Since July 2011, I had been contemplating on a suitable name for this new exploration and expression of mine i.e. sharing the science of yoga and healing with others. One morning in late August, suddenly “Your Presence Heals” was revealed to me in a flash during my morning Sadhana (practice) in a deep “unclutched” state. The words appeared clearly in my inner space. Just like how scientists like Newton or Einstein had their sudden revelation of scientific discoveries in the one moment – the present moment, these three words came to me but I had to piece the puzzle together by figuring out logically the space where this revelation happened.
There is a common saying “Your presence speaks volumes about who you are and what you stand for”. Presence can be expressed from different energy spectrum, for e.g. from a grosser level as physical matter like body expression but at a subtler level, it is energy or consciousness radiating the spirit of Light. Fundamentally, we are all nothing but energy as concluded by Einstein’s mass-energy equivalence theory, E = MC2. Everything that exists is energy. Presence is nothing but energy we radiate.
Have you ever experienced being in someone’s presence that radiates intense joy or healing energy? Being in the presence of an enlightened being is one such intense experience of healing presence whereas being in the presence of a violent person makes us want to run away. Why do people express different level of presence? My experience tells me that it depends on an individual’s quality of inner space and his understanding of “WHO AM I?”.If the inner space is filled with love and compassion, one experiences himself as consciousness, he will be a spiritual being radiating a healing presence. If the inner space is driven by fear and greed, this person is matter-based (i.e. sees himself as body or mind), then he will be materialistic.
The revelation encourages us to look in and tune towards the highest spectrum of Presence which is the part of us that exists in the realms of Spirit or the Light, some call it by various names such as Christ Consciousness, the Buddha within, Divine Consciousness, God Consciousness but they refer to the same state. Presence is being established in a state of restful awareness, meaning falling into the present moment in deep silence without inner chatters. This is our original state – the pure space.
Unfortunately, living in this Technology Age, it is becoming very difficult for common men to remain in awareness because there are many obstacles that take us away from this original state. Firstly, the conditioning from the educational system and our society emphasize so much on acquiring intellectual knowledge and a pre-occupation of the mind with entertainment and distractions. A restless mental pattern is prevalent in our mental setup now. In the ancient times, the learning system encouraged knowledge of the truth and realization through experiences in silence and restful awareness. Secondly, the quality of awareness has further suffered due to our modern lifestyle such as a diet laden with processed food, preservatives and sugar, excessive stress level, medicine that gives side effects and a polluted environment as a result of consumerism.
Thirdly, although the Informational Age has brought us with positive advancement in our life in terms of speed and information flow, a constant exposure to too many light-source media like TV, computer and other electronic devices put us in low awareness. The low frequency of awareness not only creates more fantasies, restlessness and irritability in the inner space, but it also shuts down the right brain functioning which relates to love and compassion. I have noticed some parents who think that early exposure to computer and electronic devices is good for their children and some parents even use the devices as a distraction to occupy their children. Little do they know that this wrong understanding develops a short attention span amongst children and reduces their ability to focus as well as numbs their senses. What the children see in a form of video by-passes their ability to develop cognitive discernment, they begin to believe what they see on TV or computer as the reality. Children can become bored easily, irritable and insensitive to things that do not feed their restless mental pattern. As a parent myself, I am fortunate to have the right understanding of these effects through the guidance of a spiritual master and I take the responsibility to transmit this truth to my child so that he can avoid cracks in his inner space.
These are deep-rooted issues we face as a society which will probably take generations to tackle but I do believe that if every individual takes responsibility to get back to the state of Presence by healing the body, mind and spirit, the ripple effect of this action will create a positive shift in the collective consciousness on planet earth. From my personal experience, the journey back to my Presence has been very healing and fulfilling.
Here are four key ingredients that I discovered how getting back to Presence aids the process of healing our body, mind and spirit:
- From Absence to Presence. We have within us all the answers to all our problems but we are constantly busy with the ‘doing’ in order to achieve more ‘having’ so much so that we forget about ‘being’. The human civilization has reached its peak in terms of luxury and comfort in the outer world, we are at the peak of suffering in the inner world – the “spiritual poverty”. In my own life, to begin the process of healing this void, I stopped running my life in the outer world like a restless rat, instead I gave a little time to myself daily (about 1-2 hours) by turning my energy inwards and JUST BE. Just be intensely in your body. The power of present moment always heals the body. I find that Hatha Yoga practice in the form of postures and breathing is a very powerful technique to experience our body intensely.
- Awaken Your Awareness, Intelligence & Compassion Bio-memories. Whenever we are able to be utterly relaxed in certain activities with awareness like walking in a forest or doing spiritual practices like yoga postures, breathing, meditation or chanting a mantra, we fall into the present moment and we experience harmony, inner joy, love, peace and intuition. During these moments, we awaken the awareness bio memory, the intelligence bio memory and the compassion bio memory within us which change the very quality of our inner space. Some of the old unconscious mental patterns that do no serve us are broken to make way for new patterns to blossom.
- Acceptance with Gratitude. What we call as life can never be fathomed with our limited logic. Life is too big to be contained by human logic. For example, the loss of your loved ones due to a disaster or an accident which creates deep emotional pain and suffering within. By asking “Why? Why me?” will not get you out of the suffering, it only leads you into bitterness and depression. Only with acceptance of the situation with gratitude that every incident in our lives is meant to teach us something about life and make us wiser. When we accept things as they are, we can experience the causeless happiness and blessings. Gratitude is the fragrance that can pervade our inner space and replace the suffering of a battered consciousness we carry. Acceptance with gratitude relieves us from past guilt and expands our inner space. In the Vedic Tradition, there are no bad moments because every moment is auspicious. Just enjoy every moment with awareness without creating bondage.
- Devotion & Surrender. More and more scientists are suggesting that spiritual practices of devotion and surrender add to our health because these practices keep us in touch of our higher purpose of existence beyond the ephemeral existence. As we spend more time devoted to anything other than ourselves, we experience other dimension in us – a space inside all of us that is beyond thoughts and emotions. This space brings tremendous healing and health to all aspects of life. The more we are aware of this space, the more we live a conflict-free life which leads to ageing gracefully and a graceful exit.
In essence, “Your Presence Heals” is about getting back to our original space of awareness and healing of self from the wrong mental patterns that separate us from our spirit of Light, the source of ultimate intelligence.