The Definitions of Yoga - Alexander Medin

Transformation Through Yoga: Russel Brand

Russel Brand talking very candidly about life and transforming through yoga. 

Recap

"Awake my dear

be kind to your sleeping heart

take it out into the vast fields of Light

and let it breathe"

- Hafiz

In regards to my post "passive aggressive" I was surprised by the response I received. Not only the comments posted here, but the number of personal emails and messages on facebook where those personally disclosed their experiences similar to mine and/or to simply reach out and offer their support. When the time is ripe I don't hold back and in may ways this has been a huge lesson in me moving forward. I have dealt with all types of bullies in my past, through it all, I never allowed myself to be a victim of it. Unfortunately, my first bully experience was in my own household. A long story for another day. This is the first time I speak of it on my blog and is one I don't disclose to many people, if at all. Now, I stand at a point where I see the design of my life and how the ugly beautiful parts have woven into one. Because if I hadn't lived through the experiences it might not have pushed me to grow in the way that I have, even though there is still much healing and trust I have yet to expand into. Somedays, I ask myself, "why?" Now, I am understanding the why(s), more and more, on a daily basis.

“People may not tell you how they feel about you, but they always show you. Pay attention.” - Kerry Hilson

I think what blew me away once I landed in Sweden was just how subtle the hostility can be, and I honestly feel it is in the worst way, because it flys below the radar. I've had altercations with friends and acquaintances back home before, and when everything is out in the open, at least you know where you stand. Afterward the relationship deepens because true feelings finally bubbled to the surface to be openly looked at and discussed. A deeper authenticity of relationship is then acquired. However, here, you never really know where you stand with someone, but I've learned to read between the lines. Now, after years of travel and not being in my home country for a significant period of time since 2006, I have surprisingly learned how to read and feel people beyond what they say. Granted, with a decade of teaching yoga, this sense of feeling energy has cultivated over time.  More than 70% of communciation comes across through body language and nonverbals, if not more. I've learned that, yeah, someone can smile and ask how I am, but there is an energy of disdain behind it. Sure, I'll bite, but I know it is far from the sprit of goodwill, and one I have felt most painfully, but can embrace more fully with practice. This is the juice. As I burn away the impurities inside through transforming any pain or discomfort that arises. It is also a practice in developing discernment. At the same time, I never wish ill to those who have been subtly undercutting because I know karma will naturally unfold if need be. It isn't my place to look for control or power, while it truly shows the quality someone holds within themself. Things have a way of coming full circle. If I am to engage, then I am controlled by conditioning and the rhythm of unconsciousness. There are lessons to be learned. To learn the lesson there is growth. Seeing people for who they really are, beyond conditioned behavior, pure and innocent.

The above are only little glitches and simply part of the journey and my development. Through it all there have been really good stuff too, most definitely. I only needed to come clean with a few of my experiences. Obstacles are a part of life. Will they beat me down or give me the motivation to lift up? Thankfully, I have the motivation to continue and not be detracted from what is important. What does all this mean? Well, I am not entirely sure, life is mysterious, but I get a sense it has called me to cultivate the art of sincere attention more fully. A moment to moment awareness. Every part, moving me higher. I am also called to take a look at who do I want to be in all of this? Important indeed.

With all this being said, I have aligned to important allies in Sweden, and honestly, most people once you breakthrough, are genuine, grounded, and heartfelt. So, please understand, I am not trying to paint an ugly picture. I think the most surprising part was the animosity felt in the yoga community. This was most alarming, because naively, I thought it would be a community where I would be naturally accepted, hence the spirit of yoga. It's funny because people will judge you for your asana practice alone and think many things from a limited point of view. Just because I have acquired a few advanced poses doesn't mean shit, and even though people say it doesn't matter, through their treatment, they have communicated that it does. In my heart I have always known that yoga doesn't start, stop or end with asana. Whether a beginner, or advanced, why judge or hate? I've spent I don't know how many hours of practice in a room, by myself, with no one watching. To carry on in this way takes more than the simple allure of asana. However, people find it in themselves to question your quest because of your physical appearance. I find it odd. Judgement can swing in either direction.

The most important part in all of this is not being afraid to live in authenticity because there will always be those who will find fault with it. NEWS FLASH, being connected to yoga doesn't look any one way. Interesting that we can place labels within a topic that is ultimately so vast and infinitely bigger than the images we try to emulate, we forget what exactly wants to emerge from within. And well, this is where I will place my attention.

A sincere thank you to all who have been rays of sunshine during times of darkness. Blessings are everywhere.

