“Praise to You, O lord our God, for all Your creatures,
especially our dear Brother Sun,
Who is the day through whom You give us light.
Fair is he, in splendour radiant,
Of You, Most High, he bears the likeness…”
Saint Francis

Part I

Sun gazing is a meditation and healing practice that heals the emotions and the physical body, calms the mind, and lifts the spirit.  Hira Ratan Manek (HRM), amongst many others has proven that it is not only possible but incredibly beneficial for a person to live on solar energy alone for long periods with no need of food.  Due to Hira Manek’s scientifically tested and monitored fasts of four hundred days and more, the method has become known as the HRM phenomenon.

Benefits

This straight-forward and effective method of sun gazing and the ancillary practice that is in integral part of HRM will leave one free of mental disturbances and fear within three months of beginning practice, leading to a calm and balanced mind.  Continual practice for six months will lead to total freedom from physical illness, while one year of dedicated practice will remove your need for food as a source of nutrition.  Through the Sun, one can recharge the body with life energy and return to a state of unity with all creation.

An Explanation

In ancient times, the sun was worshipped in India as “Surya,” one of the principal Vedic deities who was responsible for health and life.  Surya was depicted as riding across the sky on a chariot pulled by seven horses. (Seven colors light may be diffracted into?).  The HRM phenomenon represents a rediscovery of the scientific ritual known as “Surya Namaskar,” or “sun salutation,” also known as Heliotherapy in ancient Egypt and in earlier Europe, Apollo therapy.

Traditionally, human beings eat secondary sources of energy as the plant life and other vegetation we consume depends heavily on the sun for its growth.  In using the HRM method, one learns to absorb the necessary energy directly from the primary source; the sun itself.

From a scientific standpoint, there may be a plausible explanation that accounts for the events that occur during the practice of the HRM technique:  The brain acts as a powerful information processor as we are already aware, processing the bulk of the information subconsciously or beyond our immediate waking knowledge.  During Surya Namaskar or sun salutation, both the retina and the pineal gland (also equipped with photoreceptor cells), provide a kind of ‘photo analysis’ that provides a person with all the energy and nutrition needed for the proper functioning of their internal organs.  When we also consider advances in light therapy, of which the sun is the natural master of, we see that the seven colors of the rainbow contain a cure for all kinds of degenerative and ‘incurable’ diseases.

The HRM Method

Sun gazing is a one-time practice, usually done for a period of nine months, or forty four minutes of sun gazing.  Once completing the nine months of sun gazing, you must then walk barefoot on the earth every day for forty-five minutes for a period of an additional year.  The practice of sun gazing entails looking at the rising OR setting sun once a day, only during the safe hours.  No harm will come to your eyes during the morning and evening safe hours. Safe sun gazing hours occur anytime within the one hour window after sunrise or anytime within the one hour window before sunset. It is scientifically proven beyond a reasonable doubt that during these times, one is free from exposure to ultraviolet and infrared rays that are harmful to our eyes.

To determine the time of sunrise or sunset, you can check the local newspaper, which also lists the UV Index as 0 during these times. Both times are good for practice – it depends on what is convenient for each individual. Sun gazing also has the added advantage of producing vitamin D during the one hour safe period window. If you sun gaze, the need for spectacles and their associated adjustments for the eye will go away. This method will provide better eyesight without glasses.

Sunbathing

For those who cannot initially sun gaze during the safe periods, sunbathing is an effective method for receiving the sun energy at a slower pace until one is able to sun gaze. Best times to sunbathe are when the UV index is lower than two. This usually occurs within the two-hour window after sunrise or before sunset.  Sun bathing during the day is to be avoided, except for during the winter months, when the UV index usually remains at two throughout the day, which is safe for sunbathing. Check your local newspaper to see the published results for UV Index to be sure. Also, do not use sunscreen when sunbathing during these times. When the body heats up, you perspire and perspiration is a waste product excreted by the body.  When you are painted or coated with lotions and creams – they degenerate and the chemicals enter your body. It is our malpractice -our wrong use- why we blame the sun for skin cancers.

The Practice

0 – 3 Months

First day, during the safe hours, look directly at the sun for a maximum of ten seconds. Second day, gaze for twenty seconds at the rising sun, adding ten seconds every succeeding day. So at the end of ten continuous days of sun gazing, you will be looking at the sun for 100 seconds – i.e. 1 minute and 40 seconds.

