RockStarYoga
  • perspective: why
  • musings
  • teaching: where, when + which
  • private yoga
  • rasayana: bodywork
  • mentoring + mental arts
  • ceremony + ritual
  • bio: who + what
  • education: what + how
  • connect: talk to me
  • snapshots
    • Yoga Advance - Isla Mujeres 2014
    • Rockstarring
    • Planet K
    • Play-asana
    • Students, Teachers, Friends, Inspirations
    • Easter Island, Patagonia, Chile
    • Turkey, Anatolia, Cappadocia
    • Isla Mujeres
    • Tulum, Yucatan, Coba
  • videos
  • offerings

Mercury, Hermes, Alchemy, and the Mystic Tradition

26/6/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
Yeah, it's that time again - oooooh, dreaded Mercury goes into retrograde. You'd think we'd be much better adapting to it, since it just keeps happening, three times a year... that's a fairly regular occurrence!

Not that you like it, not that it's easy; but, for your sake and everyone's sake, adapt, evolve, learn and move on! Move on, but how would I know - bookmark this!

What's it all about, you might ask? Well, Mercury in retrograde gets the blame for communication woes... in our modern life, that translates superficially to our ethereal communication. Like, your email or your phone or your laptop keeps crashing. It's suggested not to make large negotiations, sign contracts or leases.


We look at the impediments of communication primarily through devices and physical articles, but rarely sit back and think about "what am I 'saying' with my words, actions and deeds? What is the story my life is telling and is it worth the tale?"

Mercury or Hermes: he was, amongst other things, the winged messenger. The sassy wing-sandled deity that carried the messages of the Olympians to and fro. According to that wiki link, and popular convention, he is the patron god of financial gain, commerce, eloquence (and thus poetry), messages/communication (including divination), travelers, boundaries, luck, trickery and thieves; he is also the guide of souls to the underworld.

Now, mythology uses memes and mores that we can identify with to inform our lives... perhaps, remove the emotion, story-telling and drama and recognize that it is simply information on direction and energetics. So are the lunar charts and tide tables; they tell of movement and cycle and action. The rest, that is the shit we add on - for excitement or importance, as a rationale or reason, in superstition or in personification of 'moving energy'.

When it comes to moving energy, I like to think of the asana practice in the yoga darshan as personal alchemy. That's not a novel thought. The ancient texts indicate that this was indeed a manifestation and intention. As a fan of this 'interpersonal alchemy,' I've done a little bit of research and collected some information which informs my perspective for the Teacher Training that I lead.

That perspective is known as RaSaYana!


Rasāyana - रसायन is a Sanskrit word, with this literal meaning: Path (āyana) of Essence (rasa).

It is a term that in early Ayurvedic medicine means “the science of lengthening lifespan”, and in later (post 8th-century) works sometimes refers to Indian Alchemy. The name of the science of Indian Alchemy, or proto-chemistry - or more specifically “the science of mercury" - is Rasaśāstra –  रसशास्त्र.

The oldest Indian writings, the Vedas, contain the same hints of Alchemy that are found in evidence from ancient China: vague references to a connection between Gold and long life.


Mercury, which was so vital to alchemy everywhere, is first mentioned in the 4th- to 3rd-century-BC Artha-śāstra, about the same time it is encountered in China and in the West - Greece. Evidence of the idea of transmuting base metals to Gold appears in 2nd- to 5th-century-AD Buddhist texts, again at about the same time as in the West.

An 11th century Persian chemist and physician, named Abū Rayhān Bīrūnī reported:

"They have a science similar to alchemy which is quite peculiar to them. They call it Rasâyana, a word composed with rasa, i.e., Gold.

It means an art which is restricted to certain operations, drugs, and compound medicines, most of which are taken from plants. Its principles restore the health of those who were ill beyond hope, and give back youth to fading old age…”

Raseśvara, a school of Indian philosophy was focused on finding Moksha (perfection, immortality, and liberation) through the use of Mercury.


It focused its efforts on transmutation of the human body: from mortal to immortal. Many are the traditional stories of Alchemists still alive since time immemorial due to the effects of their experiments.

