Tradition

Let's keep the tradition of yoga alive!

Ujjayi means "victorious"!

This is one of the many wisdoms I was taught by one of my yoga teachers.  In one month of intensive training in Bali, I came to understand deeply what keeping the tradition of yoga alive means.  The yoga we practice today is kind of a new age form of yoga with roots in not only the thousands-of-years-old Vedas, but also more modern European gymnastics and wrestling.  Thousands of years ago there were maybe less than a hundred actual asana.  The focus then was more focused on cultivating the mental faculties required for meditation.  Today we have thousands and thousands of asana and modifications to accompany.  We live more in a physical culture with less emphasis on meditation.  For me like many, one component of settling the mind is this intense and cleansing physical practice.

There is, however, one aspect of today's asana practice that is steeped in ancient tradition.  This is the use of Sanskrit terms to identify certain pranayama and asana exercises.  Sanskrit is an ancient language akin to the use of Greek and Latin in Europe.  I feel that during a yoga class the use of Sanskrit has the ability to bring about deeper and more profound connection to each pose.  During vinyasa yoga sessions, Sanskrit terms almost guide me into a more meditative asana practice with their cadence and link to a deeper story behind the words.  I recently heard of ujjayi interpreted as the ocean sound.  It is true that ujjayi pranayama causes the practitioner to make a sound like an ocean wave with the breath moving across the constriction at the back of the throat, but... ujjayi interprets to "victorious" in Sanskrit.  The strength of ujjayi pranayama moving through the body supports the asana practice allowing the practitioner to be victorious.

Let's keep the tradition of yoga alive!   :)

Ashtanga = 8 limbs
Ha = Moon
Tha = Sun
Yoga = Union
Yama = Ethical restraints
     ahimsa = non-harming
     satya = truth
     asteya = non-stealing
     brahmacharya = integrity in relationship to sexuality
     aparigraha = freedom from desire or greed
Niyama = Observance
     shaucha = purity/cleanliness
     santosa = contentment
     tapas = self-discipline/burning spiritual ardor
     svadhyaya = mindfulness/self-study
     Ishvara Pranidhana = surrender (to god or the absolute)
Vinyasa = Flow/moving meditation/linking of movement and breath


The path is clear, n'est-ce pas?


OM MANI PADME OM

= "the jewel is in the lotus flower"





 

Miracle

Listen!

Do you hear it?
I do.
I can feel it.
I expect a miracle is coming.
It has set loose this restlessness inside of me.

Expect it.
Dream about it.
Give birth to it in your being.
Know!  Something good is coming down the line.
Finding its way to you like all things find their way to god's children.

Listen!

~Jewel, "A Night Without Armor"

2005... Cleaning out the closet.

Western culture today is eminently different than it was when the land was cultivated by native peoples.  We have moved away from being in touch with the landscape, knowing what is available for out comsumption and what is not, and how strategically we can adapt our surroundings without forcefully manipulating them.  The capitalist economy has become an engine of consumption and waste on an enormous scale with too many problems, too many people, and not enough intrinsic knowledge or understanding circulating to redeem itself.  This is acutely apparent in the fields of restoration ecology, ecosystem management, and ecological risk assessment.  In reading Hobbs' and others' (2004) paper, "Restoration ecology: the challenge of social values and expectation", one becomes highly aware of the anthropocentric bias that is introduced into decision-making regarding ecosystems.  It is a conundrum because without scientific tests, we no longer know to what degree we have affected our surroundings; we simply can no longer tell.  One might say that it has spun out of control.  Our "world" and our "reality" has grown faster than we have been able to actually see and feel and understand what has been happening and to what degree we have actually altered our environment from the pre-Industrial Revolution era.  It would suffice to say (in an abstract sense) that humans have succeeded in over-powering evolution.

We are all shaped by our past and our present.

Coconut manna is the S#@* !!

1/2 cup cooked basmati rice
1/4 cup soy milk (or any other milk)
Boil 5 minutes.

2-4 tbs coconut manna (to liking)
1/2 of a mango diced (chunks)
large handful sliced strawberries
After mixing all together remove from heat.  Serve yourself and add a tsp of honey (also to your liking).

Coconut manna is the S*@# !!

Pons Asinorum.

They say a rolling stone gathers no moss.  This may be true.  In fact, it is definitely true.  Lets think about the qualities of moss and the conditions in which it thrives for a moment.  For moss to grow, it must have a surface on which it can take root.  There must be adequate water and nutrients.  For this water and these nutrients to collect, the surface on which the moss would like to grow must be stagnant.  The surface on which the moss takes hold must be slightly porous.  It must be porous, but not so porous that other larger plants could take a hold and compete with the moss.  There must be sunlight to fuel the growth, but not so much sunlight that it dries things out.  So in fact, there must be mostly shade.  This is not a tumultuous environment.  This is a settled, complete, stable, orderly, peaceful environment.  But, you might not ever get anything done being this sedentary.

