A toast to the new year!

According to yoga, the purpose of the whole or creation is to give us a context for understanding what we are and what we are not.... A person who experiences kaivalya see prakrti, the material world, simply as it is, with no meaning beyond that... 

By praticing asanas we become more flexible; by practicing pranayama, we gain control of our breath. It is similar with kaivalya: something gradually happens that is out of our control....

There are two forces within us: one comes from our old conditioning and habits; the other is our new conditioning that develops out of our changing behavior. As long as these two forces are operating, the mind is swinging from one to the other. But when the old force disappears, the mind no longer swings back and forth. We have reached another state, and it is felt as a continuum. 

-The Hear of Yoga, T. K. V. Desikachar

I was sitting back enjoying my son and his friend's independent play, while I read this last work.
It is cool to think that we can have the power to control our relationships to things and to people in our lives. The secret is simple, and yet difficult. All that I have to do is to understand who I am, and who I am not. I am not my job, my car, my stuff, etc... I am not in control of what others think that I am...
I am my own person, independent and yet interconnected. I am lucky to start this process of reflection:)

Svadhyaya...

Svadhyaya is the 4th Niyama

Sva = "self" and Adhyaya = "examination"

Because we cannot always just sit down and contemplate things. We need reference points. For many this may be the Bible or a book that is of personal significance... The Heart of Yoga, T.K.V. Desikachar

...As long as you are trying your very best, there can be no question of failure. 

Mahatma Gandhi

Yesterday I presented Svadhyaya with Wendy to our group of yoga-teacher-studiers. We decided that it would be nice to serve everyone tea. 

Taking tea in a unique mug, with clean water, organic lemon and local honey is svadhyaya. 

We are the mug, filled with water. Like lemons and honey; our lives are filled with the bitterness of attachments and the sweetness of love.

- Take some time to enjoy your tea.

Keep it real...

As best we can, we show others what we have seen up to now. 

It's at best a progress report, a map of our experiences by no means the absolute truth. 

And so the adventure unfolds... and we need each other's help.

Wherever You Go There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn

Like teaching art, teaching yoga will be tough to lead a class (at times to people who have more experience than myself). But this quote helps lead me back to being a "humble yogi" with nothing but my practice, my experiences and a few tools in my back pocket. 

(How do I hide these tools without pockets in my yoga pants, you will never know).

Moral to this story:

Keep it real.

Peace...

People measure their esteem of each other by what each has, and not by what each is... 

Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

There is a quiet kind of peace you get when walking over a solid packed foot of snow. It feels like you are floating (or at least walking in those old 80's style moon boots). My center of gravity thrown off without fear of falling. What's the worst that's going to happen, I fall in the powdery stuff. 

The snow absorbs the city noises, and is such a fine reminder of how when a million of anything decide to through a party, havoc ensues. 

Kind of funny to see a 18 wheeler get stuck in snowflakes that are smaller than my finger nail!

Mornin'

Morning is when I am awake and there is a dawn in me... We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinate expectation of the dawn...It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look... To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of the arts. 

Thoreau, Walden

Anyone who knows me, might be surprised by this post. I'm less than a morning-person. In fact if I had it my way, I'd go to bed at 2 and get up at 10. sigh. No luck with that. So I've been doing what I can to wake up without relying too much on coffee or chai. My brief yoga morning practices have helped, when I'm not being crawled on by my kids/dog. 

This being said, I've started looking forward to my time on my mat:)

Day to Day...

This chopping wood and carrying water is karma yoga... the yoga of daily life. The way to do it is: Do what you do, but dedicate the fruits of the work to me...That's the most esoteric way of saying it. Another way of saying it is, do it without attachment... 

page 54 of Remember Be Here Now

So, I got to work today with a sinking feeling that it was going to be a rough start. Whala, I was right. 

I had to get a sub for 3 days last week and the students made her, "run for the hills." Many things happened that I don't need to mention here, but in the end I had to make a choice. 

Do I become overwhelmed with these things that are in the past? Should I worry about how I can never get the flu and get a sub to take care of my classes in the future? 

I tried to dig deep into my non-attaching soul and figure out this little bump-in-my-ego's-road. 

