Author Archives: Cindy Lusk

GET MUDDY

May in Boulder was one of the wettest on record, and consequently, the trails we love so much were a mess, because of the mud itself, but also because hikers are reluctant to get muddy. Yet at the start of many trails are clearly marked signs, “GET MUDDY”. But instead of doing so, some hikers go around the muck, and start creating now trails which then becomes even a greater mess.

This unwillingness to get muddy reflects a human tendency that is important for us, as yoga practitioners, to consider. We must look at this unwillingness to get muddy and ask ourselves: what are we avoiding? What is there in the mud that is so bad, so frightening? And might our wading into the muck be exactly what we need to keep steady on our path, rather than divert our course?

One misunderstanding of yoga is that it is all about light, enlightenment, bliss, beauty, and so on. And yes, that is definitely part of the experience. However, any authentic spiritual path will acknowledge that there are difficult times, times where navigating the path is challenging, and we may be tempted to avoid or circumvent the circumstances, or even give up. Yet between where we are on the path, and the journey we need to traverse to move toward the light, are the muddy parts. The parts that are clouded, cloaked, and in the way.

Yoga philosophy gives many different descriptions of this mud, these obstacles on our path, the cloaking of our innermost self. And it further acknowledges that these are in fact the source of our suffering, so encountering them can be painful. Yet just because of some temporary challenges, the muck you have to wade through, do you give up and turn around?

In fact, one component of our practices is precisely the stirring up of the muck, all our unconscious obstacles that block us from deepening our awareness. Do we want to keep sidestepping these issues? Notice how in the physical world that just creates a bigger mess of mud. Likewise in our lives it is much more effective to move forward instead of sideways.

So may we each go ahead and move through it, traverse the challenging muck, and see what is waiting on the other side. The worst that happens is we get our feet wet or our shoes dirty, which to me is a sign of a path well-travelled, our willingness to explore what is being offered in this life, what is possible. To see where the path leads.

My hikes all over the world have often taken me into the mud, and arriving on the other side I’ve experienced some of the most treasured moments of my lifetime. But I had to be willing to get muddy, to get down and dirty. to experience the goo and gunk that was standing in the way. Slipping and sliding, even falling down and getting muddy, then getting up to continue.

The journey is worth it.

Likewise our journey in our yoga practice is worth it. It is worth it to choose to continue to practice even when it seems dark, muddy, challenging and unpleasant. We have to be willing to move trough the muddy places, or we will never experience the delights that lay beyond.

ATHA

Atha yoganusasanam
NOW WE COMMENCE THE STUDY OF YOGA.

This is the aphorism with which Patanjali begins his teachings in the definitive text of Classical Yoga, the Yoga Sutras. On one level it simply announces that the subject of the text is yoga.

Traditionally, the first word of a text carries great significance, and here the first word is “atha,” which means now.

With the word “now,” there’s a sense of all times, of the past, the present, and the future. Now we’re going to learn about yoga. Historically the teachings had not been coherently codified, and Patanjali did just that. But for us as a student of yoga, there can also be a sense that now is our time. Now is the time to delve into this text. Our past studies have led us to this moment to begin a serious contemplation of these teachings.

From a broader perspective, there’s a sense of the “present moment,” of “be here now.” I find these ideas a bit overused, and I cringe at using them, because I don’t find them very useful. What does it mean to be here now, and how does one actually come into the present moment? Well, that’s what the whole text of the Yoga Sutras is about: yoga. Our practice of yoga teaches us how to become present.

And as yoga practitioners, this aphorism reminds us: now, at any and every time, is time for yoga. And I’m not talking about getting on your mat and cranking out some asana, or even getting to the meditation cushion, though for most people practice is the prerequisite. When we regularly do the practices that connect us to what Patanjali calls the seer, a deeper core presence that is the essence of who we are, we are able to meet each moment with that presence.

Through our practice of yoga, we learn to connect with the ground of our being, a place of wisdom inside ourselves that then guides us in the present moment. With this process we inevitably begin to confront all of our habitual patterns from our past, which we tend to allow to pull us out of the present moment. Our practice helps us clear out, identify, and shift these patterns. And THEN, as we go about our lives as we all must, we are better able to be in the present moment.

In each moment, with the help of the connection we have established to our deeper awareness through our practice, we become able to see more clearly what is actually present, and what is an old pattern, or our own clouded perception. This is our yoga happening in the present moment. And it allows us, when things are particularly challenging, to take it as an opportunity for yoga. Now we do our yoga, in the most challenging moments. Having established the connection, we draw on the deepest source to work with whatever is unfolding in this present moment, to guide us through that moment and into the future.

