Can Yoga Be Weaponised? | Smita Joshi | MMP Talks (29)

[00:00:00] Those are the six and enemies that play a huge role in this world full of money. Just those two things will bring you to your place where you're suddenly a choice. Your troubles are quite literally quite posts. Just that much for you.

[00:00:28] Something I need you to know before I can go on with this talk is a confession.

[00:00:35] I am not who you think I am. I'm not who you think I am. And for that matter you are not who you think you are. You are not who you think you are either.

[00:00:49] So now I'm not who you think I am and you are not who you think you are. So who I know though you and who I know that am I?

[00:01:00] Well, this is where martial arts and yoga converge because both of them deal with exactly that question. They deal with the question of who are you, who am I. And this is where yoga becomes a weapon.

[00:01:18] A weapon not of destruction but a weapon of sub-discovery, a weapon of transcending the limitations of your mind, a weapon of evolving into being the highest version of yourself.

[00:01:34] Now have you noticed we don't just go around asking the question like, oh my, oh my. We don't randomly ask that question. Why don't we do that? Well, because it's a question that flushes out. It's a full loud a consequence of when you begin looking into some deep pain, some deep unresolved trauma.

[00:01:59] And that's exactly how the journey began for me. There was a time in my life when there was a time in my life when I was absolutely,

[00:02:07] desperately seeking some answers to why certain events had happened in my earlier life.

[00:02:14] Certain painful traumatic events had happened. Why they just ran them or was there a deep a meaning behind them?

[00:02:22] Was there something for me to learn from them? Was there something for me to, to resolve? Was there something for me to break through with?

[00:02:31] And I became so obsessed with these questions that I would talk to anybody who would listen to me and my friends like, I would go on to them and in front of you to have about what is this? What is this thing? Now, what, what, why did things happen the way they did until one day?

[00:02:45] What do my friends come up and she rusted this book into my arms and she says, here read this. This will answer everything you need to know and it will transform your life as she wasn't wrong.

[00:02:57] It was a little known book called Spiritual Growth by a lady called Sennaya Roman.

[00:03:02] Now, it was one of the first synchronicities that happened in my life. One of the first seven deputies and synchronicities that kicked me off on my journey or self discovery.

[00:03:11] This book, one of the key ideas of this book was about connecting to something called the higher self.

[00:03:18] Now, the higher self as it turned out in my journey and my learning is that part of you that is the higher consciousness.

[00:03:27] And it's a part of it that's unpatched by any aspect of your past, any experiences, anything that's ever happened to you.

[00:03:34] But most importantly, it's a part of you, the consciousness that you can tap into that actually has all the answers that you can ever need.

[00:03:41] That synchronicity somehow got me to a place where in this book I was able to understand the higher self.

[00:03:51] I was able to actually at least be introduced to the higher self and then more importantly to learn how to connect to the single the higher self, this space of higher consciousness.

[00:04:01] The book gave me ideas of communicating with this aspect of us so that we can actually get it to answer questions that are really important to us.

[00:04:13] And that changed the trajectory of my life because more and more as I learn to do that and it happened really quickly, as I learned to do that, more and more synchronicities and serendipity started to flow into my life and things started to happen.

[00:04:30] For example, I heard the words very clearly go to India.

[00:04:38] I felt it right here, I kind of heard the words go to India and I knew with that came this rush of inspiration.

[00:04:48] Absolutely flash of inspiration. I knew I had to drop everything, I knew I had to go to India to learn about more of all of this and so as soon as I had that flash of inspiration.

[00:04:59] And then, like this is huge surge of a whole bunch of showstopper questions that came up immediately after you can't do that. What about your new job?

[00:05:10] This really, you've got this amazing fantastic package. What about the perks, this brand new card that's parked outside that you get with this job.

[00:05:18] And this lovely flat, this beautiful apartment you're living in now. It's like how did it feel like just last few years who's going to pay them mortgage?

[00:05:28] Rent it out. I heard the words literally heard the words rent it out.

[00:05:34] Yeah, of course. Of course I can do that. I will do that. Bam, another question. Ah, but India is a big place. It's like it's a huge place. Where do I even begin? What am I going to do? Who am I going to see?

