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!