Sunday Morning Yoga and Meditation in Marin
A Path with Heart
A Path with Heart: Yoga and Meditation for the Path of Life
Saturday November 12th
Downtown Studio, Yoga World
1:15-4:15
Sunday November 13th
Downtown Studio, Yoga World
2:00-5:00
Pre-Registration:
$40 Saturday only, $70 for both Saturday and Sunday
After 11/10:
$45 for Saturday, $45 for Sunday
Saturday only registration is allowed, but attendance at both sessions is strongly advised.
In order to attend on Sunday, you must also attend Saturday's teaching session.
The practice of yoga is a path of healing and awakening. The practice nourishes the body, heart, and mind in simple and profound ways that are evident early on, sometimes even after our very first time of doing yoga.
In this weekend workshop, we will go beyond the basic experience of body-mind benefit that yoga brings, and look very specifically at the ways in which the practice, at its most essential level, is about opening the heart. In opening the heart, we naturally become more available to life and its blessings. We are more open and compassionate with ourselves, our loved ones, and the world around us -- not because we try to be so, but because our practice path is actually clearing the way for our intrinsic and innermost heart to shine through.
Through meditation, yin yoga, active practice, and personal inquiry work, we will explore the heart as the natural source of our capacities for warmth, openness, and compassion.
This workshop is open to all levels of students. No prior experience is necessary -- though some interest in meditation and inner work is advised.
Please contact Yoga World directly to sign up, or be in touch with me with any questions about the weekend.
250 West Ocean Blvd
Long Beach, CA 90802
(562) 804-5525
Sign Up: yogaworldstudio@yahoo.com. Questions: sasha.papovich@gmail.com
Upcoming Yin and Buddhism Teachings
Hello dear Students,
I hope your summers are going well, and that there is time for inner life amidst the fun activities of the season!
I am very excited to be headed down to So Cal next weekend to teach at the Cloud Nine Yoga Collective. This is such a great group of people-- come join us!!
Saturday August 6th: Going Deeper with Yin Yoga
3:00PM-7:00PM $60
This afternoon will be for yoga students who wish to deepen their understanding of the Yin practice. We will discuss and explore the outer (physical), inner (energetic), and innermost aspects of Yin (psycho-spiritual). The afternoon will include Yin practice as well as discussion and teaching. You will leave this afternoon's session able to guide yourself through the profound, nourishing benefits of the Yin practice.
Monday August 8th: Yoga and Buddhism
6:00-9:00PM $45
This evening is for students interested in Buddhism and Meditation. There will be a discussion of the roots of Buddhism, an overview of Buddhism and its relationship to Yoga, and some experiential work that will deepen your understanding of the path of the meditative tradition. Though this might sound like a dry topic, it is actually interesting, inspiring and even fun! This is an all-time favorite evening for teachers and students alike.
Both events will be held at:
Cloud Nine Yoga Collective
18351 Beach Blvd,
Huntington Beach, CA 92831
http://www.cloudnineyoga.com
To register please email Erika Faith Hattigh at
yogaoncloudnine@gmail.com
Sending Love,
Sasha
I hope your summers are going well, and that there is time for inner life amidst the fun activities of the season!
I am very excited to be headed down to So Cal next weekend to teach at the Cloud Nine Yoga Collective. This is such a great group of people-- come join us!!
Saturday August 6th: Going Deeper with Yin Yoga
3:00PM-7:00PM $60
This afternoon will be for yoga students who wish to deepen their understanding of the Yin practice. We will discuss and explore the outer (physical), inner (energetic), and innermost aspects of Yin (psycho-spiritual). The afternoon will include Yin practice as well as discussion and teaching. You will leave this afternoon's session able to guide yourself through the profound, nourishing benefits of the Yin practice.
Monday August 8th: Yoga and Buddhism
6:00-9:00PM $45
This evening is for students interested in Buddhism and Meditation. There will be a discussion of the roots of Buddhism, an overview of Buddhism and its relationship to Yoga, and some experiential work that will deepen your understanding of the path of the meditative tradition. Though this might sound like a dry topic, it is actually interesting, inspiring and even fun! This is an all-time favorite evening for teachers and students alike.
Both events will be held at:
Cloud Nine Yoga Collective
18351 Beach Blvd,
Huntington Beach, CA 92831
http://www.cloudnineyoga.com
To register please email Erika Faith Hattigh at
yogaoncloudnine@gmail.com
Sending Love,
Sasha
Making Your Practice Personal
Hello Students,
The sun is shining and the air is warm here in San Francisco, which is an unusual thing! I hope your day is beautiful, wherever you are.
I'll be teaching this weekend in Southern California. Our theme is Making Your Practice Personal. We all have a sense that our practice life can really nourish, inspire, and contribute to our evolution. We're not always sure how to make that happen. Yoga is more than calisthenics -- it is a practice path of transformation of body, mind, and heart. How do we approach practice so that it can be extremely personally potent, and not just generally, vaguely helpful? We'll explore how the practices of Yin Yoga, Mindful Flow, and Meditation can be powerful tools for transformation.
** My students are welcome to the early bird registration prices even though those dates have passed. Just come a few minutes early, and let the desk registrar know.**
Friday Night, June 17th
Yoga World Downtown
6:30-8:30 PM
Yoga and Personal Inquiry
This class is limited to students who have done Inquiry work with me on retreat, in private sessions, or in the workshop series called Yoga and Psycho-Spiritual Inquiry. If you're unsure about whether you qualify, just send me an email to check in.
Saturday Afternoon, June 18th
Yoga World Downtown
1:15-4:15 PM
Extended Afternoon Practice
We'll have time for a quiet Yin practice, a more active flowing practice, and meditation. This class is open to all students of all levels who have an interest in mindfulness based yoga and meditation.
I hope to see you soon!
Warmly,
Sasha
The sun is shining and the air is warm here in San Francisco, which is an unusual thing! I hope your day is beautiful, wherever you are.
I'll be teaching this weekend in Southern California. Our theme is Making Your Practice Personal. We all have a sense that our practice life can really nourish, inspire, and contribute to our evolution. We're not always sure how to make that happen. Yoga is more than calisthenics -- it is a practice path of transformation of body, mind, and heart. How do we approach practice so that it can be extremely personally potent, and not just generally, vaguely helpful? We'll explore how the practices of Yin Yoga, Mindful Flow, and Meditation can be powerful tools for transformation.
** My students are welcome to the early bird registration prices even though those dates have passed. Just come a few minutes early, and let the desk registrar know.**
Friday Night, June 17th
Yoga World Downtown
6:30-8:30 PM
Yoga and Personal Inquiry
This class is limited to students who have done Inquiry work with me on retreat, in private sessions, or in the workshop series called Yoga and Psycho-Spiritual Inquiry. If you're unsure about whether you qualify, just send me an email to check in.
Saturday Afternoon, June 18th
Yoga World Downtown
1:15-4:15 PM
Extended Afternoon Practice
We'll have time for a quiet Yin practice, a more active flowing practice, and meditation. This class is open to all students of all levels who have an interest in mindfulness based yoga and meditation.
I hope to see you soon!
Warmly,
Sasha
You and Your Buddha Nature
Dear Students,
I am leaving in the morning for 10 days of silent meditation retreat. This will be a much appreciated time to practice deeply after a very busy first half of the year.
I'll leave with you some brilliant words-- John Welwood is an incredible writer & psycho-spiritual teacher, and he's one of my greatest influences. I know you'll enjoy.
http://www.tricycle.com/interview/human-nature-buddha-nature
(You might have to cut and paste the link.)
Metta Sent,
Sasha
I am leaving in the morning for 10 days of silent meditation retreat. This will be a much appreciated time to practice deeply after a very busy first half of the year.
I'll leave with you some brilliant words-- John Welwood is an incredible writer & psycho-spiritual teacher, and he's one of my greatest influences. I know you'll enjoy.
http://www.tricycle.com/interview/human-nature-buddha-nature
(You might have to cut and paste the link.)
Metta Sent,
Sasha
Teaching in So Cal in June
FRIDAY JUNE 17TH
Daytime, Yoga World Downtown
PRIVATE SESSIONS
We can use this time to inquire into personal issues or challenges that come up in your everyday life, or on the issues and challenges that come up in your practice life. Contact me to discuss price, schedule, and/or the specifics of what you want to work on. (If you want to work together privately, but cost is a prohibitive issue, please let me know and we can work something out!) Contact me directly about these sessions: sasha.papovich@gmail.com
I am currently full for private sessions on Friday June 17th. Please let me know if you'd like to be on the waiting list in case anything opens up.
FRIDAY NIGHT JUNE 17th
6:30PM-8:30PM, Yoga World Downtown
PSYCHO SPIRITUAL CLASS FOLLOW UP
NO DROP-INS ALLOWED, REGISTER BY FRIDAY JUNE 10TH
This class is for students who:
~have worked with Sasha privately
~ have attended the Psycho-Spiritual Class Series
~ have attended a recent retreat in Santa Barbara
We'll review the teachings that support a return to our deeper ground of presence. There will be time to check in with questions and issues. We'll include Yin practice and meditation practice, but our main emphasis will be on personal inquiry work.
