The famous yoga guru, Shri. Pattabhi Jois, once said “practice, practice and everything is coming”. This one small sentence has probably launched a thousand yoga studios across the world. But, my thought is, are we reading the word “practice” in the right spirit? Do we all need to widen our definition of “practice” in the context of Yoga.

Probably the word “practice” has been literally translated from the Sanskrit word “Sadhana”.

Yoga is a science of gradual evolution towards our True nature of loving, empowered and energized Being. Following the methods of Yoga, in a wholesome sense over a period of time under the guidance of a teacher and being open to the grace is called Sadhana.

Asanas seem to be dominating the field of sadhana in recent years. People derive a great sense of joy and pride mastering asanas. It is very easy to get caught up refining the asanas for years and conveniently ignoring the field of psychological exploration. As we start practicing asanas our self awareness increases. We start understanding the ways of our body and it’s sensations. This awareness, if encouraged, broadens its field to the mind zone. Thus, if the asanas are practiced properly and under an able guide, they would definitely loosen up the dense subconscious tendencies of our mind, which will result in some deeper psychological issues to surface. This is when an honest and sincere review of the issues that come up should be conducted. This is a part of the process of refinement (sadhana) according to Hatha Yoga.

This refinement or transformation happens gradually and subtly. If the Yogi is involved “unconsciously” or mechanically in the sadhana there is a danger of getting “stuck”, leading to frustration, competition and in the end dropping out of the path. In fact somewhere deep down within we know there are skeletons in our mental closet and that’s why for years we “entertain” ourselves with the asana practice in order to avoid facing the fears within, which start coming up as we venture into exploring the mind.

This is a major issue in many yoga enthusiasts.

Here are some tips to help us avoid this trap:

• The Yoga sadhana has the inherent power to gradually take you from feeling of limitedness of body-mind complex to the final stage of identification with the True Self. That is why it is of at most importance to have a wider view of sadhana, wider in the sense of the sadhana being the means to liberation of body-mind complex and not just muscular stretches.
• Be patient, because on spiritual path it is not about how fast you get there.
• Have faith in Yoga, the Guru, and your own self effort.
• Since yoga is practiced also in social set ups like yoga studios etc, it is natural that the mind would start competing. Therefore it is necessary to remember that yoga is the process of “individual” refinement. So just keep your eyes on your own sadhana and do not get confused or distracted by others sadhana.
• It would not be wrong on my part if I said that Sadhana is a process of trade. Be sure to give something to receive something, this is how energy is transformed and karmas are balanced. That’s why the process of sadhana has also been called as a Yajna or a sacrifice. The Yogi voluntarily offers his/her negatives into the fire (tapas) of his self effort and this is balanced by the reward of feeling and being liberated.
• Finally, look at Sadhana-self exploration with joy and a sense of wonderment. It is beautiful how life brings us exactly the things that we need to learn. Till we learn, the experiences keep coming again and again. This is the basis of the Divine plan for us. In our myopia we just don’t see it. Every hardship is nothing but freedom in disguise. If we view life in this way, life in itself becomes a Sadhana.

It feels nice to be back with you on the site. It has been a whirlwind tour of 12 weeks across 11 countries, and what a tour it was! If I can sum up my experience in one word I would say “awakening”. Yes, the world is waking up. There is a wave of personal uprising, which is spinning off into people’s movement.

One of the reasons why my tours are such a huge learning experience for me is because of the local flavor. Which so ever country I visit, I chose to live with the locals, and experience their company, culture, cuisine and chaos. Superficially it looks like every country in itself is in some or other crisis and that at the base level humans are not happy. If we don’t look deep enough we feel as if the society as a whole has lost all options and is succumbing under the pressure of future and is dragged down by the guilt of past.

But amidst this gloomy overview I have seen a light of hope, a spark still burning, little movement of “awakening”. People across the world have started asking questions, squeezing out of comfort zones and pushing against the walls of their limiting belief systems. It is no more about accepting things hands down in hopelessness, the time for action has come, welcome.

The unrest as such is a movement towards stabilization of not only some countries but also the whole humanity. As our Yogi ancestors would have told us, the Earth is one country and all of humanity is its citizens.