“Don’t surrender your loneliness so quickly, let it cut more deep. Let it ferment and season you as few human or even divine ingredients can”

- Rumi

Why We Breathe

Yoga documentary 

YATRA is YOGA

Maturity Doesn't Always Come with Age

“The willingness to forgive is a sign of spiritual and emotional maturity. It is one of the great virtues to which we all should aspire. Imagine a world filled with individuals willing both to apologize and to accept an apology. Is there any problem that could not be solved among people who possessed the humility and largeness of spirit and soul to do either -- or both -- when needed?” ― Gordon B. Hinckley

Maturity doesn't always come with age. Age is just a number of how many years we have been on the planet and doesn't signify the quality and maturity of the soul. At least this has been my experience. What I find interesting is some of the most inspiring people I have met lately have been those much younger than me. I've been amazed at the insight and quality many young people bring to the table and luckily many have crossed my path. It's funny because it doesn't make me feel insecure, but it enlivens and reminds me that it's time to continue to broaden my scope. That's the beauty of some of the youth coming up today because they are revelling in possibility and connection. They get it and aren't nearly as afraid and fearful. Honestly it's a breath of fresh air and I welcome it and will continue to encourage them even as I steadily do my own internal work.

With the New Year, I'm reminded that the time lived doesn't matter. It is how we use the time we are given that matter. Yeah, I can practice Yoga everyday but it is in the application of practice in my life that carries the most weight. Years racked up are meaningless if I haven't made the definitive choices to allow transformation to happen.

Youth is definitely an energy. And in the same light, some of the most youthful people I know are much older than me. Curiosity and the willingness to learn keep this energy in motion and are not only the markers of the youthful but the wise.

Like it or not, we are coming into an age where labels, status symbols, and hierarchies are becoming obsolete. Associations are not the only thing that gets us anywhere. It is in the heart of our intentions and the truth we carry within ourselves that will be the fuel to drive us forward and upward.

True. 

How Yoga Found Me

Such a lovely thoughtful sharing by my dear friend Kira from Jamaica. I am sure many of you out there can relate to how yoga found you. It has a way of subtly taking a hold of us. Thank you, Kira! 

Building Community through Yoga

Russel Simmons always has interesting things to say. This is such important work, but we must start with ourselves. 

Urban Yogis - Episode 1

Stories like this really pull at my heart. Yoga Transforming Lives. It happens. 

Light On Life

It's been a long time coming. I finally picked up the book "Light on Life," by B.K.S. Iyengar, and it's a book not to be missed. Maybe most of you out there have already read it. I could be one of the last to pick it up, haha.

I love the purity and power of Iyengar's writing. Simple and straight forward, which seems to be the natural way, when communicating to the masses, with as many years of experience as he has. With utmost clarity, you feel his decades of experience and wisdom cultivated through experiential practice. He has lived and tasted everything he writes. You can feel it.

Though, I have never met Iyengar, through his writing, something tells me he is as sharp as a tack, and as active as ever, at the ripe age of 93. I would love to see him in action. Even though I don't practice his method, I'm still very much intrigued by the measure of this man. Everything he speaks of translates to whatever yoga practice you may follow. Having the same teacher as Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, I feel the Iyengar method is on the other side of the same coin as Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga.

Everything he writes correlates. The internal relationship to yoga ultimately is the same, with varying shades of color.

I'm loving every word.

Let's Not Forget About Sangha

“Yoga is about giving Love and Light to everybody: Those who love you, those who harm you, those who you know, those who you don’t know. It makes no difference, you just give light and love.”   - Yoga Master Indra Devi

Beyond my own practice one element that becomes important is the sangha (community) centered around practice. Sometimes I feel like this is the missing element in the community or maybe lack of community. What I've observed, often we confine our community only within the walls in which we practice. To me, it goes much further than that. If we cannot connect with each other openly while making this practice a part of our lives, I think we've missed something. If we cannot be open and generous within the yoga community, than what hope do we have to attain this in the outer world? It matters! It truly does.

When I moved to Stockholm I was shocked at the dividing lines drawn. I even got the brunt end of unspeakable negativity while being kept at arms length. Maybe because I was considered an outsider or maybe because I came in with a fair amount of experience. It's hard to tell. However, for me, the sad part is, I came into the scene a bit naive, because I honestly felt if there's any place I'll be accepted, no matter what country I found myself in, it would be in the yoga community, and well, reality gave me a different lesson. It hurt. However, time passes on, and the sting of rumors spread, that were clearly untrue, burned, as I kept quiet to it all. Even though it took time to heal and recover from the resentment, I am thankful to the naysayers, because it forced me to find strength I didn't realize I had. I'm still standing. Now I can say thank you, because the new found determination that came forth through the experience was born.

