A quote ...

this reminded me of yesterday's talk on positive thought intention

We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far.
– Swami Vivekananda

Yoga//Roots

Sometimes yoga in the city begins to feel a little less sacred and a little too commercial.  Here's an article from NPR by Sandip Roy that touches on the West's yoga industry and how it can be a very "un-Indian" experience.  Maybe it's the being surrounded by breathtaking nature and grounded people that keeps yoga a humbling, simple practice in Vermont.  Whatever it is, I'm grateful for my yoga roots.  Om shanti.
--Claire

NPR | Yoga: A Positively Un-Indian Experience

From NPR News:

True confession: I am an Indian who doesn’t do yoga. I wouldn’t know a downward dog if it bit me. But because I’m Indian, people don’t even ask if I know yoga. They ask, “What kind of yoga did you grow up with? Iyengar? Ashtanga? Bikram?”

Actually, most Indians I know don’t do yoga, either. My friend Rajasvini Bhansali is an exception. And she’s often the only Indian in class. She recalled one class in particular:

“The instructor pointed to me and said Indians are better oriented towards squats. And I realized he was holding me up as an example of how we primitive people are better squatters and have looser hips,” she laughed.

I always thought I wasn’t thick-skinned enough to survive yoga class. Then I heard the Hindu American Foundation had launched a campaign to Take Back Yoga and reclaim its Hindu roots. I was alarmed. What if they really took it back? And I wasn’t ready. I decided to fix my Yoga Deficit Disorder.

So I show up at my first yoga class in San Francisco. It’s steamy hot. There are over 100 people — and sure enough, my friends and I are the only four Indians.

The instructor is from Tennessee. Blond, shirtless, and a bit of a yoga rock star. There are disco balls on the ceiling and huge posters of Krishna on the wall.

I am just amazed at all the … stuff. Yoga tops, bottoms, blankets, mats. My vision of a yogi was a guy in the forest, sitting on a piece of tree bark — or in the deluxe version, a deerskin. He didn’t have a yoga mat carrier!

I survive the yoga class without embarrassing 5,000 years of Indian culture. It doesn’t feel very Indian. My friend Naveen Chandra calls it bionic disco yoga. But he thinks Yoga’s Hindu roots are still there.

“The vast majority of yoga teachers have studied more Hinduism than I have or my parents have,” says Chandra. “I am learning more about the meanings of the shlokas and the intention of Hinduism than I ever knew as a kid growing up, being taught from my community.”

Even back in India, yoga has not been such a big deal.

Kate Churchill, director of the documentary Enlighten Up, interviewed yoga pioneer Pattabhi Jois at his school in south India.

“And we might as well have been in the Puck building in New York. There were over 100 Westerners, not a single Indian. I was looking around and saying, ‘Well, where are the Indians?’ “

But things are starting to change. The Indian government is filming hundreds of yoga poses so no one tries to patent them. People are practicing yoga at call centers and other workplaces.

“We saw in large cities like Mumbai, power yoga studios cropping up, because Madonna does yoga,” says Churchill. “It has nothing to do with India. Whereas if you go to a power yoga studio in the U.S., they will say it’s a 5,000-year-old tradition.”

NEW SCHEDULE - Starts Jan. 9th (Sunday)

Welcome Chris, Kelley, Kristine, Katrina and Larry!

Something's gotta give....

I certainly still consider myself a new teacher - I have been teaching for about  year and a half, though, plenty of class-hours, and last night was the first night I had a student leave in the middle of class.

I consider myself lucky - hearing stories from Kathy and others about the times they have had students walk out, either because of something personal going on with them, or maybe because their favorite teacher wasn't in that day - but I didn't realize how it would make me feel!

It wasn't what you might think - sure I was hurt that this student was not enjoying my class - but the hardest part was why she left. I think she was crying, and I'm pretty sure from pain.

As a teacher, I feel the responsibility to make sure everyone in my class feels safe and comfortable, in asking students to try asanas, I know I am asking some people to try things that might otherwise put them in an awkward position (ha ha.)

I could not take care of her in the way I wanted to. I do not want yoga to hurt, I want yoga to heal, and I felt ashamed that my yoga was not healing for this woman last night.

She had come up to me before the class and told me she had recent injuries, low back pain and had pretty recently had shoulder surgery. She had asked me if this was suited for beginners, and being an Intro to Ashtanga class, I said yes, though I did give her the disclaimer that  it could be a very vigorous practice, and even spent time with her checking out down dog and plank before we began the class.

As soon as we did our second sun salutation, I saw that upward facing dog was killing her. Her low back was extremely tight and I could tell it was painful to even try the small back bend. I tried to give her a modification, but it may have been too late.  I saw that in the next down dog she was sniffling, and I hoped it was just a cold. I showed the class child's pose, then we sat up to practice ujjayi.

