Mr Duffy

"Mr Duffy lived a short distance from his body".
This is a quote from a short story by James Joyce. This week we discussed "embodied awareness". Many of us live cut off from the wisdom and insight our bodies have to offer. We attempt to extinguish painful feelings with addictive behaviors and disassociating from what is going on in our inner world. We may have negative attitudes to parts of our bodies, longing for so called perfection. Donna Farhi reminds us that aliveness lives in the body. In order to enjoy the richness of being alive we must return to living in the body and not in our heads with an executive ego that controls the body. When we come into the body and the breath, it is a coming home to what is real, coming home to who we are with all our uniqueness and imperfections and knowing that we are always changing. We can then make choices from that "embodied awareness".

"The Freedom of Discipline"

Donna Farhi tells us that discipline is any practice that contains our thoughts, energy and actions so that we can use ourselves in a potent way.
She shares that a longing for freedom is healthy, and a vital component for any spiritual journey.
However, we need to be discerning about how we channel our energy and the choices we make so as not to be "drinking salty water to quench our thirst".
We can become more skillful in our choices by "increasing our tolerance for staying in the pause between desire and satisfaction". In the pause we make our choices.
When we practice, we make room for all of our feelings and yet not allow our feelings to become our identity. The feelings are just " a passing show", they are not who we are. We can be diligent about remaining a witness, a neutral witness to the "passing show" or "mind stuff".

"Today it is rainy but the sky is not wet, tomorrow it is sunny but the sky does not ignite into flames." The sky remains a neutral witness.

The Fourth Brahmavihara

In week # 4 we discussed the 4 attitudes or" brahmaviharas" that Patanjali gives us in the Yoga Sutras. We spent time looking at the last one as this one we believed was the most challenging.
These attitudes are a way to begin "cleaning up our social relationships" and a preliminary step to clearing the mind. The 4th attitude is "Remaining impartial to the faults and imperfections of others". (Yoga Sutra 1.33). Donna Farhi says,"Our spiritual fitness can be tested only in relationship to others". She says, "What we refuse in ourselves, we refuse in others". In other words what we refuse to see and accept in ourselves will make us intolerant of the same in another.
Think of the last time you were critical or harsh with your judgement toward another. How does that manifest in yourself? A good question to ask sometimes is just "And how am I that too?"

Sloth

Donna Farhi writes a whole chapter on "sloth" in her book, Bringing Yoga To Life. "I know no better word than sloth to describe the habitula disinclination to effort that thwarts the potential of the budding spiritual seeker... Sloth makes it almost impossible to establish a firm ground for practice and even if we are able to do so , sloth may prevent us from sustaining any ground."

She suggests that if inertia is a way of life then we need to take a good look at what the cause is and that busyness does not necessarily mean that our actions are purposeful. Busyness can keep us in a stuck place just as much as inactivity.
She suggests that "the contemplation of death might help us to discriminate between what is salient to our very being and what is not... what is important and what is not". Using our energy wisely is part of the 4th yama, Brahmacharya, also expressed as merging our energy with God or the divine.
If in any moment we are aware that our actions are reflecting our values and our life purpose, we are aligning with the light within that is our "true nature".

Art Show Reception

Thank you to all of you who came out to support me at the ART WALK.
It meant a lot to me, seeing your smiling faces and enthusiasm. It was very successful and lots of fun.
I even sold some paintings... very exciting.

Remember, I will be bringing calendars to class. Don't forget to pick yours up.

Fall Classes in Full Swing

It is so wonderful to be back with all of you, doing yoga.
So many returning students and of course always some newcomers.
I love the "newbies" so fresh with anticipation and my returning students happily sinking into the practice once again.
This quarter we are going to listen to the wise words of Donna Farhi from her book, Bringing Yoga to Life... with my commentary of course. :)
When we do yoga, this is the "real thing", as Erich Schiffmann says. So much of our thinking life is memory (the past) or fantasy (the future). Yoga brings us into the NOW. Yoga is yoking "small mind" to "big mind".
See you in class!

Art Show

I am happy to announce my new art show which will go up this weekend at 3 OMS YOGA. The studio is located on Bay St. across from the Blue Horse Gallery. The show is entitled "YOGA GARDEN" and includes some of the paintings from my new 2010 yoga calendar.
I am very excited about it. The calendars will be ready very soon!!!! Thank you to all my models and ALL my students who continue to inspire me.
Blessings to you all.
For a peak at the new paintings, check out the gallery on my website.
Oh, and don't miss the ART WALK on Friday, October 2nd, 7-9:30pm. I will be at 3 OMS YOGA and hope to see you there.