Love is a longing. It is a deep craving in the heart to dissolve into the object of its affection, to become the Fire, and to breathe that Fire deep into the belly, incinerating all that is no longer necessary. This is the Fire that transforms.

In Love, we resonate with our object of Love, and that object of Love becomes Love itself. It is Love because we recognize Love within it. It becomes a mirror of Love staring into the eyes of Love. And we dote on our object of affection. We are devoted to it. We adore it. We express our feelings of adoration. We value the other. The other becomes important, extremely important and cherished, even more than we value and cherish our own self. In doing so, we honor the Love that we find in the Beloved.

Love uplifts. Love supports. Love encourages. Love is gentle. Love is kind. Love is True.

It takes courage to Love. It takes courage to send our hearts out in space, like a lone star wavering in the sky, shining its own Light, bright. And not everyone will see that Light. Not everyone will resonate with it. Not everyone will adore it, worship it, venerate it, and find it worthy of valuing. But we Love, regardless, as a star shines, regardless. Love is a frequency. And one day, that frequency will be felt. One day, that Love will be recognized in the eyes of another. A Fire will spark.

A Fire takes care. It takes attention. It takes a breath, a wind, to keep it alive. It takes a body, matter, to burn as fuel. And so a Fire burns in the heart, raging wildly, burning up all that is not Love. And then, nothing is left but Love itself.

This is the power of Love. Love is a Force that can transform worlds. And Love is in everything. It shines brightly, just waiting to be discovered. It is in the eyes of the Beloved. It forms the roots of Nature. It is the fuel of creativity.

Open your eyes. Look around. Seek out Love in everything. Search for that which resonates with your heart. And when you find it, do not let it go. Hold on, but hold with hands of air. Love does not possess. Love does not bind. Love does not control. Love gives. Love is not concerned with itself, with taking or dominating. Love gives of itself. Love’s focus is on the other, always.

Love gives. It gives and gives and gives of itself so much that it relinquishes all that comes up as an obstacle to giving. And through this process, the bonds around the heart shatter.

Love is a beautiful and Divine gift. It only seeks to give and to feel those Fires of Love, to merge with that energy, to get lost, and to dissolve into Love’s very essence. To become Love itself is the goal of the Lover.

Love longs to spend time with the Beloved. For in that space, it can melt. It longs to hear the Beloved speak, through the rustle of trees, through the voice, through the quiet pulse of the breath… It is always in a state of recollection.

Love yearns for its Beloved with a desire, a longing, and an attraction stronger than any sexual union could ever satisfy. It is a yearning of the heart. It is a yearning of the soul to merge with its mate, the only mate a soul could ever have … the Divine.

And in that space, Love cries for the Beloved. It cries through the heart until the heart breaks. It suffers. It aches. It patiently endures the pain of separation. And those cries spill out from the heart and travel through the eyes as the oceans of the Mother, the constant reminder that She is never far from us. And in those tears we find comfort, security, safety, and more Love.

If this is your experience, you may be in Love, the highest kind of Love, the only Love there is. Everything else is merely lust. To distinguish between Love and lust is the duty of the Seeker. To abide by the Law of Love is the only regulation to embark upon the wild and open country of the Divine. Love is the Law.

Live in accordance with the Law. Be Love, beautiful beings. And I say this first and foremost as a reminder to myself, to be Love in everything, to seek Love in everything, and to remember the following quote:

“The blessing of the Almighty Lord is only received by a seeker who seeks the Law. If you do not seek the Law, the blessings will not find their way. Constantly seek out the Law in everything. The Law must be the seeker’s nature so much so that he should become the Law, so much so that the Law should become the seeker until there remains no distinction between them.” ~ Lord Lakulish

Jai Bhagwan. Be Love.

In Love,
Jennifer

Our bodies are composed of energy. Now energy can have different qualities. Energy also vibrates at different speeds and densities. As energy vibrates at slower and slower speeds, it becomes more dense and more solid. Take water as an example. Energy and temperature are linked. As particles vibrate faster and faster, they build heat. As particles vibrate slower and slower, they become colder and lose heat. So when water vibrates at a slower speed and loses heat, the temperature decreases, and water eventually freezes to form ice. If we add heat or increase the vibration and speed of the particles of which the ice/water is made, then the ice will melt and once again turn into water. If we further increase the speed of the particles, increasing the heat, then the water will eventually evaporate and become a gas.

The same thing happens within our own bodies. Our bodies are 80% water and 20% matter. And even that 20% matter is not really solid, but it only appears to be solid because it is energy vibrating at a very slow speed.

Yoga scriptures tell us that energy is of three kinds: Sattvic, Rajasic, and Tamasic. Sattvic energy is very light energy. It moves at a very high vibration. It is pure and made up of Light. It has the quality of peace, joy, bliss, and has a calming effect on the human being. Rajasic energy moves at a slower vibration. Yet Rajasic energy is the energy of motion itself. It is activity and has the qualities of passion, materialism, and brings out in human beings the desire to succeed, to make money, to obtain power, and even can begin to produce greed. Tamasic energy is very heavy. It is dark, dense, dull, and stagnant. It holds the quality of inertia. It vibrates at a very low speed. It is a cold energy. It brings out all the negative qualities in the human being: anger, hatred, jealousy, possessiveness, darkness, and evil.

