Embodyoga™

To be alive is to be in relationship. Each of us is in relationship with other people, the environment, our surroundings, and with our self. Our bodies are the complex result of trillions of relationships among individual cells. Before we were born we were in relationship with the earth, feeling gravity and its pull. The sciences—biology, ecology, psychology, sociology, etc—are the study of relationship, how one thing relates to and effects something else.
Yoga is an invitation to embody the exploration of relationship. While being in relationship is a natural part of being alive, the quality of our engagement is a choice. We can choose to be passive, allowing the world to float by. We can choose to be forceful, using the strength of our will to create or move toward what we desire. Tantra teaches that true Yoga exists between these extremes, not a passive collapse or a forceful effort, but the yield that underlies all movement.
To yield is to become actively receptive to our environment and our own intrinsic mysteries of embodiment. In asana we can approach it as an active relationship with the earth; we soften and yield our weight into the earth so that we may then push and reach out in any direction. We can find it in the breath, where the yield supports the full action of the respiratory cycle. We can also yield in our personal lives, meeting others with the active receptivity that allows the moment to be fully experienced.
The primary action of the practice is a yield to Source, beginning with the individual, a softening to our own experience of embodiment and unique qualities that allows a receptivity of the divine essence that unites us all. This is the action of yielding to the self, allowing an awareness of Source that supports the discerning quality of the mind. At times it is necessary to soften more deeply and allow the experience to flow. At other times it is necessary to use our discrimination and desire to move through barriers. Our practice is to explore both actions fully, understanding that they do not work in opposition to each other, but rather in concert together by creating a more expansive experience, just like the expanding, condensing and yielding qualities that are present in each breath. By maintaining consistent awareness through the yield to the self and our inherent desire to relate we can move intelligently through both asana and life.
To yield is to become present, choosing to create an active and receptive engagement in the exploration of embodiment.

-Abigail Clarke, certified Embodyoga™ teacher

In Sanskrit, the word for breath and life force is the same: prana. The yogis recognize that when we breathe we take in life force energy, and this breath of life nourishes every cell in the body. This is the dance of the expanding and condensing and yielding quality of the cells. As we allow ourselves to soften and take in the nourishment of the breath this dance is occurring in the trillion individual cells that make the self.
The technical terms for the act of breathing are inspiration and expiration. Both come from the Latin spiritus, meaning spirit. We breathe in spirit, we breathe out spirit, and link ourselves into the dance of individual selves in the constant flow of expansion and condensing. Just as the cells are the individuals in the creation of the self, we and every other being are individuals in the creation of the Self.
There are at least 122 joints in the adult human thorax. It is an incredible feat of skeletal architecture that allows for the receptivity of breath, and therefore the receptivity of spirit. The mis-named “rib cage” could more aptly be called a “breath basket.” The potential for movement through the 122 joints of the thorax allows this “breath basket” to be receptive to the recursive cycle of the breath; recursive because each breath is new, a new invitation to become inspired, and as we learn to soften and yield to the breath we become increasingly receptive to prana. When we create a union between the movement of the body in asana and the true quality of the inspired breath we have the beauty of hatha yoga.
Ha-tha yoga: the union of sun and moon, expanding and condensing, action and rest. At the finish of the inspired breath we continue through the natural cycle of the exhalation- we allow spirit to flow from within us out into the world. Just as we cannot fill a vessel that is not first empty, by allowing the exhalation to be full and complete we prepare ourselves for the fullness of the next inspiration. It is a generosity of spirit to yield into the breath, allowing the prana to fill us and then to release, resting in the assurance that the next will come, comfortably floating in the stillness of the space between the breath as well.

–Abigail Clarke, Certified Embodyoga™ Teacher

Hatha Yoga is a spine-based system of exploration into the nature of body and mind.  Within our spines we can find all of the levels of our individuality as well as our universality. The entire spine is highly intelligent, the home of the central nervous system; the central channel of every yoga posture. Yogicly-speaking, spine contains the sushumna nadi, our own personal conduit to the Vastness, or pure awareness, that is constantly present within us. Although this pure awareness is equally everywhere at all times, when we practice yoga it can be useful to experience it at the center of the spine, which is where yoga situates this energy within our individual body-mind. In yoga practice we organize around this essential channel of empty radiance. Sushumna is supportive of our entire being and serves as literal and metaphorical core.  Core at this level, is spacious, unrestricted, intelligent, and self-aware.  This is the deepest level of core – the core of core.

