These Are My Experiences
It was my senior year of high school (1985-1986). I was taking Spanish class, which happened to be after lunch. Lunch time can be crazy and loud, especially when the seniors are in charge. At any rate, our Spanish teacher new this; her method was different, but it worked. She told us the first day exactly what the M.O. was going to be and she was only going to say it once. We had to enter the class without speaking, put all our things on the floor (the desk top was to be completely clear of pencils, pens, paper, books, etc.). The lights were already out. We could close our eyes or put our heads down on the desk. Once everyone was in, the door would shut. AND Pachelbel's Canon in D would play. It was a method of getting us to calm down, clear our minds and be ready to learn Spanish. AND it worked!
THE ABOVE MENTIONED ROUTINE IS A FORM OF MEDITATION.
Who knew, at that time, that I was learning to meditate. I surely didn't. It wasn't until much later in life when reading more about yoga and meditation that I realized I was learning to meditate all along and didn't even know it.
THE ABOVE MENTIONED ROUTINE IS A FORM OF MEDITATION.
Who knew, at that time, that I was learning to meditate. I surely didn't. It wasn't until much later in life when reading more about yoga and meditation that I realized I was learning to meditate all along and didn't even know it.
The Upanishads delineate three ordinary states of consciousness: waking, dreaming, and dreamless sleep. Each is real, but each has a higher order of reality. For beyond these three, the Upanishads say, is the unitive state, called simply "the fourth": turiya. Entering this state is similar to waking up out of dream sleep: the individual passes from a lower level of reality to a higher one. (p. 28)
- The Bhagavad Gita Translated by Eknath Easwaran
In my senior year, I decided to go out for the swim team. I was a pretty good swimmer and had already played on the JV Water Polo team, so why not. I was more of a sprinter, than a long distance (500 yards) swimmer, at least for racing thas is. I could swim the 500, but not at any good racing speeds. Everyone had to practice 500s. We had to pull a 500. We had to kick a 500. And of course, we had to straight swim a 500.
One practice in particular, I was in the middle of the pool pulling a 500. I was working on counting my breaths and trying to take more strokes than breaths. 500s can be slow, rhythmic and methodical - all the makings for a meditative practice. Ever so slightly, I noticed that I wasn't breathing or was I breathing and hadn't noticed that I was breathing. I couldn't remember the last breath I took. I felt like I became the water. I became the swimming. AND yet I was still myself, but not myself. And a few thoughts entered my mind - Am I a fish? Am I just water? Am I everything at once? As I was approaching the wall for a turn, it all vanished. That whole experience disappeared like waking up out of a dream. BUT I wasn't dreaming. It was pretty tripindicular.
At that time, I didn't think anything of it other than it was an interesting experience.
One practice in particular, I was in the middle of the pool pulling a 500. I was working on counting my breaths and trying to take more strokes than breaths. 500s can be slow, rhythmic and methodical - all the makings for a meditative practice. Ever so slightly, I noticed that I wasn't breathing or was I breathing and hadn't noticed that I was breathing. I couldn't remember the last breath I took. I felt like I became the water. I became the swimming. AND yet I was still myself, but not myself. And a few thoughts entered my mind - Am I a fish? Am I just water? Am I everything at once? As I was approaching the wall for a turn, it all vanished. That whole experience disappeared like waking up out of a dream. BUT I wasn't dreaming. It was pretty tripindicular.
At that time, I didn't think anything of it other than it was an interesting experience.
In the unitive experience, every trace of separateness disappears; life is a seamless whole. But the body cannot remain in this state for long. After a while, awareness of mind and body returns, and them the conventional world of multiplicity rushes in again with such vigor and vividness that the memory or unity, though stamped with reality, seems as distant as a dream. (p. 26, 27) - The Bhagavad Gita Translated by Eknath Easwaran
Going back a bit, I also played basketball in high school (all four years, JV and Varsity). Basketball practice has its own sounds and rhythms. And now, upon reflection, I can think of three or four instances during practices and games where I felt as one with the ball and the game in a particular moment. And in that moment I dribbled well and scored. I can dribble well and am a pretty good shooter in general, but in these particular moments there was a loss of myself. These were very short moments - seconds. Unlike my swimming experience, which seemed to have lasted much longer.
Nowhere has this "mysterious Eastern notion" been formulated more succinctly than in the epigram of Ruysbroeck: "We behold what we are, and we are what we behold." When we look at unity through the instruments of the mind, we see diversity; when the mind is transcended, we enter a higher mode of knowing - turiya, the fourth state of consciousness - in which duality disappears. This does not mean, however, that the phenomenal world is an illusion or unreal. The illusion is the sense of separateness. (p. 28, 29)
- The Bhagavad Gita Translated by Eknath Easwaran
So, why am I calling myself an accidental yogi as a teenager. Well, yoga is the process of honing your physical abilities with breath, which steadies the mind and helps it become more focused. A focused mind can tame the thoughts that come and go and at some point there is just pure being. For many people this can take a lifetime to achieve, but I did it pretty early on and thought nothing of it. Now, that I've had more life experience and have read a lot of Indian philosophy, I've come to appreciate my ability. And I want others to have the same knowledge.
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