Recycled Suffering: Considering Metempsychosis

Liberation, bondage, what are they to me? What do I care for freedom? For I have known God, the infinite Self, the witness of all things. - The Heart of Awareness

Reincarnation is a controversial subject to put it lightly.  Some people believe in it strongly and even point to evidence of its reality.  Others are highly skeptical of the idea that there is anything or anybody who survives the death of the physical body.  And still others hold religious views which are antithetical to the concept of reincarnation.  Reincarnation is central to Buddhism and Yoga-Vedanta.  It is simply an accepted fact.  As Lord Krishna teaches in the Bhagavad Gita, “There has never been a time when you and I have not existed, nor will there be a time when we will cease to exist. As the same person inhabits the body through childhood, youth, and old age, so too at the time of death he attains another body. The wise are not deluded by these changes.”

From this perspective we are all souls at various stages of spiritual evolution.  We recycle lifetime after lifetime in order to learn lessons and to pay off karmic debts as we make our way back to a state of primordial Unity.  Yoga is primarily a means of reuniting the individual soul with the Universal Consciousness.  It is understood within these systems that cycles of reincarnation are basically cycles of suffering.  True peace, happiness, joy, etc. can only be found when we are able to transcend these cycles and abide in Unity.  Otherwise we continue to experience dualities: pleasure and pain, birth and death, health and sickness, love and hate, success and failure, and so on.  We are bound by duality due to attachment.

Cultivating non-attachment is a central spiritual discipline in Yogic and Buddhist practice.  As Krishna explains attachment is at the root of psychological suffering:

When you keep thinking about sense objects,

attachment comes.  Attachment breeds desire,

the lust of possession that burns to anger.

Anger clouds judgment; you can no longer

learn from past mistakes.  Lost is the power to

choose between what is wise and what is unwise,

and your life is an utter waste.  But when

you move amidst the world of sense, free

from attachment and aversion alike, there

comes the peace in which all sorrows end,

and you live in the wisdom of the Self.

(Bhagavad Gita, 2:62-65)

To be honest, I have been resistant to the idea of reincarnation over the years.  Even after returning from India after having delved deeply into Yoga theory and practice, I was skeptical.  When I returned to study psychology in graduate school an acquaintance asked my opinion on reincarnation.  I replied that I didn’t take it literally but metaphorically.  She said, “You are the only Swami I ever met who didn’t believe in reincarnation!”  I’m still reluctant to think that there is somebody, or something, that “hops” from one body to another.  Instead I suspect that it is a transfer of information and energy.  Yoga teaches that reincarnation is based on latent memories (samskaras) and desires (vasanas.) 

While in graduate school I came across the writings of psychiatrist, Brain Weiss.  Weiss, in Many Lives, Many Masters, writes about his encounters with past-life memories in working with his patients.  http://www.brianweiss.com/   I also was introduced to Ian Stevenson’s book, Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation.  Rather than looking at memories uncovered through hypnosis, Stevenson investigated cases of children who claimed to remember past lives.  In some cases they remembered verifiable details of where they lived, their previous relations, etc.  In some cases they even remembered how to speak a “foreign” language.  http://reluctant-messenger.com/reincarnation-proof.htm.  Certainly these cases are intriguing if not conclusive for the rational skeptic.

Interestingly some physicists who are investigating the “physics of consciousness” have developed theories to explain reincarnation.  From a Yogic perspective, I think that they are really investigating the point of intersection between the physical domain and consciousness itself, which is truly metaphysical.  Stuart Hammeroff and Roger Penrose have developed a theory of “quantum consciousness” which basically states that consciousness exists and has existed throughout the universe since the beginning.  Hammeroff talks about this theory in a recent episode of Through the Wormhole: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/28/soul-after-death-hameroff-penrose_n_2034711.html. The theory proposed by Hammeroff and Penrose is very similar to the ancient philosophy of Vedanta as espoused in the “Gita.”  A similar theory can be found in Amit Goswami’s The Physics of the Soul.

