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April 6, 2011.  Springtime is the perfect time to strengthen our 7th Crown Chakra because it is related to our personal development moving forward in the direction of our greater purpose. When we focus our efforts on this chakra we engage a dialogue related to believing in our place in the world.  This requires Faith.  Caroline Myss, in Invisible Acts of Power, writes "Faith is the power of the 7th chakra. It’s the circuit to the divine and a porthole to our intuitive resources. Miracles abound. The acts of service of the 7th chakra include the faith you convey to others through your own beliefs, actions and prayers."

Faith is a hopeful positive expectation for life. “The present moment is always full of inifinite treasure.  It contains far more than you can possibly grasp.  Faith is the measure of its riches: what you find in the present moment is according to the measure of your faith. Love also is the measure: the more the heart loves, the more it rejoices in what God provides.  The will of spirit presents itself at each moment like an immense ocean that the desire of your heart cannot empty; yet you will drink from that ocean according to your faith and love.”  --Jean Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751) France.

Practicing inversions literally turns our world upside down.  No matter how many times we've been upside down it is an act of faith to keep listening to the Royalty of yoga poses like the King of poses: headstand and the Queen of poses: Shoulderstand Rumi writes "Since in order to speak, one must first listen, learn to speak by listening."

While we practice asana we take apart these more complicated royal family of poses so we can take a step at a time (and gaining a new perspective as we change our vantage point).  As Sharon Salzburg says, “No matter what is happening, whenever we see the inevitability of change the facts of our lives can become alive with prospect. We see that a self-image we’ve been holding doesn’t need to define us forever, the next step is not the last step, what life was is not what it is now, and certainly not what it might yet be.” So make time this Spring to work on yourself, go upside down! Love yourself, love your day, love your life, Silvia

CROWN CHAKRA

Sahasrara is the Sanskrit word for "thousandfold." The crown chakra is the seventh main energy centre in the human body. 

Fundamentals of the Crown Chakra

• Name: Crown chakra
• Element: White light, thought
• Sanskrit name: Sahasrara
• Colour: Violet/white
• Position in the body: Top of the head
• Associated endocrine gland: Pituitary gland
• Physiological form and functions: Muscular system, skeletal system, skin and central nervous system
• Emotional or spiritual functions: Spiritual search for meaning, issues of karma and grace, spiritual awakening, divine discontent
• Linked to: God/goddess, the creator, search for purpose and meaning in life, discovering ethics, unconditional love, symbolic vision, ultimate liberation
• Affirmations: Thy will be done. Love surrounds, nourishes and protects me.
• Asanas: Head stand, meditation
• Gifts connected to the crown chakra: These gifts are of the spirit. They come in the form of angels in disguise and simple acts of kindness. They can be embodied in moments of seeing the "truth." 
• Level of relationship: Our relationship to our life’s true purpose, relationship between the ego and the higher self, relationship to god and spirit. Also connected to emotional and spiritual issues with regard to service to others. Humanitarian activities.
• Identification of weak crown chakra: the ‘long dark night of the soul’, feeling
• disconnected from God, meaning or purpose, migraines, chronic exhaustion, sensitivity to light and sound, greed and dominance.
• Negative thinking traits: There is no point in life. Why should I, I’m going to die anyway and none of this matters. Who cares, we’re just food for worms. I don’t see the point in any of it. There’s no hope.
• Questions to help chakra consciousness:

1. ‘Who am I?’
2. ‘What do I believe about the universe?

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February 25, 2011:  The second agreement is not to take anything personally.  Don Miguel Ruiz explains this, "Nothing other people do is because of you. It is because of themselves.  All people live in their own mind; they are in a completely different world from the one we live in.  When we take something personally, we make the assumption that they know what is in our world, and we try to impose our world on their world. If someone gives you an opinion don't take it personally, because the truth is that this person is dealing with his or her own feelings, beliefs and opinions.  If you do not take it anything personally, you are immune to it."  

This is one level of understanding so on the mat we let everyone do their own yoga. We don't worry about whether someone next to us can do a deeper variation of a pose, it's not about us. They are practicing their own yoga and we should focus on our own yoga.  Now the other level of this experience is as Ruiz says so well, "even the opinions you have about yourself are not necessarily truth; therefore, you don't need to take whatever you hear in your own mind personally.  We have a CHOICE whether or not to believe the voices we hear within our minds. The mind can also talk and listen to itself." So be careful and choosy about what you listen to in your own mind.  Let go of the old stories that don't serve you that hurt you that keep you from being more of your potential.  

What we experience if we Don't Take Things Personally is, "you avoid many upsets in your life. Your anger, jealousy, and envy will disappear, and even your sadness will simply disappear if you don't take things personally. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering."  

And of course it always comes back to LOVE.  "If you keep this agreement, you can travel around the world with your HEART completely OPEN and no one can hurt you. You can say, "I love you." without fear of being ridiculed or rejected. You can ask for what you need. You can say yes without guilt or self-judgement. You can choose to follow your heart always!"  I love all of you and hope you can embrace this agreement to love yourself, love your day, love your life!  Silvia  

February 12, 2010:  “The more critical reason dominates, the more impoverished life becomes.” Carl Jung

 

How can we learn to use our brains better?  To shut it off when appropriate, to turn the volume down when healthy, to stop the endless repetition all so we can stop tiring ourselves out, stop hurting ourselves and stop annoying other people.  When you think about it seriously Our Brains Are Just TOO BIG!

