THAT I AM. I Am. I. There is No Other (November 2020 Newsletter)
Photo: Tai Pimputkar, Bhutan in 2015
Sa Aham: That I am
The source of energy that gives rise to the visible world is itself without shape or form but has always been there and always will be. This indefinable, unchanging supreme energy is called the Absolute Reality. Everything that we can experience through our senses is Relative Reality. This is so, because you and I are projecting our own perceptions based on what we’ve been taught, what we have experienced and what we know intuitively onto what we see before us.
In our universe of relative reality, we constantly distinguish between you and me. I might want to be like you, or be indifferent to you, or despise who are and what you represent. Someone else will probably have different feelings and emotions. The object hasn’t changed. We don’t need to change them or ourselves but just the way we see them.
In yoga this false perception is known as maya or illusion. If we did not focus so much on how they look, or what they wear, or what they own, but rather see them as an extension of ourselves, we might be more compassionate and closer to the truth. Then relative reality suddenly starts to become the Ultimate Reality/Absolute Reality and there is less and less of a difference between others and ourselves. When the two come together, there is no subject and no object; it’s all an extension of who I Am. I am at one with my spirit/soul or Atman (aat-mah). We are compassionate, loving and kind.
How do we get there? Start today.
Don’t constantly act and react to everything around you.
Heart and soul. Unconditional love.
Be still. Be silent. Listen instead. Find yourself turning inward, paying attention to what your gut reacts. The gut is closely connected to intuition dictating to you what is right. Remember Mom telling you to go with your gut? She was right. (Check out VIP, Vasoactive Intestinal Polypeptide in the gut that directly connect with the brain, neuropeptide that functions as a neuromodulator and neurotransmitter.)
Start a simple meditation practice. It’s a powerful way of maintaining homeostasis, your internal balance while the world outside is in turmoil. Just 5 to 10 minutes each day, sit quietly, breathe slowly and repeat without opening your mouth: “That I am! Sa aham.”
Slow down your breathing while breathing only through your nose. Practice the Ujjayi breathing, an aspirant sounded breath produced by constricting the base of your throat.
Namaste,
sipra