Not just in Yoga philosophy but this has been a common wisdom across ages. One of my favorite Roman philosopher Seneca wrote that there are two kinds of citizenship. About one of them he said “terminus civitatis nostrae cum sole metimur” (we measure the boundaries of our citizenship by the path of the sun) and about the other he describes as “cui nos adscripsit condicio nascendi” (the one assigned to us by an accident of birth). If we want to create a more peaceful world, all of us in every country should come together and focus on the first type of citizenship. And this is what I see happening now. With internet technology closing in the divides between countries and social networking sites becoming the sanctums of solidarity, that little spark has started growing into a flame of freedom, freedom from limited view of life, humanity and our potential to be good and do good.

How can Yoga help us kindle this flame of freedom that is sweeping across the world? First of all it is important to understand the basis of yoga which is Yoga is a science of conscious living and realizing our true nature, which is Love and freedom. If we remind ourselves to work with this ideology and ground ourselves in this belief the future that we will create will have an inherent strength.

Secondly, we all need to take a big conscious step towards personal responsibility. It’s high time we humans start becoming responsible for our own life and the life of humanity in general. Each action put forth as an individual, corporation or a country should have some accountability. This is not just in case of political organizations but also the corporate Goliaths who have been taking human society on a mindlessly manipulative spree. When a person understands the implications of his/her own actions and acts responsibly, the society as a whole, since it is made up of individuals will develop a common consciousness. That is when we will see the humanity moving towards a common goal, a “summum bonam” as they say.

And last but not the least, let us all look at each other as “human beings” first. Beyond the color and the race the same red blood flows in our veins, beyond the country and commerce we all breath the same air. Yes, it is hard because we have been conditioned by society over years to segregate each other on basis of these hollow classifications, but it’s now time to look beyond it. We all have been blessed with a conscious mind, and the will to consciously choose. So, let this be the moment in which the whole humanity chooses as One. The only way we can manage this is by consciously reminding ourselves that we are all in our own stages of personal development, and not to be judgmental and prejudiced on basis of the above.

This revolution that has taken the globe in its stride will simmer with us recognizing the fire of freedom within and then letting it light a few fires around in our immediate family and neighborhood. Let us all contribute our own part in this process by being the change that we want to see.

This question brings us to a very important point mentioned in the books of yoga (Katha-Upanishad), the concept of Shreyas and Preyas. Shreyas and Preyas are two paths mentioned in the Upanishad. The simplest meaning of the paths is basically the ‘perspective’ with which you look at things. ‘Shreyas’ is the path of lasting good and ‘Preyas’ is the path of immediate satisfaction.

The Upanishad is obviously talking about spiritual path, but it is also perfectly applicable in our day to day life. The yoga enthusiast who does not conduct his asana with awareness and focus will lose site of the ‘present’ moment and push so hard so as to injure, just to get his/her body in some desired posture for a micro-second to feel good in the ego. If the asanas are conducted with an understanding that the body develops its capabilities over a period of time and not in one yoga class, the asana practice would be ‘lightening’ and un-stressful.

When the Yogi follows the path of shreyas, the perspective becomes broader, allowing for time and regularity to ground the practice, which can provide benefits for the entire life time, rather than injuring and causing a setback to the beautiful, gentle process of growth. Not just in the asana practice but also in day to day life, how many times have we gone over board with food, drinks, habit patterns, guilt and other tendencies because of loss of the bigger picture?

The beauty of Universe lies in the fact that the imminent and transient are both present simultaneously in the here and now; it is not that the permanent is in one place and the impermanent in another. In our life every moment presents a choice between the permanent and the impermanent. The impermanent comes in form of various situations, opportunities, and pleasures, while the permanent is ever there as the very basis of it all. The movies projected on the screen may keep changing but the ‘white’ screen permanently remains, untouched and unscratched.

So, if we really ’see’ things, they can be experienced in two realities, the immediate reality and the wider reality. A skilled mind can distinguished easily between them. This skill is called ‘viveka’ or discretion. An approach to gradually change the perception of things needs to be inculcated in our life. This can happen when we develop certain sensitivity to appreciate lasting happiness as opposed to the impermanent pleasures. This ability in the Yoga sutra is called ‘viveka-khyati’ in which the person is able to see things as they are and not what the mind-veils or sensory defects project.

