Be inspired, March 2019, VOLUME 4 / 04 Mar 2019

Yogic psychology

Yoga incorporates the science of all the bodies – the physical body, the mind, and the soul. In other words, it covers the whole field of psychology. The word ‘psyche’ itself comes from the Greek psukhē, meaning life force or soul. Historically, psychology was the study of the relationship between the mind and the soul. In recent times, however, the role of the soul has been neglected in a lot of western psychology, whereas it is central to Yoga. Through Yoga we explore consciousness, and what results in changes to the field of consciousness as we evolve through various chakras and koshas. In this series of articles, DAAJI explains the fundamentals of yogic psychology, with its foundation in Patanjali’s descriptions of the various mental modifications, some of which lead us to balance and well-being, and some of which take us away from balance. DAAJI gives us guidance and solutions to create mental well-being through yogic practices. In this third article of the series, he explores the fourth vritti described in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras: sleep, known in Yoga as nidra. In sleep we go beyond consciousness. Part 3 – NIDRA VRITTIS The five vrittis are the five types of energy patterns or tendencies we create in the field of our consciousness or chit. ‘Whirlpool’ is a literal translation of the word vritti, and the vrittis are the whirlpools, waves and ripples that form according to how we perceive and interact with the world around us. So try to imagine the original state of our being, the Center of our being, where there is only stillness. From that Center everything we think and do manifests. You can call it the default position, the zero position. Of our three bodies, it is our soul that is closest to our Center. That is why…

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March 2019, Taste of life, VOLUME 4 / 04 Mar 2019

Heart roots

ROSALIND PEARMAIN looks at the emotional issues facing young people today, and shares her research findings on the importance of feeling safe and grounding ourselves in the inner shelter of the heart. It seems as though there is a strong human feeling towards old and tall trees as if we want them to keep growing and expanding onwards into the sky. We are drawn to look up wondrously. How do they manage to do this without falling over? Perhaps there is an echo of our own longing towards transcendence and the expansion of our consciousness. As one of the ’60s and ’70s generation, I realize that we had that yearning to go beyond limits, to experience as many different kinds of mind-expanding opportunities as possible. We wanted to disrupt and change things that seemed limiting. Did we also undermine the roots of our societies that had allowed this heady growth to evolve? Perhaps we made it harder for our children and even more so for our grandchildren to find stability and an inner base of support? When my son was 18, his best friend died in a tragic accident, falling out of a car. Within a short period of time, another friend fell off a balcony at a party and also died. One more later fell out of a tree. Needless to say, this shocking loss of poignant, youthful promise had a deep rippling impact on many. Symbolically, they alerted me to the question of how we fall out of our lives, ourselves, so easily in our youth in different ways. At present, we are aware of the escalating problems of young people around the world, who are often depressed, lonely, despairing, anxious. They are on the front line of a world that we have created and they are showing…

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It changes everything, March 2019, VOLUME 4 / 04 Mar 2019

The power of the pause

DONNA CAMERON is the author of A Year of Living Kindly. Here she reflects on the importance of creating space between stimulus and response in everyday life, learning to master the art of the pause. “Human freedom involves our capacity to pause, to choose the one response toward which we wish to throw our weight.” —Rollo May Some time ago, a friend happened to be looking at the huge collection of quotations I have tacked to a bulletin board covering one wall of my den. Inexplicably, she started to cry. Then she grabbed a pen from her purse and copied down this quotation from author and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl: “Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” “That’s it exactly,” she explained. “Whenever I’m tempted to take a drink, I need to pause in that space between stimulus and response. If I stop and think about it, I won’t drink. If I don’t, I slip and have a drink.” I knew my friend was in AA and that sobriety was still a struggle for her. I thought about Frankl’s words and saw how many things they applied to. Not just alcohol, but overeating, smoking, spending … any number of actions we take automatically with little or no thought. We allow an addiction or a learned response to overtake our free will. And, as Frankl describes, each time we don’t give in to the reflex response, we grow and claim our own precious freedom a little more. His wise words are just as relevant to kindness. Approaching the post office not long ago, I saw a man blast his horn at a woman whose car was blocking his exit. When she didn’t move…

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March 2019, Taste of life, VOLUME 4 / 04 Mar 2019

Bhikku monks

AN ART ESSAY The Buddha said: These four are the foodstuffs, ye bhikkus, which sustain the creatures that are born, and benefit the creatures that seek rebirth. The first is edible food, coarse or fine; touch is the second; the thinking capacity of the mind is the third; and the fourth is consciousness. Understand that you own nothing; everything that surrounds you is temporary; only the love in your heart will last forever. Whatever is not yours, let go of it. Your letting go will be for your long-term benefit and happiness. Art and article by NAREN KINI

