Yoga As Preparation For Death and Dying Chapter 1

Readers,

Yoga can also be a controversial subject and practice. With a larger rate of yogic mutations in style and beliefs, my field is one littered with landmines of the taboo. I have been practicing and studying with in the field intensely for four years now and I am happy to report that the times for narrow minded nonpracticitioners are changing. Yoga practitioners are coming in many more varieties these days:

Psychonauts,
Christians,
Hindu,
Buddhists,
Tattoo Sporting Practitioners,
Professionals in the working and athletic fields,
Tantra (John Friend),
Native American belief systems (Ana Forrest),
Smokers,
and just about every other kind of person or ideal you can think of.

One thing that I came across in my readings and research is a something called Shadow Yoga. Oh, doesn't that sound mysterious. As far as my research tells me, Shadow Yoga is simply a practice of obscure yoga teachings (breathing, aka pranayama, body positions aka asana, and philosophy). This leads me to believe that what I am currently practicing, while derived from Hatha yoga practice, is gradually passing into the realm of Shadow Yoga. I am inviting people from all walks of life to start Waking Within as they do intense personal-questing and inner journey work.

I am blessed to know that the more that I prepare my humanity with light meditations (light in the sense of love or coherent frequencies), the more I am given the opportunity to visit and embrace my shadow side (incoherent tendencies or chaos). Readers can take comfort in knowing that the light/dark side qualities are equal and balanced; so naturally the more that you work on one, the more you shall be working on the other.

I guess what I am trying to say in this entry is that yoga is based on union or the principle of ONENESS. Therefore light and dark (shadow or unpopular/obscure) are simply masks of true life or wisdom that exists in balance.

This aside, let's learn something:

"Yoga as Preparation for Death"By Trevor Ryan Hughes

Since the begining of time yoga has been know as a system of Liberation or freedom. With this I was led to contemplate on the question of "freedom from what?" Modern times seem to be influcening my decision regarding "freedom from what". There is quite a bit out there with regard to humanity and its search for freedom. As a young man in California I was influenced by "the Matrix", "A Clockwork Orange", "The Dark Crystal", "Jet Li's Fearless", "Kung Fu The Series", "Catcher In The Rye", author Joyce Carol Oats, "The Alchemist", and large amount of science fiction stories that really convey the message "that a human is more than meets the eye".

In the words of Yoda (Star Wars): "Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes."

In fact to quote Swami Sivananda in the glorious DVD movie Yoga Unveiled:

"Do you want to be master of your destiny? Do not be discouraged in sorrows, difficulties, and tribulations that manifest in the daily battle of life. Draw courage and spiritual strength from within. There is a vast inexhaustable magazine of knowledge and power within. Learn the ways to tap the source, dive deep within!"

Yoga as death prep is a process that combines all the flowery stuff that we in the west practice such as postures, meditation and breathing, and healthy lifestyle; with all the scarrey stuff from the east such as breath locking, diet, abstaining from toxic things, states of no-breath/near-death/never starvation. These things when combined bring in what I have begun to personally experience as "fearlessness" (a godlike quality discussed in the Bhagavad Gita).

Yoga when practiced with these processed from the East and West, is designed to destroy and recreate or transfigure self, time, and space through the mystical experience. Many individuals undergo a psychological shift or a psychedelic flash when faced with the mystical experience. Research points to these "shifted" individuals as having a larger interest in communal, meditation based ascetic life. Yoga looks to destroy the separation between what is self and what is not self...

Death and Yoga are both processed that help a human to understand the most basic level of underlying unity and interdependence of all existence. The unity experience contains past, present, and future in the Now of Eternity. From these spaces of "here and only here" an individual can determine paradox without conflict.

This conversation continues in future blogs entitled "Yoga as Preparation for Death". Inspired by the research of Dr. Rick Strassman.

Please let us know what you think and visit our myspace or send us a direct message via WakingWithin@gmail.com or Omtrevor@gmail.com

Namaste,

Trevor Ryan Hughes CYT
Waking Within Co.
www.myspace.com/wakingwithin
Carlsbad CA
760-710-1713