MS Sanskrit 391. Authored by Svami Hamsasvarupa Wellcome Collection.
Dear Reader,
Yoga for Winter Well-Being Course Launch
This week I’ve been finalising the Yoga for Winter Wellbeing Online Yoga Course along with attempting to finish my yoga therapy homework and client studies; before starting to revise for my 3-hour exam in under two weeks’ time. It does feel as if yoga is taking over my life completely, which is rather wonderful and exciting, if a bit intense. I’m very grateful to have an understanding partner who supports my passion, gets my sense of purpose and puts up with all this incessant exploration. Thank you, Alistair!!
The Winter Wellness Course is now available to purchase. The early bird price is £250 per household. One participant last year said this is perhaps too little to pay, given the quality and quantity of the content. However, times are difficult for many these days so I’ve kept it the same. You can find out the details on the course page here. If you are genuinely struggling financially and feel motivated to do this course, then please do contact me and we can come to some arrangement that works.
This new online video course is entirely different to last year’s Winter Resilience, which is why I’ve named it differently. I feel this course is a more nurturing, and is very much informed by my yoga therapy studies particularly my explorations of women’s health and well-being. You’ll find a broader range of yoga practices and styles, and shorter videos to enable you to fit the practices in between the daily tasks of a busy life. So, if you’d like to embark on a journey of supporting your mental and physical well-being, plus lifting your spirits over this winter season, then take a look!! By the way, men and other folk are also welcome on the Winter Wellness course.
The Crown Chakra and The “Hard Problem”
Last week the theme that we worked with was the Crown Chakra, the sahasrara chakra. This energy centre is our connection to the Divine, the Universal Consciousness, the Universe or whatever you call that field of consciousness that connects all beings to the infinite and unknowable beyond. Many people believe that no such field exists. However, physicists and philosophers find it rather problematic to get a handle on the nature of reality without making space for consciousness in their musings and equations. Thus they have not yet solved the “Hard Problem” of how the brain produces consciousness and don’t understand what consciousness actually is.
Exploring Consciousness - Or Not…
Fortunately, yoga philosophy does have a sensible, clear approach to consciousness, that has been tested over time. Indeed the language that most original yoga texts are written in, Sanskrit, is specially designed for the purpose of exploring consciousness. It contains myriad separate terms for distinct states of consciousness, similar to the way the Inuit have many different words for various types of snow.
Yet, many scientists in the “material-reductionist” camp (Richard Dawkins, is probably the most well-known thinker in this area) are quite disdainful of the yogic worldview.
“This set of beliefs, commonly referred to as material reductionism, asserts that the universe and all of its constituents (including us) can be entirely reduced to and understood in terms of the interactions of physical stuff that is itself lifeless and completely devoid of consciousness.”
Squashing the Sacred
I find this worldview in equal parts heartbreaking and infuriating for so many reasons. It squashes the Sacred within each one of us, belittles the Divine majesty of Nature and ridicules what we intuitively know to be true in our hearts and our guts (or our anahata and our manipura chakra). Moreover, this mechanistic worldview fits in perfectly with the prevailing economic theory that sees nature as a resource to be exploited. How very convenient! If we shared a worldview in common with shamanic and indigenous peoples, that Nature is a rich array of consciousnesses expressing their ultimate nature via manifest reality, we might have a bit more respect for Life on Earth.
I believe many of us humans instinctively know that we are not complex meat machines, knocking around in a clinical, mechanistic environment. We are an intrinsic part of Nature (manifest reality), imbued with prana, or chi, the sparkling Life force energy of Conscious Awareness. When we take some time out of the rat race and take ourselves off into wild nature, it slowly becomes clear that Life, in all its manifestations, is saturated with Wisdom and Mystery.
The Need for A Spiritual Worldview
The sad thing is our culture, society, institutions and our own belief systems are deeply influenced by those pesky material-reductionists! As such, it appears to be New Age or woo-woo to think in a different way. I’ve been quite shy about sharing my own spiritual viewpoint for this very reason. However, I saw the desperate need for such a spiritual worldview that incorporated Consciousness into manifest reality, when I was involved with Extinction Rebellion.
It dawned on me that the majority of ecological activists have a materialist-reductionist “scientific” worldview. Great nonviolent activists like Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, used their faith in Universal Consciousness (God, Brahman) to get through the darkest of times. Without spiritual support, activism can be depressing and draining, leading to burnout and apathy. In fact, I observed that one of the bravest, most tenacious and positive groups of XR are Christians of XR. Although I have to say the Doctors for XR are doing a fabulous job too!