Why does this situation really bother me? I feel embarrassed that my classes were out-of-control, and that maybe they are always out-of-control, and I don't even notice! 

It makes me question my abilities and my calling. 

I'm lucky to have loving people that I work with, and sisters that I can call, who help me to pick up the pieces and patch it all back together. I'm also lucky to have my home yoga practice. 

I'm starting to look forward to it and reflect about the these waves will return to a calm.

Drink your food, and chew your drinks....

This strange advise was given out my my yoga instructor today, so I looked it up...

 

Drink Your Food and Chew Your Water

Written by John Joseph Immel, Asheville, NC

All foods that are difficult to digest must be chewed with care. Insufficient chewing of food forces stomachs to break down larger chunks by acids. While an easy task for a tooth it takes time and effort for acids. In the hot, balmy environment of the gut, delays in digestion lead to fermentation. Hard to chew means hard to digest.

Dr. Lad Says, "Drink Your Food, Chew Your Water."

Chew food, even drinks, until it is completely mixed with saliva. Saliva contains enzymes that help digest food. Saliva also fights bacteria. Proper chewing alerts the tonsils and aimmune system to threats by bacteria.

 

What do you know? 

I told this to my 5 year-old, he got a kick out of it. 

t.

Making Soup...

This morning I woke up and was lying in bed thinking, "I'm going to make a huge vat of soup this morning, and let it simmer all day."
Then I opened the book, A Year of Living Your Yoga which read had today's reading...

A Bowl of Soup Lovingly Made Can Cure Many Ills

Living Your Yoga: 

Sometimes the simplest things give us the most profound comfort. 

Make some soup today and enjoy its delicious warmth with gratitude. 

So I did:)
t.

Like a fish tank...

Balancing Action and Reflection

Tapas (purification) and svadhyaya exist in mutual relationship, tapas being the means whereby we purify and refine our systems and svadhyaya being the means of self-reflection through which we come to an increasingly deeper level of self-awareness and self-understanding. 

By cleansing the vessel of the body and mind, tapas makes us fit for svadhyaya; by examining the vessel, svadhyaya helps us to understand exactly where we should concentrate our practices of purification. And thus, in this relationship between purification and self-examination, we have a natural method for discovering who, in essence, we are.

Polishing the Mirror by Gary Kraftsow

 Like a Fish Tank

I think of it like a fish tank. Every fish tank that I've ever owned starts off clean. It slowly starts to build up things floating in the water and the glass gets stained with moss.   Although this is true, things are still looking pretty good. 

That is, until the day when I decide to clean it out... Once I start rinsing the rocks and they release all of the build-up. The water turns grey.

This is kind of like the process of Tapas (purification) and svadhyaya (self-reflection). It is so hard to make time to sit down and reflect, because it is too easy to believe that my tank is just fine with its little bits of moss.

t.

On Patience...

I see patience as one of these fundamental ethical attitudes. 

If you cultivate patience, you almost can't help cultivating mindfulness, and your meditation practice will gradually become richer and more mature. After all, if you really aren't trying to get anywhere else in this moment, patience takes care of itself. 

The Bloom of the Present Moment, Wherever You Go There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn

Before writing this post tonight and before I started reading my book for inspiration for this post, I was thinking, "tell me something, help me figure this out." I was referring to the amount of anger and stress that spawned out of a car ride with my two boys and their friend.
Forget all of the yogi reading and practice, that flew out the window once the boys thought it would be a good idea to give each other "nuggies" and pretty much start an out-of-control brawl in the small backseat of our Prius.
Breathing, joined my patience that also flew away with the wind.
I tried my best to remain calm, and completely failed.
We got home and Elliott was whining about being hungry, and Aidan was mad that he just lost every dessert he had coming to him. It is now 9pm and we are all tired. The dog was ignored for too long, so managed to pull Aidan's School book out of his backpack and rip it to shreds (this "gift" that lay on the kitchen floor as we returned home).
So, what's the point?
I did manage to pick up the pieces (of the book and of our lives)... I talked to Aidan about what happened. I gave him a page of "What We Say Matters" that lists different kinds of feelings.
I had him circle that bad ones and star the good ones that he wants.
We cried and hugged, talked and said that we were sorry.
All in a days work. Not feeling too proud, but we'll give it another shot tomorrow.
t.

