Aparigraha & Gratitude

This week in my yoga classes I have been talking about the yogic yama Aparigraha, which basically means non-coveting, not wanting what other people have or wishing we were like other people. I said that one of the ways we can stop ourselves from doing this, when we catch ourselves having those 'the grass is always greener' thoughts, is to stop and remember the good things that we have in our own lives. Even if our life seems pretty crappy at the moment, there are still things we can be grateful for. I mean, really, we have it better than most people in the rest of the world. We need to put things in perspective. So no sooner had I started talking about this in my classes than my friend Sara out in San Francisco sent me this link: http://www.gratitudechallenge.com/. The quote I liked best on the video is this one: "Even when, especially when, adversity strikes, gratitude has the power to help you thrive."

Abundance

This past week in my yoga classes I have been talking about the yama "asteya," which means not stealing, but also realizing that we don't have to hold back or live in a place of fear, scarcity and lack, because the universe is abundant and will provide for us.

I have been working with this idea a lot this year on account of my impending divorce and the worries that go along with being able to manage a household on one income instead of two.

Well, I have to report that no sooner had I finished teaching all my classes about asteya that I saw this principle in play in my own life. For the past few weeks I have been seeing the beautiful dahlias for sale at the farmer's market but kept holding off buying any, thinking they were too expensive, and not knowing if I should really be spending the money on flowers for myself. Well, this week I finally decided that I deserved to have some beautiful flowers, so I bought some. Three days later, one of my Saturday morning yoga students came to class then went to the farmer's market herself after class. She came back a while later and handed me a huge mixed bouquet of flowers that she picked up there! Abundance!

That same day I asked one of my other students, who is a biker, about a problem I was having with my bike. She said she'd take a look at it after class. Not only did she take a look at it, she took my bike home, fixed the problem, put air in my tires and cleaned the chain! Abundance!

Later on that same day I volunteered as a 'bouncer' for the beer tent at the Home Grown Festival. One of my students was there and he graciously gave me 3 tickets for free drinks! And as I was enjoying sampling some of the local beers and hard cider (yes, if you're shocked, I do drink alcohol...everything in moderation is my motto!) with some friends, somebody walked by who was leaving and asked if I wanted his extra ticket that he wasn't going to use. Abundance!

So what do I need to remember from all of this? That the universe is abundant and will provide for me, and that I am worthy and deserving of this abundance. We all are.

My Stroke Of Insight

This is the name of the book by Jill Bolte Taylor (a brain scientist) that we are reading for The Yoga Room's October book club. As someone who has been doing a lot of self-reflection lately, I am finding parts of this book really interesting.

One of my own insights upon reading the book is how the left side of my brain (the 'ego,' judmental, critical, monkey mind) is typically more dominant than my right side (the side that allows me to be present in the moment and be at peace). That is not a completely bad thing, though, because my left brain also allows me to be organized, deal well with finances, run my own business, and be a responsible human being!

Another thing I learned from reading the book is that there are certain limbic system (emotional) programs, like anger, that can be triggered *automatically* within us (in other words, that we can't control). However, it takes less than 90 seconds for the program to be triggered, surge through our body, and then be completely flushed out of our blood stream. So, if after 90 seconds have passed I remain angry, that is because I have chosen to let that circuit continue to run. In other words, we have a choice to hook into that neurocircuitry, or we can choose to move back over to the right brain, come back to the present moment, and allow the reaction to melt away as "fleeting physiology."

This is something that I've been working with myself for a while now, and it feels so great to have this knowledge validated by an actual brain scientist! Yes, I have a choice about how I choose to perceive situations and can react to them from my left brain or my right brain...I can get hooked into an unpleasant situation, memory, argument, etc. and have my left brain keep obsessing over it or try to 'win,' or I can 'move over' to my right brain and realize that I can be compassionate and forgiving toward others who hurt me because no one is perfect, I don't have to take things personally and, instead of obsessing about past situations that will always have the same outcome, I can realign myself with the present moment and find some peace. IT IS A CHOICE.

Teaching My Teacher

One of my yoga teachers, Jonny Kest, came and took one of my yoga classes for the first time ever yesterday. It was a real honor to have him at The Yoga Room. After all the yoga classes I have taken with him and everything I have learned from him that has made me a better yoga teacher, it was nice to be able to give something back. He said the class was awesome...thanks for the wonderful compliment, Jonny!

Love Wins

A bumper sticker I saw on the way back from Lake Michigan today. Something to think about, especially when we're feeling less than loving.

Mindfulness as a Way to Liberation

This past weekend I attended a Mindfulness Yoga workshop at the Ann Arbor Zen Temple with instructor Frank Jude Boccio. He is both a Buddhist practitioner and a yoga teacher. He had a very easy-to-understand explanation of The Four Noble Truths which goes right to the heart of what I have been working on in my own personal practice lately.

Dukkha - Literally meaning "wrong hole," as in a wheel that is mis-aligned, the Buddha reminds us that 'stuff happens.' We age, suffer illness and pain, are separated from what and whom we desire, are confronted with experiences we don't want, and then we die.

Samudaya - In response to dukkha, feelings arise. When experience is pleasant, we thirst to prolong it, getting caught in grasping and clinging; when unpleasant, we get caught in resistance, thirsting for things to be different; and when neutral, we become confused or caught in boredom and ignorance. We thirst for distraction and oblivion.

Nirodha - The practice of 'containment' or 'yoking.' We do not deny or suppress our feelings, but neither do we vent or express them as a strategy to avoid or eliminate them. Rather, through a mindfulness/meditation practice, we learn to contain our reactivity. By not reacting, we actually learn how to simply feel.

Marga - Once our conditioned reactivity has been contained, we are free to choose how to creatively and skillfully respond to our experience. Our life becomes the path of awakening.

Some good ideas to meditate on.

Karma Yoga & Tears

Yesterday I did some karma yoga by serving lunch at the Delonis Center, Ann Arbor's homeless shelter. I had worked in the kitchen there once before, preparing a meal, but this was my first time actually being in contact with the people who came in. What a humbling, emotional experience. I found myself fighting to hold back tears a few times. What were the tears from? Well, first of all, just compassion for my fellow human beings who are 'getting the short end of the stick' so-to-speak. Secondly, they were tears of empathy. I have been dealing with a lot of pain, sadness and unpleasantness in my life lately, and when I see those things in someone else, my heart just goes out to them; I can relate. Finally, the tears were of gratitude. I was reminded that no matter how painful my current situation is and how much I've lost, I still have a roof over my head and food in my refrigerator. I can sleep in my own bed at night, I have a job that pays my bills, and I have supportive friends and family (plus a bunch of awesome yoga students!). I am blessed, and I need to remind myself of that more often. We all do.

The Ego Is Not An Entity

This week during my yoga classes I read a quote about the ego: "The ego is not an entity but an activity. It is contraction of the field of Radiance."

Don't we all need to be reminded of this? It is the ego that makes the (mostly) unconscious thoughts run continuously through our minds. It is the ego that makes us contract - in fear, in anger, in sadness.

We have an opportunity each time we come on to our yoga mats to remind ourselves that we are not our egos. Our true self, our true essence, is pure Radiance. When we can come from this place of radiance instead of from the ego, people and situations do not need to affect us negatively anymore. We expand instead of contracting--opening our hearts and opening our minds. This is what yoga is all about.