The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali for Meaning Purpose and Calm

A practical example of how to engage your creative imagination to chart your unique journey to the settled mind.Introduction to Marian Way's "Clean Approaches for Coaches".

Clean Questions to help you interrogate the operation of your inner world and to activate your imagination to reveal the way ahead.

First introduction to the Ancient Texts and the prominence they give to Mastering the Art of Silence - everything happens after the Mind is Still.

Application of metaphor to assist in the process of calming the Mind. Support provided from modern science.

A brief overview of Patanjali's Eight Limbs of Yoga.

Overview of The Yamas - The Laws of Life - the foundation for avoiding conflict and resentment leading to mental agitation.

Resentment is the number one offender. Deal with resentments quickly and thoroughly. Use the Clean Language techniques to understand and eliminate them.

Reveal how your anger builds and discover how to release it with story boarding.

The answer is to let it go and to move on - easy to say not so easy to do but until you do you will make limited progress with meditation.

Thought leads to words and words lead to actions so watch your thoughts and words. Meditation starts with cleaning up your thought life.

Learn to go with the flow. Connect into the massive sweeping forces of life - join in because you are not alone.

The Niyamas begin the process of calming our thought s down and seeking out a serene disposition

We are what we eat. Simple clean or sattvic foods reduce stress on the Mind and Body.

There is virtue in simplicity and modesty. We can gradually express our more refined and less aggressive thoughts in outward behaviours.

Everything is a vibration, including our thoughts. Vibrating on the "higher frequencies" can help us to live more harmoniously in the world with others.

Living with an attitude of gratitude will raise your emotional vibration immediately.

A metaphor for purification is house keeping. It's easier to live in a de-cluttered house full of frersh air than in an untidy and oppresive atmosphere.

"Know thyself" is at the heart of all personal development. The Clean Language approach is the best way, in my view, to get to know what makes you tick.Case study included.

The scientific justification for embracing metaphor as the route to self knowledge.

The most mystical part of the process so far. Notions of The Lord are, in this course, left entirely for you to resolve for yourself. What ever is out there must be "of your own understanding" in my view.

Patanjali gives no specific advice on the postures other than they must be relaxed. Seek outside support to avoid injury

The most well known of the techniques. It takes time to master so build up slowly.

The easiest of the techniques to practice in any situation.There are many more. Seek outside advice.

Avoid factors which might agitate or stimulate the mind. To keep it simple remember HALT - don't get hungry , angry, lonely or tired.

Now we move to the mental disciplines after the physical practices.Absorption is a single seed for meditation is the core of the technique.

Start out by thinking at the sensory level and migrate thoughts upwards to the more refined and cosmic or spiritual aspects of your seed for meditation. Practice is required over an extended period.

After repeated practice new ways of thinking will come to you intuitively. Herein lies the opening of creative imagination and intellectual revelation.

Everything is a frequency of energy is vibration - as such pure sound is a great seed for meditation on this idea.

A personal favourite for calming all thought down and becoming aware of what might lie beyond my prosaic everyday thinking. Pick an object which works comfortably for you.

Smell is the only sense with a direct connection to the brain. Most spiritual practices use it. A personal favourite is frankincense oil.

Find a place with the associations that allows you to drift of into a state of dream-like absorption. Cherish a place where you be alone and safe without being disturbed.

Meditation need not be static - activity can and should absorb our thoughts to the point where mundane anxieties leave us. Activity can also improve the brain's chemical soup.

You can judge a person by the company they keep.Mix with fellow seekers of the spiritual way.

There are many different schools of meditation. Here are suggestions for your consideration. Find what works for you. 

CHallenging ideas in western philosophy which support the oriental view. Berkeley is telling us that everything is in the Mind - we are our thoughts. This requires long and careful reflection.

What we think we are is actually the operation of The Force in our conscious minds. Everything is an idea so be careful how you think.This sort of thinking has the capacity to drive you crazy so take your time to reflect.

Einstein and Parmenides on the idea that we have no free will. Patanjali sees Enlightenment as an evolutionary inevitability which we can accelerate by clearing any obstacles to progress. More mind-binding stuff!

A farming metaphor to cut through the complexity of free will versus determinism.

Alluring claims of super-human abilities put into context. Take care not to be seduced.

An attempt to make sense of the siddhis without rejecting them for being improable or embracing them in the search for super-powers.

Who knows if we can or cannot put Mind over Matter and manifest our physical desires. That's not really the issue. The real issue is to use Meditation for its intended purposes which is Enlightenment after stilling the mind. Everything else is an obstacle to progress.