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This is not a post about Wm. J Broad, except it is - kinda...

29/2/2012

3 Comments

 
So, of course, I'm aware of and experiencing some perturbation at Mr. Broad, but I won't digress here on that topic. I did not start this blog to critique the NYT or Anusara yoga, and I hesitate to have the voice be the singular one.

I'm committing to staying on top of what foolery I  believe needs to be held to account, so I will say, the two great concerns that I outlined before -- the indelible stain on the true study of Tantra, and the hyper sexualization of yoga through the actions of some male teachers and the detriment to yoga, to other male teachers, to our philosophy and to our business -- remain and unfortnately, have been exacerbated by Broad's piece of 'urinalism' - no sources cited, no fact checking on his 'history', a clear agenda and more fire for the flames to light the path to buying his book. I hesitate to give him the time.

But, he pissed me off - and that's real and I'm human and it's an experience. Of course, because I'm a yogi, and I like to practice what I teach, I have to look for clarity and discernment. I can do that in my practice; I can take my muddled mind and alleviate it's 'spinnings' by linking breath and movement. In that process, I seek focus and build that as my discipline. In that focus, I may find clarity and from that, discernment.

We know the  practice is powerful, and useful. We each understand the teachings in different ways, but let us agree that the intention of asana practice is not to work so much on the physical form (although that is indeed a beneficial by-product),  but rather to work on our experience in the world with the world, in ourselves and with ourselves.

For many, the asana practice is the place that can provide some of that focus, and lead to clarity. So, as we each take our place on the 'sacred colored rectangles', we must observe ourselves, lovingly, but honestly. I like to ask the question...

"Where do you go?" When it gets tough, are you present, engaged and receptive? Do you link to the breath and use that as your guide to detect what is presenting? Do you honor and observe the sensations, the emotional responses, the triggers - your samskaras? Or, do you go elsewhere into the distractions away from the action? Anything but here, or why am I here, or where else could I be?

You arrange, negotiate, carve time, make opportunity and get all ready to show up; well, show up! When you come to class, how often are you in the ‘elsewhere’ and ‘elsewhen’? When the poses present, when your least favorite asana is crowned host of the class, where do you go? When the Teacher just doesn't get the message and craft for you exactly what you'd like and deem appropriate? Where do you go?

Do you go outward, into your day, into your calendar, your checklists, your clocks? Do you go to a place of bitterness – stupid pose, idiot teacher, asshole, or sadist? Do you go to a place of defiance and tenacity -  “I can beat this” or “I’m not going to be the first to go down” – are you prideful, not to be broken, can’t let teacher or student see you falter? Why, for what, in service of what? It is a practice, not a performance – do it for the work, not the praise.

When the practice overwhelms us, it’s easy to go outward and away – to reflection of how great it used to be; to projection of how it should be, could be, might be... who are we to say, living life in the mistily-remembered past or the sweetly-conceived future? Easy to hit reflection of what was, or projection of how it should be, rather than inspection of what is, and introspection on where the experience takes us.

If we return to the practice only to continue to build tension or bitterness (rather than watching the natural emanation of it), and thereby ignoring when that is coloring our perception, then we fail in our efforts for clarity. This practice is tough enough; it doesn’t need to be harder, or fought. We need to surrender to it, and recognize that sometimes the class that ‘pisses us off’ the most, is the class that really serves us if we can disassociate from the ‘pissiness’ and recognize what it tells us… what it honestly tells us, and how we chose to honor that honesty.

Big work, good work – give thanks and praise you have the skills and tools in front of you. For me, I’ll have to take Wm. J and JF back to the mat and look for some clarity – after all, it’s my yoga to love them, to love yoga, and to care for each, equally.
3 Comments

At the auspicious threshold of choice, what is yours?

28/2/2012

3 Comments

 
Two choices – we’re making one or the other in every moment…

Expand into love, into the challenge, into the opportunity, into the grace or contract into fear, into isolation, into limitedness.

It is the trajectory of our lives and our birthright to grow, to expand, to define and refine. Often the choices we make will create ripples we may never even be aware of. At the best of times, we are at our best; at the worst, often we struggle to rise above.

This practice teaches us, if we allow ourselves to receive it, surrender and supplication. While it ennobles our discipline, it also show us that the soft always overcomes the hard – the roundest drop of softest water will wear away the toughest block of granite, given its three warriors, time, patience and perseverance.

