Salutations Lesson #1

It is well past the  mid point of the Thirty Days of Sun, the commitment to practice the ancient rite of sun salutations everyday. This has been very rewarding to say the least. I created this FB event to encourage others to join with me over the period surrounding the solstice in an attempt to further personal home practices. For me, it has been an on the road experience since the day I started also marked the embarkation day for a six week road trip from Anchorage AK to Long Beach NY and back. Needless to say, I have practiced in all sorts of places. Yoga studios, hotel rooms, garages, random slabs of concrete and before majestic views along side of the road have been just a few of the places where I have bowed to the sky discovering the ever rewarding lessons of sun salutations.

The first lesson is one of will. I realize I can do such a daily routine with my own inner drive.  There is nobody to keep me from just forgetting about it or deciding that I don't feel like it this or that day. Actually there is a side that always wants to be lazy and forget the practice. Maybe this is why my teachers say that making it to class is hardest step of a regular yoga practice. But through the act of agreeing with the commitment and then following it onto the mat ignites the yoga flame. My inner drive accepts this and rises up, taking over and leading me through one salutation after another. As I keep up with the practice, the drive becomes more powerful and takes me further each time. This drive becomes the teacher and makes me realize that I can follow something through to the end on the mat such as in salutations and in the world through other acts. 

May you too discover this wonderful inner drive and may it reward you off the mat. 

Go Travel!

According to the Tao Te Ching, one may see the world without ever stepping from one's doorstep.

Beautiful sentiment!

I agree in principle but...(What would life be without the questioning afterthoughts?)

Travel has been an important aspect in my life!

I left the sleepy river valleys of upstate New York where I had spent my youth only to momentarily return there for brief intervals at a time.  Along the way, I sojourned over North America and beyond, lived in interesting places and became acquainted with the greater world. But, it was more than just a tourist appreciation I sought.

Travel transported me both literally and mentally out of habitual surroundings and placed life into new perspectives. Often familiar places I thought I knew were transformed upon returning and sites never imagined or sought after were discovered.  More often than not, the road and the destinations were secondary to the discoveries of my own internal landscapes.  Repeatedly, I came to realize that the personalized  identities clung to as life's definitions were often phantasmal and rarely as important as believed. I saw how others lived  and was challenged to look at my own lifestyles.  The physical perspectives from other longitudes and latitudes granted a better view of my own metaphorical location offering the chance for various views on my next planned steps in life.  Always, the travel vistas have altered my life's goals revealing far more interesting bends and curves than the straight line of thought.  My life has been so interesting on account of these voyages, and I can't really imagine a life without such movement.

I suppose everything has its trade off.  There are certain things that a life of travel might not offer.  But, regret is a silly thing. Who has time for that?

This summer step off your doorstep and see the world.  Let this transform how you see things.  Even if you can't go far go somewhere and see what happens.

Namaste

Thirty Days of Sun! The Challenge!

Suryar Namaskar!

Starting on the morning of the 7th, Darcy and I will depart Alaska for an epic cross country road trip. The destination is Long Beach, New York where on July 6th we will celebrate our marriage with family and friends. It will be a trip filled with adventure. The one constant will be the ancient practice of the sun salutation. For thirty days, we will practice at least twelve variations of this rite.

I would love for all of you to join me in this practice. Imagine people from all over the North America and beyond practicing sun salutations together. How cool is that? 

If you would like to participate join my Facebook Event Thirty Days of Sun and share your experiences, pics whatever as you discover your Sun Salutation practice.  

Water and Wood Yoga

Yoga classes...my life is full of yoga classes either taking or teaching them.  It is easy to start to believe that yoga is exactly this, classes.  Don't get me wrong, no complaints.  I am so grateful to be teaching and taking such a wide variety of classes.  It is a gift!

But, there is more.

Maybe, you expect me to now point to the realm beyond yoga, some mystical  parallel cosmos of bliss that attending classes and performing asanas will lead its practitioner in which to participate.  I don't know if that that place exists. Instead, I am referring to the mundane world of water and wood.

Water and wood?

Yes, I am discovering a whole other world of yoga, the everyday practice of life that supersedes and underlies all asana whether it be in a class setting or at home. I am referring to the work of life regarding house chores (dishes, laundry, groceries, etc.), bills, insurance, car maintenance and all that other non-categorical stuff one experiences throughout the day.  You know; the stuff that always continues without ending.  These tasks can be very exasperating and frustrating, always streaming and continuing to flow without an end in sight. The ancients referred to this as carrying water and chopping wood.

