Sliding Into Home part 1

The first 3 chapters mostly just give some background knowledge and content about the author, Kendra Wilkinson-Baskett, to lay foundation to the rest of the book.
Chapter 1- A Tale of Two Kendras is a flashback to her first night at the Playboy Mansion as a painted lady, cocktail server, Hugh Hefners 78th birthday, the night where he asked her to be his girlfriend and she said yes changing her whole life.
Chapter 2- No Room For Daddy goes back to when she was 3 years old. This chapter begins the speed of the book, highlighting her past, her childhood and adolences, all the events that led her to that life changing birthday party. To begin she goes in detail discussing the abandonment of her father and the strain it caused her family. Noteable events include her divorced maternal grandparents moving from New Jersey to San Diago to help her mother raise her and her brother. Also a moment of meditation occured when her father left them for good when she was about 5, and her mother took the kids out to bay where Kendra found herself surrounded by ladybugs and got so lost in their wonder that she forgot about her pain. It was also through her elementray years that she discovered her love of sports, specifically soccer and softball. It was also at age 7 that her rebellian began to surface when her babysitter informed her and her friend about sex and later the two girls were caught trying to imulate what they heard in Kendras closet.
Chapter 3- A Friend In Need, this chapter covers her last years of elementary school and her transition to middle school. This chapter mostly covers her struggle to fit in and feel accepted and her openess to befriend anyone. Such friends included elderly individuals in her community, a little boy with cancer (that sadly passed away when she was 8). And a little black girl, which taught her a valued lesson in life when Kendra discovered that there were no black Barbie dolls for her to give her friend during her birthday. She also learned to love others and how imprtant it is to not harm anyone physically or emotionally for she herself was often the victim of bully attacks. The end of the chapter she leaves elementary school and sets up the following chapter with her journey to middle school.

Thank you: forgive and forget

Someone recently made a very good point that I felt inspired to share with all of you:
We are taught to forgive and forget, most already know that the forgetting and letting go is hard, and that forgiving is a challenge, but more or less easy. What we do not often think about though is the most challenging act of all is thankfulness. To really accept all the 'bad' or 'negative' events in your life and in the world and to realize that it is good and necessary and to truely be greatful for all events, 'good' or 'bad'.

New Month - November Summary

'Flicking on the Light' - I discuss the ilumination that is yoga.
'Do You Know?'- Do you know that you are a gift?
'Shavasana'- Rolf Gates insights on the end of moments and how to endure loss.
'Yoga Limbs Breakdown'- Discussing the physicial and metaphysical differences between the first 4 and the last 4 limbs.
'Join Stephanie's Yoga Book Club'- A little plug about my new blog.
'MirrorMirror'- A beautifully inspiring quote from an adorable children's film.
'Principle 15'- still plugging away at breaking down Jack Kornfield's psychology of yoga.
'Yoga is not Serious'- A link to one of my Youtube Vlog posts.
'Almost Thanksgiving'- A request to hear you share what you are thankful for.
'We Are What We Think'- A quote by Sathya Sai Baba, insights on the power we have to create our lives.
'Happy Thanksgiving'- I shared my Thanksgiving prayer.

Welp that November, stayed tuned for the end of the year, Dec 2012 =)

Namaste,
Stephanie

Book Club Update

Welp I have the page made, still working on some kinks, my internet is really slow, might have a bug.. but anywho not sure how my page looks from your view if it shows my other blog or not, so just incase you can find it here: stephaniesyogabookclub.blogspot.com

Update

Been in a teacher training session all weekend and been working hard, tomm I will get everything caught up with the end of the month summary and share with you all my book club page and a new youtube video...so check it out =)

Also please either here, on youtube, or facebook, leave me comments positive or negative, leave me messages on facebook or via my email, I would love to get more connected with all of you.

Thank you so much for the love and support. You all are amazing and you are the inspiration behind my life and what I do. =)

Much love,
Stephanie <3

Dear Anonymous

That you for the comment, and you CAN achieve that through yoga, so where ever you are I suggest you do sign up =)

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

I am thankful for: anguish, hate, evil and death.
I am thankful for anguis because without it we wouldn't have compassion.
I am thankful for hate, because without it we wouldn't have love.
I am thankful for evil, because without it we wouldn't have the ability to triumph over obsticals.
I am thankful for death, because without it life wouldn't be as sweet, wonderful, meaningful and worth living every moment fully for all the das we are here.
And finally I am thankful for this, right here, right now, this moment, this family, this life and the ability to share and experience it all with you.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

We Are What We Think

'We are what we think
All that we are..arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts...we make|design|manifest our world.
When we add feelings|passion to our thoughts...they begin to form.
Speak or act with a negative mind...and trouble will follow you.
We are what we think.
Speak or act with a pure and positive mind, and happiness will follow you as your shadow.
How can a troubled mind understand 'the way'?
Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own thoughts, unguarded.
But, once mastered, no one can help you as much.
If we want to change our outer environment in our favor then we have to change the thoughts we regularly entertain, when our inner thoughts are wise we conquer the outer world quiet easily.
You are your best teacher!' - Sathya Sai Baba

Almost Thanksgiving

Tell me: what are you thankful for?


(You can post a comment here or on my facebook, or email your response to: stephaniesyoga@yahoo.com)

Please respond

Yoga is not Serious

Principle 15-

Been a while since I've written about the Yoga Psychology according to Jack Cornfield. To be honest its part of why posts have been scarce. I had the idea to write each of them back to back so if someone were to scroll through the posts they would all be together and in order, but some days I just didn't want to write about the Principles, I wanted to post videos, or songs, or my own words, and I stopped myself says I have to wait til the principles are done. And that of course all came from my ego, when I recognized that I realized its ok to write things out of order, as long as things are labeled they still can be found. =)

So dusting myself off here is Principle 15-
'Delusion misunderstands the world and forgets who we are. Delusion gives rise to all unhealthy states. Free yourself from delusion and see with wisdom.'
Rather apropo, wouldn't you say? ;)
Great quote that captures the essence of this is: 'We were brainwashed.' By Marianne Williamson
Rolf Gates continues upon this in saying: 'We come to our mats as the sum total of all the beliefs we have ever encountered, absorbed, rejected, or lived. Our imaginations are like swollen rivers, flooded with the falsehoods of the ages as they have been passed on to us across the generations. Who we are, who everyone else is, and what we can be - all are defined by this river, which is no of our making.'

We live in a world that is not real every day, like Neo in the Matrix we choose to get uplugged and wake up. Not all of our delusions are necessarily harmful, its just that none of them are helpful. Everyone walks around in their own heads in their own little self created worlds. We think about our past, fantisize our future, we live in fear of things we don't know because someone has told us its harmful or bad. In further Rolf Gates words: 'There are as many scripts as stars in the sky, and none of them are true...' 'We have the habit of doing what our family, culture, friends and spouse think is right, and we have to train ourselves instead to listen.'

