My husband is a master gardener...whatever it means to be a master. I'm pretty sure it means this: he starts from seeds, wraps them in damp cloth, places them in warm light, and patiently awaits for them to bust out of their shell. As he transitions them to each next phase of their lives he talks to them, looks them over, and assures they are content with each stage in the planting process. In the event a sprouts is malformed, or not viable for raising, he'll eat it right then. Over the course of their green fruiting lives he pulls (most) weeds because, you see, some of those weeds are actually a helpful presence. Daily he checks the weather to decide about watering, sometimes more than once a day––a true sadhana. He lets some bugs eat some of the plants, because bugs need to eat too. Over the duration of the growing season (he's recently elongated with green houses!) he'll just stand, gazing over his green babies for hours, pondering, planning, loving, appreciating. And the bounty produced is epic. Heaps of organically grown, abundantly delicious goodness, flavored with love and a golden soak of New England sun....which we give away about half of.
Me? I just eat the stuff. I also gaze lovingly at it, sometimes. My most important role occurs when he's gone -- I do my best to keep it all from dying. Every summer he visits his mother and goes on a retreat or two. Initially it was stressful, not killing his creations. Additionally, I want to eat all that goodness, so best not to muck it up! In spite of his offering only gratitude for my willingness to step up in his stead, and ultimately his not caring too much if I somehow was not successful in performing his gardenly duties, I feel huge pressure.
Some five years have gone by in this way, with his beloved garden plots expanding each season, and I step up every year with somewhat decreasing angst about not mucking it up. This year, yesterday, I had an epiphany. It was one of those "Field of Dreams" moments when it seemed as if the garden spoke to me, saying, "Paying more attention makes it easier. Paying more attention makes it better." Paying loving attention to the garden, as he does, makes it grow better, bigger, more beautifully. Paying loving attention to anything will cause it to thrive. I recall about 25 years ago, shortly after starting yoga practice, hearing what became one of my favorite definitions of yoga, "The act of Yoga is to pay attention".
When we pay attention we increase energy towards what we are paying attention to. We can channel that attention towards helpful or unhelpful outcomes. Unhelpful outcomes arise when we pay too much attention to things that aren't true, aren't helpful to our hearts or psyche, or to things we can do nothing about. Helpful attention arises when we see what its true, attend to things/ideas/suggestions that have a teaching or lesson, and when we attend to things we can effect. Interestingly from the perspective of Yoga, tantra, and Buddhism these things are not mutually exclusive! Something that is true in one context, can be utterly false in another. Something that teaches us in one moment can confuse us in another. And with regards to helplessness, I believe there's never nothing one can do. For example in a world that is corrupt, ruled by greed, and compounded with environmental turmoil; I can pray, I can vote with my dollars, I can vote at the polls, and I can make lifestyle choices that don't support what I find troubling. This thing that's causing me pain and suffering can become a tool for insight into said suffering. It's not the what, it's the how. The Bhagavad Gita says to do the work not for the fruits, but for the act of the work itself. The ultimate boon is that it brings more beneficial outcomes for more beings, and for me too! How I relate to things makes for helpful or unhelpful. This is true both in the inner realms of my own heart-mind, and beyond me into the community which I live, and beyond that. The Whole benefits. As a part of the Whole, selfless actions also serve the one doing them. This is the beautiful (bonus) paradox!
How one does something is typically how one does everything. If I want to find grace, poise, and connectivity in my asana practice I must attend to grace, poise, and connection in washing the dishes or cleaning the cat tray, and everything else. If I want to hold my mind concentrated, singularly focused in work, or engaging with others, I must practice that in other contexts. If I want to be a kind, loving person no matter what, I must attend to the turnings of my mind all the time and cultivate that attitude as often as I remember to do so. If I want to be a better person on this planet I must pay attention to what kind of residue my thoughts, words, and actions leave behind. If I want to fully inhabit my awakened nature I must pay attention to what is happening, how I'm touched by it, what I do in response to it, and reflect on that for growth and transformation––all the time.
This practice of awakening is not a part time gig. It is a constant investment in every moment and it has three main components: First, realizing and and connecting with ones awake nature. Secondly recognizing, cutting thru, and uprooting the ways one identifies with ego structure and behaviors that stem from protecting it. And thirdly cultivating the inner scaffolding to fully inhabit ones awake nature full time. These all fall under the main thing of paying attention.
This quote from B.K.S. Iyengar sums it up nicely in the context of the microcosm of the body, "While I continuously try to improve my practice, I do my best and
am contented with what I am able to attain. Even as the body ages and is
able to do less, there are subtleties that reveal themselves, which
would be invisible to younger or more athletic bodies. You have to
create love and affection for your body, for what it can do for you.
