Meditation and yoga effort 

A Releasing Your Unlimited Creativity discussion topic

Copyright 2009 by K. Ferlic,   All Rights Reserved

In the discussion on the overview of the Seven Chakra System is was stated that within the traditional chakra system there are perceived to be four flows of energy. There is an upward, downward, outward and inward flow. The traditional yoga practices were methods used to consciously access the flows of energy. Yoga, as a word, means to yoke or union as one would harnessing an ox or unite it with a wagon to use its life energy to pull the wagon. The goal of many of these yoga practices were to unite or join the individual with the tradition’s concept of the divine. However, within the creativity perspective such activities are unnecessary for one is already in fully union with the divine and Source of Creation. It is just that we don’t live with that awareness because of what we think and believe about Creation and who and what we are. The challenge is to get out of mind and to be what we already are and live the truth of our being.

From a creativity perspective, meditation is a tool and should never be an end in itself. Meditation is of the mind and what mind thinks and believes. It needs to be understood, we mentally choose to meditate and we mentally choose how we meditation. To access the heart we need to learn to step out of mind to surrender to what lies in the heart. For any creative endeavor, we need to be open to feeling to learn to discern (as is calibrating our internal compass) and to surrender to the flow of energy created by the intention we hold and giving rise to the desired experience.

Our creative ability lies in the mind and is about understanding how to do something. Creative ability is more associated with enlightenment - that is we are enlighten about how to create.

Creative power lies in feeling. Without some feeling and passion to act nothing happens. What lies in the heart is about feeling. Meditation will not access what lies in the heart not access our creative power.

From the creativity perspective, meditation is a tool. Meditation, much like exercises, should not be used as an end in itself. The goal should not be to meditate for meditation can be just as powerful as any addiction if it is used to escape what we feel, including stress reduction. Meditation should be used to become mindful and aware of our thoughts and what we feel.

Relative to any yoga effort, we need to remember our inner world is reflected in the outer. As we make inner changes, there will be outer changes. There will be body positions which can help make inner changes and there will be inner changes which change how we desire to hold our body.

Two things need to be recognized in using yoga positions. One is the position we choose to use regardless as to why we choose it is a choice by our mind. Although a given position has helped another or others, it may distract if not actually keep us from what we desire to create. We need to remember our inner world is reflected in the outer. Each of our belief structures are different. What works for one will not necessarily work for another. The more our belief structure is like another, the more we will do things like the other. The more the belief structure is different the more our actions will be different. We need to use positions and techniques which are effective for what we choose to create as determined by the feelings they produce or allow us to have. In particular, they should help us align with the flow of energy that we have discerned as leading us to what we desire to create.

How this all works can be seen as follows. As a result of how we create our experiences and the interconnectedness we have with the creation we experience as discussed in the topics, "Origins of creation/Creation" and "Observer observed pair and the nature of duality," and "How our inner world is reflected in the outer." Any change we make within our being will be reflected externally either in our body, in our environment and/or both and in how we respond to our environment with our body.

Every experience we have in Physical Creation is experienced by our body. All is energy consciousness, in the same way the mind of our consciousness stories memories, our body stores its experiences as body memories. Repeated patterns of thinking and responding to our environment with our body are encoded or imprinted in and on our bodies, its muscles, its tissues, it organs and the like.

Imprinted patterns on or in our body can be experienced in a variety of ways. Body scars can be seen as an obvious imprint of an experience on our body, however, there are others much more subtle. When we work a particular muscle group we strengthen the muscle and the tissues. If we have a particular repetitive movement, our muscle, tissues and often the bones are affected and lead to repetitive motion injuries. Athletic training builds on body memories so we learn to response instinctively as opposed to having to think about acting. The body and its muscles, tissues and the like are designed to instinctively respond based on conditioning.

Similar, if we have stress in our life that stress gets encoded in the body as body memories in a way similar to any other muscle movement. Stress often arises simply as a result of how and what we think and believe about a situation. In essence, any thought and any believe creates a feeling which can become encoded in the body. The question is how much emotion is held in the thought we have. As a result of what we have experienced including the experience of what we think and believe, there are muscles, tissues and the like which have embedded patterns as a result of our past ways of living, being in the world, our past approach life and what we have thought and believed.

As a result, in addition to changing what we think and believe to create a more freeing life and to create a life which better serves us, there is the need to address the body and these memories. The question is, "What is the best way to do so? Yoga positions have been one answer used in the past for specific traditions for a given time and place. But now is not then.

As we explore our creative imagination to see and understand the box in which we have placed our creativity, will need to review and understand what we think and believe about ourselves, life, Creation, God, sex, relationships, and the like as to what serves us and what doesn't serve us. As we begin to work with our mind and what we think and believe and find what does not serve us, we will need to make changes in what we think and believe. As we make these changes, we need to become aware of what parts of our body are talking to us and how they are talking to us. We need to become aware of what we are feeling and sensing in our body. We need to consider if the tradition aligns with what we desire to create and what we think and believe here and now. The belief structure of those who created a particular yoga position is not our belief structure.

There is a wisdom in the body and we need to look at what our body is communicating to us and how to address what it is communicating. On this point, we can leave it at this level, or we can go deeper into the body and look to do some body work and engage the body in what it feels. Here again, the choice is ours. But we need to realize we cannot make mental changes without associated body changes. If we change the mental but don't address what the body is telling us, we will continue on the same path as in the past. The past will continually haunts us because of the body memories. The body and its memories must also be address and appropriately changed.

Similarly, if we attempt to do body work but not change what we think and believe, we simply revert to old mental patterns and undo what the body work releases. There should be a simultaneous effort of mental work and body work. The questions are, "What is the best mental work for the changes one desires to make?" and "what body work, exercises and the like best accompany the mental changes which need to be made?" Yoga has tried to bridge this gap.

The issue is for a creative endeavor is mind only knows the past and what it has experienced. A truly creative endeavor takes us into the unknown where mind has not been. Mind and what it thinks will be of little use including what we think is the appropriate yoga effort. However, we can use what we feel for we can feel the freedom within our being when we let go of the past and what has bound our energy. We may not exactly know what has feeling of freedom or how, but in following the feeling of freedom, we are releasing what needs to be released. But we have to be open to feel to feel the feeling of freedom.

Often we must first face some pain, anger, frustration or the like and then in the release of the cause of that anger, pain or frustration we find the freedom. So, when and if pain, anger, frustration or the like arise, we need to pull the string to see from where the pain, anger or frustration comes. Then, and only then, can we then address the cause at its root.

In exploring options in our creative imagination we can also look at the connections. Any belief or thought we have gives rise to a sensation or feeling within the body. Whether or not we are open to feeling that sensation and can discern it is another question. For example, we can think about our concept of God and look to see if we have any feelings in our body, or, we can think about a particular man or woman and see what we feel. We can think about anything and see if a part of our body talks to us. What we feel on any subject is very important and should be noted for it tells us how our being is processing the energy and whether or not that energy serves or does not serve us.

Related topics
How we create our experiences

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