Purna

One of the 6 attributes of the aboslute it's always interesting trying to talk about these in our relative world. Purna to be perfect in a way of being so empty your full and so full you empty. As the moon was full last night it was displaying its most brilliant light reflected from the sun. It shined down on me nudging me to awaken in the middle of the night.

Practicing with the fullest efforts invites the sweetest emptiness in the pauses. Oddly enough we can be fully present in the moments of emptiness so its all really balances out and makes our experience just perfect through purna goggles.

Let go and empty of worries and open up to fullness... brightness of a new day and work keenly in order to sustain your compacity for more fullness by balancing out the fullness and emptiness throughout the postures.

Precious & Temporary

After weeks of no sun, a whirlwind of new experiences and minimal alone time I realize how precious the simple moments can be. A warm ray of sunshine as it seems to poke out of through the clouds and shine upon my face and no one else. Remembering how lucky I am to have such great teachers who believe in me and a moment like right NOW to just soak in it all. So Precious! Since my teacher always talks about meaning, and attitude I figured it would be a great practice to dive into discovering what that is in each moment. After reflecting, comparing and contrasting between all the things that hold meaning to me, in the end its the people who believe in me that can part the seas for me. They can break, build, empower and make me go the extra mile.

This simple realization makes me know even more in my heart that we are all connected. In this web of love we each have the power to tug and stretch one another to the edge of our capability. How vulnerable this makes me feel... and yet knowing this truth makes me feel empowered to know my source of fuel whenever I need to go further, deeper and stronger.

This leads me to the point of this entry... inspired by my teachers and ever more grateful to them I am beginning an additional blog called "Thank you letters to my teachers." This idea has been with me for sometime but after truly discovering my meaning I feel I owe it to my teachers for guiding me to the door, portal and place.

My teacher, John Friend would say the highest teaching he could give anyone is "remember your teachers." This phrase plugs you into your heart, your meaning and the depth of power that comes from caring about a legacy, that is of our humanity.

Why and How?

"he who has the why to live bears no burden by the how"

In other words if you know why then you know how as well. In each of our hearts in a meaning encased in a diamond... as we all know diamonds are forever. This meaning pulses in us and can be the reason we wake up in the morning, the reason we practice and the reason why we do anything and everything.

Excavate the cave of your heart in search of that diamond that is your everlasting treasure.

To and From...

Where are you coming from and what do you want to move towards? Put the to and the from on opposite teams but give them equal stats and let your consciousness play between them finding the contrast as a beautiful game of life. Love where you are and move towards what you want to be and may you find more freedom there.

We can use the "to and from" to help fully expand and integrate our postures. The focal point of a posture often get's referred to but how often do you really track the pathway of the prana as it flow from and to? Honor your curves... feel a balanced flow of energy... can you hug in as much as you extend yourself?

Meditation and practice on the pulsation of focal points and it can ultimately lead you to finding more freedom from refining, reflecting and remembering the integration of your past experiences.

Beautiful like a rainbow...

Cool Eye ArtI am in love with these photos of human eyes... enjoy!

Opposing Energies

Nelson Mandela brought the two opposing energies of his people together with one common thread... they all love to win a world cup and/or root for a team that represents them as a country. The blacks didn't even like rugby and the whites didn't even know their new countries national anthem but through the commonality both were remedied.

The opposing energies can be brought together with a common love or even enemy... so really its about finding the commonality. In each pose we have a midline and it dances with each posture but it comes together and expands apart equally. For some of us that means we have to hug in more because we are already very expansive and for others they need to expand out more to celebrate all their hugging in.

We all want to make beauty in this world and we all appreciate beauty so that usually a great common thread to pull into when building anything with the opposing actions.

Trust in Laundry

As many of you know the european's don't use dryers for their clothes and a friend of mine who was visiting from Denmark. We did our laundry together and her clothes were "dried" for the first time in their existence. I don't think she knew exactly what was going to happen to her clothes because when she went to hold them up she realized they all shrank. Especially the shirts that used to be long enough to wear as dresses. They were no longer dresses but shirts with 3/4 sleeves... :)

This was hilarious to say the least and she was thrilled to have an entirely new wardrobe. I was so impressed with how she handled it. She could have totally lost her "chit" and gone off but instead she giggled and made light of it.

We put faith in our washing machines every time we put our clothes in there. Ever hear of the sock monster? Do we always handle the oops's in life with elegance and giggles? Each time we practice we can use those moments when our leg is chattering and soften lighten up a bit and move through it with sweetness.

A healthy dose of spacious luminosity keeps us giggling through the tough times and safe in the transitions.

Nothing like the Dentist to test ones practice...

After teaching a class with a loving theme about loving yourself, your reflection and finding the beauty first... I go to the Dentist right after and am met with an even bigger challenge. The dentist revealed how frightening it is to not be in control, to not know if you can really trust the person, and experience utter pain in such an uncompromising place.

I kept saying to myself you can do this use your yoga training... 3 hours of poking, proding, numbing and sucking and in the last 30 minutes I finally was able to meditate through it. FEW! Better late than never I guess. My body was tense the first 2.5 hours and I just kept working at it... softening the areas of my body that were cringing and reacting to the pain and in the last 30 minutes I was simply watching a movie.

I am not saying that this should always be our goal to separate ourselves completely from the pain because the pain is good I obviously needed to experience 2.5 hours of steady trauma. It made the last 30 minutes sweet and peace-filled. Also, I am now realizing that as the Novocaine wears off I am prepared for the residual pain to come.

Basically I am trying to say is just when you think your practice is working the universe is full of obstacles, surprises and adversity to challenge where ever you think you are at. There is no stillness in success it is a constant pulsation of effort and surrender. When you think about it we are not alone that is life, a constant struggle, pull, prod and pulse of all things gaining a losing its self of accomplishment.

Is it working?

How do you know your practice is working? Whether it be pranayama, asana, eating habits or even just living the best life you can? How do you know it's working?

This is one of my favorite contemplations because why stick with something if it isn't working? I only practice yoga because it works for me, it's not the easy way that is for sure but I love the Shiva-Shakti Tantra philosophy, the incorporation of breath and practice and that I have become more aware and delightful person.

I used to say that I would know if my practice is working if I kept noticing how my relationships kept improving... and they have. Though I had totally forgotten about my relationship with myself. A few mornings ago after a week of lack of sleep and criticizing myself as I look in the mirror always looking for the improvements... this one morning I first saw how beautiful I was and nearly fell over because of my immediate response. I first wondered what I had done but after much reflection I think it is a reflection of my practice and how the mirror really bounces back what is going on.

Firsts and Lasts

Being away from home for sometime allowed me to enter back into my home life with such a fresh perspective. Ever encounter, person, experience was like I was a baby who just came into the world of wonder. This is also highlighted by 2 of the 5 actions of shiva... concealment and revealment. Like playing peeka-boo with a baby each time is fresh and exciting. This is how we can make a lengthy meditation practice feel special each moment of it.

The mystery sustains the meditation... when the outer world is concealed what is the goodness you see inside yourself? What is revealed that you hold precious and can sit with for a long period of time?

If you conceal the outerworld and all you see is good, imagine when you open your eyes for the first time how beautiful of an outerworld you will see.

Repetitions & Monotony

Ever have that moment of brilliance when you realized that you have been here before. You see so clearly that you are in a groove of the past and replaying the cycle... though this time you have a chance to make a shift.

This is your chance to find that balance of settled knowing and skillful action. Take the other path if only to see how it feels. Believe that you can make a shift in your entire life in one practice, day even moment.

Shift happens and its happening to you if you don't make it yourself.