" Yoga : Breaking the Cycle" ~ Sadhguru

Sadhguru on Transforming Oneself from a Person to a Presence.

Sadhguru: Of all the things in the world, of all the things that a human being can do, why yoga? Everything that human beings can do is essentially an expression of who they are. Yoga is diametrically opposite to this because it is not an expression of who you are – it is about determining as to who you are and what you want to be; it is about changing the very fundamentals of your existence. Today there is substantial scientific evidence that the very fundamentals of the activity of your brain, your chemistry, and even your genetic content can be changed by practicing different systems of yoga. This needed no confirmation because we have always witnessed this. 

Yoga needs much more involvement than any other things that you do, which are merely an expression of who you are. If you find full expression through any particular activity, it may also leave you somewhat transformed. If you cook with all your heart, some transformation may happen. Taking care of a cow can change your life. If you sing with all your heart, some transformation may happen. If you dance with all your heart, some transformation may happen. Absolute involvement in a particular activity has a certain impact, but it does not determine the nature of who you are. 

Yoga is not an expression, it is a method, it is a means, it is a technology through which you can change the shape of who you are – literally and otherwise. Who you are right now is a combination of things. The karmic substance that you carry – because of that you chose a certain womb – the genetic material, and whatever kind of impressions have gone into you since the moment you were born – experiences, situations, thoughts, emotions, relationships, associations, and whatever else – all these things make you a certain kind of person.

This is a very western thing but it is very much there in India today too because a lot of Indians are far more western than westerners. People say, “I’m a morning person. I’m an evening person.” What they mean is, “I cannot stay awake in the evening, so I’m a morning person.” Or, “I cannot wake up in the morning; that means I am an evening person.” Not only that, it is going so far that some are BlackBerry people, some are Apple people. These are not just instruments that you use – you get identified with them. The world is getting divided in so many ways. There are chapatti people, there are rice people, there are dosa people, there are idli people – there are all kinds. What kind you are is essentially a certain type of compulsion.

You put yourself into the process of yoga because you do not want to be this kind or that kind – you want to be the kind that you are required to be in a particular moment. If it is morning, you are a morning person. If it is evening, you are an evening person. If you are not required to be a person, you are not a person. You become flexible. We work on this flexibility with your body to start with; afterwards, it should come to every aspect of your life. Your physical structure, your psychological structure, your emotional structure, your karmic structure – everything should become flexible, so that it can be whatever it is required to be; so that it is not stuck with being this way or that way.


Yoga as a process, as a method, as a technology, as a science is essentially about breaking the limitations of this concretization that we call personality to evolve from being a person to a presence. If you are a person, this means you formed a shell – you can operate only within that shell. If you break the shell, you will no more be a person but simply a presence – as life is, as God is – just a presence. If it is encased in a shell, it is a person. Yoga means, slowly you are working on making this shell thinner and thinner, more and more porous, so that one day, you can exist without a shell.

All aspects of physicality are cyclical. Planets are going around the sun, the solar systems are moving – everything in the cosmos is cyclical. The more identified you are with your physical system, the more cyclical you are too. Your experiences are cyclical; the process of life is cyclical. If you watch carefully enough, even the situations that you face in your life come in cycles. Yoga means on one level to break the cycle of life. Because if you are going in circles, it just gives you the impression that you are going somewhere, but you are not really going anywhere; you are going through the same thing again and again.

Yoga means to open up the circle and stretch it out like a straight line so that if you follow the line, you go somewhere; you are not going round and round. Do not experiment with this now, but let’s say you have been doing sadhana for two, three, or five years and then you stop it for three months, you will see so many compulsions that were long time gone suddenly become a part of you again. These compulsions will come back if you break the sadhana because nature is not going to release you so easily. You have to keep working at it; otherwise you must be happy doing the circle. If you become conscious and you can see the whole circle of your life, it looks like a circus, and definitely you do not want it to continue forever; you want to do something about it.

These repetitive cycles of compulsiveness come from various types of memories in the system. There is a huge volume of memory – karmic memory, genetic memory, mental memory, and psychological memory – every kind. If this memory was not there, your body would not even take a form. Your body knows that it has to take this form. Memory always means that which is past. If the memory that you carry or is the only thing that determines the nature of who you are right now, that means you are past, or life is past you. There is no real life; it is just a play of memory.

If you watch a movie in the cinema, it is so big and so real, more real than the real; it becomes a bigger reality than the actual reality because it is so exaggerated. But all this is just memory being played out. Whether it is recorded in a film or in a digital format or whichever way, it is just memory; it is already over. Even your thoughts, your emotions, your compulsions, what you like, what you don’t like, whom you love, whom you don’t love – whatever is in your mind is all memory; it is already past. Yesterday you loved somebody – with that memory, you live today. Yesterday you disliked somebody – with that memory, you live today. So you are trying to live that which is over. If you try to live that which is over, that which is will bypass you.

