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We can be equally sobered when we see what we might be remembered for. Would we want our tombstone to say, “He was angry and he died.” Or, “She held on to her resentments until her dying day.” Or, “HE died never having given back.” These may be exaggerations, but we all have big lapses in which we forget what is most important. The point is that we don’t have to wait until our death to remember. We can use our “little deaths”—those moments when we see that we’re being petty, unkind, or unforgiving—to remind us that the most important thing is to live from the gratitude and kindness of the awakening heart. - Ezra Bayda
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Illness must be diagnosed, its causes eliminated, wellbeing attained, and treatment applied. Likewise, suffering, its causes, their cessation, and the path must, in turn, be understood, eliminated, realized, and relied upon. —Maitreya
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The time you enjoy
wasting
is not
wasted time.
- Bertrand Russell
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In order to grow, you need sorrow; in order to become loving, you very often need distress,
and turmoil is often required to release your deeper resources. - Eknath Easwaran
and turmoil is often required to release your deeper resources. - Eknath Easwaran
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Recently while on a royal tour of New Zealand, Prince Harry was overheard by reporters speaking to a 6 year-old boy whose mother died. After listening to Otia Nante, Harry offered these words of support: "Life will always be all right, you know that? I’ve made it to 34 years old, and life is great. I have a beautiful wife and a baby on the way. Your life is going to be sorted. Don’t you worry about that."
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Look at your mind dispassionately; this is enough to calm it. Only when it is quiet can you go beyond it. Do not keep the mind busy all the time, stop it and just be. If you give it a rest, it will settle down and recover its purity and strength. - Nisargadatta Maharaj
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By sheer force of personality combined with a long life, B. K. S. Iyengar created the concept that alignment is everything in a yoga posture. Neither I nor my body has ever agreed with this view. Furthermore, the very few times I've suffered a yoga pain or injury has been via an Iyengar trained instructor.
The fact is that alignment based yoga is a very new addition to yoga generated largely by Iyengar and his troops. I have a self full of 'older' yoga books, all published before 1965 and not one of them references alignment in any way. Clearly, the first wave of yoga to come West did not focus on alignment but on the simplicity of the asanas combined with a meditative presence.
Yoga teacher and blogger, J. Brown has recently written about alignment regarding it with suspicion saying that safety in yoga has little or nothing to do with alignment. Here's an imaginary conversation he had with an alignment based yoga teacher:
Teacher: “I believe in proper alignment.”
Brown: “OK, well, what do you mean by ‘proper alignment’?”
Teacher: “You know….neutral pelvis…shoulders sliding down the back……”
Brown: “Yes, I am familiar with those cues. But this idea of alignment, where does it come from?”
Teacher: "I think it’s scientific.”
Brown: “Respectfully, I question that. I think these are arbitrary ideas that are not based in science so much as the dictates of charismatic men.”
The bottom line for a solid, satisfying yoga practice: Let your body guide you to the best positioning, move slowly and do it with a gentle meditative mind.
Read more of J Brown here: https://www.jbrownyoga.com/blog/2018/6/proper-alignment-in-yoga
The fact is that alignment based yoga is a very new addition to yoga generated largely by Iyengar and his troops. I have a self full of 'older' yoga books, all published before 1965 and not one of them references alignment in any way. Clearly, the first wave of yoga to come West did not focus on alignment but on the simplicity of the asanas combined with a meditative presence.
Yoga teacher and blogger, J. Brown has recently written about alignment regarding it with suspicion saying that safety in yoga has little or nothing to do with alignment. Here's an imaginary conversation he had with an alignment based yoga teacher:
Teacher: “I believe in proper alignment.”
Brown: “OK, well, what do you mean by ‘proper alignment’?”
Teacher: “You know….neutral pelvis…shoulders sliding down the back……”
Brown: “Yes, I am familiar with those cues. But this idea of alignment, where does it come from?”
Teacher: "I think it’s scientific.”
Brown: “Respectfully, I question that. I think these are arbitrary ideas that are not based in science so much as the dictates of charismatic men.”
The bottom line for a solid, satisfying yoga practice: Let your body guide you to the best positioning, move slowly and do it with a gentle meditative mind.
Read more of J Brown here: https://www.jbrownyoga.com/blog/2018/6/proper-alignment-in-yoga
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There’s birth, there’s death, and in between there’s maintenance. - Tom Robbins
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Lifting our voices can be a transcendent experience unifying the sangha in a way that is somehow both energetic and comforting. We assume that our spiritual essence (Buddha Nature) is being fed by this activity but is there also a physical basis for these feelings?
In Sweden, they studied the heart rates of choir members as they sang together. The findings, published in Frontiers in Neuroscience, confirmed that this experience had calming effects on the heart — especially when singing in unison. Using pulse monitors attached to the singers' ears, researchers measured changes in the members' heart rates as they sang. They noticed their heart rates slowed down. When you exhale, the heart does slow down but what was really interesting was that it took almost no time for hearts to begin merging toward a shared rhythm.
- Dharma Center of Oklahoma Newsletter
In Sweden, they studied the heart rates of choir members as they sang together. The findings, published in Frontiers in Neuroscience, confirmed that this experience had calming effects on the heart — especially when singing in unison. Using pulse monitors attached to the singers' ears, researchers measured changes in the members' heart rates as they sang. They noticed their heart rates slowed down. When you exhale, the heart does slow down but what was really interesting was that it took almost no time for hearts to begin merging toward a shared rhythm.
- Dharma Center of Oklahoma Newsletter
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Pratyahara (or withdrawal) is twofold: it involves withdrawal from
wrong food, wrong impressions, wrong associations,
while, simultaneously opening up to right food,
right impressions, right associations. - David Frawley
wrong food, wrong impressions, wrong associations,
while, simultaneously opening up to right food,
right impressions, right associations. - David Frawley