Love must be incarnated in the smallest pore of the skin, the smallest
cell of the body, to make them intelligent so they can collaborate with
all the other ones, in the big republic of the body." May we all take this notion, attend to it in whatever macro context we find ourselves in...making for more love, affection, and intelligence on the planet. May we all be "masters" of our inner realms in the service of doing the most good for the most beings, and beyond. Om shanti.
Thursday, June 14, 2018
Thursday, May 31, 2018
Perhaps you've been told...
that bit of anecdotal realism: In moments of struggle, or decision making, if you push too strongly against the flow of Life you are setting yourself up to lose. The Universe will win. My teacher says that does not quite capture the truth of it, but that the Universe has already won. It has been written. The Dharma suggests, and I believe, our capacity to navigate Life is an inside job. Being a victor in this Life is not determined by how we strategize our outer layers (job, home, failures, successes, friends,where to live, or how to represent oneself in the world). From the perspective of Yoga, success is largely how we meet those things that determines the victors or losers, as it were, in this Life. It's not about what's happening to us. It's about where the phenomenon of Life touches us inside, and what kind of subtle body feedback we have to it. Then what we do as a response may compel us towards freedom from delusions that cause us to suffer, which is that winning what is already won I was talking about. We are all human. We all have our own personal, specific wounding that can capture us and cause us to see the world through a specific, limited lens. If we continue to buy into our old wounding, it keeps us small. What we experienced as young beings shaped our relationships in subtle ways that we are only just now beginning to comprehend the implications of. It turns out the ones we love the most will touch our deepest wounds, trigger our ugliest or most damaging behaviors, and challenge our Life navigational skills with the relentlessness of a good teacher. ....teacher? Life is the best teacher I've found. When I pay close attention to the outcomes of my actions and choices, I learn the best lessons. When I cultivate more ease in any moment or when I feed the seeds of pain, I get INSTANT feedback in the present moment and beyond. In particular, when I pay attention to more than just myself, Life's lessons have the most positive impact. Path as guru means I learn to cultivate space in my inner koshas, so I've time to review my possible responses to the stimuli I register. Immanuel Kant spoke of enlightenment as being an appropriate response. What is the best outcome for all involved? Life has won. Things are happening. I would say we can 'control' nothing in this life, but we can be in relationship to everything. So, loser or victor can have many implications, all of which can be used for better or worse...just like the vrttis in Patanjalii's Yoga Sutras (YS1.5). How are you relating to the events in your Life these days? Is your Life informing your practice? Is your practice helping you to relate to your Life in appropriate ways? Can you be a good sport, a gracious loser? Are you a humble winner? Do you learn from all your experiences? What gets in your way and what does it get in the way of? With Dharma as the backdrop to your Life experiences, asana is always way more than just asana. If you want more questions for your answers, full spectrum practice opportunities with Dharma discussions, you might enjoy my offerings. Check my website for details. www.theresamurphy.net All my love...Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Heart opening?
Since the emergence of "yoga studios" and public yoga class offerings in the early 70's yoga has slowly but surely come from obscurity, past main stream, to center stage, to what's hot, hip, cool, and oh by the way, an ancient spiritual practice! I've been teaching public yoga classes since the 90's, placing me in the third generation of American yoga teachers. It's been a wild ride being immersed in the throes of yoga's awkward growth spurt from relative obscurity in the 90s to saturation in the 2000s and now verging on over-kill in the 2010s. Amidst the power brands, fast and flowy glows, yoga clubs, clicks and tribes, something sweet, cute and sort of peculiar is materializing: heart-felt zeal. Heart chakra colloquy abounds on yoga blogs, studio slogans, workshop adverts, and yogis’ Facebook posts. In truth, I am in full agreement, sporting a bumper sticker on my VW love bug that says, "I love love" illustrated with the letter "I" followed by two hearts. However, this seemingly wholesome message is now being used to sell yoga merchandise and the iconographic heart symbol is fashioned into the logos of entrepreneurs. As the amorous declarations abound I am beginning to wonder that if all the lovey-buzz is indeed wholesomely heart felt, would it be necessary to constantly and copiously expound upon it? Is this trend actually stemming from some deeper feeling of need for love, recognizing it's universal appeal and the utter truth of who and what we are, yet some how feeling out of touch? Does the very fact that the idea is being displayed ad nauseum somehow indicate that it’s not really being felt but the desire to feel it is there?
