ex-BK Raja Yoga is probably a more accurate name for this, but ex-BK meditation is more suited, let me explain. ex-BK because this meditation technique(s) incorporates all the skills we picked up in our time as a BK and now may have sitting on a shelf somewhere collecting dust. Also ex-BK because we take out all the elements of Raja Yoga that involves open-ended theories and dogmas. Raja Yoga because this meditation is design to be a Yoga (connection) that makes us Rajas (sovereigns). Not Raja Yoga and meditation because I personally associate the term Raja Yoga with the equivalent of root canal so ... meditation.
So we can use everything we have picked up during our spiritual university days (or prison sentence, depending on how ya want to look at it) with the BKWSU and what we have discussed and dissected here on this forum to create a grand, perhaps the grandest meditation around. Anyways this is my v1.1. Surely others more creative will come along to spice things up.
Yoga starts with the central command center. In Raja Yoga it’s the soul and intellect controlling the mind and sanskars. Those things are intangible so I am not going to touch them here (although the 3 powers of the mind is a very workable model to incorporate). What we can prove is that we have a brain for thinking. The brain thinks much better when the brain waves are slowed, and our oxygen is increased. So step 1 is deep breathing. There are many techniques on breathing, so choose one ya like and experiment.
Step 2: Yoga. Yoga is connection. Connections are established by communication. I see 2 main channels to attempt to establish a connection with: to energies, information and intelligences within our body and all of the above out side the body.
First internal connections. I am not peace. I am a complex human animal made up of many different parts that can work separately and in unison. How detailed and complicated we make our personal connections will vary depending on personal preference. If you are a very detailed orientated person like me you may want to establish conscious connections with all the main parts of self. If you’re a lazy person, also like me, you may just want to establish a conscious connection with your body mind as a whole unit.
First the detailed explanation. If I am feeling stressed or just want to feel peaceful I don’t need to connect to an imaginary ocean of unlimited peace to feel peaceful, far from it. I do step one, and focus on my brain, or pituitary gland (what ever) and use language to communicate to it. "I want to feel peaceful. Please release the chemicals that create the relaxation response. I deserve to feel peaceful because I am a hard working lover of ice cream and you are a great brain. Ah very good. Now I want to feel more peaceful. Yes, now more peaceful. Good brain, I love you." Some thing like that. Now mental-verbal communication may not be best with you, I only choose it because it’s most common. Alternatively we could play a song in our head, create a picture in our mind, or rub our scalp all with the intention to communicate with our brains that we want to feel peaceful (or more secure, loved, focused, whatever it is we want to feel).
If we don’t consciously play a part in how we feel, how we feel will be dependent on our subconscious and environmental predicament. I mean we could always just go for a jog or play baseball to feel better, but here we are talking about harnessing the skills we learned as BKs for the maximum benefit. The sorce of peace is not from some intangible ocean, but from the chemicals released from our brains, so why not have direct Yoga with the source? The brain.
Now the brain is not the only part of ourselves that releases chemicals that we associate with good health, wellbeing and being naturally high or intoxicated so this kind of self body management should be done to the other main parts of the self, heart, kidneys etc. Another Idea is to consciously guide the regulation of self by having Yoga with our chakras, one of the scientist from the “What The Bleep” movies, Candice Pert, has validated chakras as regulatory centers of ourselves and main conduits of personal energy. Alternatively this could all be done with the body as a whole.
This is the Yang of this mediation, the Yin is about listening, coaxing out information and establishing rapport; being receptive. If my car is tired, runned down and about to run out of gas and I just keep telling it to go faster and faster, eventually I am not going to be able to go anywhere. Getting information from my car and understanding that it needs gas, an oil change and a tune up will allow me to make it function at it maximum capacity and feel good.
Next time, Yoga with archetypes that represent external energy and intelligence.
So we can use everything we have picked up during our spiritual university days (or prison sentence, depending on how ya want to look at it) with the BKWSU and what we have discussed and dissected here on this forum to create a grand, perhaps the grandest meditation around. Anyways this is my v1.1. Surely others more creative will come along to spice things up.
Yoga starts with the central command center. In Raja Yoga it’s the soul and intellect controlling the mind and sanskars. Those things are intangible so I am not going to touch them here (although the 3 powers of the mind is a very workable model to incorporate). What we can prove is that we have a brain for thinking. The brain thinks much better when the brain waves are slowed, and our oxygen is increased. So step 1 is deep breathing. There are many techniques on breathing, so choose one ya like and experiment.
Step 2: Yoga. Yoga is connection. Connections are established by communication. I see 2 main channels to attempt to establish a connection with: to energies, information and intelligences within our body and all of the above out side the body.
First internal connections. I am not peace. I am a complex human animal made up of many different parts that can work separately and in unison. How detailed and complicated we make our personal connections will vary depending on personal preference. If you are a very detailed orientated person like me you may want to establish conscious connections with all the main parts of self. If you’re a lazy person, also like me, you may just want to establish a conscious connection with your body mind as a whole unit.
First the detailed explanation. If I am feeling stressed or just want to feel peaceful I don’t need to connect to an imaginary ocean of unlimited peace to feel peaceful, far from it. I do step one, and focus on my brain, or pituitary gland (what ever) and use language to communicate to it. "I want to feel peaceful. Please release the chemicals that create the relaxation response. I deserve to feel peaceful because I am a hard working lover of ice cream and you are a great brain. Ah very good. Now I want to feel more peaceful. Yes, now more peaceful. Good brain, I love you." Some thing like that. Now mental-verbal communication may not be best with you, I only choose it because it’s most common. Alternatively we could play a song in our head, create a picture in our mind, or rub our scalp all with the intention to communicate with our brains that we want to feel peaceful (or more secure, loved, focused, whatever it is we want to feel).
If we don’t consciously play a part in how we feel, how we feel will be dependent on our subconscious and environmental predicament. I mean we could always just go for a jog or play baseball to feel better, but here we are talking about harnessing the skills we learned as BKs for the maximum benefit. The sorce of peace is not from some intangible ocean, but from the chemicals released from our brains, so why not have direct Yoga with the source? The brain.
Now the brain is not the only part of ourselves that releases chemicals that we associate with good health, wellbeing and being naturally high or intoxicated so this kind of self body management should be done to the other main parts of the self, heart, kidneys etc. Another Idea is to consciously guide the regulation of self by having Yoga with our chakras, one of the scientist from the “What The Bleep” movies, Candice Pert, has validated chakras as regulatory centers of ourselves and main conduits of personal energy. Alternatively this could all be done with the body as a whole.
This is the Yang of this mediation, the Yin is about listening, coaxing out information and establishing rapport; being receptive. If my car is tired, runned down and about to run out of gas and I just keep telling it to go faster and faster, eventually I am not going to be able to go anywhere. Getting information from my car and understanding that it needs gas, an oil change and a tune up will allow me to make it function at it maximum capacity and feel good.
Next time, Yoga with archetypes that represent external energy and intelligence.