Practical approach

Practical approach                                                                                                            

The best techniques I have read to date are by Swami Sivanada                                           
His philopsohy is herald for its simplicity and easy application.
Do good, be good. This releases the mind of the tension. When the mind is calm the gross manifestation of the mind, “ the body” starts to relax .  Love Joy and compassion spring forth when the agitations of the mind  disappear.

As per the teaching of Swami SIvanada, “ human perfection”  doesn’t come from  just  a few stretches of your thighs or sitting quietly in contemplation. . True foundation of  spiritual practices  come from  proper conduct.
AN OUNCE OF PRACTICE IS WORTH A TON OF THEORY!

What does it mean to Do good , Be good? It means  living a life that will put you in harmony with the society around you and with your own inner self.
Understanding the first 2 precepts  , contemplating on them,  one comes  to live  by them.

Do not think of it as religious or moral precepts.  Instead approach it intelligently and  evolution will begin.
Classified into two categories  there are know as self restrains “DO GOOD” ( yama) and observances (niyama) “BE GOOD”

 
Iis it  enough to do good in order to promote the welfare of society. Whatever be the personal life or the inner motives of a social benefactor, we honour him if he does good to us. But unless at the same time he strives to be good, the weeds of vanity, lust for name and fame, and desires of various types, will seriously hamper the inner culture of the soul. Swami Sivanada

For more information on the 2 precepts ( forming a total of 10, 5 each) kindly contact me.

In brief,  they are common to most cultures and are  central to  experiencing real freedom.  They are mostly concerned with how  our  thoughts and actions  influence our relationship to ourself and others.   These wise sages, though much effort, came to intimately understand  which behaviours lead to growth and evolution, and which do not. They found out what attitudes and actions lead one into a life of health, harmony and wellbeing, and which result in pain, disappointment and endless frustration. So they laid down these behaviours into  precepts, code of yama and niyama.
 
Though they make look like a bunch of rules,  in fact themselves hold the key to real transformation in life.  As you practice them  you start to look deeper into motives, intentions and conditioning.  Making a radical shift into  freedom.

Example.  stealing from your neighbor was likely to promote discord, lying to your wife would cause suffering, and violence begets more violence; the results are hardly conducive to living a peaceful life. In the West measure of “successwe “ is  based on what we do and what we own.  We judge and perpetuate our belief system from this limited  view point.    Our accumulation of wealth and prosperity materially do not necessarily   result in a balanced and fulfilling life.  These precepts are not goals to achieve  but the vehicle for  evolution of the  human being.

Imagine the freedom of experiencing true compassion and not  that which is forced onto you.

Compassion to all living creatures is dependent on our recognition of the underlying unity of all sentient beings. When we begin to recognize that the streams and rivers of the earth are no different from the blood coursing through our arteries, it becomes difficult to remain indifferent to the plight of the world. We naturally find ourselves wanting to protect all living things. It becomes difficult to toss a can into a stream or carve our names in the bark of a tree, for each act would be an act of violence toward ourselves as well. Cultivating an attitude and mode of behavior of harmlessness does not mean that we no longer feel strong emotions such as anger, jealously, or hatred. Learning to see everything through the eyes of compassion demands that we look at even these aspects of our self with acceptance. Paradoxically, when we welcome our feelings of anger, jealousy, or rage rather than see them as signs of our spiritual failure, we can begin to understand the root causes of these feelings and move beyond them. By getting close enough to our own violent tendencies we can begin to understand the root causes of them and learn to contain these energies for our own well-being and for the protection of others. Underneath these feelings we discover a much stronger desire that we all share--to be loved. It is impossible not come to this deeper understanding if we bypass the tough work of facing our inner demons. By Donna Farhi