PEACE LOVE YOGA: Sarajevo

Burnt To Ash

"All Inquiry is meant for one purpose; to take you experientially into the unknown as efficiently as possible. Once you get there, simply be still because inquiry has delivered you to its destination. The rest is up to Grace. Do not hold onto any knowledge that comes your way. Even the greatest revelations much not be clung to, or you will end up with a head full of memories and a heart empty of substance. The truth is ever new, existing only in the now. The highest truth is beyond knowledge and experience. It is beyond time and space, and beyond beingness, consciousness, and oneness. Just remember that all direct path techniques are meant simply to undermine, to cut away, the one who is performing them. No matter what spiritual path you've walked or what teachings you've followed, they must lead you back to no path and no teaching. A true teaching is like a blazing fire that consumes the itself. The teaching must not only consume you, but consume itself as well. All must be burned to ash, and then the ash must be burned. The, and only then, is the Ultimate realized. True Enlightenment destroys enlightenment. As long as you can refer back to yourself and say, 'I'm enlightened', you not. Enlightenment is authentic only when there is no one left to be enlightened. Even to say 'I am nobody', is one too many. There's a point when you intuitively realize that to be Free you have to give up your attachment to Freedom. You have to quit asking yourself: Is it still there? Am I okay? You have to decide to never look over your shoulder again to see if you're free or if others know you're free. You just have to let yourself burn there - no matter what. This isn't something I can help you with. I can tell you what you need to do, but you have to do it. In the beginning, teachers can help a lot. But the deeper you go, all they can do is point, and clarify, and tell you what you need to do. Only you can take this step. Nobody can push you in to this place."

- Adyashanti

No Expectations

A spirit that lives in this world

and does not wear the shirt of love,

such an existence is a deep disgrace.

Be foolishly in love,

because love is all there is.

There is no way into presence

except through a love exchange.

If someone asks, But what is love?

answer, Dissolving the will.

True freedom comes to those

who have escaped the questions

of freewill and fate.

Love is an emperor.

The two worlds play across him.

He barely notices their tumbling game.

Love and lover live in eternity.

Other desires are substitutes

for that way of being.

How long do you lay embracing a corpse?

Love rather the soul, which cannot be held.

Anything born in spring dies in the fall,

but love is not seasonal.

With wine pressed from grapes,

expect a hangover.

But this love path has no expectations.

You are uneasy riding the body?

Dismount. Travel lighter.

Wings will be given.

Be clear like a mirror

reflecting nothing.

Be clean of pictures and the worry

that comes with images.

Gaze into what is not ashamed

or afraid of any truth.

Contain all human faces in your own

without any judgement of them.

Be pure emptiness.

What is inside that? you ask.

Silence is all I can say.

Lovers have some secrets

that they keep.

(Rumi)

29.5.14

Last weekend I had the pleasure of traveling to Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina for the second time teaching and sharing the practice of Ashtanga yoga. Here yoga is new and on the fringe but nonetheless there are those that are offering it to the people. A country hit hard by war in years past still leaves its mark. Recently, floods have also ravaged the areas outside Sarajevo in and around the countryside.

It is a beautiful thing when the practice offers healing to those who have realized challenge on every level. Quite honestly I can't truly identify with how one deals with such tragedy and at the same time I have learned how resilient the human spirit is, that yes, life moves on no matter what.

I extend my gratitude to the budding Ashtangis of Sarajevo. Thank you for your hospitality. A big thanks to Mike and Aida for paving the way where it may not be the most popular of pursuits, but no doubt one of priceless value to their students.

11.6.13

“The purpose of all the major religious traditions is not to construct big temples on the outside, but to create temples of goodness and compassion inside, in our hearts.” (The Dali Lama)

The week before last I had the pleasure of being invited to Sarajevo to teach a weekend Ashtanga yoga workshop at Prana Yoga Studio in the heart of the city. Before my arrival I was filled with curiosity in regards to Sarajevo, remembering the complex history, horrors, and atrocities that happened there. Even to this day I don't understand it fully, however during and since my visit, I have gained deeper understanding. Remnants of the war are mostly gone but still visible and knowing what I know now I am fascinated by the strength and determination of the human spirit. No matter what, life moves on. Still, on some level, I have to ask myself, how could this have happend in my lifetime? How and why wasn't there more done to help stop the senseless killings? It haunts me.

Nonetheless, there are those who desire to move on from a higher state of consciousness. One reason why both Mike and Aida have touched me so deeply. Being the very first Ashtanga yoga center in the city they have truly broken ground in giving those the tools to reach greater awareness through the practice. It's needed, and even in the rise of skepticism they have one by one touched those with their sincere offering to give and enlighten the people of Sarajevo ready to take the leap. They're doing it and it's so inspiring!

Not only was the group willing to take the plunge, discovering all the practice has to offer but also we had participants not only from Bosnia, but Croatia, Serbia, and Slovenia together in one room making it happen.