Engaging with the divinity in all things
I have always been a mystic in my approach to life. Having travelled through several religions and spiritual practises over the years, I take great comfort in the fact that she/he who searches for the Divine will find it! Many prefer to keep their practise purely physical but for others there is an irresistible draw to the deeper levels of spirituality in which the ancient practise of yoga is steeped.
Any of us are capable of revelations of the divine. Each scripture contains subtle variations and extensions of the same wisdom. The divine vibrates through everything. Have you ever had that moment when a person you consider to have some serious issues opens their mouth and speaks incisive wisdom (consciously or unconsciously) right to your core?
We can speak wisdom without incorporating it into our journey, of course we can. Why else would we make the same mistakes over and over again? Where the scriptures encourage self study, meditation, mindfulness, it is not for the sake of right or wrong. It is to show us the indicators that will warn us to tread differently the next time we see them. This is how we expand as beings.
How do we choose?
Pick something that speaks to you. It could be a classic religious scripture like The Qur’an, the Bible or The Bhagavad Gita. However, if you are not inclined towards scripture right now pick something else; quotations that speak to you from public figures, or a poet or band.
Recently I listened to these lyrics:
“Twice I turned my back on you,
I fell flat on my face but didn’t lose.
Tell me where would I go?
Tell me what led you on? I’d love to know!”
– Little Dragon
The beauty of lyrics and poetry is that they mean only what they mean to the listener in the moment they are heard. In my moment, I heard a conversation between the created and the Divine. Roughly, my translation of these words said:
“No matter how many times I close my eyes to my own divinity, it is a constant. Crashing down through my own wilful ignorance, I meet with myself again. Who else can I be? Whatever plane I approach, the higher Consciousness is the same. It lures me back like a lover, eager for my presence; unified with all.”
My meaning will not be the same as your meaning. I would be surprised if this was the meaning intended by the writer of the song. The messages of the Divine are everywhere, just choose what speaks to you.
Here are a few steps you could follow to bring this experience of God, Wisdom, or the Divine into your practise.
1. In your own quiet time, engage with something that speaks deeply to you. This may be studying a text, or it may be listening to a CD in the car.
2. Ask yourself, “what is this saying to me?” you can reflect on this from time to time throughout your day or you can dedicate a time for meditation, focusing on your chosen subject.
3. Come to your physical practise mindfully. Silently, at the beginning of class or personal practise, dedicate your practise to this new question or truth that has arisen from within you, triggered by your connection. Feelings will arise in the body, thoughts will arise in the mind as you flow through the asana. Acknowledge them and release them.
4. At the end of your practise, acknowledge the dedication.
5. Without thinking hard or worrying about learning or realising anything new, allow the message to permeate and manifest itself. One day something will happen or come to mind, and the subject you have reflected on will bubble to the surface just when you need it.
Please remember, any form of practise may cause issues to rise up inside us and come to the surface. These may manifest as negative thoughts but we can choose to deal with these in a positive way. Perhaps it is highlighting a negative thought spiral you habitually fall into, and this is an opportunity to change the habit and be more positive towards yourself and those around you.
It is my strong belief that the Divine exists in all of us, and therefore we can engage with it at any time. The hindrance to this is not distance or separation, but the noise of information around us, but predominantly inside our own mind, habitually telling us negative things about ourselves. In Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra he calls these citta vrtti – the thought processes of the psyche. Take time to allow these noisy thoughts and feelings to settle and your own divinity will point you in the direction of the heart of the matter.
Simplified, I aim to follow this process:
Ingest – breathe – settle – practise – absorb – manifest.
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