PEACE LOVE YOGA: YouTube

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

"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."

- Louise Erdrich

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)

Ashtanga Yoga Third Series Demonstration

6.1.17

Here's a recent Ashtanga Yoga Advanced A (3rd Series) demonstration I did at Purple Valley Retreat Center in Goa, India. We shot it straight through so there are even a few mistakes. I simply did a practice as I would on any given day. So in that light, it is what it is.

A practice.

Blind Devotion. Love in Action

29.7.15

The sweetest thing ever. Love in action.

Why Do We Gossip?

20.7.14

Why do we gossip? A good question to contemplate.

Ashtanga Yoga Demonstration, Part 2

15.5.14

Here is the last video we produced while in Mysore, India last winter. We decided to have a little fun and use music that was more up beat in tempo and rhythm. Unexpected. Yes, the practice is an internal often silent quest but here I simply express the celebratory nature of practice. Enjoy.

Ashtanga Yoga Intermediate Series Demonstration

26.2.14

A short demonstration video of some of the postures in Intermediate series shot in Mysore, India.

Ashtanga Yoga Primary Series Demo

18.2.14

Here is the second video we shot while in Mysore, India with a focus on the poses of Primary Series. My favorite part of the video is the dog who comes out at the beginning of the film. There are always elements out of our control that end up being pleasant surprises.

Bahá'í How Are You Doing? - Have a Little Faith

26.12.13

Here is a little video about the religion I was raised in. Talk about a great platform to build a foundation upon. Though I no longer label myself as any one thing it takes me back to how powerful the practice and vision of unity is. There is a thread that connects us all. The truth is that we are One. Whenever I deviate from that I know that I have lost my way and what brings me back is the connection we all share. There is no separation, it is only in the mind that we are.

His Day is Done

9.12.13

Thoughts From Within - Woody Harrelson

13.7.13

More Monday Inspiration: Strength in Motion

8.7.13

I love this video clip with principal dancer Tamara Rojo. Some of what she talks about really parallels with the trails and tribulations of longterm yoga practice and others differ. At any rate, I love hearing personal accounts from those who are the best at what they do. Absolutely lovely and inspiring. She is not only strength in motion but also a culmination of practice in motion. Think of all the work that went into what she has done. Beautiful.

Ashtanga Yoga by Luiz Veiga

4.7.13

Transformation Through Yoga: Russel Brand

14.6.13

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

Your More Beautiful Than You Think

17.4.13

Simply beautiful. Once we take our expectations, doubts, and insecurities out of the equation we then see who we are beyond the limitation of the mind's eye.

Matthew Sweeney circa 1995

2.3.13

To This Day Project

23.2.13

Yoga in Schools

25.12.12

Yoga heals.

How Yoga Found Me

5.11.12

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

3.11.12

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

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R. Sharath Jois