Category Archives: Yogic Teachings Potpourri

HONORING MY TEACHERS

I have been blessed to have some of the greatest living teachers lead me on the path of yoga, and without them I would not be who I am today. As I describe them, you will see how they each contributed to my journey. In their own way, each initiated me into some aspect of yoga, educated me, and supported me personally and professionally. I have so much gratitude for them and strive to honor them in my own behavior and teaching. They are listed in chronological order

Richard Freeman taught me the art and science of body as mudra: to listen and move with the pulsation of breath, to channel energy with bandha, the focus of drishti, and dedicated practice. He supported me as I became a new teacher, allowing me to teach classes at his studio. He also whetted my thirst for yoga philosophy and again supported my first attempts at teaching that. I am so grateful for these gifts and many others Richard bestowed.

John Friend gave me back my yoga asana practice which was threatened by physical injury. He showed me how to align my body to be pain free, introduced me to the profound practice of opening to grace and the tantric philosophy that everything is a manifestation of the divine. He consistently challenged me physically, emotionally, and spiritually to soften, connect with source, and become a vehicle for divine light. John taught me how to be an excellent yoga teacher and bolstered a well-rounded studentship, and these two gifts serve me well to this day and have allowed me to build a career doing what I truly love.

Douglas Brooks ignited in me a profound love of the deep teachings of yoga through its stories, culture, and philosophy. His particular interpretation of yoga philosophy turned my world upside down in a way that taught me a radical affirmation for and appreciation of the many gifts the divine is offering me in this life. Not a day goes by when I don’t think of something I’ve learned from Douglas, his teachings have had a profound effect on me, my life, and my own teaching and I am forever grateful our paths came together.

My studies with Paul Muller-Orgega fulfilled a call of my heart which was clearly clamoring for something more, and produced a more expansive shift in my being than I thought possible. In a word the greatest gift he has given me: sadhana. He taught me effective techniques, the value of a regular meditation practice, and self-sufficiency, the result of which has been a profound realignment in the core of my being with the supreme pulsations of the highest. This guides me daily and allows me to serve as a teacher in a more effective way than I ever thought possible. Paul fed my appetite for a systematic understanding of yoga philosophy, particularly the Tantras, but as well honoring Patanjali’s teachings about meditation. And Paul bestowed upon me the gift of becoming a meditation teacher, allowing me to serve in an even greater capacity. The work I am doing with Paul feels like the crowning jewel of 35+ years of yoga study and practice, and I look forward to much more.

I must acknowledge Christopher Wallis, whose brilliant book “Tantra Illuminated” helped clarify many philosophical concepts. In addition, his translations of the traditional texts have been incredibly useful to me personally, and they are upleveling the availability of the teachings of Tantra into a world that desperately needs them.

From these teachers I repeatedly heard an honoring of their own teachers, a remembrance of those who helped them on their own paths. So, finally, I would like to honor with a deep bow, the great lineage of teachers, all those who have held the teachings, kept the practices alive, and passed them on for the benefit of all beings.

I applaud the many scholars coming forth to provide translations of texts that have been languishing in homes and libraries. Each is a gift, and I am so grateful for the translations that are coming forth, including from those I mentioned above.

From my teachers and the teachings, I’ve heard a deep respect for the manifest and unmanifest divine and have received the call to attune, again and again, to That which is the ultimate teacher, That which flows through all teachers in service of the greatest Truth. With the help of our teachers, may we all find and align with the highest which serves to empower and support us.

Trying to Make Sense of Another Mass Shooting

This morning I put on NPR an hour before I had to teach. The newscaster described two mass shootings in the last 24 hours, and then said something like “this is morning in America.”

Again, I try to make sense of it. Trying to make sense of what is truly senseless. And yet again I come back to disconnection. A lack of connection. A person who has become so disconnected from his own heart that he could perpetuate such violence on others. It isn’t an anomaly; it has been the human situation forever. (And I must point out: what IS an anomaly is the easy access to weapons of war).

I find I can make some sense of it from how the teachings of yoga explain the process of disconnection. As humans we all emerge from the great ocean of consciousness. We are created as finite beings from the infinite. As we become finite we forget the infinity from which we came. We take on bodies of a particular form, with particular proclivities. We separate from the ocean and become individual life waves.

And what we see from that perspective is separateness and differentiation.

