Yoga Journal Pose of the Day
Rodney Yee's Daily Yoga Pose
Showing posts with label open. Show all posts
Showing posts with label open. Show all posts
Friday, October 1, 2010
How to Talk to a Tree
Take a walk in your local park or woods and learn how to tune into these wonderful beings and listen to the wisdom they may have to impart.
1. Wander through different groups of trees, quieten your mind and practice tuning into their energy. In some parts of the forest, the trees may seem more "awake" than in others. Some may appear to exude warmth and friendliness, while others remain aloof. Notice how different species emanate different kinds of energy.
2. Let yourself be drawn toward one tree in particular, and move closer toward it. Observe every part of it from root to top. Every tree has an energy field, an aura. See if you can detect where the aura begins by walking towards and away from the tree and using the palms of your hands to sense its energy.
3. Send warm energy toward the tree from your heart and ask if it will allow you to draw closer and spend some time with it. If it is granted, walk closer to the tree and circle it slowly in a sunwise direction. Then put both your hands and your body against the trunk and tune into its consciousness. Notice how the tree looks close up, how it smells and how it feels against your skin.
4. Rub a fresh leaf or needle between your fingers and inhale the fragrance.
5. Now sit down against the trunk and open yourself to the power of the tree, and let it take you into a deep state of meditation. You don't have to do anything other than stay relaxed and present and let the tree calm your thoughts and gently cleanse your mind of all the agitation of modern living. Enjoy this state of peace for as long as you want.
6. Open up a dialogue with the tree. You can ask questions about it, about yourself, and also for guidance on any problems. Sit in the silence and wait for a response, which usually comes as an inner sense of `knowingness.'
7. When you are ready, stand up and place your hands on its trunk again, sending it thanks from your heart.
written by Mara Freeman
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
3rd eye meditation

Imagine what your life would have been like if you had kept your eyelids shut for your entire lifetime. Your eyes would have worked perfectly and yet your sense of vision would have gone to waste. Similarly, not using your 3rd eye is keeping you in the dark in relation to enjoying the wonders and wisdom of your sense of mystic sight.
Every one of us had our 3rd eye fully open when we were babies. We were effortlessly able to witness the glory of the universe from its subatomic nature to its multi-galactic infiniteness. Through conditioning by our parents, teachers, and peers, we started a process of covering our 3rd eye with layer after layer of illusion. As an example, let's imagine that at one month of age we were laying in our crib looking at the paisley patterned dance of energy that life is. Our mommy stuck a stuffed doll in front of our face and said, "Look at the piggy, look at the piggy." We then started the process of recognizing that particular shape and associating it with the label "pig". We also might have been introduced to the concepts of color, texture, size, and other things. "Baby, look at how pink and fuzzy the nice little piggy doll is." And this began our habit of replacing direct perception of reality with a perceiving, labeling, reacting physically, emotionally, and mentally process. And we went further and further away from an unfiltered pure experience of living life as it takes place. As we aged, we also added a thought analyzing method of judging, comparing, and commenting on every thing our senses brought our attention to, and we got less and less in touch with Now.
The result of this process is similar to putting shutters on a window. No light comes through and those within can only imagine what is on the other side of the shutters. Unfortunately, this really leaves us in the dark about what is real and what life is really about. Just as you can't adequately describe an orange to anyone who has never seen the color orange, or has not tasted one, you cannot understand what a 3rd eye vision is like from reading about it, or hearing it described by someone who has them. You will have to experience it first hand. So, the experience of divine perception, astral sight, aura awareness, mystic vision, or whatever other esoteric label you put on it, will remain only a theory until a way is found to actually open the 3rd eye.
Every time you sit in meditation and do the 3rd eye technique, you remove one of the shutters covering your inner window of wisdom. It is often compared to peeling away layers of skin from an onion. This continues until there is nothing left. And in this No-thing, there is everything. And we return to the pure direct perception of the glory and wonders of the universe we beheld as a baby. But now, we have the understanding that only comes with maturity.
The 3rd Eye Meditation Technique
To begin, place yourself in the place and position that you have found to be most advantageous to meditation. Relax your mind, body, and emotions. Command your mind to cease its chatter, your emotions to stay in a serene mode, and your body to not disturb your meditation in any way. Focus your attention to the sound and feeling of your breath coming in and going out. Return to your breath awareness if you witness that you have lost your focus. At no time during your meditation should you chastise yourself about anything. So, for example, if you lose your attention and then realize this, just accept it without commenting. Return your attention to your breath and then continue with your meditation.
Close your eyes. Place your attention on the area between your eyebrows. After a short time, a point of light will present itself in the center of your inner field of vision. Keep your focus there. For some people, it will be beneficial to raise your eyeballs as if you were looking up at about a 25-degree angle. For others, just directing their attention upwards will be easier and less distracting. After some experimentation, go with one of the ways exclusively. In the beginning of 3rd eye practice, it may help to place your thumb at the outer edge of one eye and your middle finger on the outer edge of the other, while placing your index finger at the mid-point between your eyebrows. This gives you a point of focus to place your attention. It also allows you to prevent your eyelids from fluttering. This commonly occurs, and can be distracting until you get used to the sensations that accompany this technique.
Let the light come to you. Be available to be filled. The more you continue practicing this meditation, the more layers of the veil of illusion will peel away and Reality will reveal itself to you. As you perceive the Truth, your understanding of the delusional concept that you are apart from the rest of the universe will lose its grip on you, and the knowledge that you are a part of all and everything will become undeniably apparent. Your chattering mind will eventually dissolve in the unspeakable transcendent light of love that is now and forever within and without you.
