If you cannot see the darkness it means you're standing in it.  - Deepak Chopra

Tao

In the East, there is the idea of "Tao" which is sometimes referred to as "the way" or "the way of Tao".  Tao refers to "all there is".  Split in two, it formed Yin & Yang.  These two opposites exist in relationship to one another. Oppositions dance naturally with give and take, equalizing constantly.  Too much of one aspect will result in necessary re-balancing.

According to something I read recently, Western languages lack a single, designated term for the concept of oneness and the nature of opposition contained within. 

Fortunately, Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu is available in many English translations.  The World is smaller, the information vast, teachers are teaching.  We'll just have to rely on more than a single word for the more important distilled experience.

A WikiHow Article - Increase Your Lung Capacity

http://www.wikihow.com/Increase-Your-Lung-Capacity

Jogging, Breathing With Awareness

I've been jogging 3 miles at a stretch recently.  It may not seem like a lot but when you're not in running condition it can be uncomfortable.  During a recent trot I felt a "stitch" on my right side. I know it helps to stop and apply pressure under the rib cage to the edge of the diaphragm muscle, breathing deeply while doing so. But I didn't want to stop so I just breathed into the space while continuing to jog.  It disappeared!

A Recent Decision

After teaching yoga since 1999, I've decided to let go.  In recent years I've scaled down to just a few class sessions per month but now my decision is to discontinue instructing completely.  There's a sense of relief to be free of the responsibility. Output is not coming easily lately as I need more solitude, time with my own thoughts.  Leadership requires a certain kind of energy, which is on the back burner in a way that isn't within my control.  Just as my yoga teaching style is non-force, not demanding this-that-&-the-other of students, the same attitude applies to here.

For those who have expressed disappointment with the end of the Yoga In The Park class, remember you can always coordinate and continue to meet for individual practice.  If you do so, please include me!  I will and do miss getting together with the group.

Keep practicing!  I know I'll always have a physical practice on my own, soft as it is.

The Next Spiritual Study

My study partner and I have completed Deepak Chopra's The Happiness Prescription.   This is recommended for anyone.  There is no need to believe in anything.  This is well-timed since I'm in a practical place in life, not readily taking to more than nuts & bolts, see-it-to-believe-it.  Chopra suggests practices.  The are the 10 prescriptions, so to speak.  Here they are distilled into a simple list:

1) Listen to your body's wisdom.
2) Live in the present.
3) Embrace silence.
4) Relinquish your need for external approval.
5) Relinquish your anger or opposition.
6) Total self-knowledge, the world is a mirror of states of consciousness.
7) Don't judge others.
8) Remove toxins.
9) Replace fear with love.
10) Cultivate witness awareness.

Now, he reviews, quite eloquently, several ways of approaching each.

Next, my study partner and I are going to work visually.  It will be a pleasure to get back into art materials!  Our guide, in addition to each other, will be Judith Cornell's The Mandala Healing Kit: Using Sacred Symbols for Spiritual & Emotional Healing.  I will blog-post some visuals and insights as appropriate.

If you've followed this blog over the last 2 years you'll know we're heading into our 4th study.  It is interesting (and not surprising) how similar spiritual teachings come around again and again.  Each time we pick up a new series we marvel at how it feels as though the last prepared us for the current!

Film: Kumare

I loved this film.  If you haven't seen it yet please do so before reading this entry.  Perhaps you should watch the film without reading anything about it. It is streaming on Netflix.

http://kumaremovie.com/

Okay, so now that you've watched it...

It has the brilliance of anything the sharpest Zen master could conjure.  And it's as though the writer-director M. Night Shyamalan has prepared a generation of viewers to appreciate a great twist ending.  It is no surprise a yoga studio owner was the first to charge out of the room when Kumare/Vikram revealed himself.  [Back in my regular teaching days owning a yoga studio was not a goal.  The set of responsibilities that come with being a representative of a studio are heavy.  So heavy Zen-riddle-like surprises may not always be appreciated.]  I think Vikram gave those participants an awesome experience.  I felt he had love in his heart for all of them and was respectful of their path.  I wish I could have been one of them...