Many people, sensing a growing dissatisfaction with their lives ...or feeling trapped in an unrewarding job or relationship, have taken yoga classes to ease their mind and emotions, to soothe their spirit, and to firm-up their body ...and frequently their courage. In the beginning, they felt a renewed sense of peaceful energy, vitality, and meaningful purpose about themselves and their lives ...however, over time, as their job and personal relationship showed little improvement ...and their life remained somewhat the same, though they were obviously stronger, more-flexible, and somewhat relaxed, they were still tense about their lives ...and disillusioned with their job and relationship. In other words, though yoga had made little changes in their body and responses, everything else remained pretty much the same. It seems they had taken yoga classes as a way to "take charge of" their mind and body and life ...and, for a while, they did feel better and more-empowered, but, as they tried to change particular areas of their life ...and failed, their old thoughts and attitudes and reactions quickly returned, simply because their yoga, despite any claims of mind-body oneness, dealt with their body ...and somewhat with their mind~which was supposed to remain "quiet" or fully focused on breathing or another body functions~but left their essential beliefs, thoughts, attitudes, emotions, words, and actions unattended to, such that their old conflicts, dissatisfactions, and disillusionments quickly returned ...and frequently brought a sense of failure with them ...again.

     If you take yoga classes to acquire an empowering sense of peacefulness, then, though you probably don’t believe it, every moment of the class maintains your basic unpeacefulness, and if, through diverting your attention ...and relaxing and empowering your mind and body, you succeed in feeling a measure of peacefulness, because, in this, you are also maintaining and somewhat strengthening your unpeaceful beliefs, thoughts, attitudes, emotions, words, and actions, and have done little or nothing about these matters, they will quickly return as constant annoying feelings~whether at the surface of your self and life or deeply buried~and little will have been achieved.

     In such situations, to be successful, your yoga must work directly with your embodied beliefs, thoughts, attitudes, emotions, words, and actions ...not merely with your physical body, and must not carry on or reinforce false assumptions about life, such as duality, good/evil, superior/inferior things, matters being out-of-balance or out-of-harmony, cause and effect, loss of empowerment, unhappiness, appropriate/inappropriate energies, body malfunctions, the causes of ailments, or having to peacefully deal with the undesirable events of life which happen to you. These false assumptions alone are enough to create your sense of unpeaceful powerlessness, ...and if you don’t recognize this and deal with these false assumptions, all the yoga in the world will not help you surpass your problems and body pains ...or support you in living as you truly desire.

Though you don=t realize it, yoga, as it is normally taught and practiced, assumes that these opposing dualities, like opposing muscles, do exist in the world ...and attempts to overcome the suffering effects of these constant struggles in your mind and body, ...but opposing muscles, unlike opposing thoughts and attitudes and emotions, actually work together in harmony ...not in opposition, ...and judgmental opposings such as good/evil do not even exist, ...and any attempt to overcome or transcend these false assumptions keeps you forever trapped in difficulties ...constantly struggling against your self and life and problems.

Your muscles and limbs, your organs and body systems, and your mind and attitudes, are not weak and out of balance with you, they are in complete harmony with you and the self and life you are creating, directing, and living, ...and any change of these aspects, whether gentle or forceful, will only be temporary ...very temporary and do little real good for your outlook in life, or for your feelings of empowerment and self-determination. Life is not a contentious encounter, ...though you and yoga can certainly make it a struggle.

In an ever-changing universe, only that which is ever-changing is or can be eternal. What is Afixed@, such as a standard for Aa well-functioning body@ will self-destruct, ...and your living or being guided by such a standard will preserve the standard and sacrifice the self and life you truly desire.

The very concept of eternal rhythms or patterns ...or cycles of life which some yoga teachings seek to align you to are themselves contradictory, simply because for rhythms, patterns, or cycles to be eternal and appropriate for each individual, they must be infinite and ever-changing ...not Afixed@. Besides, if you must adjust to life instead of life adjusting to you, then you do not have free will~defined as Aliving as you truly desire~and all life for you is meaningless.

Do not, in any way, use yoga to adjust yourself to life, let Jivala Yoga reveal how life will, in all instances, adjust to suit you, ...after all, isn=t that what you really want? Can you imagine happiness being anything other than, or greater and finer than, choosing as you desire ...and having that? Well, all of life gives you exactly as you choose with every belief, thought, attitude, emotion, word, and action, ...therefore, if you are not happy, maybe you are unaware of what you are choosing and living ...and frequently struggling against.

