Art of living day 1

Day 1 - Art of Living - Part One Course Ground rules: No caffeine, no alcohol, no sweets, no pastries. No meat for the course. I belong to you. Must listen: 3 types of listening- intellectual is a no no, emotional listening is also a no no, prayerful listening is intellectual and emotional and that is a yes. 'How are you' questioning is no good.  Questioning just for attention is no good. A good question is one that you really need an answer for; pertinent to your life. 3 questions he asks students: 1. What do you want in life?  2. What are the things that bother you?  3. What do you expect to gain from this course?  Our expectations reduce our happiness in life. Joy in life. Expectations fulfilled or unfulfilled both reduce joy in life.  Surprises bring more joy. Life is in the present. Live in the present is the art of living. 7 layers of existense:  Body Breath Mind (for perception) Intellect Memory Ego Consciousness Stress causes a breakdown of these layers. We all need life energy (prana). How to get energy? High energy is good for you. Low energy is bad for you. Pain is the absence of energy. Negative emotions comes in low energy 4 sources of energy: A. Food. ( will feel tired, negative). Not eating or over eating. Take only 1 plate.  3 qualities of food.  1. Tamsic food. Old and stale, leftovers. Once cooked but must eated within 4-6 hours.  For salad, its 1 hr. For fruits, once discolouration comes then prana is going. 2. Rajsic food. Oily and spicy food, bombards the mind with thoughts. Hyperactivates the mind. So not to eat at night. Will wake up lethargic in morning.  3. Satvic food. Non oily, non spicy, non stale. Wheat, fruits, salad, fresh. Peas, beans.  Gee (liquid butter) little, helps digestive process by 20%. Breakfast must be satvic food. Lunch you can have a little rajsic food. Dinner you can do tamsic food, as you gonna sleep.  Potato, tomato neutral energy. Mushroom, eggplant depletes energy. Pumpkin-mother of all vegetables, when it comes to energy. All green vegetables are high energy. Close mouth when eating. Air meets food and energy lost.  Dont drink water with food. Drink 30mins before and 30mins after. Never eat fruits after a meal. Room temp food. Not hot or cold. Not rice or wheat. Body cant digest. Ensymes are confused. Cant produce for so much different food groups.  Non veg food. One piece of meat takes 72 hours to digest. 135 diseases comes thru meat. Non thru green vegetables. B. Sleep. Not enough or too much sleep, both makes you deplete energy. 6-8 hrs is enough. C. Peace of mind. More you think the more you lose prana. 20mins of thinking is 6 hrs of physically labour.  Settle the mind. Meditation helps to settle the mind.  D. Breath. 1st act of life is breath. Last act of life is breath. We live between 1st and last breath. We need to skillfully control the breath to control the mind. Mind is like a kits, breath is like the string for the kite. Breath controls the mind. Every state of mind has a corresponding pattern of breath.  We breathe only 30 percent of our lung capacity. Breath releases the toxins from the body.  Ujjayi breath: breathing from throat.  Prana yama (direction):  palms on hips, palms on armpits, pats on shoulder blads over head. Breathe for 4, hold for 4, out for 6" hold for 2 seconds. Bhastrika breathing: hands up/ down.  Indtamd energy instead of coffee/tea Removes unused air. No ujjayi breath for this one. Hands fist forward by side. Forcefull in out breath in and hands up palm out. Breath out and hands back down fist closed. ( Bhastrika) Meditation is the art of doing nothing; deconcentration; effortlessness. I do nothing, I want nothing, I am nothing.  No attention, no appreciation, no praise, nothing.  Meditation is when all your voluntary actions stop. Homework: 1. What do you need to be happy? 2. When will you be happy?