[00:05:50] Go to the bar. I heard. This is literally like this is what happens when you start to listen. Go to the bar. Yeah, I have good family there. And bam, I land up in the bar.

[00:06:04] And as anybody who's gone to India on a whim knows, it's one of those places you start to own one place, but you end up.

[00:06:11] God knows where else you know, because things actually happen in India. And likewise with me,

[00:06:17] I've had a lot of time before I found myself in the fritails of the Himalayas, in Rishikesh in Anashra. And at this era, I learned two things.

[00:06:28] The swamida was talking quite a lot and in depth about something called Ottoman. Now as it happens,

[00:06:38] Ottoman is the Advaita Philosophy name of the higher self, the higher consciousness that I just mentioned earlier.

[00:06:47] So that was the first thing that I started to learn more about. And the second thing was there was this monk there. And he kept talking about something called the philosophy of flow.

[00:06:57] So I started to learn from him a little bit more about flowing like water. As it happens in seven different people would have it.

[00:07:06] Some years later, I got really interested in different martial arts and philosophies. And I came across Bruce Lee's philosophy. Bruce Lee, one of his key tenets. What is it?

[00:07:17] Be like water. This is another place where martial arts and yoga converge because both of them are concerned with two things. The first thing is developing a muscle in self discipline.

[00:07:35] And the second thing is elevating into higher self awareness, yoga and martial arts both of them are concerned with exactly that.

[00:07:46] And so I actually see yoga as a martial art. Like in martial arts, you know, you can be doing a posture learning a posture that can take you years of daily practice.

[00:07:56] The posture that mind can't even imagine is like, mind can't fathom how you ever get into that. When people see you do these things that you do that.

[00:08:05] Well, how he do that is by developing a ninja focus and concentration that actually not only transforms your body, but that actually transforms or rather creates a mind of solid self discipline.

[00:08:22] In the process of all of that, the other thing that automatically happens is you gain an elevation in your awareness, self awareness.

[00:08:33] There's a yoga guru of mine who says, he's in the stronger yoga guru very well known. We can thank him for all the types of yoga that we see out there today.

[00:08:43] But I'll be sure it says name is he used to say practice and all is coming.

[00:08:51] Practice and all is coming. That is literally what this focus and concentration does. And in fact, there's a fundamental tenet of yoga that comes in just the second line of a very powerful,

[00:09:05] yoga very important, significant powerful yoga text called the yoga sutras of Patanjali. Now sage Patanjali is you could say the founding father of the philosophy of yoga as we know it today.

[00:09:21] In the second line he says yoga shjitavritini rada.

[00:09:28] Yoga shjitavritini rada. He says that yoga is the union of the human being with his higher consciousness.

[00:09:41] And man unites with that vast and bounded consciousness when he gains mastery over the turbulence of the mind, the whirlpool of the mind.

[00:09:55] Shitavritini rada.

[00:10:13] Shitavritini rada.

[00:10:28] What happens when we're born, we have that giva artmen come with us. But it brings with it significant past memories.

[00:10:37] Significant past memories that shape your behaviors in this lifetime. So what is this whirlpool of the mind?

[00:10:46] I say the whirlpool of the mind is given by all those things that are transient. For example, the body, the thoughts, the emotions, the feelings and so on.

[00:10:55] But the purpose of all of that stuff that is in the whirlpool that accumulates in the whirlpool is that it creates filters.

[00:11:05] It creates filters so we don't get to see life in reality as it actually is. We actually don't get to see ourselves as we truly are because of these filters.

[00:11:15] And I'm going to touch upon two of those things as it were in particular. The first one is something that the ancient series of India called the Shad Rippuys.

[00:11:27] Now Shad is six. It means six in Sanskrit and Rippuys are your enemies. Okay, so these are the six inner enemies or enemies of the mind.

[00:11:37] The six enemies of the mind. What are they? They are calm, crude, low, moth and mothsetia.

[00:11:46] Calm, crude, low, moth, mothsetia. Now calm is lust and craving.

