Another Article On Sharon Gannon And David Life

Sharon Gannon & David Life talk about Yoga

Source

Sharon Gannon and David Life are among the most well-known and respected Yoga teachers in the USA today. Their success has, as some might say, put them in the category of Yoga Super-Stars, as a result many aspiring yogis have studied at their New York City Yoga studios. A practitioner in their Lafayette Street center once told us, “If David and Sharon are at the center they create more of a buzz than if a movie stars where attending class there.” Despite the sensationalism in regards to their current popularity, David and Sharon are dedicated to the authentic teachings of Yoga.

On Activism
Q: Do you feel that a Yoga practitioner should take an active role in today’s political climate, and what role should they play?

Sharon: To be political means that you care about others; the other beings with whom you share this world with. So being political is very much in line with the teachings of compassion, which are the foundation of the yogic teachings.

The goal of the Yoga practice is Samadhi (Yoga enlightenment, super-consciousness). What is realized in the state of Samadhi is the oneness of being. Yoga practices are methods to help us over come “otherness; to free us from the constraints of linear time and bound perceptions of three-dimensional space. As long as we perceive incorrectly, meaning we are seeing many and not the One, then we must relate to the others, who we are seeing in a certain way; a way which will bring us to more of a correct perception of reality. Others are there to give us the opportunity to grow. Others are our teachers. The world will either keep us in bondage, or provide us with the means to liberation. It is our choice in how we perceive the world. The world is the Divine Mother. It is only through Her blessings that enlightenment/liberation becomes possible. This is beautifully expressed in the following mantra from Chapter 11 of the Durga Saptashati:

Om sarva mangala mangalye shive sarvatha-sadhike,
Sharanye tryambake gauri Naranyani namo’sthu te

Which translates as: I salute the three-eyed Divine Mother, Narayani, who brings total auspiciousness and who fulfills the desire for liberation. Realization arises with Her blessing. She is the world itself. Only through the experiences of life can the soul be perfected. Honor this gift, your life, bow to Mother Nature.

So the project, we could say has to do with getting blessed by Her, creating a situation , creating a receptive vehicle in the form of one’s one body/mind complex to receive Her blessings. To live liberated is what the term jivanmukti implies.

Q: How can one become active without getting caught up in attachment, judgment or aversion?

Sharon: By practicing Yoga! Vairagya, the practice of detachment, renunciation will render the mind free of attachment, judgment and aversion. Stop blaming others!

Q: Do you think that becoming an activist can replace the goal of yoga, which is ultimately to realize God?

Sharon: One must actively pursue the goal of Yoga which is God realization. What this active pursuit involves is a clearing away of avidya or misknowing or misperception. Everything and everyone we see is coming from our own minds, which in turn is a product of our past actions; our karmas. Basically the Yogi is involved with cleaning up their own act. I suppose we could say that most activists today (I’m speaking of the ones who aren’t also Yogic practitioners) are concerned with cleaning up other people’s acts. To view the world as black and white, or the good guys vs the bad guys is a misunderstanding of reality.

Through Yogic practices you come to realize that it is all coming from your mind, that this whole world is being created out of the actions that you have done in your past. Well, when you begin to wrap your head around that one and embrace that concept it is a pretty heavy moment. You begin to contemplate the potential results of your actions. You know that however you treat someone will be the way that someone in your future will treat you. You begin to see the value in your actions. You can see the expensiveness of your actions. You begin to reflect on whether or not you can karmically afford certain actions. You look more closely into the conditioned automatic responses you may have to others who are being unkind to you. You certainly don’t get caught in the normal syndrome of waiting for other people to make things right in the world before you decide that you can be happy.

As His holiness the Dalai Lama has said, “Think of the problems in the whole world as your fault.” Implying that we are the problem, but at the same time we are the solution. To care for others rather than condemning them is in our own self-interest. His Holiness calls it “enlightened self-interest.” Many think of this idea of emptiness or looking at the world as well as others as coming from our own mind, from our own karmas as soley a Buddhist idea. Yes, Buddhists have recognized the importance of understanding emptiness or where things come from, but Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras also presents this idea to the Yogi very clearly here’s one example:

vastu-samye-chitta-bhedat tayor vibhaktah pantah (YS IV.15)

Which translates as: Each individual person perceives the same object in a different way, according to their own state of mind and projections. Everything is empty from its own side and appears according to how you see it.

The Art Of Bending...

I remember I have posted an article before, where I mentioned about wheel pose. My yoga teacher has made some comment on my tummy that it is too tight. In yoga, sometimes muscle strength not necessary will help you getting into the poses but the softness of your body will.

I finally found out what is the difference between these two when I am in wheel pose. I use a gym ball to help me to understand how's the tummy works when it is bend. So I tried to sit down on the ball and roll it towards my thigh and bend to the back by laying down my head and back on the ball. My head just hang there looking upside down. Then I try to feel the tummy with my hands. It's flat and soft and I can breath softly and properly. Well, it's feel no tension at all at the tummy/waist part. The muscle just seems relax and soft like a pillow. That's how I realized it. You are suppose to maintain the same softness in the wheel pose as well. So I tried to remember how's my pelvis movement and position, then apply the same bending 'feel' when I am in wheel pose. The result is amazing ! I don't any tighness on the hands or legs at all. And I just feel much easier to lift up and bend my body compare to before. I would called it as effortless bending.

In fact all the yoga poses are performed in an effortless mean, directly from your soul but not the body.

The key is the softness of your belly/tummy but not the strengthness of the muscle mass.