Regardless of what many yoga teachings declare, life is not a duality ...and nothing in life is ever separate, disharmonious, or out-of-balance, ...therefore, attempting to balance or harmonize your mind, body, attitudes, and emotions ...or trying to bring them into a state of oneness is merely an attempt to Aforce@ your mind and body, which are already in tune with you, into a struggle against false presumptions of separation and out-of-tune.

If your life is not as you truly desire, you can certainly follow a yoga process and change your body ...and hope for the best, but since your body clearly outpictures the lifeself you are living, if you do not change your self and life, all such body changes will be temporary and of little real value ...as you have frequently experienced before. And if your life is as you truly desire, does it really matter whether your body and mind follow a presumed pattern of balance and oneness? ...for they are obviously following your pattern of life as you truly desire. Take care of your life ...and your life will care for you.

A desirable body cannot be relied upon to offer you a desirable self and life, but a desirable self and life can be relied upon to offer you a body that will fully support that lifeself; ...which would you choose? If your body is lacking or undesirable, then your self and life are not as you desire, ...the two are one.

For every movement of your body, muscles require energy at the cellular level. A well-conditioned body requires that more blood by volume and more-highly enriched (oxygenated) blood be pumped to the muscles, while untrained muscles, which cannot easily extract oxygen from blood, are forced to work harder for less results, ...but of what value is it to have a well-trained, efficient body in tune with your mind if the lifeself you are creating and living is not as you truly desire at every moment? And does it really matter if your joints are flexible and your muscles generate energy far more efficiently and do not have to work as hard for the same result if you do not have a desirable life and purpose in which to apply these assets?

The process required for activity lasting longer than a few seconds begins with the immediate need for sufficient quantities of vitalizing oxygen arriving at the necessary muscles; ...yoga training tremendously increases the fulfillment of this process ...and helps you clear the lactate, or acidity, from your system ...which muscles are producing while working. If this acidity is not cleared readily and continuously, your muscles will quickly shut down.

Training your body so it can respond to matters rapidly and properly ...or take the physical struggles you inflict upon it without being overwhelmed is fine, but is your mind ready to cooperate and work in unison with your body? A well-trained and conditioned body will not, in itself, serve to create the self and life you truly desire, in fact, a body that is well-trained to react may keep your mind and life actively poised to judge and react, ...therefore, a body trained to act swiftly and efficiently needs close guidance and direction, ...are you well-directed in life? ...and ready to guide your mind and body and life (your mindfully embodied life)?

Through yoga, your body may be well-trained to endure, but why are you creating a life you must endure? ...is that what you truly desire? If you had the option to create a life to endure ...or one to truly enjoy and revel in~and you do~which would you choose? If you need a well-trained body to struggle with the life you are creating, you really should seriously reconsider your life and actions, ...could it be that your drive for a well-conditioned body is more-compulsive and addictive than desirable?  Are you training for something in your life? ...or to resist something? What is that? Are you aware of a genuine purpose or true desire? ...or are you merely training or over-training just in case something or someone comes along? And if you are using yoga to relieve stress and become more-relaxed and peaceful, why not stop creating the stress and disturbances you are working so hard to release? ...wouldn=t that be easier and more-effective ...and certainly wiser?

What fears, anxieties, and disappointments are your stresses, compulsions, and disappointments outpicturing? Do you know? If you are unaware of your underlying problems, so you can effectively resolve them and live peacefully and stress-free, any relief will only be temporary until, like acidity in your muscles, your old, unattended-to-problems overload you and your life with additional unrelieved pains and difficulties. As active muscles require energy at the cellular level for sustained actions, your mind and life, to be fully active and not stressful also must be conditioned at the cellular level of your anxieties and disappointments ...not merely at the Asymptom-relief@ level of stress, tension, or lack of peacefulness.

Are you pushing your body and life so hard to offer what you believe you want that you are wearing down both your body and life? Are you training and preparing yourself for a life you haven=t envisioned ...and are not living? Has training and preparation become your life ...with little or no fulfilling or enriching purpose in mind? Could it be that this compulsive training is the source of your anxieties, stress, depression, and disappointments? Maybe you should reconsider your exercising, ...or consider what you are conditioning yourself for. With yoga, are you meeting your goals? ...or actually moving further and further away from them?

If you are exercising to relieve the stress, disappointments, or lack of enriching passion or peacefulness in your life, then obviously you are preparing to endure the undesirable life you are creating ...instead of preparing to create and live as you truly desire. Excessive training without genuine purpose and desires frequently leads to a stale body and life which are easily disposed to the invasion of undesirable external matters and illnesses.