Mother’s Day

Like many holidays, Mother’s Day brings up mixed feelings. Many of us dislike or resent so many holidays that have become commercialized obligations. Yet there is something delightful about celebrating good ol’ mom.

And it can be challenging for many people. Many of us have lost our moms, or never knew our moms, or had moms who were not the best of moms. They’re human, after all.

And for women that are not moms, and will never be moms in the conventional sense, it can be a hard reminder.

As for myself, I loved my mom, and dad, dearly. I cherish the love I received from them. And I learned positive things from them both, and, as well, I learned a few negative things. I learned from both of them some ways I did not want to be. Yes, after all, they are human.

For Mother’s Day I choose the celebrate the love I shared with my mom, celebrate the fact that she birthed me, and gave me this precious life. So for me, Mother’s Day is a celebration of the mother energy, the creative life force that we see so active in spring, and that innate mothering instinct that so many creatures share. I celebrate caring, and I celebrate birthing and nurturing in its many forms.

I celebrate the feminine. Which is something this world needs a lot more of.

That could be the end of the essay, but I must say that personally this holiday reminds me of how much I miss my mom. So much. I miss that person that was a steady light in my life, someone I knew I could depend on. That’s what is hard for me on Mother’s Day, that feeling of being alone.

So I celebrate community and connection, for moms are our earliest connection to the heartbeat of life, the pulse that runs through us all, the pulse of life and love that connects us all.

I celebrate yoga because yoga means connecting and joining, turning inwardly to my pulsing heart, and outwardly to embrace life as it is: childless, motherless me. And yet a life full of possibility.

I embrace the sadness, I embrace the joy.

I celebrate the embrace of all of those who have supported and nurtured me, my relatives, teachers and loved ones who have stood steady with me over the years with hugs and words of encouragement.

I celebrate you, for all you have nurtured in yourself and others.

May we all celebrate that nurturing sustaining life force energy from which we manifest. And may we spread that energy through our love and nurturing of all beings.

Happy Mother’s Day.

WHAT’S COMING UP IN YOUR GARDEN?

We just returned from a very sweet relaxing time in Mexico, to discover spring has sprung here in Boulder. On my first morning back, I had to take a moment to run out into my backyard and see if the tulips I had planted last summer came up. I hadn’t much hope for them, it was a freebie from a neighbor that I planted at the wrong time, and not in the greatest soil. I kinda just threw them into the dirt to see what would happen. And there they were, at least some of them, pushing up toward the light.

Looking around, I see a lot of other stuff peeking out. The grape hyacinths are up, along with some dandelions (which I’ve decided to let go for a while for the sake of the bees).

What’s coming up in your garden?

As we’ve come to the spring equinox, it is a great time to pause to consider: what is manifesting in my life right now due to what I previously cultivated? What would I like to plant now to nurture into manifestation as I move further into the year?

As I look at my garden, I see very clearly some of the choices I made last fall. I see the plants I carefully and consciously put to bed, pruned, or planted. And I see the things I ignored, yet to be dealt with. I see the weeds I kept thinking “I’ll deal with that later,” now firmly established, and will require extra effort to deal with.

And of course this is all a metaphor for the choices we make each moment of our life. If you are conscious and willing, you can often see in the present blossoming circumstance, the seeds you planted in the past.

It is sweet to recognize what you have worked so hard to manifest, be it some aspect of your health, a relationship, or a piece of work. As well we can acknowledge the very simple things we’ve created like a good meal or clean house.

And on the other hand, we must also pause to acknowledge the not-so-pleasant things we may have generated or tolerated, be it dysfunctional relations, clutter in our home, ill-health, or weeds in our garden. Or, some trajectory in our life that is not working.

Each moment we have the choice to plant the seeds of our future. Life keeps rolling on whether we do so consciously, or not. And we reap what we sow.

This is not to say that we have control over every event that happens to us, certainly not. Part of living our yoga is determining what we cannot control, and choosing how to work with that as best we can.

Yet ultimately, there are many situations where we could more consciously choose to create a more optimal outcome. Our yoga practice is intended to help us with this process, through the repeated connection to the center of our self. The onset of spring is a perfect time for pause, connecting to our wisest self, and contemplating what we wish to sow in the next phase of our life.

