‘Good enough’ is a beautiful mantra. It's great to use in your meditation no matter what you're experiencing. If you're so tired that your head is almost on the floor, say, 'This is good enough.' As you breathe in and out, say, 'Good enough.' But you have to be consistent and make every moment good enough. - Ajahn Brahm
If you don't freeze in winter and are not starving, your material needs have basically been met. - Sheng Yen
Over thousands of years, yoga has migrated from country to country, from city to city, from town to town and from village to village via individual yoga teachers The person who first brought yoga to Tulsa was Richard Stathem.
He studied yoga and meditation in Houston during the early 1970s and then moved to Tulsa during that decade. His day job was math instructor at Tulsa Community College but his life was teaching yoga. He introduced this practice to Tulsans using space kindly made available at St. John’s Episcopal Church. A gift teacher of yoga, he taught not only poses (called asanas) but stressed the spiritual aspect of Yoga consistently, eloquently and always in ‘user friendly’ ways. Richard was often a master teacher in our yoga teacher training program. In 2006 he published his book – Just Notice . . . Just This: The Body and Mind Of The Yogas. Sadly, Richard died in 2013 at the age of 66. Here are some words of wisdom from Richard Stathem found in his fine book: About suffering . . . There is always going to be suffering in the world even while simultaneously we begin the work of relieving suffering wherever we find it knowing full well that suffering is not going to go away. We work to relieve hunger, for instance, knowing there will always be hunger. We work to end ignorance, knowing there will always be ignorance. About the breath . . . It is possible to discover profound truths, not just by reading the great holy texts or being in the presence of great teachers, but also by simple sitting with the breath, observing the breath, and being forever open to what the breath reveals beyond simply oxygenating the body. About religious beliefs . . . Hold lightly to beliefs. Attachments to belief systems can imprison us. Focus, rather, on what you discover. About practice . . . There are many who come to a practice thinking if they can just get more of this and get rid of that, then everything will be okay. They think they’re going to learn how to elimination something and how to acquire more of something, all of which will finally lead to happiness. Our practice is not about getting something or getting rid of something. It is about discovery. it is about revealing. It is about finding what was always here. About yoga . . . The primary purpose of yoga practice is to learn to relax. Tension is not our enemy, however, in yoga we learn to release unnecessary tension so that we may experience life fully and joyfully. (public domain photo from www.pexels.com) Every year over the last decades, the number of people participating in yoga increases. If you were to take a poll of people in a yoga class asking them, “Why are you here?”, the answers would likely differ with each person. People come to yoga bringing a vast array of emotional, mental, and physical needs. Some come for stress reduction and pain relief. Others come to gain a deeper sense of inner peace and greater awareness. Still others want it for the physical workout it provides. Some are curious. My experience is this: people are drawn to yoga because they're in some kind of pain: phyiscal or 'psychic' (emotional/mental). And, it is yoga which empowers people to tap into their four inner healers (all begin with letter ‘P’) - Inner physician to heal body; inner psychiatrist to heal mind; inner psychologist to heal emotions; inner priest to heal soul. So, if you're already engaged in a yoga practice, keep it up. If you haven't tried you yet, take in a class (and check out our schedule on the home page for a listing of yoga opportunities). Enlightened qualities and activities do not arise externally or internally; they flow through us. Buddha Nature is wisdom and compassion - Light and Life - flowing unimpeded through all sentient beings. - Tashi Nyima
Children deserve the best from us—they deserve the highest consideration as impressionable people. - Raffi Cavoukian
I don’t think that Buddhism is only for adults. It is better that our children begin to sit when they are young. Sometimes I notice that children understand Buddhism more quickly than adults. They have less prejudices. Their minds are very fresh. I put a lot of my time into teaching children because I see more effectiveness in that work. - Thich Nhat Hanh
It would be a mistake to think that kids don’t need Buddhism or that we can simply wait until they’re old enough to join a meditation center. Children’s lives are full of stress and pain, just as adult lives are — is there any greater hell realm than junior high school? - Jeff Wilson
Buddhism’s First Noble Truth states: ‘Life is Suffering.’ That’s a scary, pessimistic worldview. But it’s also an honest one. Our lives are filled with the inescapable suffering of birth, aging, sickness, and death. We lose friends, gain enemies, lose things we want to keep, and gain things we’d rather lose. - Alex Kakuyo
Rational apprehension of dangers is necessary; fear is not. - Bertrand Russell
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Victor M. Parachin ...is aVedic educator, yoga instructor, Buddhist meditation teacher and author of a dozen books. Buy his books at amazon or your local bookstore. Archives
May 2024
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