Bliss Yoga Shala

Get Shaktified!

2012-01-20T07:34:00.000-08:00

The ancient stories are either myth or scripture depending on which house you were born into- either way they are here to teach us lessons.

Once upon a time there was a family- Shiva and Parvati, the father and mother, and 2 sons- Ganesh and Skanda. Shiva and Parvati found a near perfect mango, ripe and beautiful. So beautiful that they had the sons compete for the mango by proposing a race around the universe. Skanda immediately went to his vehicle, a peacock, and sped away. Ganesh, on the other hand, first sat in meditation. Skanda was already 3/4 of the way before Ganesh finally got up and went to his vehicle, a mouse. Ganesh and his vehicle made a circle around his parents and he said you are my universe and I have completed a circle around you. And so Ganesh won the race and collected his prize, the nearly perfect mango.

The lesson from the story is that there are always many different paths available to us. There is not one perfect way to get from point a to point b but rather a choice of different means and methods to accomplish the task and to arrive at the desired destination. Ganesh as an archetype represents the energy that clears obstacles- sometimes Ganesh goes around an obstacle and sometimes he pushes right through the obstacle in order to clear the path.

Ganesh is an elephant god. He has enormous ears for listening. In our story, Ganesh first sits in meditation before the race while his brother immediately dashes off. Meditation is the act of actively listening to the Divine- whatever your name is for the Divine. When we study the Ganesh story, we are reminded that we get more clarity on the different paths that are always available to us when we sit regularly in meditation. It is by quieting the mind and listening regularly that the possible pros and pitfalls associated with each distinct path are made clear to us. When Ganesh meditated he discovered that his parents were his universe- when we meditate we naturally begin to see what is most important to us in life and we tend to focus more on what we do want rather than obsessing about what we do not want. Ganesh has a huge belly and it is said that in his belly he holds the entire universe. In Tantra we are taught that all humans are an exact replica of the universe- microcosm/macrocosm. We really do hold the entire universe in our bellies, just like Ganesh.

There is not one perfect, one size fits all way to practice asana. Because all humans are beautifully unique, there are many different traditions and ways to practice asana- some styles are heated, some are not, some practice the inverted poses, some do not, backbends may come first, forward bends may come first, some use the ujjayi method of breathing, some do not- the list and differences go on and on. One point we stress in our Yoga teacher trainings is that in Yoga it is not a question of what is right and what is wrong, but rather what is appropriate and therapeutic for me right now. This week in the shala, we will practice our asana sequences without sun salutations at the beginning of our practices (gasp!), which is a departure from our normal flows. There are different paths to get from point a to point b and we can prepare for meditation with or without sun salutations.

Ganesh has long twisting trunk which represents the kundalini energy- the highly creative energy that in Tantra we are taught is inherent in every single human being in a dormant seed like form. Spiritual practice awakens this energy and when it is awakened it is called Shakti- a vibrant force of Grace and Transformation. This week we will also explore the many means and methods for awakening Shakti- to get Shaktified. We will work with mantra, mudra, bandha and meditation. The awakening of Shakti is the quickening, the fire lighting that propels human beings toward enlightenment- the realization of our greatest potential.

Om Gum Ganapatayei Namaha is the mantra, the sound vibration that brings us into alignment with the Ganesh wisdom.

Chakra Flow

2012-01-01T10:13:00.000-08:00

In a study I saw recently the US ranks 23 out of 29 countries for math and science proficiency in students. We are near the bottom of the list. But, what I found even more interesting was that when the researchers asked the students how they thought they did on the tests the American students ranked #1 in confidence, a misplaced confidence apparently. Because our children are a reflection of us, my conclusion is that we think we are smarter than we really are. There is a perception problem with we Americans- a lack of clarity of vision. In Tantra, this is considered a problem with the Ajna Chakra energetically- the 3rd eye. We don't know what we don't know and worse, we think we do know.

The image above is the cadudeus- it is the modern symbol of the AMA- the American Medical Association. This image is also a representation of the Chakra system in the human body- the part of us that is energy. Where the snakes criss cross are chakras- major intersections of energy lines, where the snakes meet is the 6th chakra- the 3rd eye where the 2 energy lines that the snakes represent, ida and pingala, merge and the center staff is the central line of energy- sushumna. We can reasonably conclude from this image that at one point, healers in the west knew about chakras and energy and used that knowledge for healing. The vintage medical term and concept humours are part of that past knowledge. I can easily see how when scientists began to learn about viruses, bacteria and the like, that doctors chose to let go of this knowledge and methods in favor of all the new wonderful things they were now able see under microscopes. Only recently do we have holistic physicians who are choosing to practice medicine using a fusion of the old knowledge and the new.

Dr. Joseph Campbell taught mythology and the power of myth for the bulk of his lifetime. He taught that the truths that we discover in myths come from the study of the symbols and metaphors in the myth rather than looking at the story of the myth literally- he even believed it was a perversion of myth to study the stories literally. Trying to use energetic methods of healing alone for say, a broken bone, is a perversion of the energetic method and using modern western medicine alone is just as foolhardy. Both systems work best when they are practiced together- using wisdom and techniques from both models.

What causes stomach ulcers?
For years scientists and doctors thought that stomach and intestinal ulcers were caused by stress, eating spicy foods or drinking too much alcohol. But in 1982, two Australian doctors discovered that H. pylori, a bacterium that lives in the lining of the stomach can cause what is known as peptic ulcer disease.
BUT, it turns out that h. pylori infection is common in 2/3 of the world's population and most people will never experience negative symptoms.
The holistic view for the cause of stomach ulcers is that both theories are true- they are caused by a bacterium AND something compromised the immune system enough for negative symptoms to manifest. Holistic healing would address both systems- physical and energetic.

The same could be said for any illness including the common cold. We know from modern science that colds are caused by viruses but not everyone who is exposed to the virus will develop a cold. This is where the building of health and wellness comes in which is integral to energetic methods versus the focus on cessation of negative symptoms which is integral to western medicine. The efficiency of immune system can be cultivated - making it better at discerning what to let in and what to keep out of the system.

This week in the shala we'll be practicing a flow through the chakras- developing the energy system of the body for healing and we'll learn some methods for cultivating the clarity of vision that comes with balancing the 3rd eye chakra.

2011 Holiday Schedule

2011-12-13T07:22:00.000-08:00

Happy Kwanzaa, Chanukah, Yule, Winter Solstice, New Year, Chinese New Year and Merry Christmas!

Satuday, Christmas Eve: 9 am All Levels Flow with Sherri - only class of the day
Sunday, Christmas Day: 9 am All Levels Flow with Sherri -only class of the day
Saturday, New Years Eve: 9 am All Levels Flow with Shri- only class of the day
Sunday, New Years Day: 11 am All Levels Flow with Sherri and Sound Healing Concert with Living Sound 5-7 pm by donation

Happy Holidays!

Yoga Teaches Us How to Think and Not What To Think

2011-12-01T07:22:00.001-08:00

Yoga teaches us how to think and not what to think.
Shri Hamilton-Hubbard- with many thanks to Ted for an amazing conversation over a Thanksgiving feast! (And Yoga teaches how to not think at all which is when the answers truly come!)

Yogas chitta vrtti nirodhah.
Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind.

Tada drastuh svarupe vasthanam.
Then the seer rests in his/her own true nature.

Yoga Sutras of Patanjali 1.1 and 1.2

Yoga teaches us that if we can quiet the mind then we will know who we are. Patanjali tells us how to know who we are but does not go so far as to tell us who we are. I love this about the Yogic system! It lets practitioners discover Truth on their own.
The same state of mind- quiet enough to hear divine guidance and inspiration- serves us well in life practically. We make much better decisions if we are fully present in the moment.

"When our perceptions are no longer dressed up or boxed in by our endless list of ideas,

we can understand what is meant by "Seeing things as they are."

When we are very, very still, in the way that meditation allows us to be,

we can find the space to let everything be as it is.

It is from that space that you will find the room you need

to see who you are and how you fit in the world."

Angel Kyodo Williams

Bliss Yoga 200 Hour TT Program

2011-12-01T07:16:00.001-08:00

Our next 200 Hour TT program (Feb 2012) includes a weekend retreat with Sandra Anderson at the Himalayan Institute in Honesdale, PA!!!
http://www.himalayaninstitute.org/

Sandra AndersonCo-author of the award-winning Yoga: Mastering the Basics and a senior editor for Yoga International magazine, Sandra Anderson’s work draws on her studies of traditional yoga texts and her extensive visits to India, where she conducts an annual yoga teacher training program. Sandra holds a degree in geology and began her studies in yoga while working in the environmental protection field. Initiated into the Himalayan tradition in 1988, she lives at HI and teaches all aspects of yoga.

200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training with Shri

2011-11-27T18:51:00.001-08:00

This will be my last teacher training program until 2015 so if you are thinking of taking TT with me- then now is the time!

Bliss Yoga Shala

200 Hour Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training with Shri Hamilton-Hubbard
February through November 2012

Tuition: $3000.00 -includes unlimited classes at Bliss Yoga Shala for the duration of the TT program and all workshops including a weekend of Yoga with Sandra Anderson at Himalayan Institute in Honesdale, PA. (transportation to Honesdale is not included) All workshops are in the Jacksonville area except for our weekend at HI. (Absolutely no refunds will be issued)

Participants must be registered by Feb 1 in order to book workshops!

Schedule:

Orientation: Saturday 28 at noon (We meet for an hour)

Sat and Sun February 11 and 12: Meditation weekend with Dr. Rolf Sovik (Jax)

Sunday March 11: Restorative Yoga Workshop with Kate Cordell (Jax)

Saturday March 31: Temple of Sound/ Nada Purification Workshop with Kirtan Master Bagavan Das (Jax)

Sat April 28: TT at Bliss

Sunday May 6: Meditation retreat at Honeycreek Retreat Center in Georgia (an hour away)

Fri through Sunday May 18-20: Yoga and The Vayus Weekend Retreat with Sandra Anderson at HI in Honesdale, PA.

Sat June 9: TT at Bliss

Sunday June 24: Therapeutic Yoga for the Back with Joan Ryan (Jax)

July, Sat 7/14 and Sat 7/21: TT at Bliss

Aug, Sat 8/11 and Sat 8/25: TT at Bliss

Sept, Sun 9/16 and Sun 9/23: TT at Bliss

Oct, Sun 10/14 and Sun 10/28: TT at Bliss

Nov, Sun 11/11 and Sun 11/18: TT at Bliss

Other guest teachers include: Anatomy with Derek Gill and the Yoga Sutras with Stan Hubbard

The Head and the Heart

2011-11-20T10:41:00.001-08:00

The ancient stories are either mythology or scripture- depending on which house you were born into.....
either way, the stories are here to teach us lessons.

Once upon a time, the archetype Lord Shiva decided that he would go to Earth and teach the humans how to live a life of devotion. He would incarnate in the body of Hanuman- half monkey and half man. His wife at the time, Shakti, would not let Shiva go alone for his task so she came with him as the tail of the monkey. Shakti is energy and monkeys play and have fun swinging by their tails.

Hanuman took his birth on Earth and as a baby he looked up at the Sun and thought it was a ripe, juicy mango. He made a giant leap up toward the Sun to eat it and Lord Indra shot a bolt of lightning at the baby monkey to prevent him from eating the Sun. The bolt of lightning broke Hanumans jaw- his name literally means one whose jaw was broken. Hanuman was taken to a hospital for healing and was taught the science of mantra- sacred sound- in order to facilitate his healing and recuperation. So, the breaking of his jaw was actually auspicious because it was his initiation into mantra. Often in life, what appears to be a challenge eventually becomes a blessing. After Hanuman was healed, he decided to continue his studies in mantra in earnest and asked around for a mantra teacher. Everyone told him that the Sun was the very best mantra teacher. Hanuman asked the Sun to take him on as a disciple but the Sun was still upset about Hanuman trying to bite him so he initially refused. Hanuman continued to ask and promised that he would be very good and the Sun finally relented and took Hanuman on as a dedicated student of mantra. Hanuman eventually becomes a master of Mantra and a living example of a life of surrender and devotion.

We are taught in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali that mantra brings union with one's beloved deity (source of inspiration) and obstacles are cleared. Hanuman's beloved deity (ishta devata) is Ram and the ancient stories are filled with tales of Hanuman's loyalty and devotion to Ram. Hanuman's actions and his practice of sacred sound (mantra) brings him union with Ram. In one story, Hanuman rips open his heart to show the world that Ram is there residing in his heart.

For many people, the 11.11.11 auspicious date that we just experienced is thought of as a portal, an entryway into a new age- an age of higher consciousness and increased harmony. Jyotish, Vedic Astrology, agrees in that it predicts a 14 year cycle which begins now for humanity- a cycle where the prevailing theme is the urge to merge. Inverted poses facilitate the lessons of Hanuman because in those shapes, the head is lower than the heart. We are reminded that ideally the mind should serve the desires of the heart. In this age, we will all feel the impulse to merge the heart and the mind. Sometimes the heart wants one thing and the mind talks us into another. This conflict will often affect our physical health in negative ways.

Chinese medicine teaches a strong connnection between heart and mind. It is said that when we sleep, the mind is housed in the heart, which is why we wake up in a good mood, feeling refreshed. Conversely, when we do not sleep, we are often cranky - like a dog that is agitated because it cannot get into its house. Most major organs in the body have their own meridian, but the brain does not have its own meridian because it is said to be ruled by the heart meridian, which ends in the pinky finger.

This week in the shala, we will honor Hanuman and learn about Bhakti Yoga, the Yoga of devotion, by practicing inverted poses and mantra and paying particular attention to our pinky fingers in asana and mudra work. And, we'll practice a pose that reminds us of Hanumans auspicious leap toward the Sun- his initiation into the magic of mantra- the Mango Pose!

Thanksgiving Holiday Schedule

2011-11-18T16:02:00.001-08:00

Holiday Schedule:

Thanksgiving Day: 9 am All Levels Detox Flow with Pam (The only class for the day)

All other classes remain the same and the Saturday after Thanksgiving at 8 am with Shri we'll be practicing to music- getttin your groove on Shala style.

Judgement, Dreadlocks, Smart Cars and Solitude

2011-11-12T14:26:00.001-08:00

Several months ago, I decided to dreadlock my hair. I had been thinking about this for a long time- for me its a permanent change to my hair and I wanted to make sure it was right for me. I have always been drawn to statues of Shiva with his beautiful dreadlocked hair holding the Moon and the sacred Ganga river in it. I was uprepared for how much of a topic of conversation my hair would become, which is kind of ironic because that was part of my thinking that I no longer wanted to invest time in my hair- it feels like I have bigger fish to fry at this point in my life. So many people wanted to know about the dreads and why I would want to do it. Most people were just plain curious, but a few conversations were with people trying to convince me that I was making a decision that I would regret. Even a few people who like dreadlocks told me that I was doing it the wrong way and that of course their way was the right way, which is again ironic because part of dread culture is freedom of expression.

I also recently purchased a Smart Car. These cute, bitesized cars first took off in Europe and are just now becoming popular in the US. I liked the idea of downsizing- physically and financially and of reducing my carbon footprint because my previous car was an SUV. Again, my car has been a topic of conversation among friends and strangers. Most people just smile when they see my car- its cute and fun. One unsolicited conversation with a complete stranger at a gas station consisted of the well meaning ? stranger giving me a list of reasons why my car was unsafe and downright dangerous. As he returned to the comfort and safety of his SUV, I'm sure he felt as though he had convinced me of the gravity of my mistake in purchasing my car and had educated me on the right way to choose a car.

Increasingly over the past 13 years of teaching Yoga, I have become quite a hermit. I think because I spend almost every single day of my life teaching to groups, I have a profound need for more solitude. I am highly creative and solitude, especially in nature, inspires me. I have always viewed the solitary life of cloistered monks and nuns as romantic and my Guruji spent 40 years alone in a cottage high in the Himalayas meditating. So, I have had a longtime love affair with and deep respect for solitude and my career dharma has only made that love more passionate. I do love connecting with others, but I prefer to do so in very small groups, one on one is even better, because I find trying to communicate in a large group is very distracting and difficult. Yet, many people just do not understand this need and longing to be alone and quiet. Im sure the Buddha and Thoreau had people urging them to get out more- get out from under that tree already! leave that pond for the love of God! For many rishis- the path includes some time of isolation and quiet contemplation. This is often difficult for the western mind to grasp. And sometimes people are very vocal in urging me to get out more or to join this group or that group.

In all 3 instances, I could have either told people to mind their own business or to look at where I might be judging others. I have a strong belief that whatever happens to us is a karmic response to what we are putting out- sowing and reaping. Judgment is the labeling of something as right or wrong. It sometimes includes in my case people telling me what is right or wrong for me. I think I will choose to tell them to mind their own business AND to look at judgment in my own life.

Nonjudgmentalism develops over time as the soul matures. Nonjudgmentalism may be defined as tolerance for other's choices. A step in the right direction is at least moving from this is right and this is wrong to this is wrong for me. It changes the direction of the thinking from outward moving to inward moving and gets us to start thinking about ourselves and tuning into what we're feeling about what we're seeing. Why is what I'm seeing bringing up judgment in me? My husband and I met and married only 5 months later. When we told our friends and family about our upcoming marriage, we found it interesting that the people who vocalized the most concern about our hasty marriage were people who were the most unhappy in their own marriages. Often, when we judge it is indicative of an imbalance in our own lives in that area.

Wise Yogis pay attention when non tolerance bubbles to the surface in our thought patterns. There is a fine line between judgment and discrimination and this is complicated further if one happens to be a Yoga teacher where our dharma is about helping others to be the best that they can be. We need discrimination to choose the best words, actions, friends, foods, etc for ourselves and compassion helps us to not be so harsh or critical with ourselves. When our discrimination spills over into labeling the actions of others as good or bad, I believe this requires even more mindfulness and compassion and perhaps restraint and patience to pause and consider whether our non tolerance of that person's actions is altruistic or serves some non positive, petty desire in ourselves. The book Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism is all about how it is quite common for modern Yogis to use spiritual language in a desire to make a non positive action appear altruistic. "I told her she was being a bitch to help her." Again, a slippery slope, but not insurmountable fortunately. Tolerance, patience, compassion, awareness and clarity of vision all develop over time with a regular practice. "Practice and all is coming."

Yoga and Christianity

2011-10-29T14:28:00.000-07:00

This entry is for someone who recently asked me about practicing Yoga as a Christian- you know who you are- this is for you!
Yoga is a science- not a religion. It is a science that can work well when practiced along side a religion- any religion. What we call Yoga is Classical Yoga philosophy based on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali- a very old text that was originally passed down through an oral tradition so dating these scriptures is difficult, but many historians and theologians consider Yoga to be 5000 years old. It is through this text that we learn about the 8 Limbs of Yoga.