Wise individuals look carefully at their life and activities for sure signs of an unhealthy mental, emotional, or physical life, yet many of these same people use yoga to remove those Asure signs@ in order to continue their unhealthy life Aas usual@. Stress and lack of peace do not happen to you, you happen to them, ...therefore, relaxing and coping with stress through exercise ...without changing your life so you don=t continue creating stress and unpeacefulness is foolish. Well, it=s certainly unwise.

Do not set the goal of your yoga exercise program merely to create a Aperfect pose@, Amaintain a difficult pose@, Amove more-efficiently from one pose to another@, or Aexpand your poses@, ...instead, your yoga should complement your creating and living the lifeself you truly desire, support your maintaining that, help you move more-effectively from one expression of your desired self and life to another, greatly expand your actions and life, and bring you to peak performance in the life you truly desire. As a superior athlete results from an intimate marriage between the right person and the right sport, your enriching fulfillment results from an intimate marriage between yourself and the life you truly desire; ...and as yoga will not ease or resolve an unhappy, unsatisfying marriage, it will never enliven a disappointing self and life either. Are you properly married to the self and life you truly desire? Are you hoping that through yoga you will win out in the self and life you have married? Why aren=t you living as you truly desire ...and exercising to support that life, instead of living Aas usual@ and exercising to overcome your problems and ailments?

If you have not envisioned and developed the life you truly desire, what is the meaning and purpose of your yoga? If it helps you concentrate and center yourself, maybe it keeps you focused on the wrong things? Your desired life precedes yoga, it is not developed through yoga. Are you attempting to keep in shape just in case? Just in case of what? Just in case the lifeself you desire comes along? If you haven=t envisioned that life, how will you recognize it if it does come along? What other unrecognizable things are you waiting for? ...or hiding from?

Are you following your yoga plan as intense work? And if you say, ANo! ...of course not,@ don=t be too certain, for without a vision and meaningful purpose ...and a proper understanding of these things, all yoga, though you believe it to be stress-relieving and flexibility-creating, is actually intense work, ...why do you think it is called Aa workout@?

While fear of the unknown is common in life, fear of sameness seems common and ever-present in many yoga practices, for there is a constant drive to expand and do more, ...is your life expanding and keeping up? ...or are you using yoga to compensate for a stagnant self and life? Do you feel unentitled to more or other than what you have? Why might this be so?

To truly benefit from yoga=s complex poses and movements, you must translate those activities into automatically empowering actions through constant and consistent repetition, but to do this accurately, you must have a strong image and sense of those empowering movements relative to a consistent vision for application in your life. What is the meaning and purpose of yoga process in your life, ...do you know? Is it possible you are using yoga to compensate for a sense of being unempowered in your life? Are you passionate about yoga and Aho hum@ about your life? ...or truly passionate about how yoga will add another dimension to the self and life you truly desire?

Do you have active muscles or Aworking empowerments@? Are you strong and truly flexible in your life? Do your traditional beliefs and judgments limit or enhance your flexibility? Are you, in any way, struggling to come to terms with your body and life? Have you made a conscious choice to be very good at other things in your life? ...and always do your very best? Are you inspired by yoga ...and those who can correctly attain and maintain difficult positions? Are you inspired to do the same in other meaningful areas of your life? Is yoga a way to force you to use your empowerment in other areas to the very edge of your capabilities? ...or is it an attempt to compensate for not living up to your full potential ...as you see it?

Though it is frequently declared that yoga develops your spiritual, mental-emotional, physical wellbeing ...and your moral position in life, if these aspects are founded on the false belief in the causative nature of life as a duality, then all developments and changes offered by yoga are temporary and incorrect. Much of ancient yoga=s incorrect presumptions about life maintains more problems and less enriching wellbeing than it develops. Ohh, yoga certainly creates changes ...even improvements, but if the Awrong@ matters and aspects are Aimproved@ and vital understandings are ignored, have you truly benefited? To answer this question, it is necessary to consider some fundamental beliefs and teachings of traditional yoga and compare them with those of Jivala Yoga.

Yoga was originally created and is still frequently presented as a way to unite and still your mind/emotions/body and free them from the control and limitations of restive desires, ...however, as recognized through Jivala Yoga, the problem is with your judgments ...not with your restive mind or desires, for without your judgments, your mind and desires are not restive, limiting, or controlling.

Do not still your mind, still your judgments!

