The Time When Yoga Made Me Stupid

In order to fulfill your life purpose, you’re going to have to do something in addition to developing the power to intend, imagine, organize, and embody your goal.

I see manifesting as two parts: being and doing. 

I’ve discussed part one, the embodiment of the four levels of mind. Part two is the horizontal plain where you take your desire out into the wild world and do all the work required to get what you want like validation, money, sex, and/or a meaningful work life. 

Unlike embodiment, the horizontal path is relational. It’s about you and the world around you. I use animal movements for this, too. Animal movements, Tai Chi, and all internal Martial Arts from China, are very different than something like Yoga. 

Animal movements are not poses. Movement is about your intelligence and how you use your energy in relationship to others. You cannot succeed at anything in life if you can’t relate, listen and adapt and even sometimes fight for what you want. 

I remember taking a two year break from the Tai Chi world in 2009 during which I did a lot of Yoga. I was quite proud of how buff I was and how much strength and stamina I had gained doing it. 

I went to see my tai chi teacher and, as I was walking up to his gate from 50 feet away he yelled out “What happened to you? You became stupid!”

I was???!!! We started to talk and he said, “Where is your intelligence?” “You lost it.” He explained, “Yes, you have strength but it’s not smart strength, it’s just muscle and tone.”

How did he see this? I was so confused. That was the end of yoga for me.

The first step to manifesting is grounding, which is the alignment from spirit to earth. That’s the process that involves the four levels of mind. You need this if what you seek is going to happen. Without it, you can manifest, but it likely won’t be satisfying or correct. You will likely end up in the “wrong life” as many people I know secretly feel. 

Step two is being centered. This means you have a center, something that the Chinese call the Dantien. From there, you take it horizontally out toward the thing you seek. 

This is where you need an active moving intelligence to navigate relationships and the world around you. This is the part of the process that involves what I call the “four regions of self.” We’ll discuss each of those at some point in the future so you can see exactly how this works.

For now, we’ll keep things very simple:

The key is to develop your center and then stay in it as you develop more centers beyond your perimeter. 

This is what I mean by being grounded and centered. These are not just concepts, these are literally in your body and something everyone can learn as an active living principle.