So Hum Meditation...

This week I have attempted to “do what I need to do” to gain perspective and clarity and refocus my life - which btw does *not* mean I am abandoning my family, it just means I am choosing to relate to them in healthier, less dysfunctional ways, not succumbing to the family dysfunction.  I have said this every year, and here I am saying it again. J

I’ve started doing a contemplative meditation called So Hum.  I first heard of this Mantra years ago, but I recently saw the words again on Uma’s blog in a photo of her Ayurveda teacher, Dr. Vasant Lad, as he was teaching about energy flow and the breath.  So I explored it.  I started repeating it silently to myself during meditation times, and throughout the day.  “So” on the in-breath, “Hum” on the exhale – rhythmically – relaxing and surrendering.  It has had quite a profound effect on my sense of well-being and perspective.  My family no longer feels like a looming dark shadow suffocating me, but merely people playing out their roles and dramas in life that I can choose not to get entangled in.  And of course this perspective changes from day to day depending on my level of awareness. J  This does not mean that I do not feel compassion for my family, I just don’t want to be swallowed up by the shadow of their unconscious behavior.  I do not want to continue to be stuck in my own unconscious patterns with them, year after year after year.  Spiritually speaking - the way out of that is to become grounded in an *awareness* of the True Self, or Divine Nature.

So Hum is a Sanskrit phrase meaning, “I am That” – meaning we are Unified Consciousness, One with Divine Spirit.  Many of you who practice Yoga may be familiar with this, as many yogis use it in their practice.  According to the sources I checked on line, it is a meditation that focuses the thinking mind on the Mystery of Being and the *interdependent* (which is different than “co-dependent”) nature of all things, including each other.  It is said that in repeating the mantra you naturally begin to settle into a state of unified consciousness, communion with Divine Spirit and all life – opening up to life, rather than relating to life, and others, from a contracted place of unconsciousness.  It brings about the realization that you are the True Self, your Divine Nature, and that you are never separate from That, no matter what your “dysfunction.” J  In your unconsciousness you have just forgotten who you are because you have become entangled in life’s dramas.   In seeing that, experiencing that, you are able to open, stop the unconscious madness, and meet life and others in a more balanced and healthy way – with a sense of profound awareness, peace and love – reclaiming and living the innate Rhythm of Life…  That is my goal.

So Hum…

~*~

“Self is what you are…

You are That

Self is the Heart…
It shines to ItSelf,
by ItSelf,
in ItSelf.

Self is what gives breath to life,
you need not search for It.
It is Here.

Only Self is…

Knowledge of the Self is that which is worth
sacrificing anything for…

Identify as Consciousness ItSelf…

…do not forget who you are…”

Papaji
excerpts from: The Truth Is

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Photo: Star Mandala Zoom Blurred