Who are you?

WHO AM I?

Read the blog post below or watch the video on YouTube. 

A simple question: Who am I? Who are you?

It's a wonderful question, and honestly, the question is more important than the answer. Keep asking it, right?

Sit for a moment. Be with the question. What is arising?  

Let many answers arise. Some will be on the gross, physical, concrete level. I'm a woman. I am a parent. I'm a businesswoman, a daughter, a sister.

Some answers describe the subtle level:

Who are you inside or outside? 

Who is it that is propelling the direction of your life? 

How is your life being propelled, and how are you dealing with what's happening in your life? 

Our March blogs have taken this journey from the gross, the physical, to the subtle, the intangible.

Another simple question: What brings you here?

Let many answers arise. Some will be on the gross level. Transportation, computers, 

Some answers describe a more subtle level:  My education, my curiosity, my desire to learn, my desire to be of help.

Our Attitudes are Keys

Many studies have been done looking at how our attitudes impact our lives and shape our wellbeing and activities. 

“Optimism and cynical hostility are independently associated with important health outcomes in black and white women.” https://europepmc.org/article/MED/19667234#free-full-text

“The absence of pessimism was more strongly related to positive health outcomes than was the presence of optimism.”
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342820175_Optimism_Versus_Pessimism_as_Predictors_of_Physical_Health_A_Comprehensive_Reanalysis_of_Dispositional_Optimism_Research

What I note and find relevant is highlighting that the difference is the way we deal with events. 

Noted author and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl researched and wrote about the power of meaning in life. His work shows a strong relationship between meaninglessness and criminal behaviours, addiction and depression. 

“In The Will to Meaning, “it is life itself that asks questions of man.” Paradoxically, by abandoning the desire to have “freedom from,” we take the “freedom to” make the “decision for” one’s unique and singular life task (Frankl 1988, p. 16).” https://www.pursuit-of-happiness.org/history-of-happiness/viktor-frankl/ 

So who are we, and what are our life tasks? 

The tools we have are both gross/physical and subtle/intangible.

Listen and follow two meditations that may help you with your answers. 

The 5 Sheaths of our BODY

The meditation is called the Pancha Kosha meditation.   Pancha means 5, and kosha means sheaths or bodies. From the gross physical level to the subtle, we have 5 bodies nestled inside each other. The 5 bodies are the physical body, the emotions, the thoughts, the intuition and the bliss body.    

As we bring awareness to each body or level or sheath and honour it, our awareness of each sheath allows it to be, and for all bodies to harmonize. 

You can read the process below and then do it. 

You can record the script below and have your own voice guide you. Read it slowly, pausing after each line. No rush. 

You can listen to me guide you in this video.

Script for the Pancha Kosha Meditation

Sit comfortably and easily with your eyes closed and the spine straight.

Take a breath in, and let it go. Another breath in and let it go. 

Become aware of the sounds in the environment. There may be noises from people, from traffic, from machines. Whatever sounds you hear, just let them be. Relax.

You are one with the environment. Sit quietly for a few breaths.

Take a breath and become aware of the body. The Body is a precious gift from nature, from the Divine. Love this body dearly. 

Become aware of the feet, calves, knees, hips and thighs. 

Become aware of the pelvis, abdomen, stomach, lower back, middle back, upper back, Chest. 

Become aware of the shoulders, arms and hands. 

Become aware of the chin, cheeks, forehead, the top of the head. 

The whole body, the whole body.

You are one with the body. 

Sit quietly for a few breaths. Let the mind relax.

Now, become aware of the thoughts, Good thoughts, bad thoughts. Just let them be. Let them come and let them go. 

You are one with the thoughts. 

Sit quietly for a few breaths. Let the mind relax.

Become aware of the emotions, pleasant or unpleasant. Let them be.

Relax more and more.

You are Peace. You are Joy.

Sit quietly for a few breaths and let the mind expand and relax.

Sit for a few minutes in this state, this stage.

Now, take a breath in, and breathe out. 

Gently,  become aware of the emotions.

Become aware of the thoughts.

Become aware of the sensations in the body.

Become aware of the environment.  

When you are ready, very slowly open your eyes. 

Smile and slowly get up. 

Our Senses and our Choices. 

As a teacher of Ayurveda, The Science of Life, I am always delighted to explore with each student and client how our senses are a key to our unique relationships with the world. 

We hear, touch, see, taste and smell to interact with the gross/physical worlds.  

On the subtle/intangible level though, we are not our senses, nor the objects of senses.

Who are you? Who is hearing, touching, seeing, tasting and smelling?

This guided meditation highlights the importance of our senses in discovering who you are. How is this for you?

https://www.facebook.com/artoflivingcanada/videos/702399950590145

As March comes to an end, so does this March Mindfulness series. I will be happy to learn how you have benefited from the ideas, meditations and exercises.

See you again soon.