Working With The Breath

Working with the breath: 

I've been working with the breath lately, pranayama, the yogic concept of breathing purposefully to better utilize the precious life force that animates our lives. It's a beautiful and meaningful practice for me, three tines a day, just a brief period each, devoted solely to the breath, mindful of its flow and energy, and used in a specific way to bring the results I desire. The method I was taught and mainly practice deal is specific for health, my teaching leaving most of the esoteric principles behind in order to focus on a more mainstream approach to help people improve the quality of their lives. 

it's how I teach as well, my wish being to help and heal, to bring a tool that everyone possess to a clients awareness. These are easy practices that produce profound results, quickly so in many cases, easing stress and addressing many immediate health concerns. For me, yoga is mainly working with the breath and teaching meditation, tools of awakening, and yet having an impact on daily living, practical in the benefits they offer. From this ground floor of practice, prana, life essence, begins to flow and flourish, our lives are changed in ways beyond our health, more focused now, we're open to the energy of life. 

working with the breath, even just these few minutes...and prana flows. 

it seems the esoteric is built into the system.

breathwork and meditation can be taken up for the many proven health benefits they provide, they're invaluable tools for many, free to practice, and require no tools other than what our minds and bodies naturally and already provide. But what we'll soon find, especially working with the breath, is that in essence it truly is a divine flow of energy, our life force, connecting us with something that, to me, can only be likened to the soul. The breath is so intimate, a soft brush constant against the lips, often barely even notice, and yet it's essential to our lives. That's why I call it divine, because it's so freely, abundantly given, air always available to be drawn and transformed to the elements of life. Our breath is natural, gifted to us as an easy function, and also offered as a mindful action, connecting us to the essence of what we truly are, energy, motion, the lightness of our being. 

yes, the esoteric is built into the system. 

working with the breath...

we're soon revealed. 

~

Peace, Eric 

Beauty and Value

Beauty and value: 

it's a meaningful world, full of beauty and value, and this is so only because these are measures of our own assessment, qualities that exists intrinsically though every fiber of being. We recognize aspects of ourselves as they're reflected back to us, finding meaning and being witness to our own deep beauty displayed around us. This is our connection to the universe, our function really, that we are to bring these qualities to light and illuminate the world through our awareness.

and the proof is that these qualities are inherent to our existence, features, and that we are beautiful and have priceless value simply because we're alive. Do these qualities exist apart from us? That's the philosophical question, and the truth, as I see it, is that nothing is truly separate from us, that something possess beauty and value because we share ourselves through deep channels of awareness. There's a common thread here, existence, the flow life itself, and if certain qualities appear to us -  then they are shared with all the world. 

in this we we fulfill our role, just being aware, alive, and able to appreciate our surroundings. It's a meaningful world because beauty and value exists within us and we are not separate from whatever's held in our awareness. We bring these qualities to light, evoking them from the shared landscape of existence, aiding the universe in it's continued evolution. That's our role here, as artist, everyone of us, working through a creative medium of deep awareness. We create a world of beauty and value...

simply by being aware. 

and appreciating our existence. 

~

Peace, Eric 

How We Appear

How we appear: 

how we appear - and I don't mean in the eyes of others, nor by our own self-judgement, but that our appearance is an ever changing state of cells composed of elements made of atoms that have existed since first moments after the universe was created. How we appear is a miracle, by all rights matter itself shouldn't have survived the quick expansion of the universe, only energy in its purest form, and yet somehow a small amount of matter survived, a particle filled world exists, everything exactly and precisely in a way that allows for our appearance. 

mainly though...we appear as energy.

our main source of mass is energy, those ancient particles being far too tiny to hold any sort of form completely on their own and that our appearance comes from a dance of sub atomic particles, between quakes and gluons, two elementary particles that offer contrast in their interaction, creating a field of energy that becomes the basis for our bodies.

we are literally a field of energy...

being danced into existence. 

and that's how we appear. 

of course my science here is weak, barely touching upon the intricacies of existence, and truthfully any further explanation is far beyond my ability to explain. I only have a surface understanding of physics, even less of biology and chemistry, all important aspect to know in order to detail our appearance in the world. But what I have available to me is awareness, a laboratory of self-examination, and that I can inquire into the nature of my existence, meditating deeply into a stillness that holds some very important answers. How I appear is indeed a miracle, my own examination leads me towards an emptiness that exists as a field of pure potentiality - this is where that dance of energy takes place, everything appearing right here, however briefly, and yet the energy itself remains. Somehow, there is awareness, and I won't speculate on its essential nature, if its quality is inherent to particles themselves or if it too is danced into existence. I simply don't know, and any answer would only be in defiance to the ineffable mystery that's displayed. Honestly, there's really no need for me to know anything beyond this...

how we appear, our existence, and the fact that we're aware, 

it's a miracle indeed.