My sense is that there is a deeper well to be dug. The vast chronicles of wisdom teachings of Yoga, Taoism, and other traditions suggest that the bright, balanced energy of the heart center, burning unconditional love, is supported by the stable ground of more earthy energy centers. Various traditions have different theories on how many energy centers run along the spine and thru the body, from 3 to 7 to 12 or more. The powers of the belly/abdomen in the eastern view hold the potential for one to feel stable, safe, allowed, welcome, able, adaptable, individualized, met, nourished, and basically, inherently good. The suggestion is these qualities must be present before love (of self and other) and inclusion can be fully developed in a healthy balanced way. It is knowing this basic goodness and the ability to stand in one’s safe self-expression (as the yogic belly chakra/2nd chakra is called svadhisthana, “to stand in one’s self”), that allows the heart to open to give and receive love unconditionally. In eastern Asian traditions this part of the body is called "hara" or "dan tien", meaning "elixir field", "sea of chi", or "the golden stove pipe". The belly is where it all begins and where it is ultimately held in truth and continuity! We gotta get down in there! ...then flow up and out.
Basic goodness is something we are born with, it’s our original seat. The open, soft, free and beautiful vibe of a baby is universally undeniable: the sweetness of their eyes, the purity of their smiles and innocence of their cooing attracts grown-ups to a new-born like bees to pollen. The ground of our being is established in open, basic primordeal goodness. It’s only when for whatever reason our emotional needs are not met by those we are interacting with that we begin to withdraw from this innate perfection. Early, somewhere along our childhood journey we were led to believe that it was not ok to feel...something. Some particular need (to cry, to be held, to be seen, to be played with, to be praised, to be redirected) was not tended to. To our callow brains this feeling of being unmet, and the pain/heartbreak that came with it, was interpreted to mean that some how we were not OK! From that point on we learned to turn away from those feelings that were unmet and caused us to mistakingly feel inadequate. It unfortunately becomes a learned behavior, to turn away from our inherent goodness and openness, as this is where the pain of not being met happened. At the time of our youth we not only didn’t know how to deal with not being met, we didn’t know there were other options besides turning away from the pain of it! Not knowing or remembering our basic goodness becomes a wound in our adult life; a repeated injury every time we turn away from the pain of it. Turning outward now to find acceptance, to be met, exacerbates the original wound of having to turn away from the pain in the first place. All the subtle body wants/needs now is to sit down in itself and feel the basic goodness. Perhaps it’s such that our precious human condition of innate goodness and clarity must be clouded at some point along our journey, invoking us to ponder the essence of our broken heart. This invocation starts the journey inward to ultimate Self-discovery, self-healing and self-love! To quote a spiritual leader in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Chogyum Trungpa, “One of the biggest problems in the world today is people don’t know how to feel themselves properly.”
In my life lately, turning toward the feeling body has exposed strengths and acceptance within my being that while appear to be new tools for navigating this life, feel ancient, timeless and true. The simple act of drawing the energy (aka Prana, Chi) down from the “blah, blah, blah” of the head, past the expansive, expressive power of the heart, down into the belly and feeling with my subtle body what is there is grounding and nourishing. The energy there doesn’t lie: it’s pure feeling, before concept or discourse. It’s like immersing myself in a stream....sometimes slow, fresh and warm, other times fast moving, and challenging. However, if I stay the course, keep moving downward, earthward, I can feel the groundless ground of innate wholesomeness. I can meet myself there! I can be met in whatever I am feeling, being both the parent and child, the healer and the hurt, the love and beloved. We can all feel met there ourselves, and know that no amount of striving, self-proclaiming, or propping up of identities will change our inherent state of goodness and love! When I am operating in the world from the feeling of basic goodness, I feel grounded in love, inherently held, open-hearted, and expressive of that love. I can feel the universal goodness of all beings, even ones who may behave nasty towards me or threaten me. I can stand under the truth of connectivity and still feel the spectrum of human emotion without identifying with any of it.
The potential to embody this basic goodness is universal. It is my wish for all beings to know their basic goodness, to know the Self knowing love. This (d)evolution back to the belly just might be the earthward momentum that could spur the head-in-the-clouds and heart-on-a-string yoga scene back to the basics of union with Self, so that ultimately we can be in union with life as it unfolds, moment by blissful, painful, delightful, uncomfortable, undeniable moment.
