If you are pursuing a conscious lifestyle or want to discover step by step what could be life-changing for you, I would like to share with you 10 principles (learned and received from several authentic yoga teachers) that have supported me on my yoga path for the past 20 years and have made sure that I live life to the fullest, have faith in life and focus on myself. In addition to my yoga practice, it helps to look at the functioning of your mind. Because of these principles, I accept my life more as it is intended for me. They are principles that you can read more than once and bring new insights every time.
1. There is only now
Relax your usual focus on ‘what’s gone’, ‘what’s not there yet’. Things you can’t possibly control from where you are. Let yourself be fascinated by what is alive, here, now. Be curious about this very lively dance of thoughts, sensations, feelings and impulses that takes place where you are. Remember that the Now is the only place from which real answers can eventually come. It’s all there is, the calm in the middle of the storm.
2. Resistance hurts
Pain is not the real problem, the real problem is our thinking about pain, our resistance to discomfort, our attempt to escape it and reach an imagined future. The real problem starts when we start worrying about our pain, our sadness, our fears, our anger, worrying about our discomfort. Come from past and future, seeking and striving, and meet life in the raw, now, without judgment and without expectation. Come on, for the pleasant and the unpleasant, the pleasant and the painful, without an agenda. Think of it all as a gift.
3. Thoughts are not the truth
Think of thoughts and sensations as neutral and impersonal events in consciousness. Like sounds we hear, thoughts and bodily sensations arise and disappear spontaneously, like waves in the ocean. Develop a friendly attitude toward thoughts. Meet them with an attitude of kindness and curiosity. See them as welcome guests in your presence.
4. Have space for your thoughts
You have thoughts but you áre not your thoughts. They are only suggestions, possibilities, judgments, voices, images that come and go. Be the space for them and don’t try to shut them down. You’re not stuck in it.
Be the unchanging embrace of thought, the expanse in which thoughts can come and go as they please.
5. Breathe through everything
Breathe in and out uncomfortable sensations. Honor them instead of closing you off from them, Feel your breath move to the neglected and sensitive area and infuse it with life and love. Feel the willingness to be with all the feelings and to embrace all that you experience.
6. Acceptance in your whole perception
Acceptance does not mean that an unpleasant thought or feeling will go away, it can remain for a while. Treat it as if it might always be there. This takes away the time pressure. The experience is only in the Now. Be curious. And let every urge, every feeling of frustration, boredom, disappointment or even despair also come up and belong.
7. Always and never feed a lack
In reality there is no ‘always’ and no ‘never’. Keep these words in mind. They are lies and can create a sense of urgency and powerlessness. They feed the story of search and lack. Sometimes even thinking about tomorrow is just too much work. Just be here.
8. The journey is the most important
Often we focus so much on the goal or destination that we forget the journey, Stress takes over and the feeling that we are ‘not there yet’ prevails. Joy can only be found in the here and now and has nothing to do with goals, destinies. Learn from your lessons without getting answers. What you experience is alive, creative and full of potential.
9. Not knowing is good too
When you realize that you are lost, that you have no connection, that you have forgotten the moment, celebrate it. Don’t punish yourself for forgetting or not knowing, but celebrate your ability that you don’t need to know everything. Be humble through the journey instead of trying to be “perfect.” Doubt, disappointment and disillusionment will be constant friends. There is no destination present and there is no image of ‘good’ if you do not make this.
10. You are the life
You are unique, your journey is your own path. Don’t compare yourself to anyone else. When you begin to compare, you devalue your own unique, irreplaceable gifts, talents, and truths and disconnect from your own experience. Enrichment is possible if you say yes to where you are now. Trust what you cannot trust.
Kind regards, Namasté,
Manon Simonis
