My Cat Doesn't Understand Om!

The other day I was sitting on the floor in my living room practicing Om and could feel my cat watching me.  I peeked open my eyes and she had the most perplexed WTF look on her face!!  Hahaha, yoga can be fun, too!  :)
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The Purpose of Sun Salutations

The Purpose of Sun Salutations
Sun salutations lengthens and strengthens, flexes and extends the main muscles of the body while creating a prana flow of energy throughout the system.  It involves a rhythmic stream of breath while reaching towards the sky in mountain pose (tadasana), falling gracefully into a forward fold (uttanasana), raising up halfway with a flat back parallel to the earth, and repeating the flow.  You should feel heat rising evenly throughout your body with an invigorating, refreshing calm.
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Ujjayi Breathing

Ujjayi Breathing
Ujjayi (victorious) breathing should be both energizing and relaxing.  Patanjali explains that the breath should be both dirga (long) and suksma (smooth).  Try opening your throat at the base of your neck and feel your breath cooly brush down your trachea.  Imagine sipping your breath in through a straw.  Gently pull your breath in on inhalation and gently push your breath out on exhalation sounding like the sound of ocean waves rolling in and out.  It should feel invigorating and calming.  It's proven that when under stress we do not breathe correctly.  Our breath is short and we deprive our cells of oxygen, thus giving us headaches among other sometimes more serious ailments.  Oxygenating your cells with deep, intentional breathing is good for your body, mind, and spirit.  Happy breathing, everyone!
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Namaste

Namaste
In yoga or in India, a greeting at the beginning and end of class. Used as a mudra it expresses "suchness" or tahata.


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Join the Online Meditation Crew

wordslessspoken:

You’re welcome to join the Online Meditation Crew on Twitter. This is a great group of people that encourages each another in our practice. ”We meditate together miles apart.”

1. Just follow the hashtag: #OMCru.
2. People will announce when they are going to meditate so you can join in.
3. They...

Meditation

Meditation
One of the hardest parts of my yoga teacher training is the required 10 minute meditation every day.  Throughout my life, without realizing it, I've often meditated by staring into the flame of a candle and just watched the fire lick the air.  My mind was quiet with the curious nature of the element entirely and it absorbed me.  I unintentionally practiced Dharana at random times in my life.
I think it's the idea of meditation, or the pressure I put on myself to get it right, that gives me anxiety of the daily task.  Sometimes I will just try to listen really hard- that brings me to the present.  If I can hear crickets and really focus on their creaky song, my heart and mind become silent in awe and wonder.

Learn this from the Waters:

Learn this from the waters:

in mountain clefts and chasms,

loud gush the streamlets,

but great rivers flow silently.

Sutta Nipāta 3.725

Samadhi

8. SAMADHI: the eighth limb of The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali
Absolute bliss.  Pure contemplation.  Superconsciousness where you and the universe are one.  Existing.  Enlightenment.  Paramahansa Yoganananda called it the state of God-Union.
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Dhyana

7. DHYANA:  the seventh limb of The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali
Uninterrupted meditation without an object.  Meditation is not unconsciousness or nothingness.  It is acute awareness and unity with the universe.  The calm achieved in meditation infects all areas of your life with positive light.

Dharana

6. DHARANA:  the sixth limb of The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali
Concentration.  Dharana teaches the mind to focus on one point or image.  "Concentration is binding thought in one place." -Patanjali.  The objective is to still the mind to quietness by fixing your thoughts on one thing such as a candle flame, a flower, or a mantra.  In dharana, concentration is effortless- there is no sense of time passing.
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Pratyahara

5. PRATYAHARA: the fifth limb of The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali
Withdrawal of the senses.  Can occur during meditation, breathing exercises, or yoga postures (asanas).  It is anytime you're directing your thoughts and attention inward.  Your focus is no longer interrupted by distractions.
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Niyama

2. NIYAMA: the second limb of The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali
Niyama is inner discipline and responsibility, loving ourselves.  There are 5 niyamas.

• Purity(shauca).  Purity is achieved through the 5 yamas, which rid your mind of negativities.  Keep yourself, clothing, and environment clean.  Eat fresh, healthy meals.  Your body is a temple. 
• Contentment (santosha).  Be content with what you have and be happy with who you are.  Seek happiness in the present moment.
• Austerity (tapas).  Be disciplined in body, speech, and mind.  This helps us learn control thus enabling us to direct the mind and body for higher spiritual goals.
• Study of the sacred text (svadhyaya).  Study sacred texts of your religion, or what you find engaging, that's relevant to your spiritual growth.  As lyengar says, a person starts to "realize that all creation is meant for bhakti (adoration) rather than for bhoga (enjoyment), that all creation is divine, that there is divinity within himself and that the energy which moves him is the same that moves the entire universe."
• Living with an awareness of the Divine (ishvara-pranidhana).  Be devoted to God, the divine universe, and what you consider holy.

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Namaste

Namaste- a greeting or salutation from India.  Often spoken at the beginning and end of yoga class with hands closed in prayer over heart center; it is a beautiful closing to a communal practice.