My sense is that there is a deeper well to be dug. The vast chronicles of wisdom teachings of Yoga, Taoism, and other traditions suggest that the bright, balanced energy of the heart center, burning unconditional love, is supported by the stable ground of more earthy energy centers. Various traditions have different theories on how many energy centers run along the spine and thru the body, from 3 to 7 to 12 or more. The powers of the belly/abdomen in the eastern view hold the potential for one to feel stable, safe, allowed, welcome, able, adaptable, individualized, met, nourished, and basically, inherently good. The suggestion is these qualities must be present before love (of self and other) and inclusion can be fully developed in a healthy balanced way. It is knowing this basic goodness and the ability to stand in one’s safe self-expression (as the yogic belly chakra/2nd chakra is called svadhisthana, “to stand in one’s self”), that allows the heart to open to give and receive love unconditionally. In eastern Asian traditions this part of the body is called "hara" or "dan tien", meaning "elixir field", "sea of chi", or "the golden stove pipe". The belly is where it all begins and where it is ultimately held in truth and continuity! We gotta get down in there! ...then flow up and out.
Basic goodness is something we are born with, it’s our original seat. The open, soft, free and beautiful vibe of a baby is universally undeniable: the sweetness of their eyes, the purity of their smiles and innocence of their cooing attracts grown-ups to a new-born like bees to pollen. The ground of our being is established in open, basic primordeal goodness. It’s only when for whatever reason our emotional needs are not met by those we are interacting with that we begin to withdraw from this innate perfection. Early, somewhere along our childhood journey we were led to believe that it was not ok to feel...something. Some particular need (to cry, to be held, to be seen, to be played with, to be praised, to be redirected) was not tended to. To our callow brains this feeling of being unmet, and the pain/heartbreak that came with it, was interpreted to mean that some how we were not OK! From that point on we learned to turn away from those feelings that were unmet and caused us to mistakingly feel inadequate. It unfortunately becomes a learned behavior, to turn away from our inherent goodness and openness, as this is where the pain of not being met happened. At the time of our youth we not only didn’t know how to deal with not being met, we didn’t know there were other options besides turning away from the pain of it! Not knowing or remembering our basic goodness becomes a wound in our adult life; a repeated injury every time we turn away from the pain of it. Turning outward now to find acceptance, to be met, exacerbates the original wound of having to turn away from the pain in the first place. All the subtle body wants/needs now is to sit down in itself and feel the basic goodness. Perhaps it’s such that our precious human condition of innate goodness and clarity must be clouded at some point along our journey, invoking us to ponder the essence of our broken heart. This invocation starts the journey inward to ultimate Self-discovery, self-healing and self-love! To quote a spiritual leader in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Chogyum Trungpa, “One of the biggest problems in the world today is people don’t know how to feel themselves properly.”
In my life lately, turning toward the feeling body has exposed strengths and acceptance within my being that while appear to be new tools for navigating this life, feel ancient, timeless and true. The simple act of drawing the energy (aka Prana, Chi) down from the “blah, blah, blah” of the head, past the expansive, expressive power of the heart, down into the belly and feeling with my subtle body what is there is grounding and nourishing. The energy there doesn’t lie: it’s pure feeling, before concept or discourse. It’s like immersing myself in a stream....sometimes slow, fresh and warm, other times fast moving, and challenging. However, if I stay the course, keep moving downward, earthward, I can feel the groundless ground of innate wholesomeness. I can meet myself there! I can be met in whatever I am feeling, being both the parent and child, the healer and the hurt, the love and beloved. We can all feel met there ourselves, and know that no amount of striving, self-proclaiming, or propping up of identities will change our inherent state of goodness and love! When I am operating in the world from the feeling of basic goodness, I feel grounded in love, inherently held, open-hearted, and expressive of that love. I can feel the universal goodness of all beings, even ones who may behave nasty towards me or threaten me. I can stand under the truth of connectivity and still feel the spectrum of human emotion without identifying with any of it.
The potential to embody this basic goodness is universal. It is my wish for all beings to know their basic goodness, to know the Self knowing love. This (d)evolution back to the belly just might be the earthward momentum that could spur the head-in-the-clouds and heart-on-a-string yoga scene back to the basics of union with Self, so that ultimately we can be in union with life as it unfolds, moment by blissful, painful, delightful, uncomfortable, undeniable moment.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
The Host
I tried an experiment this morning on my walk in the woods with my beloved four-legged friend, Jackson. See, it's the season where bugs are abundant, especially in New England...and there's these flies, just one fly at a time, really, that buzz buzz buzzes around my head. Maybe you know the one: it circles really close to the cranium non-stop, buzzing. Usually I swat at it just as ceaselessly as it circles. It's our usual dance, the entire walk. This morning, in my experiment, I resisted swatting and just let it circle. Guess what. It never landed, and before the walk was over it went away!
