March 2013
4 posts
Dharma
I am- forever working at, studying and experimenting with ways to bring more of what I want and less of want I don’t want. And through this investigation I hope to enable others to do the same. As a yoga instructor I manage to share only crumbs of this knowledge when I teach yoga asana. And much of what is learned is through felt experience with a simple life teaching to complement what...
February 2013
1 post
So hum
I am. The great mantra. This mantra works for me. In sanskrit it is “so hum”.
I am that. I am this. I am everything. I am one with everything. There is no separation. Union. Oneness.
Sit tall, close your eyes. Soften your skin. Connect to the place this exists inside of you that is quiet, peaceful and pleasant.
On inhale mentally repeat: So
On exhale: hum.
Repeat.
January 2013
1 post
Life is an adventure and a battlefield
Lets not kid ourselves- life is an adventure and a battlefield, a windy undulating roller coaster at times. We advance along, sometimes uphill where we meet the current of gravity that seems to be pull us against our intended direction, armed with a helmet to protect us against the onslaught of turbulence as we rattle along. Sometimes with the wind behind us effortlessly gliding in a racer back...
December 2012
1 post
Depression in Tulips
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ December 13 Depression in Tulips ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a...
August 2012
2 posts
June 2012
1 post
Healthy Relationship
“Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping. For only the hand of life can contain your hearts. And stand together yet not too near together: For the pillars of a temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow” Kahlil Gibran- The Prophet.
As I engage more actively in my life and hone in on what it is that makes me feel a sense...
May 2012
4 posts
April 2012
3 posts
G to the O to the D
Sometimes things come to you all at once, and when you look behind the surface you can’t help but think the timing is synchronistic.
I was invited to Passover by a yoga student who often comes to my Sunday morning class. It was such an honour for him to invite me in with his family and friends for this important holiday in Judaism. And pretty much around the same time I was also invited to...
It takes effort to be free.
One of the many wonderful gifts of insight that I received studying the Patanjali Yoga Sutra’s at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandaram is the notion that Yoga takes effort.
The experience of yoga which is a moment to moment endeavour…is not something that just slips under our feet and lifts us off into the land of lavender and honey because we want it to…and more especially because...
February 2012
4 posts
January 2012
2 posts
Home.
Yoga is like coming home.
Home is a place that we take refuge, a place of peace and relative quiet. A place that you respect, and as such a place that you keep clean and calm. It is a place that people visit from time to time, but only if we invite them in. And when we do, we might clean that place more than we would do for us alone. We realize it feels so much better to have it this way all the...
Adaptation
People have always had troubles with my name. Rachel, Rochelle, Richelle, Michelle, Russia…yes, I’ve been called Russia before…more than once. Once you add my last name on top of that- it usually ends up being a double butchering. Rachel Tatteglini, Tortelini, Ter-sig-knee, Ter-sign-knee…actually it’s pronounced Ter-see-knee. The same way when you order Gnocchi, you...
December 2011
15 posts
Bite Size Pieces
As I thumb through my three notebooks of the past four weeks, I search for one key concept to write about.
And I take from my aunt, a wise woman with an honourable mission www.yoganurse.com
Little bite size, digestable pieces. Things that can be reflected on in one glance. Each paragraph/sentence is meant to be taken at a time.
To inspire, guide, enlighten and enrich us.
If you want to get...
Yama's (external practices)
Sutra II.28 yogaanganusthanadasuddhiksayejnanadiptiravivekakhyateh
I know what your thinking. That’s one very long sentence. Try chanting it. It’s missing all the markings that indicate the length, pitch, and placement of the tongue while chanting.
Basically what this is saying is that the tendency we have to see things through our own obscured lens can be clarified with a few...
Clarity
Sanskrit words to understand.
Dukha: suffering
Sukha: happiness
Klesha: things that bring about suffering
Sarupyam: not in a state of yoga (union)
Svarupe: in it’s own nature
My sutra teacher at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandarim is Sangeetha. A passionate woman, who has dissected and explored the Patanjali sutra’s in a way that is unimaginable. She can relate them to eachother...
November 2011
6 posts
Patanjali
I decided to come to India to study the Patanjali sutra’s *Sutra means to show the way (the path)* almost a year ago. I didn’t actually know much about them before I came- besides the most common part, which it turns out is sutra II.29. The eight components of yoga. Also known as the 8 limbs of Raja and/or Ashtanga yoga. And of course the first few lines, which are said to be the...
Three days in India
All of this in 3 days:
Sleeping until 4 pm, mosquito bitten ankles, chai too late, sleeping in vedic chanting class, clicking fans, the smell of putrid mixed with jasmine flowers, head wobbling, masala dosa, sitting cross legged on motorbikes, no means yes, being called madam, screwing up the vedic chants, if you don’t want to get hit in traffic just keep going, if you don’t want...
Devotion
Listening to: Flying, Garth Stevenson
Lord Krishna Said:
“I love the peaceful devotee who is neither a source of agitation in the world, nor agitated by the world. The Bhakti is one who is friendly and compassionate to all, free of fear, envy, hatred, and other annoyances that the world brings, who accepts the knocks that come their way as blessings in disguise.”
~ Bhagavad Gita, Ch.12, V.15
...
October 2011
2 posts
Cultivate Light
Listening to: Yoga on Sacred Ground, Heart Chakra- Chinmaya Dunster
With this new view. With the power given back to me, with the realization that I have more control than I previously thought. Control by way of felt experience. By way of feeling inside of myself that there is already the experience of joy waiting to be unearthed.
I wish to cultivate light. I wish for every person reading this...
Inner Revolution
Listening to: Tonight (Questa Note) by Ludovico Einaudi
I am starting a revolutionary practice of story telling.
For the past year I have been experimenting with a Buddhist practice, inspired by a Buddhist meditation retreat that I took last New Years. I sat with myself for seven long days. I sat with my discomforts. I told stories. I entertained myself- a lot. I realized how incredibly...
September 2011
2 posts
“Know Thyself.”
– Socrates 