The Yoga scripture, the Bhagavad Gita, tells us that there are only two Lineages: the Lineage of Pure Light and Energy (Prana) and the Lineage of Mind/Ego. Mental energy is made up of mostly Rajas and Tamas. Mind is a very heavy. It is composed of mostly solid, dense, dark energy with just enough motion and passion to stir it up and keep it moving and active in our perception. Matter is just another term for Mind. Mind is that slow vibrating 20% solid energy which makes up our human bodies.

We have a choice. And this is what we have forgotten. We are 99.99999% empty space, which is energy. We choose a certain percentage of that energy to be solid to create this physical reality. But it is all an illusion created by Mind, created by us as individuals. Everything in the world is ruled by these three energies (Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas), called the Gunas. Even the elements fall into combinations of these three energies. And we are nothing but elements. Our bodies are broken down into elements, minerals. We survive on minerals and elemental compounds.

Just like a barbed wire fence is mostly empty space with just a little bit of solid form to hold it all together, we are mostly empty space with just a little bit of solid form holding us together. Yet that solid form is our own choice.

But please remember, with that choice, comes a price. Rajasic and Tamasic energies comprise this solidity. Yet, Rajasic and Tamasic energies will control you, bind you, manipulate you, and bring disease (dis-ease) into your system. Disease and sickness lead to old age and death.

Sattvic energy is light in weight and of a high vibration. It is the quality of pure Light. It moves at a very fast speed energetically. It builds a great amount of heat. By increasing the amount of Sattva within our systems, we increase the amount of life sustaining energy that the ancients called Prana, Chi, Qi, Mana, and Tao. This vital life energy is the very energy that our Soul is composed of. This is not religion. This is science. It is the science of nature, a science we have forgotten.

Food is meant to nourish and sustain our bodies. We SHOULD be eating for this vital life energy. Instead, most of us eat for pleasure and out of desire. We eat for our Minds and Egos. Food is meant to be consumed for replenishing the vital nutrients, the vitamins and minerals that our bodies need in order to maintain proper functioning of our organs and internal life systems.

Food is also energy. Everything is energy. What we consume also falls into the three energetic categories. There are foods that are light and of pure energy. There are foods that are of a more active and passion forming energy. And there are foods that are of a more dark, dense, and inert energy. When we consume foods that are of the passionate and darker energies, we become more passionate and darker/denser as a result. What we eat, we become.

We are composed of atoms. Atoms are made up of electrons, protons, and neutrons. Most of the matter in our bodies is due to the density of the protons and neutrons in the atom. Electrons are of a very light and fast moving energy. Some atoms have more electrons than others. Some atoms have more protons than others. Generally the substances in life that have more electrons also have more oxygen, and the substances that have more protons contain more hydrogen.

Now, atoms converge to form molecules, and molecules converge to form compounds. Molecules can be simple, made up of a few atoms, such as water, or can be very complex combinations, such as our DNA. Yet, our very DNA is just energy. It is a certain combination of atoms that becomes a very map for everything from our physical characteristics to the genetic potential for diseases. From our biological lineages, we have a wonderful possibility and a great burdon all wrapped up into one. Our possibility comes from the fact that we are the only species on the entire planet that have the ability to transmute energy. We can change our physical form. We can change the combinations of atoms in our very body. We can affect our own cells and our own DNA. We do this through changing the combination of energy density within our bodies. We can change the amount of Sattva, Rajas, or Tamas of which we are composed in any given moment. We hold a great burdon because we carry within our DNA our parents energetic blueprints. Thus, we carry within us their energetic Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas combinations as well as atomic combinations and genetic potentials for certain diseases.

Food is just one of the ways we bring energy into our beings. And there are certain elements that our bodies do not naturally produce when our energies are so solid and of a low vibration. Thus, we need to consume elements like zinc, iron, and calcium. Our bodies run on minerals. Minerals feed our Light bodies. They are directly connected to the Sattva energy within us. The very elements that are within stars are within our own bodies. We are literally composed of star dust. So, the idea that we are star children really is not far fetched or inaccurate. Our entire planet is composed of the same elements that are within a star and were there during the formation of a star. We would die without sunlight, and yet the sun itself is one giant, burning star.

Our bodies run on a few specific minerals and elemental compounds: calcium, iron, potassium, magnesium, sodium, sodium bicarbonate, and manganese. Urinary and salivary pH tells us just how much of these minerals our bodies contain. If we are low in these minerals, our bodily fluids become acidic. When these minerals are in a proper balance in our bodies, our bodily fluids are alkaline. pH stands for the potency of hydrogen. The more hydrogen we have in our bodies, the more acidic our bodies become. The more oxygen we have in our bodies the more alkaline we become. If you connect the dots, you will begin to discover what I have discovered. That is, that hydrogen, acidity, lack of minerals, low pH, low/slow vibrational energy, Rajas and Tamas, and Mind/Ego are all interconnected. In the same manner, oxygen, alkalinity, abundance of minerals, normal to high pH, high vibrational energy, Sattva, and Light/Consciousness are all interconnected.

Yoga is the process of turning base matter into energy. Food is a critical component of this process. And alkaline food is a part (yet not the whole) of this topic of Food.

Simple deduction will lead you to discover that alkaline food is Sattvic in nature. Alkaline food has the ability to increase our positive, light, pure, life sustaining energy. It has the ability to also bring our minds into a calmer, more peaceful, more loving, positive state. We can literally become primitive animals or conscious energetic beings through what we eat alone.

