Wandering Prakruti

Jai Ganesha! remover of obstacles.

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 18:16:24 -0700

Jai Ganesha! remover of obstacles.

I wonder this myself.

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 16:51:09 -0700

I wonder this myself.

Bhagavad Gita

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 14:18:22 -0700

Bhagavad Gita

Dharma

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 16:35:38 -0800

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 students are doing in their physical practice.

I personally learn a great deal from intellectual knowledge that is delivered directly through the mind and the minds comprehension of a thought or idea. It is through my mind that I often can adjust and examine things that are not working. Of course there is a wonderful system of support that can be provided through bodily and more subtle energy shifts or the sub conscious mind- especially when the mind is stuck in old and stubborn pathways.

Having said that I believe completely that everyone must find there own way, and that what works for one is not a ubiquitous solution for all.

There are many great people who have managed to sum up and succinctly lay out steps, a path, a way to follow. At different times we may resonate with one teaching more than another. I currently am complimenting my yoga studies of the Patanjali Yoga Sutras with the teaching of a tantric lineage passed down through Rod Stryker http://www.parayoga.com/.

He teaches ancient techniques from a modern day understanding and with practical application. He speaks of and directly to the soul and encourages others through practices to clear away thoughts tapping directly into their soul to find answers that we all thrive on discovering.

According to tantric tradition, we will never truly be happy unless we are fulfilling our dharma. Dharma translates to duty. Rod’s speaks of a dharma that refers to the purpose of your soul. This is something that is imprinted into your DNA at the time of birth. It is your birth right, which is why unless you are fulfilling it you will always feel something is amiss.

According to Rod Stryker, who’s technique has worked and provided much insight into the subject of fulfillment; the way to discover your soul’s purpose comes from quieting the mind and listening to the place of intuition, creativity and sublime peace that is inside of you.

It is in that place of rest and effortlessness that you can come upon deep wisdom and begin to understand the things that you really want. The deepest part of yourself, the part of you that is not constantly fluctuating. Rather the place that is unwaveringly clear.

We all have a deep longing for our soul’s desire to be met. And this is your deepest dharma or purpose.

Who wouldn’t want to find theirs out?

So hum

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 17:20:08 -0800

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.

Life is an adventure and a battlefield

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 19:38:00 -0800

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 tank and sun against our cheek.

We stand, and the world swirls around us, numerous unknowns lie ahead. We walk along and find things are not working out the way we had planned or anticipated. We find ourselves stuck, fearful of the future, burdened by the past, inhibited by what went wrong, constantly trying to protect ourselves. And in the process we push away, re-create, tell stories, fulfill our own self deprecating patterns. This is the battlefield. And whether you are a wealthy privledged CEO, or a poverty stricken slum dweller we are all prone to the same woes. One could argue the worlds wealthy suffer more from depression and anxiety than the those who were born into begging for food.

The battlefield exists in the world around us, and equally it is exists within us. We battle with ourselves despite the weather, our bank account balance, our relationship status, our career. We are really good at creating problems and stress out of the stories we tell. And this creates an external expression of chaos and resistance in what we see. Our rose coloured glasses can turn grey very quickly, and we create the battlefield for others to be our enemies.

Life is also an adventure and filled with awesome views, uplifiting interactions, heartfelt connection, rich and delightful experience that makes us beam with brilliance. This is the adventure. That it is both. It is both awe inspiring and sweet to taste, and can be gloomy and flavoured with bitterness.

The adventure is that we must advance along the path despite the arrows nearing towards us, picking ourselves up and brushing the dust off, getting back up, over and over again to continue on for more of the adventure. We never know when life could throw us a curve ball, but we also never know when life could hand us an effortless and generous serving of rare gems.

Sometimes we need to pick our selves up, dust ourselves off, stand up again, walk forward from all the little hurts, the disappointments, the unplanned detours, and refine ourselves with integrity to reveal the hidden gems that lie within our capacity.

Ya never know what could be around the next corner, it could be a valley or a peak. Life is an adventure afterall.

