Consider Meditation to turn Old Habits into New Beginnings

“Everything begins in the mind. If you want to see clearly, you need clear vision.”

— Sri Swami Satchidananda

 Images from Legacy of the Divine Tarot ©Ciro Marchetti, 2009. Used with permission of Llewellyn Worldwide, New Worlds of Body, Mind & Spirit, http://www.llewellyn.com/

I recently went to my tarot cards to answer a question that began, “What do I need to know about…?” The subject of my query wasn’t as important as the answer I received from of the most challenging cards in tarot for me to interpret. Seven of Swords.

I chose to spend 15 minutes meditating with the card. As a taroist you may think it is an unlikely card to meditate on; but if this was the message I received from the universe, then it needed attention.

I settled in to breath, relax, feel, watch and allow. Below are the random thoughts which came to me, as well as added introspection from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali – aphorisms and texts of Raja Yoga. (The Yoga Sutras are also commonly known as Raja Yoga, the Royal Yoga. They earned this noble status because they present spirituality as a holistic science, universally applicable to people of all faith traditions.)

When you see the Seven of Swords consider delving deeply into the thoughts that are stirring and trying to take hold in your mind. Are they stealing you away from your truth?

Sutras 2.15 – 2.17 of the Yoga Sutras of Sri Patanjali teach about causes of suffering that are the result of samskara, a Sanskrit work meaning habit. You suffer when you knowingly or unknowingly repeat patterns or behaviors that don’t serve you or that cause you harm. Prevent the suffering that is to come by beginning to change your perspective and envision the future you want to live in. Use the challenges you face on your journey to your goals as opportunities to begin a process of inquiry and self-connection to guide you to right action, compassion and avoid suffering.

Where can you release old habits in order to create new beginnings?

“Meditation allows us to remain intimate with the flow of our moment-to-moment inner experience. Ride the Wave and use the compassionate witness to resist the tendency to censor uncomfortable thoughts and feelings.”

— Richard Faulds, Kripalu Yoga

• Take care when listening to your mind, it can trick you into a false sense of beliefs.

• What are you reaching for or focusing on that is taking you away from the realities of your daily life? If you can’t see, touch, feel, smell, or taste it, does it really exist?

• How, when and where do you spend time focusing on things that don’t serve your goals?

• Why have you turned your back on your True Nature? Why have you chosen to deceive yourself by not accepting yourself as a perfect being just as you are?

• Why have you chosen to turn away from what you need most to be aware of or take care of in your life?

• In what ways have your fears (produced in your mind as random thoughts connected to must have’s and wants) conned you into believing more is better? What if more is “bitter”; because you have not taken the time to envision and plan for what needs to happen next (today, tomorrow, next week, next month) to be “pain” free and avoid needless suffering.

• Karmic actions will unfold out of today’s inaction and lack of focus.

• In what ways have you been dis-honest with yourself?

• How can you reset, relax and calm your wandering busy mind to find the clarity you need?

“In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”

— Isaiah 30:15

Paraphrasing from Inside the Yoga Sutras, Reverend Jaganath Carrera

Purify the Mind by Opening the Heart

Image of “Four of Swords” from Shadowscapes Tarot by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law 

“Her limbs are composed in the attitude of death, but this is not the final sleep. It is just a moment of rest and recovery. Her mind floats free. … Close your eyes, and find that still and silent place at your core, where inner strength resides. Draw from that reserve in the times to come.”

The Four of Swords tells us it’s time to take a break from our troubles, real or imagined. It asks us to lay down the betrayals, hurts, and sorrows of the Three of Swords and seek silent meditation for a deeper awareness in order to find our answers.

The figure in this card holds a sword in vertical alignment with her body’s energy centers or chakras. Her hands hold the sword  above and below her heart chakra as if protecting herself from words not spoken represented by the throat chakra and the mouth and the tightness of fear (“flight or fight”)  represented by the solar plexus chakra and the feet. When we get stuck in our thoughts and aren’t able to express them, we create our own cage around ourselves and find ourselves continually trapped as in the Eight of Swords.

By lululemon athletica (Flickr: Yoga Journal Conference) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Inner contemplation of the heart is what is needed when we are visited by the Four of Swords. Like the Swords suit in Tarot, the heart chakra represents the Air Element. The heart chakra is also the fourth chakra, residing in the center of the chakras – the place of Spirit.  It is located at the heart, upper chest, and upper back. It is where we find balance between the material world (the lower three chakras) and the spirit world (the upper three chakras). Through the heart chakra, we open to and connect with harmony and peace. The Sanskrit name is Anahata and implies unstruck or unhurt.

In my yoga practice I can open the heart chakra by doing backbend postures. These poses help to develop trust by allowing me to lead with my heart and surrender my fears. As my heart moves away from my head and my chest opens I give my troubling thoughts to the universe thereby allowing my mind and body to relax.

Deva Parnell, founder of Discovery Yoga, describes Kripalu Yoga as a metaphor for life. “When you come to your toleration point during the prolonged holding of a posture, you encounter your self-perceived limitations, and learn to consciously respect them and accept or transcend them.”

The Four of Swords asks us to let go of those thoughts that are constricting our ability to open our hearts, still our restless minds, and seek guidance from our higher power whatever we conceive that to be.

*Visit Linda’s tarot website and blog at Treasures of Tarot
*Linda & Chris have been traveling and living in the Caribbean on their sailboat, Troubadour. Read about their journey at http://sailingtroubadour.blogspot.com