Satyam Holistic Wellness

Relax…This is my spiritual teacher’s favourite mantra. I have heard her say it countless times over the last 25 years and it lives in me as a call to presence. It is the most simple mantra and often the most difficult to practice.  

As a novice spiritual seeker, I would hear this and it would conjure an image of me in a reclining patio chair, eyes closed, taking a pause.  This is one version of “relax”, and it is legitimate.  We all need a pause from activity, time to sit, rest and be still.  This mantra goes much deeper though…

When you are feeling stressed, overwhelmed, angry, struggling with thoughts you don’t like, observing parts of you that are extremely uncomfortable and are feeling a great resistance to what is…just RELAX.  If you are angry, relax about being angry.  You are not bad because you feel angry.  The mind would like to create a story about why you shouldn’t be angry or you are bad because you feel angry or you are angry because another person did something that made you unhappy.  You create the story and it keeps giving more life to the anger, fueling it like gas on a fire.  

The divine chooses to experience through you all expressions, without judgement.  Imagine the divine as a curious child, here to experience all frequencies of emotions and experiences, to know itself and its capacities.  You have free will to choose your experiences and each experience you live is divine.  Each experience offers you the gift of knowing yourself more deeply and honouring your unique expression of the divine.

We have certain rules and a moral code on Earth, so it’s not to say that you can go around hurting other people and saying it was done in “God’s name.”  This is an abuse of spirituality and is often seen as a justification by religious organizations to justify wars, oppression and other acts of hatred.  These acts are committed from an unconscious place that does not recognize the other as you…as God itself.  As a wise yogi once said, “If you don’t see God in all, you don’t see God at all.”  As we raise our consciousness and grow in self-awareness and self-responsibility, we see that our outer reality is a reflection of our inner world.  A kind inner world naturally extends kindness to others.  And a kind inner world begins with the mantra “RELAX!”

Here is a simple exercise to put the mantra “RELAX” into practice and to open the door to seeing your own divine nature:

1. Sit silently in meditation and take 3 deep belly breaths, inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your nose.
2. Focus on the most prominent emotion you are feeling in that moment.  Relax about any discomfort you may feel.  You are simply allowing yourself to feel the emotion, free from any judgment.  The emotion may be pleasant or unpleasant.  You do not prefer one to the other.
3. Notice where the emotion is most alive in your body.  As you focus on that area, relax with any sensations.  Keep breathing long, slow breaths in and out through your nose as you relax more deeply into this part of your body, the emotion and sensations.
4. Now inhale deeply and exhale deeply and say to this body part, “This is “The Divine,” or “God,” or “Source,” (whatever word resonates with you), feeling (insert emotion here) now.”  For example, “This is the Divine feeling angry right now.”  Say it with complete acceptance.  And if you don’t feel acceptance, just notice that without judgment.
5. If any tears come, allow them as a sweet purification.  
6. Sit in silent meditation for 1-3 minutes
7. Practice this daily for 40 days.  You will see that the judgment or attachment you placed on your emotions reduces and your connection with your divinity increases.

You can also practice a simple version of this during the day.  When you feel an emotion arise, such as irritability, instead of the knee-jerk conditioned reaction of self-judgement or blame, instead, take a long deep breath and say out loud or inside your head, “This is “the Divine” feeling irritable right now,” 

This practice also diminishes the attachment to “positive” emotions and the repulsion towards “negative” emotions. You simply allow the expression of whatever arises with relaxation and nuetrality.

Your discomforts will pass, your enjoyments will pass…and all you have is RELAX…that is the key to experiencing your divinity.

RELAX…RELAX…RELAX! 🙂