Happiness…

What is happiness? Happiness is different to every single individual, but no matter where you are in the world on what continent, what race you are,  you are most likely to be in pursuit of the same things, and how we react when we are happy is strangely similar.

Many sciences have studied this, since the ego is telling us from the first day we use our brain, that we are separate one of each other, we are different, we are individuals, and the strongest will win this race.

Like each race or sport event, this game that we are trained to participate even from a small age, have rules and are organized by someone.

But who is this brilliant mind that created this game? Who “owns” this sport?

They are doing a pretty damn job. You are born and even your parents have the belief that they are teaching you good, you should be able to do everything, be better than the neighbor, use your head, work hard, and after, work even harder.

Because you want to be the first. So you forget that you are a spiritual being having a human experience, you forget about love, because that is weakness, you sacrifice all your time in pursuing something that has no end, sex just becomes a thing you need from time to time, like food, you lose the appetite of life and you go for power.

Because power makes you feel important, better, your happiness is then based on the unhappiness of others, and they teach you to be a machine. To exclude your human side from your identity, and that you can walk on anyone who is standing in your way. Destroy nature and kill everything that stands between you and your prize. Like a trained dog, you will obey even if is going to take you to your own coffin.

And the sad thing is in not even your way. Is their way, they tell you what is happiness, they tell you what is power, they take the decision for you. Because you become this thing that just respond to impulses.

So how you see a mouse going to eat some cheese and dying in a trap. And that may seem pretty amusing to you, because you are this evolved smart being. The same thing they are doing to you. Because guess what, they are smarter.

They keep you busy until you die, create goals that may take a life time or 2, big house, expensive cars, expensive everything. And if you can afford them, they will just create more expensive things to keep you busy, so you don’t question the system and you are comfortable in this life they created for you, or they hold you responsible for it. And happiness becomes something related to consumerism, how much you accumulate, how much do you have, the false illusion that without a Ferrari, a very expensive bag, and new shoes, your happiness is just impossible.

Like a hamster in a cage, with good food, some devices so he can be in shape, a partner, some small babies..:) And the more effort you put on your rolling wheel, the bigger the cage gets, better food, a softer bed. Until one day, you die, without even knowing that there is a forest out there, fields with sun, all kind of seeds and soft grass, soft mud to dig in, and all kind of marvelous things.

So what happened? Where did your life gone wrong? Well you’ll have the chance to see it before you die, and come to this conclusion alone.

What if your whole life was wrong? Just because you didn’t pay any attention to the present. Your pursuit for happiness was always postponed in a future, or you felt like, you will never experience the intensity of what you had in the past.

So your present has either become regret or work towards something that TV, newspaper, radio, society, schools, entourage tells you is happiness.

How much time a day do you spend contemplating, what is happiness to you? What do you think you need from life, what makes you feel complete.

My teacher used to said that we spend so much time, creating a hard time for us, making us unhappy, but when the times come to be happy… we just wait for it, to fall from the sky.

I was just reading an article about the 2 wealthiest families in the world. They are trying to reduce the minimum wage of their employments salary, their benefits medical etc so they can have more. And the ego the word enough, doesn’t exists. There is only one way, and that way is more…

If you cannot be happy with what you are already having, you will never be happy with having more. Work on your perception on how you see things, be more loving, be more human, do errors and return to your child side. Appreciate what you are having, be grateful for your health, for the people around you, for the society you were born and stop complaining. There is always worse than the situation that you are now, so if you are not able to find for what to be grateful, just be grateful that things don’t go more wrong.

If you don’t believe that, keep your dissatisfy attitude, and you will see that each day can be worse than the previous.

Keep the chin up and a positive attitude, work towards something more fulfilling, build your compassion, and understanding, do yoga, read a book and tell me the difference.

A short introduction to the power of thoughts

Every thought every feeling is releasing a wave in the universe, around your body.

Are like wireless signals, just because you don t see them doesn’t mean they are not there.

What you think you attract. What you feel you attract.

