Similar Posts

  • | | |

    What a Good Murder Mystery Can Teach Us About Sadhana

    ByElizabeth

    Surely that’s what life was all about?  Opening doors and peering through them–perhaps even finding the rose gardens there… (Colin Dexter, The Dead of Jericho)

    The good murder mysteries — the ones that teach much about human nature and do not dwell graphically on gore and violence — can teach us much about the power of sadhana (yoga practice).  The best mysteries are ones in which the protagonist teaches us by his or her investigation into the mystery that with careful, steady discipline, the application of well-developed technique and study, consistent effort, and an openness to trust intuition tempered by discrimination, we can reveal to ourselves the truth of the matter.  The truth revealed is not just the identity, means, and motive of the murderer (mystery solved), but the knowledge of the extraordinariness of human being in all of its manifestations, both good and evil.

  • | | |

    Some Musings on Guru Purnima

    ByElizabeth

    This full moon is both the one called by some “guru purnima“–with rituals to honor the teacher–and also  the relatively rare blue moon. I’ve been seeing lots of postings on social media about guru purnima by my friends who are engaged in the practice, study, and teaching of yoga.  The variations in the postings about guru purnima are as wide as what the person believes is the guru–from recognition of a person who has been named a guru; to teachers, recognized as such; to simply the invocation of our own teacher within.  Suggestions for ritual range from specific puja to just an invitation to think about the concept and to recognize those who have imparted wisdom to us that has enhanced our lives (even if we have to do a lot of work to know that).

    I’ve never personally been called to have a guru (among other things, it is too counter to my unprogrammed Quaker upbringing).  I do, though, have many teachers, some more formally serving in that role than others and I cheerfully honor them today.

    I invite you to think about what it means to have teachers, i.e., to be a true student.  How we might be living if we consciously interrelate with all around us, human and not, as both a student and teacher all of the time?  What quality of listening and openness would that require?  What might we be learning?  What might we teach?

    Dakshinamurti

     

     

  • |

    A Little (or Maybe Big) Perspective

    ByElizabeth

    I admit it. So caught up I have been in what my friends and colleagues have been posting on the internet about what has happened in our little corner of the world, that I haven’t been reading the news of the world with my usual diligence.

    When I head out the door of my building to walk home, I walk past a big homeless shelter. There is a grassy patch and a ledge on the side of the street where I leave the building, and there are always people hanging out. Sometimes they get somewhat belligerent with each other or talk or shout loudly to no one in particular. When I stay late, and it is fully dark, it can feel a bit intimidating.

    Tonight the line for a bed inside was especially long; it has been a wet day, and the temperature is dropping. I thought about our tempest as I looked at those who are homeless standing patiently in line in the hope of being able to spend a night inside, and I thought how much service, compassion, and love matter, and how little it matters exactly how or through whom we learn to better embody and live them.

    Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

  • | | |

    What My New Smart Phone Is Teaching Me About Yoga

    ByElizabeth

    I spent nearly three hours talking with tech support just to get the phone authorized.  And once that was accomplished, the guy helping me also was unable to figure out how to transfer my contacts from the old phone to the new.  Last night, on the second full day, I opened every item in settings just to learn about this piece of technology and found another way to transfer contacts than tech support had tried.  Hooray!  I didn’t have to enter them manually one by one.

    So it’s like this:  no matter how brilliant a system, if I didnt learn how to use it, I wasn’t going to get any benefits.  The more I studied and practiced, the more I would be able to use it in a way that enhanced my daily life.  Although a teacher is necessary, it takes our own thorough, steady, and attentive practice to empower ourselves and expand our limits.

    I had thoroughly resigned myself to typing.  Now I will have more time to figure out how to resize photos.  That may feel less urgent.  It’s busy at work, and the garden, yoga mat, meditation cushion, library, and beautiful weather call me to them.

    image