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cracks in the pavement

1/31/2014

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I am a strong willed human being.  I don't know if I was born that way or I learned to be but at this point the answer to that question is unimportant to me.  What is important to me is realizing that trying to impose my will on life to try to exact from life what I want takes an inordinate amount of energy and then never works the way I want it to.  This is a fact that I tried to avoid and spent a lot of time resisting.  


All of this willful resistance came to a head for me about 10 years ago in a wholesale surrender.  It was tragic, humbling and a huge relief.  Details aside, (maybe some of them later) the pain of the problem became greater than the pain of the solution.  And the solution was to live in ease and give up the resistance.


Resistance is held in our bodies as well as our minds.  I discovered the truth of this statement through experience.  Meditation was, from the beginning, part of the solution I was implementing in my life and was providing assistance to me.  Only in looking back can I now see that without the involvement of my physical body, I was only going to get so far in my meditation practice.  I needed my body to get on board in order to fully access my heart!


This discovery was, of course, accidental.  I began to "take" yoga.  My entry into yoga was purely about self preservation and vanity.  I had hit my 40's and wasn't aging well. My posture was deteriorating and just wasn't strong.  As I began to truly practice yoga the real value of the practice began to reveal itself.... the yoga practice was bringing the surrender of my mind together with a surrender of my body; and together they were up to the challenge of this strong willed human.


The resistance in my mind had cracked and then the resistance in my body cracked..... And we all know what grows up through cracks in the pavement.


HALLELUJAH
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No Worries.......I do Yoga

1/24/2014

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I love the term 'no worries'.  I say it many times a day and as I hear myself say it it reinforces an attitude of ease that I crave in my life.  It is like chickens and eggs...I'm not sure how it started for me but as life rolls forth the process keeps the process going.
I say 'no worries' to myself if I get the sense that I'm beginning to think to much; you know, figuring and planning and possibly writing a script.  It reminds me to take a breath and let it go.  
I say 'no worries' to my friends if they think they are causing me inconvenience or distress and what I mean to say is that there is nothing in life that cannot be met with the ease of 'no worries'.  


I do yoga...... I practice daily on my mat and it is here that I use and cultivate the ease.  


Once again, chickens and eggs.....which came first ease of 'no worries' or the practice of yoga?  I cannot say which came first but I can say, at this point, that they produce each other.
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svadhyaya--what the heck is it?

1/13/2014

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There are ancient writings called the Yoga Sutras; they are the spiritual half of yoga practice.  Within the Sutras are some suggestions called Yamas and Niyamas.  Yamas are the do's and Niyamas are the don'ts.  

One of the Yamas is Svadhyaya and is roughly translated as self study.  There are many ideas about the study of the self and as is the case with most people, I have participated in  my share of self study......well, I have participated mostly in self-improvement.I think self-improvement is the standard western way to practice Svadhyaya.  You know, setting goals and measuring progress.....  Surely self-improvement was what I was taught as a child.

Mercifully, about 10 years ago, before i practiced yoga,I was shown another possibility regarding the self study I had always known......meditation.  Meditation was a great relief for me as it released me from the harsh judgement, required improvements and inevitable failures previously demanded.

Ultimately, there is no right way to practice svadhyaya.....it is completely individual.  The only wrong way to do it is not to do it!

I think my way is the kindest......For me, svadhyaya is being consciously, compassionately and fully present with myself without talking to myself.  For me, self-study is keen observation with expectation of insight coming to me.....and it always does.



 


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    Lucy Facer Bernstein

    I am a committed yogi and community member. I believe in the goodness of humankind and that as we discover our ultimate connectedness we can all find peace....within and without.  

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