Wherever you go...Q1

By being with yourself... by watching yourself in your daily life with alert interest, with the intention to understand rather than to judge, in full acceptance of whatever my emerge, because it is there you encourage the deep to come to the surface and enrich your life and consciousness with its captive energies. 

This is the great work of awareness; it removes obstacles and releases energies...

Intelligcnce is the door to freedom 

and alert attention is the mother of intelligence. 

Nisargadatta

In Wherever You Go There You Are

A New Idea...

A new idea is first condemned as ridiculous,

and then dismissed as trivial, 

until finally it becomes what everybody knows. 

- William James

Sometimes much of what we feel and sense as a reality is more about our perception of the situation than anything else. I've been reading What We Say Matters by Judith Lasater. One part of this book focuses on Please and Thank Yous. She writes, 

"Think of a time in the last couple of days when you said something in irritation to someone close to you such as, "Why are you so late?" Translate your irritation into a "please" statement... 'Please hear how afraid I felt when you did not come home and you did not call me to say that you were OK."

Interesting how this works based on the fact that all humans have needs and when they aren't being met, it makes us upset. 

Roll with it...

As I was making fried rice tonight I was thinking about how funny life is. 

Just when you think you have it down, 

something changes to throw it off. 

I was thinking...

I'd like to believe that my life is stable but in reality we are living in a world in contant flux between (relative) stability and dynamic motion. 

It is best to not fight this, but instead roll with it. 

Who would have thought, all of this from fried rice. 
btw, I heard a report the other day that stated that people spend all of their time on social networks, texting etc... and there isn't time set aside to be bored. Yet being "bored" is the best time for "ahha moments." - this coming from a social blog, I get the irony:)

The Monsoon Crow...

Swami Satyananda Saraswati highlights the importance of meditation symbols through the story of the crow sleeping in a tree during a monsoon storm. 

During the night the tree is uprooted and floats downstream and out to sea. 

Waking on this floating branch, the crow sees no land. 

He flies to the East, West, South and North and still finds no land. 

 The crow realizes that he must rest and returns to his branch. Recovered he again searches for land but returns to the branch in between flights. It becomes his resting place and reference point until he eventually finds land. 

In meditation - and during stressful times- a symbol provides a similar anchor and resting point while you explore your mind.  1,001 Pearls of Yoga Wisdom, Liz Lark

A rough day at work, thing after thing couldn't seem to fall into place. The kind of day that you just want to go back to bed and try again tomorrow. 

To top it off, I lost my wallet. Because I work at a high school, the word "lost" can be exchanged with "my wallet was stollen." I ran out to my car, and then back to my classroom to turn everything inside-out and find it. Thinking in my head, "how could I trust them? " and "how could I be so stupid." All of the while I rushed past people, without a glance... All of this, just to find my wallet?!

So what's my point? 

I need to slow down, breathe and understand that we all have those moments when life gets the best of us. I'm going to give it another shot tomorrow.

Unfolding universe...

If we were able to take microscopically detailed snapshots of the tableaux before us every second, we'd be able to notice subtle changes from picture to picture regarding the color, shadow, position, and texture of the objects before us. 

When awareness observes the act of seeing, it realizes that the visual field is never motionless, nor can it be. What is true of vision is also true for our other senses, including awareness of thought. The seeming stability of experience is an illusion, as are the enduring qualities of objects.

In fact, the universe is unfolding, expanding advancing through time... The universe's unfolding can even be sensed in our consciousness, whose flux is displayed before awareness moment by moment.

 Page 51 of The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, commentary by Chip Hartranft

Classes today were packed full of useful information. Naomi is incredible at teaching specifics in a gentle way. Kevin taught about anatomy and how to start to understand our bones from the inside out. I have no idea about my body when it comes down to it, but I'm willing to learn.

Ease in Activites...

Ease is action without effort.
Ease does not mean doing nothing. Rather, it means what you do flows from your core and does not require effort. What takes effort in your life? How can you find ease in that activity today?
A year of Living Your Yoga, Judith Lasater

Slowing Down...