And that is how the exterior world responds to you. Your relations, work, activities are affected by your thoughts.

Are your thoughts positive? Are you thankful? Is your life feel like is heading in the right direction? Or you want to improve something in yourself.

For me the body is just an antenna, it sends and receives signals. Your mind is the place where all the signals are acknowledged. Sometimes you just need to have a downsize on employment, because some of the intelligence working there are just messing things out.

And you are responsible for their work, the more knowledge you put, the more your consciousness will grow, you start seeing things differently you have more empathy. More knowledge will turn into wisdom, and that will change the perception you have on things, on everything. You are re-patterning the mind.

Every memory is labeled, the stronger the memories the more thoughts reinforcing that particular idea.

For example making a statement of yourself saying you’re stupid. At first it will mean nothing, it can be neglected, but then your mind is reinforcing that feeling: ”I am stupid because I forgot my keys at home, I made a wrong choice 5 min ago, I talked without thinking, I didn’t planned my day right, I I I i….”

So you feel stupid, stupid will remain in your head reinforced by all those thoughts. In order for you to break this pattern is to replace them with new thoughts.

“I am amazing because….is not the society telling me what I am, God never does something wrong, wrong doesn’t exist, my mind is trained in schools since I was little to compete, there is no competition, there is no pressure, there is only my happiness, and saying I’m stupid I become my own enemy, I am more than I appear to be, I am a part of god, cosmic powder and the same intelligence is keeping my body intact, is walking me through this beautiful experience…i am fulfilling everything there is to fulfill…I am already doing my Dharma, it is just that I wasn’t aware of this before…I am un-manifested potential, waiting to explode, that has the potential to be more than the big-bang itself…I am the universe in a human body. There is no separation between me and everything. Space is an illusion, as matter is an illusion. 99.9% of my body is space and yet I see it as matter, just because I don t have the brain or eyes to see space for what it is, saying that I am separate from something else. It’s like saying that my eyes are not my own, they belong to someone else. ”

Ignorance is a great ally of Ego, Empathy and Knowledge is the best Friend of Your Soul.

I’m not saying to break any alliances, just be smart where you direct your energy. Ignorance has never brought nothing good to your life, but knowledge and wisdom are just improving your perception each day. Making this place a heaven, acknowledging and appreciating everything that comes into your life.

Start attracting more wealth, happiness and positive things in your life. Change your routine, build new habits. Create your own destiny, rather than feeling a victim of the universe.

You and you alone are responsible for everything you are feeling.

“To be? or not to be?” that is the question…

One teacher used to say “to be? or not to be” that is the answer

My teacher used to say that we are all meditating, all the time, we are just not aware what meditation is. Meditation is keeping focus on one particular thing, and you are so focused on that thing, that you never lose track of it no matter what.

And he said you are Samy. From the moment you were born, you may change the perspective on who you are, but you never forget your identity. You can sleep, and wake up being yourself, have a massive party, and after 2 days you are still being yourself.

But I will say meditation is even deeper than that. Medicine, drugs, alcohol, a mental imbalance can take away that focus, can make you forget about the identity you had until that day. So who are you really?

Most of the time we believe that who we are is what we do, or what we posses, or what other think about us. So we are struggling to create appearances, to gain importance, to become special in the eyes of everyone. But the truth is, this is a never ending process, you cannot satisfy everybody. And the truth is even if you satisfy 99 people out of 100, you will always pay attention to that 1 individual, rather than be grateful for the bigger success you had. And the sad story is that they appreciate actually someone else, someone who you are trying to be rather than who you are.

Wayne Dyer says “The ego is only an illusion, but a very influential one. Letting the ego-illusion become your identity can prevent you from knowing your true self. Ego, the false idea of believing that you are what you have or what you do, is a backwards way of assessing and living life.”

A student went to his teacher and asked him.

“Teacher what is truth?”

“Truth is the thing that never changes, no matter what.”