Picture
If you are familiar with Alchemy, then you might be more familiar with the Western variants, mostly the Hermetic Tradition. Hermetic, from Hermes, aka Mercury.

Here's some info, collected from a few sources; no need for me to rewrite what's been stated this well.

Hermetic Philosophy

In Hermeticism, the Supreme Deity is referred to variously as God, the All, or the One. The Absolute is the central focus of Hermeticism.

Hermeticism transcends both monotheism and polytheism, as well as deism and pantheism; therefore it is difficult to assign it a position among traditional theistic religions, or along the monotheistic–polytheistic spectrum. Its philosophy teaches that there is a transcendent God, or Absolute, in which we and the entire universe participate. It also subscribes to the idea that other beings, such as gods, angels and elementals, exist within the universe.

This actually jives fairly well with Hinduism, which operates on a framework of Brahman, or 'godhead', and then a variety of deities, demigods and avatars, as well as saints and such.

Hermeticism's Prisca Theologia

Hermeticists believe in a prisca theologia, the doctrine that a single, true theology exists, that it exists in all religions, and that it was given by godhead to man in antiquity. In order to demonstrate the truth of the prisca theologia doctrine, Christians appropriated the Hermetic teachings for their own purposes. "Thy will be done, on Earth, as it is in Heaven". Has a familiar ring to it.

"As above, so below"

These words circulate throughout occult and magical circles. They are recorded in Hermetic texts, although they can be shown to have originated in the Vedas. The actual text of that maxim, as translated by Dennis W. Hauck from The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus, is:


"That which is Below corresponds to that which is Above, and that which is Above corresponds to that which is Below, to accomplish the miracle of the One Thing."
Picture
Thus, whatever happens on any level of reality - physical, emotional, or mental - also happens on every other level. There we go: body, mind, spirit. The truest trinity.

This principle, however, is more often used in the sense of the microcosm and the macrocosm. The microcosm is oneself, and the macrocosm is the universe. The macrocosm is as the microcosm and vice versa; within each lies the other, and through understanding one (usually the microcosm) a man may understand the other. I'll call that discernment.

The three parts of the wisdom of the universe, according to Hermetic Philosophy:


Alchemy (the operation of the sun - the 'Ha' in hatha):
Alchemy is not merely the changing of Lead into Gold. It is an investigation into the spiritual constitution - or life - of matter and material existence through an application of the mysteries of birth, death, and resurrection.


The various stages of chemical distillation and fermentation, among other processes, are aspects of these mysteries that, when applied, quicken nature's processes in order to bring a natural body to perfection. This perfection is the accomplishment of the magnum opus - Latin for 'Great Work'. Wouldn't that be living the 'examined life' as Socrates reminds us?

Astrology (the operation of the moon - the 'Tha' in hatha):
Hermes claims that Zoroaster discovered this part of the wisdom of the whole universe, astrology, and taught it to man. In Hermetic thought, it is likely that the movements of the planets have meaning beyond the laws of physics and actually hold metaphorical value as symbols in the mind of The All, or godhead.


Astrology has influences upon the Earth, but does not dictate our actions, and wisdom is gained when we know what these influences are and how to deal with them. Again, in line with information on energetics, not blessings or curses!

Theurgy (the operation of the stars - Jyotisha in Sanskrit):
There are two different types of magic, according to Giovanni Pico della Mirandola's Apology, completely opposite of each other. The first is γοητεια, Goëtia, black magic reliant upon an alliance with evil spirits (i.e. demons). The second is Theurgy, divine magic reliant upon an alliance with divine spirits (i.e. angels, archangels, gods). I like the quote from Arthur C Clarke, here - "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

Theurgy translates to "The Science or Art of Divine Works" and is the practical aspect of the Hermetic art of Alchemy. Furthermore, Alchemy is seen as the "key" to Theurgy; the ultimate goal of which is to become united with higher counterparts, leading to the attainment of Divine Consciousness. Hmmm, again, i think we're talking yoga here.

Need one more example of the congruences in these traditions?! Read on.