"May your eyes continue to see beautiful and significant things, 

and your soul dance to good music"

- from greeting card my mom sent me for my birthday, 

Bonair Daydreams

In the spirit of a beautiful fall day, I decided to go out in my yard to see what's growing. I was surprised to find out that I've been so busy, I've been missing out!

Here are a few shots:

Eating Meditation...

When I think about my fast-paced life and 20 minutes I have to "scarf down" my lunch, 

I wonder how this impacts my quality of life. 

How can I slow down enough to actually taste my food much less enjoy the process? 

In the book, Chakra Meditation by Swami Saradananda mentions an eating meditation.
Here's a shortened version:

1. Prepare a plate with 3 different fruits or vegetables, all with different textures, and tastes.
2. Breathe deeply into your abdomen, you manipura chakra.
3. Look and feel the first piece
4. Close your eyes and place the fruit to your lips, smell it
5. Bite into it, notice the flavor and texture
6. Chew slowly, and continue to chew 20-30 times before you swallow.
7. Visualize the fruit being digested and assimilated then repeat with the rest of the food.
8. Try this every day for 40 days, vary the food to include savory snacks too.


Please let me know you try any or all of these things.
I'll try it and check back in...

On Love...

"Love in its purest sense is not based upon what you get from the relationship, but what the relationship allows you to give...Love's job is to lead you to intimacy with what is enduring in yourself and in others... Through it you have been transformed.

A word of caution: I am not recommending that you accept the actions of others, even those whom you love, without discrimination...Without it, you may miss the opportunity to love yourself."

Dedicated to Katie Kelley

- Living you Yoga, Judith Lasater, PH.D, P.T.

Tapas anyone?

No not little bite-sized Spanish plates of food, but the Sanskrit version... as Iyengar puts it, " Tapas is derived from the root "tap" meaning to blaze, burn, shine, suffer or consume heat" or as Desikachar writes, "Process of removing impurities, elimination, purification..."
I also like the quote:

"If flowery words make us happy 

but insults upset us, we know 

our minds are not yet strong," 

 Sri Swami Satchidananda

The Yoga Sutras of  Patanjali

As I stated in class, today we got a healthy dose of Tapas. Chris Gordon helped us each teach our first pose to the class. I wasn't nervous once I started, but before I was for sure having doubts about straightening out my jumbled mind to give clear, calm and present directions for all of the parts of the pose. 

I just kept thinking, go slowly... 

Other things that I learned from my classmates: 

- Silence at times is good

- If you make a mistake, no big deal

- Different kinds of voices are so important!

- Breathe

- Give Real Compliments

- Be positive:)

Any thoughts that you'd like to add, please do. -t

No Mind...

In no mind there is no intent. The activity, whatever it may be, is not forced or strained. The art just slips through the intellectual filters, without conscious effort and without planning. 

This function of no mind is sometimes called the action of no action. 

This is the Taoist concept of wiwei: a continuous stream of spontaneity that emerges from the rhythm of circumstances. There is a clear presence of this quality in Zen paintings and poetry...
In the instant that there is intent, there is expectation.
Expectation is deadly because it disconnects us from reality.

When we get ahead of ourselves we leave the moment. 

- John Daido Loori, The Zen of Creativity

2 quotes, Inspired by a beautiful day of freedom...

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. 

It is the source of all true art and science. 

-Albert Einstein

No creature ever comes short of its own completeness,

Wherever it stands, 

It does not fail to cover the ground. 

Eihei Dogen

On Happiness...

...people universally tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will descend upon you like fine weather if you are fortunate enough. But that's not how happiness works. Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it.
You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay on top of it.
Page, 260 Eat, Pray, Love

On Meditation...

As Elizabeth in Eat, Pray, Love is complaining about spending too much time in one spot in India. Her friend interrupts her, "...sit down in meditation cave every day for the next three months and I'll promise you this- you're gonna start seeing some stuff that's so damn beautiful it'll make you wanna throw rocks at the Taj Mahal."'
 Hard to imagine, but I like that Texan's way with words.
t.

Santosha- 2nd Niyama, Contentment

"Santosha is the practice and cultivation of contentment. It is the ability to be at peace in any circumstances that we find ourselves in. That ability arises out of a knowing that every situation is an opportunity to learn and experience ourselves in ways that foster our growth. Santosha roots itself in knowing that we are always with G*d and are therefore truly lacking nothing." 