For example – A person who needs to lose weight may have to give up eating some things and take up a rigorous exercise routine, in the beginning it takes a lot of effort to banish laziness and ‘behave’ while eating, later the challenge gets tougher as it takes even more effort to keep up the motivation to workout and diet over certain period of time. In this case, the immediate reality can be interpreted as ’suffering’ but over some months of consistent practice as the weight loss happens, the person finds joy, confidence and lightness. Ultimately this health routine, if managed properly can become a lifestyle and the constant yo-yoing of weight and psyche along with it can be controlled. In the view of ‘preyas’, the enthusiast could have quit the weight loss program labeling it to be ’suffering’ or by blaming others, but if the perspective is made broader and looked from the point of ’shreyas’, the few months of regular training can become a healthy lifestyle accruing benefits for the whole life.

Let’s get it straight, it’s about ‘Choice’, and life gives us enough chance and strength to make choices, that’s why in the sciences of Tantra its called ‘iccha shakti’, the ’strength of will’. Our choices create our reality. As long as the mind is full of attractions and repulsions, the impermanent alone attracts the mind and we do not choose the permanent. We become myopic with the immediate things, and turn blind to the bigger picture. The ‘inner voice’ or the ‘intuition’ diminishes as the mind is busy fulfilling the demands of immediate externals.

The two important things we all should practice are firstly to take time to ’see through’ things and not just ‘look at’ them, look for the bigger picture and not the immediate pleasures. This can be developed over a period of time by being mindful and aware of the situations and taking responsibility of the choices we make.

Secondly, generate trust in that ‘inner voice’. This can be achieved by practicing meditation to stop the chatter of mind between likes and dislikes, working on past issues with forgiveness and letting go, and finally giving the ‘inner voice’ a chance in every experience that life takes us to. Let us all try to live our own truth honestly till we reach the final Truth. Let us resolve to look beyond the ‘me’ and ‘mine’ and waking up to the call of our Hearts.

A time will come when our Will, will become the Universal Will and then the life will flow through us and not against us.

“After attending “Finding YourSelf “, workshop with Prasad in Oct 2006 in Bangkok, I was introduced to Yoga Nidra. For 3 weeks after the workshop, I was still pondering over this question, “What is Yoga Nidra? Why do I have to do it when I am already meditating? Do I really need to incorporate another technique to my bag of destressing tools?”

Quite confused, I finally emailed Prasad asking, “How do I include the yoga nidra in my daily routine? I tried your Yoga Nidra CD for the first time. The result was phenomenal and definitely the benefits are different from meditation. Do you suggest I do it once a week, more than once or ……? can’t decide.”

His reply on 21st Nov, 2006 was as follows: “I am glad that you are looking at yoga not as something to do, but something to explore. Yoga is a very powerful tool, it is like a torch which helps us remove the darkness of ignorance and relieve tensions. In turn we discover the True Reality which lies within.

Now you are working with your body , later your mind will be under the scanner of your awareness and slowly your heart will open up, and lots of other things to follow, and in such a way many things will be revealed which our eyes and senses don’t .”

So Prasad didn’t really answer my question of how many times. grrrrr…. Still confused. He left it to me to decide for myself. He wanted me to seek the answer from within  – self realisation.

Surrendering my trust in him that I needed to use this yogic tool, I decided to use it once a week after bothering him with that email. Upon use, I found it deeply relaxing and was also keen for my resolve to manifest. I decided to work on it as an experiment of self-exploration.

Two years later, at the ashram in Trimbak, where I was doing my Yoga teacher training course, I was exposed to a shorter version of yoga nidra by someone else, and was amazed at how it was helping all participants go through the intense course. My confusion was beginning to change shape, I could see some light or slowly make more sense of what I was doing and why I was using this technique.

However, it wasn’t until March to May 2010, that I actually understood and realized the MAGIC of this technique. In March this year, the political unrest in Bangkok took the whole world by surprise. “Amazing Thailand” or the “Land of Smiles” was telling tourists that it was no longer safe to fly in to seek a spiritual Buddhist quest or just tour the country. Right from the media, organizations, people, emails, facebook comments were all scary, unsafe, extremely unpleasant and so pessimistic for 3 long months. Not to make matters worse, we also had HINI flu that  permeated Asia and the volcanic ash had left a few of my colleagues and students stranded in Europe during school holidays. Everyone in Thailand was frustrated and emotions were at their peak. Many businesses including major companies, hotel, health and fashion industries including the yoga studio that I used to practice in had to close down. Transportation was majorly affected, basically people’s lives were in danger for over 3 months.

