Introduction to blog 22 – My Personal Journey in Om Divine Grace Yoga.

The four specific components of Om Divine Grace Yoga are enumerated in the first five blogs Then blogs move on to a broad view of my own Om Divine Grace Yoga spiritual journey. Then comes the teaching material associated with this pathway. Blog 22 is the Appendix, (continued), with summaries/reminders & some additional information. This is the last “chapter” of the book Om Divine Grace Yoga, which is now published on Amazon. Plus eBook  via Draft2Digital.

Om Divine Grace Yoga is designed to enable practical use by a practitioner interested in this pathway. Of course anything here can be approached as just reading matter of interest.

Historically, this pathway is approached via a Guru for initiation and guidance. In our modern world this might not be feasible or practical, given the nature of this dark era (Kali Yuga). It may not be possible to get a guru who can assist you in this area.

It is necessary now to offer this spiritual pathway and process as an option for any practitioner, desiring progress.

Om Divine Grace Yoga.

Appendix (Part 2)

Practical exercises

Back to the practicalities! There’s a lot of self-help books out there regarding getting well. Take the diet and supplement scene. Those books towards the end tend to put in a lot of recipes. I always avoid such books as they annoy me! (The recipes’).

Here then is one of my recipes! This is for relaxation which can lead to mindfulness and can then also enhance meditation. When I meditate in a group, I find the presence of the group can also add to the potency of meditation and reduction of unnecessary thoughts. However I may still get a lot of junk going on in my brain, unless I do some exercises to quieten all this noise

Relaxation used is as follows. Sit or stand with both feet on the ground and visualize the body tension dissipating down through the feet into the earth. Visualize at the same time any tension being replaced by the earths stabilizing forces filtering up through the body into the brain.

Mother Earth kindly release my tension/anxiety/disturbance.

Then for four minutes at least keep the spine straight as possible to allow energy to flow. You can see this as being scientific, in to the regarding the neuro-chemical/electrical activities throughout the nervous system. Or you can see it as the Kundalini energy business. Either way, the bottle-neck is at the neck, and this is where tension is experienced as neck or shoulder aches or stiffness. We often block free flow of our nervous system activities, which “pools in certain areas, and then find ourselves with anxiety, or confusion. Anxiety/tension focused in the stomach or chest area, manifesting as nausea or chest tightness. Or confusion with “pooling” in the brain. The lack of free-flow through the neck area can also be connected with other issues.

To get a straight spine, push chin slightly upwards if necessary, and push the shoulders back also slightly. Hold that position for up to 4 minutes or more if comfortable. If there is too much mind/body restlessness, relaxation can still take place as you pace up and down a corridor, but lifting the shoulders up, still with the visualization of allowing energies to dissipate through the feet into the earth.

Guru Yogi let me sit or be in the right posture for serenity.

Effective breathing techniques are next, which will ameliorate anxiety etc, which can drive fast and shallow breathing. All these exercise components can provide intervention also when there are some panic type symptoms. Severe panic attacks though may require more professional support, if available. There’s nothing that should stop you from trying to deal with symptoms yourself, if that’s your only option.

The breathing is three deep breaths in through the nose, then breathing out with an aah sound. You are allowing the stomach to fill on in breath, and are pushing out the breath or squeezing in the stomach for the outgoing breath. I recommend the use of the Soham mantra, with the in-breathing in being So, and the outgoing being Hum. Soham is “I am That”, or I am the Cosmic Consciousness or energy. So is the Cosmos and Hum is “I am”. We are breathing in the universal or cosmic energy into ones whole being, then letting out the human ego based conscious worries. It’s not surrendering the ego at this point. That is a different type of exercise or scenario.

I surrender to the Cosmic Energy & Consciousness.

Visualizing oneness with the cosmic energy can also be increased by pushing out with the open palms of the hand, whilst breathing out. Visualize the energy as around the body as ones favorite color in a pale shade. It an aura or a shield depending immediate need.  Or you can make it religious visualization of the Deity powers, whichever God/Goddess/ you are inclined to worship. It can be completely non-religious, or non-spiritual. You modify to suit. The colors comes into your body with the in breath, surrounding you then is an aura that is also visualized as healing. (There are some options given here – its personal choice).

In Eastern religions there is a concept of having a “shield”. In Sanskrit this is a kavach: a shield that protects and enables one to go through life without fearfulness about what might happen. With the healing color, it can be seen as a shield, or like a sponge or an aura that soaks up and dilutes/defuses ones emotions and thoughts. It’s just somewhere we can push out some of the tension or emotion that are negative troublesome, and hold them somewhere suspended temporarily. This exercise can then also enable a much faster and more focused meditation practice. As soon as one sits down, the ground work has been done, and we have actually begun the mindfulness, which then allows us to experience mindlessness in our meditation.

In our mindfulness we are stopping, stepping back, and observing. In the relaxation/focusing we are doing what we need to further place our soul energy into connection at a higher spiritual level. The next step is ideally deeper meditation. However if that’s not doable or difficult for some reason, another option is to go back into that aura or protective shell, and see what is activating any negative thoughts. Then we need to see what that is doing to us, and what change we need to make to the negative self-talk. We do this then by replacing the negative with something more balanced. Add something positive about yourself to any negative thinking that you identify

You can try to see in your aura space the obstacles to meditation. Thoughts that disturb or distract you. The plan is not to remove them, as that can take too much effort and application. Just visualize the thought train temporarily as outside, and allow your shield to protect you also from others negative energies. (Longer term management of negative thinking and self-esteem may also benefit from work with a counselor/therapist). Practice of meditation will also provide the healing, as will repetition of a suitable mantra. (You might need a guru rather than a counselor here).

In the practice of Defusion,  you can inspect or observe your past or present or present emotions, thinking and others “interference”, by putting them slightly outside ones being. In this mode you can visualize those tricky issues that distract and disturb, as being outside you in a temporary process. Put them in the clouds while you imagine you’re on the mountain. Put them in the waves while you imagine you’re sitting on the sand dunes, or drift past them as if you were on a boat going down a river. This Defusion is somewhat similar to dilution, (of anxiety etc. achieved during a relaxation exercise). That’s all we’re doing here. We’re not curing anything. If you want to cure, then you will need to go further with your therapeutic processes or spiritual journey.

Here in these books I am talking about connection with our deity or a spiritual pathway, or a particular religious belief. (Not going any deeper then into the domains of counselors or therapists). True, we can do these exercises to help us to be now in the moment, and be present mindfully. Then we can use our prayer mantra, meditation, or similar means to understand”

Who am I? What am I? What is life? What is Truth?

We then go into the whole dimension of being conscious of being part of Consciousness.

Our consciousness is part of, and the same material as, the Cosmic Consciousness.

This is why we say we are Divine.

You are Divine because we can place ourselves as inseparable from the Divine.

If God is Divine then all Creation must be so also!

(Where then will you then place – evil)?