Posthumous lives

Reincarnation is mentioned in Hermetic texts. Hermes Trismegistus (thrice-exalted) asked:


"O son, how many bodies have we to pass through, how many bands of demons, through how many series of repetitions and cycles of the stars, before we hasten to the One alone?"
Picture
There you go - I come from a place of Hermeticism and of using the Alchemical nature of the asana practice to achieve a transmutation; from base to exalted, from Lead to Gold, from earth-bound to star-blind!

Take this retrograde into your control, examine what occurs and be open to looking for undercurrents, trends, repetitions, lessons. Say what you need to say - don't curse your technology and assume the worst. Play with the energy, notice the currents, and, as practice what I've been convinced is the greatest Theurgy possible, and another acceptable definition of 'magic'... "the willful and skillful movement of energy from lower to higher forms".

That's where I'm coming from - if you're in the ATX, I'm doing a special class tonight where I'll be rapping and wrapping this in... and, I can neither confirm nor deny that there may be some Mercury of the Variety Known as Freddy in there!

Thanks and praise!

0 Comments

Half-Awake or Half-Baked? 

21/6/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
Hey, welcome to Summer and the peak of the Solar cycle!

If we were to imagine our annual orbit around the sun as like the Earth's breath, then today would be the fullness of the inhalation - when we are the greatest potential and extension, with our energy rising!

Summer is a lot of folks favorite season; I'm more of the 'down seasons' --- Autumn, Winter --- kinda guy, but I have a lot of sunshine-daydreaming summer-loving have-me-a-blast kind of friends, so I get it. And, I like cycles and repetition, so there is a comfort in the heat coming and then abating.


For most folks, Summer is about doing things: being active, sharing with friends, getting outside and being active, celebrating and playing - being expansive! We've made it through the dark nights of Winter, we've come through the deluges and changes of Spring, we've seen what's been planted begin to take hold, to grow, to become fecund and formed. It's a reassurance of life, of goodness, of the cycle coming to fullness. And, a time to celebrate.

You know me by now, love language and think that etymology teaches us more about the present than the actual words we use... Have you ever wondered where the word "Summer" came from? Turns out, through a lot of development, it comes down to us from the old Sanskrit base language - Proto-Indo-European. PIE is the acknowledged base for the overwhelming majority of language groups on the planet, and one of the reasons we see easy cognates in both Germanic and Romance languages.

So, Summer simply means 'halfway' - think of the great cognate that you already know and use - 'semi'. Half of something; in this case, half of the year. Reckoning a beginning at the WInter Solstice, when it seems that even the sun itself is born, and coming through the cycle until this point... halfway. Midsummers' Night; go ahead, have a dream and celebrate your "Puckyness".

Reckon it then, will you? We're halfway away from something and halfway to something - quite in the middle. In the height of the velocity or the bell curve, out of the rise on the plateau and perhaps headed for a long down slope.  At the fullness of the Inhale, and on the way to the depth of the exhale - Winter Solstice.

Sure, the days get shorter, then the nights become predominant as it cools. The energy recedes in the down seasons, until in the depth of Winter, we find ourselves at the hearth, contained, introspective, reflective and thankful for all those 'acorns' we stocked away for later.

Celebrate the season, and celebrate being halfway to something or halfway away from something else. Recognize the cycles, the seasons, the changes as we watch energy ebb and flow, rise and fall. Enjoy - feel what you are doing and then do what you are feeling!!

Give thanks and praise!

0 Comments

How This Stubborn Man Became a Yogi - My Story from My Perspective, Part 2

18/6/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
Admittedly, I'm one of those teachers who surprises students when I tell them I haven't been practicing my whole life - that I only started at the age of 40, and that it wasn't just seamless. As you've already read, it was a struggle.

And, as I said before, blessed by circumstance - an excellent metabolism, a great diet and careful choices around my health, and even though I worked in high-stress environments, I had some coping skills.  So, I presented really well, for years and years.


As we only really come to understand in retrospect, I'm still deeply identifying with "wimp, fag, pussy, loser"... all that stuff. Classic bullying situations flavored my adolescence; I look back and really wonder. My parents didn't own guns, suicide seemed so obtuse - I was fortunate to have longer term thinking and not let it get me.


