Hi All,
I emailed this link to you all. I thought I would put it up here to refer to... and comment on if needed. (click on name of post above)
Here's what I said in email:
"Hello Beautiful Kula,
Once again, I was listening to this great science podcast and thought of you all!
If you listen partway through: about 32:28 is the time... or begin around 30minutes into the audio. It is talking about how cells actually emit light.... and human bodies are actually glowing... radiating! Well, "duh" we might say. Yogis and Yoginis knew this thousands of years ago. It's neat to see science catch up to this sort of stuff, though.
Check it out if you have a minute. I got all excited, like I do with this nerdy stuff. :)
with Love,
Brittany"
Friday, December 4, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Shortcuts
How beautiful of a thing we have going on! I know its been mentioned before, but its something that is ever new to me. As usual, our meeting last night was special. There was a great deal of synergy between us this time, and we peeled back some new layers of consciousness as a group, which was rather exciting. Amy, and Christina, we sure missed you guys, so we held and nurtured the space. I cannot get over how remarkable this kula is, and how deeply fascinated we can all be together, for each other, by each other, and especially for the practice. Its incredible how radically progressive our awarenesses are becoming, and how sweet it is to trust that depth of this stuff is real. The most absolutely inspiring thing to me is how sensitive we are to revelation, and how immediately willing we are to participate in the dance! This just creates a reminder for me of the impeccable relationship between the whole and huge idea of the Absolute purpose, and the reason for practice, and diligence.
For the sake of our absentees, I will try to give an overview of our meeting last night. If I miss any highlights, please feel free to include them.
It may be the case that you watch the segment you missed, but I will just go over some of it so it can begin to cultivate something if you don't have time to watch it immediately. I think the foundation of the entire segment of the video is what we pulled our inspiration for Asana practice from, so I will mostly just go over that, since the video is available to watch, and for the sake of redundancy.
First we shared the Peace Invocation for Study, which is always a beautiful experience, then we watched the 2nd DVD, which was founded on the idea that in order for an effective practice or teaching to occur, the philosophical vision of our practice needs to be grounded, and that no matter what we should be willing to believe that people are beautiful, even if this creates criticism of you as a teacher. He emphasised rooting yourself in the ground of being, and speaking from a place of heart, so that the essence of Yoga is not saccrificed, and so the essence of YOU is not saccrificed! John went on to talk about the vision of Tantra (fundamentally everything is supreme consciousness, the intrinsic good and benevolence in all, engagement in that which is life enhancing/ affirming) and began to describe mays in which we can find ourselves living and viewing the world from within this perspective. He then went into unfolding the Invocation and proceeded to expand into the ultimately free nature of the Absolute, and the unbounded creative power of Shakti. Why does the Universal choose to veil itself? Why do we experience dualistic perception? This is about when he began to enlighten us with the idea of the power of contrast. We can deepen awareness through comparison, and when we do experience the Absolute nature of something, our spirit feels unbounded joy and freedom! Kind of like the journey into the source that we explored during the immersion. Once we touch, we are overjoyed, and we have something to remember as we keep taking the steps to hopefully touch back in.
We have all experienced revelation, over and over it seems, and the sweetness keeps us coming back. We wonder how it was possible to have been living before we understand something more profoundly. We wonder why we just didn't get it like that before. For example, in Vasisthasana with one leg in Vrkasana,pressing upwards into your foot with the inner thigh of the straight leg, completely transformed my stability and freedom in this pose. The smallest cue, the right word, and simply the reflection of our willingness to be open to Lila can slingshot us further than we ever thought possible. Something has been revealed, and boy it feels sooo good. I think reorganization is something that has to happen time and time and time again, we will never be fully energetically and absolutely organized forever, but maybe for a moment we will, just until the Universal shines through once again and reminds us of its infinite beauty and potential.
