Omaha Yoga Path Post
Iyengar’s Legacy
This is very simple video the shows the impact of BKS Iyengar’s teaching. Wait to watch it when you have 24 minutes to devote yourself to it.
“>Sadhaka: the yoga of B.K.S. Iyengar
[vimeo 62818591 w=500 h=281]
Tea on the Brain
Been a long time since making an entry in this category — tea, but I always marvel at the relationship of tea in Buddhism, Yoga, and meditation. Now here is a neurological explain for human predilection for Camellia sinensis.
[vimeo 114499613 w=500 h=375]
Contemplations Before Eating
Five Contemplations Before Eating:
This food is a gift of the earth, the sky, numerous living beings, and much hard and loving work.
May we eat with mindfulness and gratitude so as to be worthy to receive this food.
May we recognize and transform unwholesome mental formations, especially our greed and learn to eat with moderation.
May we keep our compassion alive by eating in such a way that reduces the suffering of living beings, stops contributing to climate change, and heals and preserves our precious planet.
We accept this food so that we may nurture our brotherhood and sisterhood, build our Sangha (community), and nourish our ideal of serving all living beings.
BKS Iyengar communal yoga practice
Communal Remembrance – Tuesday, Aug 26 7:30pm CDT
BKS Iyengar December 14, 1918 to August 20, 2014
Dear yoga practitioners everywhere,
We invite you to a moment of communal dedication to the memory of Guruji B. K. S. Iyengar for all IYNAUS members and any others who would like to join us.
We know that many of you have already been attending or planning commemorative gatherings, but we have also heard from members that they would like for there to be an event that brings us together as practitioners across the continent.
We suggest that on next Tuesday, August 26, 2014, at 8:30 pm EDT (7:30 pm Central, 6:30 p.m Mountain, 5:30 p.m. Pacific) as many of us as possible, in our own practice spaces or at our yoga schools and institutes, practice the following sequence of asanas (except for Tadasana, we leave the timings to your best judgment):
Tadasana – 3 minutes (mountain pose)
Uttanasana (forward bend)
Adho Mukha Svanasana (downward-facing dog)
Utthita Trikonasana to the right and to the left (triangle pose)
Adho Mukha Svanasana
Uttanasana
Tadasana – 3 minutes
5 minutes seated quietly
We ask that you hold Guruji in your hearts as you do this.
Whether or not a gathering is possible, please, wherever you are, consider joining with us and other practitioners next Tuesday in this collective expression of gratitude to B.K.S Iyengar for what he brought to our lives and the lives of others. As Geetaji said yesterday, “Like rain, he touched all of us equally.”
May we call your attention to something Guruji said about Tadasana? It is from a remembrance by the cricket player Sachin Tendulkar:
“It is essential to master the art of standing correctly. One thousand things that apply to Tadasana apply to every other pose. See how much your intelligence has to peep in, has to go in, even to understand tadasana? When truly in tadasana, one feels light in body and the mind acquires agility.”
In loving memory of Guruji,
Janet Lilly, President of the IYNAUS Board of DirectorsMichael Lucey, Vice President and President Elect
Understanding Our Mind
Understanding Our Mind
Everyday our thoughts, words, and deeds plant new seeds in our field of consciousness and what these seeds generate becomes the substance of our life. The practice of mindfulness helps us identify all the seeds in our consciousness and with that knowledge we can choose to water only the ones that are most beneficial. If the seed of delusion is watered in us, our ignorance will grow. if we water the seed of enlightenment it will grow and our wisdom will flourish. The seed of enlightenment is already within our consciousness. This is our Buddha nature, the inherent quality of the enlightened mind we all possess. When we look at any phenomenon (dharma) we should be able to see the unity in the diversity and diversity in the unity. Something that is beginning to take form is also in the process of disintegrating as well. We cannot see the boundary between reality and our erroneous perceptions. Words point to something and may or may not point to the “truth” of that thing, which can only be known through a direct perception of its reality. In our daily life, we rarely have a direct perception. Erroneous perceptions bring about much suffering. The process of mistaking our perceptions for reality is so subtle that it is very difficult to know that it is going on. We practice meditation to train the mind in direct and correct perception.
