In a world like the world we are living nowadays, a yogi practice is not easy. To not harm, to be truthful, to not steal, to have impeccable behavior, including sexual, to not being acquisitive; purification, contentment, intense discipline, self-study, dedication to the ideal of pure awareness; cultivating profound physical steadiness and effortlessness in meditation; sustained observation and relaxation of all aspects of breathing, bringing about both a natural refinement of the respiratory process and body mind tranquility; naturally occurring withdrawal from external sense objects as attention interiorizes; locking attention on a single object/filed; all mental formations relating to an object/field; sustained coalescence of subject, object, and perceiving itself; behaving like a yogi in the middle of NY, or LA, or Boulder, is pretty much a challenge that seems almost impossible.

To cultivate the factors that compose a yogi’s path to realization ~ faith, energy, mindfulness, integration, wisdom ~ in a world like the world we are living in, it’s pretty much the task of the confident, a task for those who live without looking at themselves through the eyes of others, a quality hard to maintain specially in a culture that constantly invites you to be who you are not.

To remain not reactive, effortlessness in nonattachment in a world that lives in a constant state of competition, war; a judgmental world where the massive media focus remains on the negative and destructive power of human beings, therefore continuing the teachings of destruction and negativity, is pretty damn hard.

In a world where the distractive barriers to stillness ~ sickness, apathy, doubt, carelessness, laziness, sexual indulgence, delusion, lack of progress, inconstancy ~ are encouraged by the system itself that governs society, a yogi’s practice is constantly threatened.

How can a yogi (or anybody else) engage in the ways to develop tranquility – radiating friendliness, compassion, delight, and equanimity, pausing after exhalation, practicing mindfulness of perceptions, thinking luminous, sorrow less thoughts, focusing on things that do not inspire attachment, reflecting on insights from sleep and dreaming, becoming absorbed in any object ~ in a world where tranquility is considered a luxury and friendliness is practiced through facebook?

The Sacred.

Sacred practice, sacred space, sacred land, the rapture of the deep; it is what we need for inspiration. So here I leave you with a letter written by a friend, who in the middle of the day and  between all what is worldly, found a moment of bliss…in the sacred.
Dear beloved friends,
I feel a deep inspirational calling to share my experience and learnings that I have encountered in and thru the 64 Deeksha workshop that I did yesterday with all of you, my friends and guides.

The workshop that I went to is called 64 Deeksha Process and was facilitate by the Oneness University in Boulder.
The work aims at releasing your mind from the layers of thought and allow your being to be in state of experience only.

The process is rather simple but goes so extremely deep that I m for myself find myself still in awe about its intensity.
Thru out a course of approximate 7 hours blessings are giving in a way that you sit in circles of 8 and each of the group members give each other a blessing by a holding your hands on their head, repeating a small blessing mantra in silence 8 times and circle the group complete until you move to another, randomly assembled circle. This adds up over a time so that everybody has received and given 64 blessings.

In between the finishing of each round there is a small, 5-minute break to lay down and rest.
An important component in this process is that nobody talks during the entire process.

It requires to let go of all resentments to offer so many blessing to many people that you do not know and allow them, in reverse, to enter your sacred space, having your crown chakra blessed and receive this energy without any reflections or mental constructs.

After already a few rounds I felt the tremendous rising of loving and sharing energy among those randomly assembled group of people filling the room.
At times this energy got extremely strong and powerful, so people breaking out in blissful laughter and joy.
What is described as Kundalini energy filled the room fully in swings in and out of various energy states.

With this my mind went in and out of this deep, fully emotional states, that were absolutely free of any analytical thinking – the pure state of just being and experience of the divine bliss. Given and served by ordinary people to other ordinary people. It felt overwhelming simple that if we just allow each other to give and receive blessings to each other that we can bring our mind at rest. What an amazing gift we all can share.

Images and emotions were popping in and out of stage of experience like otherwise only know from deep journeys and it was not all beauty what came to surface thru out this process: there were images, emotions covering all possible emotional stages from deep sorrow, pain, anger, to joy, playfulness and a state of extreme bliss, often coming in waves, a high of joy followed by deep dark valley of sadness and grief. All accompanied by an extreme clarify to see those reflected emotions and images truly for what they are, again with out judgment but all shining a light of blissful surrender into what is.

I took a long walk after the workshop and have been in a rather new state of being ever since. Looking at birds, the trees, the fish in our fish tank I realized that this is the normal state of being – thoughtless, being with out any judgments or analytical process by connecting to the pure energy of existence.

Laying still in my bed at night I felt this energy moving in my body on an almost atomic level – a truly new experience that I hope to be able to share with humble words with you.

Blissful blessings and humble thanks to you all for being in my life.
And special thank to my dear friend Solbjoert in Iceland, who introduced me to the Onesblessings and did not let go of saying: you have to do this course!

With love

claudia
BE HAPPY,

yeye