1. yamas: restraints or abstinences

   a) ahimsa: nonviolence

   b) satya: truthfulness

   c) asteya: non-stealing

   d) brahmacharya: moderation in sensual gratification- sex, eating, sleeping, etc.

   e) aparigraha: non greed, non-hoarding

2. niyamas: observances

   a) saucha: purity in word, thought and deed, cleanliness

b) santocha: contentment

c) tapas: zeal for practice, discipline

d) svadhyaya: study of spiritual books, self study

e) Isvara pranidhanam: surrender, devotion and/or worship of God

3. asana: physical postures

4. pranayama: control of the breath or life force

5. pratyahara: voluntary sense withdrawal, choosing to turn our focus inward

6. dharana: concentration

7. dhyana: meditation (which is sustained concentration)

8. samadhi: bliss, super conscious state (which is sustained meditation)

The Yamas and Niyamas are similar ethical guidelines as the 10 Commandments of the Bible and they even go further- I love the guideline Santocha- practice contentment. The 8 Limbs to me seem to be in alignment with Christian ideals. We know from the Bible that Christ meditated. The physical postures of Yoga are actually a very small part of the science and are used to make the body and mind healthy enough and calm enough for meditation. Meditation is the cornerstone of Yogic practice. Minds have always been noisy, but the hectic pace of modern life in particular creates a mind that is agitated, stressed and filled with to do lists. Meditation makes the mind quiet enough to hear the voice of Divine guidance- the voice of God- whatever your name is for God. The Yogic science unites the realms of body, mind and spirit. The Yogis learned that breath is the bridge between these realms- so working with the breath is part of the science.

Patanjali used the word "Isvara" for God in the Sutras. There were many other names for God being used at the time which he could have used, but he chose this word specifically. Isvara means "that which rules over the diversity of manifestation". It is close enough to be a Divine blank- so that the Yoga practitioner could use their own personal name for God or even to use no personalized name at all- Classical Yoga may be practiced by people seeing Nature as God or even by atheists.

The name by which we call the Divine is largely based on which house we were born into. The creation story we learned as children is either myth or scripture depending on where or when you were born. God is like the sun in the sky- the sun goes by different names in different languages, but they all describe the same heavenly body.

Patanjali tells us to study spiritual books, but does not say which spiritual books, that is up to us.
Patanjali tells us to surrender to God, but does not tell us which God to surrender to, that is up to us.

To me, this is the genius of the Yogic system- this is why it has been around for 5 thousand years. Many wars have been fought over which name we will call God- many lives have been lost over that fight. Yoga simply takes that element out of the equation so that the practice and science is universal, cross cultural and timeless.

I have included this short interview with Father Bede Griffiths, 1906-1993. Father Bede was a Benedictine monk who spent a lifetime teaching a fusion of monastic Catholicism and Eastern science, including Yoga, all fully sanctioned by the Vatican.
For more information you might read one of Father Bede's many books- A New Vision of Reality: Western Science, Eastern Mysticism and Christian Faith

Introduction to Sanskrit Workshop

2011-10-27T11:41:00.000-07:00

Join us November 4-6 for an Introduction to Sanskrit Workshop with Zoe Mai of the American Sanskrit Institute. go to http://www.blissyogashala.com/ for more information or to register.

Ken's 5:30 pm Friday night class will be cancelled for this night ONLY- sorry for any inconvenience, but the teacher is flying in from New York and we have so much ground to cover.

I am taught that the Matrika- the organization of sound known as the Sanskrit alphabet- has 51 distinct sounds. The lotuses of the main chakras along the spine add up to 51 as well- also the number of meridians located there. (Sahasara is either the thousand petaled lotus or is represented by 1 lotus- the count of 51 of course uses 1 for Sahasara.) Each distinct sound in Sanskrit heals a unique part of us. The Samkhya rishis found that sound (shabda) comes from space (Akash). Space is the most subtle of all the elements, therefore it is the most powerful of the elements. Working with sound is powerful magic. Ganesh is the ruler of the Matrika so the practice of Sanskrit will clear obstructions in the lines of energy in our bodies and remove obstacles in our lives.

Complaining and Skillful Action

2011-10-27T11:27:00.000-07:00

Karma = Action
Vasanas = Mental Tendencies, thoughts

Action produces Thoughts
and
Thoughts Produce Action and Action Produces Thought and Thought Produces Action and Action Produces Thought and Thought Produces Action.......you get the picture
The type of action performed will determine the type of thought produced.

Karma produces vasanas, mental tendencies , that make us want to perform that very same action over and over again. (like increases like) Then we perform the action again and new vasanas are produces that make us want to perform that same action yet again! It’s a vicious cycle that will continue until we develop our 2 wings- awareness and power. Awareness gives us the insight that we seem to be performing the same action over and over again. And power gives us the energy to stop the cycle by learning to perform only those actions that we would like to repeat.
In class, I used the example of complaining. People who complain seem to complain regularly. If we complain, then vasanas are produced that make us want to complain more in the future. Circumstances are even pulled our way so that our complaining will be allowed to manifest. If I have the awareness that I complain regularly, or someone tells me :), and I have the awareness that complaining is an inefficient use of my voice and I have the power (shakti) to do something about that, then this would be a game plan: Complaining is victim mentality so if I find that I am in a situation that I have the ability to change then , rather than complaining about the situation, I will ask for what I want to be changed. If I am in a situation that I cannot change, then I will look for the good in the situation FIRST and then embrace what is. Even if you are complaining on the inside- whats important is that we do not act out- we neither speak nor act from this vasana. If we continue to refuse to plant the seed of action then eventually the mental tendencies are no longer present that compel us to act in this way. This is amazingly efficient mind training and makes life so much easier.

If you have people in your life who complain regularly and you're thinking about trying to give them this equation to change- remember that someone needs to have sufficient awareness and power to change this habit, otherwise, its like singing a song to a deaf man.

The Art of Managing the Unconscious Mind

2011-10-27T11:15:00.000-07:00

The seeds of destiny lie in your unconscious mind. If you have not learned the art of managing your unconscious mind, then you are a victim of destiny.- Swami Rama

Yoga and modern psychology agree that what is compelling us to speak and act in the ways that we do is the nature of the unconscious mind. If we can find a way to gain access to that part of the mind and integrate what is there in our lives, then we are free to speak and act with more awareness. (some teachers make a distinction between the subconscious mind and the unconscious mind, but for our conversation, we will use the term unconscious because that is what Swami Rama used and it will refer to the parts of our mind that are beneath the surface.)

Meditation is the Yogic method for managing the unconscious mind. The thoughts that have been produced from past actions are released from the unconscious mind when are able to watch them in meditation. “Observe, but don’t get involved.”- Rod Stryker. When we watch on a regular basis, we have a better chance of making positive decisions about which actions we will perform. The thoughts and emotions that we carry around in the unconscious mind require some energy to keep them there- repressed. When we watch and release them in meditation, we then have some extra energy to be used in other areas of our lives and we lighten our emotional loads- we feel lighter- we raise our vibration.

That which we do not make conscious later emerges as fate. – Jung

We shall trace the

Origin of seed.

The seed of Prajapati,

Lord of Creatures, are the Gods.

The seed of the Gods is rain.

The seed of rain is herbs.

That of herbs is food,

The seed of food is seed,

The seed of seed are creatures,

The seed of creatures,

Is the Heart.

The seed of the Heart is mind.

The seed of mind is speech.

The seed of speech is action.

Action done in a former state is this Mankind.

The dwelling place of Brahman.

The Principal Upanishads

I LOVE this- Rain is divine- God is in the rain, who we are is based on past actions, and it is a statement of nonduality- we are the dwelling place of God- we are divine.

Vak Siddhi

2011-10-14T10:46:00.000-07:00

"Do not be afraid of the word revolution; Bob Marley did not call his group the whiners, they were the Wailers. We have a moral imperative to use our voice to wail about authentic grievances." Dr. Cornel West- a Princeton professor and activist, speaking to the Occupy Wall street Movement.

Vak Siddi is one of the minor siddhis, or accomplishments, that Yogis may attain through sincere spiritual practice. Vak means speech or voice so the accomplishment of Vak Siddhi is the ability to speak and make changes to the material universe. Vak Siddhi is the discovery of the voice as a powerful tool for manifesting and exploring the scope of its potential. Masters throughout the ages, like Jesus, have demonstrated this ability.

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali give us the recipe for attainment this skill. If we use our voice in truthful, positive, life affirming and loving ways, then the siddhi develops spontaneously. When we tell non truths or misuse the power of our voices by gossiping or even just talking too much, we limit our ability to manifest with our voices. Satya is the path of truth. It is a life long pursuit of knowing truth, speaking truth and ultimately learning to live our greatest truth. The practice of Satya produces Vak Siddhi.

I have seen the power of Vak Siddhi is my own life. Once we realize the power of our voices, then we learn to use that power wisely. Be careful what you ask for.......

"The word is a force; it is the intent. That is why our intention manifests through the word no matter what language we speak."
Don Miguel Ruiz

Selfishness VS Altruism

2011-10-09T14:13:00.000-07:00

Yogic/ Tantric Philosophy
Be Good- Do Good
Love All- Serve All
Values the combination of intuitive and analytical problem solving
There is an interconnection between all beings. We are all one.

Objectivism Philosphy (As taught by Ayn Rand)
Sees productive achievement and the pursuit of individual happiness as man's noblest activities.
Rejects the ethical doctrine of altruism and embraces selfishness as a life path.
Rejects feeling and intuition as sources of knowledge and values perception, logic and reason
Ayn Rand: “We should not love everyone indiscriminately, not everyone is worthy of love.”

Ayn Rand (1905-1982) was a Russian immigrant who came to this country to escape the oppression of Communist Russia. She worked briefly in film making with Cecile B. DeMille and later wrote the wildly successful books The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. Ayn Rand wrote of her philosophical ideas in her books and the tradition she created later came to be called Objectivism. Rand’s philosophy was widely criticized in the US, particularly because selfishness was the antithesis of Judeo-Christian ideals. Objectivism struck a chord within the business community however, especially for bankers and financiers. Many thought so highly of Rand that they would name businesses and even children after her. One long time, devoted disciple of Ayn Rand was Alan Greenspan- head of the Federal Reserve Bank from 1987 to 2006. (The Fed by the way is a private bank. It is about as federal as Federal Express. Since 1913, the Fed has printed currency for the US government and charges us interest to use the money. This idea of a centralized bank was one of the grievances that our founding fathers had with England and one of the reasons the Revolutionary War was fought.)

Alan Greenspan talked President Bill Clinton into using Rand’s philosophy for running the Fed in 1989 (Greenspan later said that he couldn’t believe that Clinton actually agreed). The actions of the Fed are the cornerstone of US economics and markets around the globe respond to its actions as well. Rand’s philosophy on government was the complete separation of economics and state. An unregulated government was the best way to create peaceful cooperation and justice and harmony in her opinion. The US went from 90% regulation on financial products in the 80s to nearly 100% deregulation in the 90s. Alan Greenspan, after the financial collapse of 2008, blamed “infectious greed” and deregulation of derivatives on Wall Street as the primary reasons for the collapse. He admitted “I WAS WRONG.”

The implications of US economics and a significant portion of Wall Street using selfishness as a mission statement for decades are enormous and frankly, this gives me a greater understanding of exactly how we lost our way.

PS: I have a compassionate understanding of how the seed was planted in Ayn Rand for Objectivism. She came from Communist Russia, where altruism was a method the regime used for controlling the citizenry. Mother Russia asked for her citizens to offer all that they had for the greater good of the state- no matter how oppressive that state was. Communist Russia was all about rules and regulations imposed by the government on its people. Ayn was so devastated and bitter from her experience in Russia that she simply could not see a productive, beneficial use for altruism and government regulation so she turned to selfishness as the answer. As with everyone, her past colored her perception and distorted it.

Why Yogis Should Become Social Activists

2011-10-06T12:04:00.001-07:00

Ken Wilbur gives a simplistic, but dead on, definition of people with left wing ideals and people with right wing ideals. ( This is not a definition of Democratic and Republican ideals because those categories are quite broad with many varieties.)

If we ask the question - why are some people poor in the US?
The left wing answer is because those people were not given the same opportunities as others, the deck is stacked against some people in our country. So the answer is because of outside circumstances and deficiencies.

The right wing answer is because those people do not have efficient work ethics. Many people in this country have pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps and succeeded. So the right wing answer is because of inner circumstances and deficiencies.

So, who is right?? A more enlightened answer is that both left and right are correct- its a little of both. And to most efficiently create a solution to the problem, it would be best to address both parts of the problem.

President Bill Clinton was proposing something just like this years ago- The Responsibility and Opportunity Welfare Program. It was a stroke of genius that appealed to both political polarities. Soon after, Mr. Clinton lost any sort of power he wielded in D.C. with the Monica scandal and the welfare program never came to fruition.

This is very similar to the differing world views of those who are on a spiritual path and those who are not. Yogis, Tantrikas, Buddhists, Sufis, Kabbalists- those on a spiritual path think the best way to change the world is from the inside out. The world will be peaceful on the outside when all of its people are peaceful on the inside and the way to accomplish that is thru spiritual practice. So many Yogis, myself included until just a few years ago, drop out of political conversation and are not interested in social change. Many do not even vote.
People who are not on a spiritual path think the best way to change the world is by getting out there and letting their voice be heard by politicians.

What would happen if we tried to change the world using BOTH methods? Do the inner work AND the outer work.

I am a Vegetarian

2011-09-08T08:10:00.000-07:00

I am a Vegetarian along with:
George Bernard Shaw
Charles Darwin
Sir Isaac Newton
Leonardo Da Vinci
Pythagoras
Plato
Socrates
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Albert Einstein
Thomas Edison
Paul McCartney
Princess Diana

As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields.
Leo Tolstoy

While we ourselves are the living graves of murdered beasts, how can we expect any ideal conditions on this Earth?
George Bernard Shaw

For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill eachother. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love.
Pythagoras

When man is uncivilized, he kills poor animals and eats them.
Srila Prabhupada

I am a Food Activist

2011-09-01T08:25:00.000-07:00

I am a Food Activist!

I believe Farming (now Pharming) is one of the biggest issues of our time. Food has always been used as a weapon. He who has the food, has the power. The way food is being grown now by a small handful of pharmaceutical and chemical companies is all about power and greed. Big pharming's agenda is to get rid of small farmers all over the planet so that they have the monopoly on food. Whatever else you might read about trying to feed the planet is an outright lie. This is all about money.

Big pharming uses GMO varieties of food. A GMO is when 2 organisms that would never mix DNA in the natural world, say a fish and a strawberry, are combined in laboratories producing a new variety of frankenfood. Because these organisms would never come together naturally, unnatural, invasive means are necessary to produce these experimental foods- like by injecting viruses and bacteria. Does adding a virus or a bacteria to your food sound like a good thing? A GMO is produced for only 2 reasons: to either allow the plant to eat poison or to produce poison. Neither reason is beneficial for the consumer ONLY for the chemical and pharmaceutical companies. The GMO variety of crop can take in more pesticides without killing the plant so that farmers can use more and more pesticides which we then eat. (And which are sold by the Pharming Companies!) Or the plant produces its own pesticides which we then eat.

Many of the "weeds" that the use of more and more pesticides around the world kills are greens that poor people eat and medicinal plants that the whole world uses.

Big pharming in the past tried to use the excuse that GMOs were being cultivated to produce larger harvests in order to feed the world. Even they no longer use that excuse because one of the crops that GMOs are being created for is Alfalfa. Alfalfa is a crop that does not currently even need pesticides!! The only reason to create GMO alfalfa is to contaminate the world's organic dairy farms. If an organic milk cow eats contaminated alfalfa, it will no longer produce organic dairy products and then GMO technology can move into the dairy aisle and make more money.

The FDA is relying on the companies that sell these foods to do the appropriate testing on these foods- remember when we were told DDT was safe? What we often find is that animals will refuse to eat these foods, but we are eating these foods daily without even the requirement of labeling on the food that lets us know that it is a GMO (genetically modified organism.) If you eat anything with corn or soy in it ( and corn and soy are in EVERYTHING, read labels!) you are eating GMO varieties of both corn and soy. I picked up some tea bags the other day and looked at the ingredients and soy was on the label. GMO technology has only been around about 10 years or so. We have yet to really see what the long term consequences are for a lifetime of eating GMOs with pesticides.

GMO varieties of food are biological and genetic pollution on the planet. But, unlike chemical pollution which diminishes over time, GMO pollution is self generating and only gets bigger and bigger. It simply cannot coexist with the other natural varieties- it invades and destroys until it is the only one around- like we have seen with corn, soy and canola plants- the first phase of the experiment. Unbelievably, the FDA has allowed these new varieties of GMOs to be patented so there are cases in court now where GMO crops have been carried by wind to organic crops and contaminated the organic crop. Big pharming is actually suing the organic farmers for patent infringement!!! And, big pharming is using patented "terminator technology" on seeds. This means the seed will only produce once so that contrary to the way farmers have farmed for thousands of years, now they need to purchase new seed every single year from the pharming co's. The seeds are made sterile. Does this sound like a good idea- to make the natural world sterile?? (The US govt is one of the patent holders on terminator technology by the way.) This has put many farmers out of business all over the world- which is part of the plan.

Food should be affordable but not cheap. The US, in relationship to income, pays less for their food than most of the world and our health care costs are the highest in the world. It seems we can either pay money for great, local, organic produce or we can pay the doctor.

As a Yogi and Tantrika, food is energy. I am very picky about the energy that I allow in. Food creates tissue in the body 40 days after we eat it, according to Ayurveda. We are literally made of the food that we eat. I want food that is alive and vital, farmed in a way that does as little harm as possible in the world.

Support your local CSA- community supported agriculture- you pay a share to the local farm and then get weekly produce throughout the growing season. Good healthy food should be a right in this country and we are letting that right slip away by letting local, organic farmers go out of business. Sign up this season for local organic produce from KYV Farms:

www.kyvfarm.com

I am Series

2011-08-16T08:40:00.000-07:00

I am an Intellectual.
I am a Mystic.
I am a thinker and a non thinker.

Intellectuals are the moral conscience of their age, their task being to observe the political and social situation of the moment and to speak out freely in accordance with their conscience.
Jean Paul Sartre
An intellectual supports the democratic principles of freedom, equality, justice, human rights, social welfare, and environmental, political and social improvement.
Wikipedia

Mystic: An initiate of a mystery religion, one in pursuit of communion with, identity with or conscious awareness of an ultimate reality, divinity, spiritual truth, or God through direct experience, intuition, instinct, or insight. Mysticism usually centers on a practice or practices intended to nurture those experiences or awareness.

