Practice, contemplation, and insights
The lotus may indeed rise exquisite from the mud, but the mud, too, has its own necessary and intrinsic beauty.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
I have never been inclined to (or even capable of) bhakti–unquestioning surrender and love for guru or deity, though I have practiced for years with those who believe for better or worse that it is an essential element of the yoga. I do, however, believe that having teachers is essential to developing a full and healthy yoga and meditation practice.
Just as there is little point in having a machine that you do not know how to turn on or work, without instruction it would be very difficult to access and apply the fullest and most optimal benefits of the various practices.
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I say without hesitation that Ravi Shankar is one of the influences that led me to the deep practices of yoga. When I was first exposed to it through the Beatles in my early childhood, the music appealed to me at a visceral level. Throughout my late childhood and teens, I loved to dance or allow myself to go into a trance state listening to Indian music. On reading of his leaving this body, I take a moment to honor Ravi Shankar.
All around town there are dry cleaning emporia that advertise their ability to do alterations. They are not offering complete transformations. Rather, they are offering to take down a hem or to shorten it, to take in the waist or let it out, to mend a tear or broken closure, or to make an article of clothing more up to date. The intention is to make what is altered better fit the current owner and to have it work and look its best. A tailor handed an existing piece of clothing for alteration cannot change the cloth out of which it is made or change the essence of the design.
I think the point of the yoga practices is like bringing a piece of clothing to a tailor to be altered. We cannot change our essential nature or basic form, but with the practices we can fit better in our own skins and make the clothing that is our body show us and others our best and most effective self.
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The question every yoga teacher is asking when offering the teachings to students.
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Creating and seeing
Both division and unity
Is awfully human.
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I think of the yoga practices as a useful tool. No more, no less. Striving for enlightenment or deeming anyone enlightened just creates problems. But maintaining a steady and well-rounded practice because it can make one a little happier, a little healthier, a little kinder, and a little more adaptable in the face of change–that’s all for the good.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Far better to do the right thing from a selfish or petty intention than a destructive, wasteful, or cruel thing with the best of intentions.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
