Nyaya of the Rosebud and the Rose
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As I walked through the neighborhood for the past couple of days, going from one place to another, I have seen hundreds of rosebuds. In enjoying the exquisite form of the buds before they open, I thought about the teaching I have heard from Paul Muller-Ortega of the rosebud and the rose.
The buds are lovely ad perfect in their on right, and at some level, we hate to see them go. But the rosebud itself must dissolve or be destroyed for us to get the rose. The transformation into the full-flowering of the rose requires the dissolution of the bud.
So too, with everything in life. When we can fully appreciate this cycle of dissolution as part of creation, we will be less attached in a way the leads us to be bound up in grief and loss, and instead find a fuller appreciation of whatever beauty is present in where we are in the cycle.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Making Your Practice an Offering to Yourself
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This morning, when I was walking to work, a young mother stood on the sidewalk talking with a friend. Her daughter, who was perhaps a little over a year and new to walking, lit up with a huge smile when I came within range. She dropped her mother’s hand and ran over to me, holding out a flower petal. That her hand was slightly grubby and the petal crumpled only made it more adorable.
Nearly eleven hours later, as I get ready to leave the office and head up to Takoma to teach a restorative yoga class, I find myself recalling the offering, with such innocence and joy, of the flower petal.
What we want to do with our practice and teaching is to have it be, at least on one level, such a spontaneous, delighted, and innocent offering that any perceived obstructions or interference with a sense of grace (such as a long hard work-day and attendant fatigue) dissolve. We can melt into the knowledge that practicing and making offering is just the right thing to bring us back to our own fullness (purna).
What we choose as the particulars of the practice, of course, will be tempered by our physical and mental condition.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
High Desert (and the Plains of Consciousness)
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I am not drawn to the desert. I prefer the lush fullness of a wetter climate, but the very otherness of the desert from my usual environment fills me with awe and appreciation for the immense variety of existence. I went to the desert on this trip because that is where my teacher was teaching, and the teachings were more important to me than any preference for visiting a particular outer landscape. One of the great benefits of combining intensive meditation with travel is that it can demonstrate at the most profound level that the infinitude of the inner landscape is the same no matter where we are and no matter what are the features of any outer landscapes we visit.
In Which I Learn a New Acronym While Away on Meditation Intensive
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On our last day of the intensive, many of us ended up talking about different upcoming events and opportunities for study, practice, and exploration. We all had many things that we would love to do. I do not think that I was alone in feeling twinges of longing when friends shared what gatherings or courses they were planning to attend or considering attending. We knew that we could not possibly fit it all into our lives.
My lovely and witty friend Emma said, “it’s just f.o.m.o.” That’s an acronym I had not heard even though I live in a town that flourishes on acronyms. “It’s ‘fear of missing out,’” Emma spelled out.
We never want to miss an opportunity to discover the secret, to learn the perfect piece of wisdom, to experience the most exquisite of delights. The reality is, though, that if we get caught up in the fear of missing out, that we undermine the possibility of experiencing the greatest possible happiness with what fits into our lives.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Happy Trails Highway
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What better route to head back home?
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Sometimes Just a Single Flower
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Sometimes, things seem dry. It is hard to imagine what we want truly flourishing. There is always, if we soften to witness, a single flowering that shows us it is worth continuing.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Balance of Stability and Freedom
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Last night, we were talking about the parameters of cultivating a steady and fruitful meditation practice, and Paul Muller-Ortega suggested that it was about the balance of stability and flexibility. He had learned the principle from a different source, but I have contemplated and explored the principle in depth from teachings I have received from John Friend.
A critical aspect of the Anusara alignment principles is to find the perfect balance of stability and freedom. We need stability to stay fully and safely in each pose. We need freedom to achieve the fullest and most delightful expression of the pose.
