Principles and Practices of ILY
The Principles and Practices of Integrated Life Yoga are quite difficult to lay out in a cohesive format, particularly because Integrated Life Yoga (ILY) is not a package of methods and concepts, though various methods and concepts may be usefully applied at times. In its simplest, most refined form, ILY is expressed through the very first aphorism within the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: “Atha Yoganusasanam” which can be translated as “Yoga is exposed now.” Often this sutra[1] is interpreted as an opening or introduction into the aphorisms, “Now begins the exposition of Yoga,” as if Patanjali were solely announcing the beginning of the teachings. It is reasonable to read this as an introduction, however, in the context of the first four sutras, the statement “Yoga is exposed now,” can also take on a subtle depth of meaning. I won’t write out the Sanskrit and translations for all four, but in essence they say that Yoga is exposed now; Yoga[2] is achieved by the cessation of mental modifications; Then, the Seer abides in its true nature; At other times, the Seer appears to take on the form of mental modifications. In this context, I interpret the first sutra to be a definitive statement that the following aphorisms attempt to explain further: Right now, Yoga is exposed—that is, the Union of all is out in the open for all to see, unless the modifications of the mind obscure the clear sight. From this perspective, Yoga is not a set of practices, nor a belief system, nor can it be learned from a book—even a book so eloquently written as Patanjali’s, or the Tao Te Ching, or any others.
This is not to say that books, concepts, and methods of practice cannot be useful, but only that the Union of the Totality is not something to be grasped by narrow mental functions. The articulable practices found within ILY serve the purpose of honing the instrument of the body, mind, and energies so that the merging of Yoga may arise more readily in the spontaneous spaciousness of clear Being. Integrated Life Yoga is both a complete Union of the Totality and a continuously ongoing process that revolves around the four interwoven principles of Openness, Relaxation, Exploration, and Integration.
ILY began as an attempt to distill the essence of various religious and mystical traditions of practice and reconcile them with personal experiences without sacrificing the core integrity of either the traditions or my personal experiences. Over the course of my studies[3] I noticed that every system I came across was wholly complete, yet each came from a different perspective, and to explain this fully I’d like to share an analogy: If one hundred people are sitting together in a circle around a large fire, and each of them lift an arm to point at the fire, there are one hundred angles from which the fire is experienced, one hundred different ways in which these people would explain what they see in the fire, one hundred beautifully unique perspectives of the experience of sitting by a fire, but only One fire. None of the perspectives is wrong, none is more correct than another, but also no matter what words are used to describe the fire, none can fully explain the essence of fire itself. We can talk about the actions of fire, or its names, or the sensations of being close to the fire, but the fire itself remains—like all living things—elusive to static definition. The one hundred people in this analogy represent the various religious ideas of the world, which all attempt to touch the essence of fire from outside of the fire. The methods and concepts that can be included in the practice of Integrated Life Yoga are like different ways to speak about or approach the fire, but none of the methods or concepts are the fire. The goal of ILY is to understand fire by jumping into it[4], and rooting this understanding through every aspect of our Being so that we may live in wholeness as individually unified beings. This means that the One (fire) steeps through body, mind, emotion, energy, awareness, etc. in such a way that all of these aspects function as a unified whole. Then, not only do we as individuals have the joyful opportunity to live an Integrated Life, but through our own integration we fulfill our part in encouraging a functional social-collective harmony through our Way of Being internally and in expression through actions/interactions.
For those who are curious, the specific and identifiable methods that have been profoundly effective in my own experience have included a wide variety of energy-works (ex. Kriya Yoga and Taoist neigong/qigong), meditation, breathworks (ex. Wim Hof Method, Taoist breathing, pranayamas,), plant-medicines (ex. Nature walks, etc.), Prayer, Sound (Music, toning, inner-sounds), and many others. At this point in time, my entire life is ILY, whether I happen to be meditating, interacting with plant medicines, chatting with a friend, or commuting, there is no aspect of Life that is not ripe with transformative potency or ecstatic potential. ILY is also a living thing, and the direct experience of living an Integrated Life is not an idea to be gleaned from the words on this page, nor can it be reduced to the performance of rituals and practices.
In the teaching of ILY, I guide or recommend explorations based on the individual’s tendencies, demeanor, and previous and present experience, and these explorations may include any of the things mentioned above from my own experience, or something different like bodywork, a simpler diet, shifts in various lifestyle habits, or more time spent looking at the sky. The things that stay constant in ILY (and in the effective practice of most traditions/methods) are the principles of Openness, Relaxation, Exploration, and Integration.