So, when we harden, when we stiffen and draw back, we feel the contraction and become defensive, closed, guarded… how often can we recognize this and move ourselves outward into connectivity, empathy, compassion, consideration or simply acceptance of what is? 
 
Perhaps this is the greatest yoga we can challenge ourselves with – not caturanga, not astavakrasana, not a 90-day meditation, but rather, to love – fully, in the face of hate, in the times where it seems impossible, ‘til it hurts, when it’s all you got and even when it feels gone – love is limitless, you can always create more from the prana in the next breath.

So, yogis, I bid ye – here is your mission. Be nice, nicer than is reasonable, with love and care and compassion. Not for your loved one, not your friends, but the person you work with you like least (why?) and the person who you meet next that pushes those buttons – love them for being your Teacher.

Give thanks and praise –expand into love.
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anubhutavisaya-asampramosah-smrtih (PYS I.11)

27/2/2012

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With all respect to Mr. Desikachar and his student, my teacher, Chase Bossart - contemplation on smrtayah (memory).

As I indicated in my prior post, I had the opportunity to study the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali all weekend - the study was in the classic form of learning the Invocation as well as the first dozen Sutras through call and response and repitition. Then, we delved into the concepts and the philosophy.

The persistence of memory... I, like many I suppose, share that concern of 'reacting from memory' rather than 'acting from insight or clarity' of the present situation. We all 'time-travel'. For instance, when we fall into the trap of arguing, we are rarely emotionally involved in the actual issue at hand, but rather time-traveling to all of our prior conflicts, arguments, disappointments and unresolved anger with the 'other' or 'others'. It's a rare person who can actually stop that momentum and pose the question "What are we really talking about here?".

And, when we are uncertain, or in conflict, often the voices from the 'committtee in our head' are those from the past; again, the memory, which taints our experience of the present by casting it's pall over the action and flavoring the reaction.

So, is our goal to ablute the memory, to completely forget who we were before we became yogis?? No, not at all, and Sutra I.11 tells us we cannot erase or eradicate the memory. But we can 'overcome it' and tame it, or yoke that wild beast.

First, the Sutra: it's primarily definitional, it tells us what  "smrtayah" is - one of the five 'vrrtis' or states of perception, as listed in I.6. It is our collection of life experiences, or memory. Of "smrtayah," or "smrtih" as it conjugates, Patanjali says: "anubhutavisaya-asampramosah-smrtih". Let's break it down:

anubhutavisaya:  anu = following, or to follow; bhuta = a thing or a being; visaya = an object. We construct this to mean 'perceptions'. Let's say "following the existence of an object or thing" or perhaps more clearly "the record of our experience" (something that is evident to us, something we perceive).

asampramosah:  a = not; sam = completely; pramosah = can be thieved, or stolen, or taken. Shall we say, "completely unthievable" or "untakeable". That means we cannot have our memories taken from us (short of head or associated trauma), but rather in the course of life our experiences are ours and we carry them as records.

smrtih:  the word to be defined, and by such preceding statements, "The Completely Untheivable Record of our Experiences is What we Call Smrtih or Memory." Thus, Patanjali sets the stage and clearly says, we cannot give them away, they can't even be stolen; therefore, we must own and recognize our memory.

Memory is one of the 'false perceptions' when it comes to using our yoga to seek clarity - our rememberances, both of sweetness and sorrow, come into our perceptions on the record of memory, and by my example above, we might find ourselves having that fight, just one more time - "I mean, it's only been like five years now, how would I ever get over it..." We might have one statement from our family time-travel us back to our youth, or a time of diminished self-esteem, of shame or a time of isolation. I think this is called 'going home for the holidays' for some!

So, we can't get rid of memory, and if they are entirely unthievable, then they are ours for a reason. We don't want to forget the past, but rather to know what our true perceptions are. So, memory is great when it comes to what kinds of mushrooms to eat or not eat... memory is a trickster when it comes to remaining present to ourselves and our actions, and not coming from a place of projection and reaction!

Tough work, eh yogis?? Well, the good news is that with clarity comes the ability to know when the "smrtih" is talking and what it is saying. And, for yogis, the place we find clarity is through focus. The place we find focus is in our practice - asana, pranayama, meditation, etc. So, if you want to address the past so you don't keep bringing it into the present and stalling the glory of the future, hit your practice.

It wasn't because P Jois had limited English, though he did; it's not because he taught Asthanga Vinyasa, because he did - but the reason he would answer universally with 'Practice!' was that this is where focus presents, and focus creates clarity and clarity keeps us present, even against the attractive trap of the mind, memory, and  time-travel.