~

Peace, Eric 

Of Every Inspiration

Of every inspiration: 

I don't mind waiting for words, not any longer, although at one point it was a source of anxiety for me, facing an empty page without a ready theme, the fear of sitting before the keyboards without a sure sense of inspiration - wanting so badly to write, anything, and yet no words seem freely given, feeling labored and forced to reach the page. Now, I'll simply sit in silence, not exactly waiting, it feels too rich to be described that way, so full of promise and potentiality, that right here, this quiet, spacious moment, is the very source of every inspiration. 

and it's been here all along. 

as words arrive, I write, in their absence I enjoy the silence. 

this puts an end to any anxiety, no more fear of writer's block - as if anything could stop a words arrival, or block the ever present flow of inspiration. Creativity is always here, it's at work right now forming thoughts and causing our bodies to respond. The universe itself is being created at this exact moment, expanding in continuation from its original source, bringing time and space to the needs of its existence. At one point, there was absolutely nothing, simply a void, a primordial promise of every inspiration. This is where I write from, where an artist's will create their work, and even the most mundane task is part of something larger, a process of the universal mind continuing in its evolution. 

right here is the source of every inspiration. 

and that means everything I do is part of this process, writing is absolutely the same as not writing in this sense, of equal value, both serving in some worthy, creative way. To sit in silence, ready for words yet willing to be patience, accepting exactly what the moment offers...

being at the source of every inspiration. 

this is where I write from. 

~

Peace, Eric 

For Listening

For listening: 

mornings are for listening, soft sounds arriving easily to the ears, a long pause of silence that feels so holy in its embrace that I am instantly lost within its hold. This is the morning of pre-dawn, hours until first light, sacred time. My mind is naturally quieter then, more prone to slip effortlessly between thoughts and spend a timeless length there, emerging with subtle insights and inspiration. 

mornings are for listening.

and that's how I approach my writing as well, just moments after meditation, mantra still a faint impression echoing in my mind, vibrating soundless waves of pure creation. This is what I listen to, my own primordial point where these vibrations become thoughts and then forming to a quiet whisper of words. That's my very best writing, so little of my own action required, inspiration given so freely to my receptive mind, everything taking place in these quiet, holy hours.

it's a time meant for listening. 

and that's how writing happens, or at least the lyrical prose that holds my attention - these are words that are heard, deeply so, not my own creation, and yet I'm not separate from the source of their creation. It's a seamless process of inspiration and I have no real idea how it all occurs. I'm just happy to find that I belong here, and luckier still to be part of this magic, that I stumbled to these hours and gave myself the time to simple sit, doing nothing but the sacred art of listening. 

that's what these hours are meant for. 

~

Peace, Eric 

Our True Posture

Our true posture:

of asana, our true posture -that it's found here, and only through the body. That's the real work of yoga, grounding us to the present moment experience, being rooted to spirit exactly where and as we are. It's not about transformation, we never become something that isn't already in existence, each asana sinks us deeper into reality, giving the experience of being fully engaged as the body, entwined with soul, and with every cell rejoicing in this moment of being alive. 

that's our true posture.

it's who we are. 

that's the real essence of yoga, of the asanas, not just mere exercise, but to root us deeply in the experience of having a body, that's it's our home and in no way removed from the larger body of earth and air. Our true posture is simply the body, and if we explore this, settling into its reality, we come to know ourselves as a much greater experience than ever imagined before. Every asana has this potential, offering us an avenue of exploring this reality, following breath our to it's  furthest expansion as it disappears to thinnest air, feeling the earth extend beneath us as a single reach of sacred ground - and no point are we removed from any of this, it's the valid experience of our reality of a larger body. 

our true posture. 

my own practice is just a few asanas each session, intuitively chosen within the moment, but purposely so, allowing the native wisdom of my body to dictate the movement that it needs. There is deep listening here, my larger body of earth and air expressing their desire. What I listen to is motion all the way to the point of pause, stillness, and again motion, hearing the seamless trade between the two until it fades to the single note of its existence. 

one thing. 

that's the art of yoga, the reality of our true posture...

we're seamless. 

~

Peace, Eric 

Any Great Consequence

Any great consequence: 

what I want to do is relax and approach the page without concern for words, allowing inspiration to find me on its own. I am not a writer of any great consequence, this isn't said with with any sense of self-humility, I'm not being humble, my words are primarily for myself alone, and sharing is part of the art, how it becomes something of consequence and value. But the practice itself is simply part of my morning routine, seamlessly flowing from my meditation cushion to desk with only a break for my single cup of coffee, a ritual that prepares me for my writing. 

arriving to the page, no anxiety, relaxed, words will find me here, they always do, and until than I'm willing to sit, coffee at hand, world embraced in in the soft hush of early morning. I love this time of the day, it's holy, truly so, meant for prayer and writing, invoking the sacred presence of these hours to fill me and through this my hands will type whatever words wish to be written. 

it's that simple, easy, and it's why I suffer no anxiety or writers block, placing little value to my role here, being of less consequence as a writer and more importance as a listening presence, willing to be patient and enjoy the silence before the arrival of a single word. What I find is that it's all a process, every bit of it, and to hold myself as any great consequence above the other rituals, and more importantly, the silence of the morning - would create an imbalance of design, with everything being is perfect as it is, intricate in place as well as their belonging. I find myself happy where I am...

without any great consequence,

but belonging just the same. 

valued. 

~

Peace, Eric