To register please go to www.yogaworldstudios.com, or email Michelle at yogaworldstudio@yahoo.com
SATURDAY JUNE 18TH
1:15-4:15, Yoga World Downtown
MASTER CLASS FOR ALL LEVELS
PRE- REGISTER BY FRIDAY JUNE 10th
This "master" class will incorporate all the main components of an integrated yoga practice. The longer class time gives us a chance to include and expand upon the usual yoga class practices of 1) asana 2) pranayma, and 3) meditation, which allows for a significant deepening of their effect.
We will begin with brief meditation and a long yin practice, followed by a slow-flowing active practice, closing with pranayama and another meditation. Experience the transformative, integrating, soul-nourishing effect of a deep afternoon practice together. The class is for all levels. New students with an interest in the meditative aspects of yoga are especially encouraged to attend.
To register please go to www.yogaworldstudios.com, or email Michelle at yogaworldstudio@yahoo.com
I hope to see you soon!!
Daytime, Yoga World Downtown
PRIVATE SESSIONS
We can use this time to inquire into personal issues or challenges that come up in your everyday life, or on the issues and challenges that come up in your practice life. Contact me to discuss price, schedule, and/or the specifics of what you want to work on. (If you want to work together privately, but cost is a prohibitive issue, please let me know and we can work something out!) Contact me directly about these sessions: sasha.papovich@gmail.com
I am currently full for private sessions on Friday June 17th. Please let me know if you'd like to be on the waiting list in case anything opens up.
FRIDAY NIGHT JUNE 17th
6:30PM-8:30PM, Yoga World Downtown
PSYCHO SPIRITUAL CLASS FOLLOW UP
NO DROP-INS ALLOWED, REGISTER BY FRIDAY JUNE 10TH
This class is for students who:
~have worked with Sasha privately
~ have attended the Psycho-Spiritual Class Series
~ have attended a recent retreat in Santa Barbara
We'll review the teachings that support a return to our deeper ground of presence. There will be time to check in with questions and issues. We'll include Yin practice and meditation practice, but our main emphasis will be on personal inquiry work.
To register please go to www.yogaworldstudios.com, or email Michelle at yogaworldstudio@yahoo.com
SATURDAY JUNE 18TH
1:15-4:15, Yoga World Downtown
MASTER CLASS FOR ALL LEVELS
PRE- REGISTER BY FRIDAY JUNE 10th
This "master" class will incorporate all the main components of an integrated yoga practice. The longer class time gives us a chance to include and expand upon the usual yoga class practices of 1) asana 2) pranayma, and 3) meditation, which allows for a significant deepening of their effect.
We will begin with brief meditation and a long yin practice, followed by a slow-flowing active practice, closing with pranayama and another meditation. Experience the transformative, integrating, soul-nourishing effect of a deep afternoon practice together. The class is for all levels. New students with an interest in the meditative aspects of yoga are especially encouraged to attend.
To register please go to www.yogaworldstudios.com, or email Michelle at yogaworldstudio@yahoo.com
I hope to see you soon!!
SPRING RETREAT IN SANTA BARBARA : YOGA, MEDITATION AND PERSONAL INQUIRY WORK
I am very excited for our upcoming retreat in Santa Barbara in April! Our fall retreat was a deeply nourishing and beautiful time for all, and I'm so excited to have such a wonderful group already signed up for April.
The theme of the retreat is Return to the Heart, and our focus is on learning how to cultivate a rich and vibrant connection to our hearts.
In our time together this April weekend, we will specifically focus on the qualities of our deeper presence that make up the heart center. Through meditation, yin yoga, active practice, personal inquiry work, and (optional) heart centered massage, we will explore the heart as the natural source of our capacities for warmth, openness, and compassion.
Our work will have two equally important strands: (1) learning to recognize and invoke and cultivate those naturally-occurring qualities of the heart, and (2) learning to recognize and work with that which blocks our access to the heart and its intrinsic nature. Instead of trying to be warm, open, and compassionate, the uncontrived and un-fabricated fruition of our practices will be a return to your deeper presence, including the heart, where you will experience the naturally occurring warmth, open-ness, compassion, and wisdom that this connection to presence offers.
We all tend to fixate on our outer circumstances-- relationships, work, money-- as the cause of our suffering. We disconnect from our deeper presence, including our hearts, and we get busy trying to do the things that we think will fix the external situations. However, most of our suffering is actually a result of this disconnection from ourselves, so it is not the challenges of our everyday lives that we need to fix, it is our connection to our deeper presence that needs to be re-established. Retreat is a special opportunity to take a break from the many things in our lives that distract us and lead to our disconnection. In addition to practice time focused on re-establishing a connection to your deeper presence, you’ll have time for massage, time to rest, read, or hike, and time spent together in a beautiful and nourishing community space.
There are actually only a few spots left, and I'd like to encourage those of who have been contemplating it to make the leap and commit to joining us.We will have a lovely and deep few days together, and this will also be my only trip to southern California until June.
Our retreat begins on Friday afternoon the 8th of April (arrival time between 3-5PM, dinner at 6:00PM, evening session at 7:30PM) and ends after lunch on Sunday April the 10th (check out time between 2:00-4:00PM).
If you need more detailed information about our wonderful location-- Laurel Springs Retreat center (http://www.laurelspringsretreat.net)-- lodging choices, yummy food, or schedule, please feel free to email me with questions.
Rooming options with prices are as follows.
$500 is a shared room with a bathroom down the hall
$550 is shared room with a bathroom in the room
$700 is a single room with its own bathroom
PLEASE CONTACT ME FOR MORE INFORMATION!
The theme of the retreat is Return to the Heart, and our focus is on learning how to cultivate a rich and vibrant connection to our hearts.
In our time together this April weekend, we will specifically focus on the qualities of our deeper presence that make up the heart center. Through meditation, yin yoga, active practice, personal inquiry work, and (optional) heart centered massage, we will explore the heart as the natural source of our capacities for warmth, openness, and compassion.
Our work will have two equally important strands: (1) learning to recognize and invoke and cultivate those naturally-occurring qualities of the heart, and (2) learning to recognize and work with that which blocks our access to the heart and its intrinsic nature. Instead of trying to be warm, open, and compassionate, the uncontrived and un-fabricated fruition of our practices will be a return to your deeper presence, including the heart, where you will experience the naturally occurring warmth, open-ness, compassion, and wisdom that this connection to presence offers.
We all tend to fixate on our outer circumstances-- relationships, work, money-- as the cause of our suffering. We disconnect from our deeper presence, including our hearts, and we get busy trying to do the things that we think will fix the external situations. However, most of our suffering is actually a result of this disconnection from ourselves, so it is not the challenges of our everyday lives that we need to fix, it is our connection to our deeper presence that needs to be re-established. Retreat is a special opportunity to take a break from the many things in our lives that distract us and lead to our disconnection. In addition to practice time focused on re-establishing a connection to your deeper presence, you’ll have time for massage, time to rest, read, or hike, and time spent together in a beautiful and nourishing community space.
There are actually only a few spots left, and I'd like to encourage those of who have been contemplating it to make the leap and commit to joining us.We will have a lovely and deep few days together, and this will also be my only trip to southern California until June.
Our retreat begins on Friday afternoon the 8th of April (arrival time between 3-5PM, dinner at 6:00PM, evening session at 7:30PM) and ends after lunch on Sunday April the 10th (check out time between 2:00-4:00PM).
If you need more detailed information about our wonderful location-- Laurel Springs Retreat center (http://www.laurelspringsretreat.net)-- lodging choices, yummy food, or schedule, please feel free to email me with questions.
Rooming options with prices are as follows.
$500 is a shared room with a bathroom down the hall
$550 is shared room with a bathroom in the room
$700 is a single room with its own bathroom
PLEASE CONTACT ME FOR MORE INFORMATION!
Winter Solstice: The Promise of Darkness
We were fortunate enough here on the East Coast to have crystal clear winter skies for last night's full moon/winter solstice/lunar eclipse. The amber-red hues of the full eclipse were striking, but what moved me the most were the later stages of the eclipse, when both the shadow and the luminosity were strikingly visible. It was a stunning visual reminder of the magic inherent in the workings of the universe, and of the rightness in the rhythm of darkness and light.
Winter Solstice has always been a sacred time of year to me personally, as many of you know from the Winter Solstice classes I've taught over the years. I deeply appreciate the way the solstice reminds us to let the natural cycles of our lives take place, instead of always pushing for (perceived) productivity. We often forget it, but then the solstice arrives to reminds us: there is a time to wake and a time to sleep, a time to work and a time to rest, a time for being with others and a time for being with just ourselves, a time to embrace and expand and a time to let go and surrender.
Perhaps more than anything, the solstice is a time to explore the wisdom of our inner quietude. I am so moved by the way the natural world invokes and supports this turning inward. When we soften, open and relax into the dark stillness of our inner quietude, we connect to the life-begetting radiance of our deeper nature. However, this happens only, and I do mean only, when we're willing to fully meet and embrace the low point, the dark still-point, the point from which we don't actually know how we will emerge. The solstice contains a promise -- give yourself with patience and genuine generosity to the darkness, and the light will follow.
Here's a winter solstice poem from one of my favorite poets, contemporary mystic David Whyte. Enjoy.
Winter Poem
by David Whyte
No one but me by the fire,
my hands burning
red in the palms while
the night wind carries
everything away outside.
All this petty worry
while the great cloak
of the sky grows dark
and intense
round every living thing.
What is precious
inside us does not
care to be known
by the mind
in ways that diminish
its presence.