Thus, if you've got something troubling you - practice. If you are repeating patterns and poor or unfulfilling relationships - practice. When you need to know what to do - practice.

"Practice and all is coming." What is all? All is clarity. The rest is you using that to make better and better choices and to stay present to yourself and with everyone else.

We have an elegant, complete, philosophical science that enables us not to become saints and liberate as the goal, but rather to live a more present, clear and purpose-filled life as the human creatures we are. Here, at this time, in this world, with these obstacles and  tools. Will we achieve it? Perhaps, if we are willing to fail and then start over and learn and get clear - that's why they call it "Practice".

Give thanks and praise - everyone has memories, few are given tools to tame them!
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Study and reflection is always a great idea - go back to the foundation

26/2/2012

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I'm really lucky because I work for an organization that is about yoga, about teaching yoga, about teaching the teaching of yoga and about more than asana practice; much more. We are, at essence, a school. In the truest terms. In fact, Seane Corn always suggest that artists work in studios and teachers work in schools, so we might think about our language around yoga centers... a good point to my thoughts.

Anyway, I digress. i simply wanted to start the day on a nice tone and be appreciative, to give thanks and praise, to the teachings, and TKV Desikachar, and Krishnamacharya, the lineage of yoga I know and descend from. I give special thanks to Chase Bossart today and this weekend for being a student of Mr. Desikachar and for his joyful intention to share those teachings as directly and with as much integrity as possible, in respect to his teacher.

We talk a lot about lineage in our traditions. I will say it does feel important to me to know 'from where' the perspective that I've been exposed to traces back to. Who are the teachers of my teachers? And, I'm a Krishnamacharya yogi, by nature. My first intro to yoga was in Hatha, my teacher training in Ashtanga Vinyasa, my second 200-hour in Hatha yoga, with a strong emphasis on Desikachar and the priniciples he incorporates. I've been fortunate to study - and  hang out with - Leslie  Kaminoff and love how he teaches from his Teacher. I've studied Ashtanga with both Davids, Williams and Swenson, so again, I've been fortunate. For those who know my love for vinyasa, my teachers have studied with Jois, Iyengar, we're all branches on the tree of Krishnamacharya yoga.

It feels authentic to me, it feels like more direct transmission, or perhaps in a poor metaphor, not like that telephone-line party game, where the message gets distorted through how many additional transmissions and by natural errors in transmission - teacher's or student's.

So, let me give thanks and praise  for this weekend where I'm having the chance to learn to chant the sutras in the traditional style, and receiving great teachings, concept by concept, on the  foundation text of our science. It's stunning, how simply the most complex concepts are crystallized and it is pleasing to give my consideration to it.

Study, and the message is discernment, clarity, and then right perception. Give thanks and praise.
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Happy to see a voice from the Anusara community speaking truth and supporting action past compassion

25/2/2012

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I have to admit, she had me at this quote - "I fault him for fucking it up so royally after he fucked it up." and no one can begrudge her the indignation I believe she so rightly feels...

Following is a short excerpt from an article on Elephant Journal, between Waylon and Bernadette Birney. I'm going to let you discover for yourself, link to both sites at the bottom.

Bernadette Birney: As a community, after jfexposed, we needed to clean the wound, dress the wound, heal the wound. Instead, too many people wanted to sit around singing kumbaya, sending love and light.

Waylon Lewis: …and, too many wanted to attack the wound and throw salt on it.Neither approach—defensiveness/ignorance or blame/anger helps heal a wound. At all.

Bernadette: They did not get that we needed to hold JF accountable for his actions, for his own good, and for ours.
Compassion is not always warm, fuzzy and cuddly.

Waylon: Yes! Tough mother love is anything but warm, fuzzy, cuddly, just ask my ma!

Elephant Journal

Bernadette's Site
 
Give thanks and praise!
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Infatuated with the concept of 'full disclosure' and exposure - read on!