From somewhere, even at the worst of the hurt I had a defiant and unassailable sense of self worth, and knew I would someday be bigger than all of that. Junior High and High School were bad, nasty, abusive; just plain ignorant and unfriendly. I did my best to not get beat up, while acting out - I graduated High School in '83 - as a punk rocker. I made it harder, but I survived; that's the word I chose to use.

Once I got out of my little town - moved to NYC at 17 and was ready to roll - I got to reinvent myself. No one had any idea who I was, or any of the background that I carried, internally. See, I went from K through 12th with more than 40 of the same folks, and my graduating class was less than 100. So, roles were set, early, and it was not a John Hughes film. Not even close.

I tell y'all this, because, flash forward some two decades plus, and here I was. I had used my mind and my will and my character to develop and enjoy a great career. I had decided to move on and see what else I could create. I stepped into the void, and waited to see what came of it.

But, I'd made that damned deal about my health and turning 40. I think I hated physical activity primarily because I had always been told I wasn't good at it by people who were good at it and didn't like me. Lots of triggers... one of the reasons I react so poorly to competition in the yoga room.


On the outside, easy to see… I’m tall and slender, but at 40 years old and 6 feet tall I was about 190, very comfortable and with no tone. I may not have been able to run away from an attacker, or if I were attacked while near a bike, I would’ve made a better weapon out of it than an escape vehicle.

Back at Body Language - the studio that was cradling me and challenging me and asking me to just experience what was happening - they were coming up on their 10-year anniversary, and getting really excited. 10 would show up in themes a lot, and the studio owner, my teacher and my first teacher trainer, would laugh and say ‘Let’s do 10 pushups in this vinyasa!’ I would groan and work at them – at first, two or three on the knees. Later with good pointers, I did long planks but only a few.

I did my practice, I pushed and I relented. I worked to the edge and I found new territory. One day, several weeks after I had started - broken, no power, no identification with my physical form - my teacher came in the room to teach. She winked at me – because she knew I struggled with pushups and that was her signature that season. Class started, we got to the point where she was going to throw it in, and I recall her saying, jokingly, to me in front of the entire class – “Chrispy, shouldn’t we do 10 pushups in honor of the 10th anniversary this week?”

I knew I was a changed person when I calmly and respectfully offered back “But Teacher, why live in the past, let’s celebrate the next year and do 11!” Not only did the “I” that says “I” wonder who said that, but the students around me all groaned.

We did 11... not Spinal Tap 11, but 11 pushups - top of the plank, bottom of the plank. And, at 40 years old, I guess I could’ve graduated high school; could've finally made the grade...

For someone who had always been the wimp, the pussy, the fag, the guy who got beat up by the jocks, well, it wasn’t really a sweet victory, but it was quite odd to be in this new body. Not only had I gained strength and core engagement, but I dropped to 175, which was only about 5 pounds more than I weighed at my graduation from High School – a scrawny wimp who failed the President’s Fitness test and ended up taking a D in Gym, just to get the hell out of town!

Interesting, indeed, to come into possession of the physical form, after decades of just using it as a vehicle for consciousness. And, while the most immediate, and superficial and therefore obvious results were my physique, of course, the stealth technology of yoga was working on me...

that's the next post - give thanks and praise!!


0 Comments

How This Stubborn Man Became a Yogi - My Story from My Perspective, Part 1

13/6/2013

6 Comments

 
Picture
Because of her, the love of my life - because of rash promises made in love and endured in time...

Simply, I asked to be 'left alone to my career' in my 30s, and at one point made the promise (just like the Stones and the Who - you never believe it's coming) that when I turned 40, I'd devote myself to my physical health...

Then, eight years later, I am still very much in love with this woman, and I turn 40... thus begins the story.


I came to yoga with no prior physical discipline or body-awareness. I never played sports; never used my physical body in recreation. I just mainly saw my physical self as a vehicle to move my thoughts about in.

