Bringing Back Joy Into Practice

Peaceful. Happy. Joyful. That’s how I feel now during and after practice–something I have missed and started feeling again when I began my self practice (my yoga) at home.

It helps that I do not have to worry about time–worried I may be making the next class wait or the teacher stay behind unnecessarily because I am not yet done with my practice; worried that I am late again because of horrible traffic; plus I can stay longer in a pose than usual because that’s what my body is telling me that it needs, savasana included. If I missed anything from my slow flow practice years ago, it’s the meditative savasana that lasted for at least 15 minutes–I even slept through it and nobody minded, nobody even bothered to wake me up. Ah, bliss!

It also helps that I save 3 to 4 hours on travel…and that means more hours for sleep or some leeway to take it slow in the morning. I don’t have to rush. I practice at 9 in the morning, give or take 15 minutes. My present setup thus allows some balance between flexibility and stability (sounds like a lesson for an asana?). Nice.

Self practice empties me of any expectation. I do what I can, only what I can for that moment.

Self practice surprises me…not only in being able to do things beyond what my mind can conceive but also in the level of awareness, in and out. Watching my monkey mind, relaxing my tense muscles, observing movements that facilitate getting into a certain pose, feeling my posture, getting lost in the moment.

And finally, I guess it helps to find beauty, at times even reason, in whatever the universe brings my way.

“Thank you for the gift of yoga and may I use it…to live my dharma well and with love and joy.”

Just So I’ll Remember – Reposting

An individual’s act is nothing but a part of a cosmic act. It’s not that you are acting. You are made to act. Somebody made you with a purpose. Know that somebody has made you, somebody is making you work and somebody is going to make you stop. You are free to remember that or not. That’s all.

…When You make me forget, I become egoistic, I become miserable.

That should be our prayer. To recognize His unseen hand always.

Om Shanthi, Shanthi, Shanthi

source: https://www.facebook.com/notes/sri-swami-satchidananda/remember-his-unseen-hand-always-january-26/10150494454915683

Some Thoughts on Chinese New Year

Forrest Gump: Life is like a box of chocolates…you’ll never know what you’ll get.

Me: Life is like a box of tea…you’ll never know when you’ll get an empty pack

sealed but empty

*****

To give life can mean a lot of things….

*****

“If sticking to your vegetarian diet causes you stress, then you are missing the whole point,” so said my mentor.

I guess the same is true with the practice of yoga asana.

 

Reposts – Quotable Quotes

A quote posted in the FB status of YT:

‘The main purpose of asana…is vibrant health. Saying one style is better than the other or more spiritual than another, is ludicrous! No matter what form of yoga asana you choose to practice, make sure that it takes you in (to deeper levels of consciousness), otherwise it is just another glorified version of stretching.”  - Prem Carlisi, 2007, p207

This one is from this article:

“Your body is your temple. Any pose that makes you feel otherwise, any teacher that makes you feel otherwise and any practice in the canon of yoga that makes you feel otherwise should be avoided.”

 

Yoga Beyond Physical

“The greatest teacher of yoga is not Iyengar or Bikram, but Gandhi.” Read the full article here.

“Trying to understand…why the poor lack shoes is also yoga.” This just affirms that the things that I do make sense on their own, and, put together, make a cohesive, meaningful whole.

“The yogi is not one who sits down to practise breathing exercises…he is one who looks upon all with an equal eye, sees other creatures in himself.”

OM.

Lessons for the Day: Love and Surrender

Got this from my sister, sharing her exchange with my dear niece:

Mama can’t find her lipstick and is getting frustrated. Sarah wanted to talk and for me to pretend I am Caillou.

Mama:  Hang on, sweetheart, I cannot find my lipstick…..(still searching)…argggh!  This is frustrating…

Sarah:  Settle down mama… That’s just the way life is!

Mama:  Did you lose something already?

Sarah:  Yeah remember my white ball with confetti?  And my purple paintbrush?

Daddy:  And the first Ernie?

Sarah: Yeah!  That’s just the way it goes sometimes…

Glad my 4-year-old niece has realized this fact this early in her life. And I, her 40-year-old aunt, must learn from her! It’s okay to lose things, but do not lose the lesson that goes with the experience.

*****

It took me more  than a year to accept that there are only 24 hours in a day and it’s not humanly possible to keep adding to my routine and think that everything will just be the same. I have added 9 hours of classroom sessions, 9 hours of travel (in addition to my normal commuting time), and maybe another 9 hours of reading assignments every week; work is more flexible now, albeit demanding the same hours of study and attention; domestic obligations are more demanding and less flexible. What do these things leave for yoga? I guess my calling for now is something else. Going back to my 3x-4x a week ashtanga habit is not possible, at least not for now. In the last three days, however, I have been trying to establish my 1.5-hour pranayama+my yoga (and I mean MY yoga, working on my back and legs that seem to have become stiff due to long hours of sitting and walking in the last two months). Let’s see how regular this routine would get.

*****

I thought that if I were to become a saint, I would be the patron of difficult bosses, as I have been blessed with the tenacity to deal with their mood swings and the capacity to meet their (sometimes unreasonable) work standards.