[00:11:54] Grow this anger and aggression. Calm, crude, low, low is myceline, myceline, nelson, greediness given by scarcity, the feeling of scarcity.

[00:12:05] Calm, crude, low, moth, moth is attachment to people and things. But is that kind of attachment? Has us have expectations?

[00:12:14] And when we have expectations of life and other people, it's really great when they're being met. But when they're not being met, chances are you're going to hit one of these six inner enemies.

[00:12:25] Resentment or anger or something like that, right?

[00:12:29] Moth, I love that one. Why? Because human beings, what do we want to do? We want to be admired. We want to be admired by people around us, one by the mind by communities and the world.

[00:12:40] And inside of that, what happens is when you get the admiration, if you don't have the self-awareness, what happens? You get proud and arrogant.

[00:12:50] So there is pride and arrogance and if you don't get it, sometimes we actually create a false narrative about our own self or false ego, where we pretend to be more than what we actually are.

[00:13:03] On the other side of that, I think on the other side of that coin, it's also sometimes we actually think we're a less than we are.

[00:13:10] So all of these, this false into this category of pride and arrogance, so calm, grow to love more, moth, moth, moth, moth, satire.

[00:13:19] Follow us on from this desire to look good, and to want to be admired, right? We want to be admired. We want to have the best life has to give us.

[00:13:27] And when we don't have it, and somebody else has it, what happens?

[00:13:32] Jellacy. And then sometimes it goes even further than that, somebody else has something you think you don't have it.

[00:13:38] And then what happens? We want that process out, and we don't want it for them.

[00:13:42] And so what happens is we end up being in Vies. So calm, grow to love more, moth, satire that is jealousy and pride.

[00:13:49] So those are the six synourimies that play a huge role in this world full of mind. Now moving on from there, the second thing is something called Sanscars.

[00:14:00] And Sanscars are those deep patterns of thoughts and beliefs that give rise to repetitive behavior patterns.

[00:14:09] Now those behavior patterns, those Sanscars, can sometimes be positive. They can give you a positive reaction attitude, they can give you the good stuff of life.

[00:14:18] But they can also be negative. And when they're negative, they're most likely given by somewhat past trauma.

[00:14:26] You could say that some of our negative behavior patterns are in fact trauma responses coming from even before this lifetime from Vies and Kardashians.

[00:14:37] So the point about trauma responses and trauma Sanscars is that they operate subconsciously. They operate without our active choice.

[00:14:47] So they operate sometimes subconsciously, unconsciously, without knowing. And the whole point about that is they have us behaving ways that our true self may not want us to or may not choose for us to.

[00:15:01] But I say that Sanscars are like scars on the psyche, you know, scars on the G-Vatman, that part of you, that consciousness that incarnated with you as a human being.

[00:15:13] What does this have to do with the world full of mind while pretty much these these functions come from the six synourimies and these deep repetitive Sanscars patterns.

[00:15:23] They create the chithority that Patanjali talked about as far back the world full of the mind.

[00:15:31] Patanjali talked about as far back as 300 BC. And this is where I see mind mastery coming into the picture because mind mastery is the ability to rise above the turbulence of the mind above the world full of the mind.

[00:15:45] As I said, very often given by the six synourimies and these repetitive unconscious behavior patterns.

[00:15:51] It creates stuff that happens all at once in the mind. It creates a little bit of chaos. Like these thoughts can when they're active, they can go round and round in the mind in a way that creates chaos and turbulence.

[00:16:05] And the question then becomes is like then who are you? Who is a real you if your mind is full of stuff like what I've just discussed then where is the real you?

[00:16:19] Who are you beyond the chaos of your mind and actually beyond the whirling world full of the mind?

[00:16:25] I think it's important to know about chaos is that imagine a world full of chikuzi, right? There's a chikuzi that's whirling round and round round.

[00:16:32] And as life goes on more stuff gets chucked into that we already came with some stuff and then other stuff gets chucked into it.

[00:16:39] whirling round and round and round. And at some point that chikuzi's motor starts to malfunction. You start so first of all all of that stuff that's whirling round in the world full creates like this blurred vision.