And what about the alternative?  The extreme alternative is that if you were this rock, you would constantly be in motion.  Imagine a medium sized rock just larger than a man's fist careening down a mountainside.  This rock (were it an animate object) does not have time to look around.  It does not see where its going or what cliff its about to bounce off of next.  This rock is in constant motion.  It follows a frenzied, harried, unimpeded trajectory down the mountainside, always downward because it is being propelled by gravity.  This rock in this interplay with gravity does not have a choice unless by some divine intervention it comes to rest.  As it bounces and reels through the air, this rock does not gather moss.  It may even crack and abrade its otherwise smooth surface.  But, it has a direction.  Propelled by forces beyond its control it has begun on this path.  Then, BAM!

A test.

Wait.  Rocks don't get tested, they just do as they're told.

But, people, ah yes.  People are tested in this life.  It is a self-test.  The test begins with forces acting upon us outside of our control and they often open those neatly packaged gifts, sitting high on the shelf that were meant to be better opened when the time was right.  "When the time was right".  The time is never right, now is it?

Pons Asinorum, in Latin, translates to "bridge of asses" or "bridge of fools".  It was initially coined by Euclid to explain the theorum of the isosceles triangle.  Well, geometry is boring.  Straight lines are boring.  What is more interesting to ponder about the pons asinorum is that it can be thought of as a test, a metaphor if you will.  The "bridge of fools" describes a test that can seperate the weak minded from the strong, a test of will, intelligence, and ability.  It is an initial challenge which foretell of the harder propositions which follow.  The pons asinorum is a test which severely challenges the ability of the inexperienced person.

Isn't this life?  Aren't we constantly being tested especially when there is a lack of experience?  Is this not the best way to learn how to unwrap and accept the gift that was neatly packaged and stacked away?

Hmmm.... we'll find out if I learned anything when I have a shiny, new ACL constructed from some pieces of hamstring tendon.

OM NAMAH SHIVAYA
  
  

An Invitation

The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

It doesn’t interest me
what you do for a living.
I want to know
what you ache for
and if you dare to dream
of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me
how old you are.
I want to know
if you will risk
looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me
what planets are
squaring your moon...
I want to know
if you have touched
the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened
by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know
if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know
if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations
of being human.

It doesn’t interest me
if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear
the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know
if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live
or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me
who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me
where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know
what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know
if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like
the company you keep
in the empty moments.

................................................................................

As you enter the room and take your shoes off at the door, you gaze around.  Warmth emanates from the space and fills you.  Your soul becomes heavy as it settles down into your body as if to say, "Yes.  I want to be here.  I am home."  The light is dim and comes only from a medium sized fire glowing in the fireplace across the room.  You wonder if the room is warm because of the fire, but your skin tells you otherwise.  The warmth comes from a different place.  Taking in the architecture of the place, you notice the traditional Japanese style woodworking surrounding you.  The wood is stained a deep, rich mahogany sheen.  The glow of the fire bounces and plays shadowy games on the simplicity of the walls.  In this moment, you are no where else but here.  The warmth has traveled through you and settled your mind.  This allows you to recognize a woman seated near the fire and to your right.  She has been watching you enter the room.  With a soft smile gently touching the corners of her mouth, her gaze meets yours.  You think you see her smile broaden infinitely and welcome you into the room, but you are certain that she has not moved.  You think maybe the shadows are playing tricks with her delicate and wise features.  The woman is weathered.  Her skin is glowing radiant even in the dim light.  The soft wrinkles around her eyes and mouth speak of years and years.  She is seated comfortably on a small cushion without fidgeting, without shifting.  Her soft, off white clothing hangs on her well cared for body as if they were one.  Just as you begin to become slightly unsure of what to do next, the woman speaks.  "Welcome."  And, somehow you know, you understand, that you have not only entered a beautiful, special place; you have entered into a sacred contract between this woman whom you do not know, yourself, and this space.  She speaks again.  "You may stay as long as you wish."  Again, the message is clear.  This space has been held open for you and for countless before you so that you may fulfill your destiny.  There are covenants that you must adhere to in order to remain in the good graces of this woman, of this place.  But, you know that it is worth it.  Waiting for you beyond these walls is profound and immeasurable change, is a world full of color and light and wisdom.    




"Now at last I'm home to you, 
I feel like making up for lost time."






     

How did we get to be so lucky?

The breeze blows and I am happy.
The rain comes and I am happy.
The rooster crows and I am happy.
Life is simple.
With everything but the necessary dropping away, I am free.
My emotions are clear, I am free.
My purpose, I don't know.  I am not attached to it.  It will come.
I am free.

...

Who we say we are is a reflection of conditioned ideas that we identify with.  We think we are our stories.  Our behaviors become who we are - a groove in our psyches.  Patanjali says we have mistakenly identified with these stories, these things.

We are the universal consciousness.  We are not separate.  Before all the conditioned ideas, we were the universal consciousness.  The truth is that we are not individuals.  We are simply unaware of this, we are asleep to this idea.  Yoga, or even eastern philosophy, is a way to wake up.  Meditation is the tool that is offered.  The experience of cosmic unity comes through meditation.  Maybe it opens an unknown dimension that we've never experienced before.  The convincing comes through having your own experience of it.  A way to understand our own mind.  A way to master our own mind.  Find a sanity... find a way to manage ups and downs.  Fundamentally, EVERYTHING IS OK.

Most importantly, I like to believe that the definition of meditation is fairly open-ended.