And that can become our focus. Instead of seeking connection, we focus on our differences.

Difference is a natural consequence of our manifestation. It is tricky, because at the surface, differences do make a difference – in ways that are both delightful, and problematic. Delightful are those differences where we appreciate other perspectives, ways of being, cultures. Problematic are differences when we elevate some beings and oppress others. And of course, there are some “different” behaviors that we must work to protect ourselves against when they are truly harmful, like perpetrating violence against other beings unnecessarily.

But I came to the conclusion long ago that ultimately the means to address these problems is to penetrate into people’s hearts, so that they experience the connection. We must recognize we are all from the same source, that we are connected to all beings, not just our family, our race, or our nation.

This is exactly why I quit my trajectory of becoming a social psychologist studying prejudice, and became a teacher of yoga and meditation. I sensed the need to work on these deeper levels. But we MUST work on ALL levels simultaneously. We must be active socially and politically. And ultimately that will come easier to the extent we can each connect to the underlying heart, and help create a society in which that is a societal norm. This is my hope and prayer today.

Reposing in the Heart

A beautiful Sanskrit phrase I learned from my teacher is “hridaya vishranti.” Some of you may remember that hridaya means heart. Vishranti means repose or rest. So hridaya vishranti is reposing in the heart, or perhaps taking refuge in the heart.

Heart here doesn’t mean our physical heart, or a romantic heart, or even the heart chakra. It is more like the center, like the heart of a tree. It is the essence, the core essence of everything. A poetic rendering of its meaning could be to repose into the arms of the Divine.

We each have an essence, core, innermost self. It is that part of us that is pure light and love, and unchanging. That part of our self that sits in the middle, silent and clear, as the rest of our chaotic world unfolds.

Vishranti, repose is such a beautiful concept. Could we relax into, allow ourselves to repose in our Self, our heart? Sometimes life feels exhausting, trying so hard to do all we want to do requires so much effort. Wouldn’t it be nice for it to feel more like a flow and less like a struggle?

For me, this is part of hridaya vishranti: to accept nourishment and support from a deeper source, to make it less about our individual will and more about channeling the Divine will.

What a wonderful idea! Drawing on our heart of hearts, not having to effort so much through our ego, or constantly try to manipulate our exterior world, but instead to feel authentically that we can rest assured that the heart will support and guide us. We can relax knowing this.

To authentically feel this, we need to make contact with that essence, and this is precisely what yoga, especially meditation, does. At the end of our yoga asana class, we physically repose in shavasana, and if you take a moment at the end you may palpably taste an increased centeredness and clarity. As we rest and repose in shavasana, our whole being integrates and assimilates the effects of our practice. We soak in the benefits of the practice which then colors our following activities, at least for a time.

And even so much more when we meditate. When we meditate, we align not only our body, but all of our being, our individuality becomes saturated with the qualities of fullness, love, and centeredness that is the essence of who we are. We have this place of refuge within us. As we meditate more and more, we become more steadfast in these qualities, reposing into the arms of the Divine.

Yoga is….

….. _________ . You fill in the blank.

I was internally prompted to write on this, and I found myself reviewing my trajectory of over 30 years of practice. I began with yoga asana, as many of us do, and discovered a wonderful grounding and embodiment of a sort I desperately needed. And I sensed there was a lot more.

So I explored philosophy for many years, first finding it impenetrable, yet I approached it as a practice, and begin to get some inklings of its profundity. It pointed me directly and repeatedly to meditation, and I was lucky to finally find a great teacher, Paul Muller-Ortega.

My meditation practice is the pinnacle of my journey, opening up my heart and life in ways I could not have imagined.

So what, of all these years of practice, is yoga? For me, if I had to encapsulate right now what yoga, it is these 5 things (moving from the outside in, then back out!).

a physical practice that keeps me embodied, grounded and healthy. My asana practice keeps my body nourished as I age.
An intellectual study of philosophy, of understanding a worldview I find compelling, and understanding the theory of the practice
MEDITATION. A daily practice of sitting to connect to my heart, the heart of everything.
Connection. Understanding and experiencing how everything is connected.
Acting/living on the basis of that connection.

So my working definition of yoga is: the practices that support, and the process of experiencing, the fundamental connective pulsation of the heart, and living from that connection.

Now, your turn. Yoga is …. ______________ .

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.