It was a great reminder about how mind-stuff works. We make trouble in our minds. Yes, it's true, we MAKE it. The potential for mind-stuff is always there in the form of memories, external stimuli, planning our lives, decision making, and straight-up day dreaming. The critical factor of how it affects us is up to us. It's like a bacterium. For an infection to take hold, the bacterium needs a host to land in and a hospitable environment to proliferate. The stuff in our mind needs to land, for us to feed it, expound on it, and make stuff up about it for it to really weigh on us. It's said, the amount trouble in one's mind is 100% up to the person and how they work with their mind. I believe that to be true, however when you consider how long habits have been unchecked, memories of trauma and pain, and the karma we arrived with it feels to me like I've got about 90% control. With meditation practice that has increased dramatically over the years. If you would have asked me 7 years ago, I might have felt 40% in charge. It's a work in progress to be sure, and the work, no matter how difficult and painful, always pays off.
To simplify, there are two parts to this: the stimuli and the response. Those two parts are also two parted....this is information for another BLOG. Suffice it to say, we can make mind-stuff all we want including minding all the teachings and analyzing them! Simple truth is the more we watch the mind, without swatting away phenomenon or grasping on to it, the more power we have as liberated beings to appropriately respond rather than habitually react.
Om on.
It was a great reminder about how mind-stuff works. We make trouble in our minds. Yes, it's true, we MAKE it. The potential for mind-stuff is always there in the form of memories, external stimuli, planning our lives, decision making, and straight-up day dreaming. The critical factor of how it affects us is up to us. It's like a bacterium. For an infection to take hold, the bacterium needs a host to land in and a hospitable environment to proliferate. The stuff in our mind needs to land, for us to feed it, expound on it, and make stuff up about it for it to really weigh on us. It's said, the amount trouble in one's mind is 100% up to the person and how they work with their mind. I believe that to be true, however when you consider how long habits have been unchecked, memories of trauma and pain, and the karma we arrived with it feels to me like I've got about 90% control. With meditation practice that has increased dramatically over the years. If you would have asked me 7 years ago, I might have felt 40% in charge. It's a work in progress to be sure, and the work, no matter how difficult and painful, always pays off.
To simplify, there are two parts to this: the stimuli and the response. Those two parts are also two parted....this is information for another BLOG. Suffice it to say, we can make mind-stuff all we want including minding all the teachings and analyzing them! Simple truth is the more we watch the mind, without swatting away phenomenon or grasping on to it, the more power we have as liberated beings to appropriately respond rather than habitually react.
Om on.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Ignorance is a bitch.
I've recently discovered Louis C.K., a comedian originally from Boston living in NY with his two children. Although I found him accidentally, he is by no means obscure. He's rather popular, freaking hilarious, has produced several stand-up performances, produces his own sitcom, and has won an Emmy Award. While much of his humor is based on his kids' behavior, human nature and human sexuality, quite a bit of his laughs are earned at his own expense. Comical self-deprecation is a skill he has mastered, with a knack that has an intimate tie-in to the human psyche that most of his audience clearly relates to (including myself). I've spent an embarrassing amount of time watching and reading everything I could find online about this guy. You could say I am obsessed. Honestly, I'm over the obsession now but in the midst of watching him completely annihilate his self-worth with such sincere insight into the nature of things, I sort of fell in love with his childlike curiosity of life and his brilliant insight into human nature. In my opinion this guy is genius. It prompted the question, "Doesn't he see it? Doesn't he see how amazing he is?" This in turn prompted, "Why don't most people see how amazing they are?"
I too am inclined to see myself in much less admiration and light as others see me. Self-love is a scarce commodity. We love our friends, look up to them, see how amazing they are...so amazing we want to spend time with them! Yet, we cannot always see why the feeling is mutual! If we could only see in ourselves what others see so easily in us. Truth is, this realization is not new for me! The realization and practice of self-love landed on my spiritual practice radar two and a half years ago, with a painful, resounding, hard to face "thud." It's the hardest work of all because it's foundational. It's the root of all other suffering. The call is for self-annihilation: a strategic unraveling of who and how we've decided we are. (“I am strong. I am capable. I am giving. I am kind. I am generous. I am… fill-in-the-blank.”) The stronger the identity to this construct, the stronger the underlying pull of it's opposite that has been instilled in us in since our childhood (“I'm only lovable when I don't show feelings of vulnerability. I'm only loveable when I am not needing. I'm only lovable when I'm pleasing some one else.”) Once we can see through our constructs and the resulting compensatory behavior we can then move to the center of our hearts, be with our own vastness and inherent OK-ness necessary to feed the fire of love for all things: our vulnerability, our needs, our emotions, our Self. Then, not only do we see what others see in us, but we see it looking back at us thru others' eyes. Om on.
