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.