CAN YOU LIVE YOUR NAMASTE - WHY ALL YOGA IS GOOD
Namaste Beautiful Friends,
I was with Kishan Shah recently, Ayurvedic doctor living in Southern California and he said 'We must Namaste everyone." Yes! I love that. I get it as I believe in my heart fundamentally we are all the same. And as such deserve the same respect, honor and love. So what does Namaste mean? Well, "Nama" means bow, "as" means I, and "te" means you. Therefore, Namaste literally means "bow me you" or "I bow to you." It is a gesture of pure compassion and recognition. That we bow to the true self inside each one of us. Of course there are many interpretations of Namaste including: I see and celebrate the Love that you are.; The Light in me recognizes the Light in You; I honor the light and love within you; I greet that place where you and I are one.; I see and honor in you the place where the universe resides.; When you are at that place in you, and I am at that place in me, we are One.
So in effect if we are living our NAMASTE we are unlocking the love in our own hearts to include everyone. To see not that which divides us but that which brings us together. To me this is why ALL yoga is good. This is the whole point of yoga.
So there is no need to put down another person's yoga. If a teacher says to you they teach the "only" real yoga is this opening or closing one's heart? If a teacher says they know everything, well the reality is that no one knows everything. In the words of Michelangelo at the age of 75 "we are all still learning." (Ancora imparo) To live our Namaste means we see the good, the universal in all yoga. And since we as students and teachers of this practice are all but babies on the path we should embrace one another. The Yoga Sutras teach that a root cause of suffering is separation and isolation but connectedness (yoga "union") removes the veils of separation so we can be in that place where we are One. One World, One Heart.
If we are to come together united in this world during our lifetime we must Live Our Namaste. We can do that by seeing the good in ALL yoga whether it's a set sequence, hot yoga, power yoga, yin yoga, restorative yoga, warehouse yoga, Anusara yoga, acro-yoga or Vinyasa Yoga. Namaste it ALL and you'll change the world!
In the words of Manitongquot, "Oh humankind, do we not all want to love and be loved, to work and to play, to sing and dance together? Love is life - creation, seed and leaf and blossom and fruit and seed, love is growth and search and reach and touch and dance. Love is nurture and pleasure,
Love is life believing in itself.
And life is singing to itself, dancing to its drum, improvising, playing and we are all that Spirit, our stories all but ONE COSMIC STORY that we are love indeed. That perfect love in me seeks the love in you and if our eyes could ever meet without fear, we would recognize each other and rejoice, for love is life believing in itself."
And in case you're wondering, I practice all forms of yoga. I like it hot, strong, easeful, gentle, athletic, fun, creative, precise, elegant and even a bit silly. The more yoga I love the more love that grows inside me, and the more I love everyone. With a heartfelt, humble Namaste to you all...please love in all ways! Silvia
FIND YOUR CENTER KEEP YOUR CENTER
Let go of it all. Just remain in the center
Watching, and then forget you are there.”
-Baba Hari Dass
I’ve been meditating on what it means to be “centered” and as much as I often think about this in terms of finding one’s center for me its become more a matter of keeping to my center. When I first started yoga I didn’t quite know what it meant to be centered quite frankly I hadn’t ever even thought about it. I just got on the treadmill of life and just kept pushing myself to achieve and move on from stage one to stage two, excellence in High School, transferred into excellence in College and then trying to keep this going in the corporate world as well. I was just going going going, almost like I was running around center but never pausing long enough to really be there. Asleep or working a million hours per week (or playing hard) were the only two speeds I knew.
Then through yoga and quiet time of self observation (svadhaya) on the mat I started “To Know Thyself” as Socrates put it.
It started as all spiritual practice does, not looking for answers but simply trying to ask better questions. So I ask you take 3 minutes write down what does CENTERED mean to you? To me it means balance, peace, happiness, a oneness with others instead of a tug of war, compassion, patience and most of all BEING PRESENT.
It is that “isness” of now that Echkart Tolle writes of in A New Earth. Or in the Yoga Sutras the hope for all beings to find and hold happiness knowing this is only possible in the moment. So meditate on the words of Jack Kerouac:
Not with thoughts of your mind, but in the believing
sweetness of your heart, you snap the link and open the
golden door and disappear into the bright room, the
Everlasting ecstasy, eternal Now.”
Take time on the mat to be here now, to find and hold onto your center that place of sweetness where we feel the sacredness of living in oneness, one family, one heart, one love, one soul all in the light of center. Hold fast my friends and keep making those sensitive adjustments to keep returning to center moment by moment. Love you all! Silvia
NAMASTE: TO HONOR, APPRECIATE, REMEMBER
JULY 21ST, 2009: This class tonight is dedicated to our friend John Palmer whose participation in sailing team Intangible contributed greatly to their first place finish this weekend!
So we focus on Namaste, Nama, Namaha and all its variations to honor John’s accomplishment and use of yogic breathing and meditation as handy tools when needed most. To me Namaha is a remembrance and appreciation first and foremost. Voltaire said, “Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.” So John’s success is our success. Instead of seeking separation Namaste brings us into Yoga or union as one world, one people. We honor the sacredness of all.
Namaste is a blessing. It strikes the perfect chord. Having grown up in a musical family and having played piano and clarinet for 13 years I have always felt music was a blessing. Yoga like being in a chorus or a band or any sort of tribe helps us to work together as a beautiful symphony. We feel this symphony of the body when we practice poses (asanas). And just like playing a musical instrument the more yoga you practice the more efficient you get. Over time you feel the harmonies. No single player more important but everyone equally important. This is a nondualistic view of life. Where we acknowledge that everyone is valuable in their own way, that we all contribute to make wonderful music. This is why I always say in class you are like family to me. I see us as co-creating something amazing each time we come together. Just like in scriptures, “The diversity of the family should be a cause of love and harmony, as it is in music where many different notes blend together in the making of a perfect chord.”