And then in the scriptures of different religions “And the truth will set you free…”

You are free when you escape from this fear, that you will die, the pressure that you have to satisfy everyone, and that your existence will end one day. Believing that your true self is the person who you are today is the greatest lie.

You are the soul, and the soul will never die, in Bhagavad-Gita and the Bible there are passages that say you can kill the flesh, but there is no weapon to kill the soul.

“What is true in the morning, will be a lie in the evening”

What you think you are in the morning, will end up being a lie in the evening.I don t know about you but there is a different version of me every day, i m always changing, actually this is the only constant thing in the universe “change”.

So that is not the “truth” about me. The truth is that i am something more, something else.

Meditation for me is not something you read, “I see a blue energy coming, and rising me to the sky, the mind stops, I fly with the birds…”.I don’t know what you’re taking, but this is my Facebook page, send me a private message.

So meditation for me is being yourself, your true self, being the “I” in “I am …” being awareness, paying attention to what is happening around you, that is how you define awareness, you are behind the thoughts, you are that something that cannot be defined. When you are in a coma, or in a deep sleep you forget that you can die, you are not afraid, for not waking up exactly how you used to be.

The you spend some time being more close to your true self, the self that even you cannot define, understanding that you are more than a body, more than a brain, you are something intangible, behind. This human experience can be heaven or hell depending on how we “build” our perception.

So why are you afraid of dying? In fact the next thing after you wake up from a deep sleep, you just want to go back again, to that peace, the place that never wrongs you. The place that so many people are trying to reach by smoking, drinking, taking drugs…

Meditation is something that gets more and more intense, with practice. Like practicing yoga in a class, but doing yoga outside the class.

That is the moment that you are the real you. So you’re washing your false identity, and you become awareness.

Buddha defined meditation “You just sit, and listen to your breath.” Isn’t he saying the same thing? But just in a simple way, all his teaching where simple. Just pay attention.

“Improve your own being…”

It is strange to chant or ohm in your first classes, at first it looks like you’re in a sect, or that some people are doing it just for showing of or authenticity.

No matter what is the reason you are doing this, even if you choose your own reason. There are many things behind this ritual.

One of them is that is scientifically proven that sounds-vibration affect matter, and not only that but you can modify their proprieties just by creating a sound.

They call it Cymatics, one of the person who studied this phenomena is Dr. Masaru  Emoto , who  just passed away 2 days ago. He was studying how you do molecular changes to water just by saying I love you, or putting music to it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIBhZknJEMI

In fact it just go deeper, the difference between solid, liquid, or gas matter is just about frequency.

There are many studies done on this subject that can be found all over the internet.

In the bible and many scriptures it is said that first it was the sound.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

So what really happens when we chant ohm, or mantras or we sing?

Well an mature body is made up of at least 65% water, if vibration can change the structure of water? Can we be so ignorant and say that vibration, sounds, does not affect us.

The moon is so far and still can’t let us sleep, or creates waves in the sea.

They photograph water how it reacts to classical music or black metal music. See the pictures.

So chanting may be seen as a preparation of the body, mind, and spirit for what is to come. You re modifying your body at a molecular level, preparing for meditation, yoga pranayama or whatever you want.

Chanting mantras are usually in Sanskrit, one of the oldest languages, which is also considered a sacred language of the world. All the ancient secrets of the world are written in Sanskrit.

But for me is the vibration you are producing. Why can the voice of a mother make a baby, smile, or make his heart pound? What is your voice doing to your own body? I know that when you yell at someone that person is reacting somehow, when you make compliments people get happy. So who is getting happy? Aren’t your cell in your body, getting energized?

So for me not chanting in a class, is losing some of the benefits yoga brings. Is like choosing which asanas you are going to practice and which not, is like choosing which proteins, minerals you are going to put in your body, without knowing the body. If you’re aiming for the full benefits this is one thing you should add to your practice.

Yoga for me is the most complete physical practice known today. It works with your body, mind, and energy electric-magnetic, rejuvenates the skin and all the tissues in the body, cells and so many things that we are still studying.