Also interesting is that, if we investigate more deeply into the roots of Christianity and Judaism we find that reincarnation has been part of these religions as well.  Jesus referred to reincarnation in the New Testament when he equates the prophet Elijah with John the Baptist (Matt. 11:13-14 and 17:10-13.)  http://near-death.com/experiences/origen03.html.  It seems that any direct reference to reincarnation as part of Christian doctrine was edited out in 381 AD during the Council of Constantinople and the formulation of the Nicene Creed.  The council and the creed were basically a ploy to turn the Christian teachings into a political entity which was then used throughout the middle ages to control the populace.  Of course, some are still trying to do the same today.  http://youtu.be/QsogswrH6ck 

Ultimately, when we follow the Yoga path, which is not at all antithetical to the true path as taught by Christ, we enter into a blessed state of consciousness wherein we recognize that the cycles of samsara are cycles of illusion.  Our true being is timeless and infinite.  We are eternal Peace, Love and Bliss.  We don’t actually transmigrate at all.  It is a Cosmic Dream.

More Surefire Ways to Avoid Awakening

Ego is the resistance to what is.
~ Adyashanti

In my last post I focused mainly on substance abuse and codependent relationships.  These are excellent ways of avoiding any kind of psychological development or spiritual evolution.  Given that these recent posts respect one’s right to, if not devolve, at least maintain a low level stasis.  After all, growth can be painful and nobody likes pain.  As 2012 reaches its Cosmic Climax it might be a good idea to keep a good supply of oxycodone handy.  In this post, however, I want to assure everyone that it is perfectly possible to remain static while being completely socially acceptable.  No one wants to do jail time and we all want to maintain at least a pretense of having a happy, well-adjusted family.

In fact having a strong sense of superiority when it comes to addicts, homeless people, homosexuals, “nerds,” etc. is a good way of hanging onto your personal status quo.  Just keep reminding yourself that you are better than “those people”.  Duality, division and fragmentation are the heart and soul of non-awakening.  Be as self-righteous as possible.  Never admit that you might be wrong.  Never concede that others might be fellow human beings in suffering.  They just have a “victim mentality.”

Religion can actually be a great tool in this regard.  Now religion can be an evolutionary tool.  It is a vehicle for teaching morality, etc.  Don’t worry it is also a great way of avoiding any true spiritual issues.  I think it was Carl Jung who said that religion is a great way of protecting oneself from God.  Or something like that.  The important point is to maintain a sense of separateness and specialness regarding your personal religious affiliation.  Always remember that your religion is the best.  Or even better, remember that your religion is the only true one. 

I haven’t paid much attention to the Catholic belief system that I was raised in for some time.  But when I was attending Catechism classes in grade school I learned that we had stolen the copyright from the Jews and were now the “chosen people.”  Unfortunately, because I started discussing this with my peers in public school who were of different, but at least Christian orientations, I began to have my doubts.  After all they seemed nice and I liked many of them a lot.  This was the beginning of my downfall (or perhaps, “upfall” depending on one’s perspective.)  Now that I have talked with people of all kinds of different religious perspectives I feel like a spiritual slut.  Please don’t follow my example.

Adhering to a patriarchal, authoritarian and punitive belief system is essential.  Neuroscience, through the new field of “neurotheology” has shown that these kinds of belief have the ability to actually shut down the more evolved areas of the brain.  That’s what we want, right?  Always remind yourself that you are a sinner and basically unworthy.  It is not enough to separate yourself from others and feel superior.  It is also a good idea to regard yourself with disgust and loathing.  That way you are sure to get into heaven.

If you are more inclined towards the rational, scientific view, don’t worry.  Neurotheology indicates that you are just as unlikely to develop those higher cognitive and feeling functions.  Whatever your beliefs are just hold onto them tenaciously.  Your thought-construct of yourself and reality is “reality.”  ‘Nuff said.

How to Avoid Expanding Your Consciousness

Our human problems are emblematic of areas where we are being called to grow, to peck into a new paradigm.  So when we are in the midst of a challenge, if we stop long enough to meditate and remind ourselves of our inner gifts of intelligence, wisdom and peace, we contact that place within us that also knows there are no problems, only human neuroses which can be healed by spiritual discernment. 

-  Michael Bernard Beckwith

As much as I like teachers such as Michael Beckwith, Deepak Chopra, Marianne Williamson, etc. I have come to understand as both a psychological counselor and a spiritual teacher that many of you do not want to awaken.  After all, change can be hard and even painful and I fully respect anyone’s right to refuse to grow.  Sometimes it is just easier to stick with our comfortable misery rather than endure the growth pains of psycho-spiritual awakening. 

