Podcast Ep. 13 ~ Self-awareness, Self-regulation, and Self-mastery

You can view this podcast on Big Shakti’s YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@BigShakti

Here are the main points of this podcast

1. Self-awareness is the core principle in yoga and meditation. It reflects consciousness and helps us transcend life’s problems by anchoring us in the self.
2. Consciousness is our center. The body and mind are composed of energy, which can be gross, subtle, or causal.
3. Cultivating self-awareness allows us to experience these various forms of energy more deeply.
4. Advanced yogis refine their consciousness to perceive causal energy, the highest form of spiritual energy, through deep self-awareness.
5. Self-regulation involves adjusting our body, mind, and reactions to achieve greater self-control and stability, building on self-awareness.
6. Self-mastery is achieved through a cycle of self-awareness and self-regulation, leading to a profound alignment of thoughts, feelings, and actions with higher aspirations.
7. Yoga philosophy distinguishes between the egoic self and the universal cosmic self, with spiritual practices aiming to integrate and transcend the egoic self towards enlightenment.
8. From a psychological standpoint, self-awareness involves recognizing and understanding our internal experiences and how they influence our behavior.
9. Practices like mindfulness meditation, journaling, and reflection help cultivate self-awareness by observing our thoughts and emotions without judgment.
10. Self-regulation, essential for deliberate and constructive actions, is the ability to manage and modulate our emotional and behavioral responses through self-awareness.
11. The progression from self-awareness to self-regulation to self-mastery is sequential yet cyclical, with each stage enhancing the others and fostering continuous personal growth.
12. Big Shakti offers courses and meditations, such as Inner Silence Meditation, Yoga Nidra, and Ajapa Japa, that focus on self-awareness and self-regulation to support personal and spiritual development.
13. The Find Life Purpose Course helps individuals define clear goals and purpose, facilitating the practice of self-awareness and self-regulation to achieve meaningful and fulfilling lives. 

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Podcast Transcript ~ Episode 13

Welcome to this episode of Big Shakti’s podcast, Light on Yoga and Meditation.

The one thing that Is essential and core to all of our teachings is the concept of self-awareness. In episode 4 of the podcast, we shared part of Lesson 3 from the Light on the Chakras and Kundalinī training master class series, in which we made a deep dive into the concept of self-awareness. Self-awareness, the unchanging principle in life, is the central concept in all of yoga, yoga tantra, and meditative practice. The core aim of all wisdom traditions is self-knowledge. Know thyself, and unto yourself be true, is the ancient dictum that has been passed down through the ages.

In this episode, we will discuss self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-mastery.

Consciousness and energy

The key thing to remember is that self-awareness is reflected consciousness. And consciousness is the transcendent, unchanging principle. That is why it is so important to cultivate self-awareness; because when you are self-aware, you are outside of all the problems and challenges of life. You are in the self. And the self, which is you, the real you, is the center around which your life revolves.

Al life revolving around you is composed of energy. And this energy can be gross so that we can see, touch, and feel it. It can be subtle, so we can't see it, but we can experience it, for example, through air pressure, thoughts, loving-kindness, anger, and so on. Or energy can be causal. This concept of causal energy is found in physics, which describes different forms of extremely subtle energy, such as atomic particles and energy. It is paradoxical because it exists both in the form of particles and waves. Causal energy is also described in Eastern philosophy, which describes it as spiritual energy, the energy of consciousness, the ground from which all existence arises.

In this regard, self-awareness is the central essential concept in all yoga and meditation because it focuses on awakening consciousness. And the more conscious we are, the better. When our consciousness is developed, we become very sensitive and able to perceive life with greater clarity, depth, and subtlety. We are able to experience more subtle forms of energy and, therefore, subtler experiences. We're not just limited to gross experience. Advanced yogis have purified and refined their perception and consciousness to such a degree that they can perceive causal energy, the energy of the self, the highest self.

Once you are self-aware, you can begin to self-regulate, which means you can adjust your body and mind, reactions and responses, and interactions with life. You're able to have greater self-control and feel more grounded and stable while you experience the ever-changing energies around you, no matter what form they take.

So we're going to discuss the relationship between self-awareness and self-regulation and how it leads to self-mastery, a state in which you're highly self-aware and have a very clear understanding of how to be in the world and how to be in life in a way that works.