From this deep source, awareness expresses outward into all aspects of self through an interpenetrating matrix of sheaths, called kosas.  The kosas are are considered subtle structures that give support, shape, and qualitiy to our embodied experience.  They range from the most subtle level of existence: awareness – to the most obvious:  our physical structure.  Each of the kosas relates to a different element — space, air, fire, water, and earth — again ranging from most subtle to most obvious or gross.  According to the picture of the kosas, at our source we are pure awarenss.  From there, radiating outward from subtle to gross, this pure awarenees of which we are made, mixes with qualities, tendencies, and elements  to form each individual. These progressive levles of core contain our  self-concepts and definitions, thoughts, feelings, and our structural supports. Core, or the empty radiance of pure awareness, is expressing constantly through all of these layers of our body-mind systems.

This is a compelling way to view our thoughts, feelings, and structure, within the larger perspective of how we are fully-supported by pure awareness at all times.  Underneath every characteristic and trait, if we look deeply enough we always find this pure awareness.  This illucidates the critical role that inquiry plays in yoga practice.  It is not enough to just plow blindly through, accepting someone else’s unproven word for the benefits of our practice.  We must inquire into deeper and deeper levels of experience to begin to really notice for ourselves that pure awareness is everywhere, and in fact, is the biggest thing happening at all times.

When forces flow through the spine along this course, as they are designed to do, the spine itself remains healthy, and an inner sense of communication and wholeness is felt along its length. Often this flow of force and communication is interrupted by unhealthy movement patterns.  An unhealthy movment pattern for the spine is any movement which creates shearing forces that cut across its head-to-tail and tail-to-head axis.  This is unhealthy structurally, as it degrades the discs, the vertebrae themselves, and the vertebral joints. The flow of the central nervous system may also be disrupted along its course. The CNS which runs through the back part of the vertebral column needs to remain undisturbed in even the largest spinal movement.  In a healthy body, good communication along the central nervous system and integrity in the vertebral column may be accomplished by simply keeping the alignment of the spine organized along its axis so that the forces traveling through it are being distributed headward and tailward via the weight bearing bodies and the  discs.

This is not to say that the spine should never flex, extend, twist, or perform any combination of movements that are offered in our yoga postures.  In fact it is imperative that the spine move in all directions. In our yoga postures and movements we are free to flex, extend, and twist to our fullest ability, as long as the forces and weight are traveling from one vertebra to the next, along the entire length of the spine, and without shearing forces crossing the spine or deviating from the flow along its axis.

Metaphorically, spine, as core, is where we live. And progressively subtle experiences of spine represent our progressively subtle experiences of self.  We are present within ourselves along the axis of the spine.  Spine is “me”.  I have a body and limbs, organs, feelings, thoughts, posessions, etc.  But at the center of all of this there is the “I-concept”; the person who has all of these things is me. The direction of spinal movement expresses the core intention of each yoga posture. When we practice forward bending, or flexion postures, we are moving within, condensing into ourselves. In backward bending, or extension postures, we are moving outward towards others, expanding our horizons, and opening to our aspirations. When we twist or rotate we are curious about our environment. When the spine is in its neutral curves we are simply present. By supporting all aspects of communication along the full length of our spinal axis we maintain a sense of wholeness and organization around a central core. When we break this head-to-tail and tail-to-head connection, we are in danger of fragmenting our sense of self.

By not compromising our spines in our yoga practice and our lives we support our personal process of moving from a fragmentary vision of ourselves and life, to an experience of wholeness that is felt internally and seen to be the overriding reality in all of our interactions.  By inquiring deeply, we break open even the “I-concept”.  I am definitely here, undisturbed and present, but what supports me, mine, and all of this?  From this calm place our true nature reveals itself.

Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen with Patty Townsend

“I get my information from the undifferentiated.  No one can tell me that it’s not true.”