Once you stop being locked into viewing reality from just one perspective, you will start to be free from habitual reactivity. 3rd eye experiences put you in that position. You will recognize that nothing more than a show has been playing out before you in what you considered "real life". And, just like when you are at the theater, you may be interested to some degree with seeing how the plot turns out, but knowing that it is all just a story, you won't take it any more seriously than a show. The constant anxiety and fear that is attached to a singular ego centered view of life will end and be replaced with the bliss of effortlessly merging and identifying with all of creation.
Once a chick has pecked its way out of its shell, it knows that there is a lot more to life than was within its dark confines. Mother Nature, Grace, then gives the chick strong wings that let it fly to the heavens. The 3rd eye meditation technique has the potential to be the beak you use to break out of your shell, as well as the wings to transport you to the infinite, eternal, universal divine reality that is your birthright.
Every one of us had our 3rd eye fully open when we were babies. We were effortlessly able to witness the glory of the universe from its subatomic nature to its multi-galactic infiniteness. Through conditioning by our parents, teachers, and peers, we started a process of covering our 3rd eye with layer after layer of illusion. As an example, let's imagine that at one month of age we were laying in our crib looking at the paisley patterned dance of energy that life is. Our mommy stuck a stuffed doll in front of our face and said, "Look at the piggy, look at the piggy." We then started the process of recognizing that particular shape and associating it with the label "pig". We also might have been introduced to the concepts of color, texture, size, and other things. "Baby, look at how pink and fuzzy the nice little piggy doll is." And this began our habit of replacing direct perception of reality with a perceiving, labeling, reacting physically, emotionally, and mentally process. And we went further and further away from an unfiltered pure experience of living life as it takes place. As we aged, we also added a thought analyzing method of judging, comparing, and commenting on every thing our senses brought our attention to, and we got less and less in touch with Now.
The result of this process is similar to putting shutters on a window. No light comes through and those within can only imagine what is on the other side of the shutters. Unfortunately, this really leaves us in the dark about what is real and what life is really about. Just as you can't adequately describe an orange to anyone who has never seen the color orange, or has not tasted one, you cannot understand what a 3rd eye vision is like from reading about it, or hearing it described by someone who has them. You will have to experience it first hand. So, the experience of divine perception, astral sight, aura awareness, mystic vision, or whatever other esoteric label you put on it, will remain only a theory until a way is found to actually open the 3rd eye.
Every time you sit in meditation and do the 3rd eye technique, you remove one of the shutters covering your inner window of wisdom. It is often compared to peeling away layers of skin from an onion. This continues until there is nothing left. And in this No-thing, there is everything. And we return to the pure direct perception of the glory and wonders of the universe we beheld as a baby. But now, we have the understanding that only comes with maturity.
The 3rd Eye Meditation Technique
To begin, place yourself in the place and position that you have found to be most advantageous to meditation. Relax your mind, body, and emotions. Command your mind to cease its chatter, your emotions to stay in a serene mode, and your body to not disturb your meditation in any way. Focus your attention to the sound and feeling of your breath coming in and going out. Return to your breath awareness if you witness that you have lost your focus. At no time during your meditation should you chastise yourself about anything. So, for example, if you lose your attention and then realize this, just accept it without commenting. Return your attention to your breath and then continue with your meditation.
Close your eyes. Place your attention on the area between your eyebrows. After a short time, a point of light will present itself in the center of your inner field of vision. Keep your focus there. For some people, it will be beneficial to raise your eyeballs as if you were looking up at about a 25-degree angle. For others, just directing their attention upwards will be easier and less distracting. After some experimentation, go with one of the ways exclusively. In the beginning of 3rd eye practice, it may help to place your thumb at the outer edge of one eye and your middle finger on the outer edge of the other, while placing your index finger at the mid-point between your eyebrows. This gives you a point of focus to place your attention. It also allows you to prevent your eyelids from fluttering. This commonly occurs, and can be distracting until you get used to the sensations that accompany this technique.
Let the light come to you. Be available to be filled. The more you continue practicing this meditation, the more layers of the veil of illusion will peel away and Reality will reveal itself to you. As you perceive the Truth, your understanding of the delusional concept that you are apart from the rest of the universe will lose its grip on you, and the knowledge that you are a part of all and everything will become undeniably apparent. Your chattering mind will eventually dissolve in the unspeakable transcendent light of love that is now and forever within and without you.
Once you stop being locked into viewing reality from just one perspective, you will start to be free from habitual reactivity. 3rd eye experiences put you in that position. You will recognize that nothing more than a show has been playing out before you in what you considered "real life". And, just like when you are at the theater, you may be interested to some degree with seeing how the plot turns out, but knowing that it is all just a story, you won't take it any more seriously than a show. The constant anxiety and fear that is attached to a singular ego centered view of life will end and be replaced with the bliss of effortlessly merging and identifying with all of creation.
Once a chick has pecked its way out of its shell, it knows that there is a lot more to life than was within its dark confines. Mother Nature, Grace, then gives the chick strong wings that let it fly to the heavens. The 3rd eye meditation technique has the potential to be the beak you use to break out of your shell, as well as the wings to transport you to the infinite, eternal, universal divine reality that is your birthright.
- information from 'cosmic consciousness'
Labels:
3rd eye,
body,
chakras,
conditioning,
emotions,
learning,
life,
light,
meditation,
mind,
open,
relaxation,
understanding,
wisdom,
wonders
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