In yoga I guess self discovery and realization is truely very important in order to help yourself to grow and improve.
And I guess I am just too lucky to be borned with this nature.

Namaste !

An Interview With Jivamukti Founders - David Life & Sharon Gannon

Introduction to David Life and Sharon Gannon

(Article From about.com)

David Life and Sharon Gannon are the founders of Jivamukti Yoga,
which they have been teaching out of their New York City yoga center
since 1989. There are now Jivamukti centers and teachers worldwide.
This style, which blends vigorous vinyasa
practice with spiritual teachings, chanting, and an emphasis on how to
bring yoga's philosophy into daily life, is at the forefront of yoga's
current popularity.

Life and Gannon's methods are now even more accessible, thanks to their video Transform Yourself with Jivamukti Yoga. I was fortunate enough to be able to ask them a few questions about how Jivamukti began.

Yoga Guide (YG): How did you meet?

David Life : Sharon's band, Audio Letter, toured New York
City from Seattle in 1983. I [owned] Life Café in the East Village, and
it was a venue for new music, poetry, and art. We met when Audio Letter
played at the café.

Sharon Gannon : I was the vocalist/violinist in the
band. David was very nice to us and seemed to like our music. Later on,
he actually joined the band and played musical instruments he made
himself.

YG: How did you first encounter yoga?

David: In college, 1968, I took a couple of free yoga
classes that did not impress me at all. At the time, I was studying the
great yogi Mahatma Gandhi and his teachings of non-violence. I was
involved in protest actions against the Vietnam War and was inspired by
the Hindustani concepts of non-violent grassroots social change.

Tara Rose, one of the waitresses at the Life Café in New York, was a
yoga teacher and we started studying asana with her. In 1986, we began
yearly trips to India to study with many teachers like Swami
Nirmalananda, Pattabhi Jois, Shyam Das and others.

Sharon: In 1969, I went to hear a lecture about yoga by
Bob Freedie, who did psychedelic light shows in Seattle; he was a
devotee of Krishnamurti. That was where I got my first introduction to
the Theosophical Society. Sometime shortly after that, I got a book by
Richard Hittleman and did my best to follow the instructions and mimic
the poses pictured in the book.

During the seventies, while a student at the University of Washington,
I studied Indian music, dance, philosophy, and culture. The first asana
class I went to was in 1973 in Santa Cruz, California; I was not
impressed with the class and did not go back. The significant
experience with asana practice was with Tara Rose. We started to attend
her classes in the East Village around 1984.

YG: When did you realize that you were creating your own style of yoga? Was it a conscious decision?

David: Any yoga teacher can only teach the methods and
practices that worked for them. We had many great teachers who inspired
us with methods and teachings that served them well. We practiced yoga,
and our friends asked us to share the methods that resonated with us.
It was only after the fact that it came to be called Jivamukti yoga

Sharon: It was a conscious decision to call the style
Jivamukti, because we wanted a name which, when people said it, they
would connect to the aim of the practice, which is enlightenment.
Jivamukti is actually an American rendition of the Sanskrit word,
Jivanmukti, which means liberated while living. A Jivanmukta is one who
is liberated and lives to benefit the lives of others.

YG: How did it evolve?

David: Organically. It grew quickly, but was always a
reflection of our personal growth and the larger cultural developments.
At some point, about 1997, we launched a program nationally to promote
Jivamukti (liberated living); we now work internationally to promote
non-harming lifestyles, political and social activism, and evolutionary
techniques through Jivamukti yoga. Our students teach all over the
world and have created centers in New York, London, Berlin, Munich,
Toronto, Vancouver, and Charleston, South Carolina.

Sharon: How did it evolve? It was definitely an organic
process. I mean, we didn’t wake up one morning and decide we are going
to be yoga teachers, we are going to create this method called
Jivamukti yoga, and we are going to rent a space and etc., etc. We were
artists who were also political activists, and we were trying to shift
the values of our culture through our art. We recognized pretty much
immediately that the ethical percepts of yoga were in line with our
activist views and aspirations, especially ahimsa and aparigraha.

Speaking for myself, I was always trying to find ways to speak out for
the animals and the environment in my art and, when I discovered yoga,
I saw that it could certainly provide space for this type of activism.
We began to incorporate a lot of yoga into the performances, and the
people who came to see those performances began to ask us to teach
them. It seemed to make more sense to teach people how to practice what
we were practicing than to let them sit in a theater or some place and
watch us perform some artistic rendition of it.

But I think with the meeting of our holy teachers, first in the form of
Swami Sankarananda and then later Swami Nirmalananda, Shri K. Pattabhi
Jois and Shri Brahamananda Saraswati, we received blessings and
encouragement which provided us with a tremendous dose of shakit which
instigated the unfoldment of the method.

YG: What was the yoga scene like in the early days in New York? Where people practicing at home or in yoga centers?

David: There was no yoga scene in 1983 in New York. Yoga
was neither popular nor practiced much. There was a small Iyengar
community, Sivananda and Integral
yoga centers. Norman Allen had begun to teach Ashtanga Vinyasa in the
70s in New York, and many of his students continued to teach.

Of course, Dharma Mitra was a teacher to us and many others in the
early days. It was a great time to experience the wonderful teachers
from India that brought the teachings to the west, like J.
Krishnamurti, Yogi Bhajan, Swami Satchidananda, BKS Iyengar, Vishnu
Devananda, Swami Dhayananda Saraswati, Brahmananda Saraswati, and
others, who were all in New York at some point.

