Do you know that you can be a high performer without stress and worries?
Let me share with you a powerful truth I learned about actions and performance from my Guru, Paramahamsa Nithyananda (fondly known as Swamiji) which I was initiated into the science of unclutching in 2009 during a 21-day spiritual and yoga retreat called Inner Awakening.
Swamiji shared this simple but subtle technique called ‘Unclutching’ with the world, the ultimate science for freeing oneself from stress, worry and fear, and moving effortlessly to higher consciousness. He said: “Do not create, maintain or destroy any thought. If you don’t do any of these three things, you are the Supreme Self, Parabrahma!” Unclutching is like a self-purifying method. For any technique to be self-purifying and liberating, the moment you become subtle, the technique should also become subtle by itself. Unclutching is one such universal technique that can be used anytime, anywhere, by both the beginners and advanced practitioners. This simple method is remarkably easy to learn yet it is deeply profound in its transformational impact on your consciousness.
I remembered in my first Inner Awakening in June 2009, for several days we spent just sitting in Swamiji’s presence to unclutch from various layers starting from thoughts, breathing, emotions, attachment; even spiritual experiences. The deeper we are able to unclutch the more bliss we experience. The beauty of the “Unclutching” technique is that it can be applied instantly wherever you are. It does not require one to be sitting in a quiet dark room or in a tranquil state of mind. Once initiated by Swamiji (known as deeksha), it can take the practitioner immediately from being “clutched” – emotionally attached to whatever is going on in one’s life, to being “unclutched” – the space of conflict-free living. Thousands of people including myself had benefited and experienced tremendous healing and improvements in aspects of life such as health, wealth, mental clarity, creativity, relationships, careers and spiritual growth.
Here are certain truths you need to catch before trying this technique:
First of all, you need to understand is you are nothing but the totality of your actions. You are the totality of the side-effects of your actions! Every action you do leaves its imprint or incompletions on you. See, life leaves lot of impurities in you and around you, you can see others throwing dust on you and you throwing dust on others. How can you remain untouched by the impurities in life?
Second truth which you need to grasp is how your mind works. The mind is nothing but a series of random thoughts. If we look closely, our thoughts are actually independent and disconnected, just like bubbles in a fish-tank. Like bubble, every thought independently rises and dies before the next thought comes up. However, due to our unawareness, we connect these independent thoughts and selectively “clutch” onto certain ways of thinking and doing, which creates our emotional vacillation between pleasure and pain. For painful thoughts, we try to avoid and suppress while for pleasurable thoughts, we try to extend it. It is this “clutching” of thoughts which keeps us trapped in conditioned responses to situations and limits our possibilities and experiences.
The “Unclutching” brings us to the present moment with what is, it reduces the potential for conflicts. This allows us to respond with freshness, clarity and calmness to situations, instead of just unconsciously repeating the old patterns. “Not connecting your past experiences with your current experience, but looking at everything with freshness and awareness, is being unclutched.” says Swamiji.
As a living yoga teacher, I found that Yogasanas practice is a very powerful method to move your system without breaking the unclutched space. Yoga is the first step for you to train yourself to move your body in unclutched space. So much intelligence gets awakened when you bend your body in yoga in an unclutched way.
All the activities we do, whether it is cooking, eating, working or anything – perform it in unclutched way. When you are able to continuously unclutch, you will keep yourself in its pristine state, even the dust put on you from the past gets healed. The only thing that is required to do is remember to unclutch whenever you start giving meaning to old thoughts or whenever you connect with old thoughts and don’t allow them to bother you.
One important amazing effect of unclutching is whatever you do, you will be established in the highest performance. You may be aware that action does not always lead you to performance, but intense action always leads you to performance. Intense action means the action where the diversion of energy does not exist, where you are centered on the higher self. The very centering is performance. Action without performance is Karma, action leading to performance is Karma Yoga. As human being, we are beautifully programmed, capable of living and performing without using the mind. So let all your actions be continuously happening without breaking the unclutched mood.
How to unclutch?
- When you sit, naturally some thoughts will come. The moment you see a thought coming, do not give meaning to it. You give it meaning only if you connect it with your past. Without giving meaning to it just remember to unclutch, and see what happens. The moment you remember, ‘Let me unclutch from this thought, let me not give meaning to it,’ for a few seconds there will be a small silent gap. The moment you are aware that there is a silence, it will become one more thought. Then unclutch from that thought also. Then, again there will be a gap of a few seconds. Then, one more thought will come, ‘I am in silence’ or ‘I am unclutching’. Unclutch from that thought also. Just the gap or the silence should become longer and longer. That is the whole idea. First, sit and unclutch for few minutes.
- It is the nature of the mind to wander somewhere after a few minutes. The moment you remember or become aware that the mind has wandered, unclutch. There is no need to have guilt or be agitated that the mind has wandered. The moment you remember, unclutch, that’s all. In the initial level it may be very gross, like a solid fight. You may have to utter the word ‘unclutching’ like a mantra. But in just a few moments, you will see it becomes a subtle process.
- Then, try to be in the same space of unclutching, and move into action such as moving your hand then moving your leg. Learn to move in an unclutched way.
Unclutching grows on you the moment you start living it. The beauty with this technique is that it will become subtler as you become subtler. Finally, it will dissolve into the vast space of restful awareness. However, to experience that space, you should develop patience to allow your consciousness to grow with unclutching. The purpose of being alive is to keep on unclutching. Namaste 😀