Laura Baker Cole

Always an interesting discussion in class. I appreciate the view and interests shared. We compared happiness to contentment. Contentment is more longterm and stable compared to happiness. I just watched "Pursuit of Happiness" a few days ago. It should have been called the "The Pursuit of Contentment" because all they ever wanted with to be safe and secure in the end. 

A few people made some good points about the opposite extreme, to be disengaged and to be complacent. As usual, balance between the two is best.

Modern Day Serenity...

God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, 

the courage to change myself, 

and the wisdom, in both cases, to know when to back off...

- Johanna Garcia

A Change in Perspective...

"... I benefited from shifting my perspective, first by relaxing and then by changing my visual focus. When we cling to one point of view, we limit our ability to see what is before us. 

Enlightenment, in fact, is nothing more and nothing less than a radical change in perspective."

-Living Your Yoga,  by Judith Lasater

It is hard to explain the impact that this can make on a person's life and how hard it is to do little-by-little. Baby steps... t

Why Singing Bowls?

I've noticed these bowls on the alters of many yoga studios. They are sometimes used to bring the class to a start and/or to a close. But why are they used? How can I bring them into my yoga studio? 

I asked these things to the Tibetan man working behind the counter at the Tibetan Shop in Uptown. 

He showed me how to hold it and use it to make it sing! The vibration was enchanting.

Below is an abbreviated history of these ancient bowls. -t

    The vibration of the bowl produces a distinct sound in the much the same way that a crystal goblet would if you ran a wet finger around the glass.  The pitch depends on the size of the bowl and the thickness of the metal.  Bowls typically range in size from five inches to thirteen inches in diameter.  You can increase or decrease the sounds by rotating the mallet around the outside of the bowl faster. 

The singing quality is an important part of the Tibetan Singing Bowl's history.  In Buddhism, and in Hinduism, sound is an important part of spiritual practice.  In the Buddhist doctrine, there are nine methods of realization of reaching enlightenment.  The seventh way was sound.  For this reason, the sound produced by the bowl was used by Buddhist practitioners as part of their religious rituals and music. 

    The sound made by the bowls is both captivating and calming, and the bowls are frequently used as a meditation aid.  One reason for this is that the sound emitted by the bowls seems to instantly instill a sense of trance-like calm.  The Tibetan Singing Bowls were also used during meditation practice to reinforce one of the most important concepts of Buddhism, that of being "mindful", of staying in the present moment. 

    The person in charge of the meditation would occasionally strike the bowl on the side during the meditation, producing a bell-like tone capable of filling a temple.  The sound would act as a reminder to those meditating to remain mindful and in fact, it probably helped practitioners stay awake and not drift off to sleep during longer meditation sessions!  Sound and vibrations are also associated with wellness.  Some methods of alternative medicine associate good health with a person being "in balance".  The sound made by Tibetan Singing Bowls may be used in certain alternative therapies to create vibrations thought to help bring harmony to a person who is not in balance.  There is some scientific basis to this theory.  It is thought that the tones produced by Tibetan Singing Bowls affects left brain/right brain synchronization, which would create a balancing effect.

Singing Bowls

Harvest

 

Fresh Basil, Tomatoes and Boiled Eggs for Dinner

Trying to eat less processed foods is easier this time of the year. 

The farmer's markets are in full bloom.

Autumn
When the trees their summer splendor
Change to raiment red and gold,
When the summer moon turns mellow,
And the nights are getting cold;
When the squirrels hide their acorns,
And the woodchucks disappear;
Then we know that it is autumn,
Loveliest season of the year.

- Charlotte L. Riser

Even the Compost is beautiful!

On Ego...

Until you transcend the ego, 

you do nothing but add to the insanity of the world. 

- John Randolph Price

Hmmm how do you do this? Baby steps maybe?

All I know is that Western society seems to tell me the opposite. Work harder and hold your own... how thick is your skin anyway? 

I'm with Price, in that transending the ego and letting go... wish me luck;)

t.

Brahmacharya- p.3 Naples Pizza...