Sharon: I am not a historian so I feel very inadequate
to speak on this subject, but I know that Swami Prabhupada came to New
York from India perhaps in the 1960s or 70s. He first came to Tompkins
Square Park, which is across the street from where we live in the East
Village. There is a large tree in the middle of the park, which is
always adorned with flower garlands, put there by Krishna devotees in
remembrance of the fact that Swami Prabhupada chanted the Hari Krishna
mantra around that tree on his first visit to America.

Our teacher, Shri Brahmananda Saraswati, started the Yoga Society of
New York in the 1960s. But when I moved to New York City in 1983, I was
not aware of it. The main yoga schools which I was aware of at that
time were the Sivananda Center, the Integral Center, Dharma Mittra’s,
and Swami Bua taught out of his apartment. I think there must have been
an Iyengar Center, but I never visited there. I don’t know if people
practiced at home or in yoga centers at that time.

YG: Was anyone teaching vinyasa-style yoga?

Sharon: Norman Allan, who was an early student of
Pattabhi Jois’s, taught Ashtanga yoga, I think in the 1970s in New York
City. I do know that he taught Swami Sankarananda because we learned
about Norman Allan through S. Sankarananda. Our first teacher in New
York City, Tara Rose, besides being a Sivananda trained teacher, was a
student of a man who had studied with Norman Allan. She incorporated
Vinyasa aspects into her classes. She taught us Vinyasa, for instance,
in the form of the Surya Namaskars from the Ashtanga system.

YG: Based on your experience training yoga teachers, what do you think makes a good teacher?

David: Three qualities:

1. Their good practice

2. Their good connection to a teacher who acknowledges them

3. Their good desire to serve others

Sharon: 1. Lineage, 2. Practice, 3. Other-centeredness

1. I think it is very important to acknowledge a
teacher and to have a teacher acknowledge you as their student because
the deeper teachings of yoga are transmitted from guru to student
energetically.

2. In order to teach others, you must continuously immerse
yourself in practice or you really can’t teach from a place of fresh
experience.

3. To be a good teacher, you must have a sincere liking for
other people. You have to like to be around other people -- not all
yogic practitioners like to be around other people. It [the teaching
experience] has to be not all about you. You have to want to put your
students before you. A good teacher lives for their students and is
only interested in facilitating the student’s enlightenment.

YG: Do you consider vegetarianism to be an important part of a yoga practice?

David: I consider vegetarianism as the traditional
keystone to a yogic way of life. It is an action that can lead to
liberation- the goal of yoga. However, I consider veganism as the
modern imperative, the translation, if you will, of the principles of
non-violence into action in the modern time where the implications of
violent living and animal industries are threatening the continued
existence of the earth.

Sharon: Vegetarianism, real vegetarianism, which means,
not eating animals and only eating vegetables [veganism] is the most
important aspect of a yoga practice. A vegan recognizes that animals do
not belong to us -- they are not ours to eat, to wear, to experiment on
or to use for entertainment or any other exploitive purpose. Our
present culture is based on the arrogant notion that the earth and all
other life forms exist for our human benefit. The enslavement of other
animals is considered normal in our culture.

The yogi who is seeking enlightenment knows that if they
themselves want to be free, then they cannot cause the imprisonment,
the enslavement of others. What does what you eat have to do with yoga?
Not everyone can stand on his or her head every day, but everyone eats.
The goal of yoga is enlightenment. What is realized in the enlightened
state is the oneness of being; the interconnectedness of all of life.

Traditionally, a yogi was an environmentalist and animal rights
activist. The lineage comes from Lord Shiva who was considered the
protector of the earth and all life forms. One of his names is
Pasupati, which means protector of the animals. A yogi is moving toward
enlightenment through living harmoniously with all of life. In order to
harm another you must objectify and separate yourself from that other.
As you do that, you become disconnected to the whole.

Yoga is a holy connection, a realization of the interconnectedness of
all of life. Through eating a vegan diet, you contribute to the
happiness and well being of others, yourself and the planet.
(continued)

Sharon (continued): Through making compassionate food
choices, you will begin to experience a diminishing of selfishness and
low self-esteem. You will feel more self-confident, as all the disease
associated with harming others is lifted from your daily life. What we
do to others will come back to us. If we want to be happy, then we
should not cause others unhappiness. If we ourselves want to be free,
then it seems to be we would not make a slave of anyone else.

Fundamental to the teachings of yoga are the teachings of karma. Karma
means action. The yogi begins to realize through the practice how
significant each thought, word and action really is, and how it affects
the whole community of life. How we treat others will determine our
reality. A yogi practices yoga to purify their karmas.

When we practice asanas, we come face-to-face with all of our
past relationships in the form of unresolved karmic residue, which is
actually what our bodies are made of. When you feel this through yoga
practice, you tend not to want to increase the karmic burden you are
trying to unload. You don’t want to continue to cause harm to others,
so you stop eating them and causing their enslavement and exploitation.
You literally want to become lighter -- more enlightened.

You begin to understand Patanjali’s sutra, Sthira Sukham Asana, which
means that our connection (relationship) to the earth and all other
beings (what the word asana means) should be mutually beneficial,
should be coming from a consistent (Sthira) place of joy (Sukham).

Being a joyous vegan makes your life happier because you get to
participate in increasing the happiness and well beings of others,
rather than their suffering and death.