Would you rather be you, or everyone else?

'Either we can continue to bob along on the river of our imagination or we can make our way to the shore, observe the river for a while, and then just walk away. ... For today, allow your practice to deliver you from your imagination and into the light.'

When you make the choice to wake up, to free yourself of the many delusions that fill your day (such as 'i can't blog if the principles aren't done.' or 'i can't talk to that guy|girl over there because they would never like me' or 'i am the best swimmer' and give up all training to be faster or smoother or develope new moves... delusions such as 'im anger so I can't be happy' or 'im married so I have to stick it out' and on and on, all our little stories that rattle in our heads all day long.) You can free yourself of the burden and emotional termoil when you choose to know that you can.

Discover your voice, then let it be heard! =)

MirrorMirro

'People think you can't be tall if you're short.
That you can't be strong if you're not.
A weakness is only a weakness if you think of it that way.'

Strong words from the film Mirror Mirror... we should all carry these with us!

Join Stephanie's Yoga Book Club

Hi everyone! I am very excited about this new project I am working on, it is a web based book club! At the beginning of each month I will post the book that I am reading and at the end of the month we will be able to share thoughts and comments together about the read, get a nice forum and dialogue going. I am so excited to interact with you, get your voices out there, really share and build this community further.
For more updates and information keep your eyes on this site, or as always you may refere to my website: www.stephaniesyoga.com

Thank you so much, I love you all!
Namaste,
Stephanie <3

Yoga Limbs Breakdown

Quoting Rolf Gates again, 'The limbs of tapas, or action, bind us to the moment. They are actions taken or not taken in the present. The yamas do away with those negative actions that create remorse about the past and fear about the future. The niyamas take the energy freed up by the yamas and channel it into actions that promote health in ourselves and others. The asana simultaneously teach us to stay with the matter at hand, while deconstructing the personality flaws that induced us to hide out in our imaginations in the first place. Pranayama trains the mind to concentrate on one point while further refining our physical and emotional health. Consistent practice of these four limbs teaches us to live in the moment.'

Shavasana

Shavasana is corspe pose in yoga, the finale at the end of a long class, the death of your current yoga practice to help you transition to the birth of your next daily activity. Rolf Gates thoughts on this final pose: 'What Seneca taught me was that an adult lives many lives. We invest years in a moment, and then that moment passes and we must be willing to let it go, so as to be able to embrace the next moment. A study on longevity found that the common thread among those who live long is their ablility to endure loss. This is the lesson of shavasana. We embrace the moment with all we have, and when the moment is over we step back and let go.'

Do you know?

Do you know that you are a gift?
Not asking if you are a gift.. I'm asking if you know that YOU ARE a gift.

Flicking on the Lightswitch

For me life without Yoga is like sittle huddled in the corn of dark room alone, not knowing that all you need to do is reach your arm up and flick on the lightswitch. Yoga is that lightswitch, it brings darkness to light, awareness to the unknown, it will help you see what's in front of you so you can better find your way. =)

posted from Bloggeroid

Just a thought about Growth

If you are merely informed about how to solve your problems, there is no emotional discovery linked to it. Without emotional discoveries, there can be no growth. The basis of growth revolves around setting reasonable goals for ourselves and our lives.

posted from Bloggeroid

Attention!!!!!!

If you don't have a yoga practice, don't even intend to have one, or don't practice as strongly as you would like... EVERYONE! every moment of everyday, to help your bodies out, keep your tail bone tucked under, and keep your shoulders moving down away from your ears, keep your spines strong and tall and breathe in and out deep in your belly!
=)

posted from Bloggeroid

The Good Girl's Guide to Bad Girl Sex

'The Good Girl's guide to Bad Girl Sex' is a book written by Dr. Barbara Keesling. I know, very random for this blog some of you may think. The skinny: my twin is moving across the country, and being unable to carry all of her belongings on a plane, she has given me many of her possessions, this book being one of them. It has a cute fun fresh cover on it, being 25 and married, having a healthy sexual appetite and sex life of my own, I simply started to read the book out of curiousity and for entertainment. I'm sharing this with you now because there is a passage I feel applies to all of us in our lives, for our everyday struggles, not just with our secxuality. :

' "When animal handlers begin working with baby elephants that are being trained for the circus, they drive heavy stakes into the ground to which they tether the baby elephants by a chain (sort of like a dog on a leash) so that they can't run away. The untrained baby elephant strains agains the chain at first in its natural rambunctions state, trying to break free. After several weeks though, the elephant stops testing the chain, having learned that its struggle against the restraint is futile. As the animal grows, the handlers contiue to 'stake' the elephant. Even though the elephant soon grows to a size that would allow it to easily pull the stake from the ground and run free, it has long since stopped trying. The elephant is convinced that the stake is stronger that it is, and has lost the will to even try. Psychologists call the 'learned helplessness.' "
'Mant of us are not that different from the baby circus elephants. We are still tethered to the past by old, outdated modes of behavior that were forced upon us when we were young and impressionable - still committed to being "little". We have forgotten that we are big and strong now, with the power to break free of the chains of the past and choose our own destiny. You are big and strong. You can break free from the past. You will be who YOU want to be. Say it out loud!'

So go be free everyone =)
Love you All!
~Stephanie

posted from Bloggeroid

Dancer's Yoga Series

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpWohBSs-vP5A6dtYktCX3YPrE92ZnySk

The Seriousness of Yoga

I just wanted to take some time to clear a misnomer up about yoga: Its Not Serious! Its ok to lighten up, to smile, to laugh, its SUPPOSED to be fun! So by all means enjoy it, and enjoy yourself. Feel free to get goofy and playful and creative. Yoga is about letting go, relaxing, and lightening up, and getting in tune with our true self and connecting and sharing with others. So be bold and put a smile on your face next time you are in class or practicing alone at home! *^_^*

(haha and speaking of celebs that love yoga, that bright smiling face is that of Reese Witherspoon =P)

Frequently Asked Yoga Questions

So I continue to be asked yoga basic questions, figured it might be a clever idea to post some answers on the world wide web.. so here you have it *^_^* :

1.	What is Yoga?
	There are 8 versions of yoga: Yama :  Universal morality Niyama :  Personal observances Asanas :  Body postures Pranayama :  Breathing exercises, and control of prana Pratyahara :  Control of the senses Dharana :  Concentration and cultivating inner perceptual awareness Dhyana :  Devotion, Meditation on the Divine Samadhi :  Union with the Divine

2.	Do you have to be of a specific religion to do Yoga?
	This is the one question I get asked the most, and the answer is simple: NO! You do not have to have any specific relgious or spiritual requirements to practice yoga. Also it does not conflict with any religion or spiritual practice that you currently have.