What we strive for
in perfection
is not what turns us
into the lit angel
we desire,
what disturbs
and then nourishes
has everything
we need.
What we hate
in ourselves
is what we cannot know
in ourselves but
what is true to the pattern
does not need
to be explained.
Inside everyone
is a great shout of joy
waiting to be born.
Even with the summer
so far off
I feel it grown in me
now and ready
to arrive in the world.
All those years
listening to those
who had
nothing to say.
All those years
forgetting
how everything
has its own voice
to make
itself heard.
All those years
forgetting
how easily
you can belong
to everything
simply by listening.
And the slow
difficulty
of remembering
how everything
is born from
an opposite
and miraculous
otherness.
Silence and winter
has led me to that
otherness.
So let this winter
of listening
be enough
for the new life
I must call my own.
Winter Solstice has always been a sacred time of year to me personally, as many of you know from the Winter Solstice classes I've taught over the years. I deeply appreciate the way the solstice reminds us to let the natural cycles of our lives take place, instead of always pushing for (perceived) productivity. We often forget it, but then the solstice arrives to reminds us: there is a time to wake and a time to sleep, a time to work and a time to rest, a time for being with others and a time for being with just ourselves, a time to embrace and expand and a time to let go and surrender.
Perhaps more than anything, the solstice is a time to explore the wisdom of our inner quietude. I am so moved by the way the natural world invokes and supports this turning inward. When we soften, open and relax into the dark stillness of our inner quietude, we connect to the life-begetting radiance of our deeper nature. However, this happens only, and I do mean only, when we're willing to fully meet and embrace the low point, the dark still-point, the point from which we don't actually know how we will emerge. The solstice contains a promise -- give yourself with patience and genuine generosity to the darkness, and the light will follow.
Here's a winter solstice poem from one of my favorite poets, contemporary mystic David Whyte. Enjoy.
Winter Poem
by David Whyte
No one but me by the fire,
my hands burning
red in the palms while
the night wind carries
everything away outside.
All this petty worry
while the great cloak
of the sky grows dark
and intense
round every living thing.
What is precious
inside us does not
care to be known
by the mind
in ways that diminish
its presence.
What we strive for
in perfection
is not what turns us
into the lit angel
we desire,
what disturbs
and then nourishes
has everything
we need.
What we hate
in ourselves
is what we cannot know
in ourselves but
what is true to the pattern
does not need
to be explained.
Inside everyone
is a great shout of joy
waiting to be born.
Even with the summer
so far off
I feel it grown in me
now and ready
to arrive in the world.
All those years
listening to those
who had
nothing to say.
All those years
forgetting
how everything
has its own voice
to make
itself heard.
All those years
forgetting
how easily
you can belong
to everything
simply by listening.
And the slow
difficulty
of remembering
how everything
is born from
an opposite
and miraculous
otherness.
Silence and winter
has led me to that
otherness.
So let this winter
of listening
be enough
for the new life
I must call my own.
YOGA RETREAT IN BEAUTIFUL SANTA BARBARA
FRIDAY-SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 24TH- 26TH
Join me for a weekend of yoga and meditation this September at the beautiful Laurel Springs Ranch above Santa Barbara.
We will enjoy healthy and delicious organic meals, morning and afternoon yoga sessions, beautiful walks and hikes, and quiet time to rest and relax amidst the beauty and magic of the Ranch. There is an outdoor pool, a Jacuzzi, a spring-fed swimming pond, miles of mountain trails and many pristine spots to journal, nap, read or paint. The environment is perfect for relaxation, rejuvenation and, of course, yoga.
Retreat inspires and deepens your practice in a way that is carried with you after your return home-- you will find that retreat is truly the "next level". Our yoga sessions will deepen your connection to yourself and to your practice, and nourish and inspire your motivation and devotion to practice life in general.
~Retreat begins on Friday afternoon September 24th and ends on Sunday afternoon September 26th.
~Prices range from $490 to $690 per person for the weekend, depending on accomodations. Price includes all food, lodging, yoga and meditation sessions.
To take a look at the beautiful Laurel Springs Retreat Center, click here:
www.laurelspringsretreat.net
Please contact me with any/all registration inquiries and questions!
Our True Heritage
Dear Students,
I heard this poem at a day-long at Spirit Rock last weekend. It touched me deeply so I wanted to share it with you.
Love,
Sasha
Our True Heritage
The cosmos is filled with precious gems.
I want to offer a handful of them to you this morning.
Each moment you are alive is a gem,
shining through and containing earth and sky,
water and clouds.
It needs you to breathe gently
for the miracles to be displayed.
Suddenly you hear the birds singing,
the pines chanting,
see the flowers blooming,
the blue sky,
the white clouds,
the smile and the marvelous look
of your beloved.
You, the richest person on Earth,
who have been going around begging for a living,
stop being the destitute child.
Come back and claim your heritage.
We should enjoy our happiness
and offer it to everyone.
Cherish this very moment.
Let go of the stream of distress
and embrace life fully in your arms.
This poem is from
"Call Me By My True Names" The Collected Poems
of Thich Nhat Hanh.
I heard this poem at a day-long at Spirit Rock last weekend. It touched me deeply so I wanted to share it with you.
Love,
Sasha
Our True Heritage
The cosmos is filled with precious gems.
I want to offer a handful of them to you this morning.
Each moment you are alive is a gem,
shining through and containing earth and sky,
water and clouds.
It needs you to breathe gently
for the miracles to be displayed.
Suddenly you hear the birds singing,
the pines chanting,
see the flowers blooming,
the blue sky,
the white clouds,
the smile and the marvelous look
of your beloved.
You, the richest person on Earth,
who have been going around begging for a living,
stop being the destitute child.
Come back and claim your heritage.
We should enjoy our happiness
and offer it to everyone.
Cherish this very moment.
Let go of the stream of distress
and embrace life fully in your arms.
This poem is from
"Call Me By My True Names" The Collected Poems
of Thich Nhat Hanh.
Hello Dear Students,
I will be back in Long Beach over the weekend of April 23-25th. This time I'll be teaching a special follow-up class for my more experienced students on Friday night, as well as an all level weekend workshop of Yin Yoga and Meditation. The weekend will have a special emphasis on meditation.
Friday 6:30-8:30 Downtown Studio
Psycho-Spiritual Follow Up Class
No drop in, pre-register by Friday April 16th
This class is for students who have worked with me privately, who took the Turning Straw Into Gold workshop from October 2009 ( not the others), or for students who attended the Psycho-Spiritual Class Series last spring.
We'll review the map of the path of embodied awakening, and there will be time to check in with questions and issues. We'll include Yin practice and meditation practice, but our main emphasis will be on reviewing the teachings presented in last fall's workshop.
Saturday and Sunday 1:15-4:15 Downtown Studio
Going Deeper: A Weekend of Yoga and Meditation
Registration information below
This weekend workshop will focus on meditation and yin yoga, and the specific ways that these practices can support our embodied awakening. The weekend is for continuing students and those new students who are interested in meditation and the inner aspects of the yogic path.
On Saturday afternoon we will practice yin yoga and meditation, with an emphasis on the concentration method of meditation called Shamatha. Students will learn the how and the why of this ancient and powerful tool for quieting the mind and cultivating inner peacefulness, or "calm abiding".
On Sunday afternoon, we will focus on the mindfulness method of meditation calledVipassana. Students will learn the how and the why of this ancient and powerful tool that engenders insight, or "clear seeing".
Both practices are necessary tools on the yogic path of awakening-- without meditation, yoga is reduced to a physical practice, and without each of these methods, the fruition of meditation is incomplete. We will pay special attention to exploring the application of these methods to the challenges of every-day life.
Both days will include talks, discussion, yoga, and meditation. Students are strongly encouraged to take both sessions if possible, since only one method will be taught each day and both are so important, however signing up for one day or the other is permitted.
Registration Information:
REGISTER WITH YOGA WORLD
Studio Coordinator: Michelle @ 562.260.9402
yogaworldstudio@yahoo.com
If registered by April 19th:
$80 for both days
$45 for each day
If after April 19th:
$90 for both days
$50 per day
Friday night only, pre-registration only, no drop-in available
$40
Whole weekend, no drop in, pre-registration required
$110
I will be back in Long Beach over the weekend of April 23-25th. This time I'll be teaching a special follow-up class for my more experienced students on Friday night, as well as an all level weekend workshop of Yin Yoga and Meditation. The weekend will have a special emphasis on meditation.
Friday 6:30-8:30 Downtown Studio
Psycho-Spiritual Follow Up Class
No drop in, pre-register by Friday April 16th
This class is for students who have worked with me privately, who took the Turning Straw Into Gold workshop from October 2009 ( not the others), or for students who attended the Psycho-Spiritual Class Series last spring.
We'll review the map of the path of embodied awakening, and there will be time to check in with questions and issues. We'll include Yin practice and meditation practice, but our main emphasis will be on reviewing the teachings presented in last fall's workshop.
Saturday and Sunday 1:15-4:15 Downtown Studio
Going Deeper: A Weekend of Yoga and Meditation
Registration information below
This weekend workshop will focus on meditation and yin yoga, and the specific ways that these practices can support our embodied awakening. The weekend is for continuing students and those new students who are interested in meditation and the inner aspects of the yogic path.