We find the stability both by making certain that we have established our foundation (which is an aspect of the first principle of opening to grace). By then using the three aspects of muscular energy–hugging the muscles to the bone, drawing into the midline, and drawing energy from the periphery to the focal point, we make possible an expansion of our edge, whatever that might be. Having a solid, aligned foundation and affirming our very core with these actions, gives us security and balance. We also want to reach out, to be playful, to expand to our fullest, which we do using the expansive, outreaching organic energy — from focal point to the periphery, from the midline to our outer edges, from the very marrow of our bones through bone, muscle, skin, and beyond.
If we over-emphasize (including natural inclination) stability, then we can get stuck. If we just let ourselves be free, then we end up all over the place. When these elements are perfectly balanced, we can safely find our deepest freedom of expression.
When I teach this principle as the focus of a class, I always invite my students to think of how important the balance of stability and freedom is for every aspect of our lives.
The discussion last night put this principle in the context of the regularity and steadiness of our practice, with the recognition that to stick with our practice, we will sometimes need to vary the time or amount of our practice, or what elements are included in the practice.
To get the fullest benefits of a practice (this applies to any practice and not just to meditation), we need to show up consistently and to practice in accordance with how we have been taught. To stay steady, though, we need to give ourselves the permission or freedom not to show up, or within appropriate parameters, to modify the practice when life gets in the way of what we think would be the ideal practice. If we think we have to do things at the exact time and place every day in a perfectly precise way, we become rigid. On the other hand, if we are loosey-goosey about it, then we do not have much of a practice and will not realize the benefits that we could get.
Where in your practice or life would more stability and steadiness give a field for greater freedom and happiness? Where could you give yourself a little more flexibility so that you feel that steadiness brings the possibility of joy, rather than tying you down?
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Cave of the Heart [Hridaya]
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“From your first meditation, you have walked into the cave of the heart. It is just that your inner eye takes some time to adjust to the dark.”. Paul Muller-Ortega, paraphrasing Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Found Exhortation
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Artha, Kama, Dharma, Moksha (and Politics)
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Last night, Paul Muller-Ortega, as part of the introductory talk for the meditation intensive, spoke at some length about the principles of ardha, kama, dharma, moksha.
As I have written about before, in the classical yoga view, it is the renunciation of the first three–material well-being, love and relationship, and right work or path, that leads us to the fourth–liberation. From a tantric yoga perspective, it is living and having the first three from the perspective of illuminated wisdom and discerning (viveka) insight (pratibha) that makes us free (jivanmukti) in this life.
One of the most exquisite things about a steady practice and study, is that each time we revisit a core concept, we hear and understand new aspects to bring into our lives.
When speaking of approaching these elemental aspects of human being, Paul noted that ardha includes not only material well-being, even wealth, but also the power that wealth brings and how we use it. Although he only mentioned that briefly amidst several other concepts, it really resonated with the current state of my being in relationship to the world and our country.
I have been contemplating deeply about wealth and power in this time of budget debate, and how they can and should be used to bring nurture, peace, and health to the maximum degree possible. (You might guess that I don’t think increasing spending for war and decreasing spending for education and health is going to bring us freedom).
Thinking about the power of money as part of our contemplation of our material well-being is something of critical importance at this time. If we shun or disdain in our minds wealth and power while still yearning for our own comforts, than we have lost an opportunity to bring the yoga principles into our lives as optimally as possible. (Of course, grasping and coveting money and power is completely destructive of the possibility of happiness, but most of us think about that, and it is why some say they are bad — money being the root of all evil, etc.).
If we are really in the world and want to be happy and to share and spread happiness, while living in accordance with the principles of the yamas and niyamas, especially the yamas: ahimsa, satya, aparigraha, brahmacharya, asteya (non-harming, truthfulness, non-greediness, aligning with spirit, and non-stealing), that is when we will start opening up the possibility of true living liberation.
Imagine, instead of thinking about material well-being as a “guilty pleasure” thinking of ways in which you can use your own well-being (and work through your practice to discover greater health and strength) to be a voice and power for good in your own individual way.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
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