3.	What do i bring to class? What do I wear?
	I have a loner mat that I can bring if you do not have one. Other than that items you will need would include a washcloth, and water (and mat if you already own one). And thats it! its that simple. As far as clothing goes, there is no such thing as a yoga uniform. Just wear whatever inspires you, whatever you feel comfortable in.

4.	Im not flexible, can I do Yoga?
	YES! Yoga is perfect for everyone, no matter your age, weigh, or current health, if you can move and breathe, you can do yoga!

5.	Why am I supposed to wait 2 or 3 hours after eating to do Yoga?
	In Yoga we twist from side to side, turn upside down, and bend forward and backward. If you have not fully digested your last meal, it will make you uncomfortable. If you are a person with a fast-acting digestive system  experiment with a light snack about 30 minutes to an hour before class.

6.	How often should I practice?
	Practice as often as you like. Unlike bootcamp, or weight training, long breaks are not needed. If you love working out, then practice as often as you like, you can practice up to twice a day everyday. For other with a busy schedule, even if you just have a single one-hour session in your whole week you will feel adn see the benefits of Yoga!

Inspirational Words

My inspirational words of the day are 'why' and 'not', putting them together you get 'why not'. A question and an answer to endless possibilities! So today when someone asks you something, try responding with 'why not' and live a little!
Much love everyone!
Namaste,
~Stephanie

posted from Bloggeroid

Celebrities that LOVE Yoga!

Kendra Wilkinson (star of: Girls Next Door, Kendra, and Kendra on Top) raves about yoga on her own website:
http://kendrawilkinson.com/blog/post/get-your-yoga-on

' Get Your Yoga On Jun 18, 2012 at 9:57am by Kendra

Getting and staying in shape can be really tough, especially after having a baby, but I’ve found that yoga can do wonders for both your body and your spirit. Hank and I are huge fans of Bikram Yoga, which is a hot yoga series performed in a room that’s heated to over 100 degrees! It sounds crazy, but the heated room is great for relieving stress and tension while you go in and out of poses, and I love just how focused I get during these intense, challenging classes.

Yoga’s already a great way to get lean muscles and build up your strength while staying toned, but the extra calories you burn while doing the poses in the hot studio is definitely worth the extra sweat. You can learn more about Bikram Yoga and find a class in your town here.

How are you staying fit this summer? Love, Kendra'

Kate Beckinsale (the action star who's tight legs and flat tummy we all secretly envy) discusses her success with Yoga in a Women's Health interview:

http://www.womenshealthmag.com/life/kate-beckinsale

Although Kate wasn't a fan of the workoutsand luckily, never threw up in a gym trash can--she kept them up, and her efforts paid off when she was cast in 2003's Underworld. It was this gothic flick that first turned her into an unlikely action star (it was also where she met her husband, writer and director Len Wiseman) and the first of three movies in which she has played Selene, a vampire who hunts werewolves while wearing a skintight latex suit.

Despite her hard-won hard body, Kate had one slight problem when she began filming: In many ways she was still that same girl who tried to escape gym classand she didn't exactly move with athletic prowess. In fact, she says she couldn't even run. "I mean, I could run if a bear were chasing me, but I ran like a girl with my arms like this," she says, flailing goofily. "The day they asked me to try a few punches, it was dismal. All I could see was despair in the stunt coordinator's face."

But Kate was a quick study, and the rest is action-hero history. The intense gym workouts, however, are no more; after hurting her back about four or five years ago, Kate traded them for a yoga-based routine. "I'd gotten particularly sick of being photographed outside a gym doing a squat with a medicine ball," she jokes. She also practices qigong, a discipline involving controlled breathing and fluid movements that's similar to tai chi.

In addition to making her physically strong, yoga and qigong help Kate relax. That's important to her because, for one thing, she does a lot more onscreen than kick butt. (Her next project, The Trials of Cate McCall, is a drama.) Plus, Kate says she's the kind of person who tends to worry about everything, and with her daughter, Lily, now in her teens . . . well . . . a little extra calm can't hurt. (Lily's father is actor Michael Sheen, with whom Kate had a long-term relationship.)'

More quotes from the actress herself :

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-3682/Kate-Beckinsale-Credits-Yoga-for-Body.html

'38-year-old actress, Kate Beckinsale, credits her daily yoga practice for her superstar figure. Can you guess which part of yoga class is Kate's favorite?

Savasana!

News.com reports that Kate loves savasana. She jokingly says:

“There’s a carrot at the end - I get to lie down for 10 minutes. If that part didn’t exist, I wouldn’t do it.”

Yoga was initially a tough sell for Kate, but she soon fell in love with her practice and says yoga is responsible for her famous figure:

“I always hated the idea of it - yoga and golf are similar in that people can become obsessive and boring about it. I never thought that would be me, but I do feel a lot better [for doing it]. And a happy side effect is that it lifts my bottom.”

Namaste to that!

Published December 19, 2011 at 6:15 AM'

posted from Bloggeroid

Principle 14

14- 'If we cling to anger or hatred, we will suffer. It is possible to respond strongly, wisely, and compassionately without hatred.'

I don't feel complelled to disect this principle too indepth, its rather self explanitory =) its very evident that negative thoughts, feelings, responses and reaction create more suffering for ourselves and those around us, and no one enjoys suffering. We all must learn to relax, breathe, notice our anger, and then let it go, responding rationally and intellegently by our own choice, instead of succubing to the wave of negative emotions. =)

posted from Bloggeroid

Principle 13

13 - 'There are both healthy desires and unhealthy desires. Know the difference. Then find freedom in their midst.'

Now when we talk about desires in this context, they are desires in the realm of wanting a chocolate day vs eating healthy, or staying up late verses sleeping properly, this is not a post about obvious unhealthy desires such as hurting ones self or others in a violent fashion. Within the realm of day to day thoughts and desires, we have heathy and unheathy wants, some are border each other so closley it can be a challenge to disern which is which. We go around wanting and wanting and wanting, all we ever really think about is what we want, from life dreams and goals, down to whether or not we want to get off the couch and wash our teeth after dinner.
Step one: just observe the thoughts that fly through your head all day long. To begin, just notice all your thoughts for 1 minute, then in your meditations practice noticing your thoughts (aka your wants) for 20 min, then 30, the 45 then 60. Soon you'll be able to just notice your thoughts through out your day.
Step 2- once you are able to notice your thoughts, without judgement, you'll start to pick up on the patterns of what is healthy (for yourself and others) and what is not. Again a visual: the difference between healthy and unhealthy is as subtle as your mood. For instance, we often get cranky, or fussy, bitchy, moody, pissed off, depressed, and when we get in these emotional states we tend to stay there for hours, maybe days, why? because we want to! Let's face it, we are only as happy or as miserable as we want to be (refer back to my hospice post). If we didn't want to be upset, then we wouldn't be. We find ourselves 'stuck' by our own doing. This is an example of an unhealthy desire, the desire to just 'sit there and take it' to not 'get over it'.
Step 3- freedom! Once we have accepted we have desires all day everyday, when we can observe them and decern one from the other, then we can free ourselves from their grasp and control!

posted from Bloggeroid

Principle 12

Back to the 26 Principles of Buddhist Philosophy =)
No. 12 - 'The unhealthy patterns of our personality can be recognized and transformed into a healthy expression of our natural temperament.'

