MIND THE MIND

WHAT IS THE MIND ?

- An Interactive Workshop on the cool aspects of the mind

with Mike Bloch-Levermore  and Ulrica Norberg

Do you wish to look into how the yogic philosophy view the mind. Here is a perfect opportunity to explore your own mind with lighthearted and entertaining experiences of different types of mental movements, and meditations to quiet them and abide in a witness state. The workshop includes a 20-page comprehensive illustrated manual.

DATUM:  2 September, 2022

KURSPLATS: Stockholm samt Livestream online 

TIDER: Fredag 9-17

KOSTNAD: 1100 sek. EARLY BIRD 950 kr if you register before August 20, 2022. 

KURSLÄRARE: Mike Bloch-Levermore and Ulrica Norberg

FÖRKUNSKAP: For everyone

OUTLINE OF CONTENT: 

THE FIVE MOVEMENTS OF THE MIND Experience what each type of mental movement listed in the Yoga Sutras feels like. Through this recognition, check in with yourself in daily life to see which mental movement you’ve been caught up in, and attempt to move back towards the advantageously detached witnessing state.

MEDITATION TO DISCOVER THE WITNESS After becoming familiar with the varying sensations of the mind’s movements, the workshop continues with a meditation designed to quiet the movements and enter into a witnessing state - along the lines that the Yoga Sutras (and many other classical texts) suggest.​We include how the Yoga Sutras and Bhagavad Gītā both suggest that continued practice (abhyasa) is necessary to become established in this state of detachment (vairagya).

MĀYĀ AND PHENOMONOLOGY We explore the theme of māyā, with thoughts from Alan Watts, Advaita Vedānta, and the classical Tantrik view of the Śiva Sutras.With the premise established that all experiences might be māyā, a misperception, we look at how your body is represented by your mind.Students draw a visual representation of their body illustrating how they are currently experiencing themselves.

ONENESS From the viewpoint of the Tantrik Śiva  Sutras, the mind, body and the world around us are all one thing. We discuss how external objects can sometimes feel like extensions of ourselves:Experience a phantom limb, and recognise how we can quickly assimilate a foreign object into seeming to be a part of us. Can this be applied to other things, people and places to reach a greater feeling of oneness with the world?

TRATAK Work on drawing geometric shapes while attempting to circumvent your mind’s movements.  Includes a traditional tratak meditation on a black dot, meant as a means to purify the mind through practice of concentration.

MANAS, AHAṂKĀRA AND BUDDHI Get acquainted with these three aspects of your mind from the tattva system. Students are guided to experience how each mental part shapes their decisions. We look at ways to expand these parts of the mind for greater freedom of choice.

THE FOUR STATES OF AWARENESS Drawing from the Śiva Sutras, we look at an alternative Tantrik perspective of how the Witness perceives the mind in three typical states. The text suggests entering a fourth state, turya - a meta state of simply being and witnessing our existence. This state can be entered by searching for the gap (madhya) between each movement of our minds.  Includes meditations and readings from the Śiva Sutras