Written by Gurudev Shri Amritji
When you are identified with your self-image, it acts as a screen of self-concepts and pre-learned perceptions. It arises from the reactively distorted impressions stored in your memories of the past. When you perceive through this screen, you superimpose preprogrammed labels, judgments, values, words, and images onto others and yourself. This blocks you from being in direct connection with the reality of what or who is actually present.
This screen of self-image is what creates separation—between you and yourself, you and others, you and your body, you and the Being that you are. This separation is a personally induced illusion. Most people live in this separative mode of interacting with life.
Each time you operate from the reactively conditioned part of you that is disconnected from the Source of love within, you recreate that separation outside. Your interaction with others is simply a reflection of what you carry inside. At the level of your subconscious sympathetic being, which expresses through the parasympathetic pranic energy of polarity, you are responding to what is present. The subconscious does not judge, label, or analyze. It functions in response to now. It has no past or future.
Every time you react with fear, anger, or pain to what is present, you simultaneously imprint that reaction in your subconscious body. This means everything that passes through your thoughts and emotions—fear, jealousy, anger, rejection, love, or hate—is mirrored in your body and reflected in your relationships and life experiences.
The question is: Why does it happen inside as it does outside—or outside as it does inside? Because your inner and outer worlds are not separate. The Being Presence that I AM and the parasympathetic nervous system represent the two poles of one co-creative reality. Together, they form the positive pole of consciousness (the witnessing awareness) and the negative pole of energy (the feeling body). These are sometimes referred to as the masculine and feminine aspects of existence, functioning together as one whole.
But when you are cut off from this unified polarity and caught in your self-image, perception becomes fragmented.
When you are identified with your self-image, the reactive perceiver in you distorts your perception of what is. You are no longer seeing what is truly there—you are seeing through the screen of memory. This screen becomes the very mechanism that separates you from others, from your body, and from the Being within.
Each human being is operating from two centers:
- The Source of Oneness within—the timeless, ever-present Being that I AM.
- The self-image or ego-mind—the reactive identity shaped by divided memories, which separates you from the I AM.
The first draws you inward, toward Presence and unity. The second lives outward, in time, reacting to the external world, trapped in separation from the Self and others. The Source within you dissolves the stress-producing, conflict-creating memory impressions of the past.
The thinking mind is a powerful instrument, but when driven by bias, fear, or programming, it becomes destructive. Neuroscience confirms that over 90% of brain activity operates from habitual, unconscious patterns. You do not use your mind—your mind uses you.
Yoga is the practice of stepping out of these conditioned memory loops. It is the process of peeling away the layers of personality—the karmic coverings that obscure the Being that you are. It is a return to the center of your Being. Each layer you release carries unresolved memory: trauma, hurt, emotional wounds. Yoga frees the energy blocks stored in your nerves, glands, muscles, and cells. As energy blocks in the body dissolve, the memory blocks in the brain also begin to release. You reconnect with the natural intelligence of your body, and with the creative intelligence of the natural world. You emerge from the memory prison of the past and awaken into the living Presence of Oneness.
This is true freedom. As you practice I AM Yoga®, you begin to dissolve the compulsive thought patterns that hold you in separation. You experience moments of silence, stillness, and peace. At first, these are brief. But with continued practice, the experience of Oneness becomes more natural and enduring. You begin to root in Presence.
As that Presence deepens, your energy radiates outward. It shines through your skin, your eyes, your entire field. Joy and ease begin to flow through you, silently communicated wherever you go. You become a living transmission of Oneness.
If you’re ready to move from understanding to embodiment, join us for the Inner Dimension of Yoga Retreat this July 13–18, 2025—a rare opportunity to immerse yourself in these teachings directly with Gurudev Shri Amritji.