What this is saying is do not judge yourself, blame yourself, beat yourself down or punish yourself for your negative thought patterns. Example if you get cut off in traffic and think 'that jerk', then fine ok, you had a reaction, you don't need to make the situation worse by making yourself wrong for it. Then once we accept our humaity, accept our 'flaws' and love ourselves with them, (going back to that acceptance post) then you can make healthy changes if you wish.
So if you would like to shift what's naturally occuring, allow it to still be natural, when a 'negative' though comes up like 'i feel bloated today' you can then say right after 'my eyes look really stunning' or 'i am strong and confident, and will rock my meeting' or simply 'i am beautiful'. Or if you think 'that jerk' you can continue on with positive thoughts like 'maybe he didn't see me' or 'this road leads to the hospital, maybe they are in a hurray there to help someone' or 'maybe they are having a bad day, I want to wish them love and kindness, hope they find what they are looking for soon.' And on and so forth.
We go to the Dr. for body health and the dentist for oral health, keeping our thoughts postive will keep our minds in better health!

Much love everyone, keep it positive, stay healthy!

posted from Bloggeroid

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I'm on Youtube!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQHOrsbQ9t4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

posted from Bloggeroid

Happy Fall!

Hurray, September 1st! Thank you all for allowing me to take a month off, have a little summer vacation =)
I'm excited to be back!
For those of you who haven't heard yet, I'm working at Breathe Yoga and Massage Vancouver, first week of yoga is free, some stop on by and check it out, the space is lovely and the people become instant family! =)

posted from Bloggeroid

New Month- July Summary

So for this past month and continuing this month I have been slash will be covering The Principles of Buddhist Psychology. So far last month I got throught 1 to 11. In between there were 5 other posts made.

First was Firework where for the 4th of July I posted the Katy Perry lyrics and video.

Second was Curing Disease where I posted a quote from Amy L. a Rolf Gates student sharing how her fibroystic breast disease was cured through practicing yoga.

Third was I Was At Camp which was a life update of mine.

Fourth was Meditations From the Mat Day 209 covering the importance of working with things as they are.

The last was Acceptance where I highlighted what acceptance really means.

So thank you for following..and on to the remaining 15 Principles =)

posted from Bloggeroid

Acceptance

So I thought it might be keen to take a pause and focus on acceptance for a little bit. It is a subject that comes up a lot in my posts and I thought I would make it clear what it really means. Most people hear they have to accept something and that translates into they are stuck with it so they need to suck it up and just take it. But that's not at all what acceptance is, that's victimization, we don't want that! What acceptance is is acknowledgement of what is to be either at ease with it or to make a stand for change. In rehab they say 'acceptance is the first step to recovery' 'admitting you have a problem'. That's not just words for 'druggies' to listen to, its solid advice and wisdom for us all.
Here is a little demenstration of what I'm talking about: so i , since I was 15 or so, have been growing these, well what I call 'Witch Hairs'. I have 3 really long, curly, scary looking hairs, one the jets out from the center of my neck, and one on the top of each of my shoulders. Now I could be in denial and be offended and shocked when and if someone ever points them out or says something about them, or I can acknowledge that yes they do exhist, and accept that fact. Now its after acceptance that we can either be at ease or make a change. So I could accept that I have them, shrug my shoulders and if someone points them out be proud and say 'yeah, so?' without having attitude or being hostil or mean but really just being at5 ease and ok with their exhistance on me. Or after I accept they exhist I can just remember to pluck them once a month, no biggie. That is acceptance. Only true change and development can occure after we've learned to acknowledge and accept what is!

posted from Bloggeroid

Principle 11-

Not really sure why this one was not grouped with or next to Principle 6, it is rather similar. 6 to refresh you stated: Our life has universal and personal nature. Both dimensions must be respected if we are to be happy and free. Now for 11:

11- There is a personal and universal uncounscious. Turning awareness to the unconscious brings understanding and freedom.
Now just to point out, when we are aware of something it doesn't mean we become that or become aware of that. As I said yesterday we are not to become cold and distant like Vulcans nor be mindless drones like the Borg. So this is not saying we are to shut down and be unconscious. Its saying that we already are. To become aware of this, to observe it, to know it, respect it and accept it only then can we become awake where we need to or just let go of the suffering of control where we need to.
If there is Consiousness, or enlightenment, or being Awake, then like yin and yan the balance of the universe, there is the unconscious. In our personal lives we are blind, or unconsious, to many things about ourselves, our family, our neighborhoods, and the rest of the globe. Society as a whole, or even narrowing down to nations, communities or groups will have there own blindspots, or be unconsious, to manythings within there structure\system, to neighboring structures\systems, to the rest of humanity. Whether individually or universally this blindspot is commonly refered to as Ego. Where fear and desire are incontrol all the time, hurting, 'protecting' and blaming. The endless battle of 'im right and your wrong'. This false idea of thinking we have control, and our struggle to over power and obtain more control. A good question onced asked, how can we control anything, if we can't even control our own emotions?

A passage from Deepak Chopra: 'Buddha saw that suffering and evil are rooted in a mistake about how life works.'

Rolf Gates highlights this thought further in saying: 'The first affliction, the one from which all the others flow, is our mistaken view about how life works. We do not know who we are, and therefore we make poor choices about how to proceed. Accoding to yoga, the mistake we make is to identify with the external.
'In macrocosm, this can be seen when countries struggle with past wrongdoing. Elements within Fench society today, for example, are unable to come to terms with the Vichy government's culpability in the death of over three hundres thousand French Jews during World War II. Identified with a false image of France, they cannot simply say, "We were dreadfully wrong, and we are terribly sorry." To do so would be to overturn their image of France, and thereby unalterably change their understanding of themselves. And so, for the last half century, there has been a concerted effort within France to deny and repress the thruth of French treatment of Jewish citizens during the war.
'On the personal level, we arrive on our mats identified with the results of our actions. We are good if we "win", bad if we "lose". We compete with the students to the left and right of us. We bask in the glory of a good day, are crushed by the ignominy of a bad one.
'The emptiness of all this striving to control reality stems from the emptiness of our vision of who we are. The fall of Adam and Eve occured when they began to believe that they were seperate from God. Pollution, war, greed, and hate began when we stopped believing that we are one with all things. You are not your fingers ot your hamstrings ot this book. You are that which is understanding this book and which pervades all things. That is God, you are God, and you share God with all beings. Our time on the mat is a long journey from the idea of separation to the idea of connectedness. Our experiences on the mat, our reactions, our fears and desires are opportunities to find out who we are and who we are not.'

