Living in the Light: Yoga for Self-Realization

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Yoga merges the disparate parts of the self into one united state of awareness, allowing us to live fully in the light.” Pg. 91 Connecting spirituality with “the light” has a long tradition, which continues for the devout who want to live by the light of faith or in the light of God. But the term is vague and seems to have little relevance to modern secular life, the life that the vast majority of people lead. Royal Yoga is the highest and most important of the yoga traditions--an all-embrracing path to personal transformation that reaches beyond any approach to wellness and healing that exists today. Whatever you are doing to enhance your life, Royal Yoga can bring you more of everything you want; it brings every experience, no matter how small, into the light. By learning to live in the light, you deliberately and consciously accept your true self as a being of infinite possibilities, unfettered by worry or self-doubt.

Living in the Light is a yoga book that offers a unique and comprehensive program based on Dr. Deepak Chopra and Sarah Platt-Finger’s teachings of Royal Yoga. Divided into two parts, the first part is an overview on living consciously or “living in the light” spiritually, emotionally, and physically. Featuring a six week program (M-F) focusing on the eight limbs (ashtanga) of yoga, each day focuses on explaining the lessons of each limb in detail. There are daily lessons, mantras, and exercises designed to help one embody the principle or theme of the day into their daily yoga practice. Dr. Chopra uses his wisdom and wonderful teaching skills to make even the most challenging concept easy to understand and incorporate into a daily practice. I have experienced bliss. (Examples: a peak experience of a joyful, energetic body, a loving, compassionate heart, an alert vibrant mind, lightness of being.) Living in the light, that’s where we all want to dwell. No one does this better than Chopra. This is an amazing gem of a book that combines Deepak Chopra’s wisdom, teachings and roadmap on how to get there in thirty days. He explains the concept of Royal Yoga and the benefits of shifting your mind to living in the light. Actually, he explains we are all living in the light, just not all the time. There are six chapters, you work on each for five days and the weekend is spent reflecting. He breaks down each aspect of life and how your awareness can grow in each area. He then connects it to Yoga. This isn’t too out there and woo woo, but rather Chopra is practical and relates each idea clearly and logically.years of Hindu Raja Yoga, and this book breaks it down into steps that are really beautiful and seemingly easy. I read it like poetry, all the words are beautiful to me. Bliss, joy, energy, love, compassion, alert, vibrance, thrive, diversity, timelessness, evolving, gratitude, grace. In just one paragraph. Chopra’s medical training is in internal medicine and endocrinology. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and a member of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. Dr. Chopra serves as Co-Founder and Chairman of The Chopra Center for Wellbeing, Founder of The Chopra Well on YouTube, Adjunct Professor of Executive Programs at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School, Columbia University, Assistant Clinical Professor, in the Family and Preventive Medicine Department at the University of California, San Diego, Health Sciences, Faculty at Walt Disney Imagineering, and Senior Scientist with The Gallup Organization.

To use a traditional image from Yoga, imagine that the Absolute is sending arrows of light into the created world. Consider that the highest values in life, including love, compassion, creativity, empathy, beauty, truth, and spiritual inspiration, are what the arrows carry to our world. This is a good start for practicing contemplation. Sit quietly and let your mind go to an experience of one of those values just listed. Feel the lightness, vibrancy, joy, and fulfillment your experience contained. Let these subtle feelings expand and settle in your awareness. You are learning the truth of the Yogic saying “This isn’t knowledge you learn. This is knowledge you become.” The Gifts of Royal Yoga Existence becomes blissful. You experience a joyful, energetic body; a loving, compassionate heart; an alert, vibrant mind; and lightness of being. You control your mental activity. You can generate thoughts, feelings, and impulses that are evolutionary. You are the one who gives them meaning, and therefore the whole world as you perceive it has meaning. You see everyday life as a lucid dream, incredibly vivid but an illusion. You can improve the dream without getting trapped in it.