Yoga means to liberate yourself from the information that determines who you are right now. The information that determines the color of your skin, the information that determines the shape of your body should not determine how you think, feel, and experience your life – but unfortunately, it does. If this information does not determine anymore how you are right now, then you are moving into yoga. The daily sadhana is just to slowly, gradually create a distance from that information – you don’t have to lose it. People say, “I want to forget.” If you forget, you will do the same stupid things all over again. Never ever forget. The more unpleasant your life has been, the more you should never forget.

This is not about forgetfulness but about being able to carry. Today you have memory sticks. If it is all the time plugged in and all of it is playing, you will go crazy. If you carry it in your pocket and when you want, you stick it into your computer, then there is no problem. The memory is still there but not compulsively working through you. Once you have this freedom that if you want, you can activate the memory; otherwise, you can keep it aside – then memory is not a problem. But right now, memory is a problem because it is playing up all the time.

 Yesterday’s love, yesterday’s dislike – everything has determined who you are today. It will not allow you to experience what is today; it will not allow you any possibility of life; you will be like a broken record, just going on with the same thing. “I dislike this person. I dislike this person. I dislike this person.” Yesterday, he did something and you disliked him – there is no need to dislike him today. But the memory is playing up. Whether you like him or dislike him, both ways it is an old record playing, which will not allow you any perception. Unless you begin to perceive life in larger and larger doses, there is really no experience of life, just the mind playing the same record over and over again.

Yoga means breaking this cycle. Nature will not release you from it just like that; it needs a certain amount of work. If you want to be released just like that, you have to release yourself from the body itself. The foundation of information that we carry has constructed this body the way it is. To stay in the body, which is the way it is only because of its memory, and not to be a part of that memory; to live in it and not to be of it, will not come easy. I am not saying it is difficult, but it needs to be worked at.

The sadhana is just about this. However simple the sadhana is, if it is worked at every day, slowly you can see a certain level of freedom happening within you. It will slowly release you. If you want to go rapidly, there is a lot more to do. If you don’t mind going slowly, there is something to do.

So tomorrow morning – sadhana.

The above is an excerpt from a darshan with Sadhguru at the Isha Yoga Center, Velliangiri Foothills, India, on 30 October 2012. 

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Office of Google Venice, California - Very Sleek Interiors

Google of course boasts some of the most innovative, tech-savvy spaces in today’s office designs, but the laid-back California style of their Venice location has us swooning. Google’s Venice, California office is a great example of well executed design by HLW Design.

Located in the Los Angeles beach town, Google’s office is one that promotes a whole lot of physical activity, collaboration and social events. A large projection screen in a massive faux-grass lined courtyard is the perfect place to view just about anything on those warm Summer nights. Top it off with a mid-century modern vibe, concrete accents and some pop-art– and you’ve got a sophisticated Venice Beach space.

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Ways to make your home feel bigger - Part 1

A house cannot be made any larger without some serious demolition work. In order to expand a floor plan, one would normally need to knock down walls, extend the roof line and rebuild all over again. This original plan might become more complicated along the way as it is undertaken and as new discoveries are made. It is quite a hassle taking on large home improvement plans because of the costs and the inconvenience involved.

One of the reasons why a home looks smaller is the amount and style of furniture that is inside it. If there is too much furniture in a room or if the furniture is too big for a room, it makes the room look smaller. This is the main problem if people are moving from a bigger house to a smaller one and do not want to get rid of any furniture.

Colours also play an important role in any home. Light colours are always better than dark colours in a small house. One should paint the walls in light colours and also keep the décor light so that the rooms feel more open. Light and earthly tones are much more pleasing to the eyes and bring about a major difference in a house which was previously painted in dark colours. Also, one should avoid hanging large picture frames in a room which has a lower ceiling as this tends to make the height of the ceiling more noticeable.

The doors in the house are an important criteria as well. An entry door made out of glass or a French door is a much better option to have. Exterior doors made of glass let more light in and this helps in making the interiors feel bigger. Also, using a French door in a room will help in making it and the adjacent room feel bigger when the door is closed. One could even consider swapping out a single door for a double door wherever possible.

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Contemporary Interiors : Premier Penthouse in Montreal

This 3,300 square foot residence was once two units turned to one– designed by René Desjardins as a contemporary, yet cozy feeling space all overlooking the Canadian city.

Though the views reign supreme, the wood elements, stunning tile and subsequent flooring all tie in the luxurious feelings this home exudes. One of the highlights of this space has to be the mosaic tile installations in the master bathroom, with gold floral patterns and a whole lot of glass. The entire project is a classic space that really breathes elegance and a keen eye for style.

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Residence at 90A Geneva Drive, Cape Town, SA.

A new 700m² five bed roomed en-suite triple storey residence set on a panhandle site on the slopes of Table Mountain facing the sea in Camps Bay at Cape Town South Africa  This crisply contemporary home was built on a newly subdivided site which had severe restrictions from neighboring properties constraining the design and fixing overall heights, setbacks etc.

With this site enjoying incredible natural beauty and views and the south elevation facing onto a public open space adjacent it became clear that the house needed to respond by being as “openable” as possible and facilitate a feeling of indoor-outdoor flow.