I think he wrapped this up rather nicely. I'm not going to quote these books in this post, however I Highly suggest reading the books 'A New Earth- Awakening to Your Life's Purpose' by Eckhart Tolle, and 'Bhagavad Gita- A New Translation' as translated by Stephen Mitchell to get a clearer, fuller understanding on the Ego, and about letting go of 'right' and 'wrong', 'good' and 'bad'.

Also remember, even those that are Awake are still human, still prone to drinking, swearing, sexing, and bellyaching, because all life is beautiful, ever faset of life is beautiful, if it were a mistake then it would not be.

posted from Bloggeroid

Principles 9 and 10-

9- Wisdom knows what feelings are present without being lost in them.

10- Thoughts are often one-sided and untrue. Learn to be minful of thought instead of being lost in it.

So our thoughts and feelings often go hand in hand. But what does it mean to not get lost in them, and why would that be an important philosophy?

So in Yoga some get confused thinking we have to be like Vulcans and tune out emotions being cold and calculated and this equals mindfulness... but nope, tis not the case. If anything in Yoga you become more in touch with your feelings then a teenage girl, its just that through patience and acceptence and steady practice, you can feel your feels, experience them fully and apprieciate them for what they are, then let them go and continue on with the rest of your day full of new emotions and experiences. Someone pointed out to me once that the first 10 seconds of emotions are pure reaction and impluse a chemical reaction to whatever we are experiencing, but everything after that we control. We have the say on if a car crash leaves us crying and 'freaking out' for hours afterward, we control if an orgasim leaves us 'beaming' the rest of the day, we choose to suffer or feel bliss everyday. I know its hard for most people to accept this fact, but it is just that, a scientific and psychological fact.

As far as our thoughts go, I've mentioned in posts before how our thoughts a fantasies and more often than not they are lies. Since we are the only person in our head, we say what is fact or fiction, we make up stories about everything we see, hear, learn or experience. Take that car crash for example, when police gather up the reports of the eye witnesses, 10 different people witnessing the same event can say 10 different accounts of what happened. Often when we get in a fight with a significant other or a family member or boss we fight over miscommunication most of the time because when Person A tells Person B to do something Person B can interperate Person A's words over a 1000 different ways. For a personal example, if my husband comes home and sleeps after work the fact is he is coming home to sleep after work, but what my brain or Ego will do is make up a story and say something like he doesn't want to see me right now. Now this could be true or false, but unless my husband says 'i don't want to see you right now' it can not be labeled as a fact, the fact is he is going to sleep, anything else determined from that without him saying or doing anything else, is just my head making up a story. So knowing that we do this can free us from a lot of headaches and heartaches in life.

Feelings and thoughts, bottom line we have control, whether we accept this fact or not we do, however when we accept this, we can shift our lives dramatically, and only then will we be able to do or be whatever or whoever we want! =)

posted from Bloggeroid

Meditations From The Mat - Day 209

'What we need to do is to recognize Inner Nature and work with Things As They Are. When we don't, we get into trouble. - Benjamin Hoff

'Desire is the wish for things to be not as they are. What is wrong with that? In a culture that reveres progress, working with things as they are sounds depressingly like fatalkism. Did Martin Luther King Jr. work with things as they are? Did Helen Keller work with things as they are? Did Rocky? Well, yes, they did, actually. Dwelling in the real, individuals who accomplish great deeds demonstrate what is possible, demonstrating how t5hings are. There is nothing fatalistic about working with things as they are. Fatalism begins when we leave the present, when we forsake the real in favor of our imaginations. Within the real lie the seeds of all our dreams. As we accept and connect with the postures that are hard for us, we find understanding that leads to mastery. That is working with things as they are.'

posted from Bloggeroid

Principles 7 and 8

7- Mindful attention to any experience is liberating. Mindfulness brings perspective, balance, and freedom.
8- Mindfulness of the body allows us to live fully. It brings healing, wisdom, and freedom.

I grouped these two together because they are almost talking about the samething. Number 8 gets a little more specific hinting at doing physical yoga, and looking out for toxins in the body, everything from what we eat, to the karma in our lives.
Number 7, mindfulness of our experiences in life, includes the physical body and everything around it. Most of us tend to go through life on auto pilot.. which can be very basic such as wake up, eat, go to school|work, come home, eat, sleep (showering and toileting in between), or it can be far more complicated such as letting media, family, bosses or friends controlling your decisions in life, or letting your emotions over power you, etc. Being mindful will ensure that you'll never be a victim of anything or anyone as long as you live. When you become aware of yourself, your moods and reactions, your interacts with people, your thought patterns, your habits, your relationships will change. Now there is a difference between being in control, and being Aware. Being in control is an illusion as I've stated before, creates choas and suffering, but to be Aware is to be free, is to be liberated.
We have the power to be Awake any moment of our choosing, but for those that need to climb metiphorical (sp) ladders to feel they've achieved something, or deserve something in order to get to being Awake, I suggest taking a meditation course, or reading anything by: Rolf Gates, Jack Kornfield, B.K.S. Iyengar, Thich Nhat Hanh, Sally Kempton, or Elizabeth Gilbert.

You are beautiful, you derserve respect, happiness, liberation and freedom, give yourself permission to wake up and experience it! Its your life, you're the one who has to live it, don't let anyone hold you back! =)

Love you all!

posted from Bloggeroid

Principle 6

6 - Our life has universal and personal nature. Both dimensions must be respected if we are to be happy and free.

Balance, balance, balance, balance, balance. All life is about: Balance! In Yoga you have the 8-limb path: 1.Yamas (the five moral restraints including: nonviolence, truthfulness, nonstealing, moderation and nonhoarding), 2. Niyamas (the five observances: purity, contentment, zeal, selfstudy, and devotion to a high power), 3. Asana (the physicial postures), 4. Pranayama (mindful breathing: inhaling and exhaling in specific ways), 5. Pratyahara (turning inward, reflections of the Self), 6. Dharana (concentration, the corner stone to meditation), 7. Dyana (meditation), and finally 8. Samadhi (union of the Self with object of meditation, aka bliss or nirvana or enlightenment).

Universal and personal nature is the difference between doing what you need to for yourselve verses the collective. Sounds like the Borg from Star Trek I know, but its not quite so zombie_esq. In Yoga and Buddhism the belief is there is an overall Consciousness and in every individual is an individual Consciousness that is a piece of the whole Consciousness. And when it is said we are all connected, as discussed before it doesn't mean cutting my arm will cause you to bleed, but it means we are all part of a structure, a network, we wouldn't have food if not for the grocers and the farmers. So to have balance in life we must do right by ourselves for ourselves meeting our needs and desires, without being selfish and neglecting the world we live in.

