Parvati Magazine Summer 2014 - Freedom and Delight | Page 7

POSITIVE POSSIBILITIES It is my understanding from my meditation practice, and from guidance from great teachers, that our state of unity with the One already exists, but we, for the most part, cannot see it because we are so busy, so caught up with our mind. We are used to identifying with our mind, to feeling that our ego is in control. We do not allow ourselves to trust and to let go. It is a bit like we are so focused on a tiny speck of cloud, thinking that it is the entire world, we miss the vastness of the sky and the infinite expanse of the universe. When we explore the mind, we see that in fact, it does not exist by any other means than by the energy we give it. Most of what we think and feel we “know” is a configuration of the mind, mental constructs to help make us feel in control, powerful, important. But all thoughts are passing. There is no thought that is fixed, permanent or eternal. It is the nature of the mind to think. It goes on and on – thinking – until we bump up against grace and notice that perhaps what we think may not be so fixed and solid after all. When we look at our lives, we see that what we think in fact is not all that reliable. We think for sure we will get that promotion, or that we won’t get it. We get ourselves all worked up about it, either with excitement or with foreboding. When the thing we like happens, we are happy. When it does not, we are sad. We are like weathervanes turning in the winds of our ever-changing thoughts. So then what is beyond the mind? If we remain open, we begin to see that between our thoughts is a space, just like the pause that exists between each inhalation and exhalation. In that pause, lies possibility. Yogis have taught this wisdom for millennia through meditation and breathing practices, in which the aspirant learns to observe the space between. consciousness that has been there all along. The change we are inspired to embody in the process of enlightenment is one that dissolves the grip of the mind and opens us to the field of possibility that lies as a substratum beyond it. This, in essence, is at the root of meditation practice and ultimately, enlightenment: becoming one with the space through which pure consciousness arises. Enlightened masters tell us to watch the rise and fall of the mind, like the waves of the ocean. The waves are not the ocean, just the surface agitation. The ocean is deep, powerful and vast, just like the space beyond thoughts. “When you have reached enlightenment, ignorance will delude you no longer. In the light of that knowledge you will see the entire creation within your own Atman and in me.” Bhagavad Gita 4:35 In the space between, we open up to the field of pure Parvati Devi is the editor-in-ch ief of Parvati Magazine. In addition to being an internationally acclaimed Canadian singer, songwriter, producer and performer, she is a yoga teacher and holistic educator. Having studied yoga and meditation since 1987, Parvati developed her own yoga teaching style called YEMTM Yoga as Energy Medicine. Her current shows, “YIN: Yoga In the Nightclub” and “Natamba” bring forward a conscious energy into the pop mainstream. Her book “Confessions of a Former Yoga Junkie” is a road map to a revolutionary life makeover for sincere spiritual seekers. For more information on Parvati, please visit www.parvati.tv.