Soul’s Code

We asked readers to submit photos of themselves doing their spiritual thing — yoga, pilates, meditation, whatever — anywhere but where we'd expect to see them.

We received scores of terrific entries — a guy perched atop a hotel banister, a couple poised along the ridge of a canyon — so cool, that we were called to feature our favorites in a new Soul's Code slideshow, Meditation Junkies.

We love the Times Square yoga-pose because the setting is so counter-intuitive. Where do you quiet a busy mind? Of course! In the busiest place on earth :)

The spiritual teacher Ram Dass had a saying that goes something like: 'If you think you're so enlightened, go spend a week of vacation visiting your parents.' You can issue a similar challenge using Times Square as the benchmark: try maintaining a space of detachment and serenity there, of all places!

Sachin Kandhari, who lives on Long Island, did just that -- and as Ram Dass' aphorism invites us to try, did it with his parents! Sachin picked them up at JFK Airport (they had flown in from Dubai, where they live) and drove them straight to the Summer Solstice celebration at Times Square in Manhattan this past June 21. His father, himself a yogi, took this shot of Sachin doing a headstand, called the sirsasana pose.

'Besides simply having a good stretch in the city,' says Sachin, 'one of the goals is to practice meditation in the busiest place on earth.' Namaste, dude, and thanks for sharing your image!

NEXT: When heaven meets earth, and earth meets heaven

RAQUEL TAVARES is both the model in this slideshow, and its author. Born in Brazil, she learned yoga from her mother as a child and is now a certified Ashtanga instructor.

The meaning of the word 'yoga,' like the meaning of word 'love,' has been butchered. The cynicism prevalent in America, coupled with the discredit of love as a concept, has led to an odd detachment from the word and its real meaning.

Love, of course, is ethereal and intangible, which makes it difficult for our materialistic society to comprehend. After all, love cannot be bought or sold; there is no manual for finding it. As Warren Zevon wrote (and Don Henley sang): 'You can't start it like a car; you can't stop it with a gun'.

In fact, love often goes undetected. Discovering and understanding love happens when you withdraw from the senses, when you form an understanding of the self from an inner union. So how does one form this awareness, this feeling, and this truth of love? Through the devoted practice of Yoga.

Yoga

In Sanskrit, the root of the word Yoga is yuj, meaning to bind, to join, to attach and to yoke. Yoga often means union, the bringing together of opposites. It is within this union that you can begin to grasp the duality that exists within the self — be it love and hate, goodness and evil, desire and restraint, darkness and light. Through yoga you begin to balance dualities we otherwise tend to ignore. By fusing them, you see yourself and all the beauty and darkness that lies within. Similarly, as you get closer to the self through the devoted practice of yoga and begin to glimpse the atman (soul level), you form balanced relationships around you.

Devotion is Key

When we marry we say, Until death do us part. The last posture in a yoga sequence is called The Posture of Death or Corpse Pose. Success with yoga, just as a success in marriage, requires utter devotion. Yoga and love can happen, but they may not stay alive without devotion. To reach the core of love or yoga and to get to the atman, requires sacrifice, connection and surrender.

The most challenging aspect of beginning anything is to practice, to devote, and to surrender. That is why the most difficult of postures in a yoga series is the last one. That is why the most difficult part of a romantic relationship is marriage and why so many marriages end up in divorce — because that true surrender and devotion is not maintained, or it never existed at all.

NEXT: Savasana: The art of devotion

Think of this as the Soul's Code version of the Body Mass Index, known as BMI. Our Pain Body Index, while far less scientific, measures an individual’s unconscious hurt and anger — the stuff that resides in the psyche’s basement.

The term pain body, to give proper credit, was coined by the spiritual teacher, Eckhart Tolle. He isn't just talking about individuals: riots and road rage are examples of a community’s pain body.

Our PBI, inspired by The Harper’s Index, takes statistical stock of America’s collective pain body. The spectrum covers depression and drugs (taken to the extreme in the film, Trainspotting, where Ewan McGregor, struggles to kick a heroin habit), divorce and Dick Cheney (our nation's highest-profile gun nut).

NEXT: Armed and Dangerous

We share the following guidance for dealing with loss from first-hand experience, not from a distance.

We felt called because of the striking synchronicity of so many recent deaths among our own friends and family. The penultimate loss is a death in your immediate household — a being who lives with you, or whom you have lived with. But these steps can also help those who are feeling down after a break-up, divorce, job loss — or even literally losing part of yourself due to surgery, illness or an accident. A Scandinavian tradition on Christmas Eve is to illuminate the graves — and spirits — of departed loved ones with candles (above). We dedicate this series to those who have recently suffered the loss of a loved one. We begin this series on a personal note by honoring these endings: Charles Arnold Post, Elizabeth Kaihla, Thomas Caulfield, Frederick De Hart, John Traugott Engelbrecht In the name of the living and one true Spirit, may their souls be sanctified and rest in eternal peace. We also offer a prayer of loving kindness and healing to the living who remain, and to our friends Kelli and Anna who are recovering from surgery. Please feel free to add your own prayers and petitions below . . .

STEP 1: Taking Care of Numero Uno

Born again . . . and again, and again

We asked everyone in the world to send Soul's Code an example of a person, place or thing that inspires or "enlightens" them. (And offered a $250 Grand Prize :)

What we got is the opposite-day of obvious. A yuppie in indulgent trance at Bliss Spa in Manhattan? A Boomer in Conde Naste Traveler bliss at the sacred ruins of Machu Piccu in Peru?

Nah, Soul's Coders are not caricatures of advertorial. We present our 7 favorite finalists, including a cigar-smokin' granny in Havana, Cuba who imbued a young Viet-American seeker from Texas with an inescapable moment of memory and bliss.

We've organized this slideshow by riffing on the medieval notion of  7 Heavenly Virtues: Purity, Temperance, Charity, Diligence, Patience, Kindness and Humility.

The Soul's Code re-labeling of those noble ideals?  Click through to see how we match our readers' submissions and personal stories with a post-modern schema of 7 virtuous values.

Let's begin with Re-Cycling, in the form of Carol Ruth, a mysterious woman who created the incredible image above, and never replied to our requests about where she is from and what she does. We actually like that! But Carol did reveal this deeply personal detail:

This is a photo montage of some of my past lives! I have known about several past lives since I was nine years old, and presently, I am sixty-five. Therefore, my "thoughts" are my inspiration. I hope you like it.

Carole called her contribution, "Soul Traveler."

NEXT: Les Enfants du Cali, Colombia