Depression in Tulips

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 18:43:36 -0800

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it. You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it.
Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

Happiness is a choice. It is based upon our mood, our point of view, our opinion of the facts of our life, not upon the facts of our life themselves.

A conversation I had recently:

A: Why can’t we just be happy?

B: It’s not meaningful if we don’t have to choose being happy.

A: Well, can’t we just move from happiness to more happiness?

B: Yes, of course. That’s what we’re all heading toward. But we learn the way of that by moving from despair to feeling good. That’s where we build the muscle.

A: How do you know we’re not supposed to be unhappy?

B: Said the ego.

A: Huh?

B: We look at the world either through the eyes of the ego, or through the eyes of nature.

A: And you’re saying that being depressed is looking through the eyes of ego.

B: It’s not natural to be depressed. Imagine the headline:
Plague of Depression Sweeps Tulips of Holland, and there are pictures of vast fields of tulips dying because there’s just no reason to go on. “Plant psychiatrist Alfred E. Newman says crop dusting with Lexapro the only hope.” Absurd, right?

To move from despair to happiness always requires, at some point, a choice: a choice to get up from the chair, to go to the store, to return a call, to write an email, to take a walk. If we cannot choose to be happy in a moment, at least we can choose to move, because that’s what happiness looks like: it’s on the move. When we find ourselves feeling better, on our way out of the field of despair, of depression, we will always be able to track back and see where the choice was made.

And these choices never are easy. We’re working against inertia. But it’s the fact they are not easy that makes them important, that builds the muscle that allows us to take it even further. To move in the direction of joy.

Today I will pick up the thousand pound phone and make that call. I will go to my cactus-keyed computer and write that email. I will insist on smiling one smile that is connected to my eyes, to my heart, to my gut and to another person.

Cheyenne, Griffith Park, LA, CA

All original material copyright © 2012 JeffKoberMeditation

Photo

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 22:45:06 -0700

geeky-yogini: Sexy. Sweet. Sensual.

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 22:40:35 -0700

geeky-yogini:

Sexy. Sweet. Sensual.

Healthy Relationship

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 13:17:00 -0700

“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 of well-being and what it is that causes me strife. I realize that often times for me, and I venture to guess for many other humans- we are deeply affected by relationship with others. And as I explore this more fully in order to understand relationship dynamics, I also can see how the relationship we have with ourselves is then reflected in those with others. Simply put, if I am feeling crappy about myself, I am usually not the brightest and most optimistic person to be around, hence my relationships will be strained in some way. And it can become a bit of a cycle, where if my relationships are not positive then I am likely to feel crappy. So in essence- healthy relationship with others is inextricably linked with a healthy relationship with self.

As yoga practitioners, we embark on a path of self-inquiry, that is to see your patterns and habits, investigate your fears and limitations, and while it may not be a practical goal- in Classical Yoga that also means to inquire into the self to see the nature of ourselves which is liberated- our soul. Moving in that direction is all the same, the path to be more liberated from mental anxieties and uncertainty is the same path as the one to achieve the reflection of the soul.

And so we are partaking in a relationship with ourselves in an intimate and sometimes difficult way. And it is through this journey that we can develop a healthy self-relationship, as we begin to understand ourselves more fully. Where we can vulnerably acknowledge our unfruitful tendencies and see our behavior with a deeper understanding. This process will in turn foster healthy relationships with others as we begin to understand our selves we will then be able to make sense of others and their intricacies.

To go deeply into what a healthy relationship means, first we must define healthy:

It looks like the first use of this word was in 1545-55, so it’s been around a while. According to a few different dictionary sources: it is freedom from sickness and illness, possessing sound or vigorous mentality, appearance, attitude. Most of the definitions include the word health, assuming we already know what that word means. So if you look at the synonyms, there are: hearty, robust, nourishing, wholesome, conducive to wellbeing, attractive freshness (makes me laugh), purity. The antonym is simply: sick.

