R. Sharath Jois in Stockholm
Photo by Bill Brundell
Photo by Miyoung Von Platten
Photo by Miyoung Von Platten
Photo by David Fredriksson
That's me on the far right!
Photo by David Fredriksson
Photo by Ida Fridh
I'm late posting on Sharath's first visit to Stockholm. Needless to say it was an amazing week. Took me a while to come back down to land! Sometimes I feel it is important to simply live in the experience. I cherish times such as these. What I love most is Sharath's profound simplicity in his teaching. There isn't room for anything extraneous or unnecessary and with such ease the essence of yoga pours through.
Guru To Go. A Portrait of R. Sharath Jois.
10.8.13
Tomorrow is the start of R. Sharath Jois's week in Stockholm as part of his European tour. I can't really explain what comfort it brings to know my teacher is in here in the city where I live. I am so looking forward to spending the week with him and the many other students who will participate. The above video was captured at his previous stop in Copenhagen and highlights just a glimpse of his inspiring wisdom.
No Expectations
9.8.13
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 judgment 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)
** Thank you Anna for passing this one along. I greatly appreciate it. **
ACIM
6.8.13
"Humility will never ask that you remain content with littleness. But it does require that you be not content with less than greatness that comes not of you." (ACIM)
"Deep within you is everything that is perfect, ready to radiate through you and out into the world." (ACIM)
A number of years back I started study on A Course in Miracles. It's been on and off to say the least, and with that being said, I'm always amazed by the power and truth within this amazing work. The first time I picked it up was early in my college years and it felt rather dense and heavy for me at the time. However, the fact I was intrigued never faded. As I pick it up again it will be interesting to see what it will awaken within me if at all. There is no doubt something will be stirred. It just has that way of bypassing the unnecessary and going right into the core of the matter.
Friday Quote
2.8.13
"Water is fluid, soft and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: what is soft is strong." (Lao Tzu)