A vegan diet is not one of deprivation, it is really the only
option available to those who want to be happy themselves and who want
to contribute to the happiness of others and the future life of this
planet. I consider myself a joyous vegan because I get to contribute to
the enrichment of this planet instead of its demise. Not only am I not
causing the degradation and death of farm animals, but I’m not causing
so much water pollution, deforestation, wildlife habitant destruction,
the sickness and death of wild animals, air pollution, or global
warming.

The United Nations has issued a report stating that the waste
emissions from animals raised for food contributes more to global
warming than all the car and truck emissions in the world. That’s the
real inconvenient truth.

Sharon Gannon and David Life’s first widely available DVD, Transform Yourself with Jivamukti Yoga is now for sale. More information available at www.AcaciaLifestyle.com.

Walking In The Dark

I came across this proverb :

If A Man Wishes To Be Sure of The Road He Treads On,
He Must Close His Eye And Walk In The Dark.
(Saint John of The Cross ,The Dark Knight Of The Soul)

It comes to the right time when I need it most.

By closing our eyes, usually we will feel sense of no direction or lost. Just imagine those unfortunate people with blind sight, how they manage to get through life ? They see and use their soul fully. Imagine you are lost in a dark forest, no moon light nor a firefly sight. Who do you trust and how you see your surrounding ? You will trust no one but only your inner voice or your instinct. That voice or instinct is exactly your soul. Your soul will speak up at that moment. He shall be able to lead you out of the dark forest. The soul is our only light into the darkness and he shall walk us through the darkness. Hence in order to find your soul, you have pass through darkness. That is the true meaning of this proverb.

In yoga, through asanas & meditation, we shall be able to find a path back to our very own soul. Only our very soul knows where are shall we heading to. I know I have found my inner voice quite some time ago and he is calling me from time to time, whispering to me and I am bedazzled by him too.

I wonder when I shall be able to take my first step and leap into the darkness in my life that shall lead me to the brightness.

I would like to tell my soul that I am waiting for that moment to come, where I can take a big leap and reach the sky for something meaningful in my life. But give me some time to do some cultivation and the seeding shall be able to bloom some day.

Namaste !

Create A Life You Love

Reconnect with the source of your happiness.

By Nora Isaacs

Article Taken from Yoga Journal Wisdom

There are times when you know just what to do, and life seems to rise

up and support you and your ideas. And then there are times when it is
all a little murky, and you might feel a bit lost. Thankfully, you have
your yoga practice to come to—a time to tap into a deep connection with
yourself and remember who you really are and what is most important to
you. Nothing could be better.

When you bring the spacious awareness you experience in your yoga
practice to your whole life, you'll experience the kind of presence
that will make you stop in your tracks, engage your senses, and find
joy in daily life. But for most of us, accomplishing that is easier
said than done. Often it requires a conscious effort to examine the
status quo, push in new directions, and find fresh approaches to
evoking that same sense of grounding, connection, and happiness we find
on the mat.

Here, then, are 10 possibilities to help you get there. Put these

ideas into practice one at a time, or try several at once. You might
want to welcome one of them into your life as an offering to the New
Year. Whatever approach you choose, here's to feeling more alive, more
present, and more aware of what makes you happy.

1. Get Energized About Your Future

Your yoga practice helps you live in the present, but life in the
world demands a certain amount of decision making and planning. What's
your vision of where you want to go and how you'll get there? When you
take a proactive approach, your dreams are more likely to become
reality. Knowing what you want is, of course, the first step.

If you need help discovering your life's path, start by talking it
out, says Nancy Wagaman, a life coach in San Diego. You can develop a
goal list and create affirmations, she says. You can draw a picture of
your future—even pray for guidance. "There are so many ways to energize
the new vision you want for your life. The more you energize it, the
more you draw that energy to that vision. And the universe tends to
support you," she says.

Of course, your vision may change over time, but the important thing is that you're an active participant in your future.

2. Plug Into Your Spiritual Self

Reconnecting with your innermost self can open the doors to an entirely
new and unpredictable path. At 33 years old, Susan Nicolas was a yoga
teacher living in San Francisco and dating. But her singular focus on
meeting a husband and starting a family was causing her heartache. On
the advice of friends, she signed up for a vipassana retreat. During 10
days of silence and insight meditation, she came face-to-face with her
attachment to getting married and to the unfinished dynamics of past
relationships. "Through a lot of struggle and occasional glimpses of
true stillness, it seemed the obstacles in my life dissolved," she
says. "I felt more in touch with my true self than I ever had."

Getting away from routine relationships and environments makes it
easier to drop into stillness and examine the undercurrent of your
life. Once you do, you can plug into a connection with your divine
nature. On retreat, you can also practice accessing your true self so
that you can call on it anytime in your life.

A month after her retreat, Nicolas unexpectedly reconnected with an
old sweetheart who is now her husband of eight years. "The experience
during those sometimes difficult 10 days was like removing a stopper in
the mouth of my life," she says. "Everything simply flowed forth as it
should."

HOW TO Check with a favorite teacher or retreat center for
upcoming dates. Even a weekend away that includes meditation, yoga,
rest, and silence can be enlightening if you set an intention to
retreat.

3. Let Go of the Old

Writing, drawing, doing yoga—there are many pathways to bringing all
that's inside of you out and into the world. For several years,
Tiffanie Turner, an architect from San Francisco, felt creatively
blocked. As an experiment, Turner began writing three pages in her
journal each morning. After a few weeks, she noticed some dramatic
changes in her life. "I drop off a lot of baggage in the morning and
feel clear for the rest of the day," she says. Turner found that her
anxiety levels decreased, too. "I write down things that worry me in
the morning, or a horrible dream that would normally stay with me all
day. And when I do, these things pretty much don't exist for me any
more."