I was lucky, a life of no serious injuries or disease. Working, even though high-stress at times, in an environment that encouraged health and well-being, coupled with a great diet and other positive health choices didn’t leave me in bad shape. Really, just in no shape – just a being that was fairly disconnected from activity other than mental.

At forty, I decided it was time to honor my promise, pony-up and pursue some physical activity. I went to the gym a few times, but frankly the atmosphere and weirdness of the aggression being used to create strength felt unhealthier to me than the workout was worth. Luckily, I have that loving wife who although firm in her desire for me to get some activity, also understood my world.

And it’s to her that still the thanks go – she had asked me to get physical and work on my overall health in my forties back while I was in my thirties. Now, I had retired, had all this free time and was definitely not feeling stressed. So, one day, purely out of guilt – she was working at home 40+ hours a week, walking our two huge dogs in the snow and still going to yoga classes while I sat around and read or futzed – I went to yoga with her. And I hated it.

Let me be really clear, you didn't misread, I didn't mistype... I hated it. Full on visceral dislike. Projection, rage, contempt, those were some of the flavors.

I was uncomfortable, I was in an unfamiliar place, I was being asked to do things I didn’t understand, or couldn’t do. My wrists hurt – the Teacher wanted us to do yoga pushups and I recalled that, in my obstinacy, I almost didn’t graduate high school because I refused to do 10 pushups. You could color me triggered.

Yet, I had also had a great career, where I was highly esteemed and regarded. In that career, I consistently chose the tougher path, the not-so-easy route. I did what others wouldn’t. I was legendary, and rewarded in multiple ways, for going where others wouldn't, for doing the tough work. So, I knew I had this mental challenge under control, but I didn’t know what to do with the sensations and emotions my body was giving me.

When I’m confronted with a lot of information, sensation or resistance, I choose persistence. So, in my newly established practice, I went, again and again, just to see what it was that was happening – mentally, not physically. And, the physical came; as I became more conscious of the vehicle my mind resides in, I got more and more into exploring the physical realm.

Yes, Down Dog was killing my wrists; I literally couldn’t stay more than three frustrated breaths in the first weeks. I did all those things I see now; I still feel it as teacher – students making fists or being on fingertips, or searching for anyway out of the sensation of building bone density.

And, as I was discovering my body, I was become really aware of how the sensations, breath and thoughts were coterminous... so completely insinuated. 


I was in my body, but occupied in my mind, hearing more canonical views of many of the perspectives and disciplines I had seen in my work and professional life, I found more of me on the mat.

Let me tell you more of that story in the next post…

Give thanks and praise!

6 Comments

"Follow Your Bliss" or blisters...

11/6/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
So, if you know nothing of Joe Campbell, then you might still be familiar with one of his pithy legacies, the phrase "Follow Your Bliss."

If you do know Campbell as a mythologist and the proponent of the 'monomyth', then that phrase is the least you know about Joe.


The idea of the monomyth was ground-breaking; looking at archetypes in mythology and realizing that across time and space and culture, we are all essentially mythologizing and telling the same series of events... this is commonly referred to as 'The Hero's Journey'.

Either you've heard of that concept, or you've simply enjoyed it... the same elements that pervade epic story-telling are components of the monomyth and the hero's journey.


From Luke Skywalker to Frodo Baggins to Harry Potter to Mr. Anderson (aka Neo), all of these archetypal heroes -- selected, reluctant, granted a boon or powers -- faced their adversary and then came home as a fulfilled being; often with magical aid, sidekicks and heroic tasks on the journey.

I would posit that the asana practice, the dedication of the Yogi to come back to the practice: to confront, face, release, change, surrender, understand - all of these are heroic acts. There is a sense of being called, often a reluctance, and then a seemingly transcendent or magical experience with continued self-realization, after which, there is a return to a renewed self.

While this is one of Campbell's most identifiable and most quoted aphorism, it is arguably most misunderstood sayings... I choose to use the analogy of the practice as a Hero's Journey, because he derived this idea from the Upanishads.

In his own words -



"Now, I came to this idea of bliss because in Sanskrit, which is the great spiritual language of the world, there are three terms that represent the brink, the jumping-off place to the ocean of transcendence: Sat-Chit-Ananda. The word "Sat" means being. "Chit" means consciousness. "Ananda" means bliss or rapture.