We talked for a while on injuries, and how important it is to stay true to the practice and the principles during times when we feel like our body is being inadequate. Our edge is something we sensitively honor, not rigidly expect, and having an injury can create a unique understanding of how we might not have been balanced in our actions. Whether we acquire the injury during asana, or if it is initiated otherwise and we just keep flaring it up in asana, our bodies will reveal a lot about our Yoga.
This brings us to the theme we set for the next asana practice, which is sharing which qualities of Heart have been revealed to us in our practice, and sharing our articulate understanding of the shortcuts that have been shared with us, that have rocked our world's, and our bodies. So basically, come prepared to share your revelations and shortcuts, and hopefully have a few more! John says, "We use each other as a mirror to remember, feel, and hear our own beauty."
You all are absolutely beautiful, deep gratitude and blessings are overflowing. What a good reason to celebrate life!
Shyla
For the sake of our absentees, I will try to give an overview of our meeting last night. If I miss any highlights, please feel free to include them.
It may be the case that you watch the segment you missed, but I will just go over some of it so it can begin to cultivate something if you don't have time to watch it immediately. I think the foundation of the entire segment of the video is what we pulled our inspiration for Asana practice from, so I will mostly just go over that, since the video is available to watch, and for the sake of redundancy.
First we shared the Peace Invocation for Study, which is always a beautiful experience, then we watched the 2nd DVD, which was founded on the idea that in order for an effective practice or teaching to occur, the philosophical vision of our practice needs to be grounded, and that no matter what we should be willing to believe that people are beautiful, even if this creates criticism of you as a teacher. He emphasised rooting yourself in the ground of being, and speaking from a place of heart, so that the essence of Yoga is not saccrificed, and so the essence of YOU is not saccrificed! John went on to talk about the vision of Tantra (fundamentally everything is supreme consciousness, the intrinsic good and benevolence in all, engagement in that which is life enhancing/ affirming) and began to describe mays in which we can find ourselves living and viewing the world from within this perspective. He then went into unfolding the Invocation and proceeded to expand into the ultimately free nature of the Absolute, and the unbounded creative power of Shakti. Why does the Universal choose to veil itself? Why do we experience dualistic perception? This is about when he began to enlighten us with the idea of the power of contrast. We can deepen awareness through comparison, and when we do experience the Absolute nature of something, our spirit feels unbounded joy and freedom! Kind of like the journey into the source that we explored during the immersion. Once we touch, we are overjoyed, and we have something to remember as we keep taking the steps to hopefully touch back in.
We have all experienced revelation, over and over it seems, and the sweetness keeps us coming back. We wonder how it was possible to have been living before we understand something more profoundly. We wonder why we just didn't get it like that before. For example, in Vasisthasana with one leg in Vrkasana,pressing upwards into your foot with the inner thigh of the straight leg, completely transformed my stability and freedom in this pose. The smallest cue, the right word, and simply the reflection of our willingness to be open to Lila can slingshot us further than we ever thought possible. Something has been revealed, and boy it feels sooo good. I think reorganization is something that has to happen time and time and time again, we will never be fully energetically and absolutely organized forever, but maybe for a moment we will, just until the Universal shines through once again and reminds us of its infinite beauty and potential.
We talked for a while on injuries, and how important it is to stay true to the practice and the principles during times when we feel like our body is being inadequate. Our edge is something we sensitively honor, not rigidly expect, and having an injury can create a unique understanding of how we might not have been balanced in our actions. Whether we acquire the injury during asana, or if it is initiated otherwise and we just keep flaring it up in asana, our bodies will reveal a lot about our Yoga.
This brings us to the theme we set for the next asana practice, which is sharing which qualities of Heart have been revealed to us in our practice, and sharing our articulate understanding of the shortcuts that have been shared with us, that have rocked our world's, and our bodies. So basically, come prepared to share your revelations and shortcuts, and hopefully have a few more! John says, "We use each other as a mirror to remember, feel, and hear our own beauty."
You all are absolutely beautiful, deep gratitude and blessings are overflowing. What a good reason to celebrate life!
Shyla
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