Minerals increase our pH, making our bodies alkaline by nature. Yet, most of the minerals in our food and water have been stripped and removed due to farming, food processing, and water purification. We are 80% water, and so we need to replinish that water with highly alkaline mineral water. Yet most water in existance today is stripped of all minerals, rendering most water acidic. Pure water, straight from the ground, is alkaline. Yet, because we feel it is safer and necessary to cleanse and purify our water (and due to our low immunity and the acidity of our bodies, it probably is), we remove all the minerals and fail to replenish those minerals in adequate amounts when the purification process if finished. If minerals are added back into the water, usually, if you test the pH of the water, you will discover that not enough minerals have been added to bring the water back up to a pH of 7 which is considered netural (1-6 pH is acidic, 8-14 is alkaline, 7 is neutral). So we flush our bodies with acid water and that 80% of our bodies becomes acid. If we eat 20% acid as food, we all develop latent tissue acidosis, and the process of disease and decay and degeneration begins.

We are composed of billions of cells. Those cells are like fish in a fish tank. If the fish is living in acidic, low pH water, the fish will become starved for oxygen. Bacteria, yeast, fungus, and mold (microforms) will develop in the waters. The fish will die. The same thing happens in our own bodies. Our cells are our fish. If our internal fluids are acidic, then we develop bacteria, yeast, fungus, and mold in our bodily fluids and in our blood. Live Blood Cell Analysis will show you just how acidic you are by showing you just how much of these microforms are in your blood. These microforms are the very agents of the Rajasic and Tamasic energies within our own bodies. These microforms crave the very foods that will prolong their existance: pasta, white flour, sugar, rice, yeast, beer, fermentation, meat, bread, cheese, mushrooms… anything made from or with bacteria, yeast, fungus, and mold. Try to cut these out of your diet and not eat any of these for a solid month and tell me that you do not crave any one of these things. It is not YOU that is craving these things. It is the microforms that are craving these things. Rajas and Tamas are not just on a physical elemental level. They are energies, so they are on a mental, emotional, and spiritual level as well. We are dimensional beings. Our very thoughts and emotions can make us acidic or alkaline.

Our billions of cells are all like individual fish. Each cell is an individual life form. We think we are this one main conscious entity. Yet within our bodies are billions of living, breathing (yes, cells breathe through cellular respiration), reproducing life forms. Each cell has an individual task it performs. And cells are grouped by their function. Our cells consume food and excrete waste just like we do. Our cells have little body parts. And according to function, cells are divided into little nations within us. There are cells that make up the blood. There are cells that make up the heart that pumps the blood. There are liver cells, lung cells, immune system cells, and skin cells, just to name a few. And all of these cells work individually and yet also in perfect harmony with eachother in order to create the universe of YOU. Your apparenly solid form is only due to the billions of individual life forms within you working diligently 24/7.

Take care of your body. Take care of not just the external body. It is more important to take care of the internal body. Take care of your cells and they will take care of you.

Cells live and die. But before they die, they make a 100% exact carbon copy of themselves to carry on their work when they die. Now, if a cell is attacked and damaged due to an acidic and low energy internal environment, that cell will become wounded and will not reproduce properly. Thus the celluar copy will be different, imperfect, and flawed. Ageing, diseases, and cancer are all caused due to cellular malfunction. This damages our DNA. It changes our DNA. And thus our genetic code changes over lifetimes and is passed down over lifetimes.

Can you imagine the genetic possibilities if we only change the way we eat? How it will affect our DNA? The future of our race and our children and their children? There is a DNA molecule within each cell.

Flawed, damaged cells within the heart cause corinary problems. Damaged cells within the endocrine system cause endocrine and hormonal imbalances and malfunctions. Flaws within the skin cells cause wrinkles. Liver cells become overworked due to having to filter out acidic and toxic fluids. Joint cells can become undernourished and overused leading to arthritis.

Diet can reverse disease, sickness, cancer, ageing, and even death.

Medicine needs to evolve in order for us to evolve. Nutrition and medicine needs to begin even before the cellular level. It needs to begin at an energetic level, for we are energetic beings. We are 99.9999% space and energy.

Choose well.

There is a Cherokee tale about two wolves. A grandfather is having a conversation with his grandson. It goes as follows:

“A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, self-doubt, and ego. The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. This same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”

The old chief simply replied, “The one you feed.”

So, again, choose well. Which energy do you want that 99.99999% of your empty space to be composed of? Which direction do you want your life to take? What do you want your thoughts to be composed of? Your emotions? Your spirit? Which Lineage do you want to belong to? The choice is yours. We all have free will. Choose well.

Until next time.

In Love and Highest Light,

Jennifer Jacobsen (Urja)

A lot of people ask me … what is Lakulish Yoga?  Who or what is Lakulish?

Lakulish is a Sanskrit name, and like most Sanskrit names and terms, Lakulish is a process. Lakulish is the very process by which Yoga happens. Lord Lakulish represents the very Energy into which all matter transforms through this amazing gift we call Yoga.
Yoga is very presicous and very sacred. It has been around since the beginning of time. Yoga is a lifetime commitment to certain eternal Truths.

We presently live in an age of darkness. The great texts of Sanatana Dharma (the Eternal Law that is Yoga) call this the age of Kali (Kali Yuga). This is the age of ignorance, for we have forgotten who we are. We have separated from God. We are hurtful to our own selves, our own systems, our friends, companions, neighbors, and our environment. We lie. We cheat. We steal. We possess. We covet. We exist with sickness, disease, and with rajasic (passionate, greedy, power-seeking, materialistic) and tamasic (dark, heavy, lazy, dull) negative imprints in our minds.