I thought, "I don't know whether my consciousness is proper consciousness or not; I don't know whether what I know of my being is my proper being or not; but I do know where my rapture is. So let me hang on to rapture, and that will bring me both my consciousness and my being." I think it worked."

Campbell began sharing this idea with students during his lectures in the 1970s. By the time that The Power of Myth was aired in 1988, six months following Campbell's death, "Follow your bliss" was a philosophy that resonated deeply with the American public—both religious and secular.

During his final years, when he believed that some of the students had meant him to be encouraging hedonism, Campbell is reported to have grumbled, "I should have said, 'Follow your blisters.'"


Picture

He saw this not merely as a mantra, but as a helpful guide to the individual, along their own Hero's Journey, that each of us walks through life:

"If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Wherever you are—if you are following your bliss, you are enjoying that refreshment, that life within you, all the time."


So, indeed, follow your bliss, but don't expect that to be blissful! It's work - one interpretation of dharma is 'duty,' 'propriety' or 'calling'... we may be called to a duty that is difficult, but is our own - and, if we can, we must!


Within in this may lie bliss, if we see the journey as heroic - knowing the Hero is the protector and servant. Give thanks and praise!

0 Comments

Take the Leap!!

7/6/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
Take a leap of faith...

By leaps and bounds...

A Quantum Leap -
"oh boy..."



"First loke and aftirward lepe" - a proverb recorded from the mid-15th century -  or, as we say: "Look before you leap."
Picture

Hanuman, he's got a cleft chin on his monkey face... he's the sweet gate of nectar, and a playful spirit.

He moves in leaps and bounds, he strives and stretches and reaches beyond perceived limits. He is courageous, yet still an impish and playful being.

I'm leading a special Wanderlust Festival Sampler class tonight; I'm a Wayfarer for Wanderlust CO and am happy to share the spirit, give folks a taste of what the music, yoga and community aspects of the Festival are about and just playing and sharing good times!

In the asana practice, we'll be working towards Hanumanasana, or internal splits. It's a big pose, requires good preparation, patience, courage and playfulness. I'll be teaching, accompanied with music by my friend, Ron - aka Barra!

At the root of it all, is 'taking the leap' - jumping into the unknown, the uncomfortable, the unfamiliar - stretching out instead of receding.


Going towards understanding and connection rather than favoring separation. As I review the flow and start planning on how I can encourage people, it all comes to that point of just giving folks permission to investigate, to explore, and of course, to observe without concluding!

I've been riffing on a few thoughts this week in preparation for tonight - favoring stability instead of being seduced by flexibility; that no effort is wasted, that it's worth finding the places where we fail, because then we can experience the fullness of that experience in the safety of the 'personal laboratory of self'.


just throwing it out there - where could you grow, in leaps and bounds? What's your quantum leap - your leap right out of your current being into the possibilities of your potential?


What does it mean to you to look before you leap? Is that where the second-guessing and editing and deciding it's not worth it?? Then, I'd recommend looking at another aspect of yourself; perhaps the quality that allows you to be playful and courageous in class, on your mat, in your practice!

Thoughts on being, practicing, growing and exploring - give yourself an opportunity to take a leap, and maybe grow by leaps and bounds!

If you're in the ATX today - come on out tonight; if you can't make it tonight, check out Sunday Funday Flow!

Give thanks and praise!


0 Comments

Where East Really Meets West...

4/6/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
As many of y'all who have followed and read would know, I recently returned from my first - but definitely not last - trip to Turkey.

I have studied that area and its history for most of my life, and it was an incredible gift to be there and to enjoy putting the reality to the stories.


I also really loved meeting the Turks, getting to know about their modern history, and hearing their pride in what I considered a 'healthy Nationalism", if I can coin a phrase.

So, I've been following what's going on in Istanbul - it's not a surprise, although the violence is disappointing. One of the Turks we got to know, who spoke freely, talked about the blatant corruptness of the current administration and their tactics of suppression and intimidation. He felt that this was not long in the coming - I'm sorry he was so right.

