There is a famous story regarding the Buddha which recounts how He gave a teaching to a sitar player who wanted to study meditation. The musician asked "Should I control my mind or should I completely let it go?" The Buddha answered, "Since you are a musician, tell me how you would tune the strings of your instrument." The musician said "I would make them not too tight and not too loose." "Likewise" said the Buddha, "in your meditation practice you should not impose anything too forcefully on the mind, nor should you let it wander." This is the teaching of letting the mind be in a very open way, of feeling the flow of energy without trying to subdue it and without letting it get out of control, of going with the energy pattern of the mind. This is meditation practice.
Pitt Bulls are extremely loyal dogs. They are so loyal in fact that they will hurt themselves and others in order to please their masters, right or wrong.
The imagery of archetypal deities deeply penetrates the psyche and lessons are learned simply by allowing our attention to rest fully on the visual experience. There is a part of us which knows without needing analytical thought to come to a conclusion.
I recently saw a documentary about people who had been hit by lightning. Consistently, everyone was changed profoundly by the experience. Some of the changes were negative and some were positive, but everyone experienced lightning as a huge force of change and transformation in their lives.
Have you ever set an intention to go to bed at a certain time or get up at a certain time and find that you were unable to fulfill your commitment? Have you ever made up your mind to eat only those things you say you want to eat and/or not eat those things you say you do not, only to fail here too as well? Controlling the 5 senses is certainly not an easy task. Masters say that each sense organ is like a dog and that each dog wants to go in a different direction. The sense of sight wants to go off in search of beautiful sights, the sense of smell wants to go off in search of lovely fragrances, and so on. And we are attempting to walk these 5 dogs rather than let these dogs lead us around.
Schedule for Monday, September 6:
The next 3 weeks in the studio we are working with the theme Eat, Pray, Love as a life plan.Food for Yogis means energy and nourishment. Eating includes all the ways in which we nourish ourselves. The Yogic scriptures tell us that Yogis who know breath as food, know the purest food available. Uplifting music and chanting the divine sounds is food for Yogis. Time spent in nature and time spent with friends and family may also be nourishment. Sleep and rest feed the living matrix. The numerology for the studio address is a 4 and 4 symbolizes stability and rest. I love the idea of Yogis finding rest, stability and rejuvenation with each practice. The artist in me is extremely nourished by creative endeavor. The mystic in me is nourished by meditation and ritual. The point is, find out what feeds you and eat regularly.
In the human body, food is turned into energy by metabolic fire. Yogis build their fire with each practice and digestive fire matures into the fire of transformation. From the ashes of this fire, the Phoenix emerges, the new creation that is now possible.
"Each one of us, regardless of our situation, is looking for the same treasure in the ashes. We are in search of our most authentic, vital, generous, and wise self. What stands between that self and us is what burns in the fire. Our illusions, our rigidity, our fear, our blame, our lack of faith, and our sense of separation: All of these- in varying strengths and combinations- are what must die in order for a more true self to arise. If we want to turn a painful event into a Phoenix Process, we must name what needs to burn in the fire."
Elizabeth Lesser
PS: A word about intoxicants-In Yoga, we are attempting to cultivate self-sufficiency. We are much stronger and have more clarity of vision when we choose not to ingest intoxicants. Intoxicants create tamasic energy- the energy of dullness and stuckness. It is very hard to manifest creative urges in that energy of stuckness. Some masters endorse the use of hallucinogenic drugs used ritually to let us know what is possible, but drugs are a crutch to creating that expansive state of mind and the goal is to learn how to get there without the drug. If you use an intoxicant every day, you are an addict. Freedom does not equal running away or checking out and getting to the doorway is one thing- walking through it is entirely another.
Leslie Wilbur- 15 years of Yoga Practice
How has yoga changed your life? This question was asked to some students at Bliss Yoga.
Shiva statue at Cern ( Shiva was the first Yoga teacher) and the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) at Cern Particle Physics Lab in Switzerland.
