Timely Notes From Last April
I was looking back through my journal this morning and was moved to share some of what I wrote during a weekend workshop on circle-making.
Similar Posts
A Reminder
Though nothing was broken, some things danced a jig and some fell in the earthquake. The quake must have shaken open the door to the basement. The cats, of course, immediately headed for that usually forbidden territory. Uma came up to be with me as soon as I went downstairs to make sure all was well with the cats and garden and main floor. I gave Uma a treat, and she went back to sunning her self on the catio. Almost an hour later, Sully is still hiding behind the washer-dryer.
What a great reminder that we cannot change much of what happens, but we have a choice in how we behave in response (even if our immediate reactions vary by our innate nature).
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
- Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Meditation | Photos
Found Exhortation (and Tapas)
What does it mean to excel, to do well? I think there is no excelling in yoga, at least not the way we conventionally think of excelling in school or career or sports. But to practice in a way that is more than casual, there must be ardor–tapas.
Tapas is often translated as fire, and the texts are full of stories of outrageous physical exertions done to prove the tapas of the practitioners looking for boons from the gods.
There is a fiery aspect to tapas, but I question whether it must necessarily be burning from physical exertion, though that is a path that calls out to many.
The fire of tapas could be thought of as doing what it takes to manifest the will to know something deeply enough to be able to experience the fluency and grace and delight of expertise. It could be the ardor to show up in a disciplined and committed way for hours and days and years of practice, always still wanting deeper, fuller knowing.