Here's a hopeful story - one among many, I'm sure. This is what I'd be doing, if I was there - so thanks and praise to my fellow yogi and supporter of the Turks: a shared story for your consideration.



Posted by YD × June 4, 2013 at 12:48 pm Taksim Square Istanbul on Sunday, June 2. via CNN.com

An incredible thing is happening in Turkey right now. A peaceful protest to protect a park from being demolished and rebuilt into a shopping mall in the center of Istanbul has devolved into a clash of citizens and government that has seen thousands of people come to join the occupation in solidarity, some injured from police force and others killed amidst the melee. Word blew up on social media before major news agencies could report on it.

A summary via The New Yorker:

Last year, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Gezi Park would be leveled to make room for a reconstruction of the Halil Pasa Artillery barracks, which had been built there under Sultan Selim III, more than two hundred years ago; the reconstructed barracks would then be converted into a shopping mall.


On May 28th, a peaceful demonstration convened in Gezi Park to protest the bulldozing of the first trees. The weather was, and continues to be, beautiful. But over the course of the week, Occupy Gezi transformed from what felt like a festival, with yoga, barbecues, and concerts, into what feels like a war, with barricades, plastic bullets, and gas attacks.

But it’s not all chaos. We have word firsthand that, while things have spiraled out of control in a lot of ways, a peaceful protest continues in the form of human decency, support for one another, a pop-up library and even (of course) yoga.



We received an email from someone in Istanbul who has been involved in the peaceful protest as well as the free yoga classes in Gezi Park. We’ve learned that Cihangir Yoga has started hosting the yoga classes, led in part by visiting teacher Chris Chavez, and they have plans to continue the demonstrations, opening it up to all people wishing to practice yoga together in solidarity.

Me, my friends, and my sister are trying to spread some more positive, optimistic news supporting the Gezi Park Resistance. The brutal police attacks, the poor and misleading media coverage and the government’s on going denial about the rapidly grown uprise of the Turkish citizens all over Turkey are very depressing, but are being well documented by a lot of people on social media.

We want heart warming and constructive events to be known and spread as well. The friendly atmosphere we experience there every day, people constantly cleaning the park, offering each other food and health supplies, planting trees, taking care of hurt street animals also need to be acknowledged by the world. Chris’s yoga classes are one such example…supporting a nations claim for their public space, freedom and rights.


Chris Chavez via his facebook page:

The Istanbul protest and why it feels SO good: It’s the feeling of coming together.. We lead such isolated lives for the most part, and it feels good to connect and talk with random strangers!! To know that we have more similarities than we do differences!! It’s moments like this that bring the best out of people!!:)) It’s yoga in action!!


Picture
Picture
Picture
There you have it - as I said, if I was there, I would be doing the same thing.

So, my brother in bandhas, Chris Chavez, work on, take your yoga in action and serve!

I find this inspiring; a country full of folks determined to make democracy real and transparent, and a healing art serving the community in times of turmoil.

Our activism should be to bring folks together, not create more separation. I'm proud to see one of ours working in that intention.

Give thanks and praise!

0 Comments
    Picture

    Chrispy - Bhagat Singh

    Random thoughts I've had, while teaching, about the teachings, about my teaching, and while talking about teaching.

    Connect with me:
    Facebook: 
    chrispy bhagat singh
     Facebook:
    RockStarYoga
    Facebook:
    RaSaYana
    YouTube:

    chrispy bhagat singh
    Instagram:
    petrastella
    Twitter: 
    petrastella

    Email: 
    rockstar@rockstaryoga.us

    Picture

    Archives

    July 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012

    Categories

    All
    Anusara
    Asana
    Asana Practice
    Brain
    Calendar
    Chakras
    Challenge
    Collaboration
    Community
    Compassion
    Discernment
    Experience
    Happiness
    Holy Days
    Lent
    Love
    Magic
    Mindfulness
    Nyt
    Observance
    Patanjali
    Practice
    Resources
    Shadow
    Shine
    Sutras
    Teachers
    Teaching
    Yoga

    Picture
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.