Sights, Sounds, & Thoughts

“The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success are the laws of nature applied to the human experience. They are the principles through which the unmanifest becomes the manifest; through which spirit becomes the material universe. We believe there is value in applying the seven laws to the practice of yoga because the principles that underlie yoga are the principles that support a life of balance, flexibility, and vitality. The practice of yoga is practice for life. Success in yoga provides a template for success in life.”

So how do we get started - Start by reviewing the law of the day each morning when you wake up and each evening before bed for a few minutes.

Throughout the day, bring the corresponding mantra into your awareness so that the energy of the law resonates within you.

Sunday - Law of Pure Potentiality

Monday - Law of Giving and Receiving

Tuesday - Law of Karma (or Cause and Effect)

Wednesday - Law of Least Effort

Thursday - Law of Intention and Desire

Friday - Law of Detachment

Saturday - Law of Dharma (or Purpose in Life)

The program can range from 45 min to 2 hours and is designed to take your body and mind from a state of deep silence through conscious breathing into positions that enhance flexibility, strength, and balance. The major facets of the program include:

Pranayama breathing exercises (5-10 min)

Meditation (10-30 min)

Flexibility postures (10-20 min)

Balance postures (5-10 min)

Sun salutations (5-20 min)

Bandhas (2-5 min)

Energy-opening postures (5-10 min)

The spiritual law of the day (5 min)

Follow these three components to live dharma:

Discover true Self: To find out on our own that our true Self is spiritual. Essentially, we are spiritual beings that have taken a manifestation and physical form. We are spiritual beings that have occasional human experiences. Inside of us is a god or goddess in embryo that wants to be born so that we can express our divinity.

Express unique talents: There’s one thing you can do, in one way of doing, it that is better than anyone else on the entire planet. If you lose track of time when doing this thing (timeless awareness) that is your talent. If money was no issue and you had all the time in the world, what would you do?

Service to humanity: Ask yourself “How can I help?” “How can I help all those who I come into contact with?” Combine talent with service and move into the realm of the spirit not ego. This is how you live a life of purpose.

Daily practice tips for the seventh law:

Seek your higher self, which is beyond my ego, through spiritual practice.

Discover your unique talents. Make a list of unique talents and things you love to do while expressing your talents. You are going to enjoy yourself because the process of enjoyment occurs when you go into timeless awareness and create abundance. State of Bliss.

Detachment is based on true Self while Attachment is based on fear and insecurity. The source of wealth is Self, everything else is just symbols (like cars, houses, bank notes, clothes), which come and go. Attachment to these symbols alone comes from a poverty consciousness.

Detachment is synonymous with wealth consciousness because with detachment there is freedom to create joy and laughter. Symbols of wealth consciousness are created spontaneously and effortlessly.

People are seekers of security, Every attachment to money is a sign of insecurity. People will say "When I get X million dollars, I'll be secure" but that never happens, never. If you seek security, you'll seek it forever to no avail. Search for security is an illusion.

Uncertainty is the fertile ground of pure creativity and freedom. Relinquish your attachment to the known, step into the unknown, and you will step into a field of all possibilities.

When you experience uncertainty, you're on the right path so don't give up. You don't need to have a complete and rigid idea of what you'll be doing next week or next year. If you do, then you'll have a clear idea of what's going to happen and you'll get originally attached to it and then shut out a whole range of possibilities.

Detachment doesn't interfere with goal setting (which is a relief). You still have intention of going in a direction and a goal, but there are infinite possibilities between point A and point B.

When you understand the Law of Detachment, you don't feel compelled to force solutions. Every problem you have in life is the seed of an opportunity for greater benefit. You open a range of possibilities and keeps the mystery and fun of life alive.

Here are ways to get started:

Commit to detachment. Allow yourself and those around you the freedom to be as they are. Do not impose your idea of how things should be.

Factor in uncertainty as an essential ingredient to life. When you accept uncertainty, solutions spontaneously emerge out of the problem. More Uncertainty = More Security. It's the path to freedom.

The only difference between you and a tree is the informational and energy content. Humans have a nervous system that makes us aware of the information and energy. Because of our consciousness, we can change the content and influence our extended body.

Change in our content and influence is brought by two qualities: Attention (energizes) and Intention (transforms). With the right organization of power through attention and intentions fertile ground, you can command the laws of nature with intent to benefit humankind to fulfill your dreams and desires.

Intent is the power behind desire and intent is desire without attachment. Intent is the future sight but attention is present-moment living.

If you have a life centered, present-moment awareness, then the imaginary obstacles, which are more than 90% of perceived obstacles, disintegrate and disappear. The remaining 5 to 10% of perceived obstacles can be transmitted into opportunities through one pointed intention.

