Although we had a very small attendance, I believe the first
meeting went very well. We learned that
the teachings of the Yamas correspond quite nicely to the teaching of Toltec
path. I picked up a few books to
continue my research into this discovery.
I will let you what I find and how it may be worked into our path. Below are some notes and comments on what we
covered during our first meeting for those who were not able to attend.
v
The Core components of the Toltec spirituality
and how they relate to Miguel Ruiz’s “Four Agreements.” We addressed this because one of our members
is most familiar with these works pertaining to the Toltec path.
Ø
Agreement #1:
Be Impeccable with your word.
§
Breath has power and so do thoughts, as this
relates to Don Juan’s teachings, your word is part of you and your intent. From Ken Eagle Feather’s Tracking Freedom,
“every form of intent is focused energy, and therefore a form of power. So even your idle remarks can produce
unintended events.”
§
We also related this back to the core component of
stopping the world or stopping your internal dialogue. We discussed being conscience of your
thoughts and the daily practice of taking 30 minutes every day to focus your
thoughts. (I referenced the audio book
by James Allen: “The Mastery of Destiny” http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/book/the-mastery-of-destiny-by-james-allen
)
Ø
Agreement #2:
Don’t take anything personally.
§
This relates directly to the core component: Lose Self-Importance. That, along with stopping your internal
dialogue, are the two MOST IMPORTANT factors on the Toltec path. I gave my opinion on the works of Miguel Ruiz
(and this is solely my opinion, take it or leave it), that he under minds the
act of losing self-importance by plastering his picture on all his books. He also under minds the teaching of “erasing
personal history” by including a short “about the author” in each of his
books. In addition to this, I believe
his books to be very shallow – only barely touching the surface of these
teachings and treating his readers like simpletons by constantly re-wording his
ideologies and not really having much to say in essence. On the other hand, this type of ‘fluffy’ (as
best as I could describe it – no offence meant) introduction to the Toltec path
might be exactly what many in this day and age need to get them started on this
path. Each to his own.
Back to the subject of losing self-importance & not taking anything
personally, I related to my own experiences while driving. I tend to get very frustrated and pissed off
at fellow drivers on the road mainly because I take stupid driving maneuvers as
a personal attack. I feel that other
drivers don’t give a shit about anyone else on the road and that just burns me
up inside! As an exercise in losing
self-importance I try to remind myself that most of these drivers are not even
thinking about me, they could care less (grrrr)! It has nothing to do with me,
they don’t know me, and I need to just “get over myself.” I have no control over their driving – only my
own – and as a warrior I should just drive the way I believe people should
drive and not get emotional when others do not drive with these same
standards. In a way, you could say other
drivers are my “petty tyrants” and as Ken Eagle Feather states, I should “pay
attention, let go, assess strengths and weaknesses, remain inaccessible (don’t
worry), nonattached and nonreactive, stay fluid, lose self-importance, control
(my) folly… Don’t try to change or
educate a petty tyrant. Learn and adapt.”
Ø
Agreement #3:
Don’t make assumptions.
§
Although we did not discuss this during the
meeting I will go out on a limb here and say this relates to (again) losing
self-importance & erasing personal history.
We started out our meeting with made-up introductions as an exercise in
losing self-importance and erasing personal history. I talked about how stereotypes and prejudices
limit our perception of others. We also
talked about how our own “agreements” with the world limit our actions and
reactions to the world. An exercise one
can do to practice this is to go to bars, parties, or other public events in a
made up persona. Dress and act the part
by latching on to any stereotypes that society might hold with your made-up
persona and then observe how others treat you.
People watch as an exercise in seeing.
§
When you make assumptions you limit your
perception and solidify your cohesion, therefor, severing your connection to
Spirit. Approach each day as a new
adventure, where everything and anything that happens is a lesson and a
blessing. To quote Ken again, “Focus on wonder and beauty, not on limitation.
Ø
Agreement #4:
Always do your best.