Openness is the willingness and ability to sit with the totality of experience in this moment without needing to name, judge, or change anything. In other words, it is a willingness to engage with Life in an uninsulated way. Most of you who are reading this or who are coming to ILY are likely interested in changing their inner experience, but conscious change starts with stopping. How do we cultivate a new experience, especially if it’s unfamiliar? If we are open to seeing ourselves fully wherever we are, if we can open to the unknown possibilities of our Being, then the opportunity for change becomes much clearer. This openness is helped greatly by inward curiosity, a quality which presents itself in the act of looking into ourselves not to find what must be eradicated, but with a genuine intrigue for whatever is there to be seen. This curiosity can also be found in the wonder-evoking questions of “What is Life?” and “What is possible in this inner experience?” among others.
Relaxation is a bit of a common-sense piece of the practice-puzzle in most religio-spiritual contexts, and ILY is no different. From a devotional or theistic perspective, if we have full faith in God[5] then why would we ever not be relaxed? From a relief of unnecessary suffering point of view, our own basic relaxation would be the simplest way to remove a bit of suffering in us and to invite others into that simple release as well. From an energetic optimization perspective, prana/qi would flow most smoothly through a poised-yet-relaxed system. There are no tasks or practices that I have come across that do not benefit from the body-mind-energy functional improvements that accompany general relaxation. Relaxation does not mean laziness, it does not necessitate inactivity, and it does not need to be complicated. What keeps us from relaxing? What would it feel like to relax just a little bit more throughout the day?
Exploration most encapsulates what we generally think of as practices: Meditation, inquiry, contemplation, breathwork, etc. With the previous principles of Openness and Relaxation in place, whatever Exploration is undertaken becomes an ongoing, moment-to-moment, investigative experiment. If we look at the inner exploration process as somewhat analogous to diving in the ocean, Openness is just showing up to the water and being receptive to what’s there, Relaxation is the preparatory deep breaths and releasing any inner pressure for the dive to go a certain way, and Exploration would be the dive itself, staying open and relaxed as you get acquainted with beautiful corals and other Life (or a shipwreck, depending on the day!). “Where do sounds feel like they go after they enter our ears?” “What are all the places we can feel sensations of movement with each breath?”
Integration is the full assimilation of a digested experience into our Being on all levels. If we have a potent experience inside of our Exploration or in daily Life and feel like we’ve learned many new things, Integration is allowing those things to steep through every aspect of ourselves, embodying them in the direct experience of existing rather than allowing them to stay as a conceptual experience in the mind alone. None of these principles exists in a vaccum, nor are they a linear process. Often, these four principles are simultaneously playing out to some degree. We also all have the capacity for all four of these to be instantaneous and indistinguishable, where Openness, Relaxation, Exploration, and Integration are a single, unified experience that stands wholly fulfilled and complete in the Here & Now. When this is the case, the principles as concepts are non-existent, and we are just living an Integrated Life. When we are living this Way, ILY is fully “exposed now,” and when other things are obscuring the unification of all things in our awareness, ILY is the process of opening to where we are, relaxing into the current experience, exploring our full experience, digesting, and integrating that experience into every aspect of our Being.
There are many other words that I could write on this topic, but this seems like a good general overview of the ideas of Integrated Life Yoga. The practical application of these ideas in the context of ILY’s services is incorporating various explorative modalities in such a way that one’s perspective or other aspects of experience are given the opportunity to shift into a new possibility of Being. Sometimes that means overcoming a physical pain through movement and bodywork, other times that means generating a new realm of experience through meditation, breathwork, etc. We work together (hence the name Collaborative Explorations) to learn which approach works most effectively for you.
Lastly, the ultimate goal of ILY’s Collaborative Explorations and other services is for you to have the tools and connection with your own inner being that makes these services unnecessary. I would like to see anyone that I explore with feel fully empowered in their resilience to walk their own uniquely tailored path and dance with any challenges that arise along the way. All that I can offer is the fullness of my own Being, but I know that if we offer ourselves into a Collaborative space, it is nothing short of amazing what can come from the experience.
[1] Translates to “thread”.
[2] Union
[3] Which include a B.A. in Religious Studies from LSU in Baton Rouge, LA, various extraneous trainings and readings, and ongoing years of Life dedicated to deep exploration through direct experience.
[4] Do NOT literally jump into a physical fire. This is an extended metaphor.
[5] Whatever word you want to use to represent this.