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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

OCTOBER 22, 2009:  Today I am thinking of what does it mean to SUCCEED IN LIFE? This has me thinking about ancient Yogic writings like that of the Bhagavad Ghita where it talks about Success saying that “the only real success in life is living with an open, loving heart.”  “It explains the nature of success, emphasizing that all those things that are obtained in the world are transitory and not ultimately success.  If we define success by material stuff we limit ourselves and miss out on life because there is not substitute for peace and love. At the same time it’s not the stuff that’s the problem the problem is the belief that stuff is the solution to the aching soul.” (Judith Lasater, Living Your Yoga)

So the question is how do we enjoy our worldly success and yet not identify with it.  How do we make healthy choices that are not “only” influenced by our material desires from our head but also from our hearts?  On the mat the yoga is our teacher revealing our mental habits.  Do we try to “acquire” as many poses as possible like new shoes? Do we get more enamored with a fancy pose, like a fancy car or can we be really happy with the specialness of fundamental poses?  As you make choices in the poses you can judge for yourself your own decision making process and how it applies off the mat. 

Carlos Casteneda in his book The Teachings of Don Juan offers a great suggestion for considering what choices to make. To me this is speaking to the heart of the yogic definition of success.  “You must always keep in mind that a PATH is only a path; if you feel you must not follow it, you must not stay with it under any circumstances…any path is only a path, there is not affront to yourself or others in dropping it if that is what your head tells you to do. But your decision to keep on the path or to leave it must be free of fear or ambition.  Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself, and you alone, One question…it is this…DOES THIS PATH HAVE A HEART?  All paths are the same; they lead nowhere. Does this path have a heart is the question. If it does, then the path is GOOD; if it doesn’t, it is of no use. Both paths lead nowhere, but one has heart and the other doesn’t. One makes for a joyful journey; as long as you follow it you will be one with it. The other will make you curse your life. One makes you strong, the other weakens you.”

Each individual can judge for himself which path has heart for him.  Where paths cross there is union; where they run parallel there is peace, provided that each path loves and honors the other.  Man must be free to make his own mistakes and learn from them what he can. Love is his guide.  Love listens to its own needs.  Society is replete with rules, regulations and guidelines to finding love and social acceptance. Often man is so taken up with what others believe or will think or say, that he stops listening to what HE believes, thinks or says. Love listens to its own needs and appreciates its own uniqueness. It abhors the fact that men are becoming more and more the same, so that it will not be long before the only way he will be identifiable as an individual will be through his social security number.” (Leo Buscaglia)

How easily do we share our energies in class with fellow students, sharing in our success in a pose by encouraging everyone else too? Or sharing our ease or the sound of our breath to inspire others breathing?  In the book Love by Leo Buscaglia he talks about sharing like this.  “Love shares with others. What purpose of knowledge if it isn’t offered? What good is love that isn’t freely given? Love is always active sharing. If one has love to give, he may impart it to all the world and he will still have the same love he started with. We never lose anything by sharing it, for nothing is ever solely ours to start with. In fact, love acquires meaning only as it’s shared.”

So no matter what we acquire Success is living in a state of such graceful openness we want to share and celebrate that which comes from our hearts!  And the abundance we grow in our hearts comes from choosing those paths with heart.  It’s not about money. Ultimately success is our willingness to enjoy life and life in balance and love.  Or as Judith Lasater says “ LOVE, NOT WEALTH, IS SUCCESS. A big embrace to you all! Silvia

APRIL 17TH, 2009:  The most challenging way to live is in love. Talk about taking courageous action!  Karma is the Sanskrit for action.  The idea being this is that we have a choice about the actions we take each and every moment.  Behind the action is what we call Tapas or determination.  Something has to fuel the action, especially when choosing love over hate, or peace over anger, or flow over inertia.  If we take action we are spiritually taking responsibility for our lives.  The cool thing is that as we consciously look for opportunities to feel excited about life it answers back.  This is a spiritual truth.

We can bring to life and make manifest our intentions if we do the work.  One of my favorite African proverbs says, "When you pray, move your feet".  YES! We can easily get bogged down in the heaviness of life and deaden out.  This is no way to live.  When we need to move and pray for the life we want then we just gotta do it!

So through this practice may you find your own strength to be a lover of life.

As Leo Buscaglia says, “to be a lover will require that you continually have the subtlety of the very wise, the flexibility of a child, the sensitivity of the artist, the understanding of the philosopher, the acceptance of the saint, the tolerance of the dedicated, the knowledge of the scholar, and the fortitude of the certain.  All these qualities will grow in him who choose love for these are already part of his potential and will be realized through loving.”  So that’s the boomerang effect of Karmic seeds that we action.  If we love life, it will love us back!  It’s just that easy, it “becomes then a matter of loving your way to love!”

So start now, without delay, get up stand up for your right to love and be loved!  In truth and light, Silvia

FEBRUARY 16, 2009: Every single one of you is vitally important to the universe.  You are genius!  The world needs your genius now more than ever before.  In yogic terms all human beings have within themselves the same essence of consciousness and one attribute of consciousness is genius.  Yoga asana and pranayama help us remove the mucky muck that impedes our alertness to our inner genius.  As Buckminster Fuller says, “Everyone is born a genius, but the process of living de-geniuses them.”

So this practice performed regularly helps you reveal your best self. It will help you live more fully realizing your greatest potential.  Yoga is a process of helping you become who you really are.  As Dr Dyer writes in power of intention, “If you bring forth what is inside you, what you bring forth will save you.  If you don’t bring forth what is inside you, what you don’t bring forth will destroy you.”  Whether you want to or not life is moving forward.  Leo Buscaglia writes, “The easiest thing in the world to be is what you are, what you feel. The hardest thing to be is what other people want you to be, but that’s the scene we are living in. Are you really you or are you what people have told you you are?  If you are interested in really knowing who you are because if you are, it is the happiest trip of your life.”

In class we talked about the shared characteristics of those whom we all honor as bringing forth their genius into the world like Jonas Salk, Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Mozart, Madam Curie. More was offered in class with the poses serving as the true contexualization of the philosophical but in brief qualities such as trust in your inner wisdom, optimism, spirituality, simplicity, appreciating the genius in others, joy for life, love for what you’re doing, self-love, love for what makes you unique and special (honor your funkiness).  Finally at the end of practice we pulled this together by practicing a gratitude meditation.  Gratitude is where what you know and what you intend for your life merge. I hope the written journaling you did at the beginning and end of class on your immediate and longer term intention offered each of you great insight.  May we all be grateful for gratitude expands us! It is in the state of expansion that our genius will surface most easily.  You are wonderful you guys!  Love to you all, Silvia