Like most things, at least for me, we don’t fully understand them until after we have experienced them personally. It might make since to some extent when described to us, but its not until after fully experiencing it in our own realities that we make that connection of ‘oh, that’s what that means,’ or ‘ okay, now I get it.’
Here is the introduction to the symbol. The description and explaining of these different levels of the spiritual practice that yoga is, so you plant some seeds for in the future when you look back after some time and experience has past and you can say, okay, now I get it.
If yoga has come into your life you most likely have seen this symbol. The Om ( Aum) symbol.
It wasnt until I was at my teacher training when I was introduced to the deeper meaning of this symbol, and then not until a couple months out of training that I came back across it, reread my notes, and had that ‘Oh, I get it’ realization. It’s like the saying goes, when the student is ready, the teacher appears. My training started about a year before my ‘scheduled’ training. My world was taking me through these different states of consciousness so I would be able to understand them, and then explain them. But I had to fully complete/experience each level and then come back to it, to understand what I had just gone through.
So here we go!
THE LOWER CURVE #1:
This is the most common state of consciousness that us human beings live in. The Waking State. Where our awareness is turned outward and we experience through our senses.
THE UPPER CURVE #2:
This is unconsciousness. Where we desire nothing, and dream nothing. A state of deep sleep.
THE MIDDLE CURVE #3:
This is a state of consciousness in-between wakefulness and dreaming. Where we are turned inward, and our dreaming self witnesses the view of the world behind the lids of the eyes.
THE TOP DOT#4:
This is where our consciousness is neither inward, nor outward, but in-between. A place of unity, stability, of coming to rest. It is an utterly quiet, peaceful, and blissful state.
This is end point or the ultimate goal of yoga. This state illuminates all three other states.
There is also a common phrase in yoga that explains this final stage well.
It reads- Chitta Vritti Nirodhah ( the stilling of the fluctuations of the mind)
It is in this state of stillness of the mind that everything else becomes still as well. Where we find peace within ourselves, and therefore peace in our outer world as well.
Intentional Living with Jody 