"Once you let go of thoughts that aren't truly serving you, you'll feel
lighter, more creative," says Courtney Miller, a yoga teacher in
Manhattan, who includes journaling in her yoga workshops. "It's as if
you have more space inside for noticing what makes you happy."

HOW TO Dust off your journal, commit to a designated time frame
each day, and stick to it. If writing isn't your thing, try drawing
your thoughts and feelings.

4. Serve Others

If you haven't yet noticed, time spent trying to fulfill your desires
usually isn't that fulfilling—even when you achieve or get something
that you think you want. But when you turn your attention to the needs
of others, you often feel a huge sense of satisfaction. Focusing on
other people enables you to be engaged without having to figure out
what's in it for you. And seva (selfless service) can be very empowering, showing you that your actions really do make a difference in the world.

HOW TO You can walk pups at the Humane Society, teach yoga at a
community center, or bring your talents to an after-school tutoring
program—the possibilities are endless. Many organizations ask for a
six-month commitment, though, so it's important to find something
you're passionate about and have time for. Log on to volunteermatch.org and type in your interests and Zip Code to find a perfect volunteer fit.

5. Honor Your Physical Self

You often hear about spacious awareness in the mind, but it can also be
found in your sense of physical self—in the way you move externally,
and then process things internally. That's why San Francisco
chiropractor Colin Phipps does a seasonal cleanse about three times a
year. He says that the cleanse cultivates awareness by giving him
emotional clarity and providing a healthy ritual to follow. "It's a
conscious effort to become much more attuned to my sense of self and
where I am in the world," he says.

HOW TO Elson Haas, an integrative-medicine practitioner and author of The New Detox Diet,
recommends a simple winter detox that anyone can follow: For three
weeks this winter, base your three meals a day on soups, salads,
fruits, and veggies. Drink lots of water and herbal teas, and stay
warm. Omit sugar, alcohol, caffeine, wheat, and dairy—and don't eat
between meals. When the seasons change throughout the year, carve out
anywhere between 3 and 21 days to repeat some version of the detox.
"When you move toward fruits, veggies, and water, you are moving toward
things that are less congesting and moving along the pathway to
health," says Haas. Find more detox tips at elsonhaas.com.

6. Be Daring

There's a lot to be said for having the discipline to stick with a
specific style of yoga, getting to know it well, and working through
resistance to aspects that you know you don't like. But exploring a new
style of yoga can be revitalizing. Experimentation and play in your
practice can teach you to be, err, more "flexible" in all of your life
and more aware that there's always more to learn and explore.

Jay Maldonado, a 29-year-old director of a literacy program who lives
in Brooklyn, says her long-term study of one style of yoga left her
with a good understanding of alignment but not a lot of spiritual
depth. So she pounded the Manhattan pavement looking for something that
resonated. She found it at Laughing Lotus, a studio whose philosophy
centers on joy and playfulness. "It opened the doors to my creativity
and self-expression, and just really enjoying who I am," she says. "It
allowed my yoga practice to become something that's not so regimented.
Instead, it evolves every day."

Maldonado is also transgendered, and finding a new style helped her
greatly during her transition. "As my practice became freer, everything
else in my life freed up, and I made the changes I needed to honor
myself as a transgendered being," she says. "When you delve into the
scariness of something new, that's usually the shock that you need to
awaken your spiritual practice and passion."

HOW TO Chant if you normally focus on alignment, or experiment
with holding poses for minutes at a time if you're used to a more
flowing practice. For other ideas, go to yogajournal.com/styleguide.

7. Soothe Your Mind

Meditation quiets a busy mind and cultivates a witness who can watch
what's happening in your life with a bit of emotional distance. The
benefits are enormous—many meditators say they have more clarity,
experience less anxiety, and feel better physically. Most of all, the
practice offers an experience of calm and contentment.

Are you willing to commit to meditating every day for 30 days? If
so, you might find your whole life transformed. "An agitated mind
squanders such an amazing amount of energy," says Richard Faulds, a
senior meditation teacher at Kripalu Center in Stockbridge,
Massachusetts. "If you can still the surface of the mind, you'll say
'Wow! This is who I really am!' You get a taste of something that's
really quite profound. You will want to sustain it."

HOW TO Faulds recommends meditating on the breath for 20 minutes
each day. To do this, follow his guidelines: Find a comfortable seated
position. Bring yourself to the present moment by breathing, relaxing,
feeling, watching, and allowing any thoughts, emotions, or physical
sensations to come and go. Instead of reacting to those things, simply
be aware of them. Deepen the breath. Watch the breath. Let go of all
technique and come into effortless being. You can find another Kripalu
Yoga guided meditation at yogajournal.com/kripalumed.

8. Notice Your Surroundings

When you're reassessing life, it's tempting to spend a lot of time
focusing on yourself. But it can be transformative to connect with the
world around you, to meet your neighbors, to enjoy the changing of the
seasons, to take an interest in what's happening in your community.
Simply being aware of your environs creates a sense of
interconnectedness—and suddenly you can't not care about how your
actions affect people and your environment.

One way to feel that connection is to make a commitment to eating
seasonal and locally grown foods. "Once people become dedicated
seasonal eaters, suddenly they become aware of things like water
issues, ranchers' issues, and political issues in their community,"
says Deborah Madison, author of Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America's Farmers' Markets.
Plus, these foods taste better, do less harm to the environment by
reducing resources needed for shipping, and put you in touch with the
cycles of nature.

