Yoga, Shit, and the Practice of Ahimsa

Ahimsa(non-violence) is the first Yama. We know that Yoga means relationship, and Yama is the relationship that we have to everything in the world. Our relationship to the world is a mirror of our relationships to ourselves.  

"For a person who has experience his Buddha nature, he sees the Buddha nature in everyone. For a person who is full of shit, he sees everybody as a pile of shit." -Dharma Master Fo Yin in his conversation with the infamous poet Su Dong Po(A.D. 1037-1101)

 What does this mean to us? Maybe it gives us some insight on how to put up with that annoying co-worker and the person, or press, that keeps slamming the practice that has transformed our lives, maybe it means to just cut off those that challenge us? What the dharma master is saying is that yoga starts within. Yoga begins with awareness, and that awareness, has to start with ourselves.  It begins with our Yoga(relationship) to ourselves and from there will spill over into your other relationships. Lately yoga has gotten a lot of bad press. There have been books and articles written about the stress that yoga can put on our bodies, scandal within the yoga community exposing teachers' "dark sides."  First of all, How can Yoga wreck our body!? Yoga means relationship. Relationships can wreck us only if our intentions are not pure. Think again to that co-worker, when we try to change them and their actions we just strengthen that which is causing turmoil within us in the first place.  When we work on ourselves the co-worker doesn't change but our projections and needs for them to turn into someone else does.  Yoga is an internal practice and as a society growing in materialism, many of us have made it an external practice. We can't help ourselves, we're Americans! We have turned yoga teachers into rockstars and then we get mad at them for sleeping around! These things happen to wake us up, to get a conversation started, and to tear down our walls and expose our hearts(something that takes years of yoga practice to accomplish). Set the intention of love and kindness today, set the intention on your "inner guru" and intuition, and "Self-center" instead of being self-centered. Whatever we set our intention towards expands in our lives. When you come to your mat, set the intention for Ahimsa(non-harming), especially if you are a type A personality. Set the intention today to be kinder to yourself on your yoga mat, to listen to what your body, mind and Soul needs are, and to nurture your Self. These problems in the yoga community are not because of Yoga, it is because we are humans practicing yoga.  It is the reason we came to yoga in the first place!! As Bryan Kest says,"you can take what you learn on your mat and apply it to your life, or you can take what you do in life, and turn your yoga into shit!"  Turns out Bryan Kest and the Dharma master Fo Yin had a similar message. 

Ahimsa(non-violence/kindness) is the highest dharma(law). Ahimsa is the best tapas(austerity). Ahimsa is the greatest gift. Ahimsa is the highest self-control. Ahimsa is the highest sacrifice. Ahimsa is the highest power. Ahimsa is the highest friend. Ahimsa is the highest truth. Ahimsa is the highest teaching.--Mahabharata

The 5 Must Haves this Holiday Season.

Think back to when you were a child.  There was a time before all of us had attachments to our blankets, stuffed animals, or favorite toy. Most of us can’t remember this far back, but it was the time when we saw our parents, not as separate, but rather an extension of us. It was a time when we felt joy with just a few essential things.  The desires of the world that preceded this time have caused either our suffering or have given us the drive for our blessings, but now it is time to go back to the essentials.  What were the first 5 things we had that brought us joy, from as far back as the womb, and do you and those you pass on the street have them this Holiday.

1   A warm place to stay

2  Nourishment

3   Rest

4   Play

5    Love

Rather than getting the impossible gift for the person that has everything this year, why not bond together with them and make sure that everyone you meet has the top 5 first.  Lets remember a time when we didn’t believe that we were separate or know that there were objects of the world to desire other than these things, because I guarantee that some people who appear to have it all are missing some of the essentials this year.  

Play

Catholic to Tantric

Confession time from this asana addict…I am a catholic wannabe from way back!!  Born to hippie parents that knew little boundaries or ritual, though a house that valued laughter and tradition. I longed for the structure and reverence and parents that would force me to go to church like my best friends’ parents did.  My grandfather would pick up my sister and I some Sundays and take us to church. I looked around at the bodies moving up and down trying to keep up the way I did the first time I entered a yoga class. Are we kneeling or are we standing? Sitting or kneeling? How is my alignment?  I tried to follow the prayers that everyone else had memorized, feeling like I would never fit into the "cult-like" group.  However confused and judging of myself I became, during this ritual, the whole experience  would leave me exhilarated and full. I loved singing out at the top of my lungs to God. I was sure I would grow up to be a nun(haha). My days of wanting to be Catholic have changed a bit since being convinced by my husband to join before we were married, during the one point in my life when I was just not interested.(timing is everything-i was a very bad catholic girl!) I still love our Catholic church we attend once in awhile, with our priest that looks like Santa Claus, the rituals, that I now have memorized, the pew sun salutations, and singing(although I love chanting in sanskrit much more) I think this is why the "Catholic wannabe" in me is so drawn to the study of  Tantric Shaivism, the direction my sadhana(daily practice) is leading me to these days. The mantras, the ritual, the breath, Oh my! Some of my friends still think that Tantra is about sex…it certainly makes it a lot more interesting to think about in these terms.  After all, most of us remember the first time that we made love…the confusion, amazement, and rapture of it all.  Or the first kiss.. wet, weird, and the thoughts of “Am I doing it right,” even though we had practiced on our hands or at the mirror hundreds of times before the actual act with Jeremy Peacock(hmm.. maybe that is why I can't stand peacock pose).  Or for me the first time I practiced vinyasa, much like dancing, laying in savasana(relaxation) at the end of class with a feeling that I had been through a storm and was shipwrecked, washed up on the beach, and now laid there not know what just happened, or who I was, but here now.. alive. This is why I am an addict of asana, love, and devotion, and why the rituals and practice of Tantra are certainly appealing to me.  The breath and sound rituals are the way that we can access the present moment. The average adult breathes approximately 21,600 times a day. Each one of these breaths is an opportunity to feel alive and experience this moment unlike any other!  In a world of to do lists, which sometimes include our yoga practice, tea with friends, and being with our beloved, as things we check off at the end of the day, we all need these reminders and rituals to pause and be alive in these experiences. We all remember the first time we do something new, but how often do we remember the last.  Will we remember the details of the last time that we make love as much as the first, or the last kiss as much as the first(Yuck) or the last conversation with our wise friend or grandfather.

Each moment we breath-in we have the ability within us to be enlightened, which means awake. The pause is what helps us remember. 

“The question is not will I ever become enlightened, rather can I become enlightened right now.” – Chris Tompkins

When we enter into the present moment even a leaf falling from the branch of a tree, seems to hold all of the joy and suffering of the human race.  It floats softly, sparkly, circular... following the pattern of our breath.  What if we all remembered at the same time?  Maybe the Mayan calendar would be true and time would cease to exist.  And then!?  As a wise one once said, “What happen’s after enlightenment? Laundry!”.