Donnoi

An Introduction to Rasa Coaching ^TM

~ Donnoi-Tantra : A Model of Energy Relationships ~

Donnoi is the name given to the mediaeval relationship of courtly love under chivalry, which influenced not only our ideas of love and romance but of the individual as well. There is much relationship wisdom here, forgoten with the troubadours. The language of this movement also mirrored the expressions of saints and mystics as the souls aspiration toward the Divine. Scholars discern many influences including that of a cross cultural Tantrika and early Christian-gnostic Agapetism. This interconnected vision within donnoi and tantra - as in the Sakta, syneisaktoi & even kabbalistic traditions - are philosophical beginings and inspirations for this site and a symbol of a search for tantra as relationship - exploring the energetic and healing psychodynamics within oneself, between significant others, and untimatly revealing a unity of Spirit... symbolized as the quest for the Eternal Beloved.

The inspiration of tantra as relationship energy has further led in the course of time to a model of understanding human desire (kama) as an expression of the life force through five noetic drives and/or body wisdom’s. Tantra is ultimately about mastering our interactive energetic systems. Our emotions are feedback about the health of our energy system. In tantric yoga these drives would have a correspondence with the five sheaths or "bodies" through which the life force manifests. Many are accustomed to the idea that we have an energy system as in acupuncture. The idea here is the same. A simple description of the five drives would be that the first drive is the sex drive or libido, most primal and enduring. The second is the drive to power as will and control. The third is a core drive toward love and relatedness. The fourth is the drive to create as beauty. And the fifth is the drive to be happy or the bliss drive. The spiritual goal of human life is repeatedly envisioned as the attainment and expression of the potentcy and potential of the bliss sheath. It is viewed here as a governing drive for the realization of all methods of inner healing, self mastery and meditation.

Gai Saber was one of the many names the troubadours used to refer to their courtly discipline. It means litteraly the "happy wisdom." One could translate it as the wisdom of happines. Like the Sufi they called their path the "Religion of Love." and indeed it did have that hidden spiritual aim for those few aware of the code. They sought a realm beyond the mortal under the name of jovens which means the joy of youth - a spirit that does not age. The Tantrika too, as the yogi, aspires to this joy and relates it to amrita, the perfect medicine that has the "taste" of love-bliss. As the legendary Narada, sage of Bhakti (devotion) explained long ago; the supreme love has the nature of amrit or immortal bliss.The Sufi called this their wine; an intoxication of beatitude. The Taoists speak of this nectar as well as a sign of their progress toward immortality. In the New Testament the word blessed means "full of life joy" and Jesu said that he came that we might have life more abundantly. Likewise the kabbalists say that one should pray and contemplate with a joyful spirit.

There is then implied an unmistakable correlation between the emotions and the spirit - and the abilities which the sages in their mastery may demonstrate. We perhaps have it backwards that we need to do something to be happy. It might be more correct to say that being happy and enthused allows us to do more. If that is so, then worldly and spiritual attainment would better be served by removing the blockages within us that steal our natural childlike joy and optomism.

This is not an otherworldly dream or a sacrifice of one life drive over another. A difficulty of many theraputic and transformational systems appears to be that the stable attainment of joy and the enjoyment of ordinary life may depend on eventually addressing obstacles to the regenerative and integrating functioning of each of these drives. Not all schools of thought are that flexible. The methods and tools employed in Rasa Coaching, as it it is introduced here, are chosen with the end of assisting just this and in often innovative ways which adds to the overall speed of transformation - even supporting what other practices one may employ - and moving from distress to "eustress" or wellbeing in terms of Maslow, furthering our development toward a "self actualized" life.

~ Life Coaching for the Spirit ~

"The essence of who you are is you at your best." ~ Mark Gafni

Coaching, like most forms of counseling, is meant to help "healthy" clients, but instead of helping them solve problems, coaching focuses on helping people utilize their innate abilities more effectively than they have previously in the belief that problems and limitations resolve themselves in the face of enhanced ability. Advertising jargon has called this "achieving your full potential."

Actually, the belief in Rasa Coaching is that we are pure potential and locating and resolving the mental and emotional short circuits that drain and hold us back is the primary key to dicovering our potentials and letting them continue to blossom. Whether the goal is to overcome a fear of heights or improve a golf swing, promote the body's ability to heal itself or find inner peace, the principles are the same; clear the past, get your "ego states" out of the way and follow your inner bliss and knowing. And remember, your way may be quite different than the crowd.

