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The Lazy Yogi

@lazyyogi / thelazyyogi.com

Reality is that
which relies upon nothing else
in order to be known
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If you are reading The Lazy Yogi blog or any of the posts contained therein, you have recognized one, some, or all of the following:

  1. Peace, freedom, and happiness are always possible. They await your discovery. . On some level you know that you can be happier and more at ease than you are now. You're tired of catering to your delusions (anxieties, insecurities, addictions, etc), you feel an urge to heal from your traumas, and you're done seeking a sense of self from mundane human games. .
  2. You are suffering and you know it is possible to be free from that suffering. . Some people suffer too much and cannot see a way beyond it or imagine a life without it. Other people suffer too little and therefore feel no motivation to awaken and grow. Blessed are those who suffer enough to pursue peace, but not so much that it overwhelms their ability to do so. .
  3. You are beginning to suspect that the primary cause of your suffering is your own illusions, ignorances, and delusions. . The world has never been without problems. We need not and should not wait for the world to be without problems before we seek our own freedom from suffering. Otherwise we risk trying to change the world just to make ourselves feel more comfortable; this is a common selfish motive behind many politics. .
  4. You are more interested in discovering peace, freedom, and happiness than you are interested in being right, justified, or validated. . The ego is the personification of our ignorance; the ego's idea of happiness entails anything that solidifies its own stance. Confusing the ego's idea of happiness with real happiness itself is a fundamental source of suffering in the human world. "No one can serve two masters." You are done serving the ego's shallow and ineffective motives. You're ready to enjoy real peace, real freedom, real happiness. .
  5. You know you are going to die. . If contemplating your own death does not stir uneasiness, light panic, and fear, then you aren't being honest with yourself. You have convinced yourself that death is something that happens in the distant future, or perhaps you've taken on a belief system that lessens the psychological impact of the ending to everything you have known and experienced. For those who have sincerely felt their own mortality and have simultaneously recognized the mystery posed by being alive, the spiritual path beckons.

If you have not yet recognized (or at least suspected) any of the above, the content of this blog may be inspiring--or it may be very triggering. No one takes kindly to being woken up before they are ready to do so. I do not recommend consuming the contents of this blog unless you are prepared for them to consume you.

To those who aspire to discover the divine reality of their existence, who seek to embody the full spectrum of the infinite's play, and who endeavor to love all beings heroically, I welcome you to this space.

I promise to do all I can to help you on your way.

LY

#spirituality#enlightenment#self realization#realization#meditation#yoga#buddhism#philosophy#hinduism#mindfulness#zen#love#consciousness#awareness#divinity
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lazyyogi

Four Noble Truths

  1. Life on planet Earth will always have an element of unsatisfactoriness. This may range from full-blown hellish suffering to simply wanting more despite having so much already. There is no creature on this Earth that is without some form of suffering.
  2. The cause of the unsatisfactoriness is existential confusion. Because we don’t know what we are, we take ourselves to be what we are not: a body, a mind, an agenda, a history with an intended future, a personality. All creatures seek happiness and avoid suffering. But what we think will bring us happiness and what we think will cause us suffering both depend on who we think we are. If we do not know who and what we actually are, we will never know how to really be happy and how to truly be free from suffering.
  3. Existential confusion is not permanent and can be ended. Over the millennia, there have been humans who have realized enlightenment and became free. There is nothing preventing you from doing the same.
  4. There is a path available that features deliberate practice to end existential confusion: the Dharma. Dharma is the no-nonsense, just-the-facts approach to finding insight into your existential condition and enjoying freedom from its limitations. More information and guidance is available today than any other time in history.

Some people suffer too much and it makes it almost impossible to practice the path. If you are one such person, do not give up. There are adjustments you can make to support you. And it is our job to find ways to help reduce your suffering so that you can practice.

Other people suffer too little. Due to their privilege and/or immense good fortune, they have not suffered enough in this life to allow them to realize something is wrong. They haven’t noticed this sense of unsatisfactoriness even though it drives much of their daily activity.

However, the majority of humans fall in-between those extremes. So why are they not on the path?

Either they haven’t encountered clear and true teachings, they were never told freedom is possible, they have yet to see clearly their own suffering, or they have yet to clearly discern the cause of their own suffering.

These Four Noble Truths of the Buddha are The Good News that buddhists offer the world. Contemplate each for yourself:

  1. Are you suffering? Are you unsatisfied? Do you feel a lack of wholeness? What elements of your daily life trouble you? Why?
  2. Regarding your answers to #1, ask yourself how your identity plays a role. How might your sense of self, your sense of being an individual, be a cause behind your suffering?
  3. Have you ever tasted freedom from your sense of self? Or tasted a freedom that is beyond this human world and its unsatisfactoriness? Think about what that was like and how it differs from your ordinary feeling of pleasure or happiness from daily life.
  4. Ask yourself what you are doing to free yourself. Is it working? Does it make sense in light of the contemplations of #1-#3? Are you feeling enthusiastic about your path and practice? If you lack energy or motivation, it can help to return to these contemplations.