I am a Peace Activist

2011-08-07T13:15:00.001-07:00

I am a Peace Activist.
SHH

There, it feels so good to say that! For Yogis, one of the highest precepts is Ahimsa- the teaching of nonviolence. We are to practice nonviolence in our thoughts, our words and our actions. A perfect action harms no one, including ourselves.

On being firmly established in ahimsa, there is abandonment of hostility in his vicinity.
Yoga Sutras 2.35

When established in ahimsa, there develops a kind of magnetism around one that influences anybody who approaches. One becomes free of a very dangerous, evil complex- that of violence and hostility.
Swami Satyananda Saraswati

It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is an act of murder.
Albert Einstein
The spirit of this country is totally adverse to a large military force.
Thomas Jefferson

In modern warfare, 90% of casualties are civilian!

In a time where it is glaringly apparent that the US is living beyond its means by over spending AND not taking in enough revenue, I believe a defense (OFFENSE) budget of 379 Billion is completely ridiculous. This amount is more than the rest of the world combined. In order to really understand a person, or a country, look at how they spend their money.

Most people in the this country have no idea that gas prices are subsidized by the US government. This would be like the government paying me money to so that I can sell my Yoga classes at cheaper prices- I wish! This country has been built around the idea of a free market with fewer regulations. Seems like the free market is being held back here. If gas prices were not subsidized, then people would stop buying as much gas and the free market would produce products run by sustainable sources of energy. If the US were not so dependent on oil, our reserves will run out in 10 years, then foreign policy would look dramatically different. If we say we are for democracy and pro human rights, then a country like Saudi Arabia would not be our ally.
Only 7% of US citizens have passports- the vast majority have never been outside the country to really get a taste of what the world thinks of us. The US is now an empire with over a hundred years of acts of terrorism carried out in our names.
Modern Peace Activists for more reading and information:
Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky and Gore Vidal

Jiva Code- the I Am Series

2011-08-06T17:34:00.000-07:00

The Vedic term for soul is Atman, which means essence. The Atman has two distinct aspects- Para which means "supreme, highest, or culmination" and Jiva which means "individual or personal". Paramatman is the infinite and unconditional essence that is beyond all limitation, eternal and changeless. The Shvetashvatara Upanishad, a sacred text from the seventh century, describes this higher aspect of soul beautifully: "Omnipresent, dwelling in the heart of every living creature...He is the inner Self of all, hidden like a little flame in the heart...Know Him and all fetters will fall away." Your paramatman is identical to the Divine; there is no separation or distinction. "Ahum brahma smi" (I am one with the Absolute), say the Vedas.

Jivatman, on the other hand, is the individual soul. Think of it as your spiritual thumbprint, utterly unique for everyone. It is the part of you that, from the moment you were conceived, determines your uniqueness, your distint capacities, talents, and challenges as well as your inclinations- the individual aspect of you that make you uniquely who you are.
From The Four Desires by Rod Stryker

The concept of Dharma is the realization of our greatest potential. Dharma is our unique purpose for this lifetime- the fullfillment of the jivatman's deepest desires to serve humanity.

One of my teacher's, Rod Stryker, challenges Yogis to formulate a Jiva Code. The Jiva Code is a statement of our soul's defining purpose, it is the guiding principle by which we live life. It is not simply a goal because goals come and go. The Jiva Code is a constant, unwavering calling which informs our actions and interactions.

One should think long and hard on the formulation of the Jiva Code. For me, I sat with this idea for over a year. I knew the Jiva Code would be birthed when it was fully formed, ripe and ready for action. Recently, my Jiva Code ripened and the fullness of my dharma was made clear to me.

I am a revolutionary.

I use the I am with reverence. I believe it to be a manifesting incantation. Whatever we say after I am is self fullfilling prophesy. Whatever a person believes is either true or will become true. I am a revolutionary in that the revolutionary is devoted to positive change and transformation. I intend for my actions to be guided by a deep rooted desire to be an instrument of positive change. Fire is a means for transformation- my Jiva Code challenges me to make life a fire ceremony.

The true revolutionary is guided by love.
Che Guevara

The Observer Effect

2011-07-12T07:59:00.000-07:00

In 1909, Geoffrey Ingram Taylor, a British physicist, devised the famous Double Slit Experiment and began a revolution in the way we view ourselves in the universe. The bottom line of his experiment was that the mere presence of consciousness in a room- people- affected the way the quantum particles (the stuff the world is made of) behaved.

On February 26, 1998, Taylor's experiment was repeated by scientists at Israel's Weismann Institute of Science. Not only did they confirm that our world is affected just by observation, but they discovered that "the greater the amount of 'watching', the greater the observer's influence on what actually take place."

The most important advice I can give to a Yogi on the mat and in life is to pay attention.

Class Schedule Change Announcement

2011-07-09T16:48:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know Padma is in Canada getting her 500 hour Yoga certification so her Friday 9:05 am class is postponed through August 5. She will be back teaching on Friday August 12.
thanks!!

The Appropriate Use of Power: The Pentagon Papers

2011-07-07T11:02:00.000-07:00

Dr. Daniel Ellsberg was a top US military analyst in the 1960s working under then Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. Because of his very high security clearance, he had access to a top secret Pentagon study on the Vietnam War. After reading the study, it became clear that the government had lied and was currently lying to both Congress and the US public about the circumstances that led to the start of the war and the longterm goals for that war. There was also a high level coverup regarding the reporting of the number of casualties on both sides and the updates on US progress were deliberately misleading. Dr. Ellsberg was at the peak of his career but risked everything, even life in jail, to make copies of the report and send it to members of the Congress and several leading newspapers. Then President Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger called Ellsberg the most dangerous man in the US and recordings of White House tapes show that Nixon was livid with Ellsberg and was out for serious revenge. Ellsberg was tried for treason, but was set free with a mistrial verdict because the Nixon government was found to be guilty of illegal breakins and wiretapping throughout the case. (This apparently set the standard for the Nixon administration's future ethics.)

I love a story where one ordinary person understands their power and in doing so changes the world. The very, very sad part of this story is that even when the Pentagon Papers were published for the whole world to see, President Nixon was reelected by a landslide and the Vietnam War raged on for another 5 years.

Earth element energy is about finding your personal power. Earth energy is the slow, patient strength of a dandelion pushing its way up through a sidewalk to reach the sun. It is a sustainable strength that is in it for the long haul and is integrated into daily life. The Earth represents power that is grounded. When we see wrongdoing, it is Earth element that gives us the strength to speak up and take righteous action, no matter what the consequences.

Rising Lakshmi

2011-06-25T12:56:00.000-07:00

This week our theme in the studio is the element of water. Water is a means for humans to experience buoyancy. We crave buoyancy, lightness and spaciousness and in that buoyancy is the possibility of profound healing.
The archetypal deity Lakshmi rises out of a churning ocean perched on a lotus flower. She is the embodiment of the physical and emotional lightness that Yogis crave. Lakshmi is primordial abundance, spiritual radiance and divine light.
Once upon a time......the sage Durvasa gave a gift to Indra, the supervisor of sorts of all the gods and goddesses. Indra does not recognize the importance of the gift and discards it. (The gift was a garland with an intoxicating fragrance, but that part of the story is not relevant today.) Durvasa becomes enraged that Indra tosses his heartfelt gift aside and curses Indra and all of the gods and goddesses to lose their power. The powerful curse works and all the gods and goddesses indeed lose all their power.
The deities go to Brahma first with their problem and are sent to Vishnu for assistance. Vishnu says this is what you need to do......gather all of your friends, all the gods and goddesses, and all of your enemies, the asuras (demons), gather sacred herbs from the 4 directions and churn the ocean. The churning brings up good things and bad things from the ocean floor. One of the not so good things is a poison, hala hala. Lord Shiva lends a hand to take this poison out of the ocean and into his mouth. He holds the poison in his throat, that place between heart and mind, and it is so toxic that it turns his throat blue. One of Shiva's names is the Blue Throated One. Shiva holds the poison in his throat and it explodes into divine sound vibration and mantra is created. One of the good things that the churning brings up is the archetypal force Lakshmi, an abundant, ascending energy that rises from the waters of the ocean on a lotus. She is surrounded by honey bees who swirl around her. Ultimately, the churning brings up the nectar of immortality from the ocean and power of the gods and goddesses is restored.
These stories are both old and new. They happened a long time ago and they are happening all the time inside of us. The old stories of the Yogic texts are road maps toward joy, peace and power.
This story tells of how the gods and goddesses reclaim their power and the story for us is a recipe for human empowerment. Vishnu advises the deities to gather all their friends and enemies- we are to embrace all parts of ourself- those parts we like and those parts that we are not proud of for whatever reason. Vishnu says to collect herbs from the 4 directions- we access insight from the East, we experience transformation from the South, we cultivate healing from the West and we receive ancestral wisdom from the North. The churning of the Ocean is the purification of the Yogic techniques. Our Yogic practice is the churning that brings up both the good and the bad- we begin to see our gifts and our shortcomings with improved clarity. The churning also brings up the gift of lift, lightness and buoyancy. And ultimately the churning brings up the nectar of immortality and the Yogi is no longer bound by the limitations of time and space, perfect empowerment is realized. Lakshmi is surrounded by honey bees- their buzzing reminds us of the lofty power of divine sound, mantra. The story tells us that Indra throws away a gift without realizing its value- sometimes we receive "gifts", like illness or adversity, that only later we might come to see the value in.
This week, we explore a Rising Lakshmi sequence of poses. The sacred geometrical shapes cultivate lift, lightness and buoyancy, the essence of water element. Physical lightness creates emotional lightness. Lakshmi is She with Lotus Hands and Feet, we are reminded that lift comes from rooting down and hands and feet are often our roots in asana. Water has a relationship with the second energy center, or chakra, in the hips. Our rising Lakshmi sequence explores spaciousness and lift in the hips.

Om Shreem MahaLakshmiyei Namaha!
I embrace Abundance, Radiance, Ascension and Light!

2011-06-03T16:59:00.000-07:00

What is the difference between retreat and vacation?

In a word, intention.

When we travel on vacation, we have intentions like seeing family, sightseeing, eating at amazing restaurants and/or rest and relaxation. The intention for a retreat is PRACTICE.

The practice of concentration on a single subject (or the use of one technique) is the best way to prevent the obstacles and their accompaniments.

Yoga Sutras 1.32

Then Patanjali goes on to speak of the many ways and techniques to practice concentration and therefore quiet the mind....

Or by concentrating on subtle sense perceptions can cause steadiness of mind.

Yoga Sutras 1.35

Over the holiday weekend, a group of Yogis from Bliss travelled to Satchidananda Ashram in Yogaville (really!), Virginia. We were there to learn and practice concentrating on subtle sense perceptions with world famous kirtan wallah Krishna Das. The practice of kirtan might seem like playing music and singing along but it is one of the ways Yogis can cultivate a quiet mind by focusing on divine sound vibration. Over the weekend, we were scheduled to practice kirtan 14 hours with KD. Even with time for question and answer and potty breaks, that is an impressive duration for sustained practice time.

I say that Yogaville is beautiful but not because it is the most beautiful place I have ever seen, but because the experience is beautiful and the environment facilitates a beautiful experience. Ashrams or Yoga retreat centers traditionally are spartan, not too fancy but clean and spacious nestled in a natural setting (no tvs or phones in rooms). The scriptures talk specifically about being close to nature when doing serious practice. The food is amazing, not because it is the best food I have ever had, but because it is delicious in a way that does not over indulge the senses and it sets the foundation for the state of meditation to happen. I have worked in the kitchen as a volunteer and prayers are said all day long to bless the food and much of the food comes from their very own organic garden. The food is satvic- pure, light and simple.

Making time for extra practice has its rewards. Almost always, the body and mind feel rejuvenated and a new insight comes.

Memorial Day Holiday Schedule

2011-05-19T07:11:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day Holiday Schedule:
Monday, May 30: 9 am Open Level Flow with Padma, (no 6 pm class that night)

Bliss Yoga Class Photo Shoot

2011-05-19T07:02:00.000-07:00

To look at photos by Ingrid Damiani from the Bliss Yoga class photo shoot go to:

www.IngridWDamiani.com/BlissPicks

You may contact Ingrid directly to order and pay for any shots you would like.

ingriddamiani@comcast.net

Easter Sunday 2011

2011-04-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

Sherri will be teaching her regular Sunday 11 am class this weekend Easter Day. Join her- everyBUNNYS gonna be there!

The Root Lock

2011-04-05T05:50:00.000-07:00

The Root Lock in Vinyasa Yoga is called Mula Bandha. There are many bandhas or locks that we practice in Yoga- the hand lock- hasta bandha, the foot lock- paddha bandha, the chin lock- jalandhara bandha, the belly lock- uddiyana bandha, the mental lock- chitta bandha- all locks imply some elevation and/or lift, physically and energetically. The word lock is somewhat misleading- really by practicing the locks we are able to unlock forces and begin to use them consciously. The locks build energetic bridges that facilitate growth, healing and empowerment. Classical Yoga is not a philosophy which focuses on energy. There is no talk in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali about prana, kundalini or chakras- the Sutras are about the many ways to quiet the mind. Hatha Yoga comes to us from Classical Yoga. It is the practice of asana, pranayama and conscious relaxation- some traditions add seated meditation. When we practice Hatha Yoga with bandhas, we are adding a Tantric element- the manipulation of energy. I believe the Tantric path to be an accelerated spiritual path so for me the bandhas are of utmost importance. Even, arguably, more important than a focus on breath because by the practice of bandha, pure breathing comes naturally. Many Yoga teacher unfortunately do not have a clear understanding of the technique themselves nor an understanding of its importance so they cannot instruct what they do not know or practice. The outcome of a successful bandha practice is a body that is both strong and light- if we jump in our asana practice, the jumps begin to have less sound as we begin to land with more and more control. Emotionally we find that we are more resilient and steadier in the midst of change. Physically and energetically mula bandha is a mechanism of lift in the pelvic floor. Specifically, it is a lift at the cervix in women and lift at the perineum in men, but in the beginning, maybe even the first several years of serious practice, we may lift the muscles of the pelvic floor and even the contract the anal sphincter as well. Mula bandha is an activation of the trigger point to awaken Muladhara Chakra- the root energy center. There is a relationship between Muladhara Chakra and Ajna Chakra, the 3rd eye energy center, so when we awaken the root chakra the 3rd eye chakra begins to awaken as well. The root center is about material world balance- feeling safe, dealing with fear, anxiety, worry, prosperity, greed, addictions and having a strong foundation in life with a living space that nurtures us and a meaningful career with positive karmic consequences. The 3rd eye center is about clarity of vision, purpose, intuition, awareness and developing a perspective on reality that is more accurate. So the awakening of both centers simultaneously is a powerful push toward often radical life changes- we begin to see with more clarity the toxic nature of some jobs, relationships and living environments and find the power (fire) to take action. One student of mine used to own a bar and now has a body work practice- this is a sign of both energy centers awakening. Kundalini Shakti is the dormant creative force that is inherent in each of us. A force that, when awakened, enables humans to reach their greatest potential. Kunda means fire place- kundalini shakti is a dormant fire place nestled in the groove of the sacrum- the sacred bone in the hips. The plan to awaken Kundalini Shakti in Tantra is to build fire, energy, in the first 3 energy centers- root center, sexual center and navel center. If we can stoke these fires sufficiently the heat will awaken Kundalini from her celestial slumber. By the practice of mula bandha, Yogis set the stage for the awakening of this great creative force that is the mechanism of enlightenment. There are nerves in the sacrum that instigate the lift in the pelvic floor when we perform mula bandha. There are only 2 places in the spine where parasympathetic nervous system fibers are present- the sacrum and the neck. The parasympathetic nervous system is responsible for the relaxation response in the body. When we perform mula bandha we evoke the relaxation response and the result is a huge release of muscular and mental tension. Not only does the physical body become light from mula bandha practice, we find that emotionally we feel lighter with this letting go of tension on a regular basis. The Yogic texts tell us that there are 72,000 nadis, or lines of energy, in the human body. (Some texts say more.) We are told that the point of origin for every single line of energy is in the pelvic floor. Physical work affects the pranic body and energetic work affects the physical body. When we engage mula bandha we stimulate all the energy lines in our body and the result is a more vibrant energetic field and the cultivation of radiant physical health. Mula Bandha was formerly a closely guarded secret technique that was taught only to experienced Yogis. It is only in recent history that this technique is now common knowledge, part of the public domain of information via books and the Internet and Yoga teachers now give even beginning students instruction in the technique. Everything is perfect, there are no accidents- it seems as though humans are ready for mula bandha practice en mass. We, my friends, do indeed live in interesting times.

A New Perspective on Aging

2011-03-29T07:19:00.000-07:00

There was an experiment in Boston recently where the participants, who were all over the age of 75, were taken to a retreat center outside the city for one week. The retreat center was made to look like a building from the 1950's- the furnishings were from the 50's, the clothing the participants wore was from the 50's, the music they listened to, the movies they watched and the books and magazines they read were all from the 1950's. After one week, nearly all of the participants had dramatically reversed their biological markers for aging. No change in diet, no change in exercise- just the mental cue to their bodies to be as they were in the 50's and remarkably, they were!

The biological markers for aging are: bone density, fat content in the body, cardiovascular health, strength and flexibility thresholds, vision and hearing thresholds and quantities of sexual hormones in the body. All the newest studies show conclusively that every single one of these markers can be reversed! In studies where diet and exercise were added with the mental component, the results are even more dramatic: researchers were able to create biological markers in 75 year olds that were equal to that of the average 25 year old. The big lesson here is to change the way we think about aging. It is very possible to age joyfully and gracefully.

Nothing ages our bodies more rapidly than stress- studies show it makes us age 10 times faster. If we look to the animal kingdom- if a gazelle has a stressful encounter with a lion and survives the encounter, immediately the gazelle goes to take a deep rest to recover. What do humans do after a stressful day at the office? Most of us just keep going, doing it all over again the next day. The regular experience of the down regulation of the nervous system, the relaxation response, is absolutely necessary for optimal health, graceful aging and to counter the periods of up regulation- the stress response. The practice of Yoga, particularly a practice with an emphasis on the Yogic Sleep Meditation at the end, is a very efficient means of managing stress and evoking the relaxation response. When the body is relaxed it has energy to send to "non essential" tasks like anti aging and cellular repair and healing.

Under the microscope, it is nearly impossible to tell the difference between the muscle of a 20 year old and the muscle of a 70 year old, but where we do see dramatic difference is in the joints. Weight bearing work, like in the standing poses of Yoga, is amazing for putting a little stress of the bones to trigger new growth while still protecting the joints. Joints crave fluid movement and flowing Yoga sun salutations are very therapeutic for the joints.

In the animal kingdom those animals with slower breathing patterns, like turtles, tend to live longer. Yoga teaches us the same principle- if we can slow down our breathing patterns on a regular basis, we can increase our lifespan and have more time to work out karmic debt and to perform spiritual sadhana.