So what gives? Yoga is an internal quest, not a showcase for external prowess and/or the acquisition of territory. I came to yoga when my body and spirit were broken. A recognition. From then on, being on my mat has felt more like home than any home I've had or probably will have. At the center of it all, practice has been an inspiration of the heart. If it wasn't, I would have done something else. When we layer hierarchies, dividing lines, cliques, and smattering of gossip on top of it, aren't we missing the point?

For a long time I shrunk back and kept quiet in regards to the negative treatment. I'm not sure suffering in silence is always a good thing. And now, I've come to a point where I no longer feel like doing so. As the internal becomes strengthened, so does the intolerance for bullshit. I'm just saying. Through the sharing of honest experience, I can own all of it, and be better for it, because at the end of the day, transforming it into gratitude has healed me. Which begs the point, if we've lost the love, we've lost everything, even the meaning behind why we practice. It isn't a commodity to be acquired.

Truth is a wonderful thing. Transparency is grand.

This energy extends out beyond the limits we manufacture in day to day life. Illusions. Let's cut through them. However, it will only happen if we do it together. Each word we utter carries weight, whether you know it or not. Is what we engage in, through talk and interaction, bringing us together or dividing us apart? A good thing to inquire, and to inquire on a regular basis.

Why limit reality within the walls of the familiar? We must step outside our comfort zones. We must shake free of our labels. If we close the door on learning from others than something is amiss. The learning never stops, especially when there is an opportunity to learn from someone new or to even gain insight on another perspective.

What I've learned is it doesn't matter if someone carries a certain level of certification, or even if they have the means of owning a yoga studio. It doesn't always equal a form of enlightened existence. It took me time to realize this with startling clarity. With that being said, most of us move forward on the path with the best of intentions, but at the end of the day, we must ask ourselves who are we serving? why? And, what for?

Day 5, 6, 7, 8

Day 5, 6, 7, 8. Practice with Peter Sanson. Oooof. It was so hot in the room, and especially hot since I had a later start time. At one point when twisting I gazed over my shoulder and thought I was seeing an apparition. A white cloud of some sort. Is that my aura? Not likely, a closer look, I realized it was actually steam coming off my body. Literally, I was cooking, and I continued to cook for the subsequent days. Oooof. Sizzle. Continuing with my focus and not getting too carried away by the intense heat, like a mantra, I kept telling myself, samsara halahala. Yes, this is why I practice.

It was a great 8 days of practice; 8 days of self-reflection. This is the exciting part. I started the week with Intermediate, per usual, built up to Advanced A, and ended with Primary. I love this cycle established over the week. All postures are really the same. They all translate into one another. What can be learned in the most basic of postures carry hallmarks into the more complicated.

Take care in the smallest of movements, breathing as if it were your last breath. Give attention to everything as if you are tasting something for the first time. There's a boundless amount of depth there. 

Breath of the Gods

Looking forward to seeing this in it's entirety. A fascinating history. 

The Inner Tradition of Yoga

Yoga and Buddism

Day Four

Day Four, practice with Peter Sanson. Posting a day later. It's been great. If there is one thing I know he will drive home is, don't strain, relax, and breathe. Pretty darn simple, often the simplest things are the most challenging.

Another valuable insight I've learned is, the external will always throw a good curve curve ball, from time to time, it will forever change, while pulling us out from our center. Keep the practice a practice of going inward. It's that simple. Cultivate the energy through each movement, as the awareness radiates from the internal core and out through the limbs of the body like rays of the sun. You enter serenity. You enter yoga. Oneness. We don't need much more than this. We don't need much more at all. We enter love, unencumbered.

Never, Ever Give Up

Simple. Never give up. The starting point is now. 

Trying Out Yoga For the First Time

Funny, funny, stuff. 

Ängsbacka Yoga & Dance Festival

Over the Easter Day weekend I'm honored to be serving as one of the workshop leaders at the annual Yoga and Dance Festival at Ängsbacka! April 5th - 9th. Followed by a 3-day Ashtanga Yoga Intensive, April 9th - April 11th, just preceding the five day festival. The opportunity came unexpectedly at the last minute, so I am announcing it last minute!!! For more information please visit: www.angsbacka.com

Frida Börjeson, Stockholm Photographer

Had the pleasure of shooting with a local photographer here in Stockholm, Frida Börjeson. Below are her links. Just wanted to give her a quick shout out!

www.fridaborjenson.se
www.fotofrida.se