Such a tense environment had become normal in Bangkok. Our headmaster was comparing the crisis in Bangkok to Nairobi and declared school open every single day despite unsafety around us (except for one week when things were at its worst).

I still needed to carry on teaching at school daily, assuming a calm and relaxed disposition. I had many seeking help from me constantly through my yoga classes, meditation groups in school or counseling due to fear or other concerns.

Initially I thought because I am a Vipassana meditator, have a disciplined meditation practice, regular yoga practice, I can handle it. But the truth was I was finding it so hard to focus and meditate. That period was extremely challenging for all of us living in Bangkok, right from the clothes we wore. We had to make sure we did not wear red or yellow because that meant we were supporting a political party. Teaching extra yoga classes on weekends too was a challenge because specific roads were blocked due to demonstrators.

Reflect, reflect, reflect… I tried to get the answers from within.  Suddenly, I realized what technique I was turning to in all this turmoil we were all surrounded in like a bubble. When I was waking up at 3am not being able to sleep, I was picking up Prasad’s yoga nidra CD and using it. I was using it 2 to 4 times a week, which was not what I had decided. It was beginning to dawn on me that I was getting my deep relaxation with yoga nidra. That 50 minutes relaxation was what was giving me my four hours of conventional sleep. At work, I was able to walk into the staffroom and listen to my colleagues say,”I woke up so early today. I can’t handle it. I need coffee and sleep” or “why are the red shirts saying they are
peaceful demonstrators when they are not?”, “We saw smoke from burned tyres at 6:30am on the way to school”, “Which route would be safe to go back home by today?”, etc. I would participate in a limited way to conserve my energy and then quietly take my green tea from the staffroom and carry on with my work. As weeks went by I asked myself, “Was I able to handle it? Surprisingly, I was!”

I realized that I was slowly able to handle things better than I thought. It was the deep relaxation I was getting from Prasad’s Yoga Nidra CD, because I was turning to it more along with doing meditation on the school bus, constant mental mantra chanting, daily short Pranayama and brief sessions of stretches on and off the mat. I had a daily rule, 5 minutes to 2 hours of yoga, no matter what and I was implementing that and it was gradually showing me results during a very crucial time in my hometown.

As I reflect back on this incident, I realise that I learned more from this technique because I found it hard to meditate at a long stretch like I was used to. The yoga nidra technique was enabling me to go deep into the realms of my subconscious mind and not only relax, but also release physical, mental and emotional tensions there. I was going through a process where an expansion of awareness was taking place at that deeper level of consciousness. As a result, I surprised myself by handling an extremely challenging situation in a relaxed manner. It was through the power of Yoga!

Lastly, thank you Prasad for visiting us in our countries and presenting us (the big, global yoga family) the yogic tools from a very practical and spiritual standpoint, and inspiring us to seek answers from within on how we need to use them in our day to day life in our own setting. I am extremely grateful for how you impart your wisdom to us and urge us step by step to explore this powerful tool. So true, Yoga transforms! God bless your energy!”

Sincerely,
Veena from Bangkok

This question brings us to a very important point mentioned in the books of yoga (Katha-Upanishad) which not many talk about in the yoga circles, the concept of Shreyas and Preyas.

Shreyas and preyas are two paths mentioned in the Upanishad. The simplest meaning of the paths is basically the “perspective” with which you look at things. Shreyas is the path of lasting good and preyas is the path of immediate satisfaction.

The Upanishad is obviously talking about spiritual path but it is also so very applicable in our day to day life. The yoga enthusiast who does not conduct his asana with awareness and focus will lose site of the “present” moment and push so hard so as to injure, just to get his body in some desired posture for a micro-second to feel good in the ego. If the asanas are conducted with an understanding that the body develops its capabilities over a period of time and not in one yoga class, the asana practice would be “lightening” and un-stressful. When the Yogi follows the path of shreyas, the perspective becomes broader, allowing for time and regularity to ground the practice which can provide benefits for the whole life time, rather than injuring and causing a set back to the beautiful gentle process of growth. Not just in the asana practice but also in day to day life, how many times have we gone over board with food, drinks, habit patterns, guilt and other tendencies because of loss of the bigger picture?

