During practice we have the opportunity to slow down, to settle, to dissolve into the vastness of Being.

Arriving at ‘Just this' - nothing special - just this...

During retreat we find this peace for longer periods as we are less and less distracted, less attached, less anxious, more curious.
There are moments where we dissolve into openness..... nothing special.............. just this.

There is a Buddhist term called "A reversal of fortune"
What was in the background penetrates and floods into the foreground.
It is not something we can make happen, it is more along the lines of what we call ‘grace'.

The practices of course do quiet the mind and relax the body and this is helpful in the process of awakening.........but actually

our work is to find That which is present amidst every experience of our life. So not just in Yoga practice where we are trying to experience a quiet mind, a kind heart....

It is important to realize we remain in the state of ignorance if we are endeavoring to find and attach to a particular ‘state'. Presence is a "non state".

Not a particular state of peace, found by a particular practitioner, because of a particular practice. No,
Presence is a ‘non-state'.
This underlying ‘non-state' is already and always present............. Nothing special............... just this............

We have to smile as we truly already know this.....

Our work is to decide to place our attention and senses into this ‘non-state' of abiding Presence, rather than engaging in the mind's relentless attempt to create comfort.

What's already here................now......................always?

Stop pretending you don't already know.
Stop pretending.

Pretending keeps us asleep.
Awakening is the decision over and over again to place your attention and senses back into this ‘non state' of being rather than joining with and being thrown around by the constant stream of thoughts in your head.

The lifestyle of welcoming and engaging with your Kula, which in our case is a pathless-path based in Tantric nondualism, involves on-going feeling-inquiries based in the body rather than the mind.

At first we have thinking, but we want to be able to dive deeper into the inquiry. So not stopping the inquiry at the witness, not stopping at the observer, we keep going....

there's something even deeper than the witness, than presence.....
There are ‘Way stations' along this pathless path
of awakening:

First the Witness
then Openness,
then Presence,
then this ‘Non-state'

Our work is to embody this understanding. If we stop at the superficial level of thinking that resides in the mind, that's exactly what we will be stuck with over and over again - thinking, an endless stream of thinking........

So we drop below the neck and into the heart. Many practitioners stop here at the heart, but we must drop deeper than the heart, we must drop into the belly, into the pelvis, into the thighs and feet, into the whole space we find ourself in and of.

Truth does not reside in the mind. Truth is embodied.

"We will never again have the chance to be born into a body, into truth, like this one."

The difficulty in leading a group to recognizing truth is that each person must follow their own process according to their own Sad-Guru, their own inner teacher of truth.

So I am going to ask you to engage in the following process during asana flow:

And like any other practice we engage in during class, I encourage you to figure out how to translate it into your life:
Stopping - Listening - Welcoming - Responding

Ultimately we need to learn to be misunderstood.........

Yes we need to be willing to be misunderstood

it is just one more movement,
one more pointer to our true nature.

One more ‘Way station' taking us
back home.