Calling : Purifying the Heart and Mind with 5 Sense Therapy

What is the tune of your vibration?

Your sense of hearing is the finest sense of all the five senses. It connects to the ether or space element. Your sense of seeing connects to the fire element and allow you to digest what you see culminating into your outer and inner vision or intellectual and spiritual outlook. In a similar fashion, your sense of hearing needs space or stillness in order to express and receive the sound and connect you to your inner calling or your vibration.

I think one of the greatest contribution to today's human and societal malaise is the over-exposed sense of hearing. As I said this I am hearing a loud sound of a garbage pick-up truck in front of my house. It is disconcerting to the nervous system. But we endure this and feed our ears with even more jarring sounds by choice on a regular basis. In order to bring balance to your tune and hear your true calling you have to create appropriate tonal vibration for yourself. Here are some steps you can take.

1. Get quiet.
Your sense of hearing needs space. If you have been exposing yourself constantly with sounds, take a break. Take at least a day off from talking or listening to music, movies, speech, conversations and any other man-made sounds.

2. Listen to nature.
Give yourself a gift of sound healing and immerse yourself in the sound of nature. Listen to ocean waves, waterfall, bird singing, animal roaring, wind blowing leaves...

3. Listen to the music of the heart.
Music that contains no words connect to emotional vibration. Music that contains words connects to mental vibration. Words can connect you to your emotion but it goes through the mental process and trap you to the physical world. It crowds your mind and block your calling. In contrast, listening to classical music, traditional drumming or any other soothing, rhythmic instrumentals connects you directly to your heart and feeling. Scott Blossom, my yoga teacher said "Prana flows to life when you are not thinking." Let the right music feeds and nourish you.

4. Listen to the higher vibration.
The sound of Om, Bija Mantras (Sanskrit seed sounds) and Mantras are the pathway I use to tune up to the higher vibration. In the eastern spiritual tradition, a mantra is a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that are considered capable of creating transformation. The equivalence in the western tradition is a prayer. Before and during a session of Ayurvedic body therapy I was taught to chant a certain mantra appropriate to the individual receiving the treatment. The chanting can be done out loud or silently repeated in the mind. I also practice Japa meditation by repeating the mantra mentally while using 108 Mala beads to keep the mind focus.

5. Express your true vibration.
What comes out of your mouth go back in your ears and affect your sense of hearing. The vibration you share through your own sound either uplift or lower your and collective vibration. Harmful words are said in reaction to your feeling of fear, anger and grief. They show up as a gossip, a lie, a polite avoidance or an unmeaningful chat. Take a moment to be with, process and accept your inner experience before communicating it to others. You suppress your inner experience and manipulate your outer experience when you try to impress others through your words positively or negatively. Say what your heart wants to say in order to express your true vibration.

6. Receive your calling.
You can either live your drama or your Dharma. Dharma means truth and it connects you to your life purpose or your calling. Drama is an elaborate mental work. It separates you from the truth. Do you like listening to other people's stories? Do you like telling your stories? Are you or perhaps many of your friends are drama queen/king? Drama makes your life complicated. In this environment it is impossible for you to notice and hear your inner voice. Create space in your mind through a quiet practice of yoga and meditation. Your life will become simple and spacious. The tune of your vibration will no longer attract drama beings into your life. Within this simplicity and spaciousness you will find your life purpose and true calling.

These steps are helpful in cultivating a balance vibrational tune for your life's song. It doesn't mean that you have to stop enjoying a little story telling or some rock music. But after practicing the steps you may find that you no longer are attracted to them. Your sense of hearing is balance when you can be with all kind of vibrational expression without grasping or averting. And no matter what tune you are hearing at the moment you are always listening to your inner song.

Vision : Purifying the Heart and Mind with 5 Sense Therapy

Whenever I mention the ayurvedic 5 sense therapy to clients I see their eyes lit up. It sounds like some feel good spa treatment nobody wants to miss. In truth, 5 sense therapy is an active practice and YOU are the practitioner. Your sense of seeing connects to the fire element and allow you to digest what you see culminating into your outer and inner vision or intellectual and spiritual outlook.

We are in an extremely visual time in our culture. You can see your friends thousands of miles away from you and all the scenes which the medias find worthwhile to capture on screen. You can create and share your images for the world to see through YouTube. This blog allows me to communicate my thoughts to you. Everybody (except me) seems to have a phone equipped with camera and internet so you can always fill your vision with images and words of your own or of others.

Your reality is shaped by your perception. Your choice of visual input influences your perception and creates your world. It's impossible to see an alternative reality if you live your life surrounding by the same scenes and expose yourself to the same point of view. With the technology and the precipitous choices you have, how do you bring balance to your sense of seeing or your vision?

The more I study yoga and ayurveda the more I realize that nothing happens for no reason and there is no such thing as accidents. I used to get in tiny accidents all the time - a bruise here and there, dropping things and so on. They don't happen so often now. I contribute it to my mindfulness of the five senses. If I happen to fall and hurt my foot or have a headache I take a moment pause. I look back and connect the result which is how I feel to the cause which is what I was doing before the condition occurs - eating, watching, hearing, touching or smelling.

Observing your use of the five senses cultivates reasoning strategy. It allows you to fully live your experience, to be here and to witness. Eventually, you become adept to listening to your inner needs and feeding your body properly through the five senses at any given moment. You become intuit(ive). Your intuition allows you to live with ease in an unbroken flow. If an accident occurs it too is a part of that flow and you can appreciate its gift and grow from its lesson.

Slowing down and having a period of fasting is crucial if you have been over-exposing your sense of seeing. Stop watching TV, texting, facebooking, twittering and entertainment reading for a day or more. Purifying the heart and mind requires that you cleanse both. You make space then afterward fill the space with what feed and nourish both your heart and mind the most. What you choose to watch, read, write and share through words and pictures should give you and others intellectual and spiritual wisdom which uplift the collective vision.

There are certain qualities which purify your heart and mind. Your chosen visual fares should support the health of your body, mind and spirit. The followings are the main ingredients which bring balance to your sense of seeing and support your inner and outer vision.

1. Sadhana
Does your surrounding, what you read and watch provides you a means to connect to your spiritual life? I am assuming that if you are reading this blog you are somewhat open to the idea that spiritual life uplifts you and material life brings suffering. When you are stuck in the material perception your vision is limited by shapes, forms and words. You are possessed by comparison to others' look and material achievement. Sadhana means spiritual practice. When you practice Sadhana you associate with subjects and objects that would inspire spiritual living. What you see cultivate gratitude, love and kindness as opposed to desires, clinging and aversion. Your awareness is internal and your vision is expansive.

2. Sattva
Does your surrounding, what you read and watch bring spaciousness, ease and calm to your emotional mind? Are the contents and colors soothing or irritating? Do they influence your mental faculty toward purity and spiritual enlightenment or toward material obsession? For more on Sattva please read my past blog "Cultivating Sattva." Exposing yourself to Sattvic material sooth, clear, and calm your heart and mind.

3. Dharma
Does what you choose to see communicate truth or perpetuate dramatic illusion? Dharma is the ultimate reality or truth which operates nature. When you live your Dharma you live a life of purpose. Notice your surrounding at home or at work. Are you surrounding yourself with natural objects such as plants, flowers, rocks, wood, water or man-made objects? Do you read or watch subjects which communicate truth or perpetuate dramas? Do they instill anxiety, fear, cynicism and hatred which separate you from the rest of the world? Nature functions as interconnected parts. Exposing yourself to nature and its universal law cultivates truthful perception of the natural cycle - birth, life and death. There is no ending nor separation. There is nothing to fear when you know your true nature as spirit intertwined with matters.

As you can see all the three ingredients direct you toward spiritual realization. Yet you are not just a spirit because if you are then there is no need to balance your sense of seeing. Purifying the heart and mind is not about denying the worldly reality in order to pursuit the spiritual reality. You feed both intellectual and spiritual- heart and mind. By understanding and balancing all aspect of yourself you are the artist of your five senses. You can create a masterpiece of your life and live its full potential.

I have just realized that I am reading three books simultaneously. I read The Dhamapada:Verses on The Way by Glenn Wallis after the morning meditation, Dancing with Life by Phillip Mofitt whenever I have time during the day and The Book of Secrets by Deepak Chopra before I go to bed. I normally read one book at a time so, this new pattern is fascinating to me. It is no accident. I am overcompensating the use of my sense of seeing. Yes, I have been blogging, facebooking, news reading and movie watching. I live in the world and I appreciate worldly activities and vision that connect me to my fellow beings.

I draw my balance through reading spiritual books. Those that would support my highest vision and cultivate within me Dharma, Sattva and Sadhana. So that I can connect to myself as pure awareness or spiritual being while living in this body, seeing from these eyes, processing the worldly information and keeping it all real.

Clinging (love) vs. LOVE

To cling is to desire a different past and a certain outcome for the future.

I had a conversation with a dear friend of mine a few days back. We discussed how one could let go of clinging or desires. I know I have to be present. It is missing when I dwell in the past and the future. But how? How can I experience ease and joy of the present moment when I can't pull away from my desire for the past and future?

Here is what she told me. Instead of reasoning my way out of it, I need to experience my clinging and desire fully. The past and the future is only in my head - in thoughts. So, explore it all the way using thoughts and visualization. Take "thinking it through" to another level. Watch the whole story unfolds. Go with it from the beginning to the end. Don't stop yourself. Don't tell yourself these are trouble thoughts. Allow yourself to experience the thoughts fully.

And so, I did. I have been talking in my yoga classes about being open to experience all the emotions whether you label them positive or negative. Because once you experience them fully you then have no need for them anymore and you can truly move on. They may come back again but you are more comfortable in your body and mind while experiencing them.I am now using this knowledge to skillfully work with clinging as well.

After just one session I felt spaciousness enveloped me. It was like I broke a spell. Instead of thinking about my object of desire (which can be a situation, person or object) I began to see the world around me. People who I have not thought much about because I was so focus on my desired object began to surface in my thoughts. And so are all the precious gifts I have which support my life. I felt a sense of ease and gratitude for everything that I have and everyone that I know. I felt a sense of connectedness. I felt LOVE.

The most effective way to get out of your head is to get in it. Observe everything that comes to pass. Afterward you may get the result I got. "Do I REALLY want that?" was my response to the outcome of what I have observed. It's no fun being stuck in the ego. You reduce your chance of joy by achieving the one object of your desire. That's extremely limited considering what you have out there. Get out of your head, let go of the small love and feel the LOVE.