Alice Bailey talks about the three yogas: Raja Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Hatha Yoga. Her view is that Raja Yoga is the yoga for this development period of the human race. Those are big thoughts. I guess for me, Zen is my Raja Yoga. I also think it’s easy to overlook the needs of the emotional and physical bodies. We need physical exercise and stretching. And equally we need some kind of emotional exercise and stretching.

I find starting my day with four or five questions very motivating. I guess they’re about states. What states do I want to be in every day. Gratitude and clarity are two of them. So what in my life already makes me feel that way. This is a lead in to a round of visualisations.

Essentially what I’m trying to do here is maintain emotional health, while I move towards liberation. There are also some powerful insights that help. One is that every experience arises within the mind. So why not choose those experiences that are going to work for us, while we liberate ourselves from experience.

Equally we develop our physical energy. We drink water, exercise and eat well, which gives us the energy and flexibility we need to sit comfortably and to have focus and enthusiasm through our days.

I think this is the modern middle way. We have, or rather are living in, a monkey living in the modern world. We need to look after it while we seek enlightenment.