In the experiment with the 75 year olds who spent the week remembering how they were in the 1950's, we saw a change in their physical bodies in the present. Remembering the past can make physiological changes in the present. Use this wisdom to your advantage in your Yogic sleep meditation- if there is a physical issue that you are trying to heal or manage with your Yoga practice it would be beneficial to remember a time from the past before that issue was present and see yourself performing activities then that are not possible now. In your meditation experience the past fully- remember the sounds, sights, tastes and fragrances of the past.

This is an exciting time to be human on planet Earth. The later years of life are a natural time to focus more on spiritual practice and selfless service- our kids are getting older and more independent, our debts are getting smaller and we often have more free time as we work less. Aging can be a joyful transformation and the last part of our life can be just as dynamic and meaningful as the first.

Paradox

2011-03-14T11:24:00.000-07:00

I recently read an article about the seeming paradoxes found in highly creative people. There is a paradox between rest and activity. Creative types can remain intensely focused for long periods of time expending enormous amounts of energy on their discipline of choice and most report doing some type of physical activity on a regular basis. Yet, they also report spending long durations of time chilling out, doing nothing, resting and contemplating. Creative types are extroverted and love being on stage and being the center of attention. Yet, they also have periods of hermit like isolation and solitude. I am one of these types and I understand well the many faces and polarities of the personalities of creative artists. The paradoxes seem absolutely necessary for me. The activity and extroversion are facilitated by the resting and solitude.

Amit Goswami, a retired professor of quantum mechanics and a mystic, says that most people desire one polarity over the over- the act of doing or the act of being. Rather than being a type who likes to do, do, do or either a type who like to be, be, be- Amit says we are happier, like the artist, if we enjoy the dance of both- do be, do be, do be- some time spent doing and some time spent just being.

In Yoga, we ask you to build physical shapes, asanas, and in those shapes to engage opposing muscles groups in a balanced way. We say engage and enliven the muscles that you can. Yet, we also say relax and be calm and peaceful as you do this. These are seeming paradoxes. Yet, again the quiet mind we cultivate in Yoga actually facilitates the balancing of the forces in the pose. It is only when we are calm and peaceful that we able to explore the most physically demanding poses or sequences.

Find your Sthira- strength and stability in the pose. And find your Sukkha- comfort and ease. Enjoy the dance.
Do be do be do be!

Bliss Yoga Workshops for 2011

2011-02-08T12:50:00.000-08:00

2011 Workshop Schedule:

Chanting Retreat with Kirtan Artist Krishna Das at Satchidananda Ashram in Yogaville, Virginia:
Friday thru Monday, May 27-30
This retreat is part of the Bliss Yoga 300 hour Professional Level Yoga Teacher Training Program. If you wish to join us, book directly at http://www.yogaville.org/

Intro to Tantra:
Using the System to Tailor Asana Practices to the Individual
Sunday, June 5, 1-6 pm at Bliss Yoga Shala
Tuition: $100 (YA CEU certificates available for Yoga Teachers)
Facilitator: Shri Hamilton-Hubbard, E-RYT 500
Open to All Levels

As our Yoga asana practice deepens, we develop an understanding of the power of Yoga asana as as a therapeutic tool. Some jobs require a hammer. Some jobs require a screwdriver. Likewise, forward bends are Yoga Chikitsa (Yoga Therapy) for some while other practitioners would benefit more from a focus on backbends.
This workshop explores what a Yoga practice looks like with Tantra as its foundation and uses the Tantric system as a framework to create healing Yoga practices for individuals. We will look at case studies for practice and also formulate a therapeutic practice for ourselves.
Contact Shri for more information or to register:
ShriHubbard@gmail.com

Sun, Moon and Fire: The Stages of Awakening and Yogic Sleep Meditation for Healing and Empowerment

Sunday, June 12, 1-6 pm at Bliss Yoga Shala
Facilitator: Shri Hamilton-Hubbard, E-RYT 500
Tuition: $100 (YA CEU certificates available for Yoga Teachers)
Open to All Levels

Moon: Chitta, Mind, Awareness, Clarity of Vision
Sun: Prana, Energy, Power
Fire: Kundalini, the Realization of our Greatest Potential
Sometimes we know what to do, but we do not have the power to do it. Sometimes we have energy, but lack the clarity of vision to act. The empowerment of the Yogi requires both Awareness, Moon aspect, and Power, Sun aspect.
The Moon must be made steady in order for the Sun to rise.
Hatha Yoga Pradipika
This workshop explores a healing method for creating a steady mind which is particularly effective for beginning meditators.

Contact Shri for more information or to register
ShriHubbard@gmail.com

Anatomy for Yoga Teachers with Rolfer and Yogi Derek Gill:
Sunday, July 17 and Sunday, July 31, 1-6 pm both days
Tuition: $100 each day (YA CEUS available upon request)
This workshop explores therapeutic postural alignment for practical use in the asana system and covers anatomy basics to support Yoga instruction.
Contact Shri for more information or to register
ShriHubbard@gmail.com

Yoga and Meditation Retreat at the One Ocean Spa and Resort with Shri and Stan:
Enjoy Saturday at the beach and spa, stay overnight at the luxurious One Ocean Resort and spend the day Sunday learning and practicing Tantric meditation and flowing through 2 Yoga practices- one athletic and dynamic and the other gentle and restorative. Open to beginners and experienced Yogis and meditators, this workshop takes advantage of the amazing energy of Mother Ocean and the beach to dive deeper into the healing magic of meditation.
Saturday, August 13: Check in for the evening at the One Ocean Spa at 3 pm and join us for Chanting on the Beach at 8 pm- please bring percussion instruments!
Sunday, August 14: 8 am to 6 pm: Yoga and Meditation
Cost: Overnight stay AND Yoga and Meditation Retreat: $200 -shared room with a room mate or $300 private room
Yoga and Meditation Retreat ONLY: $150
The hotel sells out regularly- you must be registered by June 1 in order to confirm your room!
Contact Shri for more information or to register (register through us in order to receive your discounted room rate) ShriHubbard@gmail.com
Call the hotel directly to book any spa treatments for Saturday: 904-249-7402 (Atlantic Beach)
http://www.oneoceanresort.com/
Cancellation Policy: No refunds- you may transfer your space to someone else

Philosophy with Christopher Baxter, E-RYT 500
Open to All Levels
Illuminating the Core of the Chakras:
Saturday, Sept. 17, 12 noon to 5 pm and Sunday, Sept. 18, 1-6 pm
Tuition: $200 or $100 Saturday only (YA CEUS available)
Learn key characteristics of each chakra/ Understand how your chakras influence your life/ Experience core techniques to balance and strengthen the chakras.
Yoga Philosophy 1: Yoga Sutras and Samkhya Metaphysics
Saturday, Oct. 15, 12 noon to 5 pm and Sunday, Oct. 16, 1-6 pm
Tuition: $200 or $100 Saturday only (YA CEUS available)
Investigate the roots and limbs of Classical Yoga/ Learn core principles to enhance and deepen your practice/ Understand how to embody Yoga as a way of life
Yoga Philosophy 2: The Bhagavad Gita and The Unpanishads
Saturday, Dec. 3, 12 noon to 5 pm and Sunday, Dec. 4, 1-6 pm
Tuition: $200 or $100 Saturday only (YA CEUS available)
Explore the hidden origins of Yoga/ Clarify your path by studying the heart of the spiritual warrior/ Rest in the poems and stories of the master Yogis

Introduction to Sanskrit with Zoe Mai of the American Sanskrit Institute:
Friday, November 4, 6-8 pm
Saturday, November 5, 12 noon to 5 pm
Sunday, November 6, 1-6 pm
Tuition: $225 (YA CEUS available) No partial attendance is available for this workshop because of its progressive nature.
This weekend workshop will give you intimate familiarity with the unique points of resonance in your own palate that support Sanskrit's sacred sounds. And you'll be firmly grounded in proper pronunciation of this ancient language.
Along the way you'll learn the alphabet- itself a lovely chant- and you'll receive the tools you need to explore your favorite sutras and chants in the beautiful script of Sanskrit, devanagari. ASI's teaching method, developed over many years by Vyaas Houston, makes learning Sanskrit stress-free and FUN!
http://www.americansanskritinstitute.com/
Contact Shri for more information or to register
ShriHubbard@gmail.com

The Siddhis: The Power of Rapid Cognition

2011-01-23T13:30:00.000-08:00

In 1983 an art dealer approached the J. Paul Getty museum in California about buying a kouros, a marble statue dating from the 6th century BCE. Only 200 are known to be in existence and this one was a beautiful piece depicting a male, nude youth standing over 7 feet tall. The asking price was 10 million. The Getty moved cautiously and over the next 14 months put the statue through a battery of tests before finally agreeing to purchase the kouros for the asking price. When the museum unveiled their new prize, a handful of art historians felt something was not quite right with the statue. One said that he could not stop looking at the fingernails, sensing something was wrong. One said that the first word that popped into his mind when seeing the kouros was "fresh", not a word that would normally describe a statue that was thousands of years old. And one female art historian's first words were "I hope you have not paid for this yet."

The Getty then began to dig deeper into the statue's provenance and the first rock solid proof of inconsistencies was found. Ultimately the museum discovered that the kouros was indeed a fake and that despite their arduous work, they had been fooled.

The art historians who knew something was wrong could not logically say why they knew what they knew. Most said it was just a hunch. This is an example of rapid cognition- the act of knowing without thinking- gaining access to large quantities of information in a glance, in the blink of an eye.

My son recently said to me that Yoga is like any good video game, that you get cool things as you move through the levels. The Siddhis are the cool things that you get as you move through the levels of Yoga. The Siddhis, or psychic powers, are listed in chapter 3 of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. The list is long and magical with out of this world possibilities for human development and achievement. One of the possible psychic abilities that it speaks of is the power of rapid cognition. Specifically the sutra states that if we can look at anything with sufficient concentration and focus that we will know everything there is to know about that object. The little mind gains access to Big Mind and just like when we go online with our computers, our single hard drive now is connected to all the hard drives on the web. Through the cultivation of concentration, we gain access to the cosmic hard drive and draw then from an enormous amount of information, the primordial pool of intelligence.

In a Yoga practice of asana, pranayama and meditation, we cultivate concentration on a regular basis and the object we study is us. Our bodies, our breath,our personalities, habits, beliefs, quirks and eccentricities. When sufficient concentration develops, our secrets are discovered. If you want to know which diet and foods are best for you, study yourself. If you want to know which career you are best suited for, study yourself. If you want to know the cause of an illness, study yourself. Over time, the answers come.

Be truthful with yourself. When you are truthful with yourself you start to see everything as it is, not the way you want to see it. The wounds in your emotional body are covered by the denial system. When you look at your wounds with the eye of truth, you can finally heal those wounds.

Don Miguel Ruiz

Pranams to Malcolm Gladwell, author of an amazing book on rapid cognition called Blink.

Bliss Yoga Shala 300 Hour Professional Level Yoga Teacher Training

2011-01-21T14:35:00.000-08:00

Early Bird Rate for our 300 Hour Professional Level Yoga Teacher Training and Mentorship Program is:

$3800 if paid in full by Feb. 15, 2011

For more information about this amazing program or to register, please go to http://www.blissyogashala.com/

Christmas Holiday Schedule

2010-12-19T11:36:00.000-08:00

Holiday Schedule:

Friday, Dec. 24, Christmas Eve 9 am class ONLY Mixed Level with Shri

Saturday, Dec. 25, Christmas Day 9 am class ONLY Mixed Level with Shri

(regular schedule will resume on Sunday)

Friday, Dec. 31, New Years Eve 9 am class ONLY Mixed Level with Shri

Saturday, Jan. 1, New Years Day 9 am class ONLY Mixed Level with Shri

(regular schedule will resume on Sunday)

Happy Holidays from Bliss Yoga Shala!!

Practice Gratitude with Enthusiasm!

2010-11-23T09:00:00.000-08:00

Growing up, I remember when my mother got her first new luxury car. Before that, she had been driving a Volkswagen and it was quite spartan, but the new car had power everything and soft, supple seats. My brother, who had only recently acquired his drivers license, unfortunately had an accident with my mother's car and totalled it. My mother said "God took the car away from me because I loved it too much." I have never forgotten that and only recently I had a light bulb moment where I realized that when I am grateful for something, that gratitude is limited by my fear that I will lose the object.

Just this week I attended a beautiful funeral service for a friend's mother. My friend had a very close relationship with her mother and did an amazing job at the service making us laugh and cry with stories of her mother. We love and cherish our friends and family knowing that we are guaranteed to lose them at some point. Either we leave first or them, but the loss is going to happen. The Universe gives us the gift of family, friends and even beautiful objects. It is a shame to not fully appreciate those gifts and to let the gratitude and appreciation be inhibited with fear of loss. Resolve to practice gratitude with enthusiasm: from en theos- to be with God. I am firm believer that the Divine rewards passion and enthusiasm. The Universe delights in our joy. Gratitude and love have the highest positive biofeedback effect on the body. When we feel grateful it is physically healing.

There is a cute parable about a Yogini who goes to her kitchen and smells poop. She investigates, but the poop smell remains a mystery. She goes to her bedroom, it also smells like poop. She goes to work, her office smells like poop. She goes to Publix, the store smells like poop. Finally she goes to the bathroom and looks in the mirror. There is poop on the end of her nose! We often try to look for fixes outside of ourselves when the problem, and the solution, begins with us.

Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind.
This famous line from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali defines the goal of Yoga and the path to that goal. Yoga is that state of a quiet, peaceful and powerful mind- no thoughts. That state where we are no longer a victim to negative self chatter. Until we reach that exalted state, we are seeing reality through the distorted lens of our thoughts- we see reality as we are. If we feel poopy then the world looks poopy. If we are angry, then the world seems like a violent place. If we are peaceful, then our world is peaceful. Practicing gratitude with enthusiasm changes our world view and alters our perception of reality.

I cant get too excited about say, Columbus Day, but Thanksgiving, on the other hand, is a beautiful tradition. Carry the spirit of the day with you throughout the year.

PS: I am so very grateful to all the amazing Yogis and Yoginis at Bliss Yoga Shala!! We all grow together and small communities like ours are changing the world. We are the ones we have been waiting for.

Temperance: Moderation

2010-11-18T04:24:00.000-08:00

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.

Chogyam Trungpa from Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism

Misguided Loyalty

2010-11-07T10:53:00.000-08:00

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.

"We Americans are the ultimate innocents. We are forever desperate to believe that this time the government is telling us the truth."

Sydney Schanberg, former New York Times reporter

When the United States went to war with Iraq for the second time, we were told that there was irrefutable evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. The Jacksonville Times Union reported "Iraq is Busted". We now know that this was absolutely not true and that if the American press had done its job and investigated those reports, that fact would have become abundantly clear and some further investigations would have been warranted to determine if the people prop0sing these claims were doing so in a criminal way, with intention to deceive the American people and the world. This is not the first time that the American government has been caught red handed in a lie in order to go to war. We know now that the Gulf of Tonkin incident which preceded the Vietnam War was not accurately reported to either Congress or the American People.

It is estimated that 25 million people world wide were in opposition to the 2nd Iraqui War. Yet, people in this country who opposed the war were labelled as unpatriotic and were often afraid to speak out. Committing nonvirtuous acts and witnessing nonvirtuous acts without at least speaking out are both actions which carry negative karmic debt. Many Americans are like the pit bull, with loyalty to a fault to our leaders. This misguided loyalty allows this country to act in ways that make the rest of the world see us as the global bully. Many Yogis I have known over the years have dropped out of the political arena, some do not even vote. They incorrectly think that if they don't vote, they aren't connected to the karma of this country's actons. Putting one's head in the sand like an ostrich and pretended we don't see any wrongdoing is juvenile and we are all karmically tied to the US just by living here.

"The master class has always declared the wars. The subject class has always fought the wars. The master class has had everything to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose, especially their lives."

Eugene Victor Debs

"There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people."

Howard Zinn

Civilian casualties in WWI were 10%

in WW2 50%

in the Vietnam War 70%

and in the Iraqi War civilian casualties are 90%. 90%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Men who have no respect for human life or for freedom or justice have taken over this beautiful country of ours. It will be up to the American people to take it back."

Howard Zinn

"Where people lead, their leaders will follow."

Gandhi

PS:

Annual Military Budgets

UK 34.8 Billion United States 379 Billion!

France 27 Billion (More than the rest of the world

Germany 23.1 Billion combined)

China 14.5 Billion

Russia 29 Billion

Iran 7.5 Billion

Saudi Arabia 18.7 Billion

India 15.9 Billion

North Korea 1.3 Billion

Thanksgiving Holiday Schedule

2010-11-03T07:21:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving Holiday Schedule:

Wed., Nov. 24: 9 am Mixed Level Class ONLY

Thurs., Nov. 25: 9 am Mixed Level Class ONLY

Regular Schedule Resumes on Friday

Happy Thanksgiving!

Kali Energy

2010-10-11T09:09:00.000-07:00

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.

Kali is black to represent Her transcendental nature.

Just as all colors disappear into black, all names and forms disappear into Her.

Maha Nirvana Tantra

In order to truly know ourselves, Yogis strive to release attachment to all names and forms because these are temporary and pure consciousness is perpetual.

Kali's tongue urges us to savor ALL the flavors of life on planet Earth. Gain and loss, success and failure, these are different flavors and we miss out on the fullness of the human experience when we push some flavors away.

Ganesh Energy

2010-10-05T02:13:00.000-07:00

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.
The polarity of the Earth actually changes during storms. It is as if the Earth is inviting the lightning to come down and work its magic.
Humans have a force like lightning, in seed form, lying dormant in the pelvic floor. The dormant force, Kundalini Shakti, is a mechanism of change, creativity and transformation and when activated, it is possible for humans to reach their greatest potential. The archetype Ganesh governs the pelvic floor and He has a relationship with the energy in seed form. Ganesh energy works specifically to remove obstacles- obstacles that block the path to healing and empowerment.
In the same way that the Earth invites lightning down during storms, Yogis invite the energies of the pelvic floor to awaken and to work their magic in our bodies and in our lives. Working with the pelvic floor, using the Moola Bandha method in particular, is the means of invitation. The seeds of the dormant, creative force begin to germinate, grow and flourish and obstacles are removed.

Bliss Yoga Events

2010-10-01T09:25:00.000-07:00

Bliss Yoga
Events:

Please join us!

Shri will be teaching a FREE class at Lululemon in St. Johns Town Center every Sunday in October at 9:30 am. Our theme all month will be Learning the Lessons of the Archetypal Deities Ganesh, Kali, Ram, Krishna and Shiva.