It is this negative mindset that causes the separation. It is the mind that makes us sick and diseased. It is the mind that hurts, that lies, that cheats, steals, possesses, and covets. What we are on the inside, we will project into our outside environment. Our world is on the verge of destruction because we are destroying ourselves inside our very beings.

What is worse than this, is that in this age, Yoga, the very means by which we undo this individual and global sickness, has been reduced to a fad. “False prophets” abound, and it seems there are gurus on every corner professing to teach spiritual enlightenment or transfer some kind of spiritual energy that will instantly “awaken” anyone. But I caution you: be very keen and careful. If anyone is going to sell anything having to do with Yoga, they should sell God 100% of the time. I encourage you to pay attention to any spiritual teacher’s actions, not just his or her fancy, charming words, spiritual powers, or supposed energetic state.

Sadly, in this day and age, Yoga has become “en vogue” and a cliche. Everywhere I turn, I am faced with this reality (or should I say illusion). We are so far into ignorance, that we have even forgotten what Yoga is. We have forgotten that Yoga is about Union with the energy of God (Consciousness, Source, Energy, Chi, Kundalini, Creator, etc). Yoga is about removing the negative imprints of the mind so that our vital life energy (Prana) will grow and build and take over our bodies.

Right now, our most negative mental tendencies control us. And look what has happened to us and to our world. We like to think we are decent people. Civilized. But the truth is we are all very uncivilized, barbaric people attempting to show some degree of outward decency. But we do not like to think of ourselves this way. We like living with our delusions and hallucinations.

The truth is, when we separate from God and we think we (our minds) can control the body God created and run it effectively and efficiently … we fail. We all get old, sick, diseased, frail, our bodies rot, and we eventually slowly decompose and die. But the truth is we do not have to. We don’t. It all depends on who is in control.

When we step foot on the path of Yoga and we awaken our vital life energy (Prana) to the point where it becomes stronger than our mental energy, God decends into the body. The body becomes a Temple. We become Living beings infused with Light. The mind becomes a friend. It becomes clear and sharp and slices away the negative energies that once ruled us. The mind becomes clear as crystal, and we become reflections of that inner Light, and we reflect that Light to the world.

Change happens one individual at a time, one Soul at a time. Right now we are experiencing an Energy crisis. We have strayed so far from our Maker that we have forgotten who we are. But we are never lost.

There is a science, a very precious science, that has been passed down from a Soul who has walked the path of Yoga successfully to a Soul who deeply desires to do so. That science is the path of Yoga itself. That science is Lakulish.

Yoga is not a religion. As a science, Yoga deals with the elements: fire, water, earth, air, and space/ether. It deals with physics and chemistry. It is the very science of learning how to convert matter into light. And this very science will bring you to the footsteps of God, should that be a place you wish to travel. If nothing else, Yoga will allow you to live a very happy, joyful, long and fulfilling life. God does not want us to be unhappy. God does not wish for us to live in a cave. God does not want us to suffer. God wants us to enjoy this life we have been given. Yoga enables us to enjoy life fully. When we live under the governance of our minds, we are not allowed to live fully and peacefully.

Yoga cannot be put into a box. It cannot be canned. It cannot be labeled. It most certainly is not exercise or mere postures and breath work and most certainly does not belong to anyone! While it may relieve stress and make a person feel peaceful, its purpose far exceeds these effects.

I am writing this to you because it is time. The way Yoga is depicted in this age is inaccurate and incomplete. The purpose of Lakulish Yoga is to bring change, individual change.

Yoga is a part of an Eight-Fold system:

1. Yamas
2. Niyamas
3. Asana
4. Pranyama
5. Pratyahara
6. Dharana
7. Dhyana
8. Samadhi

Yoga is meant to unfold systematically, in this exact sequence. If you practice Yoga, or think you are practicing Yoga, and you practice out of this order, you cannot practice and have what you are practicing still be called Yoga. Yet Yoga centers all around the globe do this every day.

This is a very important and key statement. The first two steps of Yoga are called “The Law”. It is the Dharma. It is the Code of Conduct, God’s Code of Conduct. The Law of building and maintaining Energy. A Niyama can only happen when a Yama has successfully happened. And an Asana can only happen when a Yama and a Niyama have successfully happened. Thus, the only way a Pranayama can occur is when the other 3 prerequesites have happened successfully (there is a Yama in Pranayama and a Yama in Niyama). All of these words may sound very foreign to you, and that is okay. The purpose of my classes is to help you understand and practice this Yoga system, to develop your own individual practice.

Meditation is 7th on the list. And we think we know what meditation is. Meditation happens to us. We cannot just sit down and meditate. Yet meditation has become a fad and is taught everywhere. We can practice and hope that one day meditation will happen to us. But that practice requires a lot of work.

Union is WORK. Yoga is WORK. It requires daily practice. It requires a constant, unwavering committment to certain Codes of Conduct, called the Yamas and Niyamas.

The Yamas and Niyamas are at the core of the Lakulish Yoga teachings because Yoga cannot even begin without them. They are not philosophies to be glanced over while we push ourselves through vinyasas and twist ourselves into pretzels in Yoga class. The very first phrase in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras begins with the word “atha”.

