DHARMA: DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU WANT?
MARCH 18TH, 2009: We sat in Vajrasana, rubbed our hands together like to two sticks of wood to create friction/heat and then cupped our eyes. We used this as an opporturnity to open our eyes and look at our hands which acted as a mirror. Asking ourselves in our outward reflection what did we see? Who is the person staring back at us? Then we closed our eyes in the warmth of our hands and turned our gaze inwards to view the inner reflection and ask what is our purpose? Who are we?
And this means it is something more than the role we play at work, the labels we wear like son, daughter, partner, parent. As a human creatures who are you? As Stephen Covey writes, “We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.” So as a human being what is your Lifes Purpose or Dharma?
For its more than what job title we have on our business card or the label people know us by. Woodrow Wilson, the 28th President of the
For that’s the practice knowing our Dharma and contributing in a positive way to the world. So we partnered in handstand tonight to help us experience this directly. We also used a variety of flowing poses to help us face our fears such as balance poses and hip openers. Because that is the harder practice to keep coming back to our purpose and living our Dharma not just for one day, or one week or even one year but forever, in spite of the fear we sometimes face.
Best said is motivational speaker Earl Nightingale who says, “Don’t let fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might as well put that passing time to the best possible use.” So go inside, see your dreams, believe me when I tell you that you already have all the time, money and energy you need to make these dreams a reality and shine out your Dharma to the world! Love to all, Peace to All, Courage to all! Silvia
FALLING IN LOVE WITH YOURSELF
FEBRUARY 24TH, 2009: "Love calls on parts of you that cannot speak." To me the highest practice of yoga is self-love. Time and again this is the purpose of practice. And just like loving another person we have to work at it. We must make an active effort to fall in love with ourselves on a day to day basis (or at the very least week to week).
The act of falling in love gets you centered to go to the next step in your spiritual journey!
This is Puja for your body. In India Pura is a ritual where they take idols that represent spirit and give their love to them, feed them, sing to them. Yoga poses (yoga asana) is like praying with our bodies in that the idea is that our bodies are temple. When you practice giving love to every part of your body through the nourishment of breath and movement you plant seeds of love and when they grow you will love, honor and respect your body even more. Life can be super easy when you LOVE yourself, when you LOVE your way of life, when you see everything through eyes of LOVE!
In the book Four Agreements a key section speaks to this, "in the search for self-love you will discover that its just a matter of time before you find what you are looking for. It's not about daydreaming or sitting hours in meditation. You have to stand up and be a HUMAN. You have to honor the man or woman that you are.
- Respect Your Body
- Enjoye Your Body
- Love Your Body
- Feed, clean, Heal Your Body
- Do what makes your body feel good
Today please repeat this Toltec prayer before bed and when you wake in the morning to promote this act of falling in love with yourself again and again: Today help me to keep the love and peace in my heart And to make that love a new way of life, that I may live in love the rest of my life." Be love, Silvia
SELF REFLECTION LEADS TO SELF EXPRESSION
JANUARY 15TH, 2009: From self reflection we shine out. Self-reflection just naturally leads to self-expression. As your teacher I want to help open the door so you can step into yourself
I want to inspire you to find YOU and in the safe space of the studio express it outwardly. You do this by looking inside your own heart. When we practice self reflection we tune into something greater, whenever our hearts dance with breath, whenever we smile from the inside out, this is a reflection of our inner heart – it is within us waiting to shine out! Be you, Silvia
“Your teacher can open the door, but you must enter by yourself.” -- Chinese Proverb
THE THEATER OF YOUR LIFE: REFLECT & GROW
DECEMBER 20TH, 2008: The winter solstice is Nature's New Year!
HOLIDAZE: COMMITTING TO RADICAL SELF-LOVE
NOVEMBER 21, 2008: Yoga is learning how to love yourself first. Then you're much more able to love others. WOW! That’s what I said when I first read, learned this concept. IT WAS RADICAL! It was different than what I’d known as a way of life which was take care of everyone else, be concerned with what everyone else thinks of me then if time remains look after me. This was especially true during the HoliDAZE (from now until end of the year) where my dedication to myself would suffer the most and I'd arrive to the finish line of December 31st exhausted and a little cranky. That all changed as a result of practicing yoga.
It was through Yoga practice that I learned to really understand how and why loving myself first was important. Essentially, yoga is learning how to be present to yourself, to ask the right questions, to listen to the answers, i.e., What do I want? What do I feel? What do I need? How can I give myself what I need right now? We talk about this as muscular energy or drawing in before we expand out with organic extension. It’s true. The more that is asked of us in life the more we have to practice radical self-love, radical self-care. As a result we'll have more energy to give to others. Because to give love we must first know it for ourselves from ourselves as the lover and the beloved. So today come to the mat and practice radical self-love as Muktananda says, "Meditate on yourself. Honor yourself. Respect yourself. Love yourself." Peace be with each of you, Silvia
CLAP HANDS - TODAY IS A DAY OF FESTIVAL!
NOVEMBER 14TH, 2008: My favorite Rumi poem begins: "Come for today is a day of festival, Henceforward joy and pleasure are on the increase. Clap hands, say, 'Today is all happiness, from the beginning it was a manifestly fine day.” It reminds me of when we were kids and we’d clap our hands together to celebrate ourselves spontaneously. How great was that! To clap and celebrate ones own life is yoga! The Dalai Lama puts it like this when he says “the roots of all goodness lie in the soul of appreciation for goodness.” When we symbolically clap hands by saying nice things to ourselves through our thoughts we are appreciating our goodness. Healthy self-esteem comes from seeing our own gifts, unabashedly celebrating them thus making today a day of happiness, a really fine day.
If we seek our happiness outside ourselves it sets us up for disappointment. Or as Dr Wayne Dyer says "Every moment that you spend upset, in despair, in anguish, angry or hurt because of the behaviour of anybody else in your life is a moment in which you have given up control of your life." So join me in clapping hands every day (even at the end of a yoga class!) My hope is that if we can let go of our pretenses we will be able to more easily share the amazing beauty and humor of our real selves. Just try it, spontaneiously express your joy and appreciation for your life by clapping hands, I’m sure it will make you smile! Love Big In
BE GOOD TO YOURSELF DAY
NOVEMBER 9TH, 2008: Today we declared BE GOOD TO YOURSELF DAY! It was great! According to statistics 40% of working women say their stress level is High, 56% of men and women say stress I hurting their relationships, as Americans we take less vacation than anyone else in the world, we work longer hours, 22% of us say we’re too busy for a lunch break and the list goes on. You can easily see why it is vitally important to declare today a special holiday, Be Good To Yourself Day.
We did this by asking ourselves throughout our practice what is it that I need for myself here? What is the kindest approach, the most compassionate way of being in my body, my heart? The inspiration today was a 50th wedding anniversary I attended the night before with the key advice from the couple when asked “how to stay together 50 years” was BE KIND. Yup, that was it in a nutshell. Well ok, then let’s practice being kind to ourselves. May you be happy, healthy, kind and peaceful. With Metta (lovingkindness), Silvia