Even now, the thinking mind can hide its distortions and not show itself to us, completely.
The mind is a powerful processing hub of opportunity, protection and balance. But how do we know which of the minds functions is on the playing field.
In yogic mind philosophy, it is said we have 3 functional minds, 9 aspects and 27 projections, all of which create 81 facets that will dictate how you might respond to a situation. So…many different avenues and mental projections to fall into…
But at a very high level, according to Yogi Bhajan, we have 3 minds that each thought can be filtered through:
- We have the negative mind – the protective mind that protects you and keeps you safe, this is the first mind to kick in and generally the one that helps you see the risks in any situation. This mind helps you get to work safely or navigate a busy road but it is also the mind that can lock us in anxieties, worries or fears.
- We have the positive mind – the expansive mind that can see and create opportunity, put forward solutions and propose actions. This is a very action oriented mind and can help us get things done as it shows us opportunities and things we can do in response to situations. It can though also work against us to support the negative mind.
- We then have the neutral mind – the meditative mind that absorbs and assesses the input of both the negative and positive minds and creates a position and view point based on both inputs. Often this is the mind that helps us gain traction and movement as it helps us uplift our thinking into a more helpful space.
But when we get stuck in either the negative or positive mind, or the neutral mind is weak, we can get locked in indecision or stasis, believing, receiving and reinforcing a stream of thoughts or perceptions that are simply not true.
Consider this, you want to go to an event, but something changes (maybe it starts raining) and you start to think of getting wet or things you might not like about being there. Many people can get stuck here in the distortions of the negative mind looking to serve their best interests and keep them safe. But it rarely offer us the true picture of reality and is presenting just one angle. As a result we can make decisions based on limited or distorted or generalised intel.
It is only when we add in the positive mind, that an alternative picture or option can be seen. Otherwise the positive mind can get to work supporting our negative perceptions…pulling in previous events, challenges and experiences from deep within our unconscious. This simply serves to reinforce our negative narrative and the mental intrigues that limit us.
Its then only when allow ourselves to meet the chatter of the positive and negative mind with the neutral mind, that we can take a higher more intuitive perspective of what our thoughts present to us, and start to see a richer picture of the reality of the circumstances we find ourselves in.
Here is a great quote by Yogi Bhajan describing this process:
So ask yourself the questions “are you under your mind, or is your mind under your?” Yogi Bhajan.
For anyone interested in yogic support through anxiety, depression or other mental health issues, please free to get in touch. I would love to hear from you. For more information on therapeutic wellbeing courses targeted to support health, happiness and wellbeing, see our website listed in the links below.
To your happiness & wellbeing
Kelly Egan, Conscious Intentions, Supporting happiness and wellbeing with NLP, coaching, hypnotherapy, kundalini yoga, meditation, and kundalini yoga therapy.
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