1.1 Atha Yoga Anusasanam
1.1 Now we begin Yoga

Atha implies that Yamas and Niyamas have successfully been implimented. Then Asana happens. Then Pranayama can happen. Then God appears in the body. Yoga postures are a gift to mankind. They are the very means by which the bodily energy channels and organs are cleansed of impurities in order for the body to become a Temple and for us to become Living beings of Light.

I teach Yamas and Niyamas in my Private Yoga classes. I also teach nutrition and diet, Yoga practices, scriptures, mantra, and postures. I tailor each class to my individual student’s needs. Each person is different. Each person is in a different place on his or her spiritual journey. I have been blessed with an amazing, out of this world teacher, Swami Sri Ashutosh Muniji (I call him “Bapuji”). He is the current lineage holder in the Muni Mundal Yoga line. Muni Mundal is an order has been around for a very long time. Lord Lakulish was a member of Muni Mundal. And so was Patanjali Muni.

Lakulish Yoga teachings thus rely heavily on teachings from Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras and from the Bhagavad Gita, as these texts are very dear to our Yoga Lineage.

If you are interested in learning Yoga as it was traditionally taught and should be taught, please contact me at (904) 392-6588 to set up a private session. If you have questions, I will be more than happy to sit down with you and discuss any concerns you may have.

I certainly do not have all the answers. And I do not profess to be a teacher nor a guru. God is the only Guru. I am a student, and like my Bapuji, I wish to remain a student. I want to walk this path of Yoga, and I aspire every day to do so. But it is time to pay it forward.

It is time for me to share what I have learned from my Bapuji. It is time for humanity to wake up. We have slumbered in ignorance far too long. It is time to reunite with that Energy from which we have strayed so far. It is our birth right. And it is our duty.

Jai Bhagwan. Jai means “victory” and Bhagwan is that Energy. Let us let the Energy of God prevail within our internal nation once more. Let us find our Freedom, our Liberty, and our Justice. Our Founding Fathers understood this Truth when our country was formed. May we too understand this Truth again.

In Love and Highest Light,

Jennifer Jacobsen (Urja)

Do you want to try something more one-on-one before moving to a group class?

Are you looking for more advanced, in-depth teachings?

Are you wanting to create a daily schedule and personal home practice for yourself?

Are you wanting to learn more about scriptures, meditation, pranayama or mantra?

IF SO, from now until the end of April, I am offering my PRIVATE YOGA CLASSES for $55!!

That’s a $20 savings!

SPRING INTO ACTION!

Call (904) 392-6588 for more information.

YOGA is becoming more and more recognized as an accompaniment to cancer treatment. Mostly viewed and experienced as a way to relax the mind and to tone and shape the body, Yoga is a very ancient science that is misunderstood in today’s society. While the benefits of Yoga surely can include a calm mind and fit body, Yoga is a way of building and maintaining healing energy while removing the more damaging patterns and behaviors that otherwise drain this precious, healing resource. To be a Yogi, one must master one’s mind.

Mental, emotional, and physical stress stem from a mind that has become destructive rather than constructive. While most people live their lives in search of creativity, success, abundance, and a sense of accomplishment, they often do so at the expense of their own well-being. Most of the time, this is unconscious. Some people live very successful and creative lives, and then there are people who intend to live very successful and creative lives yet do not know how to. At the end of the day these individuals feel mentally, emotionally, and physically drained and exhausted.

Exhaustion, stress, and lack of energy all stem from behaviors and patterns of living that are in disharmony with the first two laws of Yoga: Yamas and Niyamas. The Sanksrit word Yama means “death”. The Sanskrit word Niyama means “death inside”. We must ask ourselves, what is it that needs to die in our external environments and in our internal environments? Of what can we let go? What is no longer needed? In which ways are we damaging ourselves, allowing our minds to drain our energy, and leading destructive rather than constructive lives?

Patanjali, a great Master of Yoga, has shone his light on a path we all must follow. In his legendary Yoga Sutras, he tells us that the reason our minds, bodies, and spirits are not at rest is because our minds are violent. It is the mind that seeks to hurt its own system and the systems of others. We are not truthful with ourselves. It is the mind that deceives its own self and attempts to be deceptive with others. The mind is a thief. It steals, covets, hoards, and eventually drains our energy in patterns of which most of us are unaware. Yet, for the Master of Yoga who has reclaimed his or her own energy through Yamas and Niyamas and the practices of Yoga, the mind is no longer an enemy, but it is a great friend.

The question that then forms in the mind is, what does Yoga have to do with cancer? Cancer appears in a body that is destructive rather than constructive. The internal cells are in a state of attack, and the body is a battlefield.

Science has been able to prove that cancer cannot exist in an oxygenated environment. Dr. Robert O. Young, head of the pH Miracle Center in Valley Center, CA, has demonstrated that when the pH of urine drops below 5, on the scale of 1-14, the chances of an individual developing cancer increase dramatically. A low internal body pH deprives the body of oxygen, and the blood becomes dirty. Our internal cells are like fish in a fish tank. If the cells are not bathed in pH balanced water, and if our “fish tank” is not kept clean, the body begins to lose more energy than it gains because it is forced to clean up a dirty internal environment. In a dirty fish tank, bacteria grow. The bacteria morph into yeast. The yeast morph into fungus. The fungus morph into mold. These toxins deprive the body of oxygen. The internal pH of the blood begins to drop, and the body goes into survival mode. The pH of the blood will only drop when the tissues in the body have become so toxic that they have entered a state of latent tissue acidosis. The degree of latent tissue acidosis is most commonly measured by urinary pH. A urinary pH of 5 or below signals severe latent tissue acidosis and a body that is severely deprived of oxygen. The state of the blood can clearly be seen in a Live Blood Cell Analysis.

