Blog Archives - Tulsa Yoga Meditation Center, 5319 S. Sheridan, Tulsa, OK

THE YOGA TRADITION HAS SOMETHING BETTER THAN ASSISTED SUICIDE

6/30/2018

It's called santhara.

Coming from the Jain religious tradition, santhara is voluntary fasting to death by gradually reducing one’s intake of food and fluid. Many yogis have transitioned this way when they were very aged or very sick. It is not considered suicide because it is not an act of desperation nor does it use poisons, weapons or violence.

This ancient way of exiting the body is being rediscovered and re-applied among yogis who prefer to make a conscious departure in weeks rather than months of medical intervention and drug therapies leading to a loss of consciousness. Upon committing to santhara it takes approximately thirty days for release to come through death.

XXXTENTACION FUNERAL OFFICIATED BY BUDDHIST

6/30/2018

Buddhist teacher Lama Rod Owens announced to his Facebook followers that he would serve as the officiant at the funeral of rapper XXXTentacion (born Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy), who was killed in a suspected robbery in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

About his choice to officiate, Owens writes:

I made a decision to officiate the funeral of the slain rapper XXXTentacion. I am doing this because I have been asked by the family as he wanted a Buddhist service. I’m here to hold space for the family, friends, and fans while helping this young man transition into what is next for him. I am not condoning any of the violence he was associated with. All of this is complex and now my role is to support the process of grieving and to fulfill his wishes to have a service from the tradition of Buddhism that has helped and supported me so much.

(source: www.ionsroar.com)

THE ONE QUALITY IT TAKES TO MAKE IT AS A FULL TIME YOGA TEACHER IS . . . .

6/30/2018

Perseverance!

The largest issue yoga teachers in training will face after they are certified is discouragement. Probably more than 75% abandon their dreams of being full time yoga instructors. The Buddha taught that discouragement is merely another form of laziness. Those who give up on their desire do so because of inertia - "it's too hard to make money!" "I don't get enough people to yoga." "I have to teach too many classes to make money." etc, etc, etc.

Yet it is sheer perseverance which eventually wins the day. David Swenson is a world renown yogi. But here's how he describes where he was at one point in his yoga life:
In the early days, Swenson says, only hippies practiced yoga in the US. “We couldn’t make money doing yoga or teaching yoga. You teach yoga because you enjoy it, but you couldn’t make a living.”

He had done other jobs – from waiting on tables to landscaping to selling cars – but eventually returned to yoga in 1990. “I was struggling, I couldn’t pay my rent, it was a really difficult time. I had barely enough money for food,” Swenson recalls.

“Then I had an epiphany one day, that I should really be teaching yoga and I’m going to commit to do that. I remember I wrote down on a piece of paper: ‘I have no idea what the future holds, but I feel as though I am being drawn forward by an unseen force. I have no idea where this force will lead me, but I know now I am doing what I should be doing and so I surrender.’”

So along with perseverance maybe considering "surrender" to a higher power and trusting it along with yourself are the keys to experienced greater satisfaction and success teaching yoga.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

6/30/2018

Sometimes you experience failed expectations as heartbreak and disappointment, and sometimes you feel rage. But at that time, instead of doing the habitual thing of labeling yourself a “failure” or a “loser” or thinking there is something wrong with you, you could get curious about what is going on. Just remember that you never know where something will lead. - Pema Chodron

"DON'T BE A FOOL!!!" - SAYS THE BUDDHA

6/29/2018

Take good heed not to get attached to words as being in perfect conformity with reality, because truth is not of the letter.Be not like the one who is enthralled with a fingertip. When someone points out something with a finger, the tip of the finger may be mistaken for the thing.

The fool is unable, even unto death, to abandon the idea that in the fingertip of words there is truth, and will not grasp ultimate reality because of his rapt clinging to words.
Be not like one who, grasping his own fingertip, sees reality there. You should rather energetically discipline yourself to discover truth itself.
—Buddha Shakyamuni, Lankavatara Sutra

YOGA SAVED THIS MARINE'S LIFE

6/29/2018

While contemplating suicide, Marine Marine Justin Blazejewski decided to give yoga a try. It saved his life and then transformed his life. "I stumbled upon yoga to save my life, basically, and I knew that I found something special," he said. "And it's taking me on a totally different path than I originally planned."