"... So Sofie and I have come to Pizzeria da Michele, and these pies we have ordered- one for each of us- are making us lose our minds. I love my pizza so much, in fact, that I have come to believe in my delirium that my pizza might actually love me, in return. I am having a relationship with this pizza, almost an affair. Meanwhile, Sofie is practically in tears over hers, she's having a metaphysical crisis about it, she's begging me, 'Why do they even bother trying to make pizza in Stockholm? Why do we even bother eating food at all in Stockholm?'"
-- Eat Pray Love, Gilbert


This little bit reminds me of Greece, I remember eating tomatoes that were magical. They gave me and everyone around the table goose-bumps!

Why Yoga, (continued)

Sorry I forgot to mention a very important point which is that nobody's always calm, relaxed etc... but we shorten the time in between these moments.
Integrity is a big part of this, (what we do when no one else is around).
And don't forget to listen to that little voice in your head, like Elizabeth Gilbert does in Eat Pray Love when she's on her bathroom floor.
t

Yea Dave's Big Three

First of all, big thanks to Theresa for posting so many great things about yoga study and the experiences at the Yoga Center. It's been really helpful in the learning process, and is also really fun to read! :) Good luck to you tomorrow at the first day of school!

I wanted to add something to the Dave Romanelli workshop mentioned earlier, which I attended Friday and Sunday. The yoga, chocolate and wine where fantastic, as were Dave's hilarious stories. The thing that stood out the most to me was a suggestion to notice three experiences every day - something funny, something beautiful, and something delicious. Not only does being mindful enrich and deepen the experience of these things, but it also makes the days memorable in a society where one day often bleeds into the next. It also seems like a great way to practice gratitude.

Something funny: Finding out that Titanic is Dave's all-time favorite movie. Belly laughs during the middle of yoga practice are awesome!
Something delicious: The extra-ripe nectarine that landed more on my shirt than in my mouth
Something beautiful: The sunset while I was riding my scooter over the High Bridge this evening

Thinking about it, I am very lucky to have a great number of experiences to choose from, even just from today. Not all days will be this easy, but if I can find something funny, something beautiful, and something delicious in every day, I really don't have much to complain about. Thanks, Dave!

Why Yoga?

So the next time that I hear my friend say, " Oh, yeah I took a yoga class once at the Y, it really wasn't my thing..."
 Without being defensive, I'll keep in mind a few of the reasons mentioned in class today, why we do yoga.
1. Be calm
2. Relax
3. Breathe
4. New Body Image
5. Awareness
6. Quiet Mind
7.Able to Stop
8. Be present
9. Restructure Priorities
10. Productive
11. Clarity
12. More Connected
13. Spirit
14. Community
15. Flexibility
16. Happier
17. Exude "Yoga"

As I was biking home I was thinking that life is like a bike ride. Sometimes the wind is at my back while going down hill. Other times it was a bit more like today. Hot sunnyday, uphill with the wind in my face. At the top of this hill was a long food-shelf line, reminding me how lucky I am still.

Reflections on Dave Romenelli

I went to the Dave Romenelli class tonight.
He is known for combining yoga with chocolate/wine/music.
What surprised me the most was that he is a storyteller and he uses these elements to tell his stories.
In my own art classroom, I'm known for telling random stories from "how to stop a toilet from over flowing" to "How to make instant-tears when pulled over by a cop."

It is validating to know that there are other people out there who can pull this off in a yoga class. It made for an interesting/challenging night of yoga with a beautiful reward of chocolate/wine/conversation to boot!

He mentioned something like: "1/2 the Effort = Double the Outcome" 
I like this and I'd like to put it in my back pocket for when I can't bare another breath in triangle.
t.

On Imagination...

"...Imagination is something that can be developed at any stage of life... Doctors once thought the brain stopped forming neural pathways when the body stopped growing. But they now realize that thinking a new thought in your mind, you can create an entirely new neural thought in your mind, you can create an entirely new neural pathway.

In other words, the imaginative brain is not necessarily a gift as much as it is practice."

Yeah Dave's Guide, page 131, Imagination

I hear this all of the time when I'm teaching art, "I can't draw, my sister is the one in the family that draws..." I wish that I could teach the confidence that is needed to become better at drawing. I'm going to see/and practice with Dave Romanelli tomorrow night, should be fun!

On the Fountain of Youth...