"Your work is to discover your work, and then with all your heart give yourself to it."
I too am inclined to see myself in much less admiration and light as others see me. Self-love is a scarce commodity. We love our friends, look up to them, see how amazing they are...so amazing we want to spend time with them! Yet, we cannot always see why the feeling is mutual! If we could only see in ourselves what others see so easily in us. Truth is, this realization is not new for me! The realization and practice of self-love landed on my spiritual practice radar two and a half years ago, with a painful, resounding, hard to face "thud." It's the hardest work of all because it's foundational. It's the root of all other suffering. The call is for self-annihilation: a strategic unraveling of who and how we've decided we are. (“I am strong. I am capable. I am giving. I am kind. I am generous. I am… fill-in-the-blank.”) The stronger the identity to this construct, the stronger the underlying pull of it's opposite that has been instilled in us in since our childhood (“I'm only lovable when I don't show feelings of vulnerability. I'm only loveable when I am not needing. I'm only lovable when I'm pleasing some one else.”) Once we can see through our constructs and the resulting compensatory behavior we can then move to the center of our hearts, be with our own vastness and inherent OK-ness necessary to feed the fire of love for all things: our vulnerability, our needs, our emotions, our Self. Then, not only do we see what others see in us, but we see it looking back at us thru others' eyes. Om on.
"Your work is to discover your work, and then with all your heart give yourself to it."
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
As if....
The wisdom teachings of old invite the practice of acceptance, unconditional acceptance. Two casual words that pack a wallop. They say that without question, without resistance, without reaction, without our interpretation or translation: THIS is how things are. The teachings don't suggest we have to like the present moment's situation. In fact, one might define it as unpleasant or even painful. When we place preference on something that we perceive as counter to our preference, suffering ensues. The suggestion is that the baseline acceptance of how things are is a practice that leads to the end of suffering. Wish we may, wish we might, it is how it is. In and of itself the thing or situation is not bad or good, it's our mind that makes it so. This realization of acceptance is said to open the hearts and minds of those who dedicate themselves to it. An equanimous state of being saturates their very core and they emanate peace, love and light! Sounds good to me! The simplicity of the teaching (accept things as they are) misrepresents the difficulty of its application. To clarify, unconditional acceptance is not synonymous with complacency. It's the clear space of seeing things just as they are that allows for a healthy perspective to make choices… clear choices of distinction without judgment. This is the foundation for informed discernment. This allows us to live and let live, so to speak.
In the spiritual community where I live we have chickens: eleven feathered friends with very low intelligence that provide us sustenance and whose care I have been tasked with. I am the chicken master. (In this Zen Center, everyone is a master.... kitchen master, house master, guest master....!) One evening I had to work and could not put them safely in their coop for protection from the night. Of all the other residents, only two were going to be present at the facility who could help out. One was tasked with that evening's practice, the Mok Tok Master. The other resident, who was also the Head Dharma Teacher (HDT) at the time, was very resistant to anyone altering the schedule or routine of practice for chickens. The reality is that if the chickens are not safely closed into their coop at sundown, the local wildlife (of which there's no shortage) will eat them. Between the two residents, one could hold down the practice requirements and the other could tend to our animals. The resistance of the HDT led to a slight heated discussion with me.
Me: "Beings who rely on our care and feed us are worth a slight disruption in practice one time!"
HDT: "THIS is why there should not be chickens at a Zen Center!"
The ultimate outcome: The HDT remained in her room while the other resident did all tasks, unsupported. My initial reaction was anger and judgment. As if expectations should be higher for the Head Dharma Teacher.
As if we should have expectations for anyone! Everyone on the planet is doing what they do, creating situations which we can unconditionally accept or resist. The former brings freedom the latter brings suffering. I would include leaders and teachers in this fold as well. In light of the recent fall from grace Anusara founder John Friend is experiencing, it brings up for me the notion that teachers should come under higher scrutiny. In spite of being a teacher myself, I ultimately say, "no". Unconditional acceptance has many forms. One can peacefully work for change, one can hold space for things to unfold as they will, one can ask for help, one can also remove themselves from a situation. We all have to make choices. As long as the heart remains open and harshness of judgment is avoided, we can live our life and make informed choices about how to do that, who to do it with, who to support and who to choose to support us. I believe everyone deserves another chance. This is not to say I will be the one to give it to them but another shot is always valid. Times change, people change, and we will all die! What can be that unforgivable? I'll make you a deal. I won't should on you, if you don't should on me. Om on....