On Saturday afternoon we will practice yin yoga and meditation, with an emphasis on the concentration method of meditation called Shamatha. Students will learn the how and the why of this ancient and powerful tool for quieting the mind and cultivating inner peacefulness, or "calm abiding".
On Sunday afternoon, we will focus on the mindfulness method of meditation calledVipassana. Students will learn the how and the why of this ancient and powerful tool that engenders insight, or "clear seeing".
Both practices are necessary tools on the yogic path of awakening-- without meditation, yoga is reduced to a physical practice, and without each of these methods, the fruition of meditation is incomplete. We will pay special attention to exploring the application of these methods to the challenges of every-day life.
Both days will include talks, discussion, yoga, and meditation. Students are strongly encouraged to take both sessions if possible, since only one method will be taught each day and both are so important, however signing up for one day or the other is permitted.
Registration Information:
REGISTER WITH YOGA WORLD
Studio Coordinator: Michelle @ 562.260.9402
yogaworldstudio@yahoo.com
If registered by April 19th:
$80 for both days
$45 for each day
If after April 19th:
$90 for both days
$50 per day
Friday night only, pre-registration only, no drop-in available
$40
Whole weekend, no drop in, pre-registration required
$110
The Sacred Pause
As many of you know, I am in the middle of my second term of graduate school. While I am still in the process of getting to know this new city, I'm also building a new student base while working to remain connected to my dear old one.... and now i've got a slew of midterms, papers, and projects?? Yikes! Did i mention that my spiritual practice is the most important thing in my life, the thing that sustains me and nourishes me? My refuge from the storm? Exactly what time of day does that come in? Another yikes!!
One of my mentors recently reassured me "There's no way to be doing it all right now. It's normal to feel like you can't fit it all in-- you can't!" These words were simple and true, and yet so helpful. This helped me to realize that I can't have 2 hours a day for practice-time like I have in the past, and that for right now, that needs to be okay.
It's important to know the difference between a consistent style of living that doesn't allow room for nurturing the inner life -- this style is defined by over-committing, over-scheduling, getting addicted to being "connected" and in-touch all the time -- and a period of time in life when we're doing a lot because it is what's right -- a time like this could be defined by graduate school, parenting young children, working on a big personal/professional project, supporting a family member or loved one through a personal or health crisis.
If it's a style of life that we're hooked into, we need to practice saying no, and making space for the things that nurture our inner lives -- yoga, meditation, having quiet time, being outside in nature, reading the dharma, etc. We need to look at the life-long habit patterns that have set us up for this way of living. We need to inquire -- what we are avoiding and why? And even if we think it's just a period of time that we're busy, we need to be honest with ourselves-- does this period of time of being busy get followed with another, and then another, and then another? Now it is starting to sound like style of living that we need to look at more closely.
When it's the situation of a period of time of life -- for me, it's graduate school -- we need two things on a practical level. One: take as many opportunities as possible during the day to return to presence. And not just in a general sense, but in a clearly connected, present, sustained sense, for 5 whole minutes.
Two: seek out days or parts of days devoted to extended practice, whenever possible. Without this, our well will begin to run dry, and the 5 minute pit-stops during the day won't mean much because there won't be anything in the well to draw from. For me, this means finding a day-long of meditation practice every quarter or so during the semester, and going away on retreat during my breaks from school whenever possible. For others of you, it might mean going to class instead of practicing at home, or going to sit with a group once a month instead of always sitting by yourself.
Below is a link to one of my favorite dharma teachers speaking about the practice of pausing and paying attention. I invite my fellow students and mothers and teachers and support providers to use this practice -- in addition to extended periods of practice whenever possible -- to bring the home ground of awareness into your lives at any moment, on and off the mat/cushion.
Until next time, much love to you all!
As many of you know, I am in the middle of my second term of graduate school. While I am still in the process of getting to know this new city, I'm also building a new student base while working to remain connected to my dear old one.... and now i've got a slew of midterms, papers, and projects?? Yikes! Did i mention that my spiritual practice is the most important thing in my life, the thing that sustains me and nourishes me? My refuge from the storm? Exactly what time of day does that come in? Another yikes!!
One of my mentors recently reassured me "There's no way to be doing it all right now. It's normal to feel like you can't fit it all in-- you can't!" These words were simple and true, and yet so helpful. This helped me to realize that I can't have 2 hours a day for practice-time like I have in the past, and that for right now, that needs to be okay.
It's important to know the difference between a consistent style of living that doesn't allow room for nurturing the inner life -- this style is defined by over-committing, over-scheduling, getting addicted to being "connected" and in-touch all the time -- and a period of time in life when we're doing a lot because it is what's right -- a time like this could be defined by graduate school, parenting young children, working on a big personal/professional project, supporting a family member or loved one through a personal or health crisis.
If it's a style of life that we're hooked into, we need to practice saying no, and making space for the things that nurture our inner lives -- yoga, meditation, having quiet time, being outside in nature, reading the dharma, etc. We need to look at the life-long habit patterns that have set us up for this way of living. We need to inquire -- what we are avoiding and why? And even if we think it's just a period of time that we're busy, we need to be honest with ourselves-- does this period of time of being busy get followed with another, and then another, and then another? Now it is starting to sound like style of living that we need to look at more closely.
When it's the situation of a period of time of life -- for me, it's graduate school -- we need two things on a practical level. One: take as many opportunities as possible during the day to return to presence. And not just in a general sense, but in a clearly connected, present, sustained sense, for 5 whole minutes.
Two: seek out days or parts of days devoted to extended practice, whenever possible. Without this, our well will begin to run dry, and the 5 minute pit-stops during the day won't mean much because there won't be anything in the well to draw from. For me, this means finding a day-long of meditation practice every quarter or so during the semester, and going away on retreat during my breaks from school whenever possible. For others of you, it might mean going to class instead of practicing at home, or going to sit with a group once a month instead of always sitting by yourself.
Below is a link to one of my favorite dharma teachers speaking about the practice of pausing and paying attention. I invite my fellow students and mothers and teachers and support providers to use this practice -- in addition to extended periods of practice whenever possible -- to bring the home ground of awareness into your lives at any moment, on and off the mat/cushion.
Until next time, much love to you all!
"I want to unfold
Let no place in me hold itself closed,
for where I am closed, I am false..."
-Ranier Maria Rilke
We know that yoga is a process of unfolding the places in our bodies where we have been tight, constricted, or shut down. We lengthen the muscles that have shrunken from under-use, we stretch out the connective tissue that has gotten knotted and gnarled from stress and aging, we bring awareness into parts of our bodies that we didn't even know were there. As we move and breathe, the rigid resistance of the body's armoring melts, and we are able to breathe life back into the energy body as well.
As the energy body opens, the effects of the practice expand beyond the physical. Now the places in our minds and hearts where we have been tight, constricted, or shut down begin to reveal themselves. The openings that are occurring in the physical and energy bodies bring about a freshness of perspective that allows us to become more aware of the assumptions, beliefs, defenses, and judgments that have limited us in the past.
As these previously "enfolded" parts of ourselves emerge, it is very important to remember the basic guidelines of support that we offer our bodies during the physical practice. We commit ourselves to staying with our breath, feeling our body sensations, and remaining open and non-judging towards whatever is arising. Just as we learn to stay present during the difficult moments of the physical practice in class, we learn to turn towards what arises in our hearts and minds with unconditional presence. Instead of turning away from what we dislike or feel uncomfortable about, we gently "unfold" ourselves--opening the body, mind and heart to the great richness and depth of our experience.
This unfolding process can sometimes feel like a glorious liberation (you've probably felt that before in class during your favorite pose) or at other times it can feel like trying to make your way through a sludgy swamp (you've probably felt that before in class during your least favorite pose!). The transformational process of unfolding, healing, and growing is challenging at times. Go slow, be patient, practice compassion. Our edges are not be conquered, they are reminders of our humanity, and they can be gently ushered into dissolution simply by bringing our non-judging awareness to them, again and again.
It can also help to hold the larger perspective of your process of awakening. What are the costs of remaining closed or shut down? When we are contracted in our bodies, hearts, or minds, our experience of life grows smaller and smaller. Do we want to get used to living in a state of contraction? Or do we want to make a choice to go towards the fullness and richness of life as it is actually unfolding inside and all around us?
I believe in all that has never been spoken.
I want to free whatever waits within me
so that which no one has dared to wish for
may for once spring clear
without my contriving.
I want to mirror your immensity
I want to unfold.
Let no place in me hold itself closed,
for where I am closed, I am false.
I want to stay clear in your sight.
If this is arrogant, forgive me,
but this is what I need to say.
May what I do flow from me like a river,
the way it is with children.
Then in these swelling and ebbing currents,
These deepening tides moving out, returning,
I will sing you as no one ever has,
Streaming through widening channels,
Into the open sea.
-Ranier Maria Rilke
Let no place in me hold itself closed,
for where I am closed, I am false..."
-Ranier Maria Rilke
We know that yoga is a process of unfolding the places in our bodies where we have been tight, constricted, or shut down. We lengthen the muscles that have shrunken from under-use, we stretch out the connective tissue that has gotten knotted and gnarled from stress and aging, we bring awareness into parts of our bodies that we didn't even know were there. As we move and breathe, the rigid resistance of the body's armoring melts, and we are able to breathe life back into the energy body as well.