HOW TO Eating seasonally and supporting farmers is as easy and
delicious as visiting your local farmers' market or joining a Community
Supported Agriculture (CSA) program—a fancy term for a farm that grows
and delivers produce near your home. Visit the United States Department
of Agriculture's website (ams.usda.gov/farmersmarkets/map.htm) and click on your state to locate a local farmers' market, or check out localharvest.org/csa to find a CSA.

9. Create Community

Karen Habib had been plagued for years by a feeling of emptiness that
she couldn't quite name. Habib, who lives in Manhattan and worked in
corporate marketing at that time, craved meaning, community, and a
place where she could feel grounded amid the hustle and bustle of New
York. So when the opportunity arose for her to move into the Integral
Yoga Institute in the West Village, she went for it.

When you live in close quarters with other people, they can certainly
press your buttons. But when that happens, Habib thinks of a statement
attributed to Integral Yoga founder, Swami Satchidananda: "The stones
in a river start out rough, but with the current continually bumping
and polishing them, they end up being beautiful." Since moving into the
institute, Habib has gained clarity to pursue a life-long interest in
interior design. She has also discovered a renewed sense of vitality,
strength, and gratitude. With her yoga community, she now has a sacred
center to come home to, daily yoga classes and workshops at her
disposal, and a place to meet like-minded yogis she can relate to.
"When I walk into the center, I breathe and sit to do pranayama and
think, 'God, am I lucky!'"

HOW TO While you may not choose to move into an ashram, you can find some kind of sangha
(community) at your local studio or through a favorite teacher. Many
studios offer immersion programs that meet weekly to discuss
philosophy, practice asana, chant, and spark renewed vitality,
strength, and gratitude for the practices. Or you can organize your own
group by inviting friends, posting flyers that give information about
the meetings, and hosting yoga meet-ups in your town (visit meetup.com to post events).

10. Make a Nature Date

It's easy to overlook the most obvious accessible antidote to stress,
worry, and busyness: the outdoors. Sense the earth beneath your feet,
watch birds soar, feel the wind on your face—these are all reminders
that your troubles, and even your joys, need not be all consuming; you
are part of something bigger.

Carol Tonelli, a Spanish interpreter living in San Francisco, heads to
the ocean for a swim when she wants to reconnect. "There, I can
surrender to the water, to the sun, to the flow of life," she says.
Immersing herself in natural beauty, says Tonelli, allows her to
release stress and to access a deep sense of serenity that carries her
through tougher times.

HOW TO Whether you decide to head for the mountains, streams, or
sea, take time out of your schedule to make a nature date once a week.
When you're outdoors, allow your thoughts and concerns to float away
like clouds. Stay present to the natural beauty that surrounds you;
cultivate a sense of gratitude for the abundance that is right in front
of your nose.

Total Rejuvenation

Last week I went to an island in east coast of Malaysia, Gem Island. It was a very beautiful island with its natural state preserved so well. Crystal clear water, with fishes swimming around in the sea water. It was preserved well enough for the nature to reveal its own beauty. I spot a rare type of fish on the first day we check in. I guess you must be attentive enough to nature gift then only you will be able to spot it. Then in the next morning, I spot few baby sharks swimming outside the sea area near to the water villa balcony. I was so lucky to spot it. Immediately I informed my eldest son to see it. He was so excited to see the baby sharks.

I really fall in love with this island. It's a gift from the nature to me to be able to discover such as wonderful heaven in the earth. I definitely will visit her again with my kids. Maybe we can come here once per 2 years to rejuvenate ourself from the busy life.

Namaste !

Inspiration of Writing - 灵 感

There was once when I tried to write something, I totally don't know what to put down on the paper and how to write it at all. The words seems just stucked somewhere in my mind. After writing half of a sentence, then I will feel lost of track. No idea how to continue to finish it. Well, that was before.
I am not sure since when I started to write again via blog. And there are some improvement that I can see in putting down those words. When the idea suddenly comes I will write it non stop smoothly without any hesitating state. It is like I am opening the water tap on the right direction and the water just flow constantly and non-stop. The inspiration(灵 感) just comes from nowhere.

It is like the seed of it is there but waiting for the right time to start the sprouting and bloom. It was amazing is it ? All the while I thought I am not good at all at writing something but here I am, putting down those words here. Well it might not be as professional as others but all these words I blogged are all my heart true voices.

I have a little scratch book with me inside my office bag. Whenever I have time like waiting for the train or any free time, when the inspiration comes, I will just write it out on the book. Especially if I perform my meditation routine, then the words will be non stopped pouring out from nowhere. It flow like a river water running down the stream, constant and steady.

It's fun and sort of releasing when you can put down all those words that coming out. It does not matter when I start and discover this, the most important is I found it truely from my heart.

The yoga supergran

It never too old to learn yoga and teaching to others. I was so amazed by Yoga instructor Bette Calman, who is 83 years old, but still able to perform those difficult yoga poses. Until now I am still not able to do some of the poses.

Check it out here : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1172810/The-yoga-supergran-bend-backwards-age-83.html.

I like her saying :

'You're never too old. The body is a remarkable instrument.

'It can stretch and stretch, and get better all the time.