YOGA IS SKILL IN ACTION

My favorite line from the Bhagavad Gita is “yoga is skill in action.” I love it foremost because it acknowledges that there is no avoiding action. Elsewhere in the Gita, the teacher Krishna points out that you can’t NOT act. The warrior Arjuna perhaps would prefer to withdraw to a cave and avoid the battle he faces, but if you think about it, even that is an act. It is making a choice. This non-avoidance, and the necessity of action is elaborated in the text as the path of Karma Yoga.

And, as advised, we want to act skillfully. This is the tricky part, as we know. It is quite often very hard to know not only what to do, but how to do it skillfully. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna offers us a way to knowing: Jnana Yoga, the Path of Knowledge.

This path has two components. First is an intellectual knowledge, like what you might receive from reading this essay or any other kind of textual knowledge. In many domains of our activity it is extremely important to create an intellectual knowledge through study.

But the second component of knowledge is also very important: Knowing your Self. This is knowledge of who you are inside, beyond all the surface definitions of your life. It is a knowledge of that source place deep within you.

Krishna gives several means to creating that connection to source, one very clearly laid out is meditation. Through the Yoga of Meditation, one begins to traverse from the every day surface awareness through the depths of your being to connect with the place described in various ways: the Divine, your source, essence, or heart.

And as is also described in the Gita, uncovering your source-essence-heart connects you with a place of unlimited love and devotion. Love and devotion, and a knowledge of the interconnectedness of all things. And a devotion to that fundamental ground being of heart-love.

And that knowledge, love, and devotion creates and supports the desire to serve. A desire to act in service to the Divine, to love through action.

Which brings us back around to Karma Yoga as we more commonly think of it: selfless service. Another way to think of it is service from the Self. Serving from the heart of Knowing. And this is how we come to fully manifest skill in action.

Through our practice of yoga, particularly meditation, we come to Know and connect with the heart and the deepest wisdom within ourselves. As we establish that connection on a daily basis with our practice, we create a pathway, an access, so that in any given situation we can summon our wisest self to guide us to our most skillful actions.

In this way we act from our hearts, in service of the Heart of Being. This is the yoga of skill in action.

2015: The Year of CONNECTion

In these dark days around the winter solstice, I’ve been diving and digging deep, assessing the past year and considering the next year. What emerged from these ponderings is a guiding word for me for the coming year: CONNECT.

As it continued to assert itself, and I let it settle, I had to laugh. Because, of course, CONNECT is another way to say yoga.  And because of that I resisted it, considering spicier words like spacious, clarity, travel, and dharma. Yet CONNECT kept calling to me, so I’m gonna stick with it, because there are specific ways and means I want to CONNECT.

As always, HIGHEST FIRST: CONNECTing with my Self. First through practice. Each and every day, connect to that highest place in myself. Cultivate an established CONNECTion that grants me ready access. Create a conduit within myself that allows me to channel that which will be of greatest service.

Then, take time to CONNECT and access that channel in any given situation. Pause to CONNECT to the highest, wisest, most loving place I can muster. And act from the CONNECTed place. With each action, I want to remember the CONNECTion I have with all beings. I want to look closely at how I participate in creating separation, and make choices that acknowledge the CONNECTedness of all beings.

This year as well, I want to dive even deeper into the teachings.  I want to create a more personal CONNECTion with them through deeper contemplation and application in my life.

And, I want to help others CONNECT to the teachings. To do this I need to CONNECT with people who need to hear what I have to offer. This one is a little mysterious to me, so I’m just throwing this out to the universe as an intention and see what comes back.

As part of that I want to CONNECT people in community. I want to continue to gather like-minded individuals together for practice, study, and well, CONNECTion. I want to do this in a bigger way on-line this year, and I am hoping to find ways to open people up to making a deeper and sincere CONNECTion with each other around the teachings.

As well, I want to CONNECT with writing. It is a love of mine, and I’ve been a bit shy and fearful about putting stuff out there, but I want to make it happen. I could use some encouragement here.

And I want to reCONNECT with old friends, and CONNECT with new ones. I’ve been feeling a little personally isolated of late. I need to be held a little more.

As we move through the year, I hope you will help me CONNECT, with some reminders, reflection, and love.

CHOOSE YOUR WORD:

If you would like to come up with a word to guide your year, try out these contemplations. You will likely want to do these steps over a period of a few days to let your ideas percolate and settle.

1. Contemplate what you want to have happen in the next year. What would your ideal day look like? What will you do? How will you feel? Consider qualities you want to develop and what your heart really needs. Describe in your journal.