Buddhist teacher Sylvia Boorstein says that all seekers dwell "at the edge of melancholy." We hover right at that border between joy and sadness. We are easily cheered, some of us easily agitated, but we dwell perennially perched at a vantage point which offers a crystal clear view of the suffering of others. Clarity of vision is cultivated with each practice, so with each progressive month and year of practice, the view gets clearer and clearer. All seekers arrive consistently to the same conclusion as that of the historical Buddha. Life is suffering. Life on planet Earth will include pain, loss, failure, sadness and disgrace, even though some of us live our lives thinking that if we plan enough, or pray enough, that somehow miraculously we and those dear to us will be spared the full spectrum of the Earthly experience. Sooner or later, we understand that no one is exempt from suffering and that knowing sadness makes joy all the sweeter.
Myths are stories from which to learn for some, but scripture and truth for others, depending on which household one was born into. The stories of Hanumanji are lessons in strength, devotion and a life of service, seva. Hanuman was the perfect servant and devotee of his ishta devata, Ram, and eventually his perfect service matured into union with Lord Rama. When Hanuman opens his chest, we see now that he carries both Ram and Sita in his heart. His words are now the words of the divine and his actions now are the actions of the divine. He has become a walking incarnation of Rama, a holy instrument of peace and healing.
....She was hot and sweaty, moving sensuously, her eyes radiated with a melting tenderness, the experience of love was expanding in her heart, her breath became audible with the rise and fall of her chest.......
"Pray for More Problems."
"Mind your own business."
We just had to replace the AC unit at the shala. The bad news is that I had not counted on such a big repair bill this month, but the good news is that the repair crew found out that the system before was not working properly because of faulty duct work. So the new system works better than ever! We should be able to keep it cooler in the Summer and warmer in the Winter more efficiently. The crew foreman told me "keeping a building cool is not just about putting cool air in, it is also about taking the warm air out". Aha! I had a light bulb moment! Yoga teaches the same principle. We not only work to bring in fresh Prana, ideas, wisdom and healing energy, but we also work to release old patterns, habitual responses, negative habits and toxins.
I am in Miami. Just finished a workshop on the Baghavad Gita with Manorama, a Sanskrit scholar who has a Sanskrit studies college in New York. (Pronounced MaNORama or Ma) The Gita, or Song of the Lord, is a Yogic Upanishad, meaning those teachings which one receives while being close to the teacher, so the teachings are meant to be imparted orally. I chanted the poetic verses of the Gita for 7 hours today and fostered a new relationship with the text. I have to admit that previously the Gita was not a favorite Yogic road map for me, which was part of the reason that I signed up for this workshop. The beauty of a vibrational language like Sanskrit is that the sounds encourage union and cultivate Oneness. And the meaning of the words is contained in the sound vibration of the words. When we chant Sanskrit, we know the meaning in our hearts and in our bellies. Sound, Shabda, comes from Space, Akash, and the more subtle the element, the more powerful it is. Space is the most subtle of the elements, so working with sound is a potent endeavor. The 51 sounds of the Sanskrit alphabet correspond to and heal the 51 petals of the lotuses of the Chakras, the energy vortexes in the body.
Yoga Schedule remains the same for the 4th of July holiday weekend!
I took a workshop once with a heart surgeon/ Yoga teacher who had the good fortune to find himself sitting on a plane next to Yoga master B.K.S. Iyengar. He thought deeply about formulating a proper question to Mr. Iyengar, not wanting to waste this golden opportunity. His question was "What is most important when practicing asana?" Iyengar's response was to balance all of the forces available to us in asana. If the hand is lifted toward the ceiling in a pose, for example, then part of us is working to open the hand, part of us working to close the hand into a fist, part of us is working to splay the fingers and part of us is working to glue all the fingers together. In perfect balance, none of these forces overpower any of the others. Gravity is a strong force to be reckoned with in poses. In a standing tree for example, the force of gravity is pressing down on the practitioner and the balanced effort is to create an equal and opposite lift from the foot up through the crown of the head. The same is true for the inversion, shoulderstand, but because we are upside down, the balanced effort is to create an equal and opposite line of energy from the shoulders, up through the instep of each foot, toward the ceiling. This concept works well with the idea of Resistance Stretching- the way most modern world class athletes now cultivate flexibility. Resistance stretching is where part of our effort is to actually prevent the stretch- more balancing of the forces- and the muscle or group of muscles are contracted as we stretch them. This way of stretching, as opposed to passive stretching, is now the preferred method because it reduces the possibility of injury through overstretching and it strengthens and stretches simultaneously. There is still a place for passive stretching in Yoga practice (Yin style), I just prefer to sprinkle it in judiciously for safety. We will be exploring resistance stretching all this week in the studio.