How does a body end up in a state of latent tissue acidosis, and how can Yoga return a body to health? The world of Yoga practices spans every bodily system. A Yogic diet is an alkaline diet centered around pure, fresh, organic fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, and low-acid grains. Making the body more alkaline is the key to eliminating latent tissue acidosis. Cleansing the body and bringing fresh oxygen into the system also makes the body more alkaline. Pranayama (building healing energy in the body through breath) brings fresh oxygen into the lungs, the blood, and the cells. Both Pranayama and Yoga Asanas (postures) cleanse the body’s internal organs, remove acidic toxins from the body, and cleanse and heal energy pathways in the body (refered to as Nadis in the Sanskrit language). The practices of Yoga are designed to clean the blood.

Aligning oneself with the Yamas and Niyamas destroys the damaging patterns and behaviors that make an individual more extrovert, stressed, and capable of draining the healing energy built through the Yogic practices of Pranayama and Asana. In fact, there is a Yama in Pranayama. It is therefore necessary to be mindful of one’s attitude towards oneself and others before the practices of Yoga can begin to heal the body. This is the reason Yamas and Niyamas are the first two steps in the eightfold path of Yoga.

It is exciting that Yoga has been recognized as a useful and helpful addition to cancer treatment. Yoga is currently being taught in conjunction to cancer treatment in Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, MC Anderson, and many other major cancer treatment centers. As a patient learns the ways his or her mind has become destructive rather than constructive, the practices of Yoga will naturally heal the body. The human body is remarkable by design. It contains everything it needs to heal itself, and the body is constantly amazing practitioners in the medical field. Unexplained miracles happen every day.

The practices of Yoga can bring a person who is out of balance into a state of balance. It can help an individual live a very long, happy, creative, and abundant life. It can assist a person to live free of sickness and disease, to move from a dark place into a place of love and healing light. This is my prayer for all of those who suffer with cancer or any dis-ease.

If you would like more information on how Yoga can help you with your internal battle for health, please contact Jennifer at the Saint Augustine Lakulish School of Yoga online at http://lakulishyogaschool.com or by phone at (904) 392-6588.

Satya (Truth) is much more than simply being an honest person. Maintaining honesty is an expected behavior in society, we’ve all been taught not to lie (for the most part) and I believe for the most part humans do try to achieve honesty. Non-truths do not feel right, I can’t imagine one desires to live an unauthentic life. The above to me; however, is not the meaning of satya.

My perception of this yama is the belief that the real satya comes from a relinquished sense of fear and an exposure to all the layers of the self. Truth is equal to purity and the rawness of the person or object. Without the ability to seek out and accept ones personal truths, I do not see how it is possible to live in truth… meaning; if you don’t know who you are and accept everything about your own self, how can you emit honesty and truthfulness to the outside world? Your perception of truth until found would be skewed. In fact, your entire life could become a lie – a constant state of seeking and dissatisfaction. I believe many people in our world suffer from unawareness of their personal truths. Finding personal truth is a large component of self-realization.

Eliminating the fear of self is not easy. We may not always like the truths we find… this is usually only because of what we’ve been programmed to believe is good and bad, dark and light. We must begin to understand that all truths are beautiful no matter how devastating they may be or seem. When we begin to embrace our truths both light and dark, we begin to see that polarity is a part of existence and it is indeed a necessary component of our being. It is only when we begin to understand this, that we can understand the yama satya and begin to actually live in satya.

It is important to note that not living in satya is a large block on the path to both self and god realization; moreover, it becomes a substantial block in ones energy; thus, halting the ability for one to progress. Instead we are sent into the same repetitive cycle over and over until these truths are discovered.

If we want to obtain contentment and realization we must begin to work on peeling back our layers of pre-programmed non-truths and expectations which were never meant to be in our personal truth stories. These expectations and non-truths may have been imprinted into our brain by our parents, friends, relatives, media– anywhere, at any point in time. I believe we may also be carrying some remnants of past life karmic type non-truths as well– or even ancestral belief systems we aren’t aware of.

Most of us must do hard work to begin the process of discovering our raw, true authentic selves and remove any fears attached to our discoveries. When this process of discovering truth has begun… one begins to see how naturally satya evolves into everything. When truth becomes a part of who you are it begins to bring joy, wisdom and purpose. Once satya is incorporated into each second of ones life then this person can say and feel that they are genuinely authentic. This will become visible not only in ones progressive actions but also in ones physical presence. Ultimately, the hope is that finding and living in satya will become contagious to others.

Imagine a cloudy day. It is raining outside. No sunshine is to be seen through the clouds. The day is not in complete darkness; there is daylight behind the clouds. Just because we cannot see the light of the sun shining brightly behind the clouds, it does not mean that the sun is not there shining brightly. It is merely blocked by the clouds, the shadows, and the rain. The day looks a little gloomy. We may feel a little “under the weather”.

Almost all life on this planet is dependent upon the sun’s energy. If humankind did not have access to sunshine, we would die. We receive vital hormones and vitamins from the sun’s light. Our plants and crops are dependent upon sunshine in order to grow and flourish. We receive energy from our food due to the sun’s role in the growth and production of our food.

