Samadi Yoga

Social awareness is finally being discussed more in this country due to the growing tapestry. Subject matters that may have been ignored in the past are now being openly discussed. These discussions help many become more aware of social issues, more compassionate and understanding and ultimately more connected to people in our society. The discussions that lead to awareness help provide a clearer understanding for many who may have had "blind-spots" in the past. 

More often than not, the social awareness that is being discussed is the understanding of a particular person and/or subject matter. In this context, awareness means understanding and having insight into other people’s suffering and challenges, helping to create more compassion and humanity in our world. Social awareness is important for people to understand each other and ultimately find the deeper connection to our common suffering and humanity.

The awareness we practice in yoga and meditation is slightly different. The skills we work on are sign posts that lead us to spiritual awareness.

At an elementary level, awareness in physical yoga practice is tuning into sensations in the body. In Sanskrit, ahimsa means non-violence. Non-violence includes our behavior towards ourselves and all beings around us which also extends to our yoga practice of not introducing pain and suffering by pushing beyond the body’s capability.

Awareness during meditation practice takes us one step closer to spiritual awareness. Meditation practice teaches us to be a "witness" to our thoughts and our habitual reactions. By being a witness of our mind-made concepts and stories, we may notice the negative effect on our physical health. A negative thought will create tension and fear in the body. This tension and fear in the body that is now connected to a thought creates pain and suffering which affects our emotional health and physical health. The root cause of all our suffering is the thought about the particular situation. If we can learn through our meditation practice to allow the thoughts to come and go and focus on what is real, which is our essence, then we have a chance to limit the amount of suffering. 

Through meditation and self-reflection practices, we help dismantle the stories that we create. These stories may have been taught since early childhood that perpetuate throughout our lives. We can either choose to believe the “story” or we can help label it as  just a story/thought process that we have believed for too long. At some point in our lives, we start to drop, let go, or dismantle the story to find greater peace within.  

In this country, one of the the stories we have all been conditioned to believe is that youth is valuable whereas aging and the aging process has less value. If we can learn let go of this story, then much of our suffering can be reduced. We have to remember that all of our lives entail birth and death and that the aging process is a natural and normal process as well. There are challenges as we grow up in our early years, challenges in mid-life, and a different set of challenges as we get into our later years.

Through meditation, we learn to observe the effect of these challenges, and ultimately learn to let go and to surrender. We learn the deepest suffering is either from “clinging too hard” or “resisting the unwanted”. We get caught up in our ego and it makes us feel less worthy or valuable. The ego is a mind-made concept of self. Once we learn to let go of ego and know the deeper self is eternal and unchanging, we can begin to let go of the stories. 

What causes our deep suffering is the attachment to the person that we think we are. To make use of our suffering, through each challenge we peel back the layers of our conditioned thinking that create mental prisons. Learning to love and accept ourselves from a deeper place will allow us to be in a more awakened state.

Life is an ebb and flow. This ebb and flow consists of both extremes which are the challenges and calmer times. We cannot grow without challenges. Challenges appear throughout our lives to bring us closer to awakening to the present moment and acknowledging past and future thinking as concepts and mere thoughts.

The awakening we work towards in our practice is the awakening to our deeper self — the self that is consciousness and is present. Not the self as the person, but the self as the presence. This presence is timeless and limitless.

Whether we practice meditation or yoga, the focus on breath helps discipline the mind to lead us to the place of liberation. The breath helps us root down into the present moment and the present moment can only be experienced with the absence of thought.

As long as we can learn to be present, focus on the breath, break the stream of thinking, we can reduce the level of suffering and discover true liberation.