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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.
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.
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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
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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
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
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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)
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)
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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 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/
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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.”
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.”
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Only by first noticing one’s habitual patterns does it become possible to change them.
- Jeremy David Engels
- Jeremy David Engels
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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.”
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.”
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Be like the honeybee who gathers only nectar wherever it goes. Seek the goodness that is found in everyone. - Mata Amritanandamayi
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Any time we are hit hard by life’s blow, it’s natural and easy to ask . . .
“Why?”
“Why me?”
“Why us?”
“Why now?”
“Why is this happening?”
The problem with “Why” questions is that they only feed our dark side, fuel our anxiety pulling and us further down. There are better questions to ask, questions which can lift our spirits when we’re feeling down. Here are some of those:
* What are the chances that one year from now, I’ll feel no better?
* What advice would I give my child or my best friend if he or she were in my shoes?
* When I overcome this issue, how will I be stronger, wiser, deeper and even better for it?
* If I were writing a fiction story of my life, how would I have the main character (me) turn this adversity into an advantage?
* How has this difficulty revealed to me who my true friends are?
* Who could I confide in who would make me feel a little better, a little more hopeful?
* What do I need to do to keep moving ahead with my life?
* Who can I turn to when I need to express and explore what’s going on with me?
Remember, to get the right answers, you have to ask the right questions.
“Why?”
“Why me?”
“Why us?”
“Why now?”
“Why is this happening?”
The problem with “Why” questions is that they only feed our dark side, fuel our anxiety pulling and us further down. There are better questions to ask, questions which can lift our spirits when we’re feeling down. Here are some of those:
* What are the chances that one year from now, I’ll feel no better?
* What advice would I give my child or my best friend if he or she were in my shoes?
* When I overcome this issue, how will I be stronger, wiser, deeper and even better for it?
* If I were writing a fiction story of my life, how would I have the main character (me) turn this adversity into an advantage?
* How has this difficulty revealed to me who my true friends are?
* Who could I confide in who would make me feel a little better, a little more hopeful?
* What do I need to do to keep moving ahead with my life?
* Who can I turn to when I need to express and explore what’s going on with me?
Remember, to get the right answers, you have to ask the right questions.