In this metaphor, the sun is the Prana, the vital life energy of our Soul and of the Supreme Soul. The clouds, the shadows, and the rain are representative of Apana, the energy of the mind. Bapuji teaches that we have a body. We have a mind. We have a Soul, and there is a Supreme Soul. The Supreme Soul is God’s energy. It is the pure sunlight: radiant, hot, burning bright. It permeates everything. It sends its energy into plants, animals, and humankind. This energy of the Supreme Soul that we house within ourselves is the energy of the Soul (Spirit, Higher Self). This energy permeates the body. It is the breath of life. It is the reason we are alive. Just as most things are dependent upon the sunlight for life, we are dependent upon Prana for life. If Prana did not exist in our bodies, we would not exist at all.

The current situation for most of humankind, however, is that the clouds are blocking the sunshine. The Prana is under control of the mind. There is a story in the Yoga scriptures about two brothers, one older and one younger. The older one represents the mind and the younger represents the Prana. The Prana is always eager to follow the mind, the older brother. The Prana is happy to light the world from behind the mental clouds, to follow in its footsteps, but in order for the Prana to shine, it has to step forward and exert its authority. The mental impurities have to be removed in order for the Prana to shine forth in our bodies.

Through the physical and mental practices of Yoga (called “tapas”), one is able to gradually clear up the sky of the body. The clouds gradually recede to reveal more and more of the sunshine.

There is always an internal battle between the mind and the Soul. The Soul is God’s energy. Yet it is trapped behind the mind’s control. This control and trapping of Prana is the reason we are here on earth. It is the reason we are incarnated again and again. Yoga scripture teaches that the Soul never dies. It just takes on new bodies. It discards old ones. We are born into bodies and situations that help us to see the areas where we block Prana, where we block the Light, where the sun is not able to shine through the clouds because of the areas that we are allowing the mind to exert its influence.

We need to assert our authority. The Prana is tied to the body. The voice of the Prana and the voice of the mind are different. They have a different feel. Bapuji gives us some examples: when we are tired in the evening…it is 10:00pm, or 11:00pm, or 12:00am and the body (and therefore the Prana) needs to go to sleep. But the mind wants to stay awake watching television or reading or playing around on the internet. When we sit down to eat…the mind has its own preferences in quality and quantity. The Prana doesn’t have any preferences. It just chooses what is best for us. The body knows intuitively what to eat. The mind has its ideas of what it wants. It uses our senses to convince us that such and such a thing is desirable over another. When it is time to eat, the mind will state its preference. The Prana will also suggest a choice. Listen to the Prana. It will usually be the healthier choice or the choice that will increase one’s energy.

In his Premyatra volumes, Swami Kripalvanandji talks about Yamas and Niyamas extensively. He says that in the battle between the mind and the Soul, between Prana and Apana, one can either fight a battle from within a closed fort or out on an open battlefield. To fight from within an enclosed fort, one needs the armor and the protection of the Yamas and Niyamas.

The Yamas and Niyamas are the first two “limbs” of the Eight Limbs of Ashtanga Yoga. They are the way that one protects his or her sadhana (spiritual practice) from things which would interfere, disturb, or halt its positive progression. So what are the Yamas and Niyamas? They are our internal and external manners. They are the ways we treat each other externally and the ways we treat ourselves internally. Collectively, they are the Law of Prana. If you want to bring Prana into your life, bring the Yamas and Niyamas into your life. If you want to remove the clouds that are blocking the sun’s light, bring the Yamas and Niyamas into your life.

Swami Kripalvanandji says that the five friends of Yoga are nonviolence, truthfulness, nonstealing, energy movement and maintanence, and nonpossessiveness. The five enemies of Yoga are violence, nontruthfulness, stealing, lust/desire, and possessiveness. The five Yamas are Ahimsa (nonviolence), Satya (truthfulness), Asteya (nonstealing), Brahmacharya (the building, maintanence, and movement of energy), and Aparigraha (nonpossessiveness).

Ahimsa is the first and the most important. Swami Kripalvanandji says that if one can master nonviolence, the other four Yamas come to the Seeker automatically. Lord Lakulish says to pick one Yama and Niyama to master, and it makes the journey up the mountain to God easier to climb.

Is a Seeker of God more or less violent than an average human being? A great deal of violence has been created in the name of religion and spirituality. Swami Kripalvanandji says that to a family of deer, a lion is very violent. However, a lion cub sees his father lion as being very loving, kind, compassionate, loyal, and courageous. He says that in the grand scheme, violence or nonviolence is partial. On the subtle level however, violence is more obvious.

Because every person is prone to violence, on even the most subtle level (if we did not have the clouds covering the sun, we would not be incarnate in a human form. The darkness, the Apana, the mind, keeps us trapped into bodily form.) the Yama of nonviolence comes first in the list of Yamas and Niyamas.

The root “a” means “not”, and the root “himsa” means “violence”. So, Ahimsa means nonviolence. What is nonviolence, and how does a person practice nonviolence? We look on the television news and we see violence reported everywhere. We look to jails and prisons and see violent criminals locked up. But we look at ourselves and say that we are not violent people. We do not break the law. We do not physically harm anyone. We are not assaulting people or murdering others, so how are we violent people?

Swami Kripalvanandji says that actions are merely manifest speech, and speech is merely manifest thought. One of the main ways that people are violent is with their speech and with their thoughts. People can even be violent with their looks, hence the term “if looks could kill”. A person can outwardly be behaving perfectly appropriate and apparently kind, and yet his or her eyes and body language tell an entirely different story.