2. Look at what emerged in your writing and make a list of the words that most evoke the sense of what you want to cultivate in 2015.

3. Consider this list and which words resonate with you most. Narrow it down to the most potent 3-5 words. Perhaps journal on each of these to see which yields the most or feels the best. If you have trouble coming up with a final word, randomly choose one and see if you register any disappointment, and if so, choose another one and see how it feels, until you finally settle on the one that feels right.

THANKSGIVING GRATITUDE

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, in part because it falls on a Thursday and therefore feels like a nice luxurious four day break as we move toward the depths of the darkest part of the year. Like so many of our holidays, Thanksgiving means different things to different people: a time to be with family and give thanks for the bounty in our lives, gorge ourselves on food, watch football, enjoy naps and reading, or shop ‘til you drop. I invite you to take a moment to consider what Thanksgiving can mean for you.

I love Thanksgiving because for me it is a holiday of gratitude. As with any holiday, you can make it what you want, and I choose to make it about gratitude. So I set this as my samkalpa, my intention, to focus on everything I’ve been given, the preciousness of life, of my loved ones, of my path.

It is an opportunity to pause and remember all that we have been given in this lifetime. As we go about our day-to-day business, our awareness is often pulled to what is wrong, often by necessity. Like if the electricity goes off, or a pipe breaks, or the floods come, we have to deal with it, both practically and emotionally. But often our focus is inordinately on what is wrong, what we see as problematic, old pains and suffering. And we forget to remember what is right, what is good, what I HAVE instead of what I don’t have.

One of the things that Thanksgiving and the December holidays can bring to us, is the opportunity to be with our birth family. This can be pleasant or not so pleasant, but it is an opportunity, especially if it IS challenging. This is where we can discern how our yoga practice is actually working. It gives us an opportunity to watch how the cycle of our thoughts and emotions arise from our old patterns, and depending on our response to those impulses, we reiterate the patterns, or we have the choice to begin to break free.

So for example, you find yourself in a situation with your family or old friends in which buttons begin to get pushed, some old patterns of behavior want to arise, perhaps someone starts treating you like you were 12 years old still, or people expect you to behave some way you always have, or someone else’s behavior pattern reminds you of some old painful and unresolved dynamic. So what do you do? Do you choose to reactivate and reinforce that particular pattern? Are you getting sucked into some old story like getting engrossed in an old movie you’ve outgrown but can’t seem to extract yourself from?

Or do you take a pause, breathe and access a deeper self that you’ve been connecting to via your practices, remembering who you really are inside, and who you want to be. Can you remember to identify with this deeper self, your center, your essence, your heart? Remember to pause and remember your intention. Remember what Thanksgiving is really about, give thanks and gratitude to the teachings that have helped you remember to take that pause, and even thanks as well to the person that is allowing you to practice what you’ve been learning and demonstrate how far you’ve come along the path of yoga.

For many of us on the path of yoga, the holidays can be challenging with our relatives simply because our lifestyle is so different, and at times I had a certain self-righteousness around that. I would be so aghast at the food on the menu, at what I considered the ill health of my relatives on so many levels, that I forgot to appreciate: there’s grandma, there’s grandpa, and there’s mom…and how much they all loved me, had supported me in so many way. And now all of those people are gone. I missed many opportunities to be thankful for what was present and RIGHT because I was so focused on what I thought was WRONG. Luckily in later years when they were still alive I did learn to appreciate them, and express my gratitude, but there were many lost years of just being sulky.

Which brings me to another way holidays can affect us: as we’ve lost people who are dear to us, the holidays can be a sad and therefore hard time of the year. As I express this, I get a little choked up and sad about how I have no grandparents, no parents , or no kids or no grandkids with which to celebrate.

Here again is where remembering is so important. And it is not a matter of stuffing feelings, the feelings are real, they’re there, and they’re OK. I give them some space, allow myself to feel some of the sadness, and then I remember: life is precious, life is short, and I DO have a lot to be grateful for. I treasure the memories and what I do have in my life now.

Gratitude can be a year round practice that can really shift your life, even if it is simply considering each day what has gone right instead of focusing on what goes wrong. When you’re feeling challenged, when you’re feeling down, when your heart is feeling concealed, pause and reflect: What do you have to be grateful for?

Even in the darkest days, so much is going right for us. Sitting here in my office I notice: I am breathing, I have warm clothes, my computer is working, I have a sweet cat. These I can see just looking around me for 5 seconds.

I am also grateful for the challenges in my life, the challenging situations and people, for they teach me how to be a better person. They remind me to move beyond the surface to access my greater self, and to remember that same place is underneath the surface of everyone.