As the energy body opens, the effects of the practice expand beyond the physical. Now the places in our minds and hearts where we have been tight, constricted, or shut down begin to reveal themselves. The openings that are occurring in the physical and energy bodies bring about a freshness of perspective that allows us to become more aware of the assumptions, beliefs, defenses, and judgments that have limited us in the past.
As these previously "enfolded" parts of ourselves emerge, it is very important to remember the basic guidelines of support that we offer our bodies during the physical practice. We commit ourselves to staying with our breath, feeling our body sensations, and remaining open and non-judging towards whatever is arising. Just as we learn to stay present during the difficult moments of the physical practice in class, we learn to turn towards what arises in our hearts and minds with unconditional presence. Instead of turning away from what we dislike or feel uncomfortable about, we gently "unfold" ourselves--opening the body, mind and heart to the great richness and depth of our experience.
This unfolding process can sometimes feel like a glorious liberation (you've probably felt that before in class during your favorite pose) or at other times it can feel like trying to make your way through a sludgy swamp (you've probably felt that before in class during your least favorite pose!). The transformational process of unfolding, healing, and growing is challenging at times. Go slow, be patient, practice compassion. Our edges are not be conquered, they are reminders of our humanity, and they can be gently ushered into dissolution simply by bringing our non-judging awareness to them, again and again.
It can also help to hold the larger perspective of your process of awakening. What are the costs of remaining closed or shut down? When we are contracted in our bodies, hearts, or minds, our experience of life grows smaller and smaller. Do we want to get used to living in a state of contraction? Or do we want to make a choice to go towards the fullness and richness of life as it is actually unfolding inside and all around us?
I believe in all that has never been spoken.
I want to free whatever waits within me
so that which no one has dared to wish for
may for once spring clear
without my contriving.
I want to mirror your immensity
I want to unfold.
Let no place in me hold itself closed,
for where I am closed, I am false.
I want to stay clear in your sight.
If this is arrogant, forgive me,
but this is what I need to say.
May what I do flow from me like a river,
the way it is with children.
Then in these swelling and ebbing currents,
These deepening tides moving out, returning,
I will sing you as no one ever has,
Streaming through widening channels,
Into the open sea.
-Ranier Maria Rilke
Winter Solstice Poem
For Courage
When the light around you lessens
And your thoughts darken until
Your body feels fear turn
Cold as a stone inside,
When you find yourself bereft
Of any belief in yourself
And all you unknowingly
Leaned on has fallen,
When one voice commands
Your whole heart
And it is raven dark,
Steady yourself and see
That it is your own thinking
That darkens your world,
Search and you will find
A diamond-thought of light,
Know that you are not alone
And that this darkness has purpose;
Gradually it will school your eyes
To find the one gift your life requires
Hidden within this night corner.
Invoke the learning
Of every suffering
You have suffered.
Close your eyes.
Gather all the kindling
About your heart
To create one spark.
That is all you need
To nourish the flame
That will cleanse the dark
Of its weight of festered fear.
A new confidence will come alive
To urge you toward higher ground
Where your imagination
Will learn to engage difficulty
As its most rewarding threshold!
- John O'Donohue
(from To Bless the Space Between Us)
www.johnodonohue.com
Some wise words from David Whyte....
The Poetic Narrative of Our Times
Night mist hangs on the Conamara mountainside above Mameen, hiding the immensity of its sleeping, background bulk and at the same time magnifying its presence, bringing out its depth and making known to us its essential rough, unspeakable mountain-ness even as it veils and takes full sight of it away from us. Over stone precipices, the lazy movement and hanging drifts of fine-silvered water vapor outline and enhance what we call the beauty of the mountains, by enabling us to see them again and again, as if new and reborn through each shifting pattern. We are strangely delighted by our imagined fears of what it would be about to be abroad in teh dark and the mist and the stones, out on their ridges and peaks, in that night where so much is hidden. Then, above the ridgelines, a full moon suddenly appears from between clouds, accentuating its own luminosity and the luminosity of the mountains by its swift appearance, seeming to demonstrate its very essence through a sheer, round, isolated contrast with what it looks down upon.
Looking up from the lit door of Keane's Pub in the heart of Conemara, these clouds, landscapes, and even the Irishness of the night seem fuller and more essential through their disappearances as much as through their appearances. Human beings stand at the center of these sometimes swift, sometimes slow, always moving patterns of presence and absence, but rarely intuit their own essence might be revealed and magnified by what is veiled and hidden, or by what has been taken away. Yet this form of subtraction may be the very hallmark of our time. At the present time we are asked to live in companionship with patterns and dynamics that are either disappearing, have not fully emerged or can never be fully named; patterns perhaps already changing into forms for which we have yet no language.
It is tempting, in this limbo time between the traumas of a world once said to be in ceaseless war with terrorism and a not yet fully formed future ideal, to feel righteously lost. Everything seems to be paused and hanging in a mist-wrought, barely moving dance. The world's economic systems, the world's ecological systems, the relations between haves and have-nots, the sovereignty of nation states upon which many millions of individuals have based their identities, all these are taking forms which we cannot quite recognize, and in that movement through form seem to be on the verge of disappearing. Even the recent worldwide enthusiasm for the American presidential elections has waned, as the poetic narrative that put Obama so enthusiastically in the White House is dissipated by the cares of office and the sense that he is already half-captured by the very denizens of Wall Street that brought everything so dangerously to the brink. The problems seem immense; the forces at play absorbing and able to deflect the need for reform.
Little wonder then that if we prefer the appearance of stability or clear unobstructed vision we will manufacture fake narratives to replace the complexity, changeability and raw beauty of real ones, especially if the stories we always wanted to be true seem to shimmer and disappear. The flat earth vision of Thomas Friedman is well articulated, but ultimately based on a human identity parsed solely through economics, as if human life can be defined by whether one is more productive or educated than the next person. It is the task of poetry, and the poetic narrative, to bring our eyes to bear on the raw immensity of these patterns and the heartbreaking nature of our disappearances, which are unavoidable no matter our economic standing or our education; what Yeats called the terrible beauty that is a consequence of being alive in this world, no matter how relentlessly positive we may be. It is the province of poetry to be more realistic and present than the artificial narratives of an outer discourse, and not afraid of the truthful difficulty of the average human life. A good poem looks life straight in the face, unflinching, sincere, equal to revelation through loss or gain. A good poem brims with reflected beauty and even a bracing beautiful ugliness. At the center of our lives, in the midst of the busyness and the forgetting, is a story that makes sense when everything extraneous has been taken away. This is poetry's province; a form of deep memory; a place from which to witness sthe intangible, unspeakable thresholds of incarnation we misname an average life.
I think of a good friend, once robustly healthy, adventurous, hard working, inventive and entrepreneurial, now confined to a wheel chair and barely able to function intellectually after a terrible accident. His wife and children have lost many of the outer stories they had told themselves about their future but the central story, the one that lives under the busy surface of a family's life, the one that was always there, still remains clearly, luminously at the center. HIs wife has spoken many times of the essence of his spirit and the essence of her love for that spirit, which remains as a thing of beauty in and of itself, informing all the work that must be done to adjust and adapt to the new outer narrative.
It might be liberating to think of human life as informed by losses and disappearances as much as by gifted appearances, allowing a more present participation and witness to the difficulty of living. What is real can never be fully taken away; its essence always remains. It might set us a little freer to believe that there is no path in life - in the low valley, in the shelter of Keane's comfortable bar, snug by a turf fire or abroad in the mountain night, that does not lead to some form of heartbreak when the outer narrative disappears and then reappears in a different form. If we are sincere, every good marriage or relationship will break our hearts in order to enlarge our understanding of our self and that strange other with whom we have promised ourselves to the future. Being a good parent will necessarily break our hearts as we watch a child grow and eventually choose their own way, even through many of the same heartbreaks we have traversed. Following a vocation or an art form through decades of practice and understanding will break the idealistic heart that began the journey and replace it, if we sidestep the temptations of bitterness and self-pity, with something more malleable, compassionate and generous than the metaphysical organ with which we began the journey. We learn, grow and become compassionate and generous as much through exile as homecoming; as much through loss as gain, as much through giving things away as in receiving what we believe to be our due.
It may be that we live in a time of collective heartbreak, where for the first time in history we are being asked to witness the disappearance and reappearance on a global scale of what it means to be fully human; to give away our identity and see how it is returned to us through a sincere participation in the trials and necessities of the coming years. Part of that heartbreak is the sense that we might not be equal to the ecological, political and economic transitions that are necessary, that our own selfishness may be writ too deeply into our genes and that the future is therefore untenable and unreachable. We do not as yet know if this is true, but the old humanistic story around ourselves as a successful species, always on the up and up and appointed to some special destiny, is fading and silvering into the night air, and we are left, at this point in history, contemplating the unknown immensity of the night behind it.
MAMEEN
Be infinitesimal under that sky, a creature
even the sailing hawk misses, a wraith
among the rocks where the mist parts slowly.
Recall the way mere mortals are overwhelmed
by circumstance, how great reputations
dissolve with infirmity and how you,
in particular, live a hairsbreadth from losing
everyone you hold dear.
Then, look back down the path as if seeing
your past and then south over the hazy blue
coast as if present to a wide future,
recall the way you are all possibilities
you can see and how you live best
as an appreciator of horizons
whether you reach them or not,
admit that once you have got up
from your chair and opened the door,
once you have walked out into the clean air
toward that edge and taken the path up high
beyond the ordinary you have become
the privileged and the pilgrim
the one who will tell the story
and the one, coming back
from the mountain,
who helped to make it.
