THE MIND AND THE SELF

THE MIND AND THE SELF

Ayurveda teaches us that we are not our minds, but rather a separate consciousness, also called the Self. This exercise will help you start to realize the separation between the mind and consciousness.

What is the Self?

Both yoga and Ayurveda teach that the root cause of disease is the failure to understand our true nature. We might think that we are a physical body with a mind—a personality —but this is not the case. We are consciousness—“the Self”—a silent witness that uses the mind to express itself in the world of forms. Only once you realize that you are not your mind (in the same way that you are not your physical body) can you stop identifying with your mind’s moods and habits. The ultimate purpose of yoga and Ayurveda is not to control the mind, which is fighting a lost battle, but to dissolve its thoughts and content, so that we experience our true nature—pure consciousness—a state of ultimate bliss. Knowing the theory behind the separation of the mind and the Self is easy, but a true realization takes a long time to achieve.

“When you meditate, some irrelevant thoughts may enter your mind. Ignore them. They will pass away.” SWAMI SIVANANDA

SEPARATION FROM THE MIND

This exercise will help you come to terms with the idea that you are separate from your mind. Make sure you are sitting in a comfortable position in a quiet place. Take a few deep breaths, then begin.

1. Scan your body for tensions while you breathe rhythmically.
2. Create space within yourself by visualizing a space between your body and your thoughts.
3. Watch your thoughts come and go in a never-ending motion. The mind is like a monkey, jumping from one thought to another in an uncontrolled way. See how compulsive the movement of thoughts is. Become an unaffected witness, observing your mind.
4. Realize that the part of you that is observing the thoughts is different than the thoughts themselves.
5. Repeat mentally, “I witness my thoughts, and therefore I am not my thoughts.”
6. Feel the calmness and expansion that come with this realization.

By distancing ourselves from the thoughts that enter our minds, we can come to the realization that we are not our minds, but consciousness itself.

“I am universal space, and I was never limited by the body and mind.” SWAMI VISHNUDEVANANDA