First Class Free

March 10, 2011.  Dedicated to all those finding their best courage in connecting to each other in a time of serious challenge.  And love to those digging out from the incredible Earthquake in Japan. Einstein said it like this, “A human being is a part of a whole, called by us 'universe', a part limited in time and space. But he experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us. Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.”

So today as we offer support around the world we also recognize internally how important it is for each of us to feel supported.  It is as Earon Davis says, “It takes community to maintain a human.”  Community, communion, compassion all of these and more that the practice teaches us through the vehicle of ourselves and trying to experience democracy and connection there first before taking it into relationship with others.  One of my personal meditations I use is where I ask myself as much as I reach out to others, “can I be reached?”  

So I ask you, “CAN YOU BE REACHED?”   How easily do you accept support from your breath, from the earth, from your friends, from those that are trying to make your life easier?  If its not so easy then come to the mat even more until you feel it possible within your body and heart and this will ignite the trust to connect with others. 

Quite frankly it's easy to disconnect from ourselves and what we are feeling. Yoga brings us back into a state of connection.On the mat we begin the pose with the mind first and then the breath and body follow.  This is why the sophistication in cuing is so remarkable as a way to "work out" our mind muscle and make it less flabby.  How can we even begin to see the connections between ourselves and the world if our mind muscle isn't strong enough to see the communion or connection within our own body?  And really what are we talking about here?  Why bother at all?  Because a strong mind muscle is what keeps us living lovingly and fully!  It is always about LOVE.  Jack Kornfield says it like this:

"Love creates a communion with life. Love expands us, connects us, sweetens us, ennobles us. Love springs up in tender concern, it blossoms into caring action.  It makes beauty out of all we touch.  In any moment we can step beyond our small self and embrace each other as beloved parts of the whole."

So today, know the more you connect to yourself the more you are able to connect to others. The more you share compassion with yourself, the more you have compassion for others.  And once you find this communion with life then everything becomes about love.  Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia

PS Join me on a yoga retreat www.alchemytours.com and stay in touch www.silviamordini.com

SEPTEMBER 12, 2010.  Some years back I as talking about how yoga helps us to face our fears (remember that first time doing crow pose or kicking up into a handstand or feeling the sensation of pigeon or even just standing still in mountain pose).  After class a student came up and told me I should never talk about fear and if I do she will never come back to class.  Guess how that made me feel?  Yup, I was totally afraid of her. I was afraid of what she'd say or do or tell people and I was afraid of what if one day I forget and she was in class and I said the word what would she do.  I resolved not to talk about Fear at that point because I WAS AFRAID OF BEING AFRAID.  That went on for over a year.  Then the more spiritual reading I did and the more Anusara Yoga became part of my life I realized there was something inauthentic about denying fear.  Anusara teaches us to embrace the full spectrum of who we are, even when we are afraid.

Mariann Williamson says, "Love is what we are born with. Fear is what we learn. The spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear and prejudices and the acceptance of love back in our hearts." So first thing we do when we come to class is as Baron Baptiste says, "drop everything you know."  From there we heed the sage advice of Yoda in Star Wars, "YOU MUST UNLEARN WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED." 

Interesting enough this works hand in hand with what positive psychologist (and favorite Harvard professor) Tal Ben-Shahar's lectures talk about that drills down into this: "to be a happier person give yourself permission to be HUMAN."  Otherwise when we suppress what we feel it creates more problems.  This is what "he refers to as ironic processing, which promises that suppressing an emotion will only ensure its clear announcement later."  Yoga is the science of happiness and encourages us to practice unconditional love for ourselves and what we practice on our own lives we know how to share with others.  You can't teach what you don't know.  You can't live what you don't know.  In great part the reason I teach is to be that spark to explain how yoga works so you too don't stay stuck in non-life affirming qualities of your humanness and realize that once you accept who you are, you can unlearn what you know and expand into your happiest life ever.  I want that for me, and I really want that for you.  Love yourself, love your day, lover your life! Silvia

SEPTEMBER 3, 2010.  Can you imagine a world where everyone does their own yoga?  It is something I say in class all, all the time.  Just let everyone be themselves.  Or as Leo Buscaglia says, “The easiest thing to be in the world is you. The most difficult thing to be is what other people want you to be. Don't let them put you in that position.”

In a warrior pose for instance this means shorten or widen your stance, bend your knee a lot or a little, hold your arms up in any position or relax your harms by your sides look up, look straight or close your eyes.  And the list goes on and on and that's just one pose.  Seriously, what if we allowed others to be who they are instead of wanting them to be something different? How would their life be different? What would your quality of life be like? Let me put in perspective like this with a story told to a teacher, repeated by a teacher, told to me and I share with you... imagine the vastness of the ocean and there in the distance you see a single life preserver, just one for the whole ocean. Then imagine under the sea there is a dolphin swimming about trying to come up for air in the exact same spot as there exists the single life preserver.  The chances of the dolphin arising out of the water at the one place the life preserver awaits is said to be the chance we have at being born Human.  