His marine duty took him to war zones heightening his inner stress levels. In order to stay alive, Blazejewski says, he internalized a "hyperarousal, hyper fight-or-flight mode" -- one that constantly made him feel on high alert. "When you're in the middle of nowhere in Afghanistan, it's the middle of the night, and mortars start coming in and exploding through the roof," he recalled. "People are shooting at you, attacking you, you can't see who's the good guy and who's the bad guy. You are trained to keep running into danger when the bullets are flying at you."

When Blazejewski returned home, a new battle awaited. The enemy: the turmoil in his own mind. The stress he felt "was taking me to a dark place, and suicidal thoughts were creeping in, and I knew that wasn't OK," he said.

Isolated from his military community and struggling with deep bouts of depression, Blazejewski contemplated suicide. "It was a really dark time for me," he said. "I just wanted to stay home." His roommate offered to take him to a yoga class, but yoga was not something Marines did. "We consider it something only girls did and definitely made fun of it," he recalled. "My roommate pretty much dragged me to a yoga class. I went kicking and screaming." In 2008, a two-hour Friday night yoga class changed his life.

"I got my butt kicked, and I was sitting in a puddle of sweat," he said, smiling at the memory. But it was during shavasana -- a rest pose usually done at the end of practice -- when Blazejewski understood what yoga could do for him. "I felt just relaxation for the first time in over a decade," he said. "It really was the point in my life where everything started to change and I knew there was hope out there for me."

With the discipline of his Marine training, Blazejewski took a yoga class every day for six months. Then he enrolled in a yoga teacher training program where his instructdor advised him to take yoga to others like him - soldiers. So in 2015, Blazejewski created VEToga, a nonprofit that works to bring yoga, meditation and healing arts to military veterans and their families. He hopes to have a presence in every state.

(please feel free to re-post and link to your social media)

SPIRITUAL LEADER OF SHAMBHALA FACES SEXUAL MISCONDUCT CHARGES

6/29/2018

Buddhist Project Sunshine released its second report today, containing allegations of sexual assault and clergy sexual misconduct by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, leader of the Shambhala Buddhist community.

The report includes three victim impact statements by female members of Shambhala. The anonymous statements detail allegations of sexual assault in the form of unwanted sexual touching, alcohol abuse, and sex with multiple female students facilitated by some members of Sakyong Mipham’s staff.

sources:
https://www.lionsroar.com/report-alleges-sexual-misconduct-by-leader-of-shambhala-community/
https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/sakyong-mipham-rinpoche-sexual-abuse/

THE DALI LAMA AND WORLD CUP SOCCER - HE WON'T ENDORSE A TEAM

6/29/2018

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama declined to pick a favorite team in the World Cup during a teaching in Latvia this week. “I feel that competition that results in everyone involved reaching the top can be regarded as healthy and positive.

However, if it entails putting obstacles in your rivals’ way, it’s not so good,” the Dalai Lama said. Besides, he said, “I have little interest in sport, so I have no favorite team.”

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

6/29/2018

Only by first noticing one’s habitual patterns does it become possible to change them.
- Jeremy David Engels

'WHAT'S MOKSHA?' - BEST ANSWER

6/28/2018

This words appears frequently in writings about Yoga philosophy. It means liberation. Alternate words used are release, freedom, and emancipation. Moksha is liberation from the cycle of rebirths and ultimately, reunion with God.

Sivaya Subramuniyaswami says that moksha is a “great joy" for yogis”: “Even in difficult times, we are solaced in the knowledge of our religion which tells us that no soul that ever existed or ever will exist in future extrapolations of time and space will ever fail to attain liberation. The Hindu knows that all souls will one day merge into God, and that God, who created all souls, slowly guides our maturing into His likeness, brings us back to Himself, which is not separate from ourselves.”