So respect yourself, respect your home, respect your family, respect your neighbor, respect your country, respect the globe. =)

Namaste everyone,
Love you all,
Stephanie!

posted from Bloggeroid

Principle 5-

5 - Our ideas of self are created by identification. The less we cling to ideas of self, the freer and happier we will be.

Basically our lives, worlds, realities are all fake! 'All the world is a stage, and we merely players' - William S. Its true, we are always trying to 'save face' to play a role or a part, whether it be 'mother' or 'rebal' or 'atrist' 'chef' 'teacher' 'student' 'emo' 'punk' 'blood' 'crypt' etc... we are always being something to someone. But then once we take off all our different hats, who are we? You might say something like, I am Mary, I am 34, mother of 2, a Graphic Designer and I am diveorced and recently Christian again...or something similar to that..but even that identification is ego.. its a lie, a safety blanket. The real you is inside patently waiting to be seen. There is Consciousness and there is Ego. Ego is helpful, it tells you when to breath and eat, when to notice danger, even when to fall in love. You can survive only knowing and using your ego your whole life, but you wouldn't be really living. Your Consciousness like I said is waiting patently not because its stuck up, but because it doesn't rly care. The Ego is the 'attention whore', Consciousness is peaceful and content whether you tap into it or not. Its just sitting there as an option for you to use. (Now you don't really have 2 beings or people inside you, I just find talking about them like people is just a helpful visual aid).
I asked earlier who are you really. Who are you when you remove all your hats. You are Awake. Your Cconsciousness is always there. When we meditate or practice the physical postures of yoga, we are tapping into our Consciousness and learning how to open its presence into our lives, shifting our being to that of enlightnement and peace.
If we are always struggling to defend our Ego to say I am this and I am not that, to always get people to see something specific about us, and to feel hurt, overwhelmed, heartbroken, depressed or defeated when they don't... then we are doomed to misery. If we are Awake, then we will learn it really does not matter what people say or think about us good or bad, because we will truly know our value and who we are and shall never again suffer at the words of others

posted from Bloggeroid

I Was At Camp

Sorry everyone for the silence, I was volunteering to be a counsoler at a Jr High Girls Camp and my phone could not tap into the weak wi fi signal. So instead of sending like what 8 days worth of Buddhist Principles at once ill just start the count where I left off and do them one at a time to not overwhelm myself nor those reading my posts =)

posted from Bloggeroid

Principle 4

4 - Recognize the mental states that fill consciousness. Shift from unhealthy states to healthy ones.

Rolf Gates had written: 'I often lose sight of this. My practice becomes an obligation, a necessity, yet another thing to knock off my to-do list. When I approach my practice with this attitude, not only is it a whole lot less fun, but I am also missing the point. A fundamental principle of yoga is that the conjuction of the seer (us) with the seen (life) is intended to be educational. Our entire lives are one big lesson. In microsom, our time spent on the mat is meant to be an exercise in self-study, or svadhyaya. ... the divine spark, the magic, the beauty that we yearn for are our own. This is what we are studying, and the asana are our classroom.'

This just highlights an example of an unhealthy state of mind, where he had a poor attitude about what he was doing, he then recognized he was thinking this way and how it was negatively affecting him and his practice and then he made the choice to shift his mental state to a healthy postive one.

Sure i,or Google, could give you lists full of healthy and unhealthy states, but the main point is you know if how you are thinking is causing you or your experience or others around you to not feel your best|their best, then its apparent that the opposite mindset will give you and others the opposite reaction.

As Honey Nut Cheerios says: 'Bee happy, bee healthy!'

posted from Bloggeroid

Principle 3

3 - When we shift attention from experience to the spacious consciousness that knows, wisdom arises.

'What could it mean to be beyond right and wrong, beyond good and bad? Wouldn't that just lead to chaos? What would be the principle upon which human beings lived? What would keep us from acting in unkind and hurtful ways? But of course, those kinds of questions come from the limitations of egoic consciousness, which is an expression of relativity. Egoic consciousness can't even imagine another state. All it can do is project its own understanding of another state, but it can never actually attain it. Spiritual awakening isn't for our egos. Its for our deeper, inner nature. Its for the source and substance of what we really are. ...

'Very few people understand what true nonseperation is, but this is the invitation that's offered to us in any moment: that who we are is everything and nothing, and far beyond them both. The Heaven we've been looking for is here now, that very place that we've been looking from. Of course the mind will say, "It can't be! What about all the pain and sorrow and suffering?" The dualistic mind deeply wants, and it deeply believes, that ultimate reality has to be something other that this, but of course, if its all one, then its all one, and it includes everything. It is not necessary that we continue to experience suffering, despair, and conflict. These things are merely the product of a state of confusion, of being identified with a very small piece of the mind.

'So its not necessarily a fact that life is destined to include suffering, strife, and sorrow, but neither is life made to be perfect and absolutely heavenly, because neither one of those are the truth. What's real is beyond them both. And when you begin to feel or even get a sense of what I'm pointi8ng to here, you might start to get a whole different view of the life of this moment. But you don't need to run away from anything, because there's nowhere to go. Here is the only place there is. Here is a wider vision, of our unborn, undying nature, of our essence and source as pure spirit. And here it opens even more, and goes beyond the greatest heaven we've ever experienced. It opens into the dazzling dark, into the greatest mystery of being, where the mind will always be bewildered.

'This may sound far off for some people, a place unattainable, a state made available only for the few, but I can assure you that it doesn't require you to change or to become different at all to know this firsthand. It only requires a willingness to stop. The more we stop and the more we let go, the more our consciousness naturally opens. ... ' - Adyashanti writes in his book 'Falling Into Grace'.

Even though he was not directly discussing this principle, I think it beautifully illustrates the point. When we shift our attention from experience (meaning human experience, or the human condition- looking at what we know to be 'real' and 'true' or day to day, our seperations and frustrations) to shift then to the spacious consciousness (the 'heaven on earth', the truth beyond our egoic 'knowledge' the purity of what and who we are, the 'heaven' and 'hell' alive and present all around us, within us, in the sky above and the water below, the truth in the fish and bird and all the life around us in the present moment, in the past and the future yet to come- the peace and clarity of our true divinity, of all that is divine in everything we 'like' and 'dislike', everything that is 'good' and 'bad') to take all this into the consciousness that knows (when we truly are Awake and its clear that everything is pure, and there is no more suffering) this is the ultimate wisdom that will arise.

When we shift attention from experience to the spacious consciousness that knows, wisdom arises.

posted from Bloggeroid

Principles 1 + 2

1 - See inner nobility and beauty of all human beings.