Namaste is a remembrance. Wolfgang Von Goethe writes, “Remembrance of what is good keeps us high in spirit. Remembrance of what is beautiful is the salvation of the mortal man. Remembrance of what is dear will be happiness, if it remains alive.” So we unite our hands or think to ourselves Namaste and remember how amazing life is. It is a respect for our breath, for life itself. When we share this with another we are saying that WE ARE ONE. That we are all love and truth, freedom and strength, light and peace. So to each of you from my heart, Namaste! Love and serve all ways, all days, Silvia
Namaste - The ancient Sanskrit blessing defined
We can perceive the unique thread that connects us all with the Universe, and all its Beings along with the source of that interconnection. Accepting Oneness, we are accordingly receptive to knowledge that comes to us in the form of examples, advice, and direct teaching. One may awake to the wisdom that opens our eyes to new worlds of possibilities.
When we assume everyone we meet is special and unique in its essence we should always show to all people the same generous level of kindness, care, compassion, and understanding without any thoughts of self-interest or ulterior motives above paying respects wholeheartedly, the way we live our daily lives has an enormous impact on those around us.
Instead of clinging to what separates us, Practicing Namaste enables us to feel less alone in the world. We begin to understand that we must treat all people for what they are, family. We are one with the cosmos whether we realize it or not. Practicing ONENESS we gain consciousness of the more subtle aspects of our being, with the ultimate outcome being a complete identification with the light body.
May all beings find and hold happiness. May they all be free from suffering and sickness. May we all look in the mirror see all others reflecting back. May we be all with one, living in oneness, one family, one heart, a glowing heart of the brightest light of compassion. NAMASTE
From Wikipedia, freely adapted and edited http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namaste
IMPERMANENCE AND ONENESS: LIFE AND HARMONY
JULY 17, 2009: Einstein says that “is there not a certain satisfaction in the fact that natural limits are set to the life of the individual, so that at the conclusion it may appear as a work of art?” Spiritual practice reminds us that life is very brief. No matter how many years we have in this body we know that it is impermanent. Pema Chodran speaks to how impermanence heightens that feeling of preciousness and gratitude. A fundamental Buddhist teaching says that once you are born, you immediately start dying.
Now if that doesn’t put things in perspective I don’t know what will.
Mortality is not scary dudes. The way I look at impermanence is that it reminds us we are all ONE. There is this yoga uniting all spirits, all nature. Our visit here is vitally important and so why not aspire towards harmony and use this trip we’re on to unite and celebrate one another? Do we really need to spend any of our time fighting, destroying, rehearsing, dividing? Is it worthwhile to battle even the difficult people or situations in our life knowing what we know, that life is fleeting? I’ve spent time fighting against life by working too hard, climbing the corporate ladder too hard, accumulating stuff with almost militant gusto, then my Dad passed when he was only 59 years old. That changed me forever. There is no need to push at life.
As I have always said, nature is my best teacher. And I find great healing in the lessons that trees share with us by their existence. We live because they live and vice versa. Trees seem to me the symbol of this synergy of oneness and harmony. We live in all things, and all things live in us.
“I believe in the absolute oneness of God and therefore also of humanity. What though we have many bodies? We have but ONE soul. – Ghandi
“We live by the sun
We feel by the moon
We move by the stars
We live in all things
All things live in us
We eat from the earth
We drink from the rain
We breath of the air
We live in all things
All things live in us
We call to each other
We listen to each other
Our hearts deepen with love and compassion
We live in all things
All things live in us (By Stephanie Kaza, Earth Prayers)
During the course of the practice we get to try different poses. Some we can see as favorites and others as lessons. The spiritual practice is to embrace all of them as they symbolize difficult and easy people in our lives. So in the words of Indian philosopher Krishnamurti, “love the whole tree”. Love your whole life, be grateful for everyone, celebrate each moment for it never comes again. This is not a rehearsal, the state of harmony we allow ourselves determines the quality of our one life, right now.
Love not the shapely branch,
Nor place its image alone in your heart.
It dies away.
Love the whole tree;
Then you will love the shapely branch,
The tender and withered leaf,
They shy bud and the full blown flower,
The falling petal and the dancing night,
The splendid shadow of full love.
Ah, love life it its fullness.
It knows no decay. (
HUGGING AND KISSING: CONNECTING INTO ONE WORLD
JUNE 16, 2009: One of the key observations I had while in
We as Americans spend so much time in our “heads” that we could benefit greatly from more touch, more massage, more time being in the body. That’s why yoga is so healing. It does that for us. We walk in fragmented, disconnected, awkward and by the end of class our humpty dumpty self is put back together again. Then whether we want to or not we glide out of the practice room inspired to connect more with other people as we now ourselves feel more connected to our own spirits.
When I sit on the mat I feel that embrace of the universal love that exists when we breath the universal breath. To me truly there is nothing more beautiful than people coming together in a compassionate, gentle way. So thank you to classes last night for opening your hearts and practicing kissing each other with the double kiss, and breathing as partners and accepting massage when I offer it to you. This I can promise you, my teaching experience will only include more and more massage and therapeutic healing touch. Grow with me and let’s build a community that thrives on more hugging more love! Jai! Silvia
WITH JOY AND GRATITUDE, MAY I SEE THE BEAUTY OF MYSELF AND OF OTHERS, AS WE REFLECT AND ARE REFLECTED, IN THE RADIANCE OF EACH OTHER - ONE WORLD TOGETHER.