Rose Garden Yoga – Page 356 – Yoga inside the Beltway

Art and Culture | Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Community and Family | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc)

Found Exhortation
ByElizabeth September 29, 2012September 29, 2012

A number of years ago I had a conversation with a cherished friend and co-worker who is no longer in this body. I was explaining to her the yoga practice of samtosha (contentment), which is one of the five niyamas that make up the second limb of the eight-limbed path of yoga set forth in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. My friend said it felt like a great revelation to think of contentment as a practice. She had thought of it as a state you were either lucky enough to have — or not.

Many states or characteristics or attitudes that we tend to think of as only being innate characteristics or good fortune can be cultivated.

Wearing an exhortation on a t-shirt might not necessarily be my style, but I do agree kindness is worthy of cultivation when it does not happen spontaneously.

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

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Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Meditation | Photos

Misconception About Meditation?
ByElizabeth September 28, 2012September 28, 2012

I often hear people say that they cannot meditate. When asked why, it usually turns out that they think they are supposed to stop or shut off their thoughts completely. No wonder they think they cannot meditate. The mind will think no matter what we tell it (and who or what is telling it not to think?).

The mind will quiet on its own (though not always) if we invite attention to a mantra or to the breath or to some other space or object of concentration. With this steady soft attention, we can experience the benefits of meditating.

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

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Art and Culture | Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Meditation | Photos

Karma?
ByElizabeth September 27, 2012September 27, 2012

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

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Art and Culture | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Meditation | Photos | Poetry

From the Perspective of the Gods
ByElizabeth September 25, 2012September 25, 2012

From the perspective
Of the gods and of science
One life is but ephemera,
However much loved.

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

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Found Exhortation (Ineffective)
ByElizabeth September 24, 2012September 24, 2012

Have you ever noticed just how ineffective and indeed counter-productive is the exhortation to “cheer up?” Being told to cheer up, be happy, etc, when one is feeling sad or out of sorts can just make one feel worse.

The exhortations that work are those that remind us of that for which we are grateful or that which we love, and those the remind us of or call us to the practices the result of which is to alleviate suffering.

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

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Art and Culture | Community and Family | Food for the Body | Gardening

State of the Garden (First Weekend After the Fall Equinox)
ByElizabeth September 23, 2012

I pulled no longer productive summer plants and planted lettuce, spinach, chard, and arugula. The birds have been eating my seeds, so I got seedlings at Eastern Market yesterday morning. I have planted some more seeds, but wanted back up. The grape tomato is still prolific, alone among the tomatoes. The cucumbers are completely past, making room for chard and turnips. It is time to make the last batches of pesto with the basil and parsley. Another blossom has come and not quite gone on the night-blooming cereus.

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A Box of One’s Own
ByElizabeth September 23, 2012September 23, 2012

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

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Art and Culture | Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Community and Family | Meditation | Quaker

Received Exhortation (Tantra?)
ByElizabeth September 22, 2012September 22, 2012

I’d seen a photo on-line, and discussion before and after a friend took to the street and the park to write exhortations, prayers, pleas.

I might not have seen it live had it not been directly on my way home later in the day. Though I had not gone looking for it, I recognized it when I saw it–the exhortation triggered by a planned display of bigotry, rage, ignorance and hate.

The exhortation to embrace diversity is a fundamental precept of the tantric yoga philosophy (my friend was making the exhortation based on different practices, but it hardly matters from what source one gets a true teaching). I always benefit from contemplating ever more deeply that the only way to experience unity/union is to ever more fully embrace diversity (while still, of course, practicingviveka–discrimination).

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

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Found Exhortation
ByElizabeth September 21, 2012September 21, 2012

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

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Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Meditation

Why to Meditate Every Day
ByElizabeth September 20, 2012September 20, 2012

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