What did you have for dinner on Sept 28, 1997? Don’t you know? We obviously can’t hold every experience in memory, but every experience or action leaves a residual vibration in our subconscious and continues to be a part of us and to affect who we are. These vibrations collect together and gain influence, creating desires. Desires lead to action, and action then leaves residual vibration within us.
Very early in our lives, we are already full of residual experience that influences us, creating desires that in turn lead to action. As a simple example, if we eat chocolate, we are left with the residue of the experience. That creates stronger desire for chocolate, which leads to the action of buying and eating chocolate, which continues to add residue to the collection. Thoughts, too, are actions, so everything we think adds to the vibrations that drive our desires and our actions.
This is the endless cycle of karma.
A variety of spiritual practices are aimed at helping us to SEE this cycle. Awareness of the cycle, and how it is constantly playing out within us, is what leads to free will, to the ability to act from a different place in ourselves. Awareness is the path to liberation from the endless churning of karma.
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Two days with the amazing Emile Wendel, learning yoga philosophy, pranayama (breathing techniques), mudras, and more at Neydo monastery in Pharping, perched above Kathmandu. Monks chanting in the prayer hall, yoga with Anouk in the monastery overlooking the whole valley, and a continued strengthening of my way in the world.
Thanks, Sam, for the beautiful yoga community you’re creating here in Nepal through Pranamaya Studios!