From David Romanelli's book, "Yeah Dave's guide..."

Douglas MacArthur said,

"You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confience and as old as your fear; as young as your hope and as old as your despair."

I've always thought that there were teenagers in my highschool class who were middle-aged, even back then. hmm.
t.

3 Things Every Day...

According to Dave Romanelli all you need to notice are three simple things
every day to change your life.

1) Witness something Beautiful

2) Taste something Delicious

3) Laugh

Easy peezy lemon sqeezy... I can do this!

On Stress...

"Stress is basically a disconnection from the earth, a forgetting of the breath. 

Stress is an ignorant state.

It believes that everything is an emergency. 

Nothing is that important.

Just lie down." 

Natalie Goldberg in 

Yeah Dave's Guide to Livin' in the Moment

A Different Perspective...

For years I have been a yoga student listening to instructors chastise students by saying, 

"Don't look around, this is Not a competition." The other day I was in a class with Moya Matthews as my yoga instructor. She made a profound statement to counter this.

She said, "Feel free to look around, this is Not a competition!"

This kind of rocked my world. After all of the shame of taking a peek at the person next to me was stripped away, I felt like I had less interest in doing so. Part of my problem is that I'm a "visual learner." When an instructor says things like, "take your left leg and straighten your right foot with your left hand in the air" without any visual demonstrations when I was a true beginner, it was almost impossible for me to get anything "right" without a little look.
Granted, it is still important to not feel jealousy toward the person who is sticking their foot behind their head and to meet each pose as a my new pose every time.

Aparigraha, Non-greed or non-grasping

From Living Your Yoga's chapter on Greed:

Judith Lasater writes about when her kids were little... 

"I told the baby-sitter that after dinner the children could have the apple pie that I purchased at the health food store earlier in the day...when I returned the babysitter told me that there was a huge fight about the pie. 

Not only did each child want more pie, but equally intolerable to all three was the possibility that one might get more pie than another. Needless to say, I was dismayed. By the time the next Wednesday rolled around, I had purchased not one, but three apple pies. Before leaving to teach, I told the children that after dinner that each child could have their very own pie. 

I stressed that, even if they started eating apple pie at that moment and did nothing else for twenty-four hours a day for the rest of their lives, there would still be enough apple pies left in the world for them to eat. I wanted them to realize that there is enough time, enough love, and certainly enough apple pie in life...You see sometimes we temporarily lose our way, becoming convinced that if we acquire this thing or that skill, we will finally become acceptable to ourselves and to the world. In our fear, we have forgotten that we are already whole."

I told the above story to my kids and they shook their heads "yes" as their eyes popped out of their heads imagining their own pie. Aidan (8) said, "I get it mom, there will always be enough pie."

In class today a student spoke about not "grasping" to her grandmother's life, such a hard thing to do. Others spoke about material items and always seeking out the latest in technology.

-t

On Humor...

A person with out humor is like a wagon without springs-- 

jolted by every pebble in the road. 

Henry Ward Beecher

I got this quote from "Livin' in the Moment" and I think that Dave Romanelli is on to something when he points out that everyday should have 3 things.

1) Beauty

2) Humor

3) Something Delicious

I hope that some of this will sink in as I'm living day to day. It is so easy to fall back into old pattens of anxiety and fear of the unknown.

Henna from Yoga Center Mpls- Open House

I just found out about the YCM open house.

Thank you Victoria for some beautiful henna!

Empty Rowboat

One day, a monk was walking by the banks of a lake and found an abandoned rowboat. 

He spent several months lovingly restoring it. Finally, the day came to launch it on the clear waters of the lake. As he began to row, he noticed that it was getting foggy, but he continued nonetheless. 

Suddenly, swiftly cutting through the fog can another rowboat, which rammed into his boat. All of his work- the new wood and the paint job- was damaged. The monk got angry and strained to see who had done this thoughtless thing to his beautiful boat. 

And then he saw that the other boat was empty. 

His anger collapsed in the moment.

Living Your Yoga, Judith Lasater, PH. D, P.T.  Page 37

I like the humor in this story, because I can relate to being upset with the empty "rowboats" in my life. Getting anxious for the stop light to change colors or for my dog to pee instead of just sniffing around the grass. When all of this time I could be using these breaks as a lucky chance to take some deep breaths and live in the moment!