A Lovely Heart In The Sky

lYesterday while on my way driving to my yoga class, which located at a hill top housing area, I saw a big pinky heart shape in the sky ! The sun was setting down during the moment and the's one part of the sky looked in orangy and pinkish color. I guess that suppose to be the sun location, going down slowly. While I was taking a left turning corner in front of a traffic light, there I saw a giant heart painted in the sky with pinkish color. Exactly a heart shape in the sky ! How amazing the nature can be ! But i guess not everyone will look at it and see it as a heart except me. Maybe my imagination is running wild but that's what I see - A Lovely Heart In The Sky !

Get Back On The Track..

The article I posted recently on meditation practise really enlighthen me in a way that keep myself back to the track of my life and meditation practise. The author quite right on putting too much expectation really demotivate you, rather than motivate.
I myself experienced the same things before, in my yoga routine practise. I used to wake up at 5:30 am to practise my yoga. But after few days continueing doing it, I felt quite tiring and if I didn't make it for 1-2 days, I felt really really low in mood and demotivated. The routine that we fix make us stop if we not following it, rather than push us forward.

Yesterday I have started my yoga class for 2nd session and it's the korean teacher that conduct the class. I am so glad that she is the one who teaching, it feels different for me. Some of the poses she teached I am familiar with but some are not.

During the wheel pose session, she commented that my tummy is abit tight and not lose enough to perform the pose. Hmm...this gave me a thought on it. I think I know the reason why. I always holding my breath and contract my tummy just to look slim. Well, I have to blamed myself for that. Then I wonder could this be the reason my breath congested ? Could this be caused my tummy gas problem ?

Ok since I know the cause of it, so I promised to myself don't ever do that again and I will observe to see any improvement on my breathing.

Just a knock and I get all the answer. Whenever you are on the right channel, you will get the right wave.

Forest School Concept

I came across an article on a magazine I bought from Hong Kong. It highlighted one of the school in sweden is using forest school concept for early child education. I was amused and totally impressed by the concept and article information. I guess most countries in europe are lucky enough to be blessed with a rich land full of abundant forest trees and variety. The 4 seasons weather conditions also contributed to the beautiful landscape and resourceful woodland. The article includes some pictures as well. There are kids that working together to build some structure;some squatting down, observing leaves, ants, soil, wriggling worms; though their cloths are pretty much full of mud or dirts, but you can see them with wide smile & content. Such a content smile that I think it's purest gift from God and truely from their heart.

Later I found out that the concept is originated from Sweden itself and has been implemented since 1950 , after a few stages of trial being conducted and the benefits are proven to be effective in improving early child social, health, communication and mental skills. I always believe that nature is our best teacher. This concept is fully supporting this. Well I might not be in the right position to truely explore the concept and introduce it in Malaysia, but I think it is possible to do so.

Here are some very usefull resources on forest school concept:

Forest Education Initiative (FEI)
UK Forest School
Forest School Resources

I know I will need it someday..

Practical Wisdom - An Article On Meditation Practise To Share

What keeps a meditation practice going for 25 years? Renowned author Natalie Goldberg offers some insight.

By Natalie Goldberg

I have practiced meditation for 25 years. Sometimes in the most likely,and unlikely, places: two weeks in a cabin in northern Minnesota, inthe woods under ponderosa pines during backpacking trips, in a rootcellar in Talpa, New Mexico, in a chicken coop I converted into azendo, on the porch off my bedroom, in my living room, my kitchen, onthe steps waiting for a library to open.
I have also practiced formally with other Zen students in rigorousinstitutional environments for up to a week at a time and for 100-daypractice periods. For six years in my 30s, I lived four blocks from theMinnesota Zen Center, where I followed a daily routine of sitting at 5

a.m. and then sometimes for two hours in the evening. We had monthly weekend and seasonal retreats where I sat almost constantly from before dawn until 10 at night.

Twenty-five years is a long time to be engaged in one activity. Have I managed to do it every day no matter what? No. Have Ioften experienced states of bliss that kept me going? No. Did my kneeshurt and shoulders ache? Yes. Was I sometimes filled with anger,aggression, tormented by old ragged memories, burning with sexualdesire, craving a hot fudge sundae so bad my teeth ached? Yes. Why did I do it? What kept me going? First, I liked that it was sosimple, so different from the constant rush of human life. When I sat,I wasn't hurrying toward anything. The whole world, my entire innerlife, was coming home to me. I was beginning a true relationship withmyself. This felt right—and it was inexpensive. All I needed was mybreath, a cushion or chair, and a little time. And I feel I've learneda few things about meditation during my sitting tenure. I wouldn'tnecessarily call them "rules," but they have helped to keep my practicegoing when there were plenty of reasons to stop.

A Matter of Time

0ver the years I have heard much instruction on how to meditate. Recently I listened to someone tell students that it is better to sit for five minutes every day than for an hour three times a week. That's good advice, I thought. Then I smiled to myself. There are no prescriptions for a long relationship. Things change. Five minutes every day might work beautifully for three months. But then what if you miss a day or a week? Have you failed? Do you quit? I hope not. But sometimes our minds set up stiff expectations, and when they're not met, we drop the whole thing.

That's my first rule: If you want meditation to be in your life for a long time, do not make a rigid structure and then chastise yourself when you don't comply with it. It's much better to keep a limber mind and develop tenderness toward existence. Missed a day? You'll begin again the next day. Where are you going anyway but right where you are? But that doesn't mean structure isn't important. It's easier to return to something solid than to an amorphous intention to some plan to meditate.