Coffee beans are the second most widely traded world commodity, second only to oil.
This morning in the shala we began our theme for this week of Mandala Vinyasa, or circular sequencing. Archetypal symbols penetrate the psyche and the circle is universally pleasing to the human eye and nervous system. Circles call to mind a coming back full circle, a sense of completion and wholeness. In Pagan ritual, honoring all the directions in a ceremony is called calling quarters and purifies the space, setting the stage for sacred work.
This week in the studio we will be working with the sheath of skin.Massaging the skin is an incredibly healing technique, whether we have a therapist massage us or we practice Ayurvedic self massage. Yogis are picky about what we put on the open barrier of the skin- it is best to use culinary grade oils. Working at the level of skin reminds us about appropriate barriers in life- be picky about who you spend time with, which foods and/or drugs you take in and the environments that you choose to spend time in.
In class, we work with the skin practically by stretching and squeezing the skin through muscular contraction and expansion and by promoting the exchange of fluids through perspiration.
This week in the studio we will be exploring the Yogic Sleep Meditation, Yoga Nidra. The goal of the Hatha Yoga process, asana, pranayama and relaxation practice, is the state of balance in order to set the stage for Kundalini Shakti to rise. You may not understand the concept of Kundalini Shakti or Enlightenment, but if you have practiced Hatha Yoga with some regularity, you have absolutely seen some changes in your body, your mind and your life. Your body begins to transform- those areas that were soft start to strengthen, those areas that were hard become supple, your gate becomes more graceful, aches and pains diminish, digestion becomes very efficient, the skin and eyes look more radiant and energy levels go through the roof. Yogis find with practice that a reliable happiness begins to flower and we find ourselves being overwhelmed by negative emotions less and less. Peace and contentment become the default emotional state for Yogis. Changes in the body and the mind create change in life. For Yogis, life is an adventure. The dance of creation between the Universe and individual free will becomes tangible reality for Yogis. Life becomes ground zero for infinite possibility. For simplicity's sake, let's call Kundalini Shakti the change and growth that Yogis' experience- the Yogic growth spurt. At the most advanced levels, Kundalini awakening culminates in some epiphany regarding life on planet Earth. The light of understanding begins to dawn in Yogis at the most primordial realms. Your understanding of life as we know it, will change and the practice of Yoga Nidra can facilitate that flash of insight.
This week in the studio our focus is the Crown Chakra. The lesson of Sahasara is connection- your connection to the Earth, Bhumi Devi, to the mineral kingdom, the plant kingdom, other humans and animals on the planet and ultimately, to the divine. The path of connection, quantum entanglement, is a recipe for reliable happiness. We may think that the path of acquisition is the way to happiness- acquisition of power, friends, money, things and even the acquisition of health, but the end result of getting what we want is still feeling empty inside because what we really want is to be reunited with our Source, to remember who we are. Yogis still walk the path of acquisition, we still work to achieve material world goals, but we are open to the possibility of being happy right now, a reliable happiness that does not depend on external circumstance.
The Universe teaches me lessons like this: I hear, see or experience something that I find interesting. I make a note of it in my mind, I say hmm, and then I wait for the other parts of the lesson to unfold in countless, fascinating ways. The Universe knows now that I pay attention to signs. We have established, over the years, a viable method of communication.