To me healthy pertains to body, mind, spirit, environment and relationship. The following are my definition of healthy in different areas.

Body: The bodies signal to indicate lack of health is manifested in symptoms of discomfort (headache, joint pain, fatigue, digestive upset, and sometimes don’t feel uncomfortable but can appear that way i.e. skin symptoms, tumors, cysts). When the body is healthy we are indeed without uncomfortable symptoms. We feel physically free of restriction and pain. Our digestion is efficient and regular, our energy is good, our body doesn’t signal us with alarm bells of pain. That being said, of course there are instances when the body is unwell and we don’t know it yet i.e cancer- but this too will eventually manifest itself in symptoms.

Mind: A healthy mind I like to expand beyond the allopathic paradigm. You may not need medication or to be sent to a mental facility as deemed by the medical community, however you may have unhealthy habits that restrict you from seeing things and experiencing life in an energetic, fulfilling, hearty, robust, resilient and nourishing way.

Spirit: A healthy spirit means that you have a healthy sense of who you are beyond your thinking head. And that you engage in practices to get in touch with the part of yourself that is without opinion, label, identity, aversion or attraction. When you are indeed quiet, you at peace with the part of yourself that resides deep inside yourself without the above mentioned, and when you can access this place, you are likely to be overcome with feelings of peace and contentment. In classical yoga this place is described as Purusha, consciousness, divine essence or the soul. And if that is something you don’t connect with- it is the place that feels quiet and restful inside of yourself.

Environment: To ignore our interaction with our surroundings that do not include other humans is to not include the whole picture. A healthy relationship with our environment includes many of the yama’s described in the 8 limb path of yoga. To be ahimsa: considerate, and non-harmful, asteya: non-stealing, to not take what does not belong to you, to practice aparigraha: non-greed- to not take more than what you need. We can think of this as not taking more resources than what is needed and to be mindful of what involved in getting things to you, and the social, economic and environmental implications of what we consume.

Relationship: And finally, healthy relationship does in fact mean there is equanimity of energy, fulfilling, hearty, and robust yes, nourishing also yes, and I think wholeness is an interesting one. As Kahlil Gibran so eloquently put: when joining together whether it be friendship, marriage, or relationship of any kind- may you be two wholes coming together, two pillars to hold up the temple, with spaces between you. “Love one another, but make not a bond of love, let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.” So that one doesn’t complete the other, but instead there is a sharing of resources and equal give and take that feels balanced and nourishing from a place of I am already whole, and you make my life more joyous, and bright vs. I am half a person and you make me whole, and without you I am empty, and have no purpose.

And so as we partake in seeking a healthy self relationship our relationships with others will naturally and consequently become more fulfilling. This is also described in the Ethics and Observances in the 8 limb path of yoga. They directly influence each other, as we engage in the practices that cultivate a healthy dynamic with others (consideration, kindness, honesty, conservation of resources, energy, not taking what doesn’t belong to you) then we will in turn feel better about ourselves. And as we engage in practices with our selves (practicing gratitude and contentment, self-reflection, maintaining a clean space, and exercising our will towards a higher goal) we will culture rewarding and fulfilling relationships with others. As we do to the self, so we do to others. As we do to others so we do to ourselves. They are inextricably woven and inseparable.

The next time you feel inclined to act out negatively towards someone else consider not only how it will affect them, but also how in the end it will effect you. And if we desire healthy relationships around us, then the best thing we can do is to work on ourselves.

To Garth Stevenson on a rooftop in Chennai, India

Thu, 24 May 2012 06:54:04 -0700

To Garth Stevenson on a rooftop in Chennai, India

Photo

Thu, 17 May 2012 10:13:07 -0700

be-strong-in-love: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with...

Thu, 17 May 2012 10:11:11 -0700

be-strong-in-love:

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” (Mary Oliver)

(by ashlynne.herrin)

notesformyfuturefarm: yourenotapersonunlessyoureacting: “Glass...

Thu, 17 May 2012 10:09:35 -0700

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yourenotapersonunlessyoureacting:

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Glass gem corn: if jelly beans were vegetables.