Monday, January 2, 2012
Self Study as Practice...
Yoga has become a household word. The concept of “enlightenment” is
being used to sell everything from cars to honey ham. Over the past decade
yoga's popularity has grown so much that its classical images (the Om symbol,
practitioners in postures, words written with the hanging scroll of faux-
Sanskrit letters) are seen emblazoned on clothing and jewelry and have become
commodities, trends and fashion statements. Sacred mantras are given new
melodies, set to a drum beat and stream through hip-hop yoga classes and
dance parties in cities all over. The proliferation of yoga's physical practice –
hatha yoga and asana – continues to birth a never ending stream of variations
that include slow flow, power glow, yoga fight club and yoga-booty-ballet with
the emphasis on BIGGER backbends, STRONGER core, HARDER postures
and MORE achievement. This is not inherently good or bad. In light of Mark
Singleton's 2010 book, Yoga Body: The Origins of Modern Postural Practice, and the
discovery that even the more known "traditional" systems of yoga are only
about a century old (and are in fact a creative collection blending wrestling
moves, gymnastics, calisthenics and charismatic leaders' polishing the package)
gives credence to the idea of creativity and exploration beyond the boundaries
set forth by those who previously trod this path. More yoga, in all its variations,
arguably will create more opportunities for more people to embrace its healing
benefits. The point that its ubiquitous representation via Shanti-Shakti-Om
emblazoned paraphernalia and stamina-driven sweaty-yoga workouts will water
down the ancient wisdom teachings that preceded the physical practice so
popular today remains to be seen and ultimately depends on the practitioner.
The aphorism that variety is the spice of life might be applied in this context.
We could consider it a blessing to have so many options to approach the
spiritual practice of yoga. It is the nature of humans to be creative and
thoughtful and to utilize individual expression. This quality of self-reflection is
the very thing that sets humans apart from other sentient beings on this planet.
Humans have the capacity to think about their thoughts, their actions and
words. Choices can be made about what could be done, how well the
individual and others will be served or harmed by an action and what the end
result will be. Human animals have so much more than basic instinct and habit
and are the only animals that have full vertical, upright capability... placing the
brain on top of the rest of the physiology. This is the anatomical foundation of
the chakra system in yoga. The top four chakras are said to be responsible for
sensitivity in giving and receiving love, clearly communicating ideas and
connection to others, seeing the truth of life and death and knowing ultimate
reality. Without self-reflection, study of the self is not possible. Self-study, or
svadhyaya, is the practice of noticing one's habitual tendencies in speech,
actions, thoughts… including practice!! Through the experience of svadhyaya
one notices their tendencies, their ruts, or samskaras and then works to create
their opposite, fulfilling a balanced and evolved life. This is often the missing
piece. Tias said once, "Svadhyaya is tapas. Tapas is svadhyaya." Self-study is
austerity in practice and austerity in practice is self-study. The crux of this is
that if one does not know one's self, they'll end up falling blindly,
unconsciously, into whatever ol' practice suits their fancy. Without svadhyaya
and tapas, whatever is popular, whatever feels good, whatever appeals to our
potentially very out of whack nervous system is what we are drawn to, like
moths to a flame! This manifests as “like attracts like: The intense, strong, fiery
types flocking to strenuous hot yoga classes; loving, nurturing, bhakti types
gathering at kirtan circles; silent, intense and introverted types sitting at the
local Zen center; detail oriented, strong, perfectionist types gearing up for
Iyengar yoga… and never the ‘twain shall meet. It's the skillful practitioner who
can clearly see what their tendencies are and begin to include the opposite.
Patanjali's Yoga Sutra 2.33 suggests this very notion, to cultivate the opposite
wing in one's practice for a balanced life force:
When these codes of self-regulation or restraint (yamas) and
observances or practices of self-training (niyamas) are inhibited
from being practiced due to perverse, unwholesome, troublesome,
or deviant thoughts, principles in the opposite direction, or
contrary thought should be cultivated.