[00:16:50] Secondly, the noise that comes from the motor as it has it malfunctioned because it's becoming overloaded with all this stuff. Then we can't hear stuff that's going on in the mind. So create a lot of noise in the mind.

[00:17:02] And it literally we don't even know that this noise is actually going on. Why do we not know? Why can't why do we not because we think this is the way the mind is?

[00:17:13] This is just the way the mind operates, we're not aware of the functioning of the mind. Why is that? Because actually the mind is merely a machine that turns out thought after thought after thought after thought.

[00:17:24] Incessently in circles like a whirlpool.

[00:17:29] And this is the state that the ancient stages of India called the Maya Jarl, Maya Jarl, Maya means illusion.

[00:17:38] Jarl is that net or web inside of which we become trapped. All the stuff we see through this blurred vision and through the noise in our head becomes sort of you know likely praxis.

[00:17:52] In English you might call it the veil's illusion.

[00:17:55] Right? Vales of illusion. We see life through the veil's illusion. It stops you from seeing the reality of life. It stops you more importantly from seeing your true essence, from knowing yourself in your true essence.

[00:18:07] And we are literally quite literally trapped inside of that. So how do you go towards beyond that? How do you break through that?

[00:18:17] Well, Richard Patanjali said quite simply he said, harm the turbulence of the mind.

[00:18:29] Why? Because just above and beyond the stuff of the mind is the real you. That's where the argument is. That's who you are in your true essence. That part of you is ever present ever observing, ever ready to assist and guide you into your true power.

[00:18:53] And that my friend is the whole point of yoga.

[00:18:59] Is to get yourself into that state. So peer through that veil of Maya and attain mastery over the turbulence of mind.

[00:19:07] So yoga quite literally is the weapon, the spear, that pierces through, that Maya Jarl, that veil of illusion.

[00:19:14] Imagine you're sitting in a cinema theater in a hall where you've got this movie screen in front of you.

[00:19:21] All these stories are being projected onto that screen. Yoga, the spear of yoga, self-discipline and self-awareness is the weapon that pierces through that movie screen, where the stories are being projected that you believe to be your like or to be true in some shape or form.

[00:19:40] The movie that is the story of your life.

[00:19:44] When you can paste through that, what happens is you actually get to see through that develops of discipline through that self-awareness.

[00:19:52] You actually get to realize and recognize that all the things that you believe to be real thus far are merely stories that you have been buying into.

[00:20:06] When you can see that what happens is that Maya Jarl, that net of illusion just falls to your feet and you can step outside of that and you're freed up.

[00:20:25] And as I said, that takes self-discipline and self-awareness.

[00:20:30] And this is again where yoga and martial arts come so powerful because it's self-discipline and self-awareness that's stuck you.

[00:20:40] Now, from having your past play out into your future.

[00:20:45] Once you've stepped outside that Maya Jarl, that net of illusion, that be on the veil of illusion, you're now free to choose.

[00:20:57] Choice, conscious choice.

[00:21:00] So coming back to what I mentioned earlier, Maya and Kari actually began with the question, Maya and Kari of who I might be going with me trying to get some answers to why certain traumatic events that happened in my life.

[00:21:11] And what I found was that some of my traumas were deep comic patterns.

[00:21:17] They were deep comic patterns coming from not just this life previous instances of my being alive and yet they were influencing my existing life in such a powerful way.

[00:21:31] They were actually driving.

[00:21:36] What was happening in my life, even though that wasn't the real me, they were actually driving my life in a direction where my true potential was being limited.

[00:21:49] Let the real crux of what I've learned on my journey of self-disgabri is this that our traumas are guide posts to ourselves mastery.

[00:21:59] Let us sink in for a second.

[00:22:01] Your traumas are quite literally guide posts.

[00:22:07] Just of mastery.

[00:22:11] Chances are that when you start to deal with a confront a trauma, you're going to hit some painful aspect of your emotional being because that's my nature what trauma is something that is painful.

[00:22:23] Chances are that in going through it's only in going through that tunnel, that you'll learn something really valuable about yourself something new something valuable.