24/2/2012

5 Comments

 
Had some really good conversations after yesterday’s class – thanks and praise to the students who teach me daily! I’ll give y’all a ‘word-count break’ and keep it simple today:

I am imperfect – therefore I am human
I am a human – therefore I fail
I am a yogi – therefore I am engaged in my own existence
I am a seeker – therefore I lead
I am a Teacher – therefore I must be a student
I am privileged to create sacred space for transformation and change –therefore I am bound to
hold that covenant as divine

I am not divine – yoga is
I am not the answer – yoga is
I am not looking for disciples – I’m looking for discipline
I am more comfortable on a zafu or the floor than a pedestal – thanks, Yoga Betty!
I teach Asana Practice – if I am very lucky and the student presents, Yoga may happen
I am in love with what I do and I will speak out against those who through their own ignorance diminish or threaten the sanctity of the experience

I am just like you, perhaps even worse ;)
I cuss like a sailor, I laugh at tasteless things, I use Real Housewives like a drug sometimes, I drive way too fast and aggressively and you may not ‘approve’ of my shopping cart at WFM – those are your issues
I am not in that space to be liked – I am in that space to confront, to guide, support and ultimately, to let you be you with you
I am not in that space to be adored – I appreciate your love and support, but need to check that when it becomes ‘necessary’
I am not in that space to say ‘my students’, ‘my yoga’ – I have a darshana (a perspective); I’m not sure it is Truth, but it is truth to me and that is what I offer, freely
I am not there to convince anyone of anything – I offer the Teachings and let them represent themselves
I am not there to be impressive, but rather to impress information
I am not in that space to get laid – I’m a man who likes bringing masculine asexual energy into that space

I am not here to make you love the Teacher, for I will fail or die or move – so cling not to me!
I am here to make you love the Teachings, for they do not die or fail or move – cling to them

I can – so I must; ‘to those whom much is given, much is required in return’ or as my teacher told me, ‘no original sin, but clearly original debt – so don’t repent, repay!’
I love people and want them to be the best expression of themselves – that is why I serve
I am blessed, humbled, ennobled and responsible for what occurs in that space of personal inspection and introspection
I am continually awed by the power of the Self emerging from the self that I can witness

I am you, stop making me other – you are me, let us be together

You and Me and She and He, branches of the Brother tree; She and He and We and Me, branches of the Sister tree…

Give thanks and praise! But not to me, I don’t want or need them!
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Compassion or discernment and accountability - what are we called to do first?

22/2/2012

8 Comments

 
Well, I’ve been trying not to ‘go there’, but for the amount of time it’s occupied my mind, my business and for the amount of conversation and continuing revelation in theYoga community, I feel called to offer discernment.

This post is not to negate any prior statement I made about my initial impressions of the compassion shown by the Anusara community towards their errant and failed teacher, John Friend. I made that post at a time where there was limited information and the opportunity for much reactive behavior. We know what we know, but we are called upon to do Svadhyaya and to discern.

While the fine details are still emerging, it’s pretty clear what happened at a minimum… John Friend abused and misused the seat of authority that the Teacher takes when he or she presents the teachings. Abused and misused is delicate – he took great advantage of his power, of the willingness of those who lacked the confidence to know better, as well as those who he involved and made complicit. Really, continue to show compassion, but also show some discernment.

In my studies, the Buddha and the Dalai Lama speak a lot about compassion. They are both great role models and offer much guidance, but they are not the voice of the Classic Teaching of Yoga – so, in my studies, first and foremost, there is a personal code of ethics and restraints (yamas and niyamas) but there is no intentional mention of compassion – certainly pretty clear:, don’t lie, don’t steal, don’t seek to possess what isn’t yours, don’t do violent acts (even if they are emotional or spiritual) and while I don’t expect Brahmacharya to always mean celibacy, how about ‘ethical sexual conduct’. 
 
So, Anusara yogis, what happened to those – what we teach every day? JF certainly didn’t practice what he preached, but I’m not sure I saw the same compassion and understanding extended by these impassioned yogis to members of the Catholic Church who abused those same ethics, do you feel that compassion for the former partners in your life who cheated on you??… why just for John? That's cultish, sycophantic and delusional. Sure, have compassion, but also enough discernment to hold him accountable. Or, at least yourselves… that’s where we’re going.

I am called to go there because of
Elena Brower’s post – not from Elephant, not from Yogadork, but from THE HUFFINGTON POST. That’s a national voice, and one that isn’t necessarily sensitive, aware of, or involved in the yoga community. What’s more concerning is that everyone is praising her, when she in her own words said she knew, she ignored, she enabled and was complicit. 
 
In her post, Elena suggests two camps of teachers, those who knew and those who didn’t. Following is an excerpt in her own words:
Even for us, the ones who knew some (but none of us really knew all of it), it felt terrible to see, from both sides: How could he? But then we realized, (sic) how could we? We were oftentimes complicit -- some of us enabled the liar to lie by lying for him ourselves (itals are my emphasis). There were these strangely uncomfortable, spooky moments in the past few years, to be sure; I was asked to help cover up one big personal lie for John, which ultimately needed to be cleaned up on my end.