30 Hour Introductory or Supplemental Vinyasa Teacher Training with Shri: Nov. 8-12, Mon thru Fri, 9 am to 3 pm each day. Tuition: $600

Workshop/ Asana Intensive with Rob Hefele: Sunday, Dec. 5: Lift Off Practice and Yin Practice

Free YogaWorks Level 2 Class and 200 Hour TT info session with Sarah Bell: Sat., Dec. 4, 12 noon to 2 pm

YogaWorks 200 Hour Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training 30 Day Intensive held at Bliss Yoga Shala: Jan- Feb, 2011

Please go to our website http://www.blissyogashala.com/ for more information about any of these events.

Pratyahara

2010-09-26T16:52:00.000-07:00

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.
Master Patanjali and Classical Yoga give us a recipe for controlling the senses...... We are to practice Pratyahara, the conscious withdrawal of the senses away from the outer world. With pratyahara, we make a choice to tune into the inner experience, the inner landscape. This is one reason why many Yoga studios are sparsely decorated and why many Yoga teachers choose not to use music for asana practice. We are encouraging you to go inside, even if only momentarily. We spend so much of our lives with external world focus. Let your Yoga practice be a time for internal awareness and dwelling. Practically in class, we cultivate pratyahara by focusing on our breathing patterns and scanning the physical body for sensations. The pelvic floor technique moola bandha is well suited to develop pratyahara as well because the muscle group is located deep inside the body and we almost always lose the technique if we shift awareness to the outside world by looking outside the window or looking across the room at other Yogis.

When the senses withdraw themselves from the objects and imitate, as it were, the nature of the mind-stuff, this is pratyahara.
Yoga Sutra 2.54
Then follows mastery over the senses.
Yoga Sutra 2.55

Karma for Yoga Teachers

2010-09-08T11:08:00.000-07:00

There is a story in the scriptures about one of the gods making a sarcastic remark about a human. The human was very sensitive so she could hear the nasty remark about the way she looked. She said to the god, "had you been an ordinary person, I could have forgiven you". And she cursed the god to only have ugly children from that day forward.

When we call ourselves "teacher", we choose to no longer be ordinary people. Karmic consequence becomes greater for teachers. Teachers' words and actions need to be thoughtful and for the greater good, to the very best of our ability. Great teachers see their students as children who are to be cared for and instructed with loving respect.
We cannot give away that which we do not possess. As teachers, we need to be constantly culitvating light so that we are able to illuminate the path for others even a little. Muktananda Stiles says that teachers need to make sure that they are able to meditate peacefully for at least 20 minutes, otherwise we are passing on our stress and tension to our students.
No one said that teaching is easy, but not enough people are saying that teaching is hard and a great responsibility that not everyone is up for. Will you honor your role as teacher with the full commitment to be of service or will you use the role selfishly for personal gain?

Labor Day Holiday Schedule

2010-09-04T09:46:00.000-07:00

Schedule for Monday, September 6:

9 am Class ONLY Mixed Level with Shri

Happy Holiday!
(Regular schedule resumes on Tuesday)

Eat: Week One

2010-08-31T14:08:00.000-07:00

The next 3 weeks in the studio we are working with the theme Eat, Pray, Love as a life plan.
Eat: Week One

"Yogis eat for energy, not flavor."
Ken Revell

"Energy = Power"
SHH

"Let food be your medicine and let medicine be your food."
Hippocrates

Clinically and literally, the way we (Americans) are eating is making us fatter, sicker and dumber. I am not one to get on the soap box, but this is go time, the 11th hour as it were, something needs to change. Americans are the fattest citizens of the world and we use up more of the world's resources than the rest of the world COMBINED. "They", groups that are blindly driven by greed, are growing our food in completely irresponsible and nonsustainable ways and adding potently harmful additives to our food. The cancer rate 30 years ago was 1 in 16, now it is 1 in 2. Because of growth hormones added to our food, young girls now are reaching puberty at an alarmingly early age. We would need several more planets like Earth to perpetually sustain the voracious American diet and I don't see any extra planets around.....

What we have been "fed" about food is shakey at best and criminal and malicious at worst. Many of the sources we have looked to for food, diet and health guidance are guided primarily by profit.

Yogis begin to think outside of the box and for themselves. Here are some resources:

http://www.nymedicalnutrition.com/ for a list of "frankenfoods", foods to be avoided, and a new look at the economics of the traditional food pyramid.

http://www.gerson.org/ for great documentaries about food growing and the power of foods to heal, even for cancer treatment. In this country, doctors are prohibited, by law, to offer any other treatment for cancer other than surgery, chemo and radiation. In other countries, however, many other more holistic courses of treatment are offered with similar or better success rates and minimal side effects. (Netflix has many of the Gerson films)

http://www.rajpatel.com/ is the website of an activist is this area

The documentaries Food, Inc. and The 11th Hour are both very informative as well.

Very easy guidelines for, in my opinion, the healthiest and most Earth friendly diet:

Eat less. We need so much less food than we think and than we have been taught and told. Monks traditionally eat only what can fit into the palms of both hands. Many people (myself included) eat only 1 or 2 meals per day and find that they have even more energy and stamina with less food. There is a great deal of research in this area to be found under RC diet (reduced calorie) and RC diet plus a long fasting duration http://www.fast-5.com/

Buy and Eat Local and Organic.

Make eating fresh fruits and vegetables a daily event.

Practice Yoga regularly to build up the internal fire which will help to flush out old and new toxins. With a strong fire, we can throw in some green wood from time to time.

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.

How has Yoga changed your life?

2010-08-29T13:07:00.000-07:00

Pam Hall- 8 years of Yoga Practice
Leslie Wilbur- 15 years of Yoga Practice

How has yoga changed your life? This question was asked to some students at Bliss Yoga.

Leslie Wilbur

I had practiced yoga inconsistently for about 15 years, although I was a regular exerciser (cardio and weights). Beginning around December, while in teacher training, I began practicing 6 days a week and meditating 7 days a week (without fail). What a difference! In the last 8 months, I have experienced the following improvements: my digestive system has been restored to complete health, I sleep like a baby, my "normal aches and pains of aging" are gone, my allergies are gone, my moods are very stable. And these are only the physical changes.
The other changes are more subtle and yet more profound. I feel more grounded. I feel more connected to everyone and everything. I feel more inner peace. I feel more deeply, and at the same time I am not swept away by feelings. I have more coincidences and synchronicities in my daily life. I feel more contentment and gratitude with things the way they are.
Overall, the changes I've experienced over such a short time are amazing!

Pam Hall

I first started coming to yoga class eight years ago, to "decompress" from the daily stresses of a high powered job in financial services industry, the challenges of raising three teenagers and to find an escape from the day-to-day grind. In the course of those eight years, I have happily abandoned the high powered stressful job. The three teenagers have grown up to be wonderful caring productive adults and I no longer feel I'm living in a day-to-day grind.
There are actually two quotes that seem to best sum up what yoga has done for me. The first, by Denis Waitley "Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude." Yoga is teaching me how to live life with love, grace and gratitude, thus bringing me a happiness that was in the past, elusive.
Yoga has brought more profound changes in my life on a physical, emotional and spiritual level. While the change has been profound, I wouldn't say it has been dramatic. Meaning, I feel I am the same person I have always been, just a much better version. This brings me to my second quote by Sting "The deeper you get into yoga you realize it is a spiritual practice. It's a journey I'm making. I'm heading that way."

The Search for Prana

2010-08-15T15:25:00.000-07:00

Shiva statue at Cern ( Shiva was the first Yoga teacher) and the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) at Cern Particle Physics Lab in Switzerland.

Growing up, my brother Gary loved mechanical things. He loved them so much, he wanted to know how they worked so he would often take things apart and try to put them back together with mixed success. My father gave him an old, broken down VW Bug and Gary cut off the top and got the engine working so he could have a homemade dune buggy of sorts. Whoever rode in the passenger seat had to hold the "gas tank", which was a used gallon milk container, seriously. Ah, the joys of growing up in the country....

100 years ago, the idea that all matter was made up of atoms was just a theory. Later, when more powerful means of actually seeing these small particles were invented, atomic theory became truth. Then scientists did what my brother Gary did, and began to look inside atoms to figure out how they work. For the most part, what is inside an atom is empty space. The "stuff" of an atom is at the nucleus and the nucleus takes up the same space that the head of a pin does inside a football field.

With this new knowledge came inconsistencies. If matter is made of particles and is mostly empty space, what holds the particles together and why do objects appear to have mass??

A group of scientists offered a theory of a substance that is all pervasive throughout the material world- the glue of universe- and this theorized substance is called the Higgs Boson. The discovery of the Higgs would resolve the mysteries and inconsistencies in current theoretical physics. What was needed to prove the existence of the Higgs was an LHC- a Large Hadron Collider- that could accelerate particles up to massive speeds and then record and study the collisions. Only two LHCs in the world were powerful enough to run the experiments- one at Firmalab in Chicago and one at Cern, in Geneva, Switzerland. The race was on! As soon as Cern fired up their LHC, the colossal piece of equipment promptly broke down. So Chicago was the first to start observing collisions and both labs predicted it might take years. Unfortunately, Chicago found out that their LHC is probably not powerful enough to be successful. Recently, in November of 2009, Cern's LHC came back online and is now running experiments as we speak in search of the Higgs, which has been nicknamed the Genesis or God particle.

I share this because it is so exciting that modern science is now looking to prove the existence of Prana Shakti or what some believe to be the Holy Spirit. According to Yogic cosmology, Prana is that which animates all of the material world. Yogis work with Prana Shakti in every Yoga practice for practical results- it changes the way we think and feel.
Just because you can't see something, doesn't mean it isn't real or that you can't use it to your advantage.

Now the Earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep. God's Spirit was hovering above the surface of the waters.
Genesis 1:2

Dwelling at the Edge of Melancholy

2010-08-13T08:42:00.000-07:00

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.
The path of Yoga is Agni Vidya, the science of fire. With each practice, we cultivate the desirable qualities of fire. Fire produces light. Experienced Yogis light up a room when they enter. Fire also produces heat. An emotional warmth and tenderness begins to develop in the heart. Our emotions become more vibrant and our capacity for compassion and empathy for others expands. We find that we are more tuned in to the suffering of others, so much that we feel as though we are walking around with a broken heart much of the time. Some seekers find themselves paralyzed at this point, overwhelmed by the depth of emotion that is experienced by seeing the suffering of others with so much clarity. Becoming paralyzed in the face of suffering is not the answer, nor does it bring anything positive to the table, for you or for the person who is suffering.
Life is suffering. So what is to be done about that? Doing is exactly what is required- action is required. The path of Hatha Yoga- Asana, Pranayama and Meditation- is a life plan. It is a method for learning how to navigate through this world of suffering without becoming paralyzed or dying of a broken heart. We learn to cultivate a reliable happiness that is not affected by outside circumstance.

The World of the Unseen

2010-08-06T09:54:00.000-07:00

Inside and outside her head, a billion, trillion stars, beyond count, circled and exploded....Songs were heard in spheres within spheres, electric, crackle, sharp. She heard nothing. How could she, when not once had she even heard the sound of her own breathing?

This is the world of Christian mystics, Kabbalists, Sufis, Yogis and Tantrikas- the unseen world. With the discovery of dark matter, electromagnetism and the infrared, ultraviolet and ultrasound frequencies, we know now that what humans are able to perceive in the world is only less than one percent of all that there is. Less than one percent! The world of the unseen is much greater than the world of normal human perception. This is the realm of prana, angels, ghosts, fairies, archetypal deities, Naguals, synchronicity, signs, symbols and the hall of Akashic records. Even modern physics theorizes about this realm with the possibility of countless alternate universes- spheres within spheres. The path of all Mystery Schools is access to this realm of the unseen. The first step on the path is getting comfortable with the sound of our own breathing.

Until You Merge, You Serve

2010-08-01T06:58:00.000-07:00

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.
Actions performed in service are not bound by the laws of karma. Hanuman's lesson to us is the joy of living a life in service to humanity and the possibility of merging with That through service. Union with the divine is a concept that is also taught in the Catholic tradition of Christianity, but the techniques are only taught to monks and nuns, not to lay people. In Tantra, this path is open even to householders.
Just this morning, my stepdaughter and I went to a bookstore and on the way there, we stopped at Starbucks for a coffee. We ran into Delores Morford, a longtime teacher of astrology in Jacksonville. Delores spoke to me of what I had been feeling recently. She said in May, we all entered into a time of cosmic weather patterns where those of us who are called to a life of service will feel a sense of urgency in this calling. Now is the time to make manifest our dearest desires. Now is the time to discover your gifts and to use them in service. It is a time to let go of anything and anyone barring the path to growth, expansion and service. Basically, #&*@ , or get off the pot. Be discriminating in your choice of friends and draw from the strength of your sangha. If you are dabbling with a practice, devote yourself with a full heart. If you are practicing, take your practice to the next level.

"There is a river flowing now, very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart and suffer greatly. Know that the river has its destination. The elders say we must push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open and our heads above the water. See who is in there with you and celebrate. At this time in history we are to take nothing personally, least of all ourselves, for the moment we do that, our spiritual growth comes to a halt. The time of the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves, banish the word struggle from your attitude and vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred way and in celebration. We are the ones we've been waiting for."
Hope elder

New Summer Schedule- updated

2010-07-24T12:33:00.000-07:00

Mondays and Wednesdays:
9:05 am Warrior with Shri, 6 pm Warrior with Shri

Tuesdays and Thursdays:
6 am Sunrise Warrior with Shri, 9:05 am Peaceful with Pam, 5:30 pm Peaceful with Shri

Fridays:
9:05 am Mixed Level with Tru, 5:30 pm Warrior with Ken

Saturdays:
8 am Warrior with Shri, 9:45 am Peaceful with Shri
Sundays:
9 am Warrior with Sherri, 11 am Peaceful with Sherri

The first Thursday of each month at 5:30 pm is Long, Slow and Deep practice with Shri

Tuesday and Thursday nights at 7:15 pm is now a Workshop Series with Sherri:
You may pay for 6 weeks in advance and get one week free: $100
or drop in per class for $10
(This class is now a workshop series, so it is now paid for separately from monthly unlimited and from Bliss class packages)

The Heaving Bosom

2010-07-19T10:14:00.000-07:00

....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.......

Is this an excerpt from a romance novel or a Yoga practice? This is the experience of dynamic breathing in a Yoga practice.

I once saw Yogi Amrit Desai perform an asana sequence and, although the sequence was not of particularly advanced postures, I was completely mesmerized watching him. He was creating magic on his mat and the observers in the room simply could not look away. I have seen Yogis practice very advanced sequences and not create the same magic, in fact, I have seen advanced sequences performed with a distinct dullness. Over the years, I came to an understanding that what separates practitioners who create magic and dull practitioners is the quality of their breath and therefore their ability to bend and manipulate prana shakti. Dynamic breathing patterns create dynamic prana on the mat. For the most part, this means absolutely conscious breathing of long duration and the breathing pattern is made longer by the use of auxiliary muscles of breathing in the core and in the upper chest. I have also been mesmerized by watching gifted dancers and gymnasts. There is something about the rise and fall of the chest created through powerful breathing that is enchanting and fascinating to the eye. It is the same state of passion that creates the heaving chest in Yogis, dancers and even lovers. The bending of prana shakti through manipulated breath creates magic and if one is able to create magic on the mat, we are also able to create that same magic in life.

This week, I had the absolute pleasure of going to White Oak with a group of dancers from the MFA program at JU. We practiced a little energy bending with heaving bosom breath while moving through vinyasas in the amazing Michail Baryshnikov dance studio. The photo is of me feeding Rick the giraffe some leaves. White Oak is a hidden gem here on the first coast- it was created to be a sanctuary and retreat for humans and endangered animals. The Clintons went there during the Lewinsky scandal, Al Gore went there after he lost (won) the election and international conferences have been held there with diplomats from all over the world participating. White Oak is an amazing animal preserve protecting and breeding endangered species like rhinos, cheetahs and giraffes. The trust also promotes the arts and artists in transition. Check out White Oak at www.WOcenter.org

Pray for More Problems

2010-07-19T10:03:00.000-07:00

"Pray for More Problems."
SBS

When we encounter difficulty in life, it makes us thirsty for inner work, the search for answers inside, when the answers in the outside world are insufficient. Inner work, like meditation, is highly efficient problem solving methodology.
Einstein said the Theory of Relativity came to him in a meditative state. When I tell students that answers come in meditation, I am not being poetic. I mean this literally. Ask for help, guidance and answers in each meditation.

Follow Your Bliss

2010-07-17T08:53:00.000-07:00

"Mind your own business."
This is Sri Brahmananda Saraswati's (SBS) favorite mantra. Joseph Campbell did not say follow someone else's bliss (or drama), he said follow your own bliss. The path of following one's bliss, or dharma, is not easy. You don't have time to mind other people's business, your plate is full.

The path of following your bliss has been widely misunderstood to mean the path of moving away from pain and moving toward pleasure. This is not the case at all. Following bliss means to discover what is yours to do right now, dharma, and then to stay on point until that mission is accomplished, no matter how arduous that path might be. Early civil rights workers told the racists that opposed them- you may threaten our children, burn down our homes, beat us, even kill us, but we are not going away. This is following bliss.

Do not yield to weakness, it does not suit you.
Krishna to Arjuna, in the Bhagavad Gita

Zen and the Art of Air Conditioning Repair

2010-07-16T06:50:00.000-07:00

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.

Our work on the mat with asanas and pranayama is the warm air going out- we build up fire in the belly and get body fluids moving to release that which no longer serves us. The meditation at the end of practice is the cool air moving in- we consciously relax body and mind and a deep peace settles in and nourishes the living matrix. Stress out- peace in, stress out- peace in. Over time, the scales begin to tip and we find that peace is the predominant feeling. We begin to feel good most of the time. Most importantly, we begin to recognize when we are out of balance and choose not to act from a state of imbalance. We have tools and techniques to bring us back to our new default state.

Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.
Om Peace, Peace, Peace.
With this statement, in the vibrational language of Sanskrit, the Yogi cultivates and imparts Peace.

New Summer Schedule

2010-07-14T05:10:00.001-07:00

New Summer Schedule Effective July 19, 2010:

Monday and Wednesday: 9:05 am Warrior with Shri, 6 pm Warrior with Shri
Tuesday and Thursday: 6 am Warrior with Shri, 9:05 am Peaceful with Pam, 5:30 pm Peaceful with Shri
Friday: 9:05 am Mixed Level Flow with Pam, 5:30 pm Warrior with Ken
Saturday: 8 am Warrior with Shri, 9:45 am Peaceful with Rachel
Sunday: 9 am Warrior with Sherri, 11 am Peaceful with Sherri

First Thursday of each month at 5:30 pm is Long, Slow and Deep Practice with Shri
Meditation with Stan each Tuesday at 7:15 pm Downstairs

The Path of the Bow and Arrow

2010-07-10T15:08:00.000-07:00

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.