G to the O to the D

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 09:04:17 -0700

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 join my good friends to do a Native Sweat. These two things happened to fall on the same weekend. And I couldn’t help but draw a parallel between these two ceremonies I was asked to join in over the same weekend. First the sweat which is a ritual of purification. Timely set two days before I will attend this Passover celebration which will be the 2nd seder (2nd day of celebrating passover).

And even more synchronistic is a recent conversation I was so grateful and excited to have. One of the amazing things about my job working at the Naturopathic Clinic are the conversations that go on behind that shut door. Myself and the other person can either a) say very little and get the job done b) stay pretty light and enjoy some jokes or c) get really heavy into deep philosophical/spiritual/life talks…which surprisingly or not surprisingly happen more often than you might think.

A few weeks ago, I had a conversation that pretty much topped them all, I was reeling from what we had discussed for the whole day, and it made the rest of my day bright and joyful. Yup, a good conversation can send me into fireworks and sunshine mode.

It was with Jay, a young man studying at Rabbatical School in New Jersey. Hi Jay! (if your reading this)….and we got into comparing and discussing yoga philosophy with Judaism, touched on Kabbalah, and discussed the feminine and masculine, the yin and yang, and G to the O to the D. Forget about the food sensitivity test…the conversation was much more compelling- even to Jay.

What did we figure out…that Purusha (masculine energy) in yogic philosophy which is known as the seer, the soul, consciousness, formless, unchanging is basically another word for God. Yes, I kind of knew that before but now comparing the term God with what Jay calls God made it more real to me that in fact we are talking about the same thing here. The same essence that is worshiped, prayed to, the same light to look upon when your in the midst of darkness. Different religions may idolize it, genderize it, name it differently…but we’re ultimately talking about the same thing here.

Prakriti (the feminine) is that which always changes, that which creates. It is matter, nature, the mind, the body…it is the receiver of the Purusha (divine consciousness)…the prakriti needs the purusha to be able to experience life- so in essence the prakriti receives and the purusha gives…actually the way I understand it is that the purusha just is, it isn’t intentionally giving…it simply is there, free and unbound, and the prakriti uses it to have an experience. The purusha doesn’t desire…but it is fireworks and sunshine when the prakriti can reflect purusha’s quality of being free. This is what is termed enlightenment, self-realization, jivamukti, moksha, kaivalyam.

In the same way the ancient eastern cultures describes male and female energies, the giver/the receiver/the do-er/the acceptor etc etc…all relationships have this quality whether gay or straight…two women, two men, a man and a woman…there is often one person who balances the other with the opposite qualities or who takes the masculine giving role or the nurturing feminine role. Another parallel we drew was that of reproduction. The woman’s body creates the baby, and without the woman the sperm would do nothing it would be inert…it is the same with Purusha and Prakriti.

If Purusha or consciousness is a male energy and it is that energy that is liberated and divine than it makes sense that when people refer to God they refer to male…which frankly used to piss me off before I realized this! Thanks Jay! Not only did this help me to not cringe when I hear the word GOD…which has been lessening over the past few years…but when hearing “he” I will understand the origin’s of where that comes from. It does not mean God is a man…or a person, it is the quality of the energy (if you want to think of it that way)…it is relatively masculine, it has relatively masculine qualities to the creative matter which is nature. If you continue to see a man and a women when referring to these energies than I can see how that would cause a mental blockage. A man can have lots of feminine energy and vice versa…it is the quality not the gender!!!

With things lining up as precisely as they could to get the message across to me- I came across this article which further expresses some of the ideas expressed here:

http://www.elephantjournal.com/2012/04/to-sadie-nardini-please-dont-whitewash-yoga/

Photo

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 09:57:07 -0700

It takes effort to be free.