I am so grateful for having found yoga, for the great teachings of yoga, for all my teachers, everything they have taught me that flows through me now. I am grateful for all the great beings who have walked the path before me.

I am so grateful to each of you, for taking the time to read this, for showing up, for considering deeply these teachings, for walking the path of yoga, working to create a deeper connection with yourselves and thereby making the world a more loving place.

I would love to hear from you about Thanksgiving and the practice of gratitude.

What meaning does the Thanksgiving holiday have for you?

Do you have a particular intention for this holiday you can explicitly articulate?

What are you most grateful for in your life?

HOW DID THE ROSE

How

did the rose

ever open its heart

and give to this world all of its beauty?

It felt the encouragement of light against its being,

otherwise we all remain too

frightened.

~Hafiz

This poem from Hafiz is one of my very favorite poems, in large part because I believe it relates so well to how to live our lives as yogis.

FEELING THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF LIGHT

I usually end my yoga classes with folded hands, bowed head, and a few words acknowledging a place of light and love that dwells within each of us. For me this is an acknowledgement of the place of light and love. This is how I think of my innermost self, and the essence of all beings. Beyond stretching and strengthening our bodies, yoga is intended to help create a connection to, and experience of, that place of light. Our yoga practice creates that connection, which may be felt clearly and consciously like the light of the sun, or may flow more undetected like an underground river. That connection allows us to feel the encouragement of the source light. Our lives begin to open and flow more smoothly, being fed from this source.

OTHERWISE WE ALL REMAIN TOO FRIGHTENED

One of the saddest things for me is to see a shriveled rose bud that has never opened.

Many of us keep our buds closed, we are frightened for whatever reason. Perhaps we were taught to do so, or it feels safer.

Although fear can be useful in some situations, it often acts as an obstacle in our lives, along with a whole lot of other baggage we carry around, all our habitual patterns. When we connect with the source light, that encouragement helps us face those fears, choose to move through them. The challenges begin to resolve, sometimes consciously, but sometimes just naturally and without our notice. That connection creates an en-courage-ment, courage to move from our hearts.

GIVE TO THIS WORLD ALL ITS BEAUTY

When we become connected to source, we naturally want to live our lives fully, and express our own individual gifts, whatever they may be. The rose simply blooms. The mother fully express her love to her child, the scientist begins to see the cause and effect connections more clearly, the writer can articulate more fully. Your smile radiates the inner light. We each have something beautiful and unique to give to this world, and the world desperately needs us to do so. There cannot be too much beauty, especially in this time when society seems to feed off negativity.

BE THE LIGHT OF ENCOURAGEMENT

In this world full of negativity, I feel it is so important for yogis to be the encouragement of light. Not in a surface or play-acting saccharine way, but to truly be pillars of light. We each must first maintain our connection to essence, then let that stream through us in all our activities. In this way, we encourage and inspire others, help them connect to source, build the strength to face their fears, open their hearts, and give to this world their beauty.

CONTEMPLATIONS

How/what makes you feel the encouragement of light in your life?

What keeps you frightened?

How can you engage more in activities that support connecting with the light rather than inducing fear?

How can you give your beauty to the world? What are your gifts?

How can you encourage others, and therefore be the light that allows others to bring forth their beauty?

The Conversation on the Battleground

The Bhagavad Gita, one of the most revered spiritual texts, begins with a rather dramatic scene. Due to long and complicated circumstances, two armies have lined up to do battle. As the two sides are trumpeting their conches and preparing to fight, the warrior Arjuna asks his charioteer, Krishna, to pull the chariot into the middle of the battlefield, where he basically has a nervous breakdown. He drops his weapon and refuses to fight.

What ensues is a conversation between Arjuna and Krishna that lasts for 17 more chapters, with the armies seemingly in freeze-frame, in which most of the great teachings of yoga extant at the time are summarized. The teachings are exquisite and varied, and this opening scene is a beautiful teaching in and of itself.

As my teacher Douglas Brooks explains (please see his beautiful companion to the Gita, “Poised for Grace”), we are every character in the story. We are Arjuna the warrior, struggling to do the right thing, confused and loathe to enter into a battle that will surely end in annihilation of both armies, each of which contain his family, teachers, and friends. And we are Krishna, an incarnation of God, patiently pausing to answer Arjuna’s many questions, providing perspective and the guidance of a trusted counselor.

These two characters can be thought of as different parts of ourselves: the confused and searching human, and the wise higher Self.

