Sadhana 1: - (Page# 46)

Dont simply believe what you are reading. The only way to find out whether something is
true or untrue is to experiment with it. Stop the internal debate and simply put it to the test.
The yogic path is not a path of inherited belief; it is the path of experiment.

Heres a practical way to begin.

When you have your next meal, do not talk to anyone around you for the first fifteen
minutes. Just be in active conscious response to the food that you eat, the air that you
breathe, the water that you drink.

As I have said earlier, your entire system is responding anyway. Just become conscious of it.
This apple, this carrot, this piece of breaddont take them lightly. If you do not eat for a
couple of days, you wont think about God. You will only think about food. This is what is
nourishing you and making your life right now. This is the very substance of your body.
Respond to food absolutely, with total attention.

This fruit, this egg, this bread, this vegetablethey are all a part of life themselves, but they
are willing to become you. Would you be willing to do this for anyone? You are not willing to
lose your identity and merge into anyone. You are not even willing to surrender your little
finger for someone else. Momentarily,
you surrender just a little, usually when you need something. Your love affairs are the
product of very calculated surrender. But food, which is a life unto itself, gives itself up
completely to become a part of you.

Later, without even uttering the sentence aloud, take the simple idea My responsibility is
limitless; if I am willing, I can respond to everythinginto the entire day. Be conscious of it
until the last moment before you fall asleep and remind yourself of it the first thing when
you wake up. If you sustain this awareness of your limitless nature for just one full minute,
you will achieve a
tremendous transformation. A minute may seem very simple, but you will see it will take a
certain level of application to arrive at this. Just one minute can elevate you to a different
dimension of experience and function. Right now, your awareness is erratic: this moment
you are aware and the next moment, you are
gone. It is okay. Every hour, remind yourself. Experiment with this awareness, allow it to
deepen and see what happens.

Conscious response brings you to a profound and enduring state of connectedness with life
not as an idea or an emotion, but life as life is. In this willing, active involvement with life,
you are embraced by it and that embrace takes you to the very source of creation. That is all
it takes to touch the Creatorjust willingness, nothing else.

Sadhana 2: - (Page# 60)

You may have noticed this about yourself: when you are feeling pleasant, you want to
expand; when you are fearful, you want to contract. Try this. Sit for a few minutes in front of
a plant or tree. Remind yourself that you are inhaling what the tree is exhaling, and exhaling
what the tree is inhaling. Even if you are not yet experientially aware of it, establish a
psychological connection with the plant. You could repeat this several times a day. After a
few days, you will start connecting with everything around you differently. You wont limit
yourself to a tree.

Using this simple process, we at the Isha Yoga Center have unleashed an environmental
initiative in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, under which twenty-one million trees have
been planted since 2004. We spent several years planting trees in peoples minds, which is
the most difficult terrain! Now transplanting those onto land happens that much more
effortlessly.

Sadhana 3: - (Page# 62)

Start by paying attention to everything you think of as yourself just before you fall asleep:
your thoughts, your emotions, your hair, your skin, your clothes, your makeup. Know that
none of this is you. There is no need to make any conclusion about what you are or what
truth is. Truth is not a conclusion. If you keep the false conclusions at bay, truth will dawn.
It is like your experience of the night: the sun has not gone; it is just that the planet is
looking the other way. Youre thinking, reading, talking about the self, because youre too
busy looking the other way! You havent paid enough attention to know what the self really
is. What is needed is not a conclusion, but a turnaround. If you manage to enter sleep with
this awareness, it will be significant. Since there is no external interference in sleep, this will
grow into a powerful experience. Over time, you will enter a dimension beyond all
accumulations.

Sadhana 4: - (Page# 65)

Look around. Among your family, co-workers, and friends, can you see how everyone has
different levels of perception? Just observe this closely. If you know a few people who seem
to have a greater clarity of perception than others, watch how they conduct their body. They
often have a certain poise without
practice. But just a little practice can make an enormous difference. If you sit for just a few
hours a day with your spine erect, you will see that it will have an unmistakable effect on
your life. You will now begin to understand what I mean by the geometry of your existence.
Just the way you hold your body determines almost everything about you.

Another way of listening to life is paying attention to it experientially, not intellectually or

emotionally. Choose any one thing about yourself: your breath, your heartbeat, your pulse,
your little finger. Just pay attention to it for eleven minutes at a time. Do this at least three
times a day. Keep your attention on any
sensation, but feel free to continue doing whatever you are doing. If you lose attention, it
doesnt matter. Simply refocus your attention. This practice will allow you to move from
mental alertness to awareness. You will find the quality of your life experience will begin to
change.
Sadhana 5: - (Page# 67)
Sit in any comfortable posture, with your spine erect, and if necessary, supported. Remain
still. Allow your attention to slowly grow still as well. Do this for five to seven minutes a day.
You will notice that your breath will slow down.

What is the significance of slowing down the human breath? Is it just some respiratory yogic
acrobatics? No, it is not. A human being breathes twelve to fifteen times per minute,
normally. If your breath settles down to twelve, you will know the ways of the earths
atmosphere (i.e., you will become meteorologically sensitive). If it reduces to nine, you will
know the language of the other creatures on this planet. If it reduces to six, you will know
the very language of the earth. If it reduces to three, you will know the language of the
source of creation. This is not about increasing your aerobic capacity. Nor is it about
forcefully depriving yourself of breath. A combination of hatha yoga and an advanced yogic
practice called the kriya, will gradually increase your lung capacity, but above all, will help
you achieve a certain alignment, a certain ease, so that your system evolves to a state of
stability where there is no static, no crackle; it just perceives everything.

Sadhana 6: - (Page# 72)

The body responds the moment it is in touch with the earth. That is why spiritual people in
India walked barefoot and always sat on the ground in a posture that allowed for maximum
area of contact with the earth. In this way, the body is given a strong experiential reminder
that it is just a part of this earth. Never is the body allowed to forget its origins. When it is
allowed to forget, it often starts making fanciful demands; when it is constantly reminded, it
knows its place. This contact with the earth is a vital reconnection of the body with its
physical source. This restores stability to the system and enhances the human capacity for
rejuvenation greatly. This explains why there are so many people who claim that their lives
have been magically transformed just by taking up a simple outdoor activity like gardening.

Today, the many artificial ways in which we distance ourselves from the earthin the form
of pavements and multi-storied structures, or even the widespread trend of wearing high
heelsinvolves an alienation of the part from the whole and suffocates the fundamental life
process. This alienation manifests in large-scale autoimmune disorders and chronic allergic
conditions.

If you tend to fall sick very easily, you could just try sleeping on the floor (or with minimal
organic separation between yourself and the floor). You will see it will make a big difference.
Also, try sitting closer to the ground. Additionally, if you can find a tree that looks lively to
you, in terms of an abundance of fresh leaves or flowers, go spend some time around it. If
possible, have your breakfast or lunch under that tree. As you sit under the tree, remind
yourself: This very earth is my body. I take this body from the earth and give it back to the
earth. I consciously ask Mother Earth now to sustain me, hold me, keep me well. You will
find your bodys ability to recover is greatly enhanced.
Or if you have turned all your trees into furniture, collect some fresh soil and cover your feet
and hands with it. Stay that way for twenty to thirty minutes. This could help your recovery
significantly.

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