Yoga is giving an alphabet, to your soul, so we can start to know and understand each other. It is not the soul that need that, it is my mind that is limited, and needs to open.

And is not even me, is society that wants me to ignore my human side, trying to stop me from being a human being. They want me to use my left hemisphere of the brain, where the memory is, where logic and mathematics is, and if you use that well you get diplomas money and  you are a “good citizen”. If i use my right hemisphere i am creative, i use my intuition, love, kindness, art, but i m more likely to be rejected by doing so, because i m not a robot, i m not a machine that answer to authority. I am something they cannot control with media, money, consumerism.  

I am so grateful when I see people waking up, doing an effort so they can join a yoga class in the morning. And that is the most important thing, how they start the day.

They start the day by discipline, is so easy to stay in bed, have just a few more minutes of sleep, or hours. But then what is the difference between you and an animal?

They say is awareness, well awareness doesn’t really mean anything if you’re just aware and witnessing yourself, acting like an animal. You respond to impulses: “I’m hungry, I eat…I am carving for sweets, I just go and grab some…. I carve for that person body, I’ll just make myself available…” and so many more examples. That is what every living thing can take proud in.

So where is that “you” in this action? You use the awareness to witness your actions, Or to take action?

So taking power over your mind, changing the person who rule that person with whom you identify yourself, is discipline, is will power. Is you having a say on what your action are.

Probably you cannot quiet the thoughts, and I will not consider you responsible for them. But your actions will define who you are.

And slowly in time, your thoughts, will be replaced with new ones. Because even the mind gets tired some time, of being against your nature, and it will surrender itself. Because the mind wants peace also.

Build your discipline. Is not going to be easy, to change the habits.

“Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed down-stairs one step at a time.” ― Mark Twain

As an experiment, I start a class sometimes in a cross-legged position, silence for 5 min. Then the students just because I don t tell them what is going to happen next, their brain is starting to take over, the thoughts take over.

“What am I doing now? What is next, this is the class? No! something has to happened, my back starts hurting, probably I shouldn’t be here, an asthanga class is so more dynamic I don’t have time to think, ohh did I close the door at home, what am I going to do this weekend? Let s start doing something my back hurts, I cannot stand this I will open the eyes just to check what everyone is doing.”

And so many more things are happening. We say we are looking for peace, for tranquility, for happiness. But when we experience them, we expect something else, most of the time silence is a strange concept to us. So we get busy, put some music, get some work, any kind of activity, only to avoid being with ourselves.

“If you feel lonely when you are alone, you are in a bad company.”

Is like our brain is engaged all the time in some kind of activity. Once you are silent, and doing nothing, the brain is scared, and starts creating thoughts, because he feels naked, discovered, by your true identity. The fact that you are someone behind, and you stop identifying yourself with your brain, with your thoughts, you become aware of who you are. You discover your true self.

Because you realize you are not the body, you are something that cannot be touched, yes you feel pain from the body, you are connected to it, but somehow, that pain can be adjusted, you can feel less and less. And the brain is like another personality, he gets scared, that you will try to stop his existence. So it will create all this states, thoughts and fluctuation in the mind.

The more silent moments we get, the less impact the brain is going to have on our life.

“The mind is a great servant, but a bad master.”

Start being the master of your mind, take control. Take power back in to your hands.

In yoga you start being present, with breathing, less thoughts, more movement and awareness, you slowly and gradually take control over the body. You become back the master. Start your practice this today.

Lao Tzu describes yoga for what it is:

“A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving”

This should be the mentality of everyone. Start your yoga class like this, today. Do not create expectation, because that is the source of disappointment. Just enjoy and pay attention on what you are doing in that moment.

Sometimes we try to find balance in the most difficult places, we practice meditation with the sirens of the police on the background, and we have a yin class with electro-house music from a  place close by.

We cannot change others, and we are not trying to, we can only improve our own being. That is what my teacher used to say. Stop trying to control every situation, to create the perfect environment, your comfort zone, but instead explore your discomforts, fears.