The beauty of Universe lies in the fact that the imminent and transient are both present simultaneously; it is not that the permanent is in one place and the impermanent in another. In our life every moment presents a choice between the permanent and the impermanent. The impermanent comes in form of various situations, opportunities, and pleasures, while the permanent is ever there as the very basis of it all. The movies projected on the screen may keep changing but the “white” screen permanently remains, untouched and unscratched.

So, if we really “see” things, they can be experienced in two realities, the immediate reality and the wider reality. A skilled mind can distinguished easily between them. This skill is called “viveka” or discretion. An approach to gradually change the perception of things needs to be inculcated in our life. This can happen when we develop certain sensitivity to appreciate lasting happiness as opposed to the impermanent. This ability in the Yoga sutra is called “viveka-khyati” in which the person is able to see things as they are and not what the mind-veils or sensory defects project.

For example – A person who needs to lose weight may have to give up eating some things and take up a rigorous exercise routine, in the beginning it takes a lot of effort to banish laziness and “behave” while eating, later the challenge gets tougher as it takes even more effort to keep up the motivation to workout and diet over certain period of time. In this case the immediate reality can be interpreted as “suffering” but over some months of consistent practice as the weight loss happens, the person find joy, confidence and lightness. Ultimately this health routine, if managed properly can become a lifestyle and the constant yo-yoing of weight and psyche along with it can be controlled. In the view of preyas the enthusiast could have quit the weight loss program labeling it to be “suffering” or by blaming others etc. but if the perspective is made broader and looked from the point of shreyas, the few months of regular training can become a healthy lifestyle accruing benefits for the whole life.

Let’s get it straight, it’s about “Choice”, and life gives us enough chance and strength to make choices. Our choices create our reality. As long as the mind is full of attractions and repulsions, the impermanent alone attracts the mind and we do not choose the permanent. We become myopic with the immediate things, and turn blind to the bigger picture. The “inner voice” or the “intuition” becomes lesser and lesser as the mind is busy fulfilling the demands of immediate externals.

The two important things we all should practice are firstly to take time to “see through” things and not just “look at” them, look for the bigger picture and not the immediate pleasures. This can be developed over a period of time by being mindful and aware of the situations and taking responsibility of the choices we make.

Secondly, generate trust in that “inner voice”, this can be achieved by practicing meditation to stop the chatter of  mind between likes and dislikes, working on past issues with forgiveness and letting go, and finally giving the “inner voice” a chance in every experience that life takes us to. Let us all try to live our own truth honestly till we reach the final Truth. Let us resolve to look beyond the “me” and “mine” and waking up to the call of our Hearts.

A time will come when our Will, will become the Universal Will and then the life will flow through us and not against us.

Here is an account of one such Teenager who experimented with Yoga practice and came out impressed. Hear it in her own words,

Yoga as a Teenager

When my mom asked me if I wanted to start yoga classes, I immediately pictured boring relaxation exercises and endless lotus postures; I however decided to try, and I don’t regret my choice. Yoga is an exigent discipline that improved my physical and mental condition and helped me in my practice of other sports as well as in my personal life as a teenager.
Yoga is a very demanding, and requires balance, mental and physical strength, and flexibility. In the seven months I have practiced yoga, I can feel I am in better shape: I am stronger and more flexible and balanced. This helps me for the other sports I practice by offering me an extra fitness practice.
Furthermore, I feel like yoga helped me in my personal life. It gave me much more mental strength, and I am able to endure more pain (or discomfort) by looking at it and observing it. I am also calmer thanks to the breathing techniques I was taught by yoga. I accept failure more willingly while always trying to overcome my limits.
More than a sport, I feel like yoga is a discipline that improved my condition in every aspect of my life, and I am glad I listened to my mother!

- Soizic Penicaud (Grade 12)

Were we humans trying to achieve too much? Were we trying to hold excess in our palms only to let the valuables slip through our fingers, where does this hunger for faster, higher, stronger end? Or does it? How much is too much?

Stilling myself in my easy chair, I contemplated and reflected upon a time in history. The time was around 2nd century BCE, well before the Romans conquered Greece, certain uneasiness was in the air. The impulse that had led Socrates to suspect that true happiness lay beyond the hedonism of symposium had prompted the great Romans to question whether whatever they had in Rome was enough to give them what they desired. The race suffered from a stubborn refusal to rest content in what they acquired, raising a spectacle of excess around 1st century BCE, generating mistrust in the sanctity of Roman Felicitas.