My concern with the popular coaching schools is that they borrow to heavily on the analytical “talk” method of therapy which was personally all but abandoned early on as being unable to validate itself as a change agent with its own statistical methods. Rasa Coaching is intended to be a distinction furthering the evolution of the coaching model beyond mere understanding and into the core or what inhibits and motivates us.

In the pages that follow the methods and philosophy behind Rasa Coaching will be presented more fully. One thing needs to be emphasized. The goal is not simply to resolve obstacles. That is just the starting point. It is good to overcome a fear of public speaking for example. Then consider the greater advantage of even feeling enthused about speaking before a crowd. Or how about your life mates foibles or worse that take a toll over time, going beyond tolerance or forgiveness into recovery of affinity lost. That is the true win and one now a possibility worth striving for.

Coaching has an ancient tradition. From spiritual guidance under the name of the "cure of souls" to the ancient craftsman guilds to the modern trainer and mentor. A coach is an advocate for the client, taking an objective stand for the client and against any inner or outer voices that would interfere with becoming the best they could be and developing the skills for success in any endeavor. We are designed to be prosperous, in the sense of having and reaching our goals.

Prosperity affirms our nobility, and as in barter, only its currency differs depending on our calling. For some the currency is knowlwdge, for others fame. Rasa Coaching has a spiritual-energetic basis yet embraces a tantric nondualism that the world and the spirit are not opposed. In the end it is never a thing that gives us satisfaction, but the feeling. Advertisers know this well, this is what motivates us. It is the feeling of joy, love, beauty and bounty that we want to manifest in our lives.

~ Rasa : A Yoga of Feeling ~

“Only through emotions can you encounter the force field of your own soul.” – Gary Zukav

Rasa is the key term used on this site as it applies to the practice of coaching. In Tantric yoga, rasa refers to a meditation practice concerned with the life force as it expresses through our mood and feeling nature. Rasa is the "heart" of tantra. Rasa is also a Latin term which has the meaning of clean, clear or empty and as such finds association with terms like Sunyata and the Ein Soph - as the emptiness which is the ground of our being - much like the space that enfolds our material universe. Both meanings apply to the use of rasa on this site in coaching.

Aesthetically, rasa is the feeling expressed in music, poetry and art. It is the realization and expression of the beauty of life and the love of life. To live a life of love and joy is the high art of rasa.

Philosophically, our emotions and feelings are inseparable from our attitudes and in their negative and reactive aspects are the root of the ignorance of our spiritual unity and a primary cause of the failure to reach our potential. Clearing the emotional energetic blocks to full and appropriate feeling allows us to move toward ever greater spiritual happiness, inner freedom and worldly achievement. Rasa is ultimately defined as the native bliss of knowing and being ones true Self.

Relationship can be understood as a form of communion. Whether it is another person, or a thought, a feeling or sensory perception, we have a choice to identify with it, judge it, recoil from it, want it, repress it, struggle with it, or ... relate to it. The Rasa method aims at restoring our right relationship to life experience within and without and in so doing engage a great power for transformation. Consider that the right relationship will be found to be that of engaged witness, lover and enjoyer, because that is who we are beyond the surface identities. Imagine that even if troublesome ego states assume a hurricane like status at times, we can come to know ourselves as the clear and wondrous center around which they revolve and into which they finally resolve.

Rasa as a form of Hesychastic meditation also informs a method of coaching recommended here. Hesychasm is "prayer of the heart." It is a tradition of keeping a heart focus. It is usually interpred as meditaion on some icon or name - which is uplifting - within the focus of the heart. The Rasa interpretation is a practice of remaining open to the feeling nature; sensation, emotion, mood and attitude. The discipline is to release everything into emptiness or our spiritual source. A further step is to learn to receive from this souce, nourishment as inspiration for the soul. Energy Psychology forms the basis here for an interfaith “cure of souls.“

The coaching grounded in the above philosophy and in the growing field of energy psychology and its derivatives - as well as more cognitive-intentional and neuro-linguistic-kinesthetic processes, greatly aids in achieving the ancient goals of inner freedom with a sense of relatedness to those in our world and enrichment of our relationship with ourselves. As unity of spirit does not mean we are all the same, but that we are inseperable within the single life force. Suddenly, the counsel and instruction behind the old ways and practices begin to make sense. But now, there is a more elegant way and it is open to almost anyone, anytime.