Read it again, slowly… fascinating she actually used the word “complicit” - that was the same word I arrived upon a couple days ago after reading a post by another well-known Anusara teacher - based on my moving from compassion to discernment. Let’s examine exactly what that word means:
An individual is complicit in a crime or criminal act if he/she is aware of its occurrence and has the ability to report the crime, but fails to do so. As such, the individual effectively allows criminals to carry out a crime despite possibly being able to stop them, either directly or by contacting the authorities, thus making the individual a de-facto accessory to the crime rather than an innocent bystander.

Well, you assert, there’s really no crime here… or is there, possibly? So, let’s cut the heart-melting life-affirming philosophy for a second and have a reckoning. Anusara is a business, not a lineage. Hatha is a lineage, Anusara is a brand. It is ‘owned’, copyrighted, trademarked and controlled. It had a sole owner and proprietor – that’s a business!

Folks who are employed in that business, or are reliant on the support of that organization, have legal rights. To use the seat of authority (not teacher, but CEO, owner, boss, manager) to create an environment of coercion or even the implication that sexual relations are appropriate or necessary is potentially legally sexual harassment, therefore quite possible a crime, therefore worth holding the abuser of the authority (whether they resign it post facto or not) accountable for the crime.

Yup, I think it is that serious. It was stupid, immature, irresponsible, disrespectful, unethical and unconscionable – but it may very well also be criminal. Therefore, I find Elena and her self-admitted complicity as a call to action. She needs to be held accountable for the same lack of integrity and ethics that she admits she was complicit within – when she chose to place her comfort, her career, her rationalizations and her regard for her teacher as higher priorities than integrity, right conduct and a respect for the TEACHING and the students - not the Teacher, but again, the Teachings - she sacrificed her credibility, and in my opinion, her right to take that seat.

I’m in no position to suggest anything to Elena, but I would offer that she should also consider stepping down from teaching and do some serious reflection or at the very least, stop creating a wonderful, rationalized, compassionate world with no accountability. I go there because she did; she brought the discussion out of the Yoga community and into the Huff Post. I’m holding her accountable for what she wrote and to the audience she sought.

As for John Friend, well, I can have compassion for the ‘sinner’ but that doesn’t mean you don’t ‘process the sin’… I’m not asking for the death penalty, banishment or the pillory. I’m saying a businessman abused his authority to build his own lack of self-confidence (or whatever) by using the situation to get laid. Let’s talk turkey – he wanted to have a lot of sex with different partners whether he was in a declared relationship, they were, or all parties were. He abused the authority (both Teacher and Businessman) – in the world that trademarks and a brands, that is a crime. Oh, or at the least, he fucked up people’s relationships in order to satisfy his urges or his ego – I still can’t frame that as anything but a gross level of narcissism and a lack of a community to be honest with him and create accountability – again, by the broadcasted admission in writing of one of his own.
 
So, while I’m not an Anusara teacher, I have a personal stake in this one (and full disclosure, I’m trained in Kundalini Yoga but don’t teach it because it requires a code of ethics that allows me no interpretation or latitude in how I present it, so I don’t teach it because it would be unethical; I’m also trained in Ashtanga Vinyasa, but again, there is no latitude to alter the teaching and in respect to the lineage, I choose not to teach it. That’s my issue with singularly-lead lineages, almost that cultish factor of ‘guru infallibility.’ I simply don’t accept this. One of the greatest privileges of teaching Vinyasa and being a ‘universalist’ or ‘yoga-mutt’ allows me to combine the teachings that have become disparate – if we  are to be honest, Anusara is Hatha Yoga, Ashtanga is Hatha Yoga, even Tantra will tell you that Kundalini is Hatha Yoga – to reunite and synergize in new or unique ways).

My issues to wit:

Tantra – JF, you have done incredible and indelible damage –you created the most broadcast hybrid of Tantra and to your credit, built it to a national presence through words like ‘life-affirmning’ and ‘heart-melting’and the ‘experience’ that you curated through your standards. Luckily, I’ve had the personal privilege of studying with Pandit Rajmani and Rod Stryker in the last six months. Two very credible, very established Teachers who are each uniquely devoted to sharing Tantra as a living philosophy. Each of these great teachers, in their own way and style, prior to this debacle, still felt the need during their intros to make it clear that, and I paraphrase, ‘Tantra is not about Sting and Trudy having sex for 8 hours.’ Can you imagine what it’s like for them, and for serious students of Tantra to now have JF validate the bullshit perception that Tantra is about sex… that’s what it turned out to be for JF, and I again, hold him accountable for his errors and the negative effects they have on serious scholars and the study of Tantra. 
 