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Reach your highest potential and a deeper understanding of self with Deepak Chopra’s groundbreaking guide to the philosophy and practice of Yoga. Royal Yoga is the highest and most important of the yoga traditions–an all-embrracing path to personal transformation that reaches beyond any approach to wellness and healing that exists today. Whatever you are doing to enhance your life, Royal Yoga can bring you more of everything you want; it brings every experience, no matter how small, into the light. By learning to live in the light, you deliberately and consciously accept your true self as a being of infinite possibilities, unfettered by worry or self-doubt. In this groundbreaking new work, international bestselling author Deepak Chopra and his coauthor Sarah Platt-Finger, yoga director at Chopra Global and co-founder of ISHTA Yoga, offer an illuminating program for self-realization, bliss, and wholeness. Combining a practical thirty-day program that will help you break limiting habits and belief systems with an in-depth exploration of fifty stimulating and restorative yoga poses, Deepak and Sarah provide a thorough and inspiring way to unite the mind, body, and soul. With new insights on social and emotional intelligence, the power of attention, body awareness, breathing, wholeness, and transcendence, and with dozens of specially commissioned illustrations of yoga poses (accessible for all skill levels, from beginner to enthusiast), Living in the Light provides the ultimate guide to your exciting, bright, and enlightening future. Living in the Light: Yoga for Self-Realization by Deepak Chopra – eBook Details You recognize gratitude as the sanest response to existence. It is insanity to believe that existence is a problem. The second part begins with a high-level introduction to some yoga fundamentals. Then it dives into wonderfully specific detail on certain yoga poses including an overview,, how-to, benefits, therapeutic applications, and helpful tips. I’ve been practicing yoga for a while, and it took me some time to find a yoga style and teachers that resonated for me. I appreciate yoga instructors who explain the posture, the benefits, and the subtle micro movements to help you get the most out of the position. That’s exactly what the second half of the book does very skillfully. In the first half of this book, Deepak Chopra explains the eight limbs of Raja Yoga and presents a six-week program for conscious living and self-realization. Each week focuses on a different stage of transformation, presented as themes such as Social Intelligence and Emotional Intelligence. There are five lessons within each week, one for each weekday with weekends off for integration. Each lesson begins with an affirmation and discussion, followed by an exercise. Many lists are provided, making the material easy to understand and implement.

In place of trying to control other people and the events of the day, give them space to unfold the way they want to. Royal Yoga is unique in that it seeks to make everyday life ideal. There is infinite bliss available to your true self. Whenever you experience less bliss, no bliss, or actual pain and suffering, only one thing has changed, how close you are to the light. This concept defines the entire Yoga system, no matter how complex its traditions are in India. We can cut through the complexity by focusing on just one goal: living in the light. The first section by Deepak sets out mental and emotional exercises to do for about 6 weeks looking at yourself, your life and in particuar your thoughts about who you are, your body and your mental limitations. The exercsies focus on the other non pose asepcts of yoga.

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Be aware of your impulse to judge, criticize, and get offended. Don’t indulge in the impulse whenever possible. I did some of the exercises, and I can see how this is powerful stuff. The poses ranged from easy to hard, and I will continue to sample one. I am a sampler, less an acolyte. Of nearly everything. Except love, I am an acolyte of love. Joy becomes the only measure of success because your essential nature is joy. It is the beginning and endpoint of every journey. You understand what it means to thrive. You savor the diversity of life, which brings richness to your unfolding story. You recognize that the point of arrival is always now. You can’t move to where you are already standing—this is the experience of timelessness. In this revelatory book, international bestselling author Deepak Chopra offers a simple eight-week programme covering the eight stages of transformation in yoga including transcendence, wholeness and breath. Featuring 50 poses in delicate line illustrations, created by Chopra and his long-time instructor Sarah Platt-Finger, Living in the Light will guide beginners and enthusiasts alike in nurturing a state of total awareness and a deeper understanding of self. Read more Look Inside Details

No matter what you happen to be doing or thinking, you are floating at some level of samadhi, present awareness. This isn’t something people are normally aware of, but you can experience your level of awareness with the following exercise. Make a list of three things you like, three things you like a lot, and three things you deeply love. Perhaps a TV sitcom or a peanut butter cookie is something you like, while going to the beach or playing chess is something you like a lot, and your child or the music of Bach is something you deeply love. Whatever you wrote down, you went to a different level of awareness to make your choices. You can verify this by taking each item of your list, shutting your eyes, and experiencing it inside as an image or feeling. The intensity of something you casually like will be shallow compared to the intensity of something you deeply love.You see everyday life as a lucid dream, incredibly vivid but an illusion. You can improve the dream without getting trapped in it. Joy becomes the only measure of success because your essential nature is joy. It is the beginning and endpoint of every journey. This book which is called, "Living in the Light: Yoga for Self Realization written by Deepak Chopra, MD, and Sarah Platt-Finger is filled with outstanding and enlightening information. It is way too much valuable comprehensive information to include everything in a review about a non-fiction book. Just as the Title indicates its core message is for those interested in "living in the light," it takes a deep dive into practical ways in which the practice of instructions embedded into both the First Part narrative, and in the Second Part Yoga illustrations, and the explanations as to how they are effective. In the Second Part, of this wonderful book, I believe, is where his Co-Author, Sarah Platt-Finger gives illustrations of Yoga Poses, followed by a written Overview of each yoga pose. Next is a written step-by-step How-to: with written sequential directions on how to do each yoga pose physically. Next, comes a written explanation of the Benefits of each yoga pose. Next, the Therapeutic applications of the yoga pose are described. Lastly, there is an explanation of Helpful Tips to each yoga pose.