Now this seems easy to grasp just in this one sentence, we think 'treat others the way you want to be treated', but its more than just behaving well or reframing from lashing out or being judgemental. The word Namaste means 'the divine in me sees the divine in you'. Its more than a bow or a handshake of respect. In Buddhist philosophy everyone is already perfect, we are all divine, noble, whole, complete, and perfect. Its not something we need to earn, or gain, or achieve, its already with us, in this moment, just the way we are. So to say 'i see the divine in you' is seeing the nobility and beauty of all human beings, to acknowledge and regonize that there is no shame, no fault, no good nor bad, we are all beautiful.

2 - Compassion is our deepest nature. It arises from our interconnection with all things.

First off, something I've been meaning to cover is the word 'interconnection'. We all have heard this from yogis, but what is it they are really trying to say? Am I a rock and a bird, and a car, a man and a woman and a child, all at the same time? No, its not quite that literal. First off, on an abstract, artistic level, you could say the above sentence is true, that in a way we are all these things. However, when we talk about innterconnection, its more like the 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon. Example being, when we get a bag of chips from the store, we are not just grabbing a snack, the chips are not just food. They are a collection of the men and women who stocked the chips on the shelves, the individuals who transported the cargo, the people at the service stations providing fuel for the semi trucks and rest for the drivers, its the ppl in the shipping department loading the trucks and making the palets, the people who created the convayer belts that the chips pass through, the people working in the factory making the chips, inspecting them, packaging them, the owner of the business, the graphic designer of the bag, all the way back to the farmer who havested the potatoe and all the people I forgot to mention inbetwen, and then we are connected to the earth that the potatoe spuds grew from, the wild life that surrounded it, the changing seasons and weather that effected it... all of that was involved in satifying the rumbly in our tumbly.. that is the power of interconnection!

Now coming back to compassion, one its about our love, understanding, thanks and compassion to all those individuals and elements that fed us.

Bigger than that, compassion is our truest nature. We see films where destruction is the nature of man, but if you think about it, unless you have your nerons firing wrong or have a chemical imbalance, who can say that they feel most fulfilled and at peace and happy when they are enraged? We don't! We feel good when we do right by ourselves and others. Its true for all nature. Ever watch Discovery or Animal Planet or National Geographic? All these animals accept and nurture and take care of babies of other species, because they are young and need love and support. Humans are the same, with babies and animals or the sick and injured it more obvious and common. We do though have innate compassion for everyone, even those who have 'wronged us' or give us a 'funny feeling'.

I once read that in the 1800s or so men went out into the Congo with guns and received aggression from gorillas. Some other men studying the natural inhabitants were accepted into the family groups. When asked how they did it, they said that they did not appraoch them with guns. The point illustrated here, what we display, we receive. If we open our hearts to love, and really open, people will feel inspired to shine from your compassion, from your love.

The divine in them will see the divine in you from the divine in you seeing the divine in them...

Go, infect the world!

Namaste to you all!

posted from Bloggeroid

End of the Month- June Summary

Feelings vs. Feeling- A little shout out to Downtown Vancouver Yoga Center Shanti Yoga, as well as a post highlighting that we are not our experiences, and when we realize that, we are free to be happy.

Six Days, Seven Nights- if you don't create it, you won't find it. Happiness does not come from 'this' or 'that', its a choice, you are happy now, its just about learning to tap into it.

Yoga Reminder- 'its called yoga practice, not yoga perfect!'

Boy Meets World- A post about exploring our 'dark' by turning on the light.

Learning Our Own Responsiblity For Our Anger- Thich Nhat Nanh insights and reflections on our anger and learning to accept and overcome our self created suffering.

Whale Song- even whales repeat mantras.

AA + AA cont.- was the longest post to date, just felt like being brutally raw and honest about where I've come from to highlight that love and compassion, peace and understanding can come from any background, not just those that are 'cookie cutter perfect'.

Full of Life *^_^* - a post on my current events and being in Awe of the splender of life. All around everyday, everywhere we go, in everyone we meet and everything we interact with.

Freedom to be Free - a Nelson Mandela quote

Coming into the Light - a post reflecting how to condition ourselves to ditch the easy, not accepting limitations, and discovering our full potential.

Dalai Lama and Worry- a brilliant quote looking at stress and anxiety differently and instantly relieving ourselves of our worry.

Morning Clouds Roll In- another one of my creative writings- also serves as a reminder to everyone to just pause and take it all in every once in a while.

The Secret to NonSuffering- letting go of the illusion of control, and not being attached to any outcome - true satisfaction and utter peace is knowing we have no control and being ok with that truth.

26 Principles of Buddhist Psychology- something to reference for the remaining days of July. I shall be covering each one at a time.

Thank you for the love and support- my heart goes out to you all!

~Stephanie

posted from Bloggeroid

Curing Disease

Rolf Gate quotes one of his student, here is what Amy L. Has to say about her yoga experience:
'I have had fibroystic breat disease. Within the first month of yoga, the disease-and all of the painful symptom.- went away completely. Emotionally, I felt as if I had lot go of something, and then I realized that my illness was completely gone. Yoga makes me feel more like taking care of myself, so I am more conscious of what I put into my body, and I am more present, more aware of how things are affecting me. I feel more committed to taking care of myself.'

posted from Bloggeroid

Firework

I was listening to this song last month and got too excited not to share it today.. I know some people may not be a fan of Pop music, but it really is a beautifully perfect message, great video, and im even going to post the making of video because its a remarkable story.

For those in the States: Happy Independence Day!

Now to present, Firework by Katy Perry:

http://youtu.be/QGJuMBdaqIw

"Firework"

Do you ever feel like a plastic bag,
Drifting through the wind
Wanting to start again?
Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin
Like a house of cards,
One blow from caving in?

Do you ever feel already buried deep?
6 feet under screams but no one seems to hear a thing
Do you know that there's still a chance for you
'Cause there's a spark in you

You just gotta ignite the light, and let it shine
Just own the night like the 4th of July

'Cause baby you're a firework
Come on, show 'em what you're worth
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh"
As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby, you're a firework
Come on, let your colours burst
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh"
You're gonna leave 'em all in "awe, awe, awe"

You don't have to feel like a wasted space
You're original, cannot be replaced
If you only knew what the future holds
After a hurricane comes a rainbow

Maybe your reason why all the doors are closed
So you could open one that leads you to the perfect road
Like a lightning bolt, your heart will glow
And when it's time, you'll know

You just gotta ignite the light, and let it shine
Just own the night like the 4th of July

'Cause baby you're a firework
Come on, show 'em what you're worth
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh"
As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby, you're a firework
Come on, let your colours burst
Make 'em go "Oh, Oh, Oh"
You're gonna leave 'em all in "awe, awe, awe"

Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon
It's always been inside of you, you, you
And now it's time to let it through-ough-ough

'Cause baby you're a firework
Come on, show 'em what you're worth
Make 'em go "Oh, Oh, Oh"
As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby, you're a firework
Come on, let your colours burst
Make 'em go "Oh, Oh, Oh"
You're gonna leave 'em all in "awe, awe, awe"

Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon
Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon

and here is the behind the scenes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4X-f-TIsT5M

Enjoy!