Male Teachers – JF, you did every one of us a great disservice… it takes a long time to set a tone in the room that is so totally asexual that you can create and hold appropriate relationships with students. Combine that with creating space where often confusing and conflicting emotions arise, and the fact that the experience of asana practice is primarily physical, with emotional undertones, and you set up a situation where male teachers must be very careful about boundaries, student attention and students’ desire for connection. It’s a perfect storm and frankly, a low integrity guy in there for the good times could probably play all he wanted, and we all have stories about how some have. Now, JF has escalated that to the point where every controlling and possessive husband has good reason to object to his wife starting practice. Where every salacious thought is entertained, where women who do not have appropriate self-esteem or boundaries will come on to their teacher, and where frankly, it makes it a bitch to actually just try to teach asana practice.

I can sympathize with those women who when are met by a stranger who then asks her how she makes a living to which she honestly responds “I’m a massage therapist” while the stranger gives her that, “oh, I get it” look and smirks. That's who has my compassion, now. There is already such a gross hyper sensationalism over working with the body for the general public that makes it very difficult for those of us who see this as the noble work to not be cast as perverts. For that, I hold you accountable and I am personally disappointed by your totally selfish rationalizations.

I’m lucky, and I give thanks and praise – daily. I had great teachers… they asked me questions in my first year of teaching I ask myself every week: am I here to attach the students to the teachings or the teacher? Am I in the room to be liked or to be a teacher and an accountability holder? Am I teaching for the right reasons, or for my ego. Tough questions, but asking is easy, the contemplation is fruitful and consideration of and observance in applying those tenets is the sacred bond the teacher takes.

I also have a wife I love and have loved for 20 years, and I have appropriate self-esteem and I’m not afraid of confronting my own shadows. The overwhelming preponderance of brightness, light, love and the like is attractive, but life and living folks also have shades, shadows, depths and darkness. Deal with it, honestly, with yourself and via other perspectives if you desire to create sacred space for others… heard of projection, co-dependence, transference? Otherwise, get out of the room, get into counseling and heal yourself before you try to guide other souls to clarity – your projection feeds your ego, not the practice.

From their own branding, it’s clear that there was a lot of brightness, sunshine and heart-melting, but not a lot of looking at the shades, the shadows, being honest and holding the teachings more sacred than the teacher.

So, that’s why I write today – trouble has been put in my world by JF, and I cannot tolerate the emphasis of compassion over complicity by his coterie that hid his shame and unethical behavior. Sustain the compassion, but hold the account and the action as reprehensible as it is.

I’m not trying to pick a fight; I don’t know Elena but from what she’s shared –that’s troubling enough. If you are reading this and know her and think she’d like to dialog about her complicity, I’m open to that. We need more frank talk and more accountability – I’m not going to shy from that. Tha'ts a true invitation, not posturing, not looking for a polemic... just need to hear her explain how she continues to hold the seat of teacher at this point, as a peer to a peer.

And, by all means, love the method if you must, but it’s hatha yoga plus, so you can teach everything you know and not actually have to pay for the brand, support the unethical business, or further aggrandize JF… but, funny how all the departing from the Brand by the ‘established’ teachers didn’t happen until careers were established and disclosure was imminent. Complicity is exactly what that is - thoughts?

Give thanks and praise.
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You say "Mardi Gras", I say "Imbolc 18" - and both are just artifice for consideration and action, not reaction...

21/2/2012

2 Comments

 
One of the blessings of making your own calendar and following your own observances is that every once in a while, you get completely lost in the 'normal' folks cycle... So, I guess it's the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, which itself is a little bit of  peculiar one.

The Lenten season - in Latin Quadragesima, or Fortieth but later bastardized into Lent from the English, via old German, Lenz for "long" since this  is the periods where days become noticeably longer - is the pentiential preparation of the believer. The penance (necessary when you believe you are born in "original sin" and must atone for being wrong versus believing you are born with an "original debt" which is to be paid back through ethical actions) takes many forms: prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial (and for some, mortification).

I was raised in the Roman Catholic tradition and let me tell you, those folks have a penchant for costumes, drama, dressing up and acting out... It makes for an interesting experience, but not one that I continue to resonate with.