Art Carrington, Movement Visionary and Tennis Pro

Any system is going to have limitations.  No system can contain all the quantum information available about life, people, consciousness and movement. Systems are useful to contain our minds.  We can control the wandering when we know the edges of the container.

Some systems come from genuine inspiration.  The developers of the systems may even continue to receive inspiration and expand their systems accordingly.

When we enter a system and we begin our studies, all is good.  There is a lot of truth in a system that comes from someone’s genuine inspiration.

Eventually we, ourselves, begin to ripen.  We experience our own inspiration, ”information from the undifferentiated”.  It may or may not fit into the system we are practicing in.  If it doesn’t fit, what do we do?

What happens when you step into the stream of evolution and flowing creative intelligence and stumble upon inspiration?  What happens when you “know” something that doesn’t fit just right into your current system?

Maybe you step outside the box.

You step into the field of undifferentiated vastness.  It is enormously spacious.  It seems to be empty and you may be afraid!

But since you “know”, there is no going back.

An ardent student might try to find another system that will contain this new “knowing”.  But the discriminating seeker will see the flaw in that immediately.

Create you own system?  Ridiculous.

Now, standing outside the box, in nearly undifferentiated vastness, if you are “lucky” someone comes along.  In my case, my teacher…and she says, “Hi. Welcome to the vastness.  There aren’t many rules here – I don’t know what to tell you… I’m sure glad you’re here…Bye.”  And she goes.

“I get my information from the undifferentiated.  No one can tell me that it’s not true.”

The true information comes from within and is a result of stepping into the vastness within ourselves.  As teachers we are guides, offering the keys to the door that leads outside the box.  But it is the individual that opens the door and steps outside.  When that happens they are receiving their information from the undifferentiated and we, as their teachers are just hanging around talking a lot!

Introduction:

The Embodyoga system is one that can be described as yoga that emphasizes alignment from the inside-out.  We use what we call the “quiet spine principal” as one of our main emphases in teaching, whereby no shearing lines of force are taken across the spine no matter how deeply into a pose one attempts to go.  As the spine is the house of sushumna nadi, it is of supreme importance that we not allow these “breaks” in the spine to occur, as that would obviously be counter-productive in yoga practice, where we are ultimately trying to allow Prana to flow unimpeded along sushumna.

I became intrigued with the idea of drishti as more than simply a focus- or gazing-point in the practice of Ashtanga Vinyasa, while delving into some of the deeper backbends of the second, third, and fourth series.  I discovered that when practicing the deeper backbends:  specifically dwi pada viparita dandasana, raja kapotasana, chakra bandhasana, kapotasana, etc. (especially those poses where the feet touch the head) if I held the postures for longer than the prescribed 5-10 breaths, and, if I did not have my gaze down the tip of my nose, I would finish the practice with an excruciating headache. That led me to investigate the various Ashtanga texts that described the gaze point, or drishti, in the backbends, where I found that with the exception of lagu vajrasana, the gaze is described as past the tip of the nose.  (David Swenson, Lino Miele, Matthew Sweeney) I began to bring more of my attention to the drishti in my practice and emphasize it in my teaching.  I found that my headaches disappeared completely, and also found that my students had much less tendency to “break” in the cervical spine when bringing the gaze down the end of the nose at the apex of the pose.

Drishti–

Traditionally, drishti is defined as gazing point in asana practice –specifically in the Ashtanga vinyasa system as taught by Sri K. Patthabi Jois.  Though it is commonly thought of as simply a way to focus the gaze and keep the mind from wandering, it is really much more than that.  The drishti has deep implications for creating and maintaining the body-mind connections forged in asana practice.   It does serve to focus the gaze and the mind; however, there are many other levels on which it functions to create and hold what we call Yoga, or union within the body-mind. 