I decided to start writing this blog, back in 2019 to find a way to communicate the usefulness of yoga philosophy, in supporting people from all walks of life who are interested in creating a better future for all. It is my wish that these musings will support people experiencing eco-anxiety, depression and apathy as they look towards what is often portrayed as a bleak future for the planet. Of one thing I am sure, regarding our Selves as mere matter, which happens to have come together in a certain way to accidentally give rise to Life for no reason whatsoever, is depressing, alienating and limits our ability to thrive. We need to shift this outdated material-reductionist paradigm. This rigid, dogmatic worldview has long since served its purpose.
The Samkya Worldview
Many scientists believe that the systematic exploration and documentation of consciousness by countless humans over millennia is somehow beneath their highbrow, but ungrounded, proclamations. However, as they have not yet come up with a plausible solution to “the hard problem” my feeling is we might as well go with the yoga philosophy. It makes logical sense as a working theory. And a number of psychologists, philosophers and scientists agree, there is much more to Life than meets the eye, or any other sense organ for that matter.
In Samkhya philosophy, upon which many yoga philosophy texts are based, everything we experience with our senses is Prakriti. All that we are aware of, but don’t experience with our senses is Purusha - Consciousness, which resides alongside all of observable reality. Some Western philosophers and writers have called this Cosmic Consciousness.
The Crown chakra is our connection to this Cosmic Consciousness, to the underlying ground of being, to All That Is. When mystics and experienced meditators go into deep states of meditation they get a sense of this expansive consciousness, which is often described as well, indescribable. Bliss. Oneness. Love. A state of witnessing the broader field of consciousness in profound awe that forever changes their understanding of the nature of reality.
Everyday Experiences of Cosmic Consciousness
However, the rest of us, who might not have devoted quite so much time to reaching higher states of consciousness, also have a connection through the Sahasrara chakra. When we feel inspired, or experience a sudden understanding, an epiphany, we are most likely channelling this energy from the collective consciousness through the Crown chakra. In fact, neuroscientists have recently discovered gamma brainwaves, which are associated with both epiphany and deep meditative states of awareness. I don’t think of these states as rarified events, that only happen to very “spiritual” people, they happen to all of us.
Just as the Root chakra (muladhara) is our connection to Earth, the Crown chakra (sahasrara) is our connection to the infinite field of consciousness of all of manifest reality. The Unknown, the Great Mystery, or whatever you choose to call this field of conscious energy, is part of the Universe just as much as solid matter is. Both the Root and Crown chakra point downwards, although the psychic energy (or pranavayus) that flows through them moves in all directions. However, this invisible halo at our crown, is both a transmitter and receiver of psychic energy. From my own experience, inspiration, or “bright ideas”, seem to come into my individual consciousness through this point. I feel it as a little tickle on the top of my head, slightly towards the back. Maybe you feel this too, occasionally?
I associate this light tickly feeling with subtle realisations about life situations and problems, or even about articles that I’m attempting to write. These are moments when I suddenly “get it,” or somehow connect the dots and everything falls into place. They might not be earth-shattering realisations, but encountering these quiet revelations often feels curiously fascinating, useful and profoundly supportive.
I guess that other people might feel these energies in different ways. When we are in flow, we express the essence of our being, we embody and live our purpose here on Earth. This might be to cook delicious food that brings families together. To research diligently and find out everything about lichens. To play incredible music that evokes profound emotion or bliss. To be capable of bearing witness to great trauma and pain without losing oneself, and thus offering a dependable lifeline back to a safe shore. There’s an infinite number of ways we are called to nurture and support each other and create a better world.
When we connect through the Crown chakra we are being helped and supported by a wise and loving Consciousness that is entwined with the fabric of the Universe. This Consciousness has seen, been and done it all, and thus has infinite Wisdom and Love encoded within its immeasurable field of energy. This is not the fluffy, bearded Godlike being that is judgemental and tangible. This is the intangible, unknowable, Universe experiencing Itself in all its majestic and awe-inspiring manifestations. It is not always golden, there is darkness as well as light. Yet, if we choose to sit still, breathe deeply and hold an open mind, we might find that underneath all our mental chatter is a portal to the Divine, and over time, it proves to be a most reliable guide.
This Week’s Meditation - The Crown Chakra
Classes this Week and the New Yoga for Winter Well-Being Course
Classes are running, as usual, this week. This term finishes on the 14th of December, but I will run an online somatics class on the 20th of December, and the Winter Well-Being Classes on Zoom throughout the Holiday season and the whole of Winter, on Wednesdays at 8:15pm - 9:15pm GMT. These Wednesday evening Zoom classes are only accessible to those who join the online course. I will run an In-Person Class at 7:30pm on the 21st of December, open to all, free to those registered on the course as it will be the first gathering of our sangha.
Find out more about Yoga for Winter Well-Being Here or click on the image below to purchase this course from the Holistic Yoga Store. You’ll have access to introductory content only. We’ll all begin together on the Winter Solstice, in just over two weeks’ time. I’m so looking forward to this Winter!!
With love and good wishes,
Julia xx
Your Very Own Portal to the Divine