Are You Awake?

March 22, 2020 Posted by Sandra Gergler Yoga

Are you awake?

Or are you anxious and asleep? A snapshot in time which I will never forget came when my teacher said to my yoga teacher training group, “most people are still asleep”. That was a profound statement. When you are sleep, you don’t know that you are asleep. I was lucky to be in that class. What does it really mean to be awake?

I love the way Michael Singer describes it in his book The Untethered Soul. He talks about “the roommate “. We all have that roommate. It’s the voice in our head that has something to say about everything. We have that never-ending discussion with ourselves, silently. It’s an ongoing commentary that accompanies us everywhere we go and continues even when we are talking with other people. We play out every possible scenario to various outcomes and then further ask “what if…” It creates anxiety. The mind can be a trusted servant or a wicked master.

To be awake is to know that I can decide which I choose it to be, servant or master. Before I knew I had a choice, the only option I had was to let my mind be my master. This fed my anxiety. Based upon my perception of what was going on in my life that day, my mind would decide if I was allowed to be happy or destined to be sad. It would decide if I would be anxious, afraid and jealous or if I would have a momentary reprieve.

You Can Choose

Learning that I had a choice was the first step to waking up but it was a process. It didn’t happen all at once. Yogi Amrit Desai teaches that where attention goes, energy flows. The adage of the fight of two wolves within you describe this concept perfectly.

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside of me” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, lies, and ego.” He continued “the other is good – he is joy, compassion, peace, love, hope, kindness, generosity, truth and faith. The same fight is going on inside of you – and every other person”. The grandson thought about it and asked the grandfather, “which one will win?” The old Cherokee replied, “the one you feed”.

The thoughts and emotions that we feed are the ones that win.

Waking Up

My first revelation was that the thoughts in my head might not be true. I am not my mind. I am observing my mind. The thoughts that come into my head can be observed like watching a movie on a screen. Often, they are not reality. I think, perhaps, I was born with a conception that I am my mind and my mind is me. That was the default belief before I was taught otherwise.

Because I lived with this presumption for so long, it took time before I was able to behave differently. The thoughts my mind created and the emotions that followed could just be observed. I did not have to buy into every thought and feeling as fact. I did not have to succumb to the visceral reaction to every fear… of things real or unreal. Thoughts could be consuming like watching the big screen in a movie theater. As I practiced, they could be observed like the sound of a TV in the other room. Eventually, some thoughts could be tuned out completely. Anxiety waned.

Attention is like a magnifying glass in the sun. Whatever we put our attention on increases in size and magnitude. If it is not something we wish to amplify in our lives, the first thing to do is move our attention elsewhere. Direct it to something positive. In addition, not only does the object of my attention grow, it consumes energy that is used to keep me healthy. It maintains immunity, digests food, removes waste, oxygenates tissues and much more. This energy is my life force. It is the energy that sustains my life and is an extension of my soul. Negative emotions channel my life force energy down and out while positive emotions act as a feedback loop, recirculating my life-sustaining energy throughout my body and to where it is needed most.

Reawakening Daily

We learn build our capacity to practice healthy attitudes and behaviors during good times at BYSJ teacher training. Then we can access these skills during difficult times. This act of managing the mind becomes habit. Each day, we have a choice to direct energy and attention where we want it to go. It’s easy to get off track, especially when we are emotional. Pay attention. Notice which wolf you are feeding. During moments of difficulty, ask yourself, “Am I living as though I am Awake?”

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About Sandra Gergler

I'm Sandy ; owner of Bhakti Yoga South Jersey. I spent 10 years as a Chemistry Teacher. My background in education is being applied to maintaining the most up to date curriculum for the Bhakti Studio’s 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training Program. I use the scientific basis of the benefits of yoga as the foundation of the BYSJ instruction.. I bring professional academic instruction to BYSJ teacher training as well as workshops on yoga meditation and nutrition

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