So relax, or not, as you prefer.  I’m not out to convince you that your reality is anything other than completely real, completely fucked up and that you are in no way responsible for any of it.  Feel better?  Take some zooloft, crack open a beer, or even better a fifth of Jack.  Don’t like to drink?  You might want to start.  Over the years I have found that heavy drinking can shrink my consciousness into numb and comfortable zones.  Heroin, crack, meth or pornography work very well too.  Dive in.  Don’t forget to be a totally self-centered son of bitch either.  Whatever you do don’t attend to your feelings or those of others.  That would be disastrous. 

On the other hand, you might want to find some other really f’ed up individual and devote yourself to trying to care for his or her needs.  There is nothing like taking care of an alcoholic or addict to distract you from your own inner processes. 

Whatever you do, don’t spend time with yourself.  Avoid introspection at all costs and avoid being around people who do so.  I don’t recommend reading – so once you’re done with this blog just say “no.”  Meditation is becoming popular these days but don’t worry it will pass and nobody will remember that you weren’t “with it.” 

Avoid people who are optimistic and positive.  They are anathema to those of us who are seeking stasis.  Preferably your should hang out in bars, or chat with unavailable sex partners online.  When the impulse to evolve gets really intense just watch TV.

Is our “Reality” a Time-Space Simulation?

In the current metaparadigm, consciousness is assumed to emerge from the world of space, time, and matter. In the new metaparadigm, everything we know manifests from consciousness. – Peter Russell, From Science to God

Current science is not so far from the mystical views of Yoga, Vedanta and Buddhism.  With the advent of quantum mechanics and more recent developments in neuroscience we get an understanding of how our experience of reality is not so much “out there” as “in here.”  On the quantum level there is recognition that conscious observation determines the physical reality that we experience.  Neuroscience tells us that we take in raw information through our senses which our brains organize into an inner representation.  Either way we look at it, our Individual, and collective experiences of reality are mediated by this mysterious essence we refer to as consciousness.

Advaita, or nondual philosophy says that consciousness is the ground of being, the ultimate reality.  All that is, is Consciousness.  Because we are in the strong habit of thinking that reality is something “out there,” this might seem disconcerting.  One way or another we have to look within ourselves in order to understand our world.  We are our experience of the world and we are more deeply the “experiencer.”  This deeper locus of being is not really located anywhere.  It is outside of and prior to space and time.  “It” cannot be objectified because it is the purely subject.  Nothing in our upbringing, education, religious training, etc. has ever taught us to truly look this deeply inside.  “It” is pure presence; your own true self.

But what of this world?  Advaita suggests that it is all an illusion, Maya.  Yoga philosophy takes a different position; the world exists but is dependent on the consciousness principle, purusha or atman.  As Patanjali explains, “The existence of an object does not depend on a single mind, for if it did, what would become of the object if that mind did not perceive it?”  This might seem like simple common sense.  However we know that on a quantum level an “object” is dependent upon observation.  The objects of our macro-world are the products of multiple observations over time.  Yoga understands the cosmos to be the product of a greater, universal mind at work.  Each of our individual ego-minds is a subsystem of this greater entity.  What we choose to perceive, what we focus on is what we bring into existence.  When the yogi is able to withdraw his awareness from objects, as well as the memory of and desire for them they no longer exist – for the yogi.  Because of memory and desire the rest of us are still stuck with them. 

In deep meditation we are sometimes able to forget the stressful world and to rest in an inner center of peace.  As A Course In Miracles states, "There is a place in YOU where this whole world has been forgotten; where no memory of sin and of illusion lingers still. There is a place in you which time has left, and echoes of eternity are heard."  We all have access to this space but we are pulled back into the world of sin and illusion through our ego-based desire and fear.  These are powerful forces that have been conditioned within us.  Every time, however, that we enter into the eternal place of peace we lessen their hold over us. 

This is not escapism.  Sometimes we escape into a fantasy world, i.e. “primary process”, as a way of coping.  In meditation we bring all modifications of the mind into a state of quiet; no thoughts, no fantasies or dreams and no sleeping.  It is the experience of a deeper level of reality “behind the curtains,” as it were.  Because the ego-self is dormant in this state we awaken to Soul.  As we establish ourselves more and more deeply in our Soul-identity our desires change.  We no longer return to the world driven by self-centered, self-protective motives.  Instead we become more open and accepting, loving and compassionate.  We express more of our true spiritual nature.  We become agents of love-energy.  We become more the change which we wish to see in the world.

"An untroubled mind,
No longer seeking to consider
What is right and what is wrong,
A mind beyond judgements,
Watches and understands."