The ways of letting go and entering again into the intelligent flow of the life force are briefly:
1) Change of state processes which link the physiology of one state as a trigger for transition into a higher performance state. This may seem as if a new resource is available.
2) Meridian therapies which release the energy blockages underlying limiting conditions. This may seem as if there was a spontaneous inner shift.
3) Circulation practices which intuitively redistribute free internal energy into under developed channels for the greater integration of functions. This may at times feel quite ic.
4) Intentional methods by which one may learn to simply banish or evoke affective states. This may seem very empowering and liberating.
These four approaches, in variations, constitute the core of Rasa Coaching as a learnable skill. Through learning these internal movements one becomes more present and effective in life.

Rasa also counsels and forwards the sacred sexual practices such as Karezza and Zien Tao (tantric adaptations) which are closely related to the courtly "refined love" and have the potential and intent of increasing intimacy and spiritual connection for committed lovers. The mortal love relationship is a superlative teacher, a mirror into ourselves and path of healing preparing us to commune with the Immortal Beloved as the source of life itself; an aspect of "spiritual chivalry" as reflected in the tradition of the Fideli d'Amore. This is not a sentimental view. Tantra in its spect is ultimatly about energy rather than sex. Thus in Rasa Tantra we come full circle in the quest for relationship. For those called to this path, gentle guidance is available.

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~ Quotations : The Nature of Self & Soul ~

“There can be no knowledge without emotion. We may be aware of a truth, yet until we have felt its force, it is not ours. To the cognition of the brain must be added the experience of the soul.” – Arnold Bennett

“A man who is swayed by negative emotions may have good enough intentions, may be truthful in word, but he will never find the Truth.” - Mahatma Gandhi

“There can be no transforming of darkness into light and of apathy into movement without emotion.” – Carl Jung

"One can overcome the forces of negative emotions, like anger and hatred, by cultivating their counter-forces, like love and compassion." – H.H. Dalai Lama

“The poisonous emotions that saturate peoples minds in this dark era are the principle cause of their wandering in the endless cycles of samsara ( to illusion) .... freedom from obscuring emotions is the sign of meditation” – H.H. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

“The whole hearted practice of meditation brings deep Bliss.

The Souls nature is Bliss - a lasting inner state of ever new, ever changing joy which eternally entertains, even when one passes through the trials of physical suffering or death.

Pure love, sacred joy, poetic imagination, kindness wisdom, peace, happiness are felt inside first in the mind or heart … learn to be secretly happy within your heart in spite of all circumstances …. Once Soul happiness is yours, no one will be able to take it from you, however long your journey toward timelessness and eternity.” – Paramhansa Yogananda (abstracts)

“It is regrettable that in the name of Yoga a great deal of advice has been given to layman which is more harmful than beneficial. Some day the departments of physiology and Neurology in the reputable universities of the world may establish departments of objective knowledge where Yoga breathing will be properly taught.

Attention should not be to watch the breathing, but to enjoy it.

If you enjoy the sense of breathing (for example), while breathing, you will automatically feel like smiling.

That smile is you. That is what you call a soul.

In the bosom of the oxygen atom there is a hidden essence not to be detected by the human eye. It is Amiya or nectar.

Without stirring even a ray of thought in your brain, breath softly.

And love flows in and out with every breath.” – Pundit Acharya M.D. (abstracts)

“The Inner Smile connects our biological self, our psychological self, and our spiritual self in a practical way. It relies on the power of non-verbal communication coupled with a clear mind intent to “creatively find” the harmony hidden within everything.

Many people who practice the Inner Smile experience immediate calmness. For others it opens up inner vistas of spiritual joy. Some practitioners experience spontaneous ‘miraculous’ healing from psychological problems or diseases.

Smiling can melt energy patterns that we might feel are stuck or frozen inside us. It can reach and dissolve patterns that have frustrated other forms of therapy, if done with proper focus ... it can probe powerfully into the depths of our unconscious, where few can reach ... the Inner Smile is both the work of the beginning practice and the flowering of the advanced practice.” – Michael Winn (abstracts)

Here is another from the great Kaula Kashmiri Shaivite Tantrika; Abhinavagupta : “The ether-storehouse of the Heart is bliss, the supreme abode! This is ourself, our Yoga too …."

And lastly a quote from Rebbe Nachman: “Always remember: joy is not merely incidental to your spiritual quest. It is vital.” And ... “Finding true joy is the hardest of all spiritual tasks.”

This underlies the philosophy of Rasa Coaching!

~ UNDER CONSTRUCTION ~