The beginning of yoga is uncertain, it appears to have arisen as a tradition of scattered Shamanistic teachings and practices approximately 5,000 years ago ...and little is really known about these philosophical beliefs and customs until, centuries later, yoga was adopted as part of Hinduism ...and taught to older people as preparation for death and freedom from the suffering of physical life. When accepted as a Buddhist practice (ca 400 BCE) yoga teachings continued the Hindu practice of liberation from life=s suffering. The reasoning in some Buddhist schools was that, since man=s knowing and desiring is based on turning the wholeness of life into separate forms...concepts...beliefs, such actions prevented him from directly experiencing and knowing the spiritual wholeness of all things, and that ignorance and lack led to man=s suffering in his own illusions, ...and only through liberation from a false-thinking mind could man ever be free of his self-created illusions and suffering. It was believed that true consciousness could not be known through a limited mind ...but could be experienced through proper yoga practices ...which prepared one for the freedom of death ...and the joy of true experiencing.

These liberation-teachings of Hindu and Buddhist yoga continued until later Buddhist teachers pointed out that seeking enlightenment as an escape from suffering was still desiring ...and, as such, was a misinterpretation of Buddha=s teaching about grasping. These teachers taught that a wise yogi, instead of preparing for death as an escape from life=s suffering, should return to full worldly activities free of struggle and bondage to man=s normal, ignorant thinking and acting ...and could, therefore, teach wisdom, compassion, direct experiencing, and free actions.

The unrealized problem in all of this is that if yoga teachings and practices offer liberation from suffering through death, then they have little or nothing to offer a yogi in his present life, ...and if the yogi is to experience greater awarenesses through yoga practices which cannot be known through man=s limited thinking, then, if enlightenment or Nirvana is attained~a state that Buddha never directly described~the yogi cannot continue living and teaching in the physical world except through the limited mind the yogi had supposedly liberated himself from, thus his transcendent-mind or knowing has no real application in the physical world.

These conflicts in yoga practices and teachings were continued when Patanjali (ca 200BCE) apparently (for there were, it seems, two Patanjalis associated with yoga) assembled many varying yoga teachings from Shamanism, Hinduism, and Buddhism and wrote the Yogasutras, which form the basis of yoga as it is known and taught today ...and which includes the basic concept of liberation from suffering.

The Buddhist teachings of yoga that knowing through fragmentation, dualities, and separate aspects failed to consider that this limited thinking and knowing resulted from and is continued through the structure of language based on the false presumption of the dual nature of life ...and the act of man=s generalizing his personal likes and dislikes into moral judgments, both of which separated Athis from that@, Agood from evil@, Aspiritual from physical@, and Acause from effect@ ...and created many similar anomalies and self-defeating beliefs, which are man=s illusions ...and the source of suffering.

The solution to this problem is not the yoga of escape from physical suffering through death and resurrection in a spiritual life ...simply because, since spiritual$physical are one, physical suffering would be spiritual suffering, not spiritual freedom; ...it is not the yoga of escape from the limited mind which fragments and creates illusions and suffering ...for then there is no mind for physical existence; ...and it is not the yoga if reuniting what mind has fragmented ...simply because, since this separation is false, any attempts at uniting merely maintains the false illusion and conflicts of separation.

The answer lies in saving the mind and life ...and changing the way the mind experiences and processes information through judgments, which changes all existing beliefs and responses. Obviously, your physical brain, like a computer, evolved to process data, but you, through feedback-processing, must Aprogram@ your mind, and thus your life, as you desire, which simultaneously expands your programmed realizations and understandings ...and the capacity of your mind. Don=t abandon your mind and programming yet, for they are still learning and growing. To overcome, transcend, or gain freedom from your limited mind, let go of your precious ideas and expand your thinking and knowing, for a mind cannot expand and grow while hanging on to old beliefs and ways.

All life and mind is boundless.

Jivala Yoga is practiced to bring awarenesses, revelations, and enlivenings to you concerning your judgments, for only in judgments are you, seemingly, disunited in spirit and mind and body, ...but judgments do not occur in a spiritually mindful body ...as enlivened through Jivala Yoga. Too many traditional yoga teachings separate, in your mind and attitudes, that which is inseparable ...and then attempt to bind together what has been falsely drawn asunder, and in this promises to deliver you to peace and grace. Only ending your judgments will end your mental pain and anguish ...and free you from sorrow and regret, from grief and guilt, and even from the disappointment of false pleasures and excitement. The Awarenesses, Revelations, and Enlivenings of Jivala Yoga will help you end your judgments and awaken your Jivalaself ...and your desired way of life. Jivala Yoga enhances and expands an open and alert mind and receptive attitudes.

Enriching fulfillment is everywhere,

it is not found only in a

Aquiet or narrowly focused mind.@