- Buddha

Now to switch gears a little, I want to go to an article which originally stimulated this post.  There is serious hypothetical conjecture within the scientific community which suggests that our universe may be a quantum simulation.  As Gary Scott reports in Serious Wonder:

Silas Beane, and the team at the University of Bonn in Germany, say that we may be able to see evidence that our cosmos is simulated. The technology review reports:

So if our cosmos is merely a simulation, there ought to be a cut off in the spectrum of high energy particles.

It turns out there is exactly this kind of cut off in the energy of cosmic ray particles, a limit known as the Greisen–Zatsepin–Kuzmin or GZK cut off.

(http://www.seriouswonder.com/the-simulated-universe-theory-may-be-real)

I am not going to pretend that I understand all of this.  I am not a “science guy.”  Instead I enjoy reading about how scientists grapple with this problem of “reality.”  It requires both sides of our brains to get somewhat of a handle on it.  Often science fiction precedes theory, discovery and accepted fact.  Scientists like to pretend that they are “just about the facts, ma’am.”  The truth is that there is always a hidden philosophy or underlying paradigm which guides their investigations.  From infancy we have been constructing a weltanshauung which we consider to be our reality.  Recently scientists have come to consider the possibility that the universe is not made up out of particles, or even “energy,” but simply information.  It is all “mind.”  Lord Buddha is surely laughing in his celestial home.  Sci-fi author Phillip K. Dick was ahead of this curve when he wrote VALIS in 1981; a novel based on his own puzzling mystical experiences. In it writes,

“We hypostatize information into objects. Rearrangement of objects is change in the content of the information; the message has changed. This is a language which we have lost the ability to read. We ourselves are a part of this language; changes in us are changes in the content of the information. We ourselves are information-rich; information enters us, is processed and is then projected outward once more, now in an altered form. We are not aware that we are doing this, that in fact this is all we are doing.”

Wow!  I remember first reading VALIS after my return from India.  It wasn’t like some of the sacrosanct versions of the Upanishads that I had been exposed to but it resonated in a similar key.  Dick had a “paranoia” which ran throughout his works; a sense that the reality we are presented with is a fabrication.  Of course, this theme reemerged in The Matrix, a film in which the main character, Neo is enmeshed in a computer generated reality.  Is it time for us all to awaken to this informational, or mind dimension of reality?  Or as Scott writes in his above mentioned article, “So, if this theory is true, who is running the simulation and what are they trying to learn from this complex simulation?  I have said many times “the point of this simulation could be to see how long it takes us to realize we are being simulated.”

The Yoga Darshan says that we can awaken to the central power of the conscious mind within us to either create or destroy our reality. 

Karma, Synchronicity and Those Damn Quantum Hooligans

AUM represents past, present and future,

It is also that which is beyond these.

- Mandukya Upanishad

The theoretical concept of karma which originated in antiquity represents recognition of causal events in time.  Or so it seems.  I have read numerous times of the equivalence of karma and Newton’s second law of thermodynamics which is generally understood as the law of cause (energy) and motion (effect.)  In actuality karma comes out of an early and much different concept of the cosmos.  Among other distinctions the yoga tradition is based, not on a linear, but a cyclical or circular understanding of time and causality.  It is the modern mind which took precedence in 18^th century Europe which has fixated on linear time and cause and effect.  It is so ingrained in us that it seems difficult to conceive of anything otherwise.

Just for a moment’s experiment allow us to conceive of a nonlinear universe.  As Albert Einstein stated, "The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once."  Quantum mechanics has brought into question the whole idea of the linear sequential separation of events in space and time.  As a recent article reports,

“. . . According to quantum mechanics, objects can lose their well-defined classical properties, such as e.g. a particle that can be at two different locations at the same time. In quantum physics this is called a "superposition."

      Now an international team of physicists led by Caslav Brukner from the University of Vienna have shown that even the causal order of events could be in such a superposition.” http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121002145454.htm#.UHDKdtARdA8.facebook

  Superposition means that a particle can be considered to be in more than one place at once.  Superposition in time means that it can be considered to be in the past, present or future at once.  In other words, at least on the quantum level, space and time as we ordinarily think of them do not exist.  This is very fitting in terms of the Yogic understanding of the nature of space and time as well.  In the Yoga Sutras (4:12) Patanjali states, “The past and the future exist in their own form as inherent characteristics.”  In other words past and future are superposed in the present.