A conscious decision was made to elevate the living level to the highest level possible thereby raising it above the existing house in front so as to provide this zone with the best views including spectacular vista’s of Camps Bay beach. Below this is set the main sleeping level comprising four bedrooms en-suite and a family sitting area. At the lowest level (accessed by the panhandle driveway) is the entrance hall, a four car garage as well as a spacious guest suite and staff quarters.

An elevator provides easy vertical access up to the living area. The staircase starts off as a solid element and becomes a linear floating stair which spatially unites all three levels in an easily accessible manner. 

The sense of spaciousness and flow is heightened by the generous volume of the living area with its 3,5 metre high ceilings utilizing stacking full height glazed doors which are fully openable and provide a seamless flow from indoors to outdoors. The feature lap pool enables one to swim towards the horizon and creates a ‘prow’ and distinctive edge to the otherwise crisply cubic and simple forms expressed here.

Strict conditions imposed by the neighbour to the north side meant that this façade had to be largely blank and where glazing has permitted it was required to be doubled glazed and screened.

Finishes are drawn from a natural palette including raw oiled oak floors and joinery, natural granite tiles and white Volakas marble slabs.

The contrast of natural textured materials is offset by the use of machined finished in selected area creating a contrast in the design which adds interest to the simple lines and spaces created.

Care has bee taken to use locally available materials and the sandstone found on site was used in the construction of the gabion retaining walls. Energy saving measures such as solar heating and LED lighting were introduced to minimize the carbon footprint. Deep overhangs and screens protect the house from solar intrusion and enable the use of mechanical cooling system to be minimized.

Lead Architects:

Kotlowitz Marais Architects 

Cape Town 

South Africa 

PLANS AND ELEVATIONS:

Garage Plan

First Floor Plan

Second Floor Plan

Roof Floor Plan

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"Vedic Village" at Shikharpur, Kolkatta by Rajeev Agarwal Architects

Vedic Village is an agrarian community of like-minded people living in rural and organic landscape. It consists of 200 acres of land area developed as organic farms. Besides the farms, which are individually owned but centrally managed, the center comprises of a resort and nature health care center.

It also has a club for activities and games. These facilities are open to the farm owners, tourists living in the resort as well as external members of the club. The place is experiential in nature rather than consumptive.

1.ORGANIC FARMS WITH ETHNIC VILLAS

These will comprise of plots of various sizes starting from 0.80 Acre.

The company has created some designs of farmhouses, which will have extensive use of ethnic construction materials like bamboo, local timber, clay tiles etc. The landowners will have the options to choose from these designs with modifications if desired and the company will construct these farmhouses, sheds etc. at the cost to be mutually agreed.

2.INTERNATIONAL HEALTH SPA AND RESORT

a)Natural Health Care Center including Ayurvedic and Alternative Medicine.
b)SPA including Jacuzzi, Plunge pools.
c)Body wraps and massage including Steam, Ayurvedic and Hydro Massage
d)Some Suites and Villas
e)Village Restaurant

          

3.PASTORAL CLUB: SPORTS AND RECREATIONAL FACILITY

a) Swimming Pool and Water Sports.
b) Field and Racquet sports (tennis courts, volleyball, archery, kite flying).
c) Fitness Center and Gymnasium.
d) Trail Facilities- (bicycling, jogging, and equestrian).

4.OTHER FACILITIES

a)Institute for Organic Farming.
b)Meditation Center and “Yagna Shala”.
c)Dairy Facility, Retail and Distribution support.
d)Art and Craft Center.

PLANNING & ARCHITECTURE

• ORGANIC, NATURAL LIFESTYLE

The village is aimed at the city folks who need a refuge away from the noise and pollution of the city. It is also an effort to create an environment that is in sync with nature as opposed to the synthetic and concrete environment prevalent in the city. It is a place where one experiences nature and works and lives with it. A place where one can see the trees change their character with the changing season, hear the birds, feel the wind and experience the outdoors. In short, all that is amiss in the day-to-day hectic and synthetic life that we lead at an everyday level. The Vedic village is to be an environment where one lives with nature without damaging it. One lives in an Eco-friendly environment.

• WATER AS AN ELEMENT

The site rainwater is being chanellised into a network of ponds and lakes. It is being used as a design element with leisure activities planned around it. A major water body along the main road is being isolated and treated as a perennial lake for boating.

• OPEN SPACES

A hierarchy of open spaces for community and individual gathering and recreation are being planned. The scales are being drawn from the traditional village open squares. The major open space is planned immediately in front of the main entry. This is a large space with a lake forming the backdrop. In front is a plaza with amphitheater and pavilions. This will hold craft melas, traditional dance and music festivals and other events to attract the tourists as well as local residents of Calcutta.

• THE FARMS

The farms are to be owned personally but farmed communally. Approximately one - third of the site flanking the main road consists of a rural house while the balance two - thirds is farmland. One fifth of the site is a water body.

• EARTH VILLAS

Another part of the village is built by traditional craftsmen - in Earth. They have used “Wattle and Daub” technique by applying earth over a screen made of split bamboo. The foundations upto plinth levels are made in RCC. Above that the structure is made in bamboo, mud and thatch.

Architects: Rajeev Agarwal Architects

 

                    

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