On the physical level, the drishti functions to help keep the body in alignment from head-to-tail, so there are no shearing lines of force taken across the spine.  It accomplishes this by setting the stage for the body to fall into its natural state of balance and alignment.  When coming into any backbend, in the ashtanga vinyasa system, the gaze point or drishti is at or past the tip of the nose.  This is especially important in the deeper backbends such as kapotasana and ustrasana, but equally important in urdva mukha svanasana, and bhujangasana as well.  Let’s look at the physical relationship of the eyes to the spine first.  The common tendon of the eye muscles that move them around in their sockets originates along the tendinous ring surrounding the optic canal, encasing the optic nerve, with some attaching on the sphenoid bone (plate 517 Clemente).  The muscles that depress the eye (looking down) are the superior oblique and inferior rectus.  The superior oblique attaches to the sphenoid bone of the skull.  Thus, as we drop the gaze, the sphenoid bone is drawn up slightly.  The sphenoid bone is directly connected to the posterior surface of dens of the atlas via the alar and apical ligaments (pl 420, 549, Clemente).  Thus, as we drop the gaze, we move the dens forward and up slightly, which has enormous implications for the health and safety of the spinal cord.  If we take the head back without moving the dens forward, due to the orientation of the dens itself, we risk impinging the spinal cord.  (The dens of C2 sits anteriorly to the spinal cord, acting as the body of C1).  If we allow the dens to collapse back, which happens when students try to take their heads back without support, then there is a visible break in the cervical spine, and a subsequent impingement of the spinal cord, which I think most of us would agree is not wise practice.  By dropping the gaze down the end of the nose, we provide ourselves with some of the support needed to keep the spine in a nice, long arc, opening up the central channel, which is sushuma nadi.  There are many different ways to support the spine properly in extension, this is simply another way to affect subtle support in the backbend postures.

Other subtle supports for the spine and sushumna nadi are found in the glandular system, particularly those of the head.  The pituitary gland is situated in the cellae tursica directly above the sphenoid sinuses (pl 490, 522, Clemente).  The mammillary bodies are situated posterior and superior to the pituitary gland, adjacent to the optic nerve.  Some neuroanatomists believe them to be a part of the hypothalmus, which acts to link the endocrine system to the nervous system via the pituitary. (Innerbody.com: http://www.innerbody.com/image/endoov.html).  It can be argued that when we take the gaze down, we also slightly lift the pituitary and mammillary bodies and shift them forward and down.  (pl 495, Clemente) In fact, the pituitary sits just below the optic chiasm (Netters, pl.100), which connects directly to the corpus collosum via the anterior commisure and the lamina terminalis.  The pineal gland sits just below the base of the corpus collosum, surrounded by the great cerebral vein and below the choroid plexus (artery).  (Netters, pl 100).  Thus, as the gaze drops, the corpus collosum  moves slightly down and forward, which creates space for the pituitary, mammillary bodies, and the pineal gland, and ultimately provides more space for the flow of blood to the entire brain.  When bringing the spine into extension, and taking the gaze downward, we bring the pineal gland up and forward, which brings us more into the parasympathetic nervous system, calming the sympathetic nervous system and bringing space to the area where the glands are housed.  Simply by the nature of the backbending postures, we stimulate the sympathetic nervous system, thus it would seem logical that the nervous system would come into balance when we drop the gaze while placing the spine in extension, rolling around the axis of the mamillary bodies.  We are stabilizing the glands of the head by bringing the gaze down, taking us more into the parasymapthetic nervous system and balancing the inherent sympathetic nervous system activity of the backbending process. 

In both teaching and practice, what I have found is that though the initiation of the backbend may be one where the eyes lift, at the fullest expression of the posture, the natural drishti should be at or past the tip of the nose.  Though this has been by no means a full or scientific study of the effects of dristhi in backbends, I have found from my own experience and that of many of my students, that it is immensely calming to the nervous system to take the gaze down.  Though it really isn’t necessary to find explanations for the ancient wisdom of drishti, it is useful when working therapeutically with students to know what the effects of the more subtle aspects of the yoga practice are, and how we can help our students to come to a place of quiet and calm in their yoga practices.

                                                 — Karen Miscall-Bannon

Sources:

Clementes Anatomy

Netter’s Anatomy

Innerbody.com Human Anatomy Atlas

Miele, Lino; Ashtanga

Swenson, David; Ashtanga Yoga

Sweeney, Matthew;   Ashtanga Yoga As It Is

Anatomy and Yoga

Our current approach to anatomy has its root in an age that produced the thought paradigm of a mechanistic universe.

