The Inner Light

One of my most influential yoga teachers is Dr. Richard C. Miller. He has a knack for taking the most difficult or esoteric subjects, such as pranayama or tantric meditation practices, and translating them in a way that is easy for the Western mind to understand. To this day, every class I teach has some element of him in it.

He once said that we are all blessed with an inner light - the capacity to become enlightened - but that it is hidden from us because of incorrect thinking. He used the analogy of a light bulb, covered over in many, many layers of very thin tissue paper. Individually, these tissues are sheer and translucent, but there are so many of these filmy layers covering the bulb that we are not even aware that there is a light underneath them. 

According to Richard, introspective practices, such as yoga or meditation, allow these gossamer tissues to be removed one by one. With sustained practice over time, more and more layers are peeled away, and gradually the light begins to emerge. Then, one day, we are suddenly enLIGHTened. It is, as Stephen Levine calls it, a "gradual awakening" which seems to take place suddenly, but only after countless incremental steps.

The Inner Light by George Harrison:  

Without going out of my door
I can know all things on earth
Without looking out of my window
I could know the ways of heaven

The farther one travels
The less one knows
The less one really knows

Without going out of your door
You can know all things of earth
Without looking out of your window
You could know the ways of heaven

The farther one travels
The less one knows
The less one really knows

Arrive without traveling
See all without looking
Do all without doing

Blessings,

Roger