Maybe this sounds like a stretch. How can this be considered yoga?

I guess it all depends on perspective.  It isn't yoga in the strictest sense of looking at yoga as an asana practice.  That is true.  But if one looks at yoga as a means of interconnection and integration then these seemingly mundane tasks become a means to express one's yoga in daily affairs.  Setting an intention to address these tasks the same way one might before a class or home practice then undertaking them with the awareness and mindfulness can transform them into a practice of water and wood yoga.

Enjoy your practice!

Namaste

Join me at the Anchorage Lululemon

Namaste Everybody,

Join me this Saturday morning (March 15th)  9:00-9:45am for community yoga at the Anchorage Lululemon Showroom.  I am stepping in as the guest instructor this week.  It will be a chill yin inspired morning flow to awaken the body and the mind.  Click here for more information and to register.

See you on your mat!

Buying Buddha

This week I purchased my first Buddha statue, nothing to serious just a small one for my desk.  While out running some errands,  I came across just the right figure with a tea candle holder in his lap.    He now reposes in full lotus gently overseeing my work.  This  leads me to reflect on a yoga client's question from just other day.  Somewhere between standing tree and dancer poses, she looked at me and asked, "So...do you consider yourself a Buddhist?" I remained ambiguous when answering, never really saying yes or no.  I do that often when directly asked such things; better to be allusive rather than declare something untrue.

Interesting question!  Buddhist?  Me? I did just buy a Buddha.

Looking over to my book shelf just across from my desk I might be tempted to say yes.  Titles referencing Buddhism and Zen in their titles line the shelves.  I read them and consider many of them in my top ten favorite reads.

But...honestly...if being a Buddhist means acknowledging a formal religious path with memberships and masters then the answer would be a solid no.  Nevertheless, I recognize the middle way of Buddha as I understand it, that narrow razor's edge somewhere between answers and questions, the one that seeks to remain always here and now.  This path inspires me to stay clear from so called absolute answers that bind and constrain as well as from the utter despair of total meaningless.

So does this make me Buddhist? Probably not.  I am content to look at my bought Buddha on the corner of the desk. This little statue in all it's simplicity challenges me to wake up and remain in the present with soft eyes, flexibility and uprightness.

Namaste!

Meditation

Meditation has interested me since my early twenties.  I went to all sorts of workshops, lectures and spent a small fortune buying books on the subject.  After all this, it still took years and years to finally develop something like a regular practice.  Along the way, I dabbled with many forms and philosophies of meditation.  But...there is one style that continuously draws me back, the simple form of sitting.   It is called many names in a variety of traditions, centering, contemplation, dhyana, theoria, the list goes on depending who refers to it.

I prefer calling it Ponding.

What is it exactly?  It is so simple in its form that it becomes complicated for many because of that very fact.  It is really the act of sitting and observing.  I sit with an upright back free of rigidity yet without something external supporting my spine.  Then, I just remain there for a set amount of time with eyes open and soft without any particular  focus or vision in my mind. The goal is to remain there without doing, observing what comes and goes without judgement or attachment.  Wild thoughts may come, things to do appear suddenly, disturbances in the mind's eye dance within the head, sweet thoughts of good things slip before me, still I just sit and see what happens allowing all these fancies to come and go.

Why is it called Ponding?

It is like watching a shallow clear pond like one might find in the mountains.  Ripples appear from the wind, occasional stirrings of some unseen creature disturb some pocket of dirt, reflections of sky and sun appear on its surface.  These are all interesting, can be annoying and/or beautiful, but there comes a moment when it all passes and one can see the whole clear body of water penetrating all the way to its bottom, for a moment seeing all its radiance in just being what it is. Then, winds arises, dust reappears and reflections dance again upon the surface.  One must sit again, waiting for another moment of clarity with each such experience being ever so different for no formula or expected outcome exists in this method.

For me, this is the way of meditation and of life.  Watching and waiting, seeing the moments of clarity and then losing sight only to have all this repeat itself.  But, this sitting like this gazing into the pond of one's own life  helps one to see things in their true form even if only for a moment.   These are the moments of absolute clarity and worth the wait.

Enjoy your pond today and just sit along its shore for a time.

Namaste!