Lightness of being
I often wonder what it sounds like when persons talk about stuff like “light bodies” to others who are not so accustomed to such things.
Sometimes I even wonder myself, as part of an ongoing of enquiry of what reality may be, and how to present the multiple options from my yoga teacher perspective. I recently uploaded a blog and a video for one of my music albums that effectively suggests that the music will help the listener “acquire a light body”. I wonder, what the heck will that mean to others? Even those esoterically minded is likely to register dividing opinions on the matter :-))
The word transformation and other esoteric concepts crop up in such context perhaps because it is this partially esoteric, somewhat complex idea of turning ordinary reality, one’s ordinary body, into a more illuminated version that can be so hard to convey. To interpret some of the meaning of “light body” it is useful to place it in context of meditation as a means to “expand consciousness” and “achieve liberation through compassion”, for example, as a means to “illumination”.
Don’t worry, be happy: it’s a lightness of being
And apart from being a rarefied state for me it is also to be light in the body, uplifted in mood, to not hassle so much when the hill is steep, or the void dark. To “lighten up” means to not word so much about stuff, in general. To more readily accept downs with the ups, by looking at life from a point of surrender, non-judgement, from a place of lightness.
Although the “path to enlightenment” requires focus and attention and has its ups and downs and assorted challenges, it is easily mistaken for an arduous one. It’s serious, but not serious.”Light Body” despite sounding more fanciful, esoteric and maybe more pretentious than what it is, is also about acquiring the ability to be light.
Surely “the path” can be intense, but when perceived as heavy and serious it becomes just that – terrible :-)) With hindsight, or good guidance, we discover along the way we don’t have to read a huge amount of books, and spend a life in therapy, do lot of stuff to be happy. We may land up doing a lot of that at some point, though ultimately it is useful to reach a place where we widen and lighten up simply because we see ourselves, and accept ourselves and our lives for what it is, a bit more clearly.
One way to understand such “knowing the self” is to realise who, and what, self is, is to grasp the ungraspable, in a simultaneous process of looking for self and not looking. (Please read more at the link at bottom of this blog). A bit of a slippery concept, an oxymoron, like effortless effort, that is only understood when experienced.It’s like when people talk about “do what you love”, as a career choice, or when you’re feeling down – there referring to a place of passion and fun, not mindless entertainment. After all, every project has challenges, and every day has a night.
Which is perhaps one of the reasons we often don’t ask the real, hard to answer questions of “what does it all mean” is possibly that we fear we have to give up our attachment to what we love and desire, let go of our habits, “good and bad”. And it may be so to a degree, but personally I feel the pull of freedom from the confinements of a limited reality as an imperative. So much more so when it is also a path of fun!
In yoga this experience is part and parcel of meditation, and what yoga is all about as a means of realising what self is.
Meditation is the essence of yoga and the key to self-realisation.
OM-ness blessings & illuminations
Johann,
Johann Kotze Music & Yoga
Muizenberg, Cape Town,
11 July 2015