However, observance, fasting, reflection, the desire to be better, and to atone for one's misdeeds is ultimately not the exclusive property of one religion, so we see these observances and restrictions imposed willingly by spiritual seekers in every tradition.

So, Mardi Gras, Shrove Tuesday, Lententime, Careme, Paresimi, CarnivaKorizma, Carghas or Crawys - it's a time to observe and reflect. It's a time to celebrate the lengthening of the days...

So, let me  ask - how many of you observe some form of self-denial? Are you willing to comment and share? If you do, what do you find to be experience and how do you process it? Are you doing it as a habitual action, or can you ritualize it?? And, does spending 40 days in reflection help you understand the prophets and their periods of fasting and separation?

Beyond concepts of right or wrong, moral or spiritual, tradition or observance - what is the experience?? And, how will that experience inform and serve you??

If you haven't observed the Lenten period, perhaps I can invite you to make this a simple 40 Day Challenge, a personal one. Perhaps, rather than denial and exclusion, you can choose a virtuous aspect or act to incorporate into your days for the next 40 - simply to reflect on the experience of making a positive choice and committing to it?

Are you in? What are you doing? Why? Oh, and you can dance like it's Carnivale for the entire 40, roll on homies!!

Give thanks and praise!
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how we mark the passing of time - one more exploration into processes of transmuting habitual to ritual...

18/2/2012

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Today, the 18th day of a month added to an original calendar of 10 months, named for the season of purification, from the Latin term februum, via the purification ritual Februa that was held on the full moon in the old lunar Roman calendar... and, this is everyone's favorite month because it doesn't have to follow the rules of even trying to have 30 days, and only once in a while does it even come close.

Over the course of history, you find folks trying to add months, then to make things align with their ideas of how it should go, and you get what we currently have with very little rhyme or reason or cycle or season, but it's so ingrained we just go on accepting it and having our 'holidays' - Holy Days - move about, year to year.

When I first got into yoga, I very much appreciated the folks I discovered who were modeling the discipline of doing Surya Namaskars ritually on Solar Highdays - we developed, in that community, a series of 'mini-malas' where we would come together and do 27 Surya As on each of the Solstices and Equinoxes. In this current yoga community I'm blessed to live within, we do the 'maha-mala' and celebrate all 108 (we can discuss 108 another time) on New Years, which is the celebration of the 'accepted' agreed upon New Year, but has nothing to do with the end or beginning of any natural cycle.... hmmm.

So, forgive the hubris, but I'm developing my own calendar, based on the Wheel of he Year, the great 8 Solar High Holy Days, and the regular intervals between. My calendar has 8 even intervals (I'm still working on naming them, I love arcana so looking for some goodies) of 45 days each. But, you say, that only equals 360 days - true! In order to follow the solar cycle, and to align on the solar days, there are 6 of what we will call "intercalens"; days 'out of time'. So, these are the festival and feasting days... they align to introduce the summer interval, in the midst of two summer intervals, and at the end of the intervals. And, they make space, but don't count in time, so you get to do whatever you want during that period, so as long as first is always 'do no harm' then 'do what thou wilt' can be the whole of the law.

If you care, are interested, intrigued or whatever, I'll begin making a new page that hold the calendar and aligns it with the common calendar. I just thought I'd throw the concept out there, since today is an observance day!

Today is - Imbolcides - the 15th day (ides)  of the 2nd interval (Imbolc); it is the 60th day of the Solar Year (begun 12/21/11). Imbolcides falls 15 days after Midwinters' Day and it is 45 days after the Solar Perhelion, which marks the point in the Solar year that we are the closest to Sol, Surya. So, enjoy - this is the season of purification, that is topical as we've already been exploring.

Flame me if you need to, I know it takes a lot of hubris to make your own time counting system, but what else are you going to do as a householder living in the modern world desperately trying to connect with the oldest spiritual expression that has been known to humanity -


Heliotheodactylolatry!

Give thanks and praise - check back soon!
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Tapahsvadhyayesvarapranidhanani kriyayogah

16/2/2012

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tápasya:
in the full Sanskrit -
 most use the shorthand tapas in classes – translates often into "heat", but I’ve also understood  it as and appreciate it as both “austerity” and “zeal” – I really like zeal as a translation.

tāpasá:
"a practitioner of austerities, an ascetic"

tapasvín:
"wretched, poor, miserable", but also "an ascetic, someone practicing austerities". This translation stems from Veda and Hindu traditions where it was used to illustrate ‘spiritual suffering, mortification
or austerity’, but it can also be used to indicate ‘spiritual ecstasy’ (love the reality that yoga is the continual paradox; union of oppositional concepts – mortification and spiritual ecstasy in one word!).

tapas:
how about "essential energy” but not merely energy, but the control and direction of that energy towards not only bodily purification but also supporting personal, mental, emotional and spiritual change, refinement and stability.