According to Yoga the past and the future can be understood in terms of the actualization (karma) of latent potentials (vasanas.)  Both past and future exist within a field of possibilities which are experienced inwardly as desires and actualized outwardly as objects.  The past simply represents actualized potentials while the future represents latent potentials.  Because of memory and the cyclical (or perhaps, as in Gregg Braden’s terms, fractal) nature of time, these potentials recycle themselves endlessly. 

Again, according to Yoga and Sankhya, the presence and the constant modification of objects is based on the constant fluctuation of three basic principles: tamas, darkness or inertia, rajas, activity or motion and sattwas, balance or equilibrium (homeostasis.)  It is due to the fluctuation and combination of these three states of nature that time and objects appear to exist.  Purusha, the Self, is purely the witness of this passing show.  The Yoga Sutras state, “Purusha is the witness and the master of the fluctuations of the mind.” (4:18)  When we are able to experience this deeper aspect of our being in meditation or contemplation then we are able to rest in a state of pervasive bliss and inner peace. 

Synchronicity is another clue to the nonlinear aspect of temporal experience.  The term was coined by Carl Jung to describe the experience of two or more seemingly causally unrelated events that come together in a meaningful way.  In other words a “meaningful coincidence.”  It is common for meditation practitioners to report an increase in synchronicity in their lives.  The concept of synchronicity has been linked to the phenomenon of nonlocality, or entanglement in quantum physics as well. (Limar, Igor V., Carl G. Jung's Synchronicity and Quantum Entanglement: Schrödinger's Cat 'Wanders' Between Chromosomes (December 22, 2010). NeuroQuantology, Volume 9, Issue 2, pp. 313-321, June 2011. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2089541)

Synchronicity is an example of how quantum events might spill over into the macro-world.  I came up with the term “quantum hooligans” as a humorous way of referring to quantum events which seems to “violate the causal order” – for which they should be duly punished.  My sense is that linear world of space and time that we generally experience in our waking state is more or less a product of that state of consciousness.  In dreams, meditation or psychedelic experiences we get a glimpse of the open-ended, nonlinear field of potential that constitutes this mysterious universe.  Yoga tells us that it is crucial that we realize the underlying consciousness which actualizes this potential through the power of pure observation. 

Facing Pain

Pain is probably our greatest educator and can be used together with every other

experience in the quest for higher life, Kahlil Gibran, the Lebonese poet and mystic,

described pain as "the breaking of the shell which encloses our understanding". It

must be understood that the experience of physical, mental and emotional pain leads

to an expansion of our consciousness if we accept and use it positively.

The pain of life is removed when we expand and liberate our consciousness. Actually, it is not the pain we remove but its ability to hurt us. For in the blissful experience, pain and joy fuse so that all experiences of life lead to higher awareness. By seeking to create a world devoid of pain we are also removing the possibility of joy, for they are interdependent. We can only appreciate joy when we have experienced pain.

They are two extremes of the same experience.

<                      - Swami Shankardevananda Saraswati (http://www.yogamag.net/archives/1979/emay79/painrel.shtml)

Pain is something that we all experience from very early on in life.  Because we have this incredible human nervous system we experience many nuances and degrees of pain and pleasure.  We tend to like the pleasure and to hate the pain.  This opens us to the psychological level of pain experience.  The reality is that we go through a mixture of painful and pleasurable experiences through the course of life.  You don’t get one without the other.  Yoga encourages us to develop a stoic attitude towards both pain and pleasure.  The Bhagavad Gita extols the attitude of samatvam, or equanimity in the face of both painful and pleasurable experiences.  Interestingly, in my experience this attitude of openness and acceptance reduces the impact of pain and enhances the experience of pleasure.

On the physical level pain is the result of nerve endings being activated through some stimulus such as a cut, burn, etc.  This information is conveyed through the spine to the brain where it produces an immediate and unconscious reaction.  Our conscious awareness catches up a fraction of a second later.  In the case of chronic pain the stimulus is prolonged and seemingly constant.  This can be called the “objective” aspect of pain.  The subjective aspect has to do with our thoughts and emotions related to the painful stimulus.  Our psychological response to pain is of tremendous importance to our overall level of suffering.  Remember: “Pain is inevitable but suffering is optional.”  What we think, what we say to ourselves and others about our painful experiences is of crucial importance. 