I leave Miami tomorrow morning.......I had forgotten the beauty of Coral Gables, the international flavor of Miami and the vividness of the tropical sky. Thank you Prana Yoga Miami, my gracious workshop facilitator and hostess.

Back to teaching at Bliss Monday morning at 9 am. Our theme this week is inspired by Arjuna, the main player in the Gita- we will be working with The Path of the Bow and Arrow- Awakening the Warrior.

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-03T14:58:00.000-07:00

Yoga Schedule remains the same for the 4th of July holiday weekend!

Sunday: 9 am Warrior Flow with Tru
11 am Peaceful Flow with Sherri
5 pm Long Slow and Deep with Ken
Monday: 9 am Warrior Flow with Shri
4:30 pm Mixed Level Flow with Erica
6 pm Warrior Flow with Shri

Balancing the Forces in Pose

2010-07-03T10:14:00.000-07:00

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.

Another physiological concept that is important to work with here as well is the balancing of forces in joints. Some of us have the ability to take a joint beyond 90 degrees- the hyper extension of a joint. There is disagreement in the Yoga world and the medical world about whether this is even a problem, but having suffered physical problems from both hyper extension of knees and elbows, I do see it as a problem and as a structural form that can be therapeutically corrected. When we hyper extend the elbow joint and put the bottom of the humerus bone in a different alignment, the top of that bone, that connects with the shoulder joint, will also be in a different alignment. Hyper extension of elbows often sets us up for shoulder injuries in the same way that hyper extension of knees throws the pelvis out of optimal alignment and can set us up for back problems. At the very least, hyper extension of elbows produces weak and/or flabby triceps (underside of upper arm) and hyper extension of knees produces weak and/or flabby quads (fronts of the thighs). If one is working on handstand, then strong triceps are a prerequisite in order to be able to bear the entire body weight on straight arms and strong quads are necessary in order to perform the donkey kick that lifts the legs into the handstand. If you are able to hyper extend, find some reason to get excited about changing the pattern.

As the mind thinks, so the body becomes.....this is a two way street. Often we find, that by changing a structural pattern in the body, that change is also created in the mind. Knees are associated with foundations in life, fear, security and prosperity issues- standing where we don't want to stand- and arms about the balance of giving and receiving. Arms are an extension of the heart- are we putting our heart out there and into it? Arms develop from the voice box of a fetus- arms are our voice in postures and in the world.

The balancing of the forces in the asana reminds us of balance in the larger sense for practice. We balance strength and flexibility, in breath and out breath, right side and left side, steadiness with comfort, relaxation with appropriate effort, structure with creativity, outer focus with inner focus and gross practices and subtle practices. In life, we strive to balance giving and receiving, doing and nondoing, work and play and material world growth and expansion with spiritual growth and expansion.

Celebrating the Fullness of the Guru

2010-06-28T11:02:00.000-07:00

"Whether you practice the dynamic series of Pattabhi Jois, the refined alignment of B.K.S. Iyengar or the customized vinyasa of viniyoga, your practice stems from one source: a five foot two inch Brahmin born more than one hundred years ago in a small South Indian village."

The full moon in July is traditionally Guru Poornima, the celebration of the fullness of the teacher. It is a time to formally honor special teachers. This July, we will honor Sri Krishnamacharya.

A lineage of Yoga teachers is called Guru Parampara, literally "one after the other". A lineage is access to an unbroken line of energy. Our lineage in the studio is Vinyasa Yoga in the tradition of Sri Krishnamacharya (1888-1989), a legendary Yoga teacher, healer and scholar. Krishnamacharya is credited with the creation of the Vinyasa system, intelligent sequences of asanas combined with steady gaze (Dhrishti), manipulated breath (Ujjayi Pranayama) and core emphasis (Bandhas).

Krishanamacharya had 3 students who also went on to become very famous Yoga teachers in the their own right- B.KS. Iyengar, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, and T.K.V. Desikachar, his son. Iyengar's vigorous style of Yoga is known for an emphasis on alignment and the use of props like blocks, straps and sand bags. Pattabhi Jois' Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga has an emphasis on repetition and structure. Practitioners perform nearly the same practice 6 days a week. Pattabhi Jois has said that the three key words that describe his style are strength, stamina and sweat. The Yoga of T.K.V. Desikachar is customized individually for each practitioner according to their specific needs and goals. These three students, who all studied with the same teacher, created three very different styles of Yoga. Yet, the one aspect of practice that all three of these teachers agreed on was the importance of meditation in a Yoga practice.

"Let us set aside as much time for meditation as possible."

Sri K. Pattabhi Jois

I began my journey into Yoga with a meditation practice. I had practiced meditation for years before I did my first down dog. When I started teaching, I taught in the way that most teachers teach led classes- instructing asanas combined with pranayama (conscious breathing) for the bulk of the duration of the class and then finishing with a short Yogic sleep meditation and maybe a very brief seated pranayama and/or meditation. The heart of the class is asana work with the subtle practices just thrown in very briefly at the end. Part of the reason for this is because students have a difficult time with meditation and often, initially, they simply do not see the benefit. Also, unfortunately, many Yoga teachers do not practice meditation themselves, so do not see the benefit of teaching it to others. For teachers like me, who do practice meditation, we often teach classes speaking of the importance of meditation, giving students a short taste of meditation at the end of each class and then hope beyond hope that maybe we have inspired practitioners to commit to a home practice of meditation. Yet, I found that after years of teaching serious, regular students Yoga, there were only a handful of students who were meditating at home.

About six months ago, I decided that I could no longer live with myself teaching in this way. If I really thought meditation was so important, then I had to give students a real experience of it in each practice. The change that is possible from a Yoga practice is profound, but most teachers agree that the miracles that are possible only happen with a full Yoga practice- asana, pranayama and meditation. Asanas with pranayama cultivate fire and devotional practices like chanting and meditation cultivate the sap of vitality that protects daily practitioners from getting burned by the fire.

Nowadays, when I teach, I draw from the wisdom of all the root gurus from this tradition. I teach poses with some emphasis on physical alignment honoring Iyengar, tempered with the energetics of the pose, "feeling" our way toward optimal alignment and enhanced energy flow. I like to work with repetition and structure in sequencing honoring Pattabhi Jois, yet allowing some wiggle room for a sprinkling of creativity. Form and freedom are nice. And I teach with the idea of using Yoga as therapy honoring T.K.V. Desikachar, instructing students how to tweak poses, breath and sequencing to best suit their own anatomies and nervous systems. It is possible for students to practice the very same sequence of poses with very different bhavanas, intentions. Honoring Krishnamacharya and all of his students, each practice ends now with an extended experience of Yogic Sleep Meditation, Yoga Nidra.

"Silence is not silent. Silence speaks. Silence is not still. Silence leads."

Sri Chinmoy

The Art of Sleeping and the Cultivation of Awareness

2010-06-27T12:18:00.000-07:00

Coffee beans are the second most widely traded world commodity, second only to oil.

"When someone says they need only five hours of sleep, I tell them they're delusional," says Thomas Roth, Ph.D., of the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. "It's very important to differentiate between how much people sleep and how much sleep they need."

Because of the invention of electricity, we get on average 90 minutes less sleep per night than our ancestors. Add to that overworking and overplaying, and what we end up with is a sleep restricted and/or sleep deprived modern society. For many, sleep is simply not a priority. Sleep, however, is just as integral to the building and maintaining of health as exercise, diet and stress management. The body rejuvenates itself each night when we sleep and sends its resources to nonessential tasks like cellular repair, antiaging, enhancing the immune system and healing itself. Charles Czeisler, Ph.D., M.D., professor of sleep medicine at Harvard Medical School and one of the country's leading sleep experts, calls lack of sleep "a huge, pervasive problem, the elephant in the room."

I teach a Yoga class at 6 am two days a week and need to get up those mornings at 430 am. 10 years ago, this simply would not have been possible. In fact, back then getting somewhere at 9 am seemed arduous. Even 7 or 8 years ago, my preference for Yoga asana practice time was in the afternoon or early evening. Practicing asana first thing in the morning seemed foreign to my body. Over the years, naturally and gradually, my rising time and my choice for asana practice time has grown earlier and earlier. I love getting up early now and my body really enjoys physical activity around the time that the sun rises. This is the traditional time for Yoga practice. That time right before the sun rises is auspicious, it is special, because it is one of the tween times- not quite day but not quite night either. The energy then is quite balanced and perfect for the task of creating balance physically, mentally and energetically. Universally, all of the ancient medical texts from all of the ancient medical systems, teach us that getting to bed early and rising early is what is most healthy for us. The body, mind, energy complex, the living matrix, likes to be in harmony with the sun. The more we can rise when the sun rises and go to bed when the sun goes to bed, the better we feel. Many Yogis traditionally, have risen before the sun rises and the morning practice ends with a puja to greet the morning sun and a prayer of gratitude for one more day with the precious gift of a human body is offered.

"Yogis get up early."
Yogarupa Rod Stryker

The intention of getting up early begins with the necessary intention of also going to bed early. This part of the plan is what requires discipline and regularity. The body begins to know what is expected of it if we go to bed around the same time each night. In the pranic system, there are 5 major currents of energy in the human body- the 5 prana vayus. One of these currents, is called pran vayu- names often overlap and mean different things in Yoga. Pran vayu is located in the head and heart region and its main job is to create vitality in the living matrix. It governs the sense organs in the body and is depleted when we overstimulate the senses. Stimulation of an electronic nature is the most devastating on the senses and watching tv and spending too time on the computer and cell phone are recipes for depletion of energy. Deep sleep is the time when we revitalize the living matrix and counter the damage done from so much time spent exposing the senses to electronics.

The newest sleep studies show a link now with sleep deprivation and health problems as varied as diabetes, heart disease, miscarriage, preterm birth, ADHD in children, clinical depression and obesity. If you chart how sleep has declined over the past 50 years, it exactly parallels the increase in our waistlines. Lack of sleep alters our metabolism so that we crave carbs and eat more. The brain sends us signals when we are tired that make us think we are hungry. Some of the first symptoms from lack of sleep are declining mental moods and a slowing of cognitive functioning (cranky and foggy- sound familiar?). We make 10 times more mistakes when we are tired and 1 in 5 of all workplace accidents are caused by lack of sleep. Patients with clinical depression are 5 times more likely to suffer from a temporary bout of depression when they are tired. There is a 50% increase in irregular insulin production by the pancreas when we are sleep deprived.

Yoga is a science that facilitates change. Physical change, mental/emotional change, energetic change, change in life and ultimately, change in the world. As Yoga teacher, my goal is to create as much change as possible in each student in each class. Modern psychology tells us that if we want to change a person, then we must change that person's awareness of themselves. Yoga wholeheartedly agrees- introspection will create change most effectively. Swami Kripalananda writes, "If a seeker can relax the body and mind at will, then introspection is cultivated." The Yogic Sleep Meditation, Yoga Nidra, is a beautiful way for seekers to learn and practice to relax the body and mind at will. My goal with the practice of an extended Yoga Nidra at the end of each practice is to save Yogis time- to create change as quickly as possible. The scriptures tell us that Yoga Nidra is incredibly nourishing to the living matrix as well. Yogic Sleep is 4 times more revitalizing than regular sleep so at the end of each practice, Yogis catch up on some much needed sleep time too. Yoga Nidra is a window of healing opportunity- your job is to say yes.

Circular Sequencing: Cultivating the Mandala

2010-06-19T17:14:00.000-07:00

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.

I grew up in a small community in Virginia. In fact, if you ever watched the 70s family show, The Waltons, then you are already familiar with my hometown, Walton's Mountain. About 15 minutes from my house was a place called Yogaville. Word on the street was that it was a cult and my parents would not let me go there. I moved away from my hometown in my early 20s, but in 1999, I took Yoga teacher training through the "cult". I found out it was not a cult at all, but a Yoga school and hotel and retreat center where people could stay as long as they liked to study Yoga and to be immersed in a Yogic lifestyle. The point of my story is that I came full circle with my dharma. There was a reason that I grew up so close to a Yogic community. It just took me 35 years or so to figure that out.

A part of you remembers the first 9 months of your life, that time spent in your mother's womb. This was a time when we were certain of our dharma- our purpose. Our purpose for the first 9 months of life was to grow and expand. We never worried about where our next meal was coming from- this was a time of complete safety, security, comfort and peace. Use the circles this week to come back full circle to that time of wholeness. It is possible to live life with absolute certainty about our dharma and to live life knowing that everything is perfect just as it is right now and even to feel an intimacy with the Divine Mother as we fulfill our obligations and learn our lessons.

Skin: The Open Barrier

2010-06-14T11:28:00.000-07:00

This week in the studio we will be working with the sheath of skin.
of Cultivation of sensation at the level of the skin is beneficial because:

The skin is the largest organ of elimination in the body and working with the skin promotes the removal of waste product from the body.

The skin is a metabolic organ as well- it aids in the metabolism of fat.

The skin helps to regulate blood pressure: the opening and closing of capillaries helps to promote the healthy flow of blood.

The skin is an integral part of the immune system by way of the large network of lymph vessels.

The skin is part of the respiration process- there is some gas exchange at the level of skin.

There is a strong connection in the way we feel emotionally and what we feel at the level of skin: we blush when we are embarrassed, we get goosebumps when we are scared or excited. When we work with the skin, we affect and benefit the nervous system.

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.

Yogic Sleep to Wake Up

2010-05-08T05:44:00.000-07:00

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.

A word of caution if you intend to read on......the concept that follows is a doozy. If your Yoga practice is working and you have created some physical space in your body, you have also created some space in your mind. There is some wiggle room now in your mind- you have an open mind and there is some space for the possibility of new wisdom. Clarity of vision is possible. For some, epiphanies are instantaneous, but for most of us, it is necessary to chew on new ideas for some time to let the new information germinate in the psyche. The seed is planted and some gestation period is required before the birth of a new vision is possible.

The chanting of the Om is the summation of 4 distinct sounds. The A sound to begin, the O sound next, followed by the Mmm and completed with the sound of silence. There are 4 possible states of consciousness and they are intertwined with the sounds of Om. The first sound, the A sound, corresponds to the first possible state of consciousness, the waking state. We are all familiar with the waking state, in fact Joseph Campbell says that western culture has an unhealthy attachment to waking state- we give it top priority in this culture. The second state of consciousness is the dream state which corresponds to the O sound. The dream state is interesting- we find ourselves in crazy situations with "other people", but when we wake up, we find that those "other people" were really us- they were a creation and a projection of our own minds. The drama, fear, heartache or romance of the dream state were not "real" either- they were also a creation and projection of our own mind. The next possible state of consciousness is the deep, dreamless sleep state which is connected to the Mmm sound. We know we have visited this state when we awaken refreshed and science and medicine tell us that humans will go insane when they are deprived of this nourishing state for too long. The deep, dreamless state is perhaps the state that is most accurate and "real" according to Yogic and Tantric tradition. It is in this state that we return to our Source, the vast expanse of Pure Consciousness that we are. This state is absolutely nourishing and revitalizing, which is why we need it so much and feel better when we have experienced it. The nature of that state is Truth which never changes, consciousness that is aware of itself and bliss (Sat-Chit-Ananda). The fourth possible state of consciousness which is connected to the sound of silence that follows the Om is the state that Yogis aspire to- the transcendant state- the possibility of waking up from waking state on the Earthly plane- experiencing Yoga while living life- Heaven on Earth- the state of Grace and the state of Communion. The Baghavad Gita teaches us "Yogastha Kurukarmani." Established in Yoga, perform action. Life is infinitely more joyful when we perform our duties and obligations on Earth, while in that state of communion with Pure Consciousness, with some connection to that default state of bliss. The flash of understanding that becomes possible when Kundalini Shakti is awakened from Her slumber is that waking state and dream state are the same. In both states there are stories- stories of drama, joy, gain, loss, redemption, romance, etc with "other people" that are merely creations and projections of our own minds- these other people are extensions of us, part of us that we choose to see as separate for right now. In both states there is this huge sigh of relief when we awaken, this thought of how it seemed so real then, but in the light of day, or understanding, we know it as temporary. The clarity of this new understanding brings comfort to the Yogi. This epiphany always goes hand in hand with the alleviation of suffering which is why any master who has seen this vision later teaches it to others as the path of salvation.

Your holiness is your salvation.

Rolf Gates

Mythology is a public dream and dreams are personal mythologies.

Joseph Campbell

In Yogic Sleep meditation, the Yogi practices the deep, dreamless sleep state with the waking state in order to get a glimpse of the transcendant state.

Core Work: Journey to the Moola

2010-05-04T10:45:00.000-07:00

All this week in the studio we will be working with the vast area in the body that we call the core. This area includes the pelvic floor muscle group, lower abdominal muscles, upper abdominal muscles, the hip flexors and the diaphragm. Tone in the core- a perfect combination of suppleness and strength- is an accurate indicator of overall fitness and health. If you are strong, your core is strong. If your core is strong, you are strong. 70% of the immune system is in the core, so working with the core is also a great way to keep the immune system functioning efficiently. The tone of the pelvic floor directly affects the alignment of the spine. When the pelvic floor is weak there is a wide range sagging effect and prolapse of the spinal column as well as organs and glands in the trunk of the body. Keeping the pelvic floor healthy holds the spine in optimal alignment and repositions organs and glands back to healthier locations in the body. The sciences of Ayurveda and Chinese medicine teach us that it is possible to stimulate every energy line in the body by working in the pelvic floor so through the pranic system, we send healing energy to every nook and cranny of the body when we engage the pelvic floor.
Working with the core prepares us for the advanced techniques of Moola Bandha and Uddiyana Bandha- the root lock and belly lock respectively. These techniques were kept top secret for thousands of years. One would need to travel to remote locations on the globe and study with a master in order to receive these teachings. Yet now, both of these techniques are commonly taught in many traditions of Yoga to even brand new students. There are no mistakes, obviously the world is now ready for moola bandha, but I think it is necessary to impart these teachings with a warning statement. Both of these techniques are absolutely empowering because they initiate the Yogic growth spurt- the awakening of Kundalini Shakti. In the same way that one would not dam a river without first knowing what to do with the energy created, it is necessary to make sure we are prepared for the energy awakened by these techniques and to be very mindful of the actions we perform. Tantra does not have a concept of sin in the way most westerners are familiar with, rather there is the concept of karma- cause and effect. There are actions that create beneficial results and there are actions that create suffering. If we practice moola bandha and we are a liar, we become a very good liar. If we practice moola bandha and we are a thief, we become a very good thief. Techniques this powerful need to be practiced with reverence.

