SELF STUDY

Monthly Focus ~ Joy to the Soul! Relax into the Beingness.

There’s that Christmas song, “Joy to the World”. I heard that tune come present inside of me, but instead of “Joy to the World,” it was, “Joy to the Soul! Joy to the Soul.” And I knew it’s because in me letting go, that I allowed the space for the joy to come present to the soul, by being present in the soul, by simply holding my attention inwards to that place of Being, which is the Soul that we are.

Full Excerpt ~ Brian Yeakey

“I’m just going to be.” So, I settled in. I relaxed into the Beingness. As I did, I noticed that struggle melt away. It really truly just relaxed because I was no longer doing anything, coming still, peace be still.

So, I came into the stillness even with that weight in my consciousness, and I just sat there in a state of observation, just being, and just observing. I was still paying attention: watching, listening, feeling, just knowing, just being in that, but doing nothing. 

As I moved into that relaxation, all of a sudden, here comes the purple light. I feel the lightness of Spirit show up. There’s the purple light, and I feel that Loving. To me it’s like a buoyancy, like I’m floating, and there’s a lightness when I experience Spirit in that way. 

So here it is. I started feeling, experiencing, seeing that inner light and then the Beingness. But at the same time, that weight was still right there. It didn’t go anywhere; it stayed around. But I realize when I give up the struggle and let go of the push, the pull of trying to make anything happen, and just be, is when, all of a sudden, it just unfolds. In the Beingness it just is.

And in that “Is-ness” is where we begin to truly wake up and come to know, not only the Spirit, but even all those karmas or lessons or weights of the world that may be within our consciousness, just in that state of Beingness. 

So, I just sat there for a while in the Beingness and with that weight right there saying, “Okay, well, both of them are present, so let me just be here.” And as I was, of course the mind will do its little thoughts or thinking here and there. And then still feeling a little bit of the tiredness, but at the same time the lightness, inside of me, the more I just held in the Beingness, everything became more and more okay. The more okay it became, I noticed, the easier it got inside of me, the more I relaxed.

And that’s where I have found, in the past, when I can get to that place where things will begin to change, and so I said, “Okay.” But then knowing from the past, I’m thinking, “Okay, I’m waiting for the change.” Well, guess what? Then something starts again, and I’m getting distracted now looking for the change. “When is it going to shift? What’s going to happen? Is the weight going to go away or is something going to come in? What’s going to happen?” Nothing; just my mind was busy then. 

So I said, “All right, I know the game of the mind, once again it’s at work.” So I said, “All right, just relax. Go back to that state of Being. Just hold. Look in and up. Watch.” I’m talking to myself inside here, chanting the Hu, the Ani Hu, the Names of Initiation, just sharing, being in that Loving, present in that, and holding that inner focus on that Light of God. It was then, I decided to go ahead and let everything just be, let go of the thoughts once again, and come to that Beingness. 

And so, I was sitting in that Beingness, and then all of a sudden, just like that, sure enough the shift comes. Something moved, and all of a sudden, in comes this wave of joy; just this joy! I actually started smiling and laughing inside. And there’s that Christmas song, “Joy to the World”. I heard that tune come present inside of me, but instead of “Joy to the World,” it was, “Joy to the Soul! Joy to the Soul.” And I knew it’s because in me letting go, that I allowed the space for the joy to come present to the soul, by being present in the soul, by simply holding my attention inwards to that place of Being, which is the Soul that we are.

And then that’s all we have to do. There’s nothing truly more to do. Nothing. Doing nothing leads you to that state of Being inside. We let everything just be. Let everything be; let yourself be and let all things present just be, because in that state, there is no resistance or struggle, push or pull, which is the realm of duality and polarity, the magnetic pulling together and repulsing, pushing apart. 

When we come to that place of stillness and Beingness, we in a sense drop away from the land of polarity and come to the place of Being in the Soul, which is neutral. Neutrality – there’s no magnetic charge, no push, no pull, no struggle, no resistance. That’s a big one there; no resistance, no struggle. 

But are we patient enough? That’s the big one I find; is allowing ourselves to be patient, to stay focused, and to hold ourselves present in that Beingness over time. Over time – not just a minute or two, but to stay present for a minute, another minute, a moment, another moment, as long as we can. That’s what we’re doing in meditation. 

Meditation is holding ourselves present in that state of Being as long as we can. Why do you think we recommend ten percent of the day for meditation, or two and a half hours? We know if you give yourself that longer period of time, you’re going to be more apt to spend more time in that state of Beingness, because all this other stuff goes on, too. 

In this half an hour or so that we meditated today, I maybe got a few minutes in there where it was really that stillness and the Beingness, because of all these other things that we do inside of ourselves. It’s good to be aware of all those things we do. But then also, in meditation, to hold clear our intention or our purpose of why we are meditating, what it is that we are seeking to experience, to find, to achieve, or to have. And of course, the meditation practice we teach is to wake up and know ourselves as One with God, to know that greater Oneness, that truth, that we are One with the Creator. But in this realm of time and space, we need to give ourselves the space and the time in order to wake up to that Beingness. 

So, as we allow ourselves to hold in that place of Beingness, of neutrality, of nothing, doing nothing, making nothing happen, not looking for anything other than holding present on Spirit. Did you hear what I just said? Not even looking! Because even before, I was even looking for Spirit, I was trying to do something. It’s that doing that we push inside of ourselves that gets in the way of simply being present and allowing the Spirit inside of us to open up, to wake up.

Monthly Focus “going Home work” ~

1. 1. Do two and a half hours of daily meditation.
   2. Listen to the guided meditation by Brian Yeakey from The State of Being
   3. Listen to the talk by Brian Yeakey titled The State of Being, 
   4. Exercises and Journaling focus for this month ~
      • Spend some time this holiday season giving yourself the gift of experiencing Joy To The Soul!
      • Before you meditate, write out your intention for your meditation: What is your clear intention or purpose for meditating? What is it that you are seeking to experience, to find, to achieve, or to have?
      • Let go of the thoughts, and let everything just be; let yourself be and let all things present just be.
      • Simply hold your attention inwards to that place of Being, that is the Soul.
      • Relax into the Beingness and experience Joy to the Soul!

• Reflect on and contemplate on the following… 

• • • So, as we allow ourselves to hold in that place of Beingness, of neutrality, of nothing, doing nothing, making nothing happen, not looking for anything other than holding present on Spirit. Did you hear what I just said? Not even looking! Because even before, I was even looking for Spirit, I was trying to do something. It’s that doing that we push inside of ourselves that gets in the way of simply being present and allowing the Spirit inside of us to open up, to wake up.