§
I felt that this related directly to don Juan’s –
use Death as an advisor. It means taking
responsibility for your actions, thoroughly vetting every decision, and once
your decision is made never having any regrets for you know with all your heart
that – at the time- that was the right decision without a doubt so there is
nothing to regret. Don Juan mentions
being willing to die for each decision, although this sounds a bit extreme, I
do believe it gets the message across.
v
Other exercises we discussed. (all words in parentheses
are my own)
Ø
Gazing
§
Also a practice in Yoga, this is a great way to “stop
your internal dialogue.” The method used
by Carlos as contained in Ken Eagle Feather’s Tracking Freedom is as
follows:
1.
Pick an object.
It can be anything anywhere.
Examples include: trees, clouds, shadows, rain, music, traffic, art,
streams, or the air itself. Gazing at a
thing acts as an aid to hold your attention.
2.
Relax.
Try to be nonattached to anything you perceive (as if it wasn’t really
there).
3.
Establish an intent to gaze. Summon your reserves and focus on shifting
your perception.
4.
Don’t focus on the world as you normally
might. Don’t for example, pick out an
object and then look (italics my own)
at it. Let your eyes go soft, unfocused
(see through the object. We related this
to those holographic pictures where, when you looked “through” the picture, the
object emerged in 3D).
5.
Feel your body merge with the world. (Feel mentally as well as see your
object). Remain centered within your
body. (In fact, it’s a good practice to ground and center before you begin
gazing. You may even want to open your
chakras).
6.
If you see a haze of light, or swirling dots –
energy swirls, as they’re often called – let them be. Don’t focus on them or you’ll go back into
physical-world focus. The light is the
second field breaking into your awareness.
Later, when you have gained more experience, you can focus on the light
and it won’t disappear. But until you
train your eyes, and your body, your normal habits of perception will take you
back to your ordinary world.
§
We discussed our experiences with gazing. I have seen both the light surrounding
objects and the swirling dots. I also
mentioned my experience with the world “shifting” and how this made me realize
that the world as we know it is an illusion.
Ø
In addition to gazing to help quite the blabber
in your head, we briefly mentioned walking and kundalini yoga. Both use movement as a form of engaging the
mind in order to silence the thoughts.
The true form of kundalini yoga in the physical practice is what you’re
after, which is very akin to trance dance.
The steps to “walking” as described by don Juan are below (copied from
Ken Eagle Feather’s A Toltec Path).
Now this can be done anytime and anywhere you walk. I’ve done it in the city numerous times. My suggestion to you… start walking places
more!
1.
Walk with your hands in an unusual position that
does not attract attention. The novelty
directs energy away from the ordinary pattern of attention created by your
usual way of walking (don Juan told Carlos to curl and uncurl his finger when
he walked – this is what I do and it tends to be coordinated with my breathing,
so much so that I can even feel a flow of energy from the Earth. I also had a friend that would walk with his
arms stiffly at his side, unmoving) But
if you hold your hands in a dramatically unusual position, you have to contend
with other people sending their energies toward you as they wonder what (the
heck) you’re doing.
2.
Direct your vision toward the horizon. If you are (on) a hill or mountain… look
10-40 feet in front of you, keeping the same distance between your location and
your point of sight as you walk.
3.
Unfocus your eyes, allowing your peripheral
vision to absorb as much as possible (like in gazing).
4.
Listen to and smell the environment. Feel your surroundings. You’re trying to get out of your head and
into your body.
5.
Walk at a normal or slower-than-normal pace.
6.
For safety, walk where you don’t have to contend
with traffic or other obstacles.
Otherwise, you have to think about navigating.
v
This is about where we ran out of time,
discussed what topic to cover next time, and gave ourselves homework assignments. On a side note, we very briefly discussed recapitulation,
but I will not mention it here as we will most likely be discussing this topic
in more detail as the subject of a future meeting. Hope to see more of you next time!!