[00:22:32] And you're going to hit one of those six in one or more of the six in our enemies that I've just talked about and quite possibly some behaviors that are linked to that.

[00:22:43] Let are limiting you.

[00:22:46] But to heal our traumas, we need to do two things.

[00:22:49] The first thing is to confront the trauma.

[00:22:54] Okay? So actually acknowledge it's there, confronted.

[00:22:57] And the second thing is to actually understand what did I make it mean when that thing happened, what did I make it mean?

[00:23:07] Just those two things, just those two things will bring you to a place where you're suddenly a choice.

[00:23:16] Self-awareness rises you into choice.

[00:23:20] Now you understand this means something that's happening in your life that's been giving.

[00:23:25] Outcomes in your life even today.

[00:23:27] Though it happened many years ago, it's still shaping and determining how your future is going.

[00:23:33] When you get to that stage, you look at your trauma, just heal it.

[00:23:37] You actually understand what did I make it mean you then have an actual choice you have options.

[00:23:42] You can carry on.

[00:23:44] Now you know you can carry on with that as it's been the status quo and by the way we would call that resistance.

[00:23:51] We would call that resistance to letting it go.

[00:23:54] Because the other option is letting it go.

[00:23:56] They stay with it.

[00:23:58] You remember what Einstein said about resistance.

[00:24:00] What did Einstein say about resistance?

[00:24:03] What you resist?

[00:24:05] Persists.

[00:24:06] You can stay with it all, you can let it go.

[00:24:10] And letting go, my friends, is so powerful because letting go leads you into true acceptance.

[00:24:20] Acceptance meaning allowing things to be as they are and as they are not.

[00:24:26] Quite simply allowing things to be as they are and as they're not.

[00:24:30] You don't have to roll over, you don't have to allow people that you don't have to accept.

[00:24:35] But the stuff that happened, but you suddenly need to let it go in a way where you're no longer fighting it.

[00:24:41] Because self acceptance gives you choice.

[00:24:45] It gives you more than choice.

[00:24:47] It gives you a gateway like a pathway.

[00:24:49] It opens you up into a world of possibilities that you didn't even know existed.

[00:24:53] A world of possibilities that were not even anywhere in your mind because this is a way to do it.

[00:25:00] This whole thing was hidden behind all of this world pool stuff.

[00:25:04] When you actually realise that you have this realm of possibilities, the main thing that happens is you can choose from what is for your highest good rather than being dragged along like a fish on a hook.

[00:25:18] Given by your past.

[00:25:22] So when you can do this, you are no longer operating from limiting yourself.

[00:25:27] If you're no longer operating from life in post limitations and self-imposed limitations, you are now outside.

[00:25:35] You've stepped outside of that Maya gel.

[00:25:37] You're now free to choose something from not from your past.

[00:25:44] But a future that is absolutely fresh from the future itself.

[00:25:49] A future free from the past.

[00:25:51] And you're opening up something even bigger inside of doing that.

[00:25:55] You're opening yourself up to a pathway of synchronisting and serendipity rather than hitting rocks and resistance.

[00:26:05] And that, my friends, is when you can manifest whatever you want yourself in your life.

[00:26:09] At that point, you can truly choose to manifest and have a peer in your reality, whatever you desire for yourself and for your life.

[00:26:21] So like in martial arts, the weapon of yoga is the sharpening of the mind, the discipline of the mind.

[00:26:30] It's the sharpening the discipline of the mind.

[00:26:32] The weapon of yoga is piercing through the illusion.

[00:26:36] The veils of illusions lifting you into being your higher self, into living as your true self.

[00:26:47] So, not only do you get to know yourself through the process of yoga and martial arts to yourself discipline and self awareness as the master of your mind.

[00:26:57] But you get to know yourself as the creator of your own universe.

[00:27:03] I hope that like me, you will get value in transforming from living inside,

[00:27:09] perhaps inside of the tangy leaves, to be a little more of the mind to flowing into inner peace and freedom.

[00:27:20] Flowing into true inner freedom, like Bruce Lee's, the like water.

[00:27:28] And remember, wrap this and all is coming. Thank you so much.