Stand on bare earth with bare feet. Your eyes can blink and/or flicker. Stillness or steadiness of the eyes is not required. Do not wear any lenses or glasses while sun gazing. Develop a belief that the sun’s rays you are receiving into your eyes are of immense benefit, and will not harm you. This will give you quicker and better results. Even without a belief component, you will get results, provided that you follow the practice, however, it will take a longer time. On the other hand, you need not restrict any of your normal daily routines. There are no restrictions. You can enjoy your food while applying this practice. Hunger will disappear eventually by itself (this is a possibility for some).

You may consider gazing from the same place at the same time daily. Following circadian patterns has its advantages. If you pray, you can use any prayer of your choice. No particular one is suggested and it is not a requirement. As a precaution, have your eyes examined by a doctor. This is to err on the side of caution from a scientific standpoint.

When you reach three months, you will have gazed at the sun up to 15 minutes (if you were able to get sunlight every day).  The sun energy or the sun rays passing through the human eye are charging the hypothalamus tract; which is the pathway behind the retina leading to the human brain. As the brain receives power through this pathway, it activates one of the software programs inherent in the brain and we will begin to realize positive changes because we will have no mental tension or worries. We will enjoy self-confidence to face life’s problems by means of developing a positive mindset instead of a negative one. Moreover, we will become fearless because all our mental ills will have disappeared. This is the first phase of the method and lasts around 3 months…

Next week we will cover off the last two phases of the core practice as well as the ancillary practice (very simple, again – one time practice)!

Namaste, my friends…

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The Yoga of Breath: A Step-by-Step Guide to Pranayama
Richard Rosen ISBN-13 978-1570628894

Pranayama (Sanskrit: प्राणायाम prāṇāyāma) means “restraint of the prana or breath.”  The word is composed of two Sanskrit words – Prāna, or life force (particularly breath) and āyāma, to restrain or suspend.  When used in the relationship to our yoga practice, we can think of it as breath control.  Swami Chidananda Saraswati’s definition is much more valuable, however…

Prana is a subtle invisible force. It is the life-force that pervades the body. It is the factor that connects the body and the mind, because it is connected on one side with the body and on the other side with the mind. It is the connecting link between the body and the mind. The body and the mind have no direct connection. They are connected through Prana only and this Prana is different from the breathing you have in your physical body.

Pranayama

The Yoga of Breath covers the philosophy and its background in Hatha Yoga.  For more than a few thousand years, yogis have made use of the powerful practices of pranayama for healing and accessing higher levels of consciousness.  Unfortunately, the practice of asanas or postures has become more the norm in the western world, leaving a very valuable component out of yoga practice.  There are a number of reasons for this, including pranayama’s ability to have harmful effects if not properly taught or illustrated.  Rather than worry about possible harm, this should be taken as an indication of the strength and effectiveness of pranayama.  Hint:  Follow the instructions, take it slow and easy…You will know when you can advance in your practice.

Richard Rosen’s book The Yoga of Breath provides a safe introduction for the modern practitioner of any Yoga discipline.  Profoundly influenced by the modern yoga master Iyengar’s book Light on Pranayama, The Yoga of Breath draws on the use of props and reclined positions to better facilitate progress in the spiritual art of controlled breathing.

A good teacher

A good teacher will never give an answer to you – never try to tell you the way it is.  In The Yoga of Breath, Rosen excels at providing the necessary groundwork by laying out a slow and direct roadmap to follow, while stepping back and pointing quietly down the path for answers.  For those wanting to incorporate a pranayama home practice into their routines, The Yoga of Breath is an excellent choice.

By adding a complementary practice of pranayama to your current yoga class – no matter what school you may follow – your practice will be deepened and enriched.  Your poses will come easier, and your ability to lengthen and deepen the stretch will also increase.  This also adds to your overall sense of well-being as well as state of daily consciousness.

In India

In India, Yoga is more than a philosophy; it is a way of daily existence.  Most common of all yogic systems practised in India is Hatha Yoga, upon which the pranayama techniques in The Yoga of Breath are based.  Hatha Yoga is designed to correct any blockages or improper flow of Prana within the body, allowing breath or vital force flow freely.  In truly understanding yoga, it must become a way of life as opposed to an activity we participate in a few times a week.  As a way of daily existence, we open ourselves to effortless action in our daily lives and a deeper, more profound experience in all our activities.

The Yoga of Breath gets, for its simple and straightforward information and instruction.  Certainly not as in depth as Iyengar’s works (which many find a little daunting), The Yoga of Breath is ideal for those wishing to experience Pranayama practice and results before committing themselves to more formal instructor lead studies, as well as those wanting to enrich their own practices by incorporating breathing techniques.

About the Author

Richard Rosen is a graduate of the Iyengar Yoga Institute of San Francisco and has been teaching yoga since 1987. He is a contributing editor at Yoga Journal and director of the Piedmont Yoga Studio in Oakland, California. He lives in Berkeley, California.