26 Principles of Buddhist Psychology

1. See the inner nobility and beauty of all human beings.

2. Compassion is our deepest nature. It arises from our interconnection with all things.

3. When we shift attention from experience to the spacious consciousness that knows, wisdom arises.

4. Recognize the mental states that fill consciousness. Shift from unhealthy states to healthy ones.

5. Our ideas of self are created by identification. The less we cling to ideas of self, the freer and happier we will be.

6. Our life has universal and personal nature. Both dimensions must be respected if we are to be happy and free.

7. Mindful attention to any experience is liberating. Mindfulness brings perspective, balance, and freedom.

8. Mindfulness of the body allows us to live fully. It brings healing, wisdom, and freedom.

9. Wisdom knows what feelings are present without being lost in them.

10. Thoughts are often one-sided and untrue. Learn to be mindful of thought instead of being lost in it.

11. There is a personal and universal unconscious. Turning awareness to the unconscious brings understanding and freedom.

12. The unhealthy patterns of our personality can be recognized and transformed into a healthy expression of our natural temperament.

13. There are both healthy desires and unhealthy desires. Know the difference. Then find freedom in their midst.

14. If we cling to anger or hatred, we will suffer. It is possible to responnd strongly, wisely, and compassionately, without hatred.

15. Delusion misunderstands the world and forgets who we are. Delusion gives rise to all unhealthy states. Free yourself from delusion and see with wisdom.

16. Pain is inevitable. Suffering is not. Suffering arises from grasping. Release grasping and be fre of suffering.

17. Be mindful of intention. Intention is the seed that creates our future.

18. What we repeatedly visualize changes our body and consciousness. Visualize freedom and compassion.

19. What we repeatedly think shapes our world. Out of compassion, substitute healthy thoughts for unhealthy ones.

20. The power of concentration can be developed through inner training. Concentration opens consciousness to profound dimensions of healing and understanding.

21. Virtue and integrity are necessary for genuine happiness. Guard your integrity with care.

22. Forgiveness is both necessary and possible. It is never too late to find forgiveness and start again.

23. There is no seperation between inner and outer, self or other. Tending ourselves, we tend the world. Tending the world, we tend ourselves.

24. The middle way is found between all opposites. Rest in the middle and find well-being wherever you are.

25. Release opinions, free yourself from views. Be open to mystery.

26. A peaceful heart gives birth to love. When love meets suffering, it turns to compassion. When love meets happiness, it turns to joy.

posted from Bloggeroid

The Secret to Non-Suffering!

Jack Kornfield writes : 'It is not given to us to know how our life will affect the world. What IS given to us is to tend the intentions of our heart and to plant seeds with our deeds. Do not doubt that your good actions will bear fruit, and that change for the better can be born from your life.'

This is not to be confused with thinking about outcome or control. Its about having faith that the actions we take will handle themselves, without our constant manipulation. As is written in the Bhagavad Gita - 'to act well without attachment to the fruits of your actions.'

You've heard me write before about letting go and nonattachment. On the small scale we practice letting go in the moment, letting go of harsh thoughts, or anxieties in situations such as getting cut off on the highway or misplacing our wallet when in a checkout line. On the small scale of nonattachment we practice freeing ourselves from our ego dettaching ourselves from our possessions, realizing that the objects we own are not us, that if something breaks or is stolen or lost, that we ourselves are still intact. So how than do we apply these concepts and practices to the large scale? (Well one 'large' vs 'small' scale is all an illusion, its really all the same, every small thing we do is large, and every large thing we do is small, but for the sake of trying to illustrate a point, I will break things apart as 'large' and 'small' in this post.)

Adyashanti writes- 'The great spiritual teacher Krishnamurti once said, "When you teach a child that a bird is named 'bird', the child will never see the bird again." What they'll see is the word "bird". That's what they'll see and feel, and when they look up in the sky and see that strange, winged being take flight, they'll forget that what is actually there is a great mystery. They'll forget that the thing flying through the sky is beyond all words, that it's an expression of the immensity of life. It's actually an extraordinary and wonderous thing that flies through the sky. But soon as we name it, we think we know what it is. We see "bird", and we almost discount it. A "bird", "cat", "dog", "human", "cup", "chair", "house", "forest" - all of these things have been given names, and all of these things lose some of their natural aliveness once we name them. Of course we need to learn these names and form concepts around them, but if we start to believe that these names and all of the concepts we form around them are real, then we've begun the journey of becoming entrance by the world of ideas.'

Jack Kornfield firther writes - 'Freedom from views is like a cleaning of the glass, a breath of fresh air. Zen master Shunryu Suzuki calls this open-mindedness "beginner's mind". Listen to Rachel Carson, the great naturalist, as she evokes it: "A child's world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood. If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over all the children, I should ask her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life."
'When we are free from views, we are willing to learn. What we know for sure in this great turning universe is actually very limited. Seung Sahn, a Korean Zen master, tells us to value this "dont-know mind". He would ask his students questions such as "What is love? What is conciousness? Where did your life come from? What is going to happen tomorrow?" Each time, the students would answer, "I don't know". "Good", Seung Sahn replied. "Keep this 'dont-know mind'. It is an open mind, a clear mind".'

And my favorite Dove chocolate wrapper quote, 'Marcel Proust-"The voyage of discovery lies not in finding new landscapes, but in having new eyes".'

The 'large scale' example of letting go and nonattachment is letting go of the illusion that we have any control over anything outside of our actions in this life. We must learn to not be attached to any outcome 'good' or 'bad'. True satisfaction, and utter peace is knowing we have no control, and being ok with that truth.

'It is not given to us to know how our life will affect the world. What IS given to us is to tend the intention of our heart and to plant beautiful seeds with our deeds. Do not doubt that your good actions will bear fruit, and that change for the better can be born from your life.'

posted from Bloggeroid

Morning Clouds Roll In

Morning clouds roll in, light and soft, barely touching the sky. Silloettes of tiny birds dance over head, slowly as if they were pulling the sun up themselves. One by on the blushing clouds stretch and wake, and roll out the fluffy white under bellies. The amber sun peeks out over the hill and through the trees and blooms to a jolly inviting yellow, a perfect marraige to the oceanic blue protecting us over head. The wind kisses the trees brining to life a rythm to match the lively birds' harmonious morning song. The air is cool, yet warm, crisp, yet sweet, the perfect aroma to rouse the muscles and wake the senses.

Whether you're waking up to a morning stretch or meditation, going to work or up for travel, I hope you take a moment to yourself to pause, and breathe this all in. Whether its sunrise, or sunset, or even mid day, really take a moment of apprieciation for these beautiful moments we are blessed with, the nature, and the life, and creation all around, in every breath you take.

Good morning everyone!

posted from Bloggeroid