Interview, March 2019, VOLUME 4 / 04 Mar 2019

A spiritual revolution in management science

PROFESSOR RAMNATH NARAYANSWAMY from the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, shares with V. SRINIVASAN something of his own journey, and the importance of spiritual, emotional, social and cultural intelligence in the world of management. Q: Sir, the first question is regarding the integration of spirituality and management. How do both these concepts come together and what is their relevance? RN: To answer this question you need to have a perspective on the discipline of management and its historical origin. Management is a North American discipline that arose amidst the context of two movements: one was Fordism, and the other was Taylorism. Fordism refers to the revolution ushered in by Henry Ford, as a result of which every average American family got access to an automobile. One of the foremen was Frederick Winslow Taylor, and he was the father of the modern assembly line. So, as a discipline, management arose in the North American context. It later spread to different parts of the world, and there are still two countries where management is not strongly institutionalized. One is Japan, and the other is Germany. But the reasons for that don’t concern us here. Spirituality came into management much later. It was preceded by the induction of emotional intelligence, with the publication of Daniel Goleman’s landmark work on emotional intelligence in 1997. Spiritual intelligence entered the field of management around the year 2000, when the Academy of Management inaugurated an interest group on management, spirituality and religion. Since then, during the past decade or so, some spectacular work has been emerging on providing original, often disconcerting, often revelatory insights into the relationship between spirituality and management. To summarize: there are two types of education, two types of management, two types of engineering. One is outer management, the other is inner management. One…

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March 2019, Thought in action, VOLUME 4 / 03 Mar 2019

Anger towards enemies

The dialogue between THEOPHILE THE ELDER and THEOPHILE THE YOUNG continues, this time about the topic of anger and reactions to injustice. That particular morning, Theo the Young was very agitated. He had hardly sat down, facing his friend, than he started exposing his problem. Theophile the Young: I have been developing intense anger all these years due to a neighbor who has harmed my family and me. I hate him and I can’t help it. The Elder looked at him, quite amazed. Y: Yes I know. But it’s all about his wicked, twisted and unfair behavior. I feel as if he is a chewing gum stuck to the sole of my shoe. I can’t get rid of it. As soon as I see him or merely think of him my anger is back. Theophile the Elder: You are going to make yourself sick! Y: I’m already sick. My stomach hurts, there are moments when I feel oppressed, and I often have a headache. Once a warrior has won or lost a war, he agrees that the war has ended. He has no more enemy. He is at peace. He will only have to make himself ready for another battle, whenever it may come. Meanwhile, he practices peacefully. E: According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Liver Fire is what gives you such symptoms, which are caused by anger and resentment. But tell me what you did? Y: I went to court to assess my rights. E: And what happened then? Did you win that legal fight against your adversary? Y: Yes, legally, but he did not pay enough for my liking, considering all the harm he had done to me. E: So the fight is still on! Your neighbor has succeeded in crossing your barriers and he is now partly…

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Focus, March 2019, VOLUME 4 / 03 Mar 2019

The play of emotions

DR NATWAR SHARMA explores the world of feelings and emotions, their effect on the physical body, and how we can learn to manage them effectively. Our life is largely the interplay of feelings and emotions. It is important for us to understand why they surface and how we react to them, because that in turn will develop our mental perception and improve our physical health. What Are Emotions? Emotions are basically ‘energy in motion – e-motion’. They generally carry a weight or leave an impression on our physical and subtle bodies. They are responses, primarily of ‘flight or fight’, which come from the subcortical regions of the brain, especially the amygdala and the pre-frontal cortex, when we face a particular situation or condition. Thus they are part of the subconscious. Emotions potentiate the memory associated with any incident or event. A memory without the backing of any emotion is not strong enough to last through time, nor does it have much impact on our current physical and mental make-up. In contrast, a memory with an associated emotion is more likely to influence our present situation. This is one of the primary reasons that it is so important to be aware of and handle our emotions in a sane manner. How Do Emotions Affect the Human Body? In the current world, where many of us live in cities with busy routines, we are not able to be in touch with our feelings and emotions, let alone deal with them. We keep going on and on, until we cross the threshold and feel overburdened and stressed. Every individual has a threshold for emotional tolerance, and when we overstep that threshold it adversely affects our physical health. How does this happen? When our capacity to cope with a particular situation crosses this threshold,…

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Focus, March 2019, VOLUME 4 / 03 Mar 2019

The power of self-compassion – part 1

DR CHRIS GERMER is a clinical psychologist, meditation practitioner, author and teacher of mindfulness and compassion in psychotherapy and everyday life. He is the co-developer of the Mindful Self-Compassion training program. Here AMIR IMANI interviews him during a webinar for mindfulness practitioners. An informal definition of self-compassion is: Treating ourselves with the same kindness and understanding as we would treat a dear friend in the midst of suffering. Q: I am very happy and delighted to have you with us Chris, to speak about Mindful Self-Compassion. CG: Thank you. It’s an honor to be speaking right now with everyone. Q: You’re a psychotherapist. You teach and lecture at Harvard University, and you are the co-developer of Mindful Self-Compassion with Kristin Neff. I hear that you and Kristin have also released a new workbook on self-compassion. I have been reading your book on self-compassion and it gives me the feeling of how important it is in our lives. Somehow personally, when I’m reading your book, I feel that mindfulness that is not softened by self-compassion is dry and clinical without heart. So to me this is such an important topic to cover, and I’m happy you’re here to talk to us about it. CG: Thank you, Amir. Well, I appreciate Saki Santorelli’s expression that love, kindness and compassion should be echoing through our awareness, through mindfulness. And as you were talking about this, it was clear to me that it is echoing through your awareness. I appreciate your sensibility about this. What I have found in my own personal life is that sometimes when we’re confronted with really difficult situations, really difficult emotions, we need to actively practice compassion and self-compassion, or else we cannot be mindful. As a clinical psychologist, all the time we’re dealing with really difficult emotions –…

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