Practicing meditations that cultivate self-awareness is a process of focusing our attention back on ourselves to a central, unchanging, transcendent center of consciousness around which the body, mind, and our lives revolve. Consciousness is the one thing we must develop to live a good life and achieve our goals, whether in the other world or the inner world. The one technique we teach that is the key to self-awareness is called inner Silence, or Antar Mouna in Sanskrit. All the other techniques we teach enable self-regulation.

What is the self?

Before we discuss self-awareness and self-regulation, what is the self?

The concept of the "self" is multifaceted and has been explored and described in many different fields, including psychology, philosophy, and spirituality.

Yoga philosophy and yoga psychology both recognize that there are two distinct types of self. These are:

• The little self, an egoic self, which is at the center of the conscious mind and is the basis of our individuality.
• The universal, cosmic, highest Self, which is the totality of who we are. This big Self is the ocean of consciousness within which the conscious mind has evolved over millions of years of evolution. It is the foundation of everything.

Becoming aware of the highest Self is the final step on the meditative path to total enlightenment and Self-realization. Most spiritual work focuses on initially calming, strengthening, and integrating the egoic self and then bringing it into a relationship with the highest Self.

All of the techniques we teach first work on cultivating a strong, clear sense of egoic self. A sense of who we are in the world. This little self, our ego, lies at the center of our conscious mind.

Then, the techniques guide us deeper into the vast unconscious, the deeper mind or psyche. It is here that we discover our inner powers and strengths, the trans-egoic parts of us, our personal myths, various archetypes, and the deep forces of the psyche that drive our outer life. When we are unconscious of the deeper self, we live a very superficial life. When we become more self-aware and in touch with our own unconscious, we have a kind of rebirth and enter a whole new dimension of self. This is still in the realm of the little self, but it is a bigger little self than the little self that was unconscious of its own inner depths.

It is only when we touch the universal, cosmic self that we transcend the little self and enter a whole new realm of evolution. This is the final stage in human evolution. So, as I said previously, most spiritual work focuses on initially calming, strengthening, and integrating the egoic self and then bringing it into a relationship with the highest Self.

What is self-awareness?

So, now that we have a brief understanding of the self, let’s first discuss self-awareness. What is it?

From a psychological point of view, self-awareness is the ability to recognize and understand our own thoughts, emotions, desires, impulses, and behaviors. It involves being conscious of our inner experiences and how they influence our actions and interactions with the world. When we practice self-awareness, we don’t attempt to change anything; we simply observe things as they are.

Mindfulness practices encourage us to pay attention to our thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations in the present moment. Mindfulness meditations involve observing ourselves objectively, without judgment, and gaining insight into our internal states. Mindfulness helps us identify our patterns, triggers, and underlying beliefs that drive behavior.

Self-awareness is a deeper and more important element in this process. It cultivates our awareness of ourselves as a conscious observer or witness, called the seer, the drashtā in Sanskrit. The more self-aware we are, the more mindful we can be.

Self-awareness can be cultivated through practices such as Inner silence, mindfulness, meditation, journaling, and reflection.

What is Self-Regulation?

Self-regulation is the ability to influence our body, mind, feelings, desires, and behaviors. It is the ability to manage and modulate our emotional and behavioral responses. However, to successfully self-regulate, we first need to be self-aware. Only then can we apply self-regulation techniques that modulate our thoughts, emotions, desires, and impulses, enabling more deliberate and constructive actions.

So, building on self-awareness and self-regulation is about taking conscious control over our reactions. We become more responsive and less reactive. As we clearly perceive our inner being and our internal states, we can choose how to respond rather than reacting impulsively. This leads to greater emotional stability and adaptability.

Most of Big Shakti’s guided meditations focus on self-regulation but require us to cultivate self-awareness before applying a technique. For example, we may use the breath, mantras, visualization, and other techniques to create positive feelings or to create an altered state, such as a more relaxed, open state of mind. Once we have created this state, we can go back to practicing pure self-awareness to observe the changes we have created and recognize our ability to influence our inner being.

Ongoing practice

The ongoing practice of self-awareness and self-regulation leads to Self-Mastery.

