Meditation
KARMA YOGA EMOTIONAL DAMAGE CONTROL
Instant first aid for negative feelings!
By Dr Jonn Mumford (Swami Anandakapila Saraswati)Emotions are the fertilizer of Karmic seeds and through emotional observation and discernment we may eliminate much of our stored Karma and prevent the sprouting of unpleasant consequences in an endless chain reaction.
Yoga offers direct routes to emotional control through Pranayama or breath control. It is established clinically that alternate nostril breathing balances the Hemispheres of the brain and Autonomic Nervous System and other types of Yoga breathing
Elevate mood and provide energy. It is, however, best that such techniques are learned by direct tuition from a Yoga Teacher.
Note the following comment from an article by:
Aaarti Sood Mahajan and R. Babbar
Department of Physiology, Maulana Azad Medical College , New Delhi“The different types of Yogic breathing procedures affect the ANS. Right nostril breathing
activates the sympathetic nervous system and increases the heart
rate. Alternate nostril breathing brings about a balance in the ANS
(Shannahoff 1993). Kapalabhati practice showed an increase in the low
frequency band and decrease in the high frequency band of the heart
rate variability spectrum indicating increased sympathetic activity “
(Raghuraj et al 1998).”The Raja Yoga and Gnana Yoga traditions also offer much instant relief and indeed this article is about such an approach and a “Western Yoga” often called ‘Rational Emotional Therapy” or “Cognitive Therapy”.
My friend, Swami Divyananda Saraswati, is fond of quoting Sri Aurobindo’s statement:
“Most of our lives are lived in empty agitation”.
Often that is the way we feel in our daily lives – and possibly much fuss about nothing!
Michel de Montaigne, in the 16 th century, wrote:
“My life has been full of tragedies, most of which never happened”.
Nothing has changed in 400 years and we can still become the victims of self-engendered turmoil that exhausts us. I have found it very useful to consider a particular Western therapy for directly tackling the source of self-induced agony. This system is the Western equivalent of Gnana Yoga and Vedanta. There exist exercises in both Gnana Yoga and Vedanta by which we can haul our misperceptions, or Maya, up on a leash by sheer reason.
I have always maintained that Psychotherapy is Western Yoga and what I am about to share with you I do not ask you to agree with but please experiment with this material – you will feel more positive, walk taller and maintain focus and direction by trying these principles.
The place to start is by realising we often have false ideas concerning ourselves and our expectations about life. These concepts or premises about living, if accepted as true, create emotional havoc in daily life.
The psychologists say "we progenerate our psychopathologies", meaning that the neurotic or incorrect attitudes that we adopt are learned as children, from our parents, teachers and the cultural influences under which we live. The real horror is that we often teach these emotionally destructive ideas to our children in turn.
Another way of expressing this is that unless we are careful we may merely exist in the shadow of our parents.
The American Psychologist, Dr. Albert Ellis, developed a now well established school of therapeutic intervention, called ‘Cognitive Therapy’ or ‘Rational Emotive Psychology’ in which common fallacies are identified and rigorously challenged. If you get something out of what I am sharing with you may want to get his classic “A New Guide to Rational Living’ (Paperback, Wilshire Book company, USA )
A wonderful internal freedom can result when we recognise and consciously reject these false premises and in so doing begin to enjoy a life devoid of self-torture and endless recriminations.
I have permission from Wilshire Book Co. to quote his Fallacies and I have selected nine of them for your consideration. The commentaries and annotations are mine. They are extracted them from my Mind Magic Kit Appendix 3, Llewellyn Publishers USA.
This material is a key to “Karma Reduction” for Western students of Yoga. It is the Western approach to ‘Karma Yoga’ may I be so bold to suggest? The reason is that it is emotion that fertilizes the seeds of Karma latent within us all and anything that gives us more control over our emotions provides a block to increasing our Karmic seeds and assists the negation of those we have stored.
Ask yourself how many of the following mentally unhealthy premises you have accepted in your life?
Fallacy Number One:
"I must be adequate, achieving and competent in all possible ways if I am to consider myself a worth while person."
Philosophically it is imperative that we learn to live with and accept our personal failings. No objective standard exists by which you may decide you are a “success”. Success is determined by whatever you consider it is for you personally.
Double check you are not merely subsisting on the unfulfilled dreams of your parents? Someone said that a child is just a canvass upon which parents “splatter paint”.
If your idea of success is running a corner store and you achieve this, then you are as big a success as the millionaire business tycoon. Managing a household efficiently or fulfilling a desire to write a book makes you a success if these are your goals.
Somewhere I read that true success is being able to live your life in the way you find satisfying – not anyone else’s way – your way!
Our society promotes contradictory ideals such as “a successful young executive is a ruthless competitor, a modest winner, and a good loser”. Careful thought reveals that the above statement asks individuals to contain within the framework of their personality mutually exclusive traits. Don't be fooled by accepting such garbage.
The best key to achievement is to discover how you may release the innate creativity, which is possessed by everyone. Creativity lends itself to satisfaction in all areas from baking a cake to repairing a car.
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