The Noble Truths were the first teaching of the Buddha and you can see why. It establishes the reasons to practice the path in earnest. 🙂

May all beings be free.

LY

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lazyyogi

Until you give freedom to your emotions, they won't be free to leave you.

Once stuck within you, an emotion becomes something else:

an insecurity, a trigger, a compulsion, a blind spot, a trauma.

An imprint.

When free from imprints, we can be as we truly are: natural.

To free ourselves from old imprints and to free ourselves from forming new imprints is the twofold essence of practice.

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Obstacles come, good and bad situations alike arrive. Cling to anything and the river of life will batter you senseless. Whatever comes, you must always be prepared to let go.

Do not fear the obstacles in your way, because that river will keep sweeping you forward. There is a way past every obstacle, even if that way may not necessarily be to your liking. 

Sometimes you do have to let go but at other times it is important to hold on. Knowing the difference between those moments is true wisdom. 

#my writing#microsermon#spirituality#life#philosophy#inspiration#inspo#yoga#taoism#zen#mindfulness
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The more you get to know your own living existence without depending on body, mind, identity, and circumstance, the better you will be able to relate with anyone.
Don’t expect others to understand you but do your best to convey yourself honestly, authentically, and directly.
Don’t wait to be understood before you allow yourself understanding.
You don’t need to explain. Show, don’t tell. Embody, don’t philosophize.
#awareness#consciousness#spirituality#yoga#mindfulness#ego#zen#inspiration
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lazyyogi
Make it your practice to withdraw attention from past and future whenever they are not needed.

Eckhart Tolle

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modernmonkeymind asked:

Hey Lazy, I was wondering what you thought of coming eastern and western traditions? I’ve been deep into Buddhism, yoga, and recently Taoism for a while now. Recently though I’ve been delving into western occultism, magic, divination, etc. At first I thought I’d have to choose one or the other, but after focusing on the western side of things I started meditating again (a practice common to western and eastern traditions) and doing my other eastern practices and find they compliment and enhance each other.

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That honestly depends on your goal. If your aim is complete and total enlightenment in this life, I think one's best bet is to find a human guru who is enlightened and then follow the practice path they delineate.

If your goal is other than complete and total enlightenment, then combining elements of different traditions is an experiment. You can see the results of such experiments in the traditions of Thelema or the Golden Dawn. While I don't think either tradition produced a buddha, I do think they produced strong occultists and some seemingly cool and well-balanced people.

Recently, I have been experimenting with elements of western occultism because of their similarities to eastern Tantra. And while 99% of eastern Tantric techniques should only ever be practiced under the guidance of a guru, the majority of western occultist techniques can be practiced by anyone who has been appropriately methodical and well-informed.

Currently I am utilizing the Qabalistic Cross, the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, and the Middle Pillar ritual before every meditation session. My Tantric correlates of these practices are:

Qabalistic Cross = Nyasa

Nyasa is a tantric practice in which divinity is installed or, more accurately, revealed within the body. It is a practice that affirms one's essential existence as divinity and then aligns the body and mind with that divinity. Both position the human body as a microcosm in harmony with the universe as macrocosm.

Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram = ???

The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, or LBRP for short, serves a number of purposes for the practitioner. It is intended to clear a physical space of mental/emotional fixations, as well as the inner space of the practitioner. In that sense it is similar to purification practices found in a number of yogic systems both tantric and non-tantric. Additionally, the LBRP is intended to create a protected and safe space as well as aligning that space with the energetic structure of the universe. This parallels certain armoring (kavacha) yogic techniques.

Middle Pillar Ritual = Kundalini Kriya Yoga

The Middle Pillar ritual involves the awakening and balancing of energy centers in the body, alignment of those centers with the infinite above and the earth below, and the circulation of pure divine energy within the body's energy system and aura. This is similar to Kriya Yoga in a number of ways.

The main interest of mine in taking up these practices is to see if they are non-inferior to their tantric correlates, and if they demonstrate a better compatibility and safety profile for non-Indian and non-initiated practitioners respectively.

I do find that energy-based spiritual techniques are useful for spiritual practitioners who live within the structures of society. They can help facilitate the inner and outer circumstances that are most conducive to authentic meditation and spiritual practice.

Right now this is just an experiment, hence I am not teaching or recommending any of it. But I will share my experiences along the way. I will say that is has been interesting to interact with angels!

