavior.
Humans are creatures of habit. Our nervous systems are organized to allow habituation so we do not have to ‘re-invent the wheel’ in the many aspects of our lives that are repetitive. Theoretically, this frees up the mind to ‘pay attention to’ the creative impulse of the moment, in every moment. In Sanskrit, the ‘manas’ handles the pre-learned patterns so the ‘buddhi’ can be spontaneously alive. But the buddhi has to be ‘awake’, or ‘mindful’, to use a popular modern word. When we are totally on auto-pilot, we are, of sorts, ‘mindless’. And it is amazing how much can get done in this state! Habits are not a totally negative phenomenon, if we can integrate the buddhi/intelligence into manas and create ‘healthy’ habits. But we can also be hi-jacked by unconscious emotional patterns, often of traumatic origin, and these are even more insidious than mindlessness. Can we make our ‘default state’ the ‘open heart’?, moment to moment, whatever arises, or at least have this as a goal, something to aspire to. This is why we practice.
Our yoga practice is a fun place to watch to unfolding of habit in all of its glory and how quickly it sneaks in. We are trying to be more and more centered in the heart, in the light body, but as this realm is not so ‘tangible’, the mind quickly wants to grab onto something familiar, (tight groin, lower back ache, etc,) and then engage in a ‘familiar pattern’ of action, struggling with the discomfort, trying to make it go away. Or perhaps we fall back upon our well rehearsed set of instructions we have learned about the pose and, without even realizing it, become mechanical. This does allow us to plan the rest of our day in the middle of practice! Staying present requires discipline. Because our work is somatic, the emotional patterns are continually being brought to the surface, unless we have developed the habit of repressing them. This ‘spiritual by-pass is not uncommon, so we have to stay present to this as a possibility moment to moment.
In your practice today, in any and every pose, as best possible, sustain the heart center as the root of structure and energy. When your attention is centered on the structural level, feel how the heart energy and fields, as best possible, support the structure. When working with energy, feel the effects of structure and fields on the energy flow. When you are able to ‘rest in the fields’, the infinite stillness will begin to stabilize in the structures and energy flow. This will change from pose to pose. Some are easier than others. Some are much more habituated in struggle.
Next take this into your unfolding life experiences. See which of the following ‘distractions is most appropriate to you in the moment. Some will be very familiar, other less so. Find a way to transform the ‘habit’ of being ‘out of tune’, with the ‘habit’ of staying present.
The nine ‘distractions’ of Patanjali:
1. Illness, (vyaadhi) this is obvious. Not feeling well is exhausting. Staying present to the unpleasant state, and the whining that usually accompanies this, with some humor and compassion, is a great ‘habit’ to practice.
2. Mental idleness/procrastination, (styaana): Great idea. Let’s start working on this this tomorrow. (But it’s never tomorrow! Only Now. Oh!) Plant the seed thought “now , now, now. Patanjali calls these seed thoughts ‘nirodha vrttis in the Vibhuti Pada.
3.Doubt, (samshaya): I can’t feel any of this. What’s the point? This is too subtle for me. All of this ‘spiritual stuff is just projection and fantasy. (Is it? Really? Where is your awakened imagination? How much time have you actually invested in open minded, open hearted practice?)
Now, doubt can be healthy, when applied by a mature mind. Naivete can be a problem in spiritual practice as it is easy to ‘surrender’ to the guru before your buddhi has matured. Being able to discriminate spiritual bullshit from spiritual truth is a skill to be cultivated and some doubt is helpful. There is no shortage of spiritual charlatans around. But, doubt has to be used wisely.
Doubt can also be used wisely as an antidote to bhraanti-darshana (see below). The egoic mind will draw all kinds of wild conclusions around spiritual ‘experiences’. Be sceptical of all of your ‘thoughts’.
4.Negligence, (pramaada): ignoring the practice, even though you know it helps. But it is too frustrating trying to be still, says the mind. You are stillness! Not to worry. To quote Jon Kabatt-Zinn speaking to a captivated audience in Boston several years ago:
” Just fucking do it!!!” Discipline again is required. In the Sadhana Pada, Patanjali gives
5. Physical and mental heaviness or laziness, (aalasya): The preponderance of tamas or inertia. I do not have the energy to initiate a practice. Dull complacency. How do I find a spark, a kick in the ass, to get me moving? A taste of reality should do the trick.
6. Over-attachment to pleasure, (aavirati): Practice is most effective when life is not going so well. Spirituality is not about always feeling good, or always being good. It is about being real. What human in the history of the planet has not wanted some form of pleasure; as much as possible actually. But reality has other ideas. Even practice can be frustrating and unpleasant at times, especially when it takes us into our unexamined shadows. Your whole life is your practice. Do not run from discomfort, but meet it with an open heart and mind, and your intelligence. There may be a simple solution. Or not.
7. Philosophical confusion, (bhraanti-darshana): Wrong conclusions about practice and the spiritual journey are insidious in that we get very attached to them. They are like weeds; very difficult to uproot. We often draw conclusions early on, before we have much experience, and these ‘beliefs’ about what life and spirituality is supposed to be create lots of suffering. Meditation is about ‘stopping the mind’ is a classic mistake made by novices. Ego masquerading as buddhi is another more general confusion.
8. Failure to stabilize the mind, (a-labdha bhuumikatva): Literally, failure to attain samadhi, the first step in reining in the tamasic and rajasic tendencies of the mind. Also, failure to discover mindfulness as a practice. Many do not even realize that there are practices to stabilize the mind to allow self reflection and contemplation. Somatic practices are very powerful because they go right after the sense of feeling ground and safe in the body. The mind loves this.
9. Instatbility of sattva, (an-avasthitatvaani) Failure to sustain the stability of the sattvic state over a longer period of time. This is the only way to resolve the more challenging habits of mind and emotions. Notice the Sanskrit root ‘sthita’. Stability also has levels. Spiritual evolution keeps getting deeper and more coherent through stages of ‘transcend and include’. First I find stability in the gross body. Then the subtle body. Thirdly the causal body, or what we are calling the ‘Field” level. Ultimately, I am stable in the luminous emptiness of the infinite. In reality, these overlap, so one can be working on all simulataneously. The Fields are faster and more inclusive than the energies. The energy body is faster and more inclusive than the gross. And that is more inclusive than the realm of disembodied thought, where many beginners live. The infinte light includes all.