A parting gift…

Loving-Kindness Meditation

Sit in your most comfortable fashion, back and spine straight and aligned…If this makes you uncomfortable, lying down with your back flat is also fine.

Take a moment to center yourself on your breath, wherever you may watch it.  For some, this will be at the nose, for others, the belly…Still others will focus on the space between the breaths.

Take a look into your own heart and see whether there is any worry, fear, resentment, or other negative thought or emotion.  Allow these to float away like the black clouds they are, obscuring the light of your being.

Let warmth and friendship arise in your heart for yourself, realizing you must love yourself completely.  Surround yourself with loving thoughts and feel contentment arise within you, understanding you are on the path you need to be on.

Surround the person or people nearest to you with loving thoughts and fill those people with peace and wish for their happiness, whether physically if they are present, or in your heart and mind.

Think of anyone you dislike, or argue with, or do not consider a friend.  Open your heart in gratitude to those people as your teachers, teaching you about your own reactions.  Let your heart and love surround them too, forgive and forget, understanding that it is our perception that creates the difficulties.

Open up your heart to those whose lives are far more difficult than ours…Those who are sick, imprisoned, hungry, crippled, without friends or shelter.  Open up your heart and embrace all of them, show them love, wish them happiness.

Put your attention back on yourself…Feel contentment arising in you from making right effort, happiness filling your being from this simple act of giving you have just taken part in.  Become aware of these feelings; experience the warmth they create around you.

Namaste

The Yoga of Breath: A Step-by-Step Guide to Pranayama
Richard Rosen ISBN-13 978-1570628894

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Calm

I hope you can believe me when I say this really happened…it did.  I was just about to email Charlotte my article for this week when I realized the folder was missing from my desktop.  There was a thunderstorm last, and my laptop was plugged in – it was gone, the article, the folder – all gone…and no, it is not a modern day version of “my dog ate my homework!”

Prior to my retreat, my level of awareness was much different, apparently.  When this sort of thing used to happen, I could go a whole gauntlet of self abuse depending on how important the document was, what I had planned to do with my time…Anger, blame, frustration, even passing it around to others was more than possible.  Tonight (it is now 12:02 am Friday morning), I had a chuckle at the irony of it.  Six hours had gone into the article I had written.  Every once and awhile it does not come easy; the words refuse to flow out onto the virtual paper, attention drifts.  Despite the time it took to finally finish the article, it led to this article and a signpost along the path that I was made aware of.  “Calm” is not a word I particularly like, to be honest.  I prefer the word “stillness” instead – calm is subject to much too many interpretations, so we are going to use this word from now on.

Stillness of mind

When we practice inner stillness in our everyday actions and activities, one of the benefits is that we avoid getting caught up in our Ego’s fits about how everyone hates me, even God is out to get me, why does it happen to me, “oh I’m going to be up all night,” “now I’m never going to…” do I need to continue?

When I found the article was lost for good, I maintained no opinion about its loss.  Instead, I accepted that there was good reason for its disappearance.  In this state of inner stillness, the reasons are not always immediately forthcoming, but we are able to look for the upside of situations instead of focusing on the downside.  Over time, events in our lives we would normally label as bad begin to disappear all by themselves as we become more and more accustomed to approaching our lives from this still core within ourselves.

Illusion

In stillness, we see the illusion that external problems really are.  Through a simple change in our thoughts and by exercising a little control over our Ego’s, we discover that external difficulty is nothing more than a mental construct we have perpetrated though our own consciousness.

Whether we can accept it or not, our daily lives are clouded by a false sense of reality most of the time.  Cultivating stillness of the mind allows the true core of your being to shine through, dispelling the illusory appearance of this physical world and allowing the infinite beauty of creation to become apparent.  This does not mean that everything around you is going to disappear in a puff of smoke, but it does mean that you will see the perfection of the Divine in all things.

In our Yoga class, home session, or Yoga of daily living, pay close attention to the labels your mind places on experiences, feelings and interactions.  Notice how the label your mind attaches to the situation determines your reality.  Laugh when you feel like crying, smile when you want to frown, hold the stretch and focus breath and awareness, meditate until self-awareness vanishes and you find out what you really are…

Fixing the consciousness on one point or region is concentration (dhāraṇā).

A steady, continuous flow of attention directed towards the same point or region is meditation (dhyāna).

When the object of meditation engulfs the meditator, appearing as the subject, self-awareness is lost. This is samādhi.

These three together [dhāraṇā, dhyāna and samādhi] constitute integration or saṃyama.

From mastery of saṃyama comes the light of awareness and insight.

