Congratulations! Sounds like you were getting there.

If I had to guess, I would say that the problem you are having in getting back there is that you're trying to get back there. I know that sounds non-sensical, so let me explain.

That place, where you can feel the timeless bliss and contentment only exists in the present, so it can only be obtained when you are present. When you are trying really hard to get there, you aren't present because you're trying to get there. This is the catch-22 that makes this aggravating, yet amazingly easy once you figure it out.

Have you ever gotten so caught up in something that you've been completely absorbed by it? You looked up and an hour or two had gone by and you weren't even aware of it? Or done something that has been so exciting that afterwards it left you feeling very alive? At those times, you were present.

So next time you do some yoga, try doing this:

1) Still your mind. Don't think about what happened yesterday or what may happen tomorrow. Just experience the moment, because each one is completely yours to experience.

2) Appreciate what comes in through your senses without judgement. Positive and negative are values we assign and have nothing to do with the sensations themselves.

3) Make each movement, each breath an act of love and thankfulness.

In truth, you are already there. It's just that right now, you are really good at taking yourself away from there. So good, in fact, that not only is it second nature, you are not really aware that you are doing it.

It helps me to remember that. Whenever I am not there, it is because I am doing something to distract myself from being there. Usually it is an attachment that I need to deal with.

Hope this helps.

-- Spurious

Hi Liberation,

When we experience this level of letting go, it is the feeling of release that is causing the feeling of what you describe as bliss. It often comes with a rush of endorphins which are also released when we meditate. The endorphins tend to make us feel good. But this 'bliss' is not the nirvana that the Buddha spoke of.

It is not the state you are ultimately looking for (- assuming it is enlightenment you are looking for!). This feeling although wonderful is just a mirror to see that state inside of you which cannot be seen.

It is that state of complete nothingness. True bliss is joylessness - a state where there is no trying (even for bliss!). If you are looking for this state you will miss it. For when you are looking, you create separation within you - an identity arises whose only justification for being is to 'do' something - to try to find something for example. However in trying, it is not being. Another way to look at it is that you create a closed loop of programming the sole purpose of which is to exist and run - it is separate from the operating system on which it is running. In absolute truth this is a falsehood and will always be exposed.

I believe the universe was telling you something very important when the yoga session ended as it did - "do not get attached to this state for it is just another experience and where you are headed is beyond all experience".

When I achieved this state for the first time, every waking moment was spent trying to receate it and for a while I was very successful. In fact I lived in that state for around two years on and off. However under the surface, a witnesser was building identifying with this state. The witnesser became what is known as a 'super ego'. Many 'spiritual masters' end up in this state of continual bliss. However it is just another false dawn - a false self.

Eventually I got very sick all of a sudden and my illusionary world came crashing down. After several days of self judgement, I surrendered into the state I was in and discovered the absolute - beyond all experience.

The key is to use this release to know the unknowable in the background. A perception which becomes a pure and simple awesomely ordinary state of being wanting neither good nor bad. It is awesomely okay with anything that happens in your life, your body and your mind.

I recall an experience of the master 'Babaji'. He is quoted as saying that he only ever met one enlightened master in his terrestrial life - a poor beggar on the street. This beggar had an open wound in his leg infested with maggots. When he asked the beggar why he did not remove the maggots, he replied "well even they are Gods creatures and even they have got to eat".

This is what I mean by 'awesomely okay with things the way they are'. From this place arises the true self - in my view, the ONLY thing worth 'having'.

Best wishes

Chris

Hi Liberation,

It's delightful to hear that you have had such an experience.

It sounds like you enjoyed a state where you began to relinquish attachment to the materialistic, emotional and mental third dimensional planes, and you experienced a multi-dimensional expansion of your awareness. This often manifests as a state of 'bliss' or waves of amazing peace and universal harmony. Any other experience begins to pale in comparison.

I can also confirm from my own personal experience that this is virtually impossible to attain by effort. It helps if you can temporarily suspend mentally activity too and just allow the flow of the universe to guide your awareness wherever best serves your spiritual unfolding.

The 'place' of true bliss, will always be there. You have eternity at your finger tips! You are blessed indeed!

Trin

Ah yes! The first time I did a yoga class with a good teacher I had a very similar experience at the end of the session whilst I did the corpse posture. I was taken off to a place of bliss and felt like I had become at one with the floor. The teacher also commented on how blissed out I looked (perhaps we are living parallel lives :0))). So what do you think you actually experienced during that session?
Blessings
Ana

Some of the possible explanations are:

• In the lesson I effectively had to surrender my body to the instructor, and go through a sequence of totally unfamiliar movements entirely under her direction. So the body was freed from its usual authoritarian master, my dominant ego. At the end perhaps my body was just rejoicing in that rare moment of freedom.
• The particular practice she develops is Ashtanga Yoga, which involves moving through the postures fairly rapidly, and not holding any one for more than say five breaths; so, it's also a form of exercise which generates quite a lot of internal heat. The release of endorphins, pleasure-causing chemicals in the brain, is a well-known side-effect of exercise, e.g. "runner's high".
• A message from Spirit that I had found the right path, but with the caveat that all could not be revealed to me at that time.
• A relaxation/meditation guided by an external teacher may be more successful in leading one to unlock the doors to higher awareness; on your own, it can be harder for the ego to let go.

Your comment about "parallel lives" is insightful: this, and similar experiences are sometimes known as the "perennial religion" since they appear so frequently across all times and places.

Peace!

You have an interesting mind Liberation and many theories.

Rejoicing at the rare moment of freedom after surrending your ego sounds like a very plausable explanation to me :0) Perhaps Spirit was offering you a taste of what freedom from the egoic mind is like. It sounds like you are on the right path anyway.

Yoga means union: union between the illusionary self and the Divine Self. Although the good news is that we are ALREADY united. So yoga (and such things) can serve to help us realise our identity with our true divine self. Although, from what I observed, alot of yoga teachers just don't get the whole divine union thing!

I have a soft spot for Astanga, which used to be my favourite, until I found, the advanced Openhand practice, which in my humble opinion incorperates a much deeper spiritual practice and meditation (the full routine reminds me a little of astanga power yoga too).

Blessings and peace
Ana