How has Yoga changed your life?

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

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

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

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

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

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

....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