For what we have to accomplish each day we have way too much brain power.  Think of the constant state of mental diarrhea that takes place in any given hour and you have your proof.  Combine this with how easily we regurgitate all this brain stuff into constant verbal chatter and the case is made. Our brains really are more than we need and certainly Yoga is necessary to help us manage them better. 

Kurt Vonnegut claims that thinking is ineffective not because it is obsolete but because it is OVERDEVELOPED and possibly too advanced.  In Galapagos, he looks back from the future to find:

“The mass of men was quietly desperate a million years ago because the internal computers inside their skulls were incapable of restraint or idleness; were forever demanding more serious problems….”

Do you do that?  Do you let your brain come up with another problem, another drama especially when you find things getting too “quiet” or happy?  Why would we do this…In Wampeteres Foma, and Granfaloons Vonnegut also writes, “the human brain is too high powered to have many practical uses in this particular universe.  There was no end to the evil schemes that a thought machine that oversized couldn’t imagine and execute.”

I know you know that ever powerful ability we have to form evil schemes, that somebody is mad at us, or the universe is out to get us, that everyone else has it easier.  We learn from Yoga how to manage our thoughts, all 60,000 per day, and focus them on something productive. No longer giving away so much energy on the made up problems but actually time on the mat is that opportunity to listen and feel more.  So today, practice some yoga…take back your thought machine and open your heart.  Peace in all ways, Silvia

If we can slow down enough this season to really listen to our bodies, our hearts, our minds then we will prepare ourselves for the best new year ever! How can we build healthy relationships with others outside ourselves if we don’t know how to listen to ourselves first and foremost?

As Dr Michael Nicols, professor of psychology at College of William and Mary, and author of the The Lost Art of Listening writes, ‘We tend to think that listening is the same as hearing; but listening really is being alert to those sitautiosn in which the person you’re with needs to be understood. Many times we jump in to say what’s on our minds – before we’ve even acknowledged what the other person has said – short circuiting the possibility of mutual understanding.

Speaking without listening, hearing without understanding is like snipping an electrical cord in two, then plugging it in anyway, hoping somehow that something will light up. Most of the time we don’t deliberately set out to break the connection. In fact, we’re often baffled by a feeling of being left sitting around in the dark.”

Please use this time on the mat to quiet your brain, acknowledge the noise in your head so we can achieve a mutual understanding in the democracy between our mind and heart. From there we can listen to our loved ones and those whom we want to connect with more deeply.

Listen with your heart, Silvia

MARCH 1, 2009:  I’m Italian, we naturally speak in an animated style with lots of gestures and intonation.  It is in effort to be really heard amongst the chaos of other voices.  Maybe your family is like this too?  With Yoga practice it anchors us to our body so we don’t slip into constant chaos of mind.  This improves our ability to listen.  In each pose we ask ourselves how can I use this pose to be more: accepting of myself, to practice being less reactive, to respond appropriately to what I feel and hear.  Remembering always that the healthiest person is not the one who goes farthest in the pose but is the person whose mind is so quiet they can listen to what their body is saying and honor it. 

Yoga is the greatest environment to quiet the mind and listen to yourself.  And undoubtedly whether you want it to or not when you practice stuff comes up, judgement, criticism, frustration, competitiviness  and it becomes this great opportunity to listen and let go of what you feel, reducing tensions that might poison our ability to communicate.  We take this ability to listen to the other languages of wordless messaging into our life.  Just think of how as human creatures we talk to each other with smiles, with handshakes, with hugs, with laughter, with eye contact, with touching, holding, enfolding, and a myriad of gestures.  These TOO are languages.  Some of which may speak louder than words.  Today witness the messages from your inner self through your breath moment to moment in order to become more responsive to your needs. Hear your unique gifts.  Or as RUMI says "Hear blessings dropping their blossoms around all."  Love in all ways! Silvia

JULY 11TH, 2008:  In Yoga we talk a lot about observing ourselves (sensations, thoughts, experiences). This is one of the Niyamas (philosophical suggestions for how to treat ourselves) known as Svadhyaya.  So in talking about Listening as our theme it is just another way of talking about the self-study of Svadhyaya.

The word "study" can be defined as the "unceasing, dedicated observation and investigation of whatever arises, be in pleasant or unpleasant" (from Heartwood of the Bodhi Tree).  Each practice is this opportunity to really, really listening to what is percolating and evolving inside us.  From this we develop an understanding that we can only really listen to another human being if we first practice and grow skilled listening to our own hearts first.

The take home practice is to choose one person we could related to better and for just one day commit to listening to them.  I mean really listening, asking yourself: did I observe their words, their intonation, their body language, did I notice what is not being said?

So feel free let me know how this suggestion worked for you.  Would love to hear your stories!

From Rumi, "What is deep listening? Sama is a greeting from the secret ones inside the heart, like a letter."