Lone fighter or herd?
Unique or herd animal – Lone fighter or team player – Black sheep or is it the flock?
Mimamsa in Sanskrit means among other things “discussion” or “reflection”. Here are some thoughts that came up when I filmed some sheep and going trough challenging times.
You can change and control your genes! Yes you can.
Our feelings and our consciousness also control our genes. So we often see ourselves as the victims of our genes and cannot believe that we can control them. How is that possible?
Bruce Lipton is a cell biologist and founder of epigenetics. He has studied cells in detail for decades and his years of research have astonishing results. Our cells respond to signals. Genes do not control themselves, they are just the blueprints for our proteins. They are like filing cabinets containing blueprints. The cells respond to signals they receive from the environment and thereby control their behaviour.
So what does the environment of a cell include?
Our body is a community of 50 trillion cells, all of which are interconnected. Every single cell consists of a cell membrane, the proteins and the DNA, i.e. our genes. The cell membrane has switches that respond to signals. Genes change according to the signals they receive. This can happen within 8 hours. The environment of a cell includes our nutrition, blood chemistry, but also our thoughts and feelings – in other words our consciousness. Through our thoughts, beliefs and feelings and through our language and our inner images, our hormones and thus also our cells are controlled.
Our experiences and beliefs therefore also control our biology. If our cells have a good environment with positive signals, they react with growth. Under stress they take on a protective function and growth is stopped.
Cut – I take a deep breath and swing back to yoga basics
On the one hand Yoga stands for “Unity, Harmony, Being Whole”, in Indian philosophy Yoga refers to the Yoga system of Patanjali, respectively to what was collected by him and written down in the Yoga Sutras around 600 B.C. – 200 A.D. A core statement from Patanjali’s collected work is: “Yogas chitta vritti nirodhah” = “Yoga is the resting of thoughts in the mind”. “Tada drashtuh svarupe vasthanam” = “Then the perceiver rests in his true being”. There are some different Indian philosophical systems. One of them is Samkhya.
Samkhya means “classification”, “enumeration”. Samkhya philosophy has an atheistic starting point because God is not mentioned. Instead of God it is about the concept of Purusha and Prakriti. Purusha is the pure consciousness or soul. Prakriti is the primordial nature, which consists of the three Gunas (the basic qualities of nature: sattva (clarity, goodness, harmony), rajas (restlessness, movement, energy) and tamas (inertia, darkness, chaos)) in their unmanifested state. Originally it is in balance. The concept of Purusha and Prakriti implies a dualistic worldview, since Purusha and Prakriti have been separate from the beginning and remain separate.
This philosophy provides a theory about the origin of the world: Purusha has the desire to experience the world. Then the prakriti moves and first manifests as Spandana, the Cosmic Primordial Vibration. This goes further and further into the world and becomes a manifestation. Sattva corresponds to the causal world, rajas, the astral world and tamas to the physical world. They are subject to parinama, constant change. Purusha manifests in countless chittas, individual souls or minds through which he sees and experiences the world.
There are three distinctions in Samkhya philosophy.
Number One: Not only discrimination, detachment and observation lead to liberation. Instead, there are a variety of techniques and methods in yoga. Everything that serves the purpose of calming the mind and returning to the “true essence”, to come to the knowledge of the Self, is yoga. So there is a broad practice of practice, and the constant effort to practice, the latter is also called Abhyasa.
Two: There is the concept of Ishwara, a personal god. He is to be regarded as a special manifestation of Purusha, free from attachments, karma kleshas (suffering), ignorance and desires.
Three: There is only one consciousness, a Purusha, which manifests in all beings.
And with three, I resonate very strongly deep within myself. When the ONE consciousness is manifested in all of us, we all have a constant natural desire to change between being unique and wanting to belong to the group. This reflects two basic needs. To be loved and to stand out from the crowd (being unique, seen and so on.) How do I get attention if I am no different? I tell you YOU ARE UNIQUE. Your 50 trillion cells are unique in this combination. WOW. Magical.
Here are a few more facts:
The groups in which we move are often very differently structured and no group can replace another. There are many research approaches from a sociological point of view. One thing is certain . We need groups to learn and to fulfil our roles. And we have two different needs self expression/ authenticity and belonging. When they are in conflict belonging wins. That´s the reclamation of the self.
How does your cells feel right now?
How can you create a field around you that supports your healing and recovery?
In order to go into depth, it is precisely about having a good field around you, to be safe in good groups. To supply our cells with positive signals to maintain our growth and health. I want to make you aware of how deep your chosen environment can affect you.
And Yoga strengthens your Svata, in Sanskrit it means belonging to the Self; ownership and possession.Because only if you strengthen yourself you can be a good contribution in your groups which in turn strengthen and support you.
Feed your cells and thus your field where you can grow, prosper and heal with good thoughts.
Your body listens to everything your mind says. Create a mindset your cells will love you for.
“A genuine smile distributes the cosmic current, Prana to every body cell. The happy man is less subject to disease, for happiness actually attracts into the body a greater supply of the Universal life energy. “ -Paramahansa Yogananda
Om Om Om – ALL IS ONE
Love, Ulli