The entire mechanistic view was radical and exciting in its day. It brought a sense of order and clarity to thinking and propelled us away from relying on superstitions in our attempts to understand ourselves, our lives and our environment. It drove the collective consciousness forward into a new era full of hope and expectation about what can be discovered and known through science.

The “body as machine” perspective came out of the science of this time. With the knife, as the anatomists, we became able to see what is under our skin and to explore the functional “mechanics” of muscle and bone, organs and glands, circulation, the nervous system, etc. These were, and continue to be, important revelations.

When gravity ruled and time and space were obviously linear it was perfectly natural to apply these same concepts toward our bodies and the techniques used for studying them. We were temporarily satisfied to think of ourselves as a compilation of discreet parts and functions with a big computer (the brain) that was in charge of it all.

When Einstein realized that “energy” is equal to “matter times the speed of light squared” everything changed. Physics changed completely. Over a relatively short time the entire view of the nature of the universe, and therefore us in it, took a far-reaching turn. If E=MC2 well, then… that’s us too! The studies of anatomy, physiology and biology have been relatively slow on the uptake of these new relations. The common conception of anatomy and physiology is still highly mechanistic and even in yoga we tend to separate and fragment our bodies in our attempts to understand and see more deeply. Perhaps the quantum level of reality seems to be out of the range of our perception and therefore not useful. But the teachings of yoga go right to this level, and the Rishis and enlightened people of our own generation maintain that this level is absolutely available to experience.

As physicists have continued to investigate more subtle levels of refinement of matter and energy they have discovered many fascinating characteristics and traits. The most obvious and simple, yet entirely profound, is that when we explore the inner layers of our own human tissue we find huge amounts of space, much like intergalactic space. In fact, we find nothing solid at all! The illusion is that we are solid. From our relative place in the space-time continuum and the orientation of our thinking mind we see what we expect to see. Our expectations arise out of an incomplete science that is still immersed in what Depak Chopra calls the “superstition of materialism.” We think that we are solid, when in fact we’re nothing of the sort. We are more space than matter, and what we experience to be solid is actually energy vibrating at varying speeds, creating varying levels of density. This is not a radical point of view. Any physicist will agree.

The Vedas, the Upanishads, and many yogic texts are in agreement with modern physics up to this point.  The Rishis were not waiting for the scientists to discover these facts. This has been the Known, the Seen reality, and has formed the basis of yoga’s teachings. The yogis go one step further; they add “intelligence” to the equation. Yoga speaks of intelligence as the matrix of the universe. Terms like Pure Being, Cosmic Awareness, Creative Intelligence, Atman, Brahman, and the like, describe this concept. Pure Creative Intelligence manifests into the myriad life forms that we know. The encapsulating statement of the Vedas, “All of this is Nothing But That,” says it all.

Yogic philosophy, again, is based on direct perception. The yogic seers implore us to see the truth for ourselves. The element of “intelligence” is the key. The yogis tell us it is the intelligence itself that witnesses itself. Our “mind” is not necessarily the best vehicle for this recognition. The mind is like an organ. It has functions. We might say that the function of the mind is to think. Thinking is not the key to recognizing the vast nature of “the field.” However, thinking is no obstacle to witnessing this vastness either, anymore than the beating of your heart and breathing is an obstacle to this vision. All functions are happening within the field, and it is the field itself that witnesses all of it. At first glance, it seems to be a koan. How can I witness something if I cannot use my mind to do it? Only at first is there a problem with this question. But the mind is just a thinking organ. The mind, like all other systems, is supported by the field. The awareness, the consciousness that supports “mind,” is what actually perceives. The mind is forming thoughts and concepts about what is perceived. The field perceives. And the field is equally everywhere.

If the field is somehow an “organ of perception” that is utterly inclusive of every aspect of creation, then aren’t we totally off the hook? What silliness to think that “I” need to perceive something. All is being perceived, including “me.” Not only that! My very nature is this field, I am more than everything else, and this total perception is happening right here, right now. Noticing this is not an action of the mind. The realization of this happens with every particle of your being. You are it. The pain, the suffering, the thinking, the joy, the sensation in your toe; these are all equally parts of the fabric of the field.