The Philosophy of Yoga

The Philosophy of Yoga
Yoga originates from the sanskrit word "yuj" to "yoke" or join together, to unite, or to connect.  The implication is bringing ourselves back to balance.
The word "yuj" can also be translated as "to center one's thoughts," to concentrate on oneself or to "meditate deeply."
While yoga unites the mind, body, breath, and spirit in harmony, it can also disunite.  Polarities (yin/yang) are always apparent.  The disunion is when the spirit seeks to separate from the physical body, temporarily, to seek knowledge, growth, and bliss.  The yogic practice of cleansing, physical exercise, meditation, and concentration all yoke the mind, body, and spirit.  With persistence, "self-realization" is achieved.
Yoga awakens the connection to our source, while seeking balance and a deeper sense of self.  We become aware of our raw goodness and raw purity.  Self-awareness and self-love is key.  We cannot love others nor spread love into the world without a deep veneration for the self.  We must love ourselves for who we are and who we are meant to be.  From there, we shed our separateness and become ONE with all beings. Yoga loves and includes all beings regardless of size, color, class, religion, nationality, political outlooks, etc.  Our connectedness reveals our authentic selves.
In stillness, we are able to trust our intuition, our inner guidance.
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Yoga Teacher Training - Day 3

Yoganize Teacher Training - Day 3
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Yoga is not simply an exercise, a work-out, or even a meditation.  Yoga is a state of mind- a stillness of our thoughts; a quietening.  It releases us from stress and illness, bringing us back to our pure existence.  We maintain a practice to achieve this state of mind by focusing on the body, mind, and breath.  We arouse a sense of peace, harmony, and balance.  We feel centered when we are calm and we quell any trace of Ego.  It is in humility that we connect with the divine light in ourselves.
Yoga encourages:

• movement that works to relax the body
• relaxation to quiet our frantic minds
• chanting to arouse and release emotions
• meditation to center the spiritual elements

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Om

Om
"Ahh-Ooo-Mmm"  |  "AUM"
A universal sound like "Amen."  It is the sound of Creation, the divine all-encompassing consciousness in the form of an original vibration manifesting the divine in our bodies.  It is the reflection of our absolute reality, our existing without beginning or end, and embracing all of existence.  The mantra Om is the name of God, a vibration of the Supreme.
Letter by letter, A-U-M conveys the divine energy (Shakti) united in its 3 basic aspects: Creation (Bhrahma Shakti), Preservation (Vishnu Shakti), and Liberation and/or Destruction (Shiva Shakti).
It is profound religious meditation, the highest spiritual sound.  A- kara means form or shape like earth, trees, or any other object.  U- kara means formless or shapeless like water, air, or fire.  Ma- kara means neither shape nor shapeless like dark energy that exists in the Universe.  A-U-M.
Om opens the chakras, our third eye.  Om is universal.  It is a safe chant for meditation.
image source  |  Om Wikipedia

Yoganize Homework

1. Keep a journal.
2. Be early to class.
3. Practice eight yoga classes a month.
4. Practice a 10 minute quiet time everyday.
5. Reading assignments.

Choose Your Own Path

Yoga Teacher Training- Day One
Friday, August 26, 2011
1. Give from fullness, not depletion.  Take care of yourself first.  Think of the example of an emergency on an airplane.  You are told to put the mask on yourself first.  If you are not healthy and full, you cannot give to anyone.  You must also receive to be able to give.
2. Self-reflection.  Society is numb from business especially in the West.  Yoga is good for depression, anxiety, and stress, because we can calm down and rest our minds in stillness.  "Be still and know that I am God."  Psalm 46:10
3. Loving yourself first is the best gift.  Be able to forgive yourself.  We all make mistakes.  The beauty is found in learning from them.
4. Surrender to yourself.  Calm your mind.  We all have layers like onions that can be peeled back through meditation and yoga.  Sometimes pain from childhood can come out during your practice.  Sometimes people can feel emotional and cry during a practice or meditation.
5. Use yoga as a tool for transformation.
6. Be the change you wish to see in the world.  Don't tell people what to do, but lead by example.  Purity of thought, food, and practice.
7. Everybody needs love.  Don't react defensively to negative people.  React in love.  You never know what they've been through.
8. Yoganize is a combination of styles.  *Yoga is a system of breathing accompanied by movement.

Real Peace

Real Peace
Each of us longs for an abiding sense of purpose and meaning, peace, health, and security. At some level, we also aspire to freedom.
According to the Vedas, your soul has four distinct desires:  The first is dharma, the desire to become who you were meant to be.  It is the longing to thrive and, in the process, fulfill your unique purpose.  I know every artist can relate to that.  It is what makes us who we are.  My art is so intricately intertwined with my identity I could not separate the two.  It is my giving back to the world, my reason, my own prophetic content.  My relationship with art is like my relationship with God: eternal, emotional, and ultimately fulfilling.
The second is artha, the desire for means such as money, security, and health, to help you fulfill your dharma.  The third is kama, the longing for pleasure, and the fourth is moksha, the desire for spiritual realization and ultimate freedom.  Artha is a way of achieving the things that matter.  I'd love to totally disregard money, health, and security, but they teach us lessons of discipline and responsibility.  They are the roots that stabilize our path.  Kama is like the dessert of life: weekend get-aways, jokes, cupcakes, a foot massage, a bubble bath.  Moksha is about selflessness and eternal fulfillment of a spiritual nature.  It comes from meditation and prayer, singing worship songs, thoughtful inspection of your own heart, and a practice of patience and loving-kindness to the world around you.
This article on page 110 of Yoga Journal's Sept 2011 issue really spoke to me as I've lately dealt with intensified longings for my purpose and my freedom, and the ways to achieve it.  My illustration honors Mountain Pose with hands folded in prayer position, a place where daily stress falls away and the world becomes quiet.
"The mind is everything.  What you think, you become."  -Buddha
"Enter the kingdom of Heaven and righteousness and all things shall be added on to thee."  -Matthew 6:33
-Paraphrased from Yoga Journal 


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