When you think of how dramatic our winning the lotto of life is by being a human being it is remarkable that we would waste a moment forcing others to be what they are not or gossiping about what they are or doing anything besides just BEING OURSELVES.  From a buddhist perspective what distinguishes humans from other beings is that we can realize our own suffering and address it. We can in effect by being ourselves, save ourselves from remaining in a state of suffering and instead enjoying constant ordinary happiness.  To me this is the Peace in the world that most of us are aspiring to for our children, and for our children's children.  

“Among individuals as among nations, the respect to other people's rights is peace”  Benito Juarez

The single hardest yoga pose to practice is "being oneself."  So next time you start talking about what someone in your life (your boss, your colleague, your partner, your kids, your parents) are doing life wrong step back and allow them to be who they are.  We can only be second best at trying to be someone else.  We can only be best at practicing living life as unique and wonderful as we are.  Imperfectly perfect.  Love yourself, love your day, love your life, Silvia

For more about me visit www.silviamordini.com or my spiritual travel company www.alchemytours.com

May 26, 2010, What instrument would you play if you could play anything?  At the start of class we went around and shared what that would be in this idea that coming together as a yoga class we create a symphony of humanity at its best. I of course love that!

“These two teachings, the supremacy of the heart and the uniqueness of each human being are very important to me.  They give me the fullest understanding of my membership in the human family.”  Robert Muller

When we truly love we are in harmony not only with our beloved but with all living things.  Love is blind in that it makes no distinctions but extends to everyone and everything. This is the idea of Bhakti yoga.  You either love everyone and everything or nothing at all. The uniting of ourselves through relationship of breath in class to others reminds of the one tribe we all belong to. We are all members of the Human Family and in this family, there is no divorce.

BHAKTI MEANS LOVE

WE are all united in the highest sense “At the highest level of existence, we are all united. This supreme condition as the joyous union between Shiva (masculine cosmicness) and Shakti (the feminine cosmic principle). 

Relationship is what coming to class is all about: relationship between your heart and body (a love story); relationship between your arms and legs; relationship between you and the poses relationship with you and the other students, relationship with you and the teacher.

The funny weird PARADOX of relationship is that it calls on us to be ourselves and express who we are without hesitation and let go of getting too hardened into a single position.  We have this play constantly between Shiva and Shakti. On the mat we experience this in a simple but profound way when lying on our back and we do a spinal twist with our arms at a “T” position.  We want to extend our arms as us and yet there are other students to navigate around and so we co-create together making space for everyone. This is the harmony of bhakti yoga, and hence the beautiful music the asanas help us create through the instrument of our bodies.

“As a student progresses on the path, he arrives at a highly sensitized condition when dealing with the world, and this becomes painful at times.  The problems which thus arise cannot be eliminated, for increasing sensitivity is a natural result of finer mental and emotional development. However, the reaction to difficulties caused by this can be controlled.”  Paul Brunton

This is very much true in spiritual practice. As you become more integrated and sensitive to the relationship you have between your mind and body then you become more sensitive to all human relationship outside yourself.  The yoga makes us all experts in humanity.  And we can use that for good: Love everyone, serve everyone or promote disconnection that serves no one and destroys us all.  But I promise if you practice regularly and practice with love the choice will be easy.  Love yourself, love your day, love your life!  Silvia

OCTOBER 6, 2009:  Gosh you guys it takes time to build a life! Good thing there are a million ways to practice being human.  And part of our humanness is our perfect imperfection.  There is immense courage in accepting that life is messy that no matter how much we try to control the outcome of a situation, we just don’t know what comes next.  Life is funny that way, it is full of trail and error, falling and picking ourselves up again.  The important part is not to get paralyzed in the fear of not trying stuff because we’re afraid of the imperfection. 

Instead DO one thing everyday that scares you:  Favorite line from this utube clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTJ7AzBIJoI

There is neither a reason to try to change the past or over rehearse the future because it only makes the present miserable. That’s a shame because we only have this one chance to live today.  There are no do overs so we might as well spill coffee, try to balance on one leg, wear a red dress, go to a midnight movie, travel across the country to make a new friend or whatever else seems a bit of a stretch.

Life is messy already so we might as well live with what life is offering us. Today we talked about the Vata derangement and full moon and mercury retrograde influences going on. Well that’s what we have to work with so we can elevate our attitudes and act our way into feeling better about our lives.  Lama Yeshe said, "A human has a positive and a negative side. We have an ignorant side, but we also have a beautiful potential."  Let’s allow for that beauty to shine out in all its messy, often inconvenient glory!  Love and courage to really live in love, do what you love, and be with whomever you love!  Silvia

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