- David Whyte
The Poetic Narrative of Our Times
Night mist hangs on the Conamara mountainside above Mameen, hiding the immensity of its sleeping, background bulk and at the same time magnifying its presence, bringing out its depth and making known to us its essential rough, unspeakable mountain-ness even as it veils and takes full sight of it away from us. Over stone precipices, the lazy movement and hanging drifts of fine-silvered water vapor outline and enhance what we call the beauty of the mountains, by enabling us to see them again and again, as if new and reborn through each shifting pattern. We are strangely delighted by our imagined fears of what it would be about to be abroad in teh dark and the mist and the stones, out on their ridges and peaks, in that night where so much is hidden. Then, above the ridgelines, a full moon suddenly appears from between clouds, accentuating its own luminosity and the luminosity of the mountains by its swift appearance, seeming to demonstrate its very essence through a sheer, round, isolated contrast with what it looks down upon.
Looking up from the lit door of Keane's Pub in the heart of Conemara, these clouds, landscapes, and even the Irishness of the night seem fuller and more essential through their disappearances as much as through their appearances. Human beings stand at the center of these sometimes swift, sometimes slow, always moving patterns of presence and absence, but rarely intuit their own essence might be revealed and magnified by what is veiled and hidden, or by what has been taken away. Yet this form of subtraction may be the very hallmark of our time. At the present time we are asked to live in companionship with patterns and dynamics that are either disappearing, have not fully emerged or can never be fully named; patterns perhaps already changing into forms for which we have yet no language.
It is tempting, in this limbo time between the traumas of a world once said to be in ceaseless war with terrorism and a not yet fully formed future ideal, to feel righteously lost. Everything seems to be paused and hanging in a mist-wrought, barely moving dance. The world's economic systems, the world's ecological systems, the relations between haves and have-nots, the sovereignty of nation states upon which many millions of individuals have based their identities, all these are taking forms which we cannot quite recognize, and in that movement through form seem to be on the verge of disappearing. Even the recent worldwide enthusiasm for the American presidential elections has waned, as the poetic narrative that put Obama so enthusiastically in the White House is dissipated by the cares of office and the sense that he is already half-captured by the very denizens of Wall Street that brought everything so dangerously to the brink. The problems seem immense; the forces at play absorbing and able to deflect the need for reform.
Little wonder then that if we prefer the appearance of stability or clear unobstructed vision we will manufacture fake narratives to replace the complexity, changeability and raw beauty of real ones, especially if the stories we always wanted to be true seem to shimmer and disappear. The flat earth vision of Thomas Friedman is well articulated, but ultimately based on a human identity parsed solely through economics, as if human life can be defined by whether one is more productive or educated than the next person. It is the task of poetry, and the poetic narrative, to bring our eyes to bear on the raw immensity of these patterns and the heartbreaking nature of our disappearances, which are unavoidable no matter our economic standing or our education; what Yeats called the terrible beauty that is a consequence of being alive in this world, no matter how relentlessly positive we may be. It is the province of poetry to be more realistic and present than the artificial narratives of an outer discourse, and not afraid of the truthful difficulty of the average human life. A good poem looks life straight in the face, unflinching, sincere, equal to revelation through loss or gain. A good poem brims with reflected beauty and even a bracing beautiful ugliness. At the center of our lives, in the midst of the busyness and the forgetting, is a story that makes sense when everything extraneous has been taken away. This is poetry's province; a form of deep memory; a place from which to witness sthe intangible, unspeakable thresholds of incarnation we misname an average life.
I think of a good friend, once robustly healthy, adventurous, hard working, inventive and entrepreneurial, now confined to a wheel chair and barely able to function intellectually after a terrible accident. His wife and children have lost many of the outer stories they had told themselves about their future but the central story, the one that lives under the busy surface of a family's life, the one that was always there, still remains clearly, luminously at the center. HIs wife has spoken many times of the essence of his spirit and the essence of her love for that spirit, which remains as a thing of beauty in and of itself, informing all the work that must be done to adjust and adapt to the new outer narrative.
It might be liberating to think of human life as informed by losses and disappearances as much as by gifted appearances, allowing a more present participation and witness to the difficulty of living. What is real can never be fully taken away; its essence always remains. It might set us a little freer to believe that there is no path in life - in the low valley, in the shelter of Keane's comfortable bar, snug by a turf fire or abroad in the mountain night, that does not lead to some form of heartbreak when the outer narrative disappears and then reappears in a different form. If we are sincere, every good marriage or relationship will break our hearts in order to enlarge our understanding of our self and that strange other with whom we have promised ourselves to the future. Being a good parent will necessarily break our hearts as we watch a child grow and eventually choose their own way, even through many of the same heartbreaks we have traversed. Following a vocation or an art form through decades of practice and understanding will break the idealistic heart that began the journey and replace it, if we sidestep the temptations of bitterness and self-pity, with something more malleable, compassionate and generous than the metaphysical organ with which we began the journey. We learn, grow and become compassionate and generous as much through exile as homecoming; as much through loss as gain, as much through giving things away as in receiving what we believe to be our due.
It may be that we live in a time of collective heartbreak, where for the first time in history we are being asked to witness the disappearance and reappearance on a global scale of what it means to be fully human; to give away our identity and see how it is returned to us through a sincere participation in the trials and necessities of the coming years. Part of that heartbreak is the sense that we might not be equal to the ecological, political and economic transitions that are necessary, that our own selfishness may be writ too deeply into our genes and that the future is therefore untenable and unreachable. We do not as yet know if this is true, but the old humanistic story around ourselves as a successful species, always on the up and up and appointed to some special destiny, is fading and silvering into the night air, and we are left, at this point in history, contemplating the unknown immensity of the night behind it.
MAMEEN
Be infinitesimal under that sky, a creature
even the sailing hawk misses, a wraith
among the rocks where the mist parts slowly.
Recall the way mere mortals are overwhelmed
by circumstance, how great reputations
dissolve with infirmity and how you,
in particular, live a hairsbreadth from losing
everyone you hold dear.
Then, look back down the path as if seeing
your past and then south over the hazy blue
coast as if present to a wide future,
recall the way you are all possibilities
you can see and how you live best
as an appreciator of horizons
whether you reach them or not,
admit that once you have got up
from your chair and opened the door,
once you have walked out into the clean air
toward that edge and taken the path up high
beyond the ordinary you have become
the privileged and the pilgrim
the one who will tell the story
and the one, coming back
from the mountain,
who helped to make it.
- David Whyte
Taking Refuge in the home practice....
As we mature on the yogic path, the home practice becomes an important part of our practice life.
During this busy time of year, you might find it harder to get to class, or you might find that you need the support of practice time in between classes, Your home practice can be a lovely way to expand and deepen your relationship to yoga and to yourself.
Many students share with me the feeling of really wanting to have a home practice, and yet feeling equally challenged in making that happen. There are several common issues that come up for students, inspiring the list of suggestions below.
1. Set aside a time, perhaps the same time every day, and schedule it as though it is a commitment or an appointment. Turn off phones and computers and let family members know that this is your personal, quiet time.
2. Set out your mat, and/or meditation cushion, to help remind you of your commitment. Decide on a practice "area" and keep it the same. It's a great idea to leave your mat and/or cushion right there as a reminder!
3. You can start off by using candles or music if these are things that will feel inviting for you.
4. Decide on a length of time that you want to practice, making sure that it is very manageable. 15--45 minutes is a great place to start.
5. Take extra care to invite yourself into the practice in a kind, encouraging way. If you are critical and judging towards yourself on the days that you don't make it to the mat when you had hoped you would, your commitment will die away very quickly.
6. Take care to maintain that kind, encouraging tone as you practice. Your gentle, patient presence during your home practice will help you to inspire you to return again and again.
7. Use your body sensations as a guide-- i.e. do the poses that really **feel** right to you. Try to use your body as your guide, not your head.
8. A few minutes is MUCH better than nothing.
Your home practice can be a wonderful time to connect deeply to yourself, and to offer yourself respite and refuge from the challenges of whatever is going on in your everyday life. Treat yourself very kindly in this. The more patient and kind you are, the more you will want to return to the mat again.
*****
Here are is a suggested sequence for a home practice. Use it as a jumping off point and add the things as you go that feel right that day.
1. Sit and breathe for a few minutes.
2. Lay on your back and come into a gentle laying down twist. 5-8 breaths on each side.
3. Come to seated, and come into a badda konasana forward fold for 3-5 minutes.
4. Come onto your belly for sphinx for 3 minutes.
5. Come back to seated, for a straight legged forward fold for 3-5 minutes
6. Come into downward dog ( 5-10 breaths)
7. Come into a low lunge with the left foot forward and right knee down. In between sides, you can move through plank and either cobra or boat pose. Hold the lunge for 6- 8 breaths. Repeat on the other side with the right foot forward and the left knee down.
8. Repeat this same thing, only with Warrior 2 on each side, instead of lunge. Move through plank and either cobra or boat pose. Hold Warrior 2 for 6- 8 breaths. Repeat on the other side.
8. Come into pigeon (10-20 breaths each side)
9. Come onto your back for happy baby ( 5-10 breaths)
10. Rest.
During this busy time of year, you might find it harder to get to class, or you might find that you need the support of practice time in between classes, Your home practice can be a lovely way to expand and deepen your relationship to yoga and to yourself.