For kundalini to rise, the body must be able to cope with its force and the nervous system must be made strong, healthy and mature. This is attained through Yogic practice. When preparations are complete, kundalini will rise spontaneously of its own accord, liberating and expanding the consciousness. When you awakened your kundalini you stand of the threshold of infinity
Moola Bandha The Master Key

This mechanism, known as kundalini, is the real cause of all genuine spiritual phenomena, the biological basis of evolution and development of personality, the secret origin of all esoteric and occult doctrines, the master key to the unsolved mystery of creation, the inexhaustible source of philosophy, art and science and the fountainhead of all religions past, present and future.
Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man

Memorial Day Holiday Schedule

2010-04-25T15:59:00.000-07:00

Heads up for Memorial Day weekend:

Regular Schedule remains the same except:
Monday, May 31: 9:05 am Class ONLY

Have a great holiday weekend!
Bliss Yoga Shala

You and Your Heart

2010-04-23T14:33:00.000-07:00

You and your heart shouldn't be so far apart...

Jack Johnson

I love to encourage students to set 2 intentions when they begin a Yoga practice. The first intention is concrete and timely- the honest reason why you walked into a Yoga class- a friend invited you, you are going through a stressful time in life, you want to lose weight, tone up, etc. This bhavana is easy. For the next intention we need to get loftier and more expansive. Allow yourself to explore the world of magic and fantasy. What is the secret desire of the spiritual heart?

Joseph Campbell calls the divine the Great Mystery. The spiritual heart is the part of us that is most connected to the Great Mystery. Throw practicality and logic out of the window. If you could move heaven and earth with your thoughts and your desires, what would the spiritual heart fancy? Would you like to fly? Would you like to know the time of your death? Would you like to see all of your past lives? Would you like the strength of an elephant? Would you like to know all there is to know and have the answer to every question revealed to you? The recipes for all of these siddhis, psychic powers, and more are written in the Yoga sutras. The way to mystery and magic and the path to the world of what we call impossible is the science of Yoga. Those things that we call miracles now are those events that science will explain in the future.

Of course this path begins with the first step and the acquisition of power is progressive and gradual. Maybe we start with those things that seem impossible right now......the ability to overcome anger, the ability to love unconditionally, the ability to do what we love for a living, to know absolute abundance, to become master over our senses and our emotions and maybe even to do a handstand.

Yoga makes that which seems impossible, possible, and with regular practice that which is now possible becomes easy.

Krishnamacharya

2010-04-13T06:05:00.000-07:00

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.

So tell me what you want, what you really, really want.....
world famous rishis, the Spice Girls

"You can't handle the truth!"

2010-04-02T14:58:00.000-07:00

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.

Recently, I noticed in 2 people the interesting inability to hear stories of animal abuse. It is not that they simply do not like to hear those stories, who does?, it is that hearing those stories raises so much anxiety that there is the possibility of a panic attack coming on. A simple definition of the experience of a panic attack is when one is completely overwhelmed by their emotions. I am an animal lover myself, but I find it perplexing to not have the ability to process the emotions that arise from just hearing about real life. There is brutal suffering in this world, to be sure, but becoming paralyzed in the face of suffering is not helpful to either the observer or the situation. We need to find a way to go on- to serve, to love and to find peace and joy. Thinking about those 2 people made me think of that movie with Jack Nicholson where he growls, "You can't handle the truth!" Less than 3 days later, while watching television, I happen upon, you guessed it, that very movie, A Few Good Men! Now I know it's on like donkey kong- this is a full fledged lesson so I am really waiting and watching now.

The next part of the lesson, unfortunately, was me hearing about something that I did not want to hear about, something that was true but was a hard truth for me to hear and carry around. Immediately I felt compassion for people who cannot hear and handle the truth because now I was one of them.

Last week a shaman came to the shala for a workshop. Shamans are the medicine men and healers from indigenous traditions. I met with this shaman for a one on one "journey" as private sessions are called. As I sat holding a severed chicken foot in one hand and spoke to a man with a coyote pelt headdress (really), the conversation turned to what was happening for me right now. I spoke of the painful truth that I was carrying and I said fleetingly "ignorance is bliss." The shaman said, profoundly, that part of growing up is learning to hear the truth, to speak the truth, to recognize the truth and ultimately, to live the truth. No matter how painful the truth might be, if we want samadhi, union with the Divine, this is part of the path.

Once upon a time......

Yashoda, baby Lord Krishna's nanny, was watching the dark blue one play with some other children. One of the children lied and said that Krishna had eaten dirt. Yashoda said to Krishna harshly, Lord, please open your mouth. When baby Krishna opened his mouth, inside Yashoda saw the entire material Universe- stars, moons, planets, infinite space. She said, Lord, please close your mouth.

We all think we want to see God/Goddess, but the scriptures are full of stories about people who are offered just that and cannot handle the truth. Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita sees the now grown Lord Krishna in all His fullness and he also asks for the vision to be taken away. Prajna, full understanding of the divine plan, is so unfamiliar to us, so immense that we need to prepare for more and more clarity of vision. Progressively, the light of understanding dawns and learning to live in harmony with truth is part of the quickening.

What is Sadhana?

2010-04-02T11:31:00.000-07:00

A student recently spoke to me about Sadhana, the Yogic word for practice.

Tatra sthitau yatnah abhyasah.

Effort toward steadiness is practice.

Yoga Sutras 1.13

Everyone it seems, struggles with the "for a long time, without a break and in all earnestness" definition of a well grounded Yoga practice from Patanjali. But, the student asked, if a person chooses actions that are consistent with a spiritual practice and is making an effort to elevate their inner consciousness, isn't this also a practice?

In my opinion, while seeking to grow and to be a better person is good and positive, what separates this ambition from Sadhana or Abhyasah is the use of a system to reach that goal. Yogis use some system or systems like Tantra, Hatha Yoga, Raja Yoga, Karma Yoga, etc. and in addition to using a system, they also maintain some schedule with the system. A Yogi with a dedicated practice knows that they do this technique for 30 minutes every day and that technique 3 times per week- the work is not free form or just when we feel like it. Why do we practice this way? Because it works. Maintaining a practice schedule adds just a bit of austerity to the Yogi's life. The fire of Tapas is transformative and mighty powerful.

It is said that there are 2 ways to achieve the enlightened state: Practice and Grace. One way is through a system and a schedule and the other way is by Divine Grace- a boon or gift from the Universe.

I often think of my grandmother, Lois, as a Yogi without a Yogic practice. She is someone in my life that I have admired and tried to emulate. When you walked into her house, you felt loved. She was eternally cheerful, could tell a good story, loved to laugh, could cook up some amazing southern food, was an accomplished gardener and a natural healer. She would often do some calisthenics as she called them for exercise outside in the mornings. She had a long, happy marriage and produced 10 children and many grandchildren. She never went to church, but she was reverent and spiritual and tried to see the good in people. I happen to love stones and rocks. I actually see and feel the life force in them. I see them as stone "people". I learned to love stones from Lois. We often went on hikes with her and she always returned home with pockets and handfuls of natural treasures- rocks, flowers, Indian arrow heads, feathers, pine cones and often, produce from her large garden. The sacred objects were displayed over the sink on a sunny windowsill and the produce was gobbled up on the way home. She seemed to possess that state of contentment that I seek, yet, when I look for spiritual teachers, I specifically look for those who have accomplished the exalted state through a system so that they are able to teach the method for the path. One of my teachers says that practicing Yoga without a teacher is like building a house by yourself. It might be possible, but wouldn't it be more efficient to get some help from someone who has done it before?

On this path no effort is wasted,

no gain is ever reversed;

even a little of this practice

will shelter you from great sorrow.

Bhagavad Gita 2.40

Easter Holiday Schedule

2010-03-31T10:11:00.000-07:00

There are no changes to our schedule for this weekend so join us on Easter, Sunday, April 4 for these classes:

Sunday:
Free Form Vinyasa 8 am
Meditation 9:30 am
Peaceful Flow 11 am
Long, Slow and Deep 5 pm

Be as little children.....

2010-03-21T14:40:00.000-07:00

Be as little children...

Jesus

How much fun are you to live with?

Dr. Phil

There are no accidents. This week in the studio we are focusing on 4th chakra, the heart center. The archetypal deity that governs the 4th chakra is Lord Krishna. Krishna energy is playful- His lesson is to remember to keep the innocence, curiosity and sense of wonder that children possess. The goal is to keep looking at the world with the eyes of a child our whole lives. Have fun! I was asked to facilitate a welcoming ceremony for the baby of my friends Tru and Lucius. I was delighted to discover that the puja was the very same weekend that we began our Krishna/ heart chakra work! Synchronicity is one of the organizing principles of the universe- we should expect meaningful coincidences to happen all the time. They let us know that we are not alone and that we are on the right path. Chaos theory is really not so chaotic and random.

Baby Vita is a baby born to a Yogic household and her Godparent or Guideparent is my friend Uma, another Yogini. The scriptures tell us that one delivered to the world with these conditions will be special. Vita is beautiful, smart, healthy, affluent and born to Yogis. The divine is obviously expecting great things from her to give her such an auspicious birth.

Sun, Moon, Stars, all you that move in the heavens, hear us!

Into your midst has come a new life!

Winds, Clouds, Rain, Mist, all you that move in the air, hear us!

Into your midst has come a new life!

Hills, Valleys, River, Lakes, Trees, Grasses, all you of the earth, hear us!

Into your midst has come a new life!

Birds, great and small, that fly in the air,

Animals, great and small, that dwell in the forest,

Insects that creep among the grasses and burrow in the ground, hear us!

Into your midst has come a new life!

All you of the heavens, all you of the air,

all you of the earth, hear us!

Into your midst has come a new life.

Make her path smooth.

Omaha Native American Blessing

Are you ready for Fire?

2010-03-20T13:48:00.000-07:00

Wet Log or Dry Log? Which kind of Yoga student are you? The science of Yoga is the path of fire and light and the dry log is ripe for the fire of transformation to be lit and will very quickly be engulfed in flames. The wet log is a little harder to light and might even need some more time to dry out in order to be really ready. Recognizing which type of practitioner we are is helpful so that we have realistic expectations about the effects of our practice. We should expect very different results from a daily practice versus a once a week practice and very different results from a practice of asana alone versus a practice of asana and meditation. It is not a bad thing to admit that we are wet log students. This is the power of free will. We get to choose how long the path to liberation will be and how painful or how peaceful that path will be.

For those who seek liberation wholeheartedly, realization is near.
Yoga Sutras 1.21
How near depends on whether the practice is mild, moderate, or intense.
Yoga Sutras 1.22

The Joy of Staycation: Stop and Smell the Orchid Tree

2010-03-19T16:07:00.000-07:00

This week I was on staycation. My girlfriend Uma told me that hip, cool name for a vacation where one stays at home and how there was a special on NPR about how healthy they are for us. At the beginning of my staycation week, I had a list of all the things I wanted to accomplish during this break- doing my taxes, cleaning out my closet, my car, etc- then mid week I thought hold on there cowgirl, this is about nondoing, undoing and R and R. I did not cross off everything on my list, but it was glorious. This morning my husband and I both woke at 5 am. He walked the dogs and began to meditate as I sat on the couch in front of the fire and had not one, but two cups of steaming chai. Most mornings I teach, sometimes at 6 am, so I practice asana and teach in the am and sit for meditation in the afternoons. As my husband left to go surfing, I began my dance with prana shakti via yoga asana and pranayama. My husband returned about 9 am to hurry off to work just as I was in the middle of a 45 minute practice of yoga nidra, yogic sleep. Later, I sat for an hour of meditation. In the afternoon, the dogs and I explored a new route for our afternoon walk and after, we sat in the backyard sunning ourselves and watching birds bathe themselves in our new bird bath. As I planned my yoga class for tomorrow morning, the most amazing fragrance drifted my way. We have a baby orchid tree and this year is its first year of really blooming like crazy and the fragrance I was enjoying was emanating from this beautiful tree. I never even knew orchid trees were fragrant until today.
This entry sounds a bit twitter like, recounting the achingly mundane blow by blow of my day, but there is a point. This week filled me up. I am nourished, my tank is full and I am ready now to be of service tomorrow as I teach yoga. Doing nothing was really something.....

This is why we meditate in a place where there is very little activity- just the simple natural motion of the trees in the breeze and occasionally the calls of some birds. In our ashrams we plant flowers. All this is to help calm the mind.
Swami Vishnu Devananda

Yoga and the Weather

2010-03-03T15:24:00.000-08:00

There is a joke that old Floridians tell new Floridians- If you don't like the weather in Florida, stay around and it will change soon enough. Being attached to only one variation of countless weather conditions is a surefire recipe for suffering and if we just wait it out, the condition changes anyway.
The emotional states of the mind are like weather patterns- just as vast in their diversity and just as temporary. States of mind come and go. When we are attached to just experiencing one emotional state, like happiness, we are setting ourselves up for suffering. Yogis learn to appreciate and embrace the diversity of the life experience- the full spectrum of emotion. Life on planet Earth is happiness and sadness, pleasure and pain, gain and loss. This is part of the maturing of the soul, to understand that our time here will include a taste of all the worldly dharmas and to not expect that or to try to avoid that is a path to certain suffering. A beam of light is more radiant in a dark room......along the way we discover that happiness is sweeter when we have also tasted sadness.
See yourself as larger than the temporary conditions of emotions. You are a vast expanse of Pure Awareness. You have always been and You will always be. Immortal. Timeless. Boundless. Emotions are like meteorites that come and go in this vast expanse. There is a part of you which is unaffected by the changing weather patterns of mental states. In Yoga, it is called Nirlipta. The Cave of the Heart in Tantra. The part of us which is steady in the midst of change, beyond pain and beyond suffering. The wise Yogi seeks out that refuge in each practice.

If I am unhappy, but do not care that I am unhappy, am I really unhappy?
Swami Vivekananda

What is the purpose of asana?

2010-03-02T11:38:00.000-08:00

This is the question that we considered this week in Yoga teacher training. Those things that come to mind usually are:
to build strength
to create flexibility
to cultivate endurance and stamina
to develop balance
to lose weight, etc. etc.

These things are true, but just a small portion of the more profound gifts of asana practice.

According to Swami Satchidananda, the asanas were created to make the body healthy enough and the mind calm enough to meditate. The asanas are a gateway technique to prepare one for the higher practices.

If we look at the name for the practice of asana, pranayama and conscious relaxation, Hatha Yoga, we see balance as the purpose of asana. Ha=Sun and Tha=Moon, so Hatha Yoga is to balance Sun and Moon energy physically, emotionally and energetically. As we balance the natural polarities of strength and flexibility, thinking and feeling, doing and nondoing, we set the stage for the greatest goal of Yoga to be experienced- enlightenment. Enlightenment is the realization of our greatest potential, the state of communion and grace. It is only by the balancing of the polarities that Kundalini Shakti, the great, dormant creative force, is awakened and begins Her evolutionary ascent through the chakras.

The master Patanjali also speaks of balance. In his Yoga Sutras, Patanjali tells us that mastery of asana results in the "pairs of opposites ceasing to have impact." As we practice asana, the outcome is steadiness and balance in the midst of change.

Baghavan Das in Salt Springs, FL

2010-02-24T15:16:00.000-08:00

Amazing Shakti with Baghavan Das in Salt Springs, FL! He is coming to Atlanta March 19 and 20.

Chakra Namaskar Saturdays at Bliss!

2010-02-24T07:00:00.000-08:00

For the next 7 Saturdays in the studio, we honor the energy centers in the body, the chakras, with physical postures, breath work, sound vibration and meditation.

8 am Warrior Flow with Shri
Sat, Feb. 27 The Root: Foundations (Rocking it Elephant Style!)
Sat, March 6 The Watery Abode of Ma Kali: Purification
Sat, March 13 The Breath of Ram: Authentic Personal Power
Sat, March 20 Lord Krishna's Flute: The Melting Tenderness
Sat, March 27 Vak: The Golden Tongue- Manifesting with Sound
Sat, April 3 Shiva and Shakti's Passionate Embrace: Awakening the Blue Pearl
Sat, April 10 The Thousand Petaled Lotus: Back to the Source

Happy Valentines Day!

2010-02-14T15:39:00.000-08:00

If someone is capable of loving his partner without restrictions, unconditionally, then he is manifesting the love of God. If the love of God becomes manifest, he will love his neighbor. If he loves his neighbor, he will love himself. If he loves himself, then everything returns to its proper place. History changes.
Paulo Coelho

Happy Valentines Day!
This Valentines Day will you consider the possibility of full responsibility for your own happiness? Your partner, or anyone else for that matter, is not responsible for your happiness nor your unhappiness. Get out of the blame game......you are the only one who can make you happy.

Shiva at Cern

2010-02-11T14:05:00.000-08:00

Happy Shiva Ratri! Friday, Feb. 12, 2010 is the festival dedicated to Shiva, the archetypal deity who teaches us about destruction, rebirth, time and change.

I often speak of Cern, in Geneva, Switzerland. It the world's largest particle physics lab and at the forefront of advanced physics. This is where a little thing called the World Wide Web was created. Cern has a Dancing Shiva statue in its front yard to honor the wisdom of the ancients and as a reminder that clarity of vision looks both ways- to the past and to the future.

"For modern physicists, Shiva's dance is the dance of subatomic matter."
Fritjof Capra, physicist

Shiva's sound vibration, His cosmic phone number, is
Om Namah Shivaya
"I embrace change."

PS: Cern has a 17 mile long, underground particle accelerator. They are in the midst of experiments which collide particles at ultra high speeds. One of the things they are looking for is the "Genesis or God Particle" in hopes of proving the Big Bang Theory!

Delivered to the Perfect Place at the Perfect Time

2010-02-10T12:39:00.000-08:00

Chaco Canyon is an archaeological site in the southwest US that was discovered in the late 1800s by ranchers. It is a magical site of ruins of structures created by ancient Pueblo people. In 1977 Anna Sofaer, an archeologist, made a great discovery at Chaco and has been studying the area ever since. She uncovered a petroglyph, a carving in the stone, behind 3 huge slabs of sandstone, very close to noon, a week before Solstice. At that time, a slice of sunlight, a sun dagger as it is called, bisects the petroglyph. If she had found the petroglyph 3 minutes earlier or 3 minutes later, she never would have witnessed the sun dagger. After more study, Chaco Canyon has now been found to be a sacred site that marks and celebrates both the cycles of the Sun and the Moon with the precise positions of its buildings and with petroglyphs. In fact, the ancient people at Chaco knew about and marked the longest cycle of the Moon, its 18 year cycle. Some of the buildings at Chaco were 4 stories tall and there is no evidence that anyone used any of the hundreds of rooms at the site to live in. Scholars speculate that the entire compound was used strictly for rituals and celebrations. There is a huge complex of nearly straight, 30 feet wide roads, even though the people at Chaco did not use the wheel. After 250 years of meticulous, sacred building, the people of Chaco left the canyon. Their departure was not spur of the moment. They carefully sealed all the entrances to their sacred rooms and burned the kivas, the circular temples built underground. Why Chaco Canyon was deserted remains a mystery. The Hopi Indians in the area tell a story about the people of Chaco. They were said to be an advanced race of people, with great mastery over the elements. The legend says that the Chacoans changed things in their environment that should not have been changed and were forced to leave to let the land heal itself.