One pointed intention, means holding your attention to the intended outcome, with such unbendable purpose, that you absolutely refuse to allow obstacles to consume and dissipate the focused quality of your attention.

Follow these five steps for fulfilling desires and use intention to generate power:

Slip into the gap: Center yourself in the silent space between thoughts.

Release your intentions and desires: While in the gap, maintain no thought and no intention. As you come out of it, introduce the intention. If you have a set of goals, write them down focus on them before you go into the gap. While in the gap, ease in all intentions and desires, planting them in fertile ground.

Remain in the state of self referral: Stay established in the awareness of true self. Don’t look at yourself through the eyes of the world.

Relinquish your attachment to the outcome: Give up rigid attachment to specific results. Enjoy every moment in the journey, even without knowing the outcome.

Let the universe handle the details: Your intentions and desires when released into the gap, have infinite organization power. Trust the infinite, organizational power of intention to orchestrate all the details for you.

Where to get started with the law of intention and desire:

Make a list of all desires and carry it with you. Review before silent meditation, before bedtime, and when you wake up.

Release the list to the universe. Trust the cosmic plan even when things appear to go awry.

Least effort is expended when your actions are motivated by love because nature is held together by the energy of love. With love as the motivation, no energy is wasted, but rather it is multiplied and accumulate. The surplus of energy you gather and enjoy can be channeled to create anything, including wealth.

To move the energy away from the ego and channel into least effort, here are three steps:

Acceptance - Accept the moment as it should be. Accept people, situations, circumstance, and events as they are - not how you wish they would be. Don't waste energy struggling against the moment. If you are frustrated with a person or situation, those are your feelings and not someone else's fault.

Responsibility - Do not blame anyone or anything for your situation, including yourself. Address every problem as an opportunity in disguise. Reality is an interpretation. Develop the ability to create a creative response to the situation as it is now.

Defenselessness - This one is a biggie for me. Relinquishing the need to convince or persuade others of your point of view. So much energy is wasted fighting or resisting. If you relinquish this need, you will gain access to an enormous amount of energy previously wasted. I feel exhausted when I'm standing rigid, trying to get people on the same soap box as me. To surrender to the moment, be flexible, you. will experience the present moment and drop the terrible burdens of defensiveness, resentment, and hurtfulness.

Karma is both the action and the consequence, cause and effect. It implies conscious choice-making in our daily life. Even choices that are repetitious with predictable responses (Thanks, Conditioning) are still choices, just unconscious ones.

The work in this law starts with bringing the choices that are automatically triggered by people or circumstances into the conscious realm. Also, asking questions before making a choice can ensure you make the right one.

Give your body time to help you decide - if it feels comfortable making the choice it's probably the right one vs discomfort. In the end, the heart will guide you on this path more than your mind will.

What about past karma? You can address past karma in three ways, (1) Most common is to pay the karmic debt - unconsciously of course (2) Transform it into a more desirable experience for all - what did I learn and how can I make it useful for others (3) Transcend it by washing your soul clean through meditation.

How to apply this law in your daily life:

Witness choice making in the moment. Bring them into consciousness and be fully present.

Ask these questions when making the choice: What are the consequences of this choice? Will it bring fulfillment and happiness to me and those who are affected by this choice?

“The universe operates through dynamic exchange… giving and receiving are different aspects of the flow of energy in the universe. In our willingness to give that which we seek, we keep the abundance of the universe circulating in our lives.”

The more you give, the more you receive. In contrast, the more you hoard, you stop the flow of gifts/energy in your life.

Giving is more than material things and impacts every thing in your life - it is the circulation to survive.

If you want some thing in life, give that something to others, and you shall receive it. Give authentically. Be intentional.

Ways to put the law into practice:

Wherever you go, whoever you encounter- bring a gift like a compliment, prayer, or a flower. Begin to circulate joy, wealth, and affluence.

Be grateful for gifts received from living every day. The gifts of nature, the sights, sounds, and smells. Be open to receiving gifts from others in material items, money, compliments or a prayer.

What immediately struck me was my struggle with object referral. This is feeling the intense need to control things, need for approval, or for external power.

I fall in the "need for approval" category of this, but I also have some aspects of the other control factors. Object referral (as I learned) is based in fear. Fear of letting things Be. Fear of disappointing people. Fear.

What an eye opening way to start my day.

This law also addresses the need to categorize or judge people or moments, surrendering to silence as to focus on the self referral instead of the ego, and prioritizing your time to connect with nature.

Daily practice of silence, meditation, and non-judgement were my 3 key takeaways from this first law. How do they recommend starting this:

Taking 30-minutes of silence twice a day to just BE

Connect with moments in nature and pay silent witness to the intelligence of every living thing.