Beliefs...

Beliefs are limits to be examined and transcended. - John Lilley

The Buddha Documentary on YouTube

This 2-hour documentary has a beautiful mix of contributors, visually interesting animation, cinematography and good narration.  The sound and music are pleasant too.  Watch it for free on YouTube.  Below are the links. 

Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkbv0Qv7pig&feature=related
Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgAqqLMHt5w&feature=related

Some things are better dipped in failure

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJhKVICLi9s

A perspective of what you're on spiritually

Instead of referring to being "on the spiritual path" perhaps consider saying "I am on good spiritual soil!"

Hypothetical: what if each of us were granted 10 minutes of flight within our lives?

In the 90's my husband, our friend and I were installing a window on the 2nd floor of our home.  As we pushed, pulled and balanced getting the heavy thing up a ladder I said, "Wouldn't it be great if everyone was given the ability to fly for a total of 10 minutes within each lifetime?  We could have used the ability just now."  Our friend promptly responded, "Nah, we'd have wasted it all by now." 

Would you waste it?  Would you savor it, use it wisely in a practical manner?  Save it for work as good samaritan?  Would people organize their efforts?  Would Americans use flight differently from say Papua New Guineans? 

Maybe I have the start of a science fiction story...

Doubt

At 15 it was time to decide if I wanted to be confirmed in the church I attended all my life.  In a rare (perhaps one of only two) religious discussions with my mother I told her I did not consider myself a believer.  Her only response was, "All good Christians have periods of doubt."  The floor being opened to spirituality as a process was all it took for me to go ahead with confirmation.  This church and the congregation were already a big part of my life and happened to be grounding and fun but if I were told I had to believe in order to be confirmed that would have been a deal breaker.

Later in my 20's I read how a Zen Buddhist only needs a questioning mind and Zen Masters say only doubt enables great awakening.  Doubt offsets complacency. 

Since my teens I have enjoyed the mystery, the mystical, a number of perceived "religious experiences" and periods of more of the mundane where I feel a little less connected to Spirit. Maybe it's my personality or church of origin but I don't feel guilt if my dedication or belief soften.  If doubt enters it's simply something to note and I recall my mother's words. 

As powerful as that conversation has been for me my mother has no recollection of it!

Next Woods Class: 2/13 at 10am, weather permitting

It is 65 degrees and sunny today.  January is supposedly the coldest month in Virginia Beach.  Perhaps the mid-February class will have a morning like this! 

Random notes taken during a workshop with Angela Farmer & Victor Van Kooten

These are some things from a sheet of paper that surfaced in a stack.  I don't who came up with what.  Enjoy.

The teacher, when giving instructions, takes power away from the student.  The purpose of the teacher is to inspire the student to find their power. 

To feel and sense lightness, merge with gravity.  Sense heaviness first.  Soften your approach.  Melt down, feel down instead pf press. 

In asana are you making a shape or are you going in to lengthen and explore the body?

We tend to put the brain on such a pedastal.  Brain-intellect-mind is fast.  Body-mind is slower.  In the west we tend to bang the body-mind around.  Build a relationship, a loving relationship between the intellect and the body-mind.

With yoga we don't need to go anywhere.  "It" is in the interior.

Matter is bound energy.  Go there with compassion and intelligence.  Yes, it will slow your practice down.

Be a fulfilled person:  fill breath and consciousness in spaces.

Concentrate and allow the yummy side.

The body loves metaphors.

Be tender (present) with yourself during practice.  Be in the feeling state.

Communicate with area(s) of trauma, gripping, tension.  Use words, breath, listening.  Don't try to fix it. 

A quick thought on where an instructor touches on being a mesmerist

Mesmerism and being a "charmer" as a leader of yoga is perhaps a fine line.  Is this a role best left to artists?  A teacher of body-mind work has a responsibility to "keep it real" and yet aid in shedding outer static enough for the student to look inside. 

A Bunch of Old Notes Found! Digging In!