As mentioned by the great Roman poet Horace “Clogged with yesterday’s excess, the body drags the mind down with it”. Probably, I was going through the same thoughts what Horace would have gone through when he wrote the above lines around two thousand years ago.

Our lives in modern city are growing too complex and crowded externally. As we pull the bed sheet over our head, our obligations and commitments seem to grow over night, the plant of desire is hungrily watered by ease of opportunity and myriad of stimulations to make us achieve and strive, it grows like Jack’s beanstalk and keeps growing till the creepers of committees, commitments, never – ending appointments, thick Gigas of Blackberries strangle around our neck resulting in breathless, strained and a deflated mind in a dehydrated body.

We are too busy being that perfect wife to our husbands, best friend to our friends, most successful employee, and if in case we withdraw from these public engagements to spend quiet moment in solitude the guilty calls of non-productivity whisper disquieting claims in our ears. Our social groups should receive our interest, near and dear friends need a hand and even a piece of our shoulder for head and tears, the civic problems of our city and country need our attention, the wider issues of nation and the world and its impact on us, the responsibilities of family are heavy upon us, the next vacation with its logistics and budgeting needs to be mobilized, our professional status, our social obligations, our memberships put claims upon us and our time. And in frantic fidelity we run, to chase and sometimes to escape, to finish with it and sometimes to drown in it, to try and meet at least as many possible calls made upon us. At the end of the day we are weary, tired and breathless, wrinkled in the mind and spirit like a deflated balloon. As that exhausted body rests on the soft bed, the buzz of momentum still continues, the inertia of achieving “this and that, and that too” whizzes around in the whole body, the body is motionless, the mind racing, still. No sleep that night, we wake up and live thorough the next day like zombies.

The other night, if the buzz quietens, the depth of our “inner unknown” calls us to reflect and wonder, we know and with some ounce of regret we realize that the life is slipping away. We have tasted joy and peace in little quantity but why doesn’t it stay as a permanent feature, we wonder. The aching body cramps in the night as we smother it further with shallow breaths, one part of the Being realizing, to at least now answer the call of heart and make time for ourselves. This body, a gift given just one time in this life, we sew it and we guzzle it with chemicals to prolong its utility, to serve the hollowness of accountability towards things we don’t even care about. Once in a while the depths of Heart calls us strongly, the silences seem so few but in guilty regret we must postpone our “Soul” appointment until next week, the only “call” that can compose our shaken life in steady state of Balance is missed, for this week is much too busy and full.

Day after day we toss and turn, waiting for the sleep to come, unknowingly still wanting to know when will I simplify? When will I set myself free from the web I have weaved my self ? When will I walk on the path of the unknown in my heart? Only to wake up by the second snooze alarm, it’s late already for today’s commitments…..

On a lighter note …

Tom Cruise’s attorney said he is going to sue anyone who claims he is gay. In a related story, Ricky Martin’s attorney has been hospitalized for exhaustion…… 
- Conan O’Brien

Dear Friends,

On occasion of this Christmas let us all resolve to celebrate the birth of “Christ” within, Let us all resolve to not let our Inner-Self be enveloped in the darkness of our basic propensities, let us not crucify the Christ within. It is our duty to raise the self by the Self. Neglect of this will make us go deeper and deeper in thickness of ignorance, the so called sin against the Holy Ghost. Let the Saints be our guides on this path, let them inspire us to assimilate our Individual Self with the Eternal Self. Enjoy your present and have a deep remembrance of the radiance of the Light within that’s waiting to shine.

Wish you a Merry Christ-mas again!

Love,
Prasad

One of the most important qualities needed to start and stay on the practice of purification and meditation is “patience”. Please understand, through a conscious effort of purification and meditation we are working on cleaning something that has been accumulating in us for many life times. This deep cleaning does need a lot of time. Just like cleaning your patio in autumn when the leaves fall is a continuous process the same way keeping on purifying the mind is an essential and continuous process. The thoughts that come in mind are conscious or unconsciously raised out of past impressions in the memory stores of subconscious mind. The mind will keep raising thoughts, that’s its job and we should keep cleaning the mind which is our job. We can’t be angry on the leaves that fall in autumn, we can only keep sweeping and wait for the autumn to pass. This is why “Patience” is a virtue on the spiritual path, patience along with faith increases surrender and with surrender the spiritual growth moves on “auto-pilot”, effortlessly.

