Skip to main content

Softening The Mind

Dear Readers,


In another entry I made a reference to "softening the mind" and in this entry we are going to explore the ways that this yogi knows are practices of softening the mind and thoughts. So sit back, relax, and soften your mind. Also let go of your thoughts, you don't need those and most of the time they aren't yours anyways. Besides your mind and your thoughts are usually just borrowed anyways.

Amanaska (Suspended operation of the mind)

As far as I understand it is vital for yogis to practice softening of the the mind or Amanaska through a process of gradual progress. At first a student must choose a path or method of mediation and learn (logically) its techniques for concentration. Meditation is vast in its methods of concentratory techniques.

Once having learned a style of meditation a student will then begin a practice of concentration. This regular if not daily practice of concentration is to be done with a focus or object of concentration. (IE if you have ever been to one of my yoga classes I almost always open each class with a dialogue or teaching based on concentration. Each time I open class it gets easier and easier for a student to control and discipline the mind in a way that allows him or her the visualizations or at least attention upon whatever the subject matter of my teaching dialogue might be.) As a product of focus and training the mind upon on thing (like breath), an student of yoga can easily move from a state of thought based bombardment to softness or rather judo-like dancing with spray thoughts that may pass through during the period of time for meditation.

One piece of advance that was given to me, rather early in my meditation career (and keep in mind that I have had some strict teachers and a good deal of my training has been solo), was to simply sit and wait for the "thought gaps" or the space and time between thinking or arriving at a place in my awareness in which I realize "I am having a thought." It is also preferable to sit in observance of the thought gaps during or after a period of great calm or peace (externally or environmentally speaking).

This is the essence of softening the mind. When an individual comes to a space where he or she can in essence observe the thought gaps, then he or she has reached a state of understanding of how to apply the practice of Amanaska to the rest of life in its entirety. Such that a yogi or anyone who is softening the mind, can further couple learning and reading such articles as this with the soft mind technique.

It is my understanding of the application of a soft mind to intellectual learning processes leads to an open mind, a light spirit, and considerably less bodily stress.

Thomas Dewar said: "Minds are like parachutes; they work best when open."

Trevahr
Waking Within
760-713-6710
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Become a Shamanic Priest or Priestess ~ 7 day Thanksgiving Retreat

PLANT SPIRIT WISDOM, SHAMANIC MEDICINE PATH and Priest(ess) Intensive offered through the OSS This is a rare (and limited) opportunity to take part in 7 days of combined learning, nature, ritual and ceremonies with three of the worlds most powerful and important teacher plants: Saint Ysidro, Saint Peter and the Shepherdess. The course includes three ceremonies, hiking and daily outdoor activities, Shamanic storytelling and Socratic Method Teaching.  Training includes: ~Native Sweat Lodge Ceremony ~Daily Nature and Cave Hikes ~Intro to Soul Retrieval ~Power Animal Communion ~Daily Musical Journeys ~Salvia Divinorum Ceremony  ~Book Study from:  The Way of the Shaman by Michael Harner AND   Awakening to the Spirit World by Sandra Ingerman and Hank Wesselman ~Daily Healthy Meals ~Hot/Cold Tubs and Steam Room Please email me for an information pack, questions, scholarships or donations: WakingWithin@gmail.com _______________________________________________ Wha
Post a Comment
Read more

Yoga Swami and Encinitas History

Readers and Yoga Adventurers, Just recently called the Yoga Mecca of the USA, Encinitas CA and Yoga Swami (where I teach two days a week) are special and are a must visit for any yoga adventurers. See the article in the winter 2008 copy of the Encinitas magazine. http://www.encinitasmag.com/about.html Encinitas, Swami's Surf Spot, Cardiff-by-the-Sea, and Leucadia...can be consider spiritual vortex hotspots. This evident in the number of places to worship just on the coast (west of hwy 101) near the cliffside beachs or Swami's and Moonlight. So my mother's family (mexican americans) lived in Encinitas during the period of time when Paramahansa Yogananda (the Swami that Swami's is named after). This time period was about the 1930's- 1940's. At this time Encinitas, was well liked by Swami Yogananda and he settled there for sometime. Swami Yogananda was a capricorn and he was a very involved meditator and yoga practicioner. His foundation still exists in E
1 comment
Read more

Dreaming in the Dark Times 4: Mold and Sage

  Article: Mold and Sage Series: Dreaming in the Dark Times Many times growing up in Southern California have I communed with White Sage (Salvia Apiana). It grew in my hometown. It grows on the property that my family and I own in Aguanga, CA. I learned to pick it and bundle it before I was fully initiated into manhood (sometime between my first sexual experience and my first sweat lodge with a Lakota Medicine woman). I recently made some Dreaming Jaguar smokes at my old job site (Happy High Herbs/Rainbow Bliss Botanicals in Tempe AZ) and included white sage but wasn’t able to continue making them because of the popularity of this herb and the trouble keeping it in stock. I really just included it for flavor then. I had forgotten all the dreams I had of the sage fields before. In the last week, for the first time in many human years, I returned to my family land and the sage fields. I made offerings of guardianship and good will towards the sage plants on my land and collected a modest
Post a Comment
Read more