So, how do we see this? We notice this by experiencing the nature of every particle of who and what we are, until we have seen enough to “get” it! If everywhere we go in the exploration of our body-mind, we find this same vast radiating field, eventually we will be convinced. You may become convinced right now! It may take awhile. Either way is fine. The vastness doesn’t mind waiting for your recognition. Patience is definitely an attribute of the Divine.

Pure and Impure? / Tantra and Classical Yoga

Different schools of yogic philosophy have different attitudes toward our bodies and the processes of our minds. It is fairly common in yoga to consider the body and the fluctuations of the mind as things that need to be overcome. It is taught that the mind needs to be still to see “truth” and that the body needs to be “purified” in order to create the vehicle for a quiet mind to see the truth. The practices that arise from this perspective are useful and wise. No one can argue with the eight limbs of yoga. One cannot go wrong to go down the path. And, in fact, this is the best path for many people.

Nowhere in the classical yoga texts is there a mention of seeing the truth from a holistic and fully embodied perspective. This is where Tantra comes in with a radically different approach. Rather than assuming the body to be an obstacle to overcome, Tantra perceives the body as an expression of the divine and therefore, the key to recognizing the divine in this embodied human form. Tantra practitioners embrace the embodied form as the microcosm of the universal energies.

“As Above, So Below.”

“What is found here is found elsewhere; what is not found here is not found anywhere else.” Maharamayanam

Tantra states that the body is the means by which the Self can experience the world. And, the world is not a mere illusion, but a manifestation of the Supreme Reality.

If one uses the metaphor of the ocean as the field of cosmic awareness to differentiate Classical Yoga from Tantra it might be something like this:

In Classical Yoga: The task is to still the waters in order to see the nature of the ocean; to be able to see the full range of consciousness without the disturbances of waves, seaweed, fish and all the other distractions. According to classical yoga it is the distractions that limit our vision and keep us from experiencing the full depth of the sea and realizing that saltwater is everywhere.

Tantric perspective: I am the ocean. The ocean has created me and all this seaweed, fish and waves. Let me see it for what it is. This invites inquiry. The process of inquiry in Tantra is inclusive of the waves and the fish. The assumption is, “All of This is Nothing But That”, and therefore eliminating some of “this” is no solution for the problem of not seeing it for what it is. According to Tantra, the ocean doesn’t say, “if only I could get rid of this messy seaweed and all these waves I could get busy being the ocean.” The waves and the seaweed are just as much “that” as anything else. Tantra says, “Just see it.”

When we are plagued with an overly busy and attached mind it is easy to see the attraction of classical yoga. There is great wisdom in this system and there is no need to throw the baby out with the bath water! Use the techniques and the practices that help you to see clearly. There is no real conflict between these two systems. One feeds the other. They work well together to create a balanced and living picture of yoga.

In our practice we emphasize embodiment studies that take us deeper and deeper into the perception of the unified whole. With a willingness to see life as it is, expressing within us at every moment, clarity is unavoidable!! Santosha (contentment with what is without inferring non-action) is paramount. The only possible obstacle to this practice is our resistance to seeing what is actually is. Resistance arises because for one reason or another what we see makes us uncomfortable. We must accept our discomfort and our joy equally. Dropping any agenda is useful. When we have an agenda for our own growth or evolution we will ultimately resist or cling when something new arises. Without resistance, without clinging, we just notice. In some ways this is the easiest path of all. The tricky part is noticing our resistance and clinging, as we are often not aware that they are even going on.

Templates of Unity

The subtlest aspects of mind are the same as the subtle aspect of body. We are a 100% vibrating mix of this pure radiant intelligence expressing through qualities and traits. All of it is equally intelligent. Often we are not aware that they are even going on.

The first and most powerful integrating template of body and mind is intelligence. Might it be wise and useful to begin looking at our own body-mind system as interweaving and interpenetrating systems of intelligent support?

In embodiment practice we explore the body-mind system via these interpenetrating systems of support. Each body system is a template of whole-body-support.

Approaching our personal embodiment from this perspective offers us an increasing depth of vision into time, space and consciousness. Eventually, or immediately, our own place in the picture shifts to a cosmic perspective. It is impossible to go into this process anywhere without encountering the quantum field of vibrating energy. Becoming saturated in the experience of this field over and over again is deeply soothing and healing to the agitated sense of isolation and separation that is a common experience in life. The cure for the illusion of isolation and the resulting suffering is the experience of Unity. Unity is the nature of the field. It is who we are on every level, and it is right here, right now.