Like in yoga we get in uncomfortable situations, so that after, when we pass from that situation/postures, everything is getting more comfortable. We raise the threshold of what discomfort means, what pain is, what is cold or hot to the body, we get better.

We are super-Buddhas, super yogis, super everything, finding balance in the most occurred situation, we get stronger than the examples we follow. In the past it was a lot easier to meditate under a tree, with birds in the air, loving nature, having healthy food, a roof over the head and clothes was true richness. That was easy 3000 years ago. Try meditating now i think is a little bit more challenging.

Everywhere you turn your head, there is an image, a place specially designated so it can manipulate your senses, you are unaware of all the subtle messages you get every day, all the substances that can inhibit your neuro-transmitters telling you when to stop eating, or that you need sweets,meat, a tv that tell us what to be, when to be, where to spend our energy.

And somehow we survive this, we are aware and detach from them.

So let s bring more awareness to some aspects in our life. Let s chose the positive from every situation. We create our own reality.

I was thinking to dedicate classes to a special need, let s say back pain. “Back pain yoga” instead of “Hatha Yoga”, people with back pain will come to that class expecting exercises for their back, but instead I m having a normal yoga class. Their perception will treat the back, as most of the asanas treat everything in the body, yes you can pay more attention to particular parts of the body, but a yoga class is an overall health.

Just because you’re not aware of the postures doesn’t mean that you don’t get the benefits, but Awareness will definitely improve everything. And if I m giving you ice cream and tell you it was recently discovered that ice cream, releases endorphin and heals cancer. Your mood will definitely rise and you will feel you are healing yourself.

But all that is happening in the mind, the thoughts are change everything. So be smart chose your thoughts carefully. So if yoga only brings positive things in your life, why are you trying to question the happiness it brings in you?

It is like you are not used to happiness anymore, with silence and peace, so you’re hurting yourself one way or another.

Thoughts are saying “I m healing my back…I don t understand how but definitely this is a posture for my back.”, in a back pain yoga class.

And this thoughts are beneficial, are healing you, but what if you use this every day, in every situation. It may be a placebo effect but your head doesn’t make the difference, and  you are healing.

So make this your intention for every class you are having. “I m getting more flexible, more loving, I m healing my pain in the back, in the leg, everything I m doing here is to improve my mind, I m getting stronger, I can control my thoughts, I am here!”

But most of us are like “this is boring, I would prefer a boxing class, or killing myself in weights, all this breathing is stupid, and how much are we staying in this posture? Why isn’t the teacher doing sun salutation today? How will this improve my health? …etc”

And how can you be happy or enjoy something if your head is using 40% for thinking about the future, 30% you are using past memories so you can plan the future, and the rest you are paying attention to the present “ needs “. If we concentrate always on what we have to do, and what we are lacking? How can there be place for happiness?!

Lao Tzu said “When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be”

Happiness is based today on “what others cannot get”. The most expensive things, brands, things that we don’t need. But we are “Taught” that we are. We concentrate on the things we don’t have, and just because it s so hard to get it get s attractive to us. It is like we are frustrating ourselves willingly.

If I m going to buy a Ferrari with 200 000 euros, but change the name with an Chinese brand, change the shape of the car so people will not notice it s a Ferrari, but leave the motor, all his options included. And then try to sell it for 50 000 nobody will even pay attention to it. That is the effect of branding, we can buy expensive t-shirts but after we have to brag about it, because if not, there is no real pleasure in what we accumulate. Redefine your needs, think more on the source of desires, where do they come from, do you need it , why you need it? And how is that going to affect your situation.

How much time are you spending a day, on figuring what happiness is to you, not to others, what completes you, or just to realize how many great things you did, how amazing you are, and that every day you are improving.

“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power. If you realize that you have enough, you are truly rich.”

A journey of 1,000 miles starts with one first step… This can be the start of an inner journey to your true self…While we set a goal, this time we ll enjoy the process more…Because life happens when you put a future-thought in the universe…