The Invisible Mentor

Posts Tagged ‘Raja Yoga’

Recently I have been pre-occupied with thinking about the knowledge that I have acquired so far in my Raja Yoga class. The first three classes, which I have taken, focused on self-mastery. I always strive to better myself so that I will grow into the person that I was meant to be. In the class, we are given tools to use to better ourselves, to help us to master our weaknesses.

A big weakness for me has always been letting go. I stay on a project longer than I should, trying to make it work, even though I know deep down that it is a lost cause. I start reading a book and really hate it but feel obliged to finish it so I continue to torture myself. Have you ever been in that situation? Someone does something that I do not like and I replay the situation over and over again in my mind. This is not a good habit because it holds you back. In the three weeks that I have been in the class I have made leaps and bounds because I was determined to let go.

Even though I was focusing on letting go, I saw improvements in other areas as well. The tools I have so far, are handouts which you read everyday. I have been reading these handouts every day for three weeks and each time I notice something new. And, because I am studying the tools, they are becoming a part of me, and I am changing rapidly and surprising myself. Things that used to upset me no longer do, and I am now focusing on what is important to me.

I would like to share three of the ideas from the handouts with you. Take time and really let the words sink in and let me know what you think.

Become a Leader Not a Follower

Do not speak the language of a follower: “If he changes, I will change…If she apologizes, I will apologize…If the situation changes, I will change.” Many people have come out of bad situations and have changed their lives. The leader is one who takes the initiative.

Do Not be Absorbed with the Problem

Concentrate on the solution: Like the old cameras, the manual ones that you had to focus. As you focus on one thing, the rest of the picture loses its edge. There is always a solution.

Withdraw

Withdraw means to be able to detach ourselves from any current situation, or personal conflict. The power to withdraw is a true controlling power… It needs accuracy, since accuracy will warn you at the correct time to withdraw. With the exercise of this power, we are able to save ourselves from many regrets.

What do you think about the three ideas above? Could they help you to become the person you were meant to be? How might they help you in your work and life?

Related Post

Letting Go: If you can keep your head…

A few years ago while I was conducting interviews for my book Tales of People Who Get It, I asked a CEO what his favourite quotation was and why? His response:

“I like ‘If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you’ from the poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling because it teaches you not to panic and to stay in control when bad things happen. Don’t be impulsive and think that you have to do something. Sit in a room for a while and be quiet and let the world go by while you think about things.”

Reading the poem below is more poignant now than it was a few years ago. I have been taking Raja yoga classes, and the first three lessons are on The Art of Self Mastery, and the final five on The Ancient Study of Raja Yoga Meditation. I have taken two of the three classes on self mastery and I can feel a big difference. I am feeling calmer and more peaceful. The classes are to help me get peace of mind and much more. The big thing for me for taking the classes was to learn how to let go.

After the first class we were given a handout, Our Mighty Powers: The Most Effective Powers in our Lives for us to study the nine powers: Tolerance, Truth/Honesty, Co-operation, Humility, Accommodation, Discrimination, Love, Judgement and Withdraw. And the words and their meanings in Raja Meditation are different from their traditional English meanings. Each day I read the handout, which includes the meanings of the nine powers, and I see something that I did not see before. I feel a sense of calm wrap itself around me like a well used blanket. I am slowly letting go (Withdraw) of the things that hold me back, and the interesting thing is that I now truly understand what the other powers mean because I can feel them in my soul.

Now I truly understand what the CEO meant when he quoted an excerpt from “If.” Read the poem and just BE.

If by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings – nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man my son!

What do you feel right now? What does this poem mean to you? How easy is it for you to sit still for a while? What techniques do you use when you want to experience a sense of peace? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Source for the poem If

Photo credit: Avil Beckford (Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada)