"You should not be practicing to have a 'good' practice, but instead to keep steadiness within yourself. Practice happily regardless of whether it is 'good' or not. Sometimes some postures will not be possible, but when you accept the good and the bad and everything becomes equal for you, that is yoga."
- R. Sharath Jois
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."
"In the universe, there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in between, there are doors." (William B...
About
"Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself you tasted as many as you could."
"I don’t love studying, I hate studying. I like learning, learning is beautiful." -Natalie Portman
My routine is simple. I get up early, I practice, then go teach. I've received comments as to how crazy it is to get up as early as I do. I mean, it does sound crazy, but in the end, it gives more than it takes. Really, what am I missing? There seems to be a world of gain maintaining a daily morning (or pre-morning?) discipline. It's pure medicine. And yes, sometimes medicine that is hard to swallow when I feel too heavy to rise out of bed. But hear this, the energy and silent aliveness in the pre-dawn hour is hard to replicate compared to any other part of the day. I see why the yogis of old recommended this time for prayer, contemplation and meditation. In some ways the world is mine at this hour. Allll mine, haha! I absorb the steady strength, pulsating, giving generously, as I rub up against the static inertia of my mind. It's not easy, but somehow grace follows where tapas burns brightest. It doesn't take a special person to dedicate to practicing at this time, because the time itself is special.
"If you can see your path laid out in front of you step by step, you know it’s not your path. Your own path you make with every step you take. That’s why it’s your path." - Joseph Campbell
“Right now, and in every now-moment, you are either closing or opening. You are either stressfully waiting for something - more money, security, affection - or you are living from your deep heart, opening as the entire moment, and giving what you most deeply desire to give, without waiting. ” - David Deida
This past week the weather took a sharp turn. Warmer temps and sunshine! Spring feels believable. Approachable. Funny how easy it is to forget. I tend to get amnesia, especially with the extremes of light and dark in Sweden. When light, it feels like it couldn't possibly get dark again, and when dark, the Sun feels like a long lost friend. Through it all, I learn to appreciate the contrast. Or at the very least, I do my best.
Changes are coming, even within myself. I keep getting this nudge to get back to my creative roots. Yes, my roots! When young I was alway drawn to the arts. From the beginning we know who we are, and what we want out of life. I just took detour.
We can't run away from who we are. It's always waiting to be reborn.
“The empty mind - the pure mind - is not a blank, zero-land, where you’re not feeling or caring about anything. It’s an effulgence of the mind. It’s a brightness that is truly sensitive and accepting. It’s an ability to accept life as it is. When we accept life as it is, we can respond appropriately to the way we’re experiencing it, rather than just reacting out of fear and aversion.”
"Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray."
- Rumi
Hope everyone has a great weekend. Which has me thinking, I used to live for the weekend. Now, I see the importance of living what I love during the week-- finally after making changes to do what I enjoy. So much better than a race to the finish line, to then feel I can relax and enjoy.
A great quote from Gandhi. In a world of spin, everyone has an opinion on everything. Seems easier to smatter at the mouth than to do something or simply lead by example. Fortunately, there are those who don't let it sway them. It's never easy, but has to be done.
Let’s ask God to help us to self-control: for one who lacks it, lacks His Grace.The undisciplined person doesn’t wrong himself alone–but sets fire to the whole world.Discipline enabled Heaven to be filled with light;discipline enabled the angels to be immaculate and holy…
- Rumi
Two words have popped into my awareness lately. Discipline and focus. When worked together in synergy, what an unbeatable combination. Miracles can happen. The practice has a way of refining this capacity. Through the rhythm of the sequence, Tristana, puts it all into perspective. Simplicity at it's best. Dristhe, Posture, Breath.
This is strange business. You’re the strange business. You have the energy of the sun in you, but you keep knotting it up at the base of your spine. You’re some weird kind of gold that wants to stay melted in the furnace, so you won’t have to become coins. So don’t be timid. Load the ship and set out. No one knows for certain whether the vessel will sink or reach the harbor. Just don’t be one of those merchants who won’t risk the ocean! Work in the invisible world at least as hard as you do in the visible. Keep walking, though there’s no place to get to. Don’t try to see through the distances. That’s not for human beings. Move within, but don’t move the way fear makes you move. This talk is like stamping new coins. They pile up, while the real work is being done outside by someone digging in the ground.
There is one thing in this world which you must never forget to do. If you forget everything else and not this, there is nothing to worry about, but if you remember everything else and forget this, then you will have done nothing in your life.
It is as if a king has sent you to some country to do a task, and you perform a hundred other services, but no the one he sent you to do. So human beings come to this world to do particular work. That work is the purpose, and each is specific to the person. If you don’t do it, it’s as though a knife of the finest tempering were nailed into a wall to hang things on. For a penny an iron nail could be bought to serve for that.
Remember the deep root of your being, the presence of your lord. Give your life to the one who already owns your breath and your moments. If you don’t, you will be like the one who takes a precious dagger and hammers it into his kitchen wall for a peg to hold his dipper gourd. You will be wasting valuable keenness and foolishly ignoring your dignity and your purpose.
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!
“Reality does not require your explanations.” - Lama Wangdor
It's been a over a month since coming back from India. I have found a new appreciation for living and taking this practice out into the world, better said, into my life. In many ways it's a luxury to spend that long only content with practicing yoga. Going inward through the process of more intense practice has served me well. Although, sometimes I feel it a bit self-indulgent. I've discovered this gem inside that has the desire to emerge, to create, and to serve. Yoga practice is a tool, and when centered around those who lament about it too much tends to take a tole on me. Again, it's such a personal thing. The whispers in my ear may manifest differently than the person practicing next to me. We all have this personal journey to tread upon. We must choose to keep our focus there and not be pulled by outside distractions and/or idle talk. Everyone has an opinion about everything. Blahhdy blah blah! Is it this, or is it that? People say, this is right, this is wrong. This is nonsense - this, oh yes, this I approve of! At the end of all this talk I say, WHO CARES!
I can post a video on Facebook, I can blog about whatever I'm feeling and someone will find fault with it, even without knowing the essence behind where it came from. I'm tired of fault finding, I just want to live, and be inspired to create whatever feels the need to bubble up inside, and to also connect and understand. We can never claim to know the full scope of the story. Why the judgement? Whenever I'm provoked or feel resistance toward something it gives rise to the opportunity to look inside and see, what's got my feathers so ruffled? Through that, I can stand in greater appreciation of the outer world. I don't need to deny anything. And, through this level of acceptance I am better apt to take action. It is much easier to talk a good game or to even write about it. What are you doing today? This is what I need to ask myself moving forward. This I know for sure.
“For instance, if a man ceases to take any concern in worldly matters, conceives a distaste for common pleasures, and appears sunk in depression, the doctor will say, “This is a case of melancholy, and requires such and such prescription. The physicist will say, “This is a dryness of the brain caused by hot weather and cannot be relieved till the air becomes moist.” The astrologer will attribute it to some particular conjunction or opposition of planets. “Thus far their wisdom reaches,” says the Koran. It does not occur to them that what has really happened is this: that the Almighty has a concern for the welfare of that man, and has therefore commanded His servants, the planets or the elements, to produce such a condition in him that he may turn away from the world to his Maker. The knowledge of this fact is a lustrous pearl from the ocean of inspirational knowledge, to which all other forms of knowledge are as islands in the sea.”
She brought up some good points, and a few I can definitely relate to. I agree with her idea that we each reside on the spectrum, so to speak. Never being 100% one way or the other. I tend to dabble in both. By nature I'd say I'm an introvert. However, destiny has always put me in positions of extroversion. Today, I feel fairly comfortable in both worlds. There is so much to learn finding ease living in either realm. With that being said, times of solitude aren't something I shy away from and find it essential for growth, giving space to reflect and hone in on creative energies. It's a power source.
Growing up and being in certain sectors of the corporate world I have always been fascinated when being steady and quiet was often looked down upon. In many ways, the squeaky wheel, always got the grease. I think another thing most introverts have is, patience. There have been more than one example in my life, where sitting back, observing, while continuing on with the work, in the end, brought reward.
All in all, there is a season for everything. A time for being open and outward. A time for receding and reflecting. Dancing in both realties is a good thing. However, in our culture extroverts are more highly regarded in most cases. Which gives me pause, living in a country where people are naturally reserved. There tends to be more distrust in those who are overtly boisterous and demanding of attention. I find it has definitely taken affect on me. Instantly, when I am around Americans, I am always left wondering why are they talking so loud? Hahaha. I say this out of love. But it's true.