Sometimes when we think of starting to meditate, some kind of nervous energy makes us restless and stops our body and mind from slipping into the peace of meditation. In such times a better approach would be to recognize and accept this nervous energy and do some kind of “moving” meditation rather than sitting meditation.

The type of meditation given below is a “cleaning meditation” which can help in many ways.

“Cleaning meditation”

When?
When you need to clean the house, when you need to clean your mind, when the nervous energy in the body and mind makes you restless or just without a cause.

Preparation?
Consciously think of some past memory or past resentment you would like to clean. Broom (though a vacuum cleaner is also fine, I think it just gets too easy and mechanical but you can try and experience it on your own). If you are allergic to dust you can also engage in wet cleaning, like cleaning the floor or tiles in the bathroom. You might need a brush and some soap water for wet cleaning.

Practice?
Pick up your broom or brush and stand in front of the area you intend to clean. Become aware of the dirt or grime on the surface, and think of this dirt as the negativity and resentment residing in your mind and heart. Start sweeping/cleaning with total awareness. Focus only on the broom, the floor and the dirt. As you sweep mindfully feel the negativity leave your mind and heart. Each conscious sweep should make you feel lighter and lighter. If the mind wanders bring it back to the act of cleaning. Watch the dirt moving away as the surface gets cleaner, feel and visualize this act and interpret this as your mind and heart being cleaned. Carry on till you feel satisfied. In case any emotions come out during this act, do not hold them back, allow them to express, this will make you feel lighter too. End the meditation by sweeping the dirt into the bin and throwing it away. Feel the negativity going away with it and relish this sensation in silence.

The answers and the tools for life exist for each and every one of us. However it can be challenging to find them from our minds. Sometimes there are people who come into our lives and see the answers and needed tools more clearly than we do. Then we need the courage to stop and be open-minded for the changes.

I am deeply grateful to Prasad. In his retreat he helped me to find my missing tools for life. There began the real development of self-knowledge towards a stronger balance and genuine love.

I realized many things in Prasad’s retreat in Finland. One of the main insights was that in my life, I had great deal of memories, people and things that I had not accepted. Without noticing I had in my mind a huge, energy-consuming war going on – just because I could not accept those things. I had built a huge wall between myself and others. Loneliness seemed to me a safe choice but the wall also took enormous energy, as well as closed behind it many interesting possibilities. In the retreat I found my internal courage and strength and the wall – now useless – began to break down. At the same time, I got a stronger grip on my own life.

It’s been incredible to see the huge change in life which results from cleansing the mind, the body and the environment. I was able to identify the greatest problems in my life from which the other problems emerged. Ever since the retreat I’m working daily on those issues. Day by day I feel stronger and more complete, both psychologically and physically. I have learned to draw my own lines, believing in myself and my strength, loving and nurturing myself, and hence also the others. You need courage to abandon yourself to the driving force of life.

Prasad spoke to us a lot about saving and targeting energy. His advice has been of tremendous benefit. The more I observe and control my thoughts (their quality, quantity, direction) the more I have energy for other things. Now I begin my day calm, focused and present, with yoga.

When you get a great insight, it is always a new opportunity. In the retreat I got a lot of insights. When you truly realize the power of acceptance and release, in life you open the doors for light. I even got out of tobacco, after 12 years of smoking. After the retreat when I got home, I lit a cigarette by old habit. I looked at the cigarette and I asked myself: “Why am I not able to stop?” I remembered what Prasad said in the retreat as a general example: “If you’re a heavy smoker, accept that you smoke, but accept also the fact that it destroys your health.” I understood that I had no other choice than to accept it. So I accepted it and asked myself with all my heart: “Do I really want to damage my precious body in this way?” I realized that no way. I stubbed out the cigarette and wondered what on earth had I done for 12 years. The strangest thing is that it really ended my craving for tobacco. Insight, acceptance, and letting go. I would never have believed quitting to be so easy. When the idea was felt with emotion it turned into a real insight and resulted in action. It is very important what kind of ideas you plant in your mind because they will give you the fruits to harvest in life. The power of thought is unspeakable. Every day is full of possibilities and options.