What's popular in a culture and society is generally the result of the energetic
of desires and fears gone amok. The trend is overly available, opportunistic,
appealing to the masses, usually watered down and inevitably over the top in
order to draw as many consumers as possible. Nothing in nature reflects these
tendencies in popular culture. All animals (save the human animal) change
their behavior in an attempt to bring balance and they do it by instinct alone! A
skillful practitioner will work in a system intentionally varied that is inclusive of
stillness practice, sounding and devotional practices, rigorous asana, restorative
asana and introspective healing work. This is the gift of yoga. This is the call of
the yogin and yogini. Om on.
being used to sell everything from cars to honey ham. Over the past decade
yoga's popularity has grown so much that its classical images (the Om symbol,
practitioners in postures, words written with the hanging scroll of faux-
Sanskrit letters) are seen emblazoned on clothing and jewelry and have become
commodities, trends and fashion statements. Sacred mantras are given new
melodies, set to a drum beat and stream through hip-hop yoga classes and
dance parties in cities all over. The proliferation of yoga's physical practice –
hatha yoga and asana – continues to birth a never ending stream of variations
that include slow flow, power glow, yoga fight club and yoga-booty-ballet with
the emphasis on BIGGER backbends, STRONGER core, HARDER postures
and MORE achievement. This is not inherently good or bad. In light of Mark
Singleton's 2010 book, Yoga Body: The Origins of Modern Postural Practice, and the
discovery that even the more known "traditional" systems of yoga are only
about a century old (and are in fact a creative collection blending wrestling
moves, gymnastics, calisthenics and charismatic leaders' polishing the package)
gives credence to the idea of creativity and exploration beyond the boundaries
set forth by those who previously trod this path. More yoga, in all its variations,
arguably will create more opportunities for more people to embrace its healing
benefits. The point that its ubiquitous representation via Shanti-Shakti-Om
emblazoned paraphernalia and stamina-driven sweaty-yoga workouts will water
down the ancient wisdom teachings that preceded the physical practice so
popular today remains to be seen and ultimately depends on the practitioner.
The aphorism that variety is the spice of life might be applied in this context.
We could consider it a blessing to have so many options to approach the
spiritual practice of yoga. It is the nature of humans to be creative and
thoughtful and to utilize individual expression. This quality of self-reflection is
the very thing that sets humans apart from other sentient beings on this planet.
Humans have the capacity to think about their thoughts, their actions and
words. Choices can be made about what could be done, how well the
individual and others will be served or harmed by an action and what the end
result will be. Human animals have so much more than basic instinct and habit
and are the only animals that have full vertical, upright capability... placing the
brain on top of the rest of the physiology. This is the anatomical foundation of
the chakra system in yoga. The top four chakras are said to be responsible for
sensitivity in giving and receiving love, clearly communicating ideas and
connection to others, seeing the truth of life and death and knowing ultimate
reality. Without self-reflection, study of the self is not possible. Self-study, or
svadhyaya, is the practice of noticing one's habitual tendencies in speech,
actions, thoughts… including practice!! Through the experience of svadhyaya
one notices their tendencies, their ruts, or samskaras and then works to create
their opposite, fulfilling a balanced and evolved life. This is often the missing
piece. Tias said once, "Svadhyaya is tapas. Tapas is svadhyaya." Self-study is
austerity in practice and austerity in practice is self-study. The crux of this is
that if one does not know one's self, they'll end up falling blindly,
unconsciously, into whatever ol' practice suits their fancy. Without svadhyaya
and tapas, whatever is popular, whatever feels good, whatever appeals to our
potentially very out of whack nervous system is what we are drawn to, like
moths to a flame! This manifests as “like attracts like: The intense, strong, fiery
types flocking to strenuous hot yoga classes; loving, nurturing, bhakti types
gathering at kirtan circles; silent, intense and introverted types sitting at the
local Zen center; detail oriented, strong, perfectionist types gearing up for
Iyengar yoga… and never the ‘twain shall meet. It's the skillful practitioner who
can clearly see what their tendencies are and begin to include the opposite.
Patanjali's Yoga Sutra 2.33 suggests this very notion, to cultivate the opposite
wing in one's practice for a balanced life force:
When these codes of self-regulation or restraint (yamas) and
observances or practices of self-training (niyamas) are inhibited
from being practiced due to perverse, unwholesome, troublesome,
or deviant thoughts, principles in the opposite direction, or
contrary thought should be cultivated.
What's popular in a culture and society is generally the result of the energetic
of desires and fears gone amok. The trend is overly available, opportunistic,
appealing to the masses, usually watered down and inevitably over the top in
order to draw as many consumers as possible. Nothing in nature reflects these
tendencies in popular culture. All animals (save the human animal) change
their behavior in an attempt to bring balance and they do it by instinct alone! A
skillful practitioner will work in a system intentionally varied that is inclusive of
stillness practice, sounding and devotional practices, rigorous asana, restorative
asana and introspective healing work. This is the gift of yoga. This is the call of
the yogin and yogini. Om on.
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