POSITIVE POSSIBILITIES
myself to be receptive
to it by letting go of any
notion that it was an obstacle to my sense of contentedness.
Soon I became aware
of tensions I was carrying, things I had not said,
actions I had not taken,
emotions I had not felt. I
sat in presence and witnessed as these blocked
energies started to move.
I gave them room, did not
judge or get involved - just
watched as they danced
in front of me. In this new
found inner space, the
headache began to shift
and subside and I had
greater clarity about who
I am and how I chose to
engage with the world.
In order to not get entangled in things we like and
dislike, we need to cultivate the skill of witnessing. This requires practice.
Witnessing is foreign to
the way our mind usually
works. The mind is driven
by the ego, which can
only exist in separateness.
Our ego and mind thrive
on resistance and againstness. We habitually get
so involved with what we
think, that we fully believe
our thoughts to be absolute. In essence, we are
used to buying into the
illusion that our thoughts
are permanent.
Enlightened masters remind us that we are not
the doers. The self we
consider so permanent
is just our ego tricking us
into feeling separate and
in control. As our awareness grows, we see that in
order to perpetuate the
illusion of being separate,
our mind pulls at things
we deem valuable and
pushes at those we wish
to repel. In witnessing, we
learn to neither reach for
nor run from our point of
our focus. In this case, my
headache became a
great teacher, when I was
willing to open to it with
presence and awareness.
our version of reality. We
then believe that what
we perceive is fixed truth.
This in turn motivates our
behaviour, which determines our experiences.
Witnessing is different than
observing, because in observing, we tend to narrate to ourselves through
our likes and dislikes, rather than being impartial to
what we are observing. At
the heart of witnessing is
a neutrality that is loving,
spacious, relaxed and attentive.
As you develop greater
awareness in your life,
meeting the moment as
it is provides one of the
greatest tools for your
spiritual growth. This happens as you witness what
is, as it is. In spaciousness,
life and all its fullness arises
and you experience new
found freedom, vitality
and effervescent joy.
Meeting this moment as
it is, is not something most
of us do. We overlay our
thoughts onto everything.
We are constantly interpreting information gathered through our senses
and categorizing it to suit
Parvati Devi is the editor-in-chief of Parvati Magazine. In addition to
being an internationally acclaimed Canadian singer, songwriter, producer
and performer, she is a yoga teacher and holistic educator. Having
studied yoga and meditation since 1987, Parvati developed her own yoga
teaching style called YEMTM Yoga as Energy Medicine. Her current shows,
“YIN: Yoga In the Nightclub” and “Natamba” bring forward a conscious
energy into the pop mainstream. Her book “Confessions of a Former Yoga
Junkie” is a road map to a revolutionary life makeover for sincere spiritual
seekers.
For more information on Parvati, please visit www.parvati.tv.