I wish you all a wonderful week and progress on your journey.  May the light of awareness and insight shine forth from your being and become a beacon of love and compassion for all humanity.

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photo credit: Elaine with Grey Cats

I had a great New Year’s day. I attended a yoga class at a studio that I love with an amazing teacher who always brings cool insights to class and reminds me of why I love yoga. There is always something new to learn and I am humbled by how little I really know.

Instead of opening by wishing us all a happy new year, she instead wished us all the space to create. I thought this was so beautiful and empowering. Imagine a world where we all took that opportunity and made it a priority to create.

The end of the year brings about a mood of reflection. We think about the different things that have occurred over the past year. There are happy moments, sad ones, things that we feel good that we have done and probably a long list of things we meant to accomplish but didn’t.

Yoga is a “come as you are” practice. So rather than starting off the new year thinking or wishing that things had been different, perhaps we would benefit by directing some energy into accepting the way things are and being grateful for the lessons we have learned.

This doesn’t mean that we need to let go of our aspirations or intentions to direct the flow of change.

I learned a Sanskrit term in my New Year’s Day yoga class – sankalpa. It means intention. It is like a resolution but it comes from within. Whereas a resolution implies stopping something (such as – I will lose weight or I will cut down on caffeine), sankalpa is an intention that is formed in the mind or heart and is usually part of a spiritual practice.

We spent the New Year’s day class uncovering our sankalpa. Our instructor, Sylvie, led us through poses and pranayama where we focused on using our intuition to find own sankalpa, our intention for the year to come. For example, during the opening meditation, we took a moment to ask ourselves what our sankalpa was and then focused on listening to the answers that arose.

We did this a number of times throughout the class while holding a pose or practicing a breathing technique and then during savasana. To close the class, Sylvie led us through a meditation. Mentally we repeated the intention to ourselves using our name and being specific;  “I Charlotte Bradley am open to courage, strength and compassion.” To seal the intention, we mentally repeated the word “sankalpa” three times.

Deepak Chopra teaches “Sankalpa is the subtlest level of intention at the cusp of choiceless awareness and thought.” When we bring an intention into conscious awareness, we are moving towards the creation or manifestation of that intention.

As we step into 2010, take your next yoga practice to uncover your own sankalpa or internal resolve. And as Sylvie hoped for all of us, I wish you the space to create.

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photo credit: Capture Queen ™

I wonder if finding a solution is sometimes as simple as turning around. In yoga, we often take postures such as twists or inversions that change our perspective. Things look different when you are on your head than when you are sitting at your desk going through your usual routine!

It’s pretty easy to become comfortable with the way things are. But if we turn around or change our perspective then of course things will look quite different. Maybe we won’t feel quite so comfortable. But maybe it will be exciting or just better in that the newness will present new choices.

The Ganesh mantra is all about removing obstacles.  By practicing mantra (kind of like with affirmations) we are creating vibrations, moving energy and sending our intentions out into the world.

Sometimes my dilemma is that I don’t even know what the obstacle is. We need to reveal and face obstacles in order to remove them. And this takes courage. For me, practicing Ganesh mantra has become a tool that helps to tap into that inner courage.

My Less-than-Traditional Ganesh Mantra Meditation

I have found that mantra meditation is easier and more enjoyable than I expected. (Meditation is not something that comes naturally to me.) I downloaded an MP3 of the Ganesh mantra from @FlorianYoga’s 30 Day Yoga Journey (which I am really enjoying – be sure to check it out).  I have been listening to the mantra and chanting along with her, sometimes out loud, sometimes silently. This works for me.

I don’t think I’m really a morning person but today I actually woke up before everyone else and practiced the mantra meditation in my bed, laptop open in front of me. Last night I did it while in a nice warm bath – not the usual place to meditate but it did leave me feeling peaceful and clean

I have also been reciting Ganesh mantra randomly throughout the day – on my way home from the kids’ bus stop, in the car … I’m sure I have received more than one strange glance.

The first couple of nights I practiced the mantra by writing it in my journal. Kind of like writing lines without the punitive aspect! This was a less intimidating way of starting. Writing is more familiar to me than sitting in meditation.

Life is inevitably stressful. Good stress, bad stress – we need to figure out healthy ways to respond to it. Finding a new perspective is a good start. Perhaps that is the power in the Ganesh mantra. We are voicing the idea that we are ready to shake things up. To turn a corner. To find new ways to overcome the obstacles.

Om Gum Ganapateya Namaha.

May our new journeys be met with joy and prosperity and clear of obstacles and hassles. (Translation courtesy of @FlorianYoga)

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1. Bread and Meditation? Finding Your Groove in Unlikely Places
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