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 12:24:00 -0700

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 we participate in asana classes a few times a week. And another one I grapple with- is that all I have to do is allow, accept and surrender into yoga’s arms. Surrender into focus, attention, presence, balancing softness with action; surrender and accept who I am and who other people are…ahem….but what if I am an asshole? Should I just accept that, and not make any changes?? And what if that friend of mine is out right rude to the waitress and I’m starting to realize we have totally different values? Do I accept, and find within myself a place where I can learn to accept this person and continue to spend time with them?

So, is yoga accepting things as they are, or making changes to have the things that I want?

The experience of yoga is an endeavour towards freedom. So what does it mean to be free……? take a minute and answer that for yourself.

Freedom to me, means to be less bound by the limitations that hold you back from fully being in each moment without the constraints of the past, and expectations of the future. Freedom means that I am not limited to thinking things must be a certain way, and that I am a certain person, who can and can’t do certain things, and that the people around me are a certain way, and I am going to hold them to it, and that I am a certain way and unwilling to adjust who I am in order to bring me more happiness…or better yet adjust my circumstances in order to be happier. Maybe that means letting go of that friend, or that person in your life that doesn’t resonate with who you are anymore. So there is some acceptance, accepting that you cannot change anyone else, and accepting that what once was, doesn’t mean it always will be.

To me freedom is not something I expect to have all of the time….in the words of Robert Birnberg “suffering will come find you, you don’t have to look for it”.

I don’t know about you- but I want more freedom, more of the time!

So indeed yoga is about flexibility….flexibility in the way you see the world and yourself; so you are less bound to all that you rigidly hold onto. All that you have worked so hard to strengthen your identity with. All the colourings with which you see the world. All that you imagined things would be like. Side note: Having a flexible body does not ensure this kind of thinking.

B.K.S Iyengar.

But it doesn’t hurt to master the limitations you have in your mind about what you can do with your body. And it also helps to make more space in your body, and clear out your mind all at the same time. The more you are focused on the breath during asana, the less you are a thinking head, the more space you have for being free. There are many other reasons why asana is amazing and wonderful…but to merely practice asana even if you are totally focused on the breath, is not going to give you freedom the way using yoga in your everyday interactions especially the one with yourself will.

On effort.

First we must understand what it is that yoga (or any or practice) can do for us. We must understand how it can effect our life. From that comes the desire to want what it has to offer. We need to have faith that the practice of yoga is going to bring us what we want, we then need to make contact with it (touch, taste, smell, feel, breath and listen to how the aspects of yoga interact with us) and here’s the thing- to make contact with our whole heart, with awareness, with our reflective lens- the one that reflects our own image, our own behaviour, our own samskaras (habits)…the willingness to look at ourselves and our role in our interactions, the willingness to see without attachment to our ego, the willingness to let go, and yes there is also a willingness to accept things as they are…a surrender if you will- but there is also the awareness on the adjustments that can be made in order to interact with the world in a way that brings you more freedom…and for most of us that takes some change. Maybe the change is to learn how to accept some things? Accepting your past, and be with things as they are in each moment with awareness, reflect on how things play out and then apply some effort to adjust things- to bring about what you really want for the future. And over and over again…

It’s the same way we adjust ourselves in a posture to find more stability and space in the body.

That’s a lot….the willingness, the desire, the faith, the interaction with yoga takes effort. It is an on going practice, and we will fall from yoga’s grace over and over again, from the grace of being free. And as Patanjali so precisely spoke about- yoga is meant to be done with correct effort (positive attitude, enthusiasm, for a long time, and uninterrupted)….the uninterrupted part simply means that if you shall fall away from yoga’s grace, keep making your way back with enthusiasm….(if you indeed know that it is the path for you), yoga’s path will be waiting for you, and is willing to take you back over and over again.

The path is being able to discern when to let go and accept and when to make adjustments towards change.

Colour.

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 16:44:43 -0800

Colour.

Empty. When we’re full- we cannot take in the new. So...

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 08:06:15 -0800

Empty.

When we’re full- we cannot take in the new. So empty your cup, practice letting go. Abhaysa Vairagya.(Practice Detachment)

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Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:44:33 -0800

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