Anna Sofaer's experience at Chaco is a lesson about the practicality of a quiet mind. When the mind is quiet, Divine guidance is heard, and we are delivered to the perfect place at the perfect time. The Yogic texts also tell us of the outcome of sustained concentration on anything. When we are able to focus on anything we choose with a quiet mind, we learn all the secrets of our chosen object. A quiet mind is the mind of a brilliant scientist, a genius and of a gifted artist.

Yoga is a Cure for Blindness

2010-02-06T13:34:00.000-08:00

Yoga, and meditation in particular, is a cure for blindness, one of my teachers likes to say. In meditation, we consciously empty the mind space of old stories and make way for a new magical space of innocence, of infinite possibility. A space that is both Empty and Full at the same time. In that new space is clarity of vision.

The distance between railway tracks is always, exactly 143.5 centimeters. Why this crazy measurement? Turns out, this goes back to ancient history. The first railways were built with the same tools for building horse drawn carriages and the carriages needed to be the width of the old roads that the carriages travelled on. The Romans built the first roads and decided to make their roads that width to accommodate war chariots and the chariots were pulled by 2 horses. The horses used at the time, when side by side, measured 143.5 centimeters or 4 feet 8 1/2 inches. We built railways that way because it had always been done that way. This even affected the size of fuel tanks on the space shuttle. Engineers thought the fuel tanks should be wider, but they needed to be transported by railway!

Most of the ideas that we have about life are not really our own. We believe what we believe, more often than not, because of what others have told us to believe, or what others already believe or because that is the way it has always been done. For the adept to be able to receive new wisdom, the cup needs to have some wiggle room. We need to empty out old ideas and habitual responses that no longer serve us in order to make way for a new reality. "We need to forget who we were in order to become who we are."

If we were to change the width of railroad tracks now, the task would be enormous because of the magnitude of the structure that has been built around this measurement. In life as well, the effort to change a belief is as large as the infrastructure that we have constructed around it.

"As we empty our minds of old stories, a new space opens up, a mysterious feeling of joy slips in, our intuitions grow sharper, we become braver, take more risks, do things which might be right or wrong, we can't be sure, but we do them anyway."

Paulo Coelho, The Zahir

Yoga Teacher Training

2010-02-05T17:44:00.001-08:00

5 Day Preliminary or Supplemental Vinyasa Flow Yoga Teacher Training with Shri:
Monday thru Friday, March 15-19, 9 am to 3 pm each day
Tuition: $600

Daily Asana Practice
Daily Chanting Practice
Daily Pranayama Practice
Daily Meditation Practice
Yoga Philosophy- 8 Limbs of Yoga
Principles of Energetic Alignment
4 Techniques of Krishnamacharya Lineage
Principles of Sequencing
Introduction to Tantra
5 Tantric Kriya Meditations
Enlightenment 101
Yoga Nidra- Yogic Sleep

Pay Attention

2010-02-04T15:01:00.000-08:00

The most practical advice I can give someone practicing Yoga asanas, or in life for that matter, is to pay attention. Listen carefully to your body as it speaks to you in the language of sensation, follow the thread of your breath with fascination, observe the nature of mind and be a welcoming presence that embraces all emotions. Stay present- radically aware. There is an animating quality to your attention and focus. Embedded in attention is love. We begin to love what we focus on. It is no surprise that Yogis have documented increased body acceptance.

When we pay attention on the mat- we naturally begin to pay attention in life. The Universe speaks to us in the language of signs and symbols. It speaks to us about mundane, practical issues and it speaks to us of more lofty notions. If we pay attention, we begin to access Divine guidance and inspiration and we are delivered to the perfect place at the perfect time. If we pay attention, we begin to be guided by synchronicities, one of the organizing principles of the Universe, and we might begin to get Divine nudges in more subtle ways. Perhaps the light slightly changes in a way that makes you look at something just a bit differently, maybe you feel subtle currents of energy in your body when you read something or hear something that is an important message for you at a pivotal moment- life is an adventure when we live in this way. Open to possibility- guided toward a dream bigger than we might ever dream for ourselves. She speaks....all the time....it is your job to learn how to pay attention and listen.

Rainbow Bridge Meditation

2010-02-01T11:30:00.000-08:00

This week in the studio we are practicing the Rainbow Bridge Meditation, or Antahkarana Meditation. The Antahkarana is the highest aspect of the mind and the Rainbow Bridge Meditation builds a bridge from lower mind to higher mind, from one human to another and from the individual soul to the cosmic soul.

In Tibetan Buddhism, there is a place called Shamballa, which is most certainly the root of the legends of Shangri-la and El Dorado. Shamballa is a community of enlightened beings who are creating a Utopian society in order to teach humans how to recreate this model on Earth. There are 7 kings of Shamballa, probably a symbol for the 7 energy centers, or chakras, in humans. The kings of Shamballa are the guardians of esoteric knowledge, preserving it for a time when much of the world will be destroyed, the story goes. Each Dalai Lama is entrusted with the secret location of Shamballa and there is a ritual that each DL performs that is to create a connection between humans and Shamballa, the Kalachakra Empowerment. Kalachakra is an archetypal deity, the Time Machine Buddha, and Kalachakra Empowerment also serves to alter the participant's relationship with time. In the past, DLs have performed this ritual about every 10 years, but this 14th Dalai Lama performs it several times every year. Some say His Holiness feels that more humans are now able to build the bridge.

The Rainbow Bridge meditation also creates the link between humans and the 7 kings of Shamballa. Practitioners learn how to bring Heaven down to Earth.

Year of the Tiger

2010-01-27T18:10:00.000-08:00

It is said that when the Buddha was on his deathbed, 12 animals came to say goodbye. To honor those animals, the Buddha used each animal as one of the 12 signs of the Zodiac in Chinese Astrology. The upcoming year is the year of the Tiger.

There are no accidents for Yogis. Everything has meaning. The location of celestial bodies at the time of your birth has meaning and most mystery schools use some science of astronomy and astrology as a means of self discovery. If you are a Tiger by your birth year, then this upcoming year will be auspicious for you, but all humans will be learning the lessons of the Tiger in this year. The gift of Tiger is to learn to place your paws mindfully. To slow down and move deliberately. We slow down so that we understand what is motivating us to speak or act right now. Are we acting from love and compassion or are we acting from fear or anger? The Upanishads teach us that action is the seed we plant that grows into the reality of our life. The actions we perform now create our future experience and what is happening right now in life is a result of past actions. It is the Yogi's work to learn to experience negative emotion without acting out. If we can resist speaking or acting from negative emotion, that negative emotion loses its power and eventually ceases to be.

Slow down.....create consciously by choosing the actions you perform.

PS: The Dalai Lama is a Dragon like me! Our next year is 2012- watch out!

Core Strengthening with Yogic Breathing

2010-01-25T12:27:00.000-08:00

This data is from The Journal of Applied Research citing a study by the Department of Physical Therapy, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, California and the Department of Physical Therapy, Azusa Pacific University, Azusa, California.

The focus of the study was to compare the amount of core work created from traditional crunches with the core strengthening effect of Yogic breathing. The Yogic breath that was used in the study is very similar to round 1 of the breathing that is utilized in Agni Sara Kriya- the Fire Series. (The Fire Series is the 3 rounds of core work that begins with contraction and release, then the hollowing of the belly, full Uddiyana Bandha, and finally Agni Sara, the pumping in and out of the belly. The Pranayama Kappalabhati uses the same action, but with Agni Sara the goal is to pump the belly as many times as possible while holding the breath outside of the body and with Kappalabhati each contraction is synchronized with an exhale.)

"The results showed that while muscle activity during this Yoga breathing exercise was comparable to that seen during the performance of abdominal crunches, the longer duration of the breathing exercises increased the total work on the abdominal muscles up to 5 times greater than the work during crunches. Because of the high muscle activity, this form of exercise would be good for people who cannot easily exercise of the floor such as people with disabilities or obese people."
"Thus the work performed in a single breathing exercise was equivalent to 5 crunches. For the rectus abdominus, the work was about 2.5 times higher in the breathing exercises than the crunches, whereas for the obliques, the work was 6 times higher than for the crunches."

This is the work of the advanced practitioner- to create a relationship between core and breath. Our tradition is core based for physical reasons and esoteric reasons. Core strength is an indicator of overall physical fitness and the Yogis believe that your pain is stored in your core and your greatest potential lies dormant deep in the core. Keeping the core engaged requires full concentration and one pointed focus.

PS: Swami Rama says that if you only have time for one Hatha Yoga technique that it should be Agni Sara Kriya.

Mixed Level Flow Vinyasa with Live DJ Mix!

2010-01-24T14:46:00.000-08:00

Join Us!
Thursday, Jan. 28, 6 pm to 8 pm, Mixed Level Flow Vinyasa with Shri flowing to a Live DJ Mix of Soulful Music.
$30 in advance (registration online available at http://www.blissyogashala.com/ )
$35 at the door
Ian Hyman, DJ HyFi, believes that bliss is our birthright and will be weaving together a tapestry of tunes that he feels are reflective of that state of being. Come soak up the vibe and dive deep into asana.

(Regularly scheduled 5:30 and 7:15 pm classes cancelled for this day ONLY.)

The Great Sponge Challenge

2010-01-10T10:19:00.000-08:00

Start the New Year with a clean kitchen-
Which would you prefer? The sponge loaded with bacteria or dish cloths that you are able to wash regularly? Sponges account for much of the trash that overflows in landfills.

The Bliss Yoga Sponge Challenge:
Be one of the first 10 environmental activists/ Yogis to bring in an old sponge to class at 8 am on January 23 and receive a FREE carton of 3 dish cloths!

Christmas Holiday Schedule

2009-12-17T14:52:00.000-08:00

Happy Kwanzaa, Hanukah, Winter Solstice and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Holiday Schedule:
Thursday and Friday, Dec. 24 and Dec. 25 9:05 am classes ONLY
Thursday and Friday, Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 9:05 am classes ONLY

All classes taught by Shri and all classes are Mixed Level Flow.

I wish you all Peace in this Holiday Season and thanks so much to everyone who has supported the shala for so many years!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-05T15:02:00.000-08:00

Yoga in Virginia, on my sister's infinity deck. Leaves at their peak......

Thanksgiving Schedule 2009:

Wednesday, Nov. 25, 9:05 am class ONLY

Thursday, Nov. 26, 9:05 am class ONLY

Friday, Nov. 27, 9:05 am class ONLY

Regular Schedule resumes Saturday.

September and October- Prana Vayus

2009-09-19T13:35:00.000-07:00

Paradigm-shattering experiments published in leading-edge, peer-reviewed journals reveal that we're bathed in a field of intelligent energy that fills what used to be thought of as empty space. Additional discoveries show beyond any reasonable doubt that this field responds to us- it rearranges itself- in the presence of our heart-based feelings and beliefs. And this is the revolution that changes everything.

Gregg Braden in The Spontaneous Healing of Belief

This is the New Biology, seeing the body as flesh, bone AND energy! Prana is energy plus intelligence. Energy that is aware of itself. Prana is that which animates all of Nature, the life force energy. Energy follows thought. The Pranic anatomy arranges itself according to our thoughts and is the blue print for the physical form of the body. As the mind thinks, so the body becomes.

Just as the physical body is a network of systems: Digestive system, Nervous system, Cardiovascular system, Endocrine system, and so on- the Pranic body is just as complex with systems. There is the Chakra system, the Nadi system, Gunas, Doshas, Koshas and the Vayu system. There are 5 Prana Vayus- these are a subset of Vata energy and represent currents of energy in the human body with each having specific physiological and mental functions. For the next 5 weeks in the studio, we will be working with practices to cultivate one of the Prana Vayus.

Happy Navaratri!

2009-09-18T14:07:00.000-07:00

September 19 thru September 26 is the Tantric celebration of the 9 nights of the Goddess. The first 3 days are dedicated to Durga or Kali for purification, the second 3 days to Lakshmi for abundance and the final 3 to Saraswati for wisdom.
As we honor these aspects or qualities in the Divine, we awaken these same qualities in ourselves.

Practice for the month of August

2009-08-07T13:18:00.000-07:00

Our practice for the month of August is very simple and therefore profound- "that which is complicated is of man, that which is simple is divine." It takes at least 28 days to make or break a habit, so a full month of practice is sufficient practice time to change habits. The technique is simply to refuse to say out loud "I feel tired", or any other words to that effect. When we do think that thought or happen to forget and say it out loud, we will counter the thought and words with "I feel great!"
This technique is a practice of mindfulness, awareness and of redirecting focus. There will be times when the physical body will actually be tired and fatigued, yet if we tune in with sufficient sensitivity, mindfulness, we may discover a part of us which does indeed feel great simultaneously. This place in Tantra is called the Cave of the Heart, the place in the heart which is beyond all sorrow, all pain and certainly beyond mere fatigue. In this practice, we redirect our focus away from the part of us which feels tired and toward the part of us which feels great. That which we focus on will grow and flourish.
With enough regular practice of finding and dwelling in the place in the heart beyond all sorrow, the practice may expand to finding the place that does not experience anger, worry, sadness, guilt, fear, etc. ( Nirlipta) Experienced Yogis become happier not because their lives become perfect, but because they develop a place within of profound comfort and solace- safe harbor in which to weather the storms of life.

PS: Pranams to Dr. Wayne Dyer, who inspired this practice.

The Heart of a Yoga Practice

2009-06-11T05:54:00.000-07:00

Meditation is the Heart of a Yoga practice.........
In both Yoga Nidra (Yogic Sleep Meditation) and formal sitting meditation, the Yogi is asked to observe thoughts as they are generated by the thought generator, the mind. The mind is the instrument of Awareness. "The mind is an instrument; Awareness is who we are." By observing thoughts, we are able to get a little distance between Pure Awareness and the mind and the more distance that is created, the healthier the thought patterns become. Healthy thoughts create radiant health.
"We witness the internal stream of thoughts and images as if we have stepped away from it. Disentangled from its steady diet of associations and impressions, awareness is pervaded by a quiet sense of being present to itself. This state of mind is referred to as a state of self-remembering or mindfulness (smriti, in Sanskrit).
Mindfulness has been likened to the relaxing experience of sitting near a stream, watching the water flow by. As the water winds along, one point in the stream is replaced by the next without arousing or engaging attention. Similarly, a meditator experiences awareness itself as having stepped away from the automatic stream of mental activity."
Rolf Sovik
Yet sometimes, the thoughts that are generated are thoughts we would like to suppress. We are angry, jealous, fearful, sad or anxious about something even if we would prefer not to be. In Tantric philosophy, there is not an element of choice in the nature of the thoughts that bubble up. This bit of wisdom has been enormously helpful for me in my life. The thoughts that are generated are produced by past impressions and conditioning. What is even better about this bit of wisdom is that this act of realization actually helps to diminish the power of the unwanted emotion or thought and future thought patterns become healthier. While we do not have a choice in the nature of the thoughts that are generated, we do have a choice in whether we choose to act on those thoughts. If we choose to speak or act on those negative thoughts, we only encourage more of the same negative thought patterns to be generated. The mental schematic looks like this:
Samskaras (past impressions) create Vasanas (tendencies) which create Karma (action) which creates more Samskaras, so the cycle begins again.
Unless and until the cycle is broken, we simply have no control over the thoughts that are generated by the mind. It would be most beneficial to not speak nor act from that place of negative emotion or unhealthy thought. This effectively stops the cycle. Bite your tongue if you need to! And slow down enough so that you understand your motivations and agendas in performing action.
A Yoga teacher once taught me a technique for dealing with angry thoughts that included a visualization of exploding the thought- this is essentially self mutilation and a violent act. Peace is not created from violence.
"I would not look upon anger as something foreign to me that I have to fight, to have surgery in order to remove it. I know that anger is me, and I am anger. Nonduality, not two. I have to deal with my anger with care, with love, with tenderness, with nonviolence."
Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh

P.S. In the 10th book of the Rig Veda, a Vedic text dating back thirty-five hundred years, Kundalini is addressed as Vak, the deity of speech and in some of the Tantric texts, it is called Vegashwari, the Goddess of speech. There is some intimate connection with spiritual growth and the instrument of expression, speech. As we cultivate right speech, we cultivate expanded states of awareness and higher states of consciousness.

Fire Ceremony with Punditji

2009-06-01T09:57:00.000-07:00

Traditional fire ceremony (havan) with Punditji Rajmani Tigunait, the spiritual head of the Himalayan Institute in Pennsylvania and successor to Swami Rama.

www.HimalayanInstitute.org

Initiation

2009-05-12T09:56:00.000-07:00

This month I travel to the Himalayan Institute in Honesdale, Pennsylvania for initiation into the Tantric lineage of Swami Rama. The Sanskrit word for lineage is parampara which literally means one after the other. A lineage is an unbroken line of teachers all linked by empowered teachings. A lineage is like an uninterrupted electric current that does not diminish in power....

Tantra is strictly an initiatory tradition, which means that its sacred and secret teachings are passed on in the age-old fashion of oral transmission from teacher to disciple. In this respect, Tantra is markedly different from Neo-Tantrism, which is all too often practiced and promulgated by enthusiasts who have not been properly initiated but have acquired their knowledge largely from books.
The Tantric adepts consider initiation (diksha) crucial to one's progress on the spiritual path. And for the initiation to be truly empowering, it must be granted by a qualified Tantric master.
George Feuerstein

Cave of the Heart Meditation

2009-05-08T14:30:00.000-07:00

Or by concentrating on the supreme, ever-blissful Light within.
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali 1.36
Commentary by Swami Satchidananda:
.....imagine your heart to contain a beautiful glowing lotus. The mind will easily get absorbed in that, and you will have a nice experience. In the beginning one has to imagine this Light, which later becomes a reality.

The next few days in the shala we will be practicing the Tantric kriya meditation called the Cave of the Heart. This practice elaborates on Yoga Sutra 1.36. Patanjali describes a method of meditating on a light that is beyond all sorrow as one way to overcome all of the obstacles in the mind. This technique allows us a tangible experience of this light and is one of the key practices to overcome emotional imbalances, turmoil, confusion and despair.

Bright but hidden, the Self dwells in the heart.
Everything that moves, breathes, opens and closes lives in the Self- the source of love.
Realize the Self hidden in the heart and cut asunder the knot of ignorance here and now.
Upanishads- translated by Eknath Easwaran