The battlefield itself can be an instance of as any situation in our lives. We each face challenges, we have battles we must fight. Often our lives are extremely intense and chaotic, which is exactly the time we most want to engage in yoga. One of the most important teachings from this scene is that of a sacred pause.

When we face challenges, do we rush in? Do we follow the very human instincts to gain power and act out our anger? Or do we pause and seek counsel from a deeper part of our Self?

Instead of rushing into battle when he still feels hesitant and unsure, Arjuna pauses to consider what he is doing. And in that pause, Arjuna and Krishna converse. Arjuna consults his higher self, Krishna. He asks questions, and he LISTENS.

In our own lives we could also benefit from taking this pause. Stop, take a few breaths and listen to a deeper part of ourselves. Sometimes we have the time to contemplate our options before responding to a challenge. Sometimes we must act in the heat of the moment, and it is the connection that we have previously cultivated through our practice of yoga that guides us.

Our yoga practice allows us to connect with a deeper part of ourself, our Krishna self. Each time we step onto our mats and begin to watch the breath, each time we close our eyes for meditation, is an opportunity to access a greater wisdom that will provide us answers if we pause and listen. With repeated practice and stabilizing that connection the guidance comes more instantaneously. Yet like any conversation, we still have to truly listen.

CONTEMPLATE

· What are the biggest battles in your life right now?

· How do you converse with your Self? How do you work through your challenging situations? Take it to your mat? Your meditation cushion? Your journal? A trusted friend/advisor? To whom do you listen?

PRACTICE

· In your everyday life notice if you are truly listening in your conversations. If not, practice just listening.

· When you encounter a challenging situation, take a sacred pause to listen to some deeper guidance.

PURNA: Your Perfect Self

Purnam adah purnam idam
Purnat purnam udacyate
Purnasya purnam adaya
Purnam eva avishishyate

That (the Absolute) is full, this (the manifest) is full.
From fullness fullness proceeds.
If we take away the fullness of fullness, even fullness then remains.
(trans. Radhakrishnan)

This verse from the Upanisads is such a beautiful, yet paradoxical, teaching. Technically it is about how the ultimate reality is completely perfect, full, whole, and out of that perfection comes all of the manifest world. Yet the ultimate reality still remains full.

Since we come from perfection and wholeness, we are perfect and whole beings. And yet, we are limited. Just by virtue of having bodies we do have physical limitation. But at our essence we are perfectly full and whole. Again, it’s a paradox.

Do you feel perfect? Do you feel whole?

Probably not.

How do we deal with that feeling of lack? The feeling of being less than whole? Many people search for something to fill that sense of lack. They turn to various substances, consuming stuff, or creating experiences to feel whole again. At best it is a temporary fix, at worst it leads to addictive and destructive behavior.

Yoga is intended to help us connect with that place of unlimited perfection. Yoga turns us back to Source, to That which is inherently full. We can experience and recognize our own innate perfection through our practices, especially meditation. When we meditate, we settle in to a place that feels fuller and whole.

On a practical level, we can notice how we approach our world. It is the glass half-empty or half-full issue. Do you focus on your limitations and imperfections? Or can you acknowledge the aspects of perfection and wholeness that already exist in your life?

And further, what about others? Not only are YOU a perfect and whole human being – so is everyone else. Can you see the perfection in others? Or do you focus primarily on their limitations? What would happen if all your interactions with others reflected a fundamental sense that they were perfect and whole?

Even more paradoxical: we are all perfect, whole beings, AND there is even more wholeness and perfection possible. Each is perfect in this moment. AND THERE IS MORE!

For example, I love roses. I love the beauty and perfection of the bud, but even more beautiful is when it just starts to open – and as it continues to blossom it becomes EVEN MORE PERFECT. Each stage is perfection.

Think of babies and children, and how each are just perfect, yet they will continue to grow toward even greater perfection.

Each of us comes into this world whole, full, and perfect. The paradox of our lives is to acknowledge that perfection, even as we move to a more perfect fullness.

I invite you to consider this teaching on purna with the following exercises.

· Contemplate and journal on the above verse from the Upanishads. Feel free to replace the word “full” with “perfect” or “whole” for a different flavor.

· When do you feel most whole? What moves you toward a greater sense of perfection?

· What creates a feeling of lack in your life?

· Experiment with interacting with others as if they were perfect. Journal on the results.

· Notice any tendency you have to look at the imperfection in any situation first. Try focusing on what is perfect in each moment.