Many students share with me the feeling of really wanting to have a home practice, and yet feeling equally challenged in making that happen. There are several common issues that come up for students, inspiring the list of suggestions below.
1. Set aside a time, perhaps the same time every day, and schedule it as though it is a commitment or an appointment. Turn off phones and computers and let family members know that this is your personal, quiet time.
2. Set out your mat, and/or meditation cushion, to help remind you of your commitment. Decide on a practice "area" and keep it the same. It's a great idea to leave your mat and/or cushion right there as a reminder!
3. You can start off by using candles or music if these are things that will feel inviting for you.
4. Decide on a length of time that you want to practice, making sure that it is very manageable. 15--45 minutes is a great place to start.
5. Take extra care to invite yourself into the practice in a kind, encouraging way. If you are critical and judging towards yourself on the days that you don't make it to the mat when you had hoped you would, your commitment will die away very quickly.
6. Take care to maintain that kind, encouraging tone as you practice. Your gentle, patient presence during your home practice will help you to inspire you to return again and again.
7. Use your body sensations as a guide-- i.e. do the poses that really **feel** right to you. Try to use your body as your guide, not your head.
8. A few minutes is MUCH better than nothing.
Your home practice can be a wonderful time to connect deeply to yourself, and to offer yourself respite and refuge from the challenges of whatever is going on in your everyday life. Treat yourself very kindly in this. The more patient and kind you are, the more you will want to return to the mat again.
*****
Here are is a suggested sequence for a home practice. Use it as a jumping off point and add the things as you go that feel right that day.
1. Sit and breathe for a few minutes.
2. Lay on your back and come into a gentle laying down twist. 5-8 breaths on each side.
3. Come to seated, and come into a badda konasana forward fold for 3-5 minutes.
4. Come onto your belly for sphinx for 3 minutes.
5. Come back to seated, for a straight legged forward fold for 3-5 minutes
6. Come into downward dog ( 5-10 breaths)
7. Come into a low lunge with the left foot forward and right knee down. In between sides, you can move through plank and either cobra or boat pose. Hold the lunge for 6- 8 breaths. Repeat on the other side with the right foot forward and the left knee down.
8. Repeat this same thing, only with Warrior 2 on each side, instead of lunge. Move through plank and either cobra or boat pose. Hold Warrior 2 for 6- 8 breaths. Repeat on the other side.
8. Come into pigeon (10-20 breaths each side)
9. Come onto your back for happy baby ( 5-10 breaths)
10. Rest.
Awakening Now
Why wait for your awakening?
The moment your eyes are open, seize the day.
Would you hold back when the Beloved beckons?
Would you deliver your litany of sins
like a child's collection of sea shells, prized and labeled?
"No, I can't step across the threshold," you say, eyes downcast.
"I'm not worthy, I'm afraid, and my motives aren't pure.
I'm not perfect, and surely I haven't practiced nearly enough.
My meditation isn't deep, and my prayers are sometimes insincere.
I still chew my fingernails, and the refrigerator isn't clean."
Do you value your reasons for staying small
more than the light shining through the open door?
Forgive yourself.
Now is the only time you have to be whole.
Now is the sole moment that exists to live in the light of your true Self.
Perfection is not a prerequisite for anything but pain.
Please, oh please, don't continue to believe in your disbelief.
This is the day of your awakening.
-from: Go In and In: Poems From the Heart of Yoga
By Danna Faulds
The moment your eyes are open, seize the day.
Would you hold back when the Beloved beckons?
Would you deliver your litany of sins
like a child's collection of sea shells, prized and labeled?
"No, I can't step across the threshold," you say, eyes downcast.
"I'm not worthy, I'm afraid, and my motives aren't pure.
I'm not perfect, and surely I haven't practiced nearly enough.
My meditation isn't deep, and my prayers are sometimes insincere.
I still chew my fingernails, and the refrigerator isn't clean."
Do you value your reasons for staying small
more than the light shining through the open door?
Forgive yourself.
Now is the only time you have to be whole.
Now is the sole moment that exists to live in the light of your true Self.
Perfection is not a prerequisite for anything but pain.
Please, oh please, don't continue to believe in your disbelief.
This is the day of your awakening.
-from: Go In and In: Poems From the Heart of Yoga
By Danna Faulds
Week 4: Awakening the Heart
The idea here is that bodhichitta, this capacity for love and care, is inherent in us and we can tap into it; the image often is given of a spring of fresh water that is encased in rock and then make a crack in the rock by starting to do these practices. It is like a crack in your heart, breaking open your heart. And once the crack is there the force of the bodhichitta is so strong that it is unstoppable. The crack starts getting wider and wider and wider amd wider until the capacity to love, the capacity to feel compassion is actually unlimited. This is what is said: do these practices to connect to what you already have but what you actually find is that by doing these practices the force of the bodhichitta, just like the force of water that has been encased in rock, will expand by itself.
-Pema Chodron
The word bodhichitta refers to our awakened heart-mind, a natural state of wisdom, clarity, warmth and compassion. This week we discussed the way that specific yogic teachings can help to awaken this bodhichitta.
It is important to start with a clarifying distinction-- we are not contriving or "efforting" to be more kind or loving. We are doing the practices that help to awaken the naturally occurring kindness and warmth that is intrinsic to our nature. The wisdom traditions understand that as we awaken, compassion is our natural, expressive response.
We can begin at the fundamental level-- bringing warmth and gentleness into our everyday foundation practices. In fact, we can practice anything -- yoga, meditation, inter-personal communication-- with gentleness and warmth. Practicing anything with lightness, gentleness, open-ness -- a true generosity of spirit -- calls on and brings out the intrinsic warmth and openess that is at the essence of who we already are.
We can also learn the specific practices that help these innate capacities to expand and unfold with more fullness of expression. Metta Practice -- the practice of generating goodwill towards ourselves and others -- is one of the foundation practices of the Buddhist tradition. Metta is Pali word (the original language of the Buddha) that translates as "friend". Metta is the form of meditation practice that helps us to generate a genuine friendliness towards ourselves, others, and the world at large. This friendliness is not contrived, or syrupy sweet. It is a solid, grounded, courageous quality of open-ness and warmth. It is our willingness to soften our defenses and let the tenderness of our hearts shine through.
Here are some classic metta phrases. Try practicing metta by repeating one or more of these phrases for 5-20 minutes. (I often practice metta at the end of a shamatha or vipassana practice.)
May I be at peace. May all beings be at peace.
May i be free from harm. May all beings be free from harm.
May I be at ease in body, heart, and mind. May all beings be at ease in body, heart, and mind.
May I be happy. May all beings be happy.
May I be well. May all beings be well.
As a final suggestion: practice being kind to yourself throughout your day, especially when you notice that you are not being kind. Keep in mind that our areas of challenge and messiness so often stem from places where we've been hurt, places where we've disconnected from ourselves because we don't know what else to do. The nature of this material merits extra tender, loving care. True compassion practices starts with making friends with ourselves, even our shadows. Especially our shadows.
These teachings run radically against the grain of the typical way we interact with ourselves, so it can be helpful to have resources that support your inquiry.
1. Poems of Self Compassion, by David Whyte (This is CD that can be ordered from David Whyte's website. On this CD, David Whyte collects a number of extraordinary poems related to the path of personal awakening and weaves a beautiful journey of poetry and inspirational teachings all with the theme of self compassion.)
2. Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of the Buddha.
This beautifully written book, by psychotherapist and meditation teacher Tara Brach, guides us in integrating some of the most powerful practices of the wisdom traditions into our daily lives.
3. Start Where You Are by Pema Chodron.
Comfortable with Uncertainty by Pema Chodron
Awakening Compassion ( CD) by Pema Chodron
-Pema Chodron
The word bodhichitta refers to our awakened heart-mind, a natural state of wisdom, clarity, warmth and compassion. This week we discussed the way that specific yogic teachings can help to awaken this bodhichitta.
It is important to start with a clarifying distinction-- we are not contriving or "efforting" to be more kind or loving. We are doing the practices that help to awaken the naturally occurring kindness and warmth that is intrinsic to our nature. The wisdom traditions understand that as we awaken, compassion is our natural, expressive response.
We can begin at the fundamental level-- bringing warmth and gentleness into our everyday foundation practices. In fact, we can practice anything -- yoga, meditation, inter-personal communication-- with gentleness and warmth. Practicing anything with lightness, gentleness, open-ness -- a true generosity of spirit -- calls on and brings out the intrinsic warmth and openess that is at the essence of who we already are.
We can also learn the specific practices that help these innate capacities to expand and unfold with more fullness of expression. Metta Practice -- the practice of generating goodwill towards ourselves and others -- is one of the foundation practices of the Buddhist tradition. Metta is Pali word (the original language of the Buddha) that translates as "friend". Metta is the form of meditation practice that helps us to generate a genuine friendliness towards ourselves, others, and the world at large. This friendliness is not contrived, or syrupy sweet. It is a solid, grounded, courageous quality of open-ness and warmth. It is our willingness to soften our defenses and let the tenderness of our hearts shine through.
Here are some classic metta phrases. Try practicing metta by repeating one or more of these phrases for 5-20 minutes. (I often practice metta at the end of a shamatha or vipassana practice.)