Now if I were to become a yoga teacher, I would not be the yoga teacher of the business tycoons (like someone I know ) nor the yoga teacher of the yoga teachers (again, like someone I know ). Instead I would like to be the yoga teacher of the mere mortals, who struggle to balance their responsibilities, to make money to fund their yoga life, to find time for themselves, and to bend and twist and balance on one foot.  And two things I will teach them: that yoga is love and yoga is surrender. In that order.

OM.

My First Working Day of 2012

Starting the year right with clear energy channels! I welcome all positive energy that the new year brings!

 

That’s as good as it gets!

*****

Argh! Found these coupons for free drinks tucked neatly at the back page of an old planner. Sigh. If only I searched hard enough…. I hope this 2012 I would not miss any opportunity only because I did not search hard enough…or not wait long enough. OM.

 

A Happy, Healthy, Hopeful 2012 to All! (Updated)

Do you ever feel like a plastic bag
Drifting through the wind, wanting to start again?
Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin
Like a house of cards, one blow from caving in?

Do you ever feel already buried deep?
Six feet under screams but no one seems to hear a thing
Do you know that there’s still a chance for you
‘Cause there’s a spark in you?

You just gotta ignite the light and let it shine
Just own the night like the 4th of July

‘Cause baby, you’re a firework
Come on, show ‘em what you’re worth
Make ‘em go, oh
As you shoot across the sky

Baby, you’re a firework
Come on, let your colors burst
Make ‘em go, oh
You’re gonna leave ‘em falling down

You don’t have to feel like a waste of space
You’re original, cannot be replaced
If you only knew what the future holds
After a hurricane comes a rainbow

Maybe your reason why all the doors are closed
So you could open one that leads you to the perfect road
Like a lightning bolt, your heart will blow
And when it’s time, you’ll know

You just gotta ignite the light and let it shine
Just own the night like the 4th of July

‘Cause baby you’re a firework
Come on, show ‘em what you’re worth
Make ‘em go, oh
As you shoot across the sky

Baby, you’re a firework
Come on, let your colors burst
Make ‘em go, oh
You’re gonna leave ‘em falling down

Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon
It’s always been inside of you, you, you
And now it’s time to let it through

‘Cause baby you’re a firework
Come on, show ‘em what you’re worth
Make ‘em go, oh
As you shoot across the sky

Baby, you’re a firework
Come on, let your colors burst
Make ‘em go, oh
You’re gonna leave ‘em falling down

Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon
Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon

(From: http://www.elyrics.net/read/k/katy-perry-lyrics/firework-lyrics.html )

*****

I have regretted giving second chances to people, after realizing that not everyone deserves it. But then I also realize that life is not an assembly line in a factory where items that fail to meet the quality standards are thrown out and completely discarded. The universe gives each and every soul umpteenth chances to evolve and transform. Life is a journey, not an assembly line.

*****

This is my prayer for 2012, from the film “What the Bleep do We Know?”:

Show me a sign that you paid attention to any one of these things that I created and bring it in a way that I won’t expect, so I am surprised at my ability to experience it today and make it so that I won’t have doubt that it came from you.

*****

Some years ago, a friend sent me this new year’s greeting, which I happened to see again today in FB status. It won’t hurt to relive that message again. Cheers!

May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t forget to make some art — write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself. ― Neil Gaiman

So looking forward to good madness and to surprising myself this year! And kissing someone won’t be so bad either

A Christmas Gift

Started my holiday shopping only now Got my 9-month old goddaughter this toy only because it reminds me of my niece’s favorite–a hand puppet!

Took a peek of what’s inside before wrapping.

Little did I know that the toy teaches these:

Oh yeah! Start them young!

A Christmas Wish (Updated)

It is just so hard for me to greet “Merry Christmas”, so hard to be merry when people around you are suffering. Christmas is a season of giving and I guess the best gift one can give is a better, brighter future to the succeeding generations.

Made a quick summary of typhoons that hit the Philippines in the 1990s onwards and the damages they caused in lives (measured in terms of wages people could have earned in their lifetime) and properties. This is my challenge, this should be the state’s challenge, to any business that poses threat of destruction to our environment: if you will spend Php9.5 billion a year in labor or wages, that of the executives’ excluded, and not in taxes, not in revenues or gross domestic product or value added, then go operate in this country. Otherwise, we do not need you in this place, we have no reason to let you operate in this place–neither principle nor profit justifies your existence.

*****

Happy to know that the likes of Christian Monsod is on my side. His article read:

The challenge to the government to disallow projects that, in the words of Paul Krugman, socialize costs and privatize benefits, such as  mining, the biggest problem cited—in Surigao, Albay, the Cordillera Administrative Region, Palawan, Samar, Caraga and Zamboanga provinces—where the poor hope that the Aquino administration is not misled by the industry in the face of their personal testimonies on the hardships it brings them, including the social divisions through the wrong use of money.

Read his entire article here.

Overall, I think that the impeachment of the chief justice is a necessary yet an insufficient condition to achieve the reforms that the poor want, and DESERVE.