Sitting Spaces
Students at the Yoga Path have been invited to share images of the meditation space in their homes. Here are some of the initial entries.
“One of the most important ways you can transform your home space is to make a place to sit. Creating a peaceful sitting area can transform your whole house. This also an important way to support your meditation practice. If we sit in the same place each day, it takes us less and less time to remember to stop and return to our breath. Here, in this place, our bodies and minds can help each other relax” Thich Nhat Hanh
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- Meditation and yoga help me to be my best self in all my relationships.
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- the most comfortable chair in the house. Has a sheet on it because my dog chewed the arms. I love my dog
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- “meditation corner”
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- Place for restoring peace in my life.
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- “view from the cushion…dogs settle in for a sit…”
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- this place of practice is a south-west corner room and it offers lovely light, the sight of a big tree and access to much birdsong
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- “…I was able to create a dedicated space in our closet”.
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- a cozy place to breathe.
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- I sit cross-legged here after reading something inspirational
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- . . . or in the corner chair.
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- from William
Mindfulness Resources
The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation by Thich Nhat Hanh
When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times by Pema Chodron
Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn
The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology by Jack Kornfield
The Science of Enlightenment by Shinzen Young
Breakfast with Buddha by Roland Merullo
Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life by Richard Rohr
Be Free Where You Are by Thich Nhat Hanh and Sister Chan Khong
Making Space: Creating a Home Meditation Practice by Thich Nhat Hanh
No Time to Lose: A Timely Guide to the Way of the Bodhisattva by Pema Chodron
Bringing Yoga to Life: The Everyday Practice of Enlightened Living by Donna Farhi
Spring Mindfulness Retreat
Here is the announcement about Spring Mindfulness Retreat 2014 sponsored by the Honey Locust Sangha / Omaha Community of Mindful Living.
It’s time to wake up
Ever since November retreat where I met Mary Pipher and read her most recent book, The Green Boat, my life has taken a change. I’m one of those thousands of people who have largely stuck my head in the sand about Climate Change. In spite of all the evidence surrounding this topic, in spite of someone who purports to believe in science and enjoys many of the luxuries it provides, I somehow wanted to believe that scientist had gotten this wrong and that we’d be OK. But thanks to Pipher and all her supporting research, I’ve come to what environmentalist call “the oh shit” moment. And with it all crippling despair that comes with it.
I wonder if a collection of astronomer came together and all agreed that the earth was definitely going to be hit with a planet-destroying meteor in fifty years, there would be other astronomer to refute it. Then if the meteor-believers came back and said we could, as a world community come up with the means to divert this meteor, but our chances would be better, if we did something about sooner than later, what do you think the world community would do? It certainly would be more convenient to believe the meteor-refuters; make you feel better too. However, if you did really believe the meteor is coming, everything else pales in the shadow of that meteor. War, terrorism, balanced budgets, the EU, Wall Street, or A Rod’s one year suspension, all become that many more deck chairs on the Titanic to re-arranged.
Well the meteor is coming in the form of climate change! I know this because of the shadow it casts. That shadow was revealed to by the website: What Is Missing, designed by Maya Lin. This was the artist who designed the Vietnam War memorial. This site shows us species, habitats, and environments that use to exist, but have been lost because of human interaction. This is the shadow that lomes over any debate about global warming. Looking at the past, seeing clearly the present, there can be little debate about the trajectory of our future, if we don’t change.
Yet ,like Mary Pipher’s The Green Boat, Maya Lin’s site offers solutions and hope, if one spends time with either. When I encountered my “oh shit” angst, I wanted to run out into the streets and yellto the world we need to drop everything and reduce our carbon footprint. But what good is a yogi in straight jacket and padded cell. So I said nothing. Now I realize it needs to be addressed; it needs to be talked about, it needs to be recognized. That’s the starting point. I encourage you to read The Green Boat and if that’s too much, take 30 minutes and watch the video on this blog’s prior entry, Reconnecting to the Web of Life. Mary Pipher does a wonderful job of summarizing her book. Then go the What Is Missing site. Give yourself another 30 minutes on it. Without any judgements, see what it has to offer, by one of the world’s most renown living artists. It’s a place to start to wake up.
[youtube=http://youtu.be/0cFbLBQ9J-A]