By Dr. Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500, YACEP
How can you beat your ego with meditation? One of the primary benefits of meditation is creating a sense of stillness and calm. That said, a sense of calm can be present throughout one’s entire life. The stillness and inner peace is one of the most attractive aspects of making meditation a daily practice. Additionally, meditation is clearing the mind; and in clearing the mind; silences the ego. In order to silence the ego; it is necessary to understand what the ego is and why it exists.
Definitions
Let’s start with what the ego is not. Within Yogic philosophy, the ego is only part of you, but it is not all of you. The ego is a form of personality consciousness, with a unique tasking system of analyzing, judging, and labeling everything. The ego is who your mind thinks you are.
Obstacles
In Yogic terms, some call the ego “asmita.” Just this term, alone, allows us to identify this self-created image of ourselves, which we sometimes believe is us, but it is not entirely us. In reference to the ego, Swami Krishnananda once said, “That which stands between the meditating consciousness and the object is something inscrutable. It is because of this inscrutability that it cannot easily be overcome. On scrutiny, that principle will be realised to be a projection from the meditating consciousness itself. It is you yourself standing there as an obstacle to yourself. Ultimately you will realise that there is nobody else.”
What to Do?
Trying to beat your ego, by attacking it directly, actually serves to strengthen it. The ego feeds off survival situations, and being attacked, adds another battle hardened facet to its perceived self. In a survival situation, the ego becomes a victim or a perpetrator. If it sees itself as a victim, the ego imagines the present self is being overly critical and making a martyr of it. If the ego sees itself as a perpetrator, it is the doer of such bad deeds that it deserves contempt. An ego, in this state, is even more powerful than the normal form of ego, which is unhealthy because it can justify criminal behavior.
Comparisons and Opinions
Therefore, never seek to directly attack and defeat your ego because it is an exercise in self-defeat. We actually need the ego for survival, because some comparisons will save our lives. How can this be? If we cross a street, we need to observe, analyze, and make a judgment call as to when we cross. Therefore, the ego is necessary, but we cannot allow the ego to have the driver’s seat of our mind.
Objective Observation
Consider this an exercise, but remember there is more than one way to beat your ego without a struggle. In order to control the ego, it must be observed objectively in states of meditation. The ego struggles for attention and creates mind chatter by shouting out different thoughts concerning pride, worry, and fear. The mind can wander much like a monkey without a purpose. Hence, the term “monkey mind” is a well known hurdle in meditation.
Inner Peace
Many beginners, to meditation, grow disheartened at this point – not understanding why a practice that is supposed to bring inner peace is bringing them just the opposite. It would be a mistake to give up and give the ego what it wants. The beginner’s frustration and nervousness will fade with continued meditation and observation.
Accepting
When the ego is causing disquiet within your inner waters – accept it for what it is and simply observe the inner turmoil. This automatically creates the distance needed to tolerate this distress. With careful observation, the ego’s final attempt at survival actually becomes fuel for radical inner change. Stay the course, and the waters will calm down before you know it – leading to that stillness and peace for which meditation is known. There is no need to directly confront or beat the ego. When acknowledge the ego as the ultimate “back seat driver,” we can easily accept its role in life.
© Copyright – Aura Wellness Center – Publications Division
Do you want to become a mindfulness meditation teacher?
See our selection of Yoga instructor courses and continuing education courses; please visit the following link.
https://aurawellnesscenter.com/store/
Click here to see our online Yoga Nidra teacher training course.
Are you an experienced teacher looking for YACEP credits or continuing education?
Subscribe to Our Newsletter for Special Discounts and New Products
Are you considering how to become a yoga instructor? See our selection of affordable meditation and yoga teacher certification courses.
Do you want to become a yoga instructor? See our selection of affordable meditation and yoga teacher certification courses. See our testimonials to find out what our graduates say about our selection of inexpensive yoga instructor certification intensives.
A great visualization is to go through and analyze your ego, like going to the store to shop, fill your bags with all the things your ego deceives you into thinking you are. A mom, dad, accountant, athlete, drifter, bum, loser or winner. Then carry those bags home feel the weight of all of them. Then before you go into your home, imagine there is a huge fire pit. Throw all the annoying heavy bags into the fire pit and watch them burn into thin air freeing you from the unwanted burden.
Never seek to directly attack and beat your ego because it is an exercise in self-defeat. Thanks for valuable posting!
Thanks for the tips about how to beat your ego! One of the primary benefits of meditation is creating a sense of stillness, and calm, which can be present throughout one’s entire life.