May I be at peace. May all beings be at peace.
May i be free from harm. May all beings be free from harm.
May I be at ease in body, heart, and mind. May all beings be at ease in body, heart, and mind.
May I be happy. May all beings be happy.
May I be well. May all beings be well.
As a final suggestion: practice being kind to yourself throughout your day, especially when you notice that you are not being kind. Keep in mind that our areas of challenge and messiness so often stem from places where we've been hurt, places where we've disconnected from ourselves because we don't know what else to do. The nature of this material merits extra tender, loving care. True compassion practices starts with making friends with ourselves, even our shadows. Especially our shadows.
These teachings run radically against the grain of the typical way we interact with ourselves, so it can be helpful to have resources that support your inquiry.
1. Poems of Self Compassion, by David Whyte (This is CD that can be ordered from David Whyte's website. On this CD, David Whyte collects a number of extraordinary poems related to the path of personal awakening and weaves a beautiful journey of poetry and inspirational teachings all with the theme of self compassion.)
2. Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of the Buddha.
This beautifully written book, by psychotherapist and meditation teacher Tara Brach, guides us in integrating some of the most powerful practices of the wisdom traditions into our daily lives.
3. Start Where You Are by Pema Chodron.
Comfortable with Uncertainty by Pema Chodron
Awakening Compassion ( CD) by Pema Chodron
Week 3 Meditation : Cultivating Clarity of Mind: Shamatha Practice
Though we seem to be sleeping, there is an inner wakefulness that directs the dream, and that will eventually startle us back to the truth of who we are.
-Rumi
***
Days full of wanting, let them go by without worrying that they do. Stay where you are inside such a pure, hollow note.
-Rumi
The basic technique that we use in meditation practice is anchoring in our breath. Our breath is constant and of-the-moment, so using the breath as our anchor trains us to come back to the moment, back to the present situation.
Using the breath as the object of our meditation is especially good for calming a busy mind. The consistent, rhythmic flow of the breath soothes the mind and allows for steadiness and relaxation.
This is ordinary breathing; nothing is exaggerated.
As you focus on the breath, you'll notice that various thoughts and emotions arise. When this happens, acknowledge that you are thinking (you can just say quietly to yourself "thinking) and return your focus to the breath. As you do this, no matter how many times you do this, you'll notice that you are slowly settling. As the mind slows and as you settle down, you're starting to actually land in yourself.
When your focus is wavering, check your posture. Imagine a string pulling your spine up straight, then relax your body around that. Slouching and slumping affects the breath, the mind, and the rest of the body. Sometimes the littlest shift into a more upright state can help us sharpen our commitment and return to our anchor.
The practice of using a simple anchor, like the breath, and coming back to it again and again, calmly and patiently, is called shamatha. One way of translating this term is "calm abiding". So the word shamatha captures both how we practice and what we experience when we practice. We come back to the breath again and again, learning to calmly abide there, and in time, we experience a state of calm abiding.
Try this simple shamatha practice for 10 minutes a day.
For further support:
Tara Brach's simple, free meditation guide:
www.tarabrach.com/how-to-meditate.html
Meditation for Beginners by Jack Kornfield
Mindfulness in Plain English by Ven. Henepola Gunaratana
Start Where You are by Pema Chodron
-Rumi
***
Days full of wanting, let them go by without worrying that they do. Stay where you are inside such a pure, hollow note.
-Rumi
The basic technique that we use in meditation practice is anchoring in our breath. Our breath is constant and of-the-moment, so using the breath as our anchor trains us to come back to the moment, back to the present situation.
Using the breath as the object of our meditation is especially good for calming a busy mind. The consistent, rhythmic flow of the breath soothes the mind and allows for steadiness and relaxation.
This is ordinary breathing; nothing is exaggerated.
As you focus on the breath, you'll notice that various thoughts and emotions arise. When this happens, acknowledge that you are thinking (you can just say quietly to yourself "thinking) and return your focus to the breath. As you do this, no matter how many times you do this, you'll notice that you are slowly settling. As the mind slows and as you settle down, you're starting to actually land in yourself.
When your focus is wavering, check your posture. Imagine a string pulling your spine up straight, then relax your body around that. Slouching and slumping affects the breath, the mind, and the rest of the body. Sometimes the littlest shift into a more upright state can help us sharpen our commitment and return to our anchor.
The practice of using a simple anchor, like the breath, and coming back to it again and again, calmly and patiently, is called shamatha. One way of translating this term is "calm abiding". So the word shamatha captures both how we practice and what we experience when we practice. We come back to the breath again and again, learning to calmly abide there, and in time, we experience a state of calm abiding.
Try this simple shamatha practice for 10 minutes a day.
For further support:
Tara Brach's simple, free meditation guide:
www.tarabrach.com/how-to-meditate.html
Meditation for Beginners by Jack Kornfield
Mindfulness in Plain English by Ven. Henepola Gunaratana
Start Where You are by Pema Chodron
Week 3 Meditation : Cultivating Clarity of Mind
Week 3: Cultivating Clarity and Wisdom through Meditation
Submit to a daily practice.
Your loyalty to that
is a ring on the door.
Keep knocking, and the joy inside
will eventually open a window
and look out to see who’s there.
-Rumi
Over the last month we have explored the many facets of yogic teachings.
We've especially focused on why we practice-- to discover our true nature as present, open, wakefulness in the body, heart and mind, and on what we practice. Last week our emphasis was on yoga asana, and this week we focused on meditation.
During Tuesday's classes, we talked about how to get started with meditation practice.
WHERE:
It can be helpful to set up a regular space in your home for your meditation practice.
It doesn't have to be big or special, just a consistent space that you can keep clear. Having a designated space serves as a reminder, calling out to us when we might otherwise just walk right by.
It can be helpful to have a meditation cushion to support good posture. Remember, good posture is upright but also relaxed. I recommend using a timer so you don't have to constantly interrupt your practice to check the time (try your cell phone-- most have timers, just be sure to turn the ringer off so that it doesn't disturb you while you sit).
You might find it inspiring to create a small alter with a candle or meditation bell or bowl or a memento from nature, or even a picture of your teacher or some other figure who inspires you to practice.
None of these things are necessary, however! All you really need to meditate is a few minutes and willingness to sit down and be with yourself.
WHEN:
Even if you can only carve 10 minutes a day for meditation, do it! 10 minutes counts!
Scheduling your sessions can be the key to success in maintaining your practice. It clarifies the intention to practice by giving practice a set time in your day. Practice is supported by the force of habit when it is part of your daily routine.
Early morning is often found to be a convenient time, and it can be great way to start your day, though any regular time is fine.
If you miss a day, or even a week, simply reconnect to the daily schedule. If you haven't started practicing yet or if you have gone a long time without practicing and want to start up again, take a look at the details of your day and find a place in the flow of the day's events. If your inspiration is waning, go sit with a meditation teacher and group, or read over a book that speaks to you about your original motivation to meditate.
WHAT:
Here's the best part: you don't need any tools or special techniques to meditate. Meditation is simply the act of sitting down, getting quiet, and paying attention.
In our next blog post, I'll describe shamatha practice -- which we we'll review in class on Tuesday-- and mindfulness practice -- which we'll review in class on Thursday.
Submit to a daily practice.
Your loyalty to that
is a ring on the door.
Keep knocking, and the joy inside
will eventually open a window
and look out to see who’s there.
-Rumi
Over the last month we have explored the many facets of yogic teachings.
We've especially focused on why we practice-- to discover our true nature as present, open, wakefulness in the body, heart and mind, and on what we practice. Last week our emphasis was on yoga asana, and this week we focused on meditation.
During Tuesday's classes, we talked about how to get started with meditation practice.
WHERE:
It can be helpful to set up a regular space in your home for your meditation practice.
It doesn't have to be big or special, just a consistent space that you can keep clear. Having a designated space serves as a reminder, calling out to us when we might otherwise just walk right by.
It can be helpful to have a meditation cushion to support good posture. Remember, good posture is upright but also relaxed. I recommend using a timer so you don't have to constantly interrupt your practice to check the time (try your cell phone-- most have timers, just be sure to turn the ringer off so that it doesn't disturb you while you sit).
You might find it inspiring to create a small alter with a candle or meditation bell or bowl or a memento from nature, or even a picture of your teacher or some other figure who inspires you to practice.
None of these things are necessary, however! All you really need to meditate is a few minutes and willingness to sit down and be with yourself.
WHEN:
Even if you can only carve 10 minutes a day for meditation, do it! 10 minutes counts!
Scheduling your sessions can be the key to success in maintaining your practice. It clarifies the intention to practice by giving practice a set time in your day. Practice is supported by the force of habit when it is part of your daily routine.
Early morning is often found to be a convenient time, and it can be great way to start your day, though any regular time is fine.
If you miss a day, or even a week, simply reconnect to the daily schedule. If you haven't started practicing yet or if you have gone a long time without practicing and want to start up again, take a look at the details of your day and find a place in the flow of the day's events. If your inspiration is waning, go sit with a meditation teacher and group, or read over a book that speaks to you about your original motivation to meditate.
WHAT:
Here's the best part: you don't need any tools or special techniques to meditate. Meditation is simply the act of sitting down, getting quiet, and paying attention.
In our next blog post, I'll describe shamatha practice -- which we we'll review in class on Tuesday-- and mindfulness practice -- which we'll review in class on Thursday.