Self-mastery can be defined as the advanced ability to align our thoughts, feelings, desires, actions, and personal values with our higher aspirations. It involves a profound level of self-control and understanding that allows for consistent and intentional living.

Self-mastery is the culmination of self-awareness and self-regulation. It represents the peak of personal and spiritual development when we are aware and in control of our inner experiences and can direct our lives meaningfully. Self-mastery involves the ongoing practice of aligning thoughts, emotions, and behaviors with one’s true purpose.

Achieving self-mastery requires a deep commitment to personal growth and continuous practice of self-awareness and self-regulation techniques. It also involves setting clear goals, cultivating resilience, and developing a strong sense of inner purpose and discipline.

The continuous cycle

There is a continuous cycle between self-awareness and self-regulation, leading to self-mastery.

The relationship between these stages is also cyclical. As we practice self-regulation and strive for self-mastery, we gain deeper self-awareness, enhancing our ability to regulate and master ourselves. This ongoing cycle fosters our continuous growth and refinement.

The progression from self-awareness to self-regulation to self-mastery is logical and sequential. We first need to become self-aware to understand our internal states. Then, we can learn to manage and control these states via processes that teach us to self-regulate. Finally, we can use this control to live intentionally and purposefully, which is self-mastery.

While the development is sequential, each stage is also interdependent. Enhanced self-awareness continually informs and improves self-regulation, and both are essential for achieving self-mastery. Similarly, pursuing self-mastery deepens one’s self-awareness and strengthens self-regulation skills.

Big Shakti’s approach to self-awareness and self-regulation

Most of the techniques we teach on Big Shakti foster self-awareness and self-regulation but strongly emphasize self-regulation. This is because cultivating self-awareness is more difficult than cultivating self-regulation. It is much harder to become aware of the self and consciousness than it is to become aware of energy. Most people want to have energetic experiences that make them feel good in our experience. However, once people have exercised a degree of self-control and self-discipline and are able to make internal changes to their internal states, the cultivation of self-awareness is much easier and comes more naturally.

The two main techniques we teach that foster self-awareness are

Inner Silence Meditation (Antar Mouna) cultivates self-awareness by teaching us to objectively observe our thoughts and emotions. It helps you develop mindfulness and a witnessing consciousness, which are essential for deep self-awareness.

Yoga Nidrā is a powerful relaxation meditation technique that progressively relaxes the mind and body, helping to release long-term stress and mental disturbances. Once you have used Yoga Nidrā to recover from stress and exhaustion, you can use it to dive deep into the layers of energy, from gross to subtle, that underlies the body, mind, and spirit. The good thing about yoga nidra is that it is performed in the lying position. The problem with Yoga Nidrā is that it is performed in the lying positions so that most people sleep because they're tired and exhausted. Once you've recovered from exhaustion and can stay awake, yoga nidra is a powerful method of cultivating and strengthening your self-awareness muscles. By preventing yourself from sleeping, you consciously cultivate and strengthen wakefulness and awareness.

The techniques we teach that foster self-regulation include:

Relaxation techniques form the essential first step for self-regulation. The Three Easy Steps meditations and Yoga Nidrā, for example, teach us how to relax deeply, manage stress, and become more aware of our physical and mental states.

The main technique we use to cultivate self-regulation is Ajapa Japa, which is taught in the Healing the Mind Course, which focuses on supporting people to create inner strength and good feelings. This meditation combines several techniques into one unique package. It uses the breath and prana (life force), mantras, and chakras to facilitate healing and enhance self-awareness. You can easily improve your feelings and emotions and develop a sense of inner strength and confidence.

Prāna and prānic Healing meditations teach us how to improve the state of our life force and increase energy and strength.

Core strength Calm Mind applies Prānic Healing practices to daily life. This series of meditations is the quintessential series for self-regulation in daily life.

The other course we need to emphasize as essential for both self-awareness and self-regulation is the Find Life Purpose course, which was designed to support people gaining a clear sense of purpose and well-defined goals. Many of my patients and students were unclear about what they wanted in their lives, which prevented them from focusing their energy and achieving something meaningful and fulfilling for themselves and others. So, we created the Find Life Purpose Course to support them in having something to aim for and practicing self-awareness and self-regulation.

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