Begin with five minutes—a time structure—and clarify it even more. When should you sit for those five minutes? In the morning, right before bedtime, when it's noon—no matter where you are or what you'redoing? If you choose a time, it makes the practice sturdier. And if youcommit to a regular place—at your desk before you begin work, in frontof the altar in your bedroom, under the sycamore in the front yard—italso deepens the intention. Structure allows you to more simply drop inwithout giving "monkey mind"—the inner pessimistic voice—much space.

Monkey mind can give a hundred reasons not to meditate. Structure helps support your urge to do it anyway.

My second rule is to be creative and flexible in your meditation. A structure that worked well for three years may suddenly collapse: You have a new job with different hours, or you're traveling for two months, or your wife just gave birth to a second child and the household is in endless chaos. So learn to meditate in a chair, while you sit in the waiting room of your dentist's office, or in the car as you wait for your son or daughter to finish soccer practice.

Meditation is about having a large life smack in the center of your everyday life. The challenge is how to stay open and continue. I was at a retreat at Plum Village in southern France when the person next to me asked Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk, who is in his 60s,
how he has kept his meditation practice alive for so long. He smiled a wry, sweet smile. "So you want to know my secret?" She nodded eagerly. "I do whatever works and change it when it no longer works."

Never Give Up
My third rule: Even if you can't meditate, carry your meditation inside. When my book, Writing Down the Bones, appeared in 1986, I was invited to teach in Selma, Alabama. The thick air and the abundant trees, so different from my dry New Mexico, delighted me, and I was curious about an author everyone told me about. She lived an hour away in the country. She'd just won the PEN/Hemingway Award for her collection of short stories. It was her first book and she was in her 70s. I had the privilege of speaking to her on thephone. "Have you been writing all of your life?" I asked, elated at the victory a writer could still have at her age.

"I wrote through my 20s and then got married and had a son," she said. "I didn't start up again until my 60s when my husband died." I paused. I was a gung-ho writer then and wouldn't give it up for anything."Well, was it hard? I mean giving up writing. Did you resent it?"

"Oh, no, I didn't feel bad," she replied. "All the years I didn't write I never stopped seeing myself as a writer."

That conversation left a lasting impact on me. Even if you can't write,you can see the way a writer does, observe and digest the details of what surrounds you. This is also true of a life of meditation. Theremight be periods—weeks, months, or even years—when you can't get to the

cushion, but that doesn't mean you have to give up being a meditator. And when you finally do return to sitting, your practice might be even fresher than when you left it.

My fourth rule is that even if you carry meditation inside—still see and feel as a meditator—there are times when you need to physically practice differently. Case in point: When I lived in Santa Fe in my early 40s, I was pushing hard on at least three books, and the mind exertion and concentration of writing felt too much like the experience I had when I sat. So I made walking my meditation.

In Santa Fe I lived near the downtown plaza and close to cafes. I'd do mindful walking to the places where I wrote. One foot after the other. I'd feel my toes bend, heel lift, hip shift, the weight of placing one foot down, and the rise of the other. I noticed how my feet carried me. Then when I was done with three or four hours of writing, I'd walk some more. I'd transfer the power of my writing concentration down into the power of my feet. I'd leave the mind of my imagination and land in the mind of the streets. My feet became my focus under the one sky, near parking meters, the rustle of cottonwoods, the smell of roasted chilies. Even though I consider writing an inner physical activity, where my whole body is engaged—my heart, lungs, liver, breath—walking grounded me to the physical world around me.

And my final rule is this: No matter how far your meditation diverts from the cushion or the chair, don't forget to return again and again, as much as possible, to that immobile sitting position, where everything runs through you. Think of it: If a writer is a writer, she eventually, even 30 years later, must pick up a pen again and write. A Zen student, no matter how much he or she chops wood or carries water, must return to the zafu. Each practice has its one essential activity. For Zen, it is sitting. This is good. Otherwise we might wander off, get lost forever, and never find the beginning.

Natalie Goldberg is the author of seven books, including most recently Thunder and Lightning: Cracking Open the Writer's Craft (Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing, 2000). She teaches workshops in writing and Zen practice.

(Taken from http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/620.)

Starting New Again...

I am going to start on my new yoga class this week, Wednesday. Well, it means a new start for me again since I have stopped attending the class for almost 1month. Hope I still remain the flexibility and strength. I feel abit excited since it's going to be a yoga class with my korean yoga teacher again. She is a very kind lady that willing to share out a lot with her students as long as you speak out. I feel her positive energy field strongly. She will be my good guru on my yoga journey.

Things will not be the same again after you pracise yoga & meditation for some time. It is definitely a good one. I notice a new leafing coming out of my office desk plant again. It brings a new meaning to me. I know i need to keep the positive energy and in focus so that I know where am I going...No doubts there will be obstacle there and it is happening already, my temper, my laziness and those negative energy that going to stop me from reaching a fulfilling life.

Keep up and don't give up !

Namaste !

Dance Freely From The Soul..

Yesterday night me and my son having a great time together just before sleep. I just thought of holding him under his armpit and swing him around. But he like it so much that he requested me to do it again and again. It was fun and I feel totally free. It was like I am full of those energy, swinging him from left to right, even with the balllet steps. The feeling is incredibly great. He bring out my inspiration to dance again. He is my inspiration since he was born. I feel very very much close to him since then until now and forever. We grow together is what I can say.

I never know that my soul eager to dance so much, dance freely without any restriction or rules to follow. I know I am bold enough to do that. It is the same things for life. Put in passion into it and see how's your life response back to you. Passion, enthusiasm is the main ingredient for the dancing life.

It's your life !

Namaste !