The Scarlet Letter
Volume VII, Number 2 | March 2002
Transparent to the Life Force
by Aisha Qadisha

Today I eat foods high in prana. I know that I am what I eat, therefore I take nourishment from the flowers that grow closest to the Sun, filling my body with light, not lethargy.

Today I speak the Truth in order to communicate clearly and constructively,
without judgment or anger.

Today I step with gentle awareness among the clovers and other living beings,
that I may be a vehicle of benevolence and compassion.

Today I practice moderation in my sensual pleasures that they may become sources of renewal rather than distractions or addictions.

Today I practice non-attachment to desires, patterns of behavior, possessions or relationships. All things and all beings are free to come and go from my sphere in the ever changing flow of life. I am new in each moment like a child.

Today I cultivate purity and clarity of the senses that I may become transparent to the life force, like a hummingbird.

Today I accept my life with gratitude and I understand my incarnation to be the greatest of gifts.

Today I pursue my spiritual practices with awareness and discipline that I may spiral upward toward the sun in my development.

Today I study the holy scriptures of the world that I may learn from the sages who came before me the ways of self-perfection.

Today I surrender myself utterly to THAT which is everywhere present as supreme consciousness, that I may transcend the smallness of my individual will and my individual love and merge with that greater power which is the source of all Will, all Love and all Benevolence in the world.

AUM. AUM. AUM.

* * * * *
These are affirmations are based on the author’s interpretation of the yamas and niyamas of yoga philosophy as written by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras. The yamas and niyamas are more important than asana in the practice of yoga because they embody a way of being-in-the-world, a lifestyle of personal purity, strength, balance and flexibility from which yoga (as union) can unfold. They are foundational. Aleister Crowley addressed the yamas and niyamas in Yoga for Yahoos.

“Yama is the easiest of the eight limbs of Yoga to define, and corresponds pretty closely to our word ‘control.’ ”

“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. *That* is Yama.”

“Your object is to perform Yoga. Your True Will is to attain the consummation of marriage with the universe, and your ethical code must constantly be adapted precisely to the conditions of your experiment. Even when you have discovered what your code is, you will have to modify it as you progress; ‘remould it nearer to the heart’s desire’” — Omar Khayyam.

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