Do I exist?  Am I at my center?  If I am not sure who and what I am, how can I ask whether I am at my center?  And what is this “my thing”?  What is the core of me?  What is the source?

There are levels of I.  Let’s look at them.

The obvious level of I or me is the story of who “I take myself to be”.

I am a person.  I am a woman.  I am a mother, a lover, a partner, a teacher, and so forth.  I am something. I have things, I have feelings, I think, I am alive, I love, I rage, I move, smell, taste, touch, etc.

These are actions, movements, experiences, but who has them?  Well, I do.

But who am I?

I perceive myself to have many qualities, traits, tendencies, patterns of thought, feelings, loves, dislikes, etc.  Who has these qualities?

Am I these qualities, or is someone here that is experiencing these qualities?

If I am not my qualities, then what am I?

If, in fact, I am not my qualities, but am something subtler, more real and deeper, maybe I am my soul.  What is soul?

We may think of soul as our own personal heart, deepest values and loves.  But these deep feelings that ‘we have’, that perhaps, we are more comfortable claiming as “who we are”, are also, qualities, traits, and tendencies.  They are not I, or self, or even soul. The deepest level of all of these expressions of me is awareness.  It is devoid of qualities.

The subtlest expression of Self, is pure, empty-radiant-consciousness.  It has no qualities, no traits, nothing but potential; empty, awake, intelligent, self-aware, and utterly free of any craving, clinging or aversion.  Since at the level of source there is no lacking, there is simply no need of anything else.

Where is this in me?  Do I know this field? 

If it is constantly present – how do I miss it?  Can I contact this for myself?  I would like to see this.  What is the glitch in my body-mind that seems to be keeping this experience of reality out of my personal consciousness?  Is it really out of my personal consciousness?  Or, maybe, is it right here, right now?

I do a lot of thinking.  Who is thinking?  Does my I-concept think that it is thinking?  Is it?  Well, we know something is thinking.  Okay, so perhaps this I-concept, the ego, perceives itself to be thinking.  Let’s just try that on for size. 

If there is an I-concept here that is masquerading as the true seer then it must have objects of perception in order to define itself.  Since this construct exists in the relative field it needs to have a not-I.  I, as something separate cannot exist without something that is not-I.  So, without doing away with any objects of perception, all I would have to do is to look very carefully at who is doing the perceiving.  If I can notice that this I-concept needs objects of perception to exist, perhaps I can break through its grasp, if just for a moment in order to see that perceiving is happening with or without the I-concept.  And further, that the I-concept itself is being perceived by perception itself, pure-vibrating-awareness. 

How did I miss that??

I just need to see that this is true.  Once I know, there will be no going back.

Our body is a metaphorical expression of our underlying states.  Threads weave together to create the whole cloth of our existence out of pure substance supported, created and expressed by source, of source and for the enjoyment of source.

Differentiating Core from Periphery and Returning to Unity Consciousness.

                   — Patty Townsend, Founder of Embodyoga™ and Director of Yoga Center Amherst

— Patty Townsend, Founder of Embodyoga™ and Director of Yoga Center Amherst

The simplest definition of yoga is unity.  The practice of yoga is not a return to unity, because we never left it.  Unity is the underlying reality of our existence, however it may not be our experience.  Embodyoga™ consists of the practices that bring the embodied experience of unity into the forefront of each individual’s personal awareness and direct experience.  Our practice of Embodied inquiry leads us systematically through each and every level of body and mind. We dive deeply inside ourselves and gain access to the finest levels of our experience. These subtle levels are inherently compelling and the gravity of the inner world draws us in quite effortlessly and naturally.  With clarity of awareness we begin to experience directly that every cell in our body is awake, alive and self-aware.  Full realization is not just a state of mind.  Full realization is a full body-mind-consciousness experience.  Embodyoga™ means to bring Unity into direct experience.

– Patty Townsend, Founder of Embodyoga™ and Director of Yoga Center Amherst