Write:

Staying rooted in the memory and feeling of the specific situation, we respond to six prompts to capture our stressful thoughts in short, simple sentences.  

1.  We identify the emotion we feel, with whom, and why.  For example, "I am angry with Paul because he lied to me." 

2.  We identify how we want the person to change and what we want them to do.  For example, "I want Paul to see that he is wrong.   I want him to stop lying to me." 

3.  We write down our advice for the person.  For example, "Paul shouldn't frighten me with his behavior.  He should take a deep breath." 

4.  We write down what we need in order to feel better about the situation.  For example, "I need Paul to stop talking over me.  I need him to listen."  

5.  We list our complaints about the person or the situation.  For example, "Paul is a liar, arrogant, loud, dishonest, and unaware."

6. We write down what it is about the person or situation that we don't ever want to experience again.  For example, "I don't ever want Paul to lie to me again.  I don't ever want to be disrespected again."

As we express our feelings in writing, we should allow ourselves to be as petty, judgemental, or childish as we may feel without censorship; this is our opportunity to discover our true emotions from that moment.  

​Turn It Around:

Finally, we practice turning around each of our statements to find multiple opposing statements and consider whether they may be as true as or truer than our original thoughts.  A statement often can be turned around to the self, the other, the opposite, and written in contrasting language.  Each statement will be different--some have one or two opposites, some have four or more--don't force any that don't make sense.  Sometimes to find a good turnaround, we can replace the subject with "my thinking."  For example instead of, "My body should be more flexible," we can say, "My thinking should be more flexible."  For turnarounds to the sixth prompt about what we never want to experience again, turnarounds can begin with "I welcome..." or "I look forward to..."

For the above example, "Paul lied to me," we may find the following four turnarounds, "I lied to me.  I lied to Paul.  Paul didn't lie to me.  Paul told me the truth."  As we consider the truth and validity of the opposing statements, we should stretch ourselves to identify any examples or evidence that could support them.  In this example we can explore how the deception was really our own wanting to believe, our own self-deception.  We can explore how clear and honest we were with Paul in the situation.  We can explore Paul's understanding and intentions, and his own truth in his lived experience. 

The Work of Byron Katie binds Satya, Santosha, Svadhyaya, and Brahmacharya as we examine the validity of our beliefs and look for other possibilities (Satya), we exercise mental inversions and create space for opposing viewpoints (Santosha), we recognize the possible differences and disparities between our interpretation of an event and how it may have been experienced by another (Svadhyaya), and we engage with The Work as an active practice in our aim to approach unity consciousness (Brahmacharya.)  While The Work is challenging, this contemplative yoga bears beautiful fruits, and I encourage you to apply the practice once or twice a week, and to notice how your beliefs and experiences transform and evolve.  Start with whatever experience is most prominent in your awareness, whatever has you most upset in this moment, whatever is most energetically charged, as there you will find the most helpful results.  As we continue with the practice and work through different memories and situations,  we may then begin to apply the practice to specific Anti-Racism work, checking in with our beliefs about what we're hearing in the news and how we interpret "the facts" of any given situation.  

Enjoy the practice, and please let me know how it goes.  Namaste ~ Teagan

Derived from the Sanskrit root Yuj, which translates to attach, join, harness, or yoke, Yoga means union or coming to oneness, and speaks to how our personal experience intrinsically intertwines with the  diverse realities of others.  Karma means action, act, work, or deed, but differs from Kriya, which also translates as action, deed, or effort.  Whereas Kriya refers more to an activity, practice, or technique in terms of applying effort and taking steps in action, Karma encompasses a broader view of an action’s impact, accounting for the actor’s intention, and the action’s effect and result.  Karma Yoga means approaching oneness through how we act with awareness around our intent and our impact.    

Ram Dass taught that, “We are complex entities in the fact that part of us is separate from everything else, and part of us is not separate from everything else.  That is, we are both a group of separate entities, and we are an awareness that is manifested as many entities but it is only one.”  Ram Dass said, “One could interpret life as an awakening journey back to unity, not to unity as opposed to diversity, but to the unity where unity and diversity are each contained in the other.”  This understanding requires our practice with Santosha, as we need to entertain in our minds a sense of unity and a sense of diversity, not as poles in opposition, but as elements like yin and yang, each contained within the other.  

As we allow for both diversity and unity to coexist within each other, karma yoga asks us to honor our separateness while we invest our attention in our sense of unity-consciousness.  It’s a question of whom we see when we look at others:  Them?  Us?  Me?  There’s a difference in our intention and our impact when we act from a place of separateness than when we act in an attempt to return to the one; both the way in which we perform the act changes, and the way in which the act affects us changes.  We still act from a place of ego, and we still must honor our distinct differences, but when we start from a place of separateness and act in order to return to a unity experience, we begin to apply our actions as an offering.  As Ram Dass said, “I work on myself as an offering to you.  I serve you as a way of working on myself.”

The Niyama Svadhyaya combines Sva, meaning one’s self, one’s own, the Ego, or human soul, with Dhyaya, which means meditating on, from the root Dhyai, to meditate, contemplate, or think of.  Often yogis translate Svadhyaya as the study of self, self-reflection, introspection, or self-observation, but this limits our understanding in the context of our 7.8 billion world-population.  These common translations miss the mark in that Sva means self in a broader sense, accounting for first person myself-ourselves, second person yourself-yourselves, and third person oneself-themselves.  Svadhyaya means much more than self-study; Svadhyaya connotes contemplating the 7.8 billion distinct individual selves who inhabit our planet, building awareness and understanding around our differences in perspectives and experiences.  In essence Svadhyaya means  duality-consciousness, or cultivating self-awareness in reflecting on our separateness or duality.

The Yama Brahmacharya combines the Sanskrit root Brahman, which means eternal truth, ultimate reality, single binding unity, or universal consciousness, with Carya, which means moving toward, going after, following, engaging in, or occupying oneself with.  Brahmacharya connotes the active practice and movement toward unity-consciousness.  Often yogis equate Brahmacharya with conduct or observances consistent with the path to Brahman, managing energies, extremes, and cravings, especially around sexual abstinence, but we must understand that Brahmacharya entails more than a code of practices or behaviors.  Brahmacharya means to actively and consistently pursue spiritual liberation through a lifestyle dedicated toward achieving unity-consciousness.  

We must remember too that unity-consciousness depends upon everyone achieving this enlightened state; unity-consciousness by definition cannot be a solo endeavor.  The mutuality around our efforts helps emphasize that there is no need to be austere in our earnest enterprise; we can maintain a playful attitude.  A favorite teacher of mine likes to imagine that she remains the last person approaching unity-consciousness, and that everyone she encounters each day is actually a Buddha or Guru in disguise, posing lessons for her, and waiting on her to reach realization, that unity-consciousness finally may be achieved. ​