Therefore, Swami Kripalvanandji says that to practice nonviolence is to practice nonviolence in thought, word, and deed. If we can stop a violent thought, then we can stop it from manifesting into our speech and actions. So, what is a violent thought? Swami Kripalvanandji answers this for us as well by telling us that a violent thought, word, or action is one which disturbs another’s mind.

The second sutra of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras says, “Yoga citta vritti nirodaha”. The translation is, “Yoga is the control/cessation of the vrittis in the citta”. The vrittis are the cycles of the mind. They are the patterns and the habits and the mental spinning that causes the impurities in our consciousness. They are the clouds that are in front of the sun. The cycles start from the very moment our senses (any of the five) encounter an object and bring data into the mind. The entire purpose of Yoga is to cleanse away, to control and to eventually cease these vritti cycles from clouding the sunshine of Prana. When the vrittis are gone, Prana can shine forth and Yoga is complete.

So, to excite the vritti cycle in any person is a violence to that individual because it just perpetuates the existence of the clouds and could even create more clouds and even more rain, leading to an even gloomier existence as God’s light is blocked. For example, when we judge others, when we find fault in them, when we blame them, we cause vrittis in our own minds as well as in the minds of others. The judgments and negative thinking come out through our body language, through our eyes, through our tone of voice, inflection, our words and our actions. When we judge ourselves or think any negative thought about ourselves, we are disturbing our mind, and our vritti cycles continue to spin.

As we remove the impurities in the body and in the mind through following the Law of Prana (Yamas and Niyamas, a.k.a. “the Law”), we gain Prana, we gain energy. Our lives are happier and we feel better. If one does not want to merge with God, then that is fine; one can still live a very happy and successful life by following the Law. If one should want to attain Divinity and merge with God in this lifetime, Yamas and Niyamas are the keys, and the practice of nonviolence is essential. Our internal and external manners matter greatly on the path to God and Prana and in the creation of a happy, successful life. As my Bapuji says, “if you want to be Divine, act Divine”.

So what do we do when someone treats us violently, is Law-less with us, or disturbs our minds and starts those vritti cycles spinning? We merely turn the other cheek. We raise a shield instead of a sword. We walk away. We change the subject. We do something different. We act opposite of the way our minds would want us to act. We show appreciation and gratitude and point out the positive instead of focusing on the negative. When one lives the Law, one creates a space where one allows others to see where they are being Lawless (without one being Lawless by pointing anything out) and one provides the space for others to follow the Law too. See, the Law is the Law of Prana and the Law of Love and the Law of Nature. It is in us. It is us. It is the Supreme Soul and the energy of the Soul. We do not have to learn it. We just have to recognize we already are it and follow it, and then the Prana gets stronger, and the darkness gets weaker.

This path of following Prana is called the Pravritti path of Yoga. The root “pra” means “to organize”, and so one organizes the vrittis on the Pravritti path. One straps on the armor of the Yamas and Niyamas and prepares for battle, organizes one’s troops and strategies. When one strengthens one’s reinforcements and purifies the mind (removes the clouds at least 50%) to the point where the mind begins to take notice, the Nivritti path begins. The battle for God-realization and attainment begins.

So what can we do to redirect our mind, to gain Prana? This is where sadhana (spiritual practice) is so imperative. When one wakes up in the morning, he or she should remember the Lord. He or she should reflect on Prana and the Supreme Soul. One should do anything one can to connect with that energy. After one’s morning bathroom routine, then mantra chanting, meditation, exercise, Arti, reading scripture or texts containing statements of Truth, postures and pranayams can help to connect one to Prana. Start the day off well. If our day goes poorly, and if we treat ourselves and others poorly, then these negative actions, words, and thoughts seep into our subconscious. When we go to sleep, our subconscious plays out these mental cycles, and we wake up feeling “under the weather” to some degree, especially if we have slept poorly. Depending on how we slept and how we treated ourselves and others the day before, we may wake up feeling wonderful and ready to take on the day (we possess “sattvic” energy). We may wake up feeling feisty and a little snappy (we possess “rajasic” energy). Or we may wake up feeling horrible, lethargic and depressed (we possess “tamasic” energy).

Bapuji suggests that before we go to sleep in the evening, we review our day mentally. We pick some responsible, loving person to watch our day for us within the corner of our own mind. This person could be our God, a loved one, or someone we look up to. It should be someone who represents our Ideal, the kind of person we wish to be when we think of the greatest, grandest version of ourselves that we could ever hope to create. We should start to review our day mentally from beginning to end, and we should sit back and just watch. We should let the person we have chosen as our witness be the one who watches and we should observe his or her eyes, face, and body language, and we can begin to get an idea of what this person finds good, bad, and ugly in our behavior. We will see the ways that we follow the Law and the ways in which we are Lawless. We will begin to be less violent throughout the day, and we will sleep better. We will awake feeling better, and we will once again lead our days well, gaining more and more Prana as we progress.

In every person there is Light. If we nurture that Light then we serve our higher Selves. We serve God and we serve the Supreme Soul and Prana. If we want to live our days in sunshine and one day merge with Divinity, we need to slowly begin to remove the clouds that block the sun and let our true Light shine.

Jai Bhagwan! Victory to Prana!

© 2009 – Jennifer Jacobsen, Saint Augustine Lakulish School of Yoga