Mahāpatha Yoga

Yoga, Meditation, & Kirtan by Douglas Johnson

Observer Independent Reality is Not A Reality

Understanding the famous double-slit experiment of quantum physics is a very good reality check for our belief as humans that we understand or see reality “as it is”. This is scientifically impossible because you as the observer are affecting the reality you are observing. There is nothing “out there” independent of you as an observer to observe, and IMO all the great spiritual traditions teach this in one form or another.

Now this very interesting experiment in this article above “proves” that there is no observer independent reality. This is why if a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, it doesn’t make a sound. However, this has to be understood in a larger context which many of the most advanced spiritual traditions also uphold. Everything is conscious or you might say everything is consciousness. Understood in this light we see that the ‘observer’ is everywhere.

Seen in this light we begin to see the truth in statements made in traditions like Buddhism that the true nature of reality is Emptiness. Or the Tantric world view that the root of everything is ultimately Awareness. As one of my teachers is fond of saying, there is only one thing going on, and you’re it!

Jai Bhagwan

-Douglas Johnson E-RYT 500, YACEP

To see more articles, instructional material and exclusive content visit Mahāpatha Yoga, Kirtan, & Meditation on Patreon.com.

Tentative Calendar for 2019 Retreats

I have had a lot of people asking about my upcoming retreats. So here is what I have planned for 2019 so far:

WINTER (meditation focus)

  • January Zen Meditation Immersion – January 18th – 20th
  • March Zen Meditation Immersion – March 1st – 3rd

SPRING (kundalini focus)

  • Awakening The Serpent Power: A Kundalini Tantra Immersion – May 2nd – 5th

SUMMER (bhakti focus)

  • Bhakti, Bhoga & Bliss: An Exploration of the Yogic Path of Love & Devotion – July 26th – 28th

FALL (harvesting/reviewing/deepening of practices)

  • Kundalini Intensive – November 5th – 6th
  • Meditation Intensive – November 6th – 7th
  • Bhakti Break – November 7th – 8th
  • Yoga Intensive – November 8th – 10th

You will notice that I have organized the kind of work we will do by the season. This was done to try to maximize the effect that seasonal changes have on our Prana, or Qi. A great way to work with this calendar is to simply do the retreats in the order they are presented.

If you are not able to attend all these retreats then I recommend attending a retreat you have not done before. For instance, if you have been doing the Meditation Immersions with me for a few years now but have not done Awakening the Serpent Power (ASP) then you might do that retreat instead of repeating another Meditation Immersion.

The “add on” days in November before the weekend Yoga Intensive are also designed to allow you to stretch yourself and step outside of your comfort zone, especially if you have done the Yoga Intensive in the past. These extra days can also function as a recharge and deepening of practices you learned earlier during another retreat. And finally they can be used as a sort of “make up” if there was a retreat you wanted to attend earlier in the year but could not.

If you are new to doing retreat with me, starting with one of the Winter Meditation Immersion Weekends or with the November Yoga Intensive is a very good place to start.

If you have any questions about the calendar or upcoming retreats feel free to ask.

Jai Bhagwan

-Douglas Johnson E-RYT 500, YACEP

To see more articles, instructional material and exclusive content visit Mahāpatha Yoga, Kirtan, & Meditation on Patreon.com.

Integrative Surgery by Maggie Diller, M.D.

Here is my girlfriend Dr. Maggie Diller’s Grand Rounds talk on “Integrative Surgery” which she hopes will become a new paradigm for enhanced recovery for surgical patients. I hope you enjoy it and learn a lot from watching it, I know I did.

Jai Bhagwan

-Douglas Johnson E-RYT 500, YACEP

To see more articles, instructional material and exclusive content visit Mahāpatha Yoga, Kirtan, & Meditation on Patreon.com.

Short Five Rites Flow from October Popup

Here is a short hour-long version of my Five Rites Flow from back in October.

Even though the name of the sequence has the word “flow” in it that most people associate with Vinyasa or Power yoga styles, this is actually a mix of short Yin-style holds with short repetitive Tibetan Vinyasas mixed in.

I first created this style of class when teaching Yin Yoga in the early morning and wanting to give people a Yin experience that would be as invigorating as it is relaxing to get them ready for their day. To do this I set the goal of articulating all the major joints (hips, shoulders, spine) through all their major articulations and of also taking people through The Five Tibetan Rites of Rejuvenation taken from the book The Eye of Revelation. On retreat I teach a version of this class that lasts several hours.

I use to call it Yin/Yang and that is not an inaccurate description of the class as it has both stillness (yin) and movement (yang), and lower body (yin) upper body (yang). I changed the name because I wanted both to draw out this style’s unique quality of using the Five Tibetan Rites, and because I wanted to leave room to teach a Yin/Yang class in the style of my teachers Paul and Suzee Grilley.

Jai Bhagwan

-Douglas Johnson E-RYT 500, YACEP

To see more articles, instructional material and exclusive content visit Mahāpatha Yoga, Kirtan, & Meditation on Patreon.com.

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