If I say, “Oh my God this pain is unbearable!  I can’t stand it!  I hate it!” this only reinforces the power of the painful experience in my consciousness.  If I say, “This is a signal that something is amiss in my body and I must attend to it,” or “This is just an experience as my body heals.” or something more positive and rational, than my internal experience of the pain can change dramatically.  For the Yogi pain is simply a reminder to expand her conscious identity beyond her body and her circumstances.  Meditation helps us to develop a deeper, transpersonal sense of self in which we can say, “I am not this body.  It is only a temporary vehicle for my consciousness to evolve.  Pain does not belong to me but to my body.” 

From an “enlightened” perspective we can see that pleasures, pain and death are parts of an inevitable “cycle of life.”  The true spiritual aspirant has to be more on guard with pleasure than with pain.  Pleasure can suck us in and seduce us into wanting more while avoiding its alternative.  This is actually the true “gateway” to addiction.  On the other hand pain is a reminder to work on expanding consciousness, developing nonattachment or “witnessing awareness.”  “Counterintuitively” enough, a true spiritual aspirant does not seek to avoid pain but to use it as a means of awakening.  Meditation practice is crucial.  We need to cultivate our ability to witness or observe ourselves objectively.  We need to be able to “turn subject into object.” 

This process of nonattachment takes place through the koshas.  First we learn to observe and dis-identify with the body, then emotions, subconscious cognitions, and even with the intellectual ability for meta-cognition.  Finally we arrive at the anandamaya kosha, the embodiment of pure awareness/bliss.  This is the state of the observing self in and of her/himself.  It is our true inner nature – bliss beyond suffering.  It is our ultimate and most basic being.  Yoga practice - postures, pranayama, meditation, devotion, discrimination – is all aimed at helping us to connect with this most basic aspect of ourselves.  This inner self is beyond suffering of any kind.  As Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “All loss, all pain, is particular; the universe remains to the heart unhurt.  Neither vexations nor calamities abate our trust. No man ever stated his griefs as lightly as he might. Allow for exaggeration in the most patient and sorely ridden hack that ever was driven. For it is only the finite that has wrought and suffered; the infinite lies stretched in smiling repose.”  Our inner self is connected to its infinite source.

The importance of systematic relaxation in pain management cannot be overstated.  Chronic pain causes muscles to develop chronic tension.  It creates a feedback loop in which pain creates tension and tension creates further pain.  Unless we can learn a technique of conscious relaxation there is no way of breaking out of this cycle save for addictive and potentially toxic medications.  Yoga nidra is the most potent relaxation practice that I have come across.  Research has shown it to effective in managing pain and its associated problems: insomnia, depression and over-reliance on harmful medications (http://www.yogamag.net/archives/1979/ajan79/nidpain.shtml.) 

Yoga nidra as well as some other relaxation techniques has the added value of helping practitioners to have an actual experience of the power of mind over body.  We are not helpless victims of our physiological responses.  Through deep relaxation and visualization we can experience the reality of our inner being in a way that transcends theory or ideology.  We can experience our infinite self lying in smiling repose. 

Yoga nidra is a guided practice of deep relaxation with inner awareness.  It begins with a systematic rotation of awareness throughout the body. This is followed by focusing on “the pairs of opposites,” heaviness/lightness, hot/cold, pain/pleasure.  This is a powerful means of developing a nonattached, witnessing attitude to experiences.  The next stage involves visualization which can take many forms.  Places in nature, spiritual or archetypal symbols work well.  The specifics of the visualization are not as important as developing the ability to concentrate on the inner experience of the mind.  Not only does this redirect attention from the pain but it also empowers us to create our own experience.  The subconscious mind does not distinguish between and “actual” and a visualized reality.  Thus visualization is a powerful tool for “reprogramming” the mind.  Over time it helps us to develop new and more positive neural pathways through neuroplasticity. 

Even more important is the quality of mindfulness which underlies all meditation practices.  This is the ability to observe, or witness ourselves with nonattachment.  It is the ability to reflect upon our inner experience without judgment or reaction.  It takes practice but the incredible sense of liberation it brings is worth it.

Resources:

The most important resource on yoga nidra is Swami Satyananda Saraswati’s book Yoga Nidra (http://www.amazon.com/Nidra-Re-print-Swami-Satyananda-Saraswati/dp/8185787123/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1349211043&sr=1-1&keywords=yoga+nidra+by+swami+satyananda+saraswati)  It gives step by step instructions for guiding the practice along with a series of recommended visualizations.

      Another recommended article in Yoga Magazine is Yoga Nidra: A Healing Practice for People Living with Cancer by Julie Friedeberger (Priyashakti, UK) (http://www.yogamag.net/archives/2008/dapr08/yn.shtml)