8-8-10 Photos

Elliott peeking through driftwood fort.

Water from the Sound

Brahmacharya- p.2 Family Reunion

Practicing Brahmacharya is easier said than done especially on vacation with an extended family relation who loves to cook and drink. We traveled to Washington state islands and were pulled from one thing to the next. Should we go to this shop or to the pier? Should we go to the beach or for a hike?

A good place to find the answers to these questions was with the small kids. They have this incredible ability to live in the moment. They were more than OK to sit and dig in the sand or build a fort.

Having mindful moderation in the back of my mind on this trip, it helped me to take a few extra breaths and enjoy the food and drinks a bit more.

I'm going to try to post more pics on the art page.

Brahmacharya: Mindful Moderation

Brahma: The Hindu diety of creative force.
Charya: to be followed

When it comes to sex, foods, and over-all sensual interactions.

Do "it" with
love and mindful moderation.

The example given in class today was with a simple strawberry.
Look at it, feel it, smell it, imagine its history from when it was a wee- seed.
Slowly eat it, breathe.

Same goes for sex. It is a deeper connection with a person that you are in love with and feel a deep connection and it can make you that much closer to a deeper sense of self.

All of the above could bring us to a heightened sense of awareness and consciousness. 
Thank you Chris Gordon and all YS26 students for a lively discussion!

Karma Yoga - Sea Turtles/ South Padre

We visited South Padre over winter break, with its beautiful beaches for yoga. There we met these little guys. My son Aidan will be adopting a hatching($11) and naming him/her!  http://www.seaturtleinc.org

"Our culture of excess is growing, infiltrating even our most basic activities. Overeating and obesity are epidemic in the United States. The size of servings has doubled in the past twenty years.  ...(In Japan) the portion is reasonable in size and appealing in its presentation, with the same dynamic of form and space seen in a Zen garden... My dharma grandfather Yasutani Roshi used to say, "You should always stop eating before you feel completely full."

  -John Daido Loori from The Zen of Creativity, page 157

- Quite a different concept than the all-you-can eat Chinese buffet I recently visited.
- Cleaning out what isn't needed, a good goal for the end of summer. Amazing how good it feels to drop off that last load at the Good Will.

Nada Yoga Introduction to Meditation

Tatha - Thus!

What makes this orchid so beautiful?
"Suchness is not something to be added from outside. It is being itself. It is in living life itself... the translation in Sanskrit is tatha... It is expressed in the calligraphy Thus! of Maezumi Roshi."
- The Zen of Creativity, by John Daido Loori

Our orchid is blooming after a long hibernation (of around 8 years). 

Summer is in the air.

Astaya - Non-stealing

Of course it would not be wise to steal someone's things.
But astaya also includes not stealing someone's joy. I think of this when something good happens to me and another person says, "I'm so jealous." or when someone tries to "one-up" another person.
Need vs. Want
Stealing someone's time, by always showing up late and claiming it as "your thing." 

Be true to youself, and not stealing someone's thoughts and claiming them as your own.
Have integrity and know that there will be times when we still mess up.

Satya- Truthfulness

Those who know don't talk. 

Those who talk don't know.

- Laozi

Satya is about creating healthy relationships.
At the end of the day am I at peace with myself?
As in Living Your Yoga, Judith Lasater notes,
"Patanjali discusses ahimsa, non-harming before satya... I suggest that before speaking or taking another action, you first ask these questions:
Is it necessary?
Is it true?
Is is non-harming?"
Simple words, but a difficult task.
-t.

Ahimsa - to do no harm

I am always doing that which I cannot do, 

in order that I may learn how to do it.
-Pablo Picasso

So often this is true with the physical, emotional and mental aspects of creating art / practicing yoga. You can be your own biggest critic, or supporter. Your choice.

A part of ahimsa is to be at peace with yourself.

 -t

Definition of Health- From Wheels of Light, Bruyere

...a healthy system implies much more than freedom from disease. Vitality, appropriate feelings, appropriate thought process, a willingness to embrace change in our lives, creative self-expression and responsibility, intuitive understanding...are all essential if we are to be "full of light" and full of life and well-being.