LY

#spirituality#golden dawn#magick#occult#magic#thelema#chaos magic#yoga#enlightenment#consciousness#awareness
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So whenever your relationship is not working, whenever it brings out the “madness” in you and in your partner, be glad. What was unconscious is being brought up to the light. It is an opportunity for salvation. Every moment, hold the knowing of that moment, particularly of your inner state. If there is anger, know that there is anger. If there is jealousy, defensiveness, the urge to argue, the need to be right, an inner child demanding love and attention, or emotional pain of any kind — whatever it is, know the reality of that moment and hold the knowing. The relationship then becomes your sadhana, your spiritual practice. If you observe unconscious behavior in your partner, hold it in the loving embrace of your knowing so that you won’t react. Unconsciousness and knowing cannot coexist for long — even if the knowing is only in the other person and not in the one who is acting out the unconsciousness. The energy form that lies behind hostility and attack finds the presence of love absolutely intolerable. If you react at all to your partner’s unconsciousness, you become unconscious yourself. But if you then remember to know your reaction, nothing is lost.

Eckhart Tolle

#relationships#love#psychology#philosophy#spirituality#mindfulness#meditation#awareness#consciousness#unconscious#yoga
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bluntlyopinionated asked:

Do you have a “favorite” or “primary” spiritual practice?

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Yes, Jangama Dhyana is my gold standard. This is the method that my guru and his guru practiced for the complete realization of enlightenment, and the method that my guru Sri ShivaRudraBalayogi continues to teach.

For many years, this technique was all I needed. As a college student at an Ivy league university, as an unemployed graduate living at home, as yet again a student at a different ivy league university, my life was sheltered enough such that it resembled similar protections as that of a monk. I didn't have to concern myself as much with life in human society.

As I faced some health problems and then the challenges of adult life in American society, I found that other spiritual practices in addition to jangama dhyana were particularly helpful--tantric methods that addressed our body's auric and energy systems in harmony with divinity.

I am not enlightened and I am navigating a path that is relatively new in our world. Ignorance is timeless, of course, but as I try to find methods for self-liberation even as I endeavor to live as a modern-day householder, I have to be a little creative in the utilization of certain teachings and practices.

Jangama dhyana is what I rely on as my touchstone. It is what orients every other practice and philosophy I may encounter. And it is thanks to the blessings of my guru that I enjoy any degree of peace and clarity.

LY

#meditation#consciousness#awareness#spirituality#yoga#enlightenment
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As forgiveness allows love to return to my awareness, I will see a world of peace and safety and joy. And it is this I choose to see in place of what I look on now.
I do not perceive my own best interests. How could I recognize my own best interests when I do not know who I am? What I think are my best interests would merely bind me closer to the world of illusions.
I am willing to follow the Guide God has given me to find out what my real best interests are, recognizing that I cannot perceive them by myself.

A Course in Miracles

#forgiveness#perception#consciousness#awareness#realization#peace#love#spirituality#meditation#philosophy
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lazyyogi
“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”

— Neil Gaiman

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lazyyogi
“I’ve been making a list of the things they don’t teach you at school. They don’t teach you how to love somebody. They don’t teach you how to be famous. They don’t teach you how to be rich or how to be poor. They don’t teach you how to walk away from someone you don’t love any longer. They don’t teach you how to know what’s going on in someone else’s mind. They don’t teach you what to say to someone who’s dying. They don’t teach you anything worth knowing.”

— Neil Gaiman

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The first thing to remember is this: As long as you make an identity for yourself out of the pain, you cannot become free of it. As long as part of your sense of self is invested in your emotional pain, you will unconsciously resist or sabotage every attempt that you make to heal that pain.
Why? Quite simply because you want to keep yourself intact, and the pain has become an essential part of you. This is an unconscious process, and the only way to overcome it is to make it conscious.
To suddenly see that you are or have been attached to your pain can be quite a shocking realization. The moment you realize this, you have broken the attachment.
The pain-body is an energy field, almost like an entity, that has become temporarily lodged in your inner space. It is life energy that has become trapped, energy that is no longer flowing.
Of course, the pain-body is there because of certain things that happened in the past. It is the living past in you, and if you identify with it, you identify with the past.
A victim identity is the belief that the past is more powerful than the present, which is the opposite of the truth. It is the belief that other people and what they did to you are responsible for who you are now, for your emotional pain or your inability to be your true self.
The truth is that the only power there is is contained within this moment: It is the power of your presence. Once you know that, you also realize that you are responsible for your inner space now — nobody else is — and that the past cannot prevail against the power of the Now.

Eckhart Tolle

#healing#trauma#psychology#philosophy#spirituality#mindfulness#pain#suffering#consciousness#awareness#liberation#enlightenment#yoga

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