Yoga Beyond Belief: Insights to Awaken and Deepen Your Practice

the core. So it is not only poetic to say we are the stars, we are the rivers, we are the sun, we are the earth. We have the opportunity to see and live in this harmonious perception. Seeing this
is
meditation, and not just
a
meditation. We need not sit in our rooms and mentally repeat “Tat Twam Asi. I am the earth. I am the stars. I am the trees.” That is only thought and thinking. We can see this circle of life, this living organism of which we are a part, through communion with nature. We learn the nature of balance by going into the balance of nature.
    The wonderful book
Siddhartha
, by Herman Hesse, 6 illustrates the power of nature to heal and enlighten. Siddhartha spends his life in search of spirituality and self-knowledge. He becomes a mendicant wanderer, studies with every manner of teacher, does extreme ascetic practices, fasts till near death, and becomes a yogi. Finally, he quits the ascetic life and becomes a wealthy businessman. In his old age he goes to live with a boatman with whom he crossed a river many times. In the end he finds self-realization and enlightenment by giving up the search, communing with the river of life, and watching the river flow.
    We spend most of our time living in worlds of our own thought and creation—cities, houses, cars, ideas, conversations, thinking are all our own creations. But nature is not our creation—it
is
creation. When in nature, we are in creation itself. Even a short time by rivers or trees, or spending time in a park, or sitting in the light of the moon, leaves one more whole and recharged. The wind is our breath, the water our circulation, the mountains and stones our bones, and the plants our skin. We can often learn more from a tree, the wind, or the sea than from authorities or volumes on meditation. The earth is an organism. Every plant, person, animal, and river is part of the balance. We are not here to renounce the earth but to learn from it and take care of it. And we must remember, in all of our arrogance about taking care of the earth, that actually it is the earth that is taking care of us. The only compassionate,intelligent, and loving response is to do the same in turn. This is the vision we need to operate from. When more of us have this understanding, we will stop destroying our home.
    Another of the great lessons we can learn from nature is that change, growth, and evolution occur through errors and mistakes. When we are not afraid of error, we are more open to growth and our past mistakes transform into the stepping stones of future success and deeper understanding.
    The inward journey seeks the god,
within;
the outward journey finds god and goddess,
without
. Divinity exists in the outer world; it is all around us. Divine energy flows in the ever blossoming, eternal present of nature. Every corner of nature emanates that sacredness we seek in our rituals, beliefs, and practices. Nature’s teaching is immediate, ever present, and infinite. We are totally immersed in the infinity of nature, the nature of the earth, and of the cosmos. It is beginningless and endless. The one and the many, unity and diversity, reflect and create each other in the same way matter and energy are one and the same. Entering into deep communion and connection with nature, which is not of human creation but
is
creation, is one of the integral parts of whole living, meditation, and spirituality.
Soma, Nectar of the Gods
    No exploration into yoga and meditation would be complete without a look at the ancient lineage of sacred plants and herbs that, many assert, are at the origins of religious experience and spirituality. We live in a time of drug hysteria that calls for a more intelligent understanding that doesn’t lump every psychoactive substance, plant, or herb into the category of dark and dangerous.
Soma
was an ancient brew or drink prepared by sages and yogis that was said to bestow health, strength, insight, spiritual visionary experience, and communion with divinity. This sacred drink, also called
amrita
or nectar of the gods, opened the mind, heart, and inner landscape while purifying andhealing the body. The word
amrita
means nectar. It comes from the word
mrita
, which means death, and the addition of the
a-
to make
a-mrita
, which thus means nondeath or immortality. Soma use dates back to the ancient time of the Vedas and origins of yoga.
    Researchers have suggested that soma was made from psychoactive mushrooms or possibly from a combination of