Interesting topic, lots of help from outside sources to offer perspective, classic translations and to check my recollection of basic chemistry; thanks and praise to the internet for info and please go easy on me – this is about metaphors and concepts, I’m not Mr. Science Guy!

Many of us know tapas as one of the observances – or niyamas – from the Yoga Sutras (I like to say observances, but maybe discipline or choices works for you). Tapas doesn’t just mean a discipline of fiery heat, but rather it suggest that we create the austerity in our quest to not only restrain our physical urges, but also to move ‘actively’ towards a more spiritual or purpose-driven existence.

I like to think of it as burning away the impurities and impediments, as well as catalyzing those beneficial properties of self-improvement. To create a fire to burn away what doesn’t serve, to make nebulous our multiple sources of personal power and then to take that expansion and distill and condense life-force essence… so, we can burn what doesn’t serve and preserve what does.

Maybe it’s getting clean, maybe clear; maybe it’s purification, or a sense of purpose or striving to improve – it may express itself as the longing for union, or for dissolution, for liberation or in preparation for devotion and meditation. Whether it presents and serves for clarification, purification, transmogrification; tapas moves the form from the gross to the subtle, from the lowest to the highest – it serves as a catalyst for personal alchemy.

Alchemy:
may derive from the Old French alquimie, from the Medieval Latin alchimia, which is in turn from the Arabic al-kimia (الكيمياء). This term itself is derived from the Ancient Greek chemeia (χημεία) or chemia (χημία) with the addition of the Arabic definite article al- (الـ).

The ancient Greek word may have been based on the Ancient Egyptian word kēme (hieroglyphic Khmi - black earth, as opposed to desert sand), a version of the Egyptian name for Egypt. Or, the word could also have originally derived from the Greek chumeia (χυμεία) meaning "mixture" and referring to pharmaceutical chemistry.

However we derive the definition, alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claimed, among other mystical realms, to possess powers including the capability of creating an elixir of life conferring youth and immortality. While early Alchemists developed theory, terminology, experimental process and basic laboratory techniques that are still recognizable today, alchemy differs from modern science in the inclusion of principles and practices that include mythology, religion, and spirituality.

Catalyst & Catalysis:
In a general sense, anything that increases the rate of a process is a "catalyst", a term derived from Greek καταλύειν
 meaning "to annul," or "to untie," or "to pick up” (interesting that there is the element of annulment and also ‘picking up’ – perhaps ‘uplifting’ or ‘upward flying’ as Uddiyana Bandha is often translated).

Catalysis is the change in the rate
of a reaction (chemical) due to the participation of a substance called a catalyst – let’s say tapas in this example. Unlike other reagents (causative elements)
that participate in the chemical reaction, a catalyst is not consumed by the reaction itself. A catalyst may participate in multiple chemical transformations, many of these are expressed bio-chemically within  our bodies.

Catalytic reactions are preferred in environmentally-friendly (green) chemistry
(or a purpose-driven life of austerity) due to the reduced amount of waste generated, as opposed to other
types of reactions in which all reactants are consumed and more side products are formed. Side products can be a nice term for toxins, by-products or pollutants, although sometimes it can be beneficial, e.g. oxygen being released during a reaction. What’s important to know is that a great catalyst is not consumed in the fire it helps create and creates less waste than other lesser reactants.

In nature, enzymes
are our catalysts in metabolism and catabolisim.
 Most biocatalysts are protein-based - i.e. enzymes - so, intrinsically, on the physical level we can receive metabolic stimulation or stabilization through the use of catalytic biological processes. Perhaps the same can be said of our energetic and emotional beings and if so, then we can apply this process to our entire being.

So, your natural innate ability to light your own fire through tapas and to apply that purifying, clarifying, and catalyzing action into burning away impurities and further distilling the essences that nourish, improve and serve… this is one of the blessings of the asana practice, it can be a great vehicle for us to begin to cultivate awareness of the inherent alchemical, transmogrifying effects of simple, devotional austerity.

So, friends, give thanks and praise and transmute the gross to the subtle – burn bright, but sustainably bright, like the sun that ne’er wavers or diminishes.
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