She could not sit comfortably, and she was fighting back tears. My heart went out to her, and I tried an alternative pose. It was over, and I had to come back to the other students.

She sat and watched for a moment, and then got her things and left the room.  No one else felt as awkward as I did, and the other students seemed to have a great class, and enjoy it.  I had just felt like I had failed this student, and that she may have been further deterred from practicing yoga.

I realize that there is another side to the experience, I just wanted to share my thoughts and insecurities with you all! I would love to hear about your teaching experiences, especially teaching people with injuries.

I just hope I did not discourage her, and that she finds the perfect yoga to help her work through her injuries.

OM.

Adena

Insights from the holidays and a new year

Each Holiday season we overindulge, with material goods , food, drinking and celebrations. Then once the new year hits we are so burnt out from the over indulgence we set resolutions to cut back, eat better, exercise, make better choices etc ….

Year after year the cycle repeats. Not that there is anything wrong with it or we don’t have great times and then make positive improvements in our life. Although if you take a moment to reflect about this cycle it’s kind of funny. In the constant search for happiness, we hope to find it in the activities of the Holidays, food, gifts, celebrations. When the holiday season is over although we thoroughly enjoyed it as is was happening that sense of happiness does not sustain. Life goes back to normal and with the coming of the new year we set intentions for personal improvements in search of true unconditional happiness.

This cycle is a source of Insight for what may bring unconditional happiness. We often fool our selves in thinking that happiness will come from material goods or experiences but if you reflect on your own experience how well does that really work out ? True happiness comes from within, through the thoughts and intentions you create for your life. Nothing out there will bring it to you, but you already have everything you need to create it with in yourself.

Metta,

Danny

Numerical example of effortless effort.

Here is a little insight i had about finding the right amount of effort in your yoga or meditation practice. To be a little more clear its really all about releasing any conceptual basis for what effort is all together and finding that place in the middle.

Now when it comes to yoga and meditation you often come up against a paradox that does not appear logically possible. Although if you let go of what you think you may know and allow your self to just experience you will understand the meaning of the paradox. A frequent teaching is; “find the place in the middle”, “not too tight, not too loose”, “effortless effort”, “Stay active but remain relaxed”, “go to your edge but no farther.” It comes in many different sayings but what do they mean ?

Lets consider the concept of effort. Since everything is relative and a concept only really makes sense in relationship to something, (Yin and Yang , Positive and Negative) the concept of effort has no meaning unless there is something to compare it to. Thus we have effort and non effort, in order to intellectualize this concept we must separate it into opposites. The amount of effort or non effort you may be experiencing is a subjective amount. No one else but you really knows how much you may be or may not be exercising effort. We draw arbitrary lines for ourselves for what we consider too much effort , not enough effort or just enough effort. The idea is not to create the concept for some arbitrary point of “just enough effort” but it is too let go of any concept of effort what so ever, with out grasping and with out aversion.

Imagine a number line -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5. Lets say this is our effort scale. The positive numbers are effort and the negative numbers are non effort. At any point you may be able to rate your self on this arbitrary scale, telling your self how much effort or non effort you are exerting. When you continue to hold on to this dualistic concept, on one side effort on the other side non effort, you are in a constant battle either grasping on to where you think you should be or avoiding where you think you should not be. How do you find the place in the middle ? What is in the middle ? That’s right “Zero”. What does zero mean here ? It is nothing at all or does it have some kind of quality. In math zero is not simply nothingness it has attributes and its own nature. In meditation or yoga zero pertains to the concept of emptiness, a concept not having an intrinsic value with out a relative nature(Non-dual realization).

So in order to find “Zero”, the place in the middle, effortless effort, you must let go of dualistic concepts such as effort or non effort. Experience your current state fully allowing your self to be as you are without intentionally holding back or pushing. It is this thought, that we need to be at a place other than where we already are, that places us on the relative scale. When you can dissolve the concept of effort all together with out falling into the positive or negative range you will experience the solution to this paradox.

Metta,

Danny

Mind and Life - Understanding Contemplative Practices: Yoga and Jain

Mind and Life is an organization with a mission to bring together Western Science with Eastern Contemplative Science. They have been integrating Buddhist practice and Neuroscience for many years. The latest conference was the first one bringing in the idea of Hinduism , Jainism, Yoga and Vedanta.

If you have the time it would be worth your while to watch all of these sessions that are posted for free. I found this one below particularly interesting talking specifically about yoga meditation practice , the parallels and differences to Buddhism and what scientists in India are learning about the physiological affects of yoga practice.

Enjoy !


http://www.mindandlife.org/dialogues/past-conferences/ml22/mind-and-life-xxii-session-4/

gingerbread

winter from the studio window