Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,
This week in class we are considering the topic “personal vitality.”
We have no more right to consume happiness without producing it than to consume wealth without producing it.
– George Bernard Shaw
Shopping for things we do not need, even if it is only window-shopping, wastes a lot of vitality; energy flows out with every little desire. It is a surprising connection, but an extravagant shopper will find it difficult to love. He or she scatters love like largesse all over the department store. We can become bankrupt in love this way.
When it comes to our personal vitality, we have no atoms to split, no windmills to set up, no sun to draw on for an alternative source of energy; we have to conserve what we have and make it last. When we find it difficult to love, we can think of it as a personal energy crisis. By not buying things which are neither necessary nor beneficial, we conserve the precious natural resources of the earth, and we save our personal energy, too.
So if you want a good, stiff test of your capacity to love, go into your favorite store some day – preferably when there is a sale – and see if you can walk straight through, looking neither left nor right, and come out unscathed. It may sound unbelievable, but it can be done.
Words to Live By: Inspiration for Every Day – Eknath Easwaran
The homework is to explore what vitality and personal energy conservation means to you. Discover what it takes to keep your vitality bank full. Does it involve having more awareness about your desires and not necessarily following through on all of them? How would meeting the needs of others help you to fill your bank?
Blessings,
paul cheek
Rushing Water Yoga
The BKS Iyengar Yoga School of Southwest Washington
417 NE Birch St., Camas, WA 98607
360.834.5994
www.