Saturday 5 February 2011

Post No. 226 - Laya yoga

When I was re-reading Lobsang Rampa's "The Third Eye", I came across the term "laya yoga". When I looked it up on good ol' Wikipedia (see here), it came across as something I had encountered early on in my Tibetan Buddhism phase, which is "generating yourself as the Deity".

This basically means, in my words, putting on an act: "pretending" (remember, these are MY words, my explanations, not that of others) to be what you ultimately wish to be, with a view to
(a) training your unconscious to have automatic reactions of the type you wish, and
(b) you absorb the essence of what you wish to be.

To be able to use this technique without deluding yourself or becoming arrogant requires GREAT objectivity. It is, perhaps, a spiritual version of the "cargo cult" mentality that many of us have towards achieving other things - whether that is the home owner glowing because their home is worth more and they wish to pretend to be rich, the late 20s/early 30s person who is "pretending" to be grown up by having dinner parties (someone I knew a decade ago actually claimed that was her view of herself in that phase of her life: she was just putting on an act of being mature - I thought she was too hard on herself, but maybe she was right .. up to a point?) - which is something associated more with SOME teenagers pretending to be mature by putting on characteristics that they see as meaning one is an adult, such as smoking or a posh accent, or by being familiar with adults, or (and this came - tongue in cheek - from my partner when we were discussing a post I am planning on this) adults trying to be "free and carefree" by putting on the characteristics of being a teenager :)

So .. laya yoga is something that is worth being aware of, but whether you add it to you personal toolbox of transformational methods is subject to a few cautions ...

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr

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Tags: evolution, personal characteristics, change, yoga, laya yoga, Lobsang Rampa,

First published: Laugadagr, 5th February, 2011

Last edited: Saturday, 5th February, 2011