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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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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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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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.
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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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HISTORY OF YOGA | Part One

HISTORY OF YOGA | Part One
Yoga originated in India 5,000 years ago.  It has spread from the East to the West and now 20 million people practice yoga.
Indus Valley 3,000 B.C.
British colonization & archaeology discovered the beginnings of yoga.  Excavations unearthed ancient Indian civilization including remnants of yogic practice etched in stone.  Asanas can be seen in terra cotta figurines.  They traded resources with Mesopotamia and gained prosperity and wealth.  Sitting on the floor for long periods of time is ingrained in Indian culture.
Vedic Period 2,500 B.C.

• Sanskrit was their means of expression.  Veda means knowledge; the Hindu's sacred text.  Early yoga had a strong ritual component.  Sacrifice by fire.  Techniques to still the mind. 
• Rigvedic- earliest of Vedic texts.  Contains religious hymns, and allusions to myths and stories.
• Mantra Language- both mantra and prose language including 75 mantras not in the Rigveda
• Samhita prose- beginnings of Vedic canon. The Brahmana part is commentary on mantras and ritual
• Brahmana prose- the 4 Vedas belong to this period including Aranyakas, the oldest of the Upanishads, and the oldest Shrautasutras.
• Sutra language- This is the last stratum of Vedic Sanskrit leading up to 500 B.C.  All but the 5 prose Upanishads are post-Buddhist. 
• Epic and Paninian Sanskrit- language of the Mahabharata and Ramayana epics, and the Classical Sanskrit considered post-Vedic after 500 B.C.

Wisdom of Upanishads 1000 - 500 B.C.

• New channels of analysis and critique.
• Texts written in the forest of clear, explicit signs of yoga.
• Bhagavad Gita- most beloved yogi text.

Period of Sutras 500 - 100 B.C.

• 6 systems of Indian thought.  Yoga is one of the orthodox systems of thought.  Buddhism and Jainism were considered unorthodox.
• Yoga was incorporated into Buddhism for the first time.
• Sutras- brought together from sporadic places throughout the Vedas.  It outlines the classical understanding of the mind.
• Most famous definition:  "Of minimal syllabary, unambiguous, pithy, comprehensive, continuous, and without flaw: who knows the sutra knows it to be thus.
• Canonical scriptures, many of which are regarded as records of the oral teachings of Buddha.

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