The Importance of Community in Spiritual Awakening
Community, if we allow it AND we do the work, can wake us up. They trigger us. I am not saying that you should surround yourself with people that trigger you and that you should stick around in all the situations in which you are triggered. If you choose to leave the situation, don’t leave the work behind. Triggers show us where there is work to be done. One of my teacher friends says, “when it is hysterical, it is historical.” When something causes our emotions to go sky high and out of control, there is something in our history that needs our love, attention and eventually our forgiveness. A community…
- Adventures in Mysore India, Alignment and Injuries, Ask the AYP, Teaching Ashtanga, Yoga Philosophy, Yoga Sutras
Yoga Will Not Keep Bad Things From Happening
Yoga is not an inoculation against bad things. It is the science of learning how to deal with bad things when they happen. If you are lucky, you start to view “bad” things as just events and you don’t label them at all. On my last post, someone commented and asked, “how can you hurt yourself when you are practicing Ahimsa?” Easy. Most people don’t wake up in the morning and say. “I feel like hurting myself today. I really want to get in a car accident, maybe get a cold, catch my husband in bed with his co-worker, rip my hamstring, and have to bail my son out of…
My New Year Wishes For the Yoga World
Forgiveness: Jack Kornfield can say it better than me. “Like the practice of compassion, forgiveness does not ignore the truth of our suffering. Forgiveness is not weak. It demands courage and integrity. Yet only forgiveness and love can bring about the peace we long for. As the Indian sage Meher Baba explains, “True love is not for the faint-hearted.” “We have all betrayed and hurt others, just as we have knowingly or unknowingly been harmed by them. It is inevitable in this human realm. Sometimes our betrayals are small, sometimes terrible. Extending and receiving forgiveness is essential for redemption from our past. To forgive does not mean we condone the misdeeds of another. We can dedicate…
- Adventures in Mysore India, Alignment and Injuries, Ashtanga Adaptability, Guru, Interviews, Saraswathi, Teaching Ashtanga, Uncategorized, Yoga Philosophy, Yoga Sutras
Random Ashtanga Stuff That Has Been Driving Me Up The Wall
Ashtanga stuff that has been pushing my buttons.
The Gift of Not Fitting In
Not fitting in makes you question life and it wakes you up. Usually, it is not until we see or experience something outside of the norm that we question normalcy in the first place. I have never questioned whether I am a woman or not. I have all the things society considers to be normal for a woman like a vagina and breasts. I have a uterus. I do all the things society sees as normal for women like wearing dresses, make up and birthing a child. My shape is considered womanly. I have never been mistaken for a man. However, if I would have been born transgendered, less curvy,…
What do Kapotasana and Swimming Have in Common?
Bear with me. Like your yoga practice, this story is going some where. When I was in college, I took a beginner swim class. At the end, my teacher told me I could swim, passed me and gave me an “A”. Summer came around and I was at the pool with my husband, an ex marine and expert swimmer. I was ecstatic about showing him my new skills. I get in the water. Show him what I can do and he says, Husband: Sweetie, you can’t swim. Me: Yes, I can. My teacher said I could. I passed the class. He moved me on. Husband: Sweetie, if I pushed you…
- Alignment and Injuries, Ashtanga Adaptability, Ashtanga Quotes, Teaching Ashtanga, Yoga Philosophy, Yoga Sutras
Yoga Practice in Good and Bad Times
“Your toothache is impermanent, but your non-toothache is also impermanent. With that insight, you look at birth, death, old-age, ups and downs, suffering, and happiness with the eyes of a sage, and you don’t suffer anymore. You smile, no longer afraid.” – Thich Nhat Hanh The Sutras does not say that, “Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of life.” It says that “Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind. ” The world turns, burns, rises and falls. Teachers come and go, hamstrings tear and heal. In yogic terms, the gunas will keep interacting with prakriti and, while I play in this world, I can’t stop it.…
A Yoga Practice to Wake Up To
In order for our practice to work, it has to be stronger then our negative ideations. If not, Self Hate will say, “is that all you got?” Addiction will say, “come at me, bro.” Suffering will say, “I can do you one better.” I truly love the idea of a soothing languorous practice. But I know me. If my mind and my body is not given a challenge, it will be an hour of negative thinking with incense, pretty lights and singing bowls. This does not mean doing strong sweaty asanas either. It just needs to be something that effectively stops the mind, and perhaps, turns it in another direction. …
- Adventures in Mysore India, Ashtanga Adaptability, Social Media, Teaching Ashtanga, Uncategorized, Yoga Philosophy
Ashtanga Community or Your Community?
Your circle of friends and acquaintances does not represent the whole human race. A few weeks ago, my daughter talked about how she doesn’t understand how McDonald’s is still in business because no one eats there. I explained to her that just because her vegan upper middle class friends don’t eat there, it does not mean that no one eats there. I see similar conversations about Ashtanga. Big blanket statements about what is going on in the Ashtanga community. Ummm…maybe that is happening with your circle. It is not necessarily happening in mine or India or Chicago or down the street at the next yoga studio. We draw to us…
Social Media and the Freedom to NOT Hear Your Speech
I often see people angry on social media because someone deleted a comment off their page. Usually, the person, whose comment got deleted, moves the comment to another page and says, “I put this comment on so and so’s page, they deleted it”, Followed by one of these statements “but I think people have a right to see this.” “and so many people agreed with me.” “it must be because they were offended/knew I was right/didn’t want the truth to get out.” Here is the thing. That page belongs to them and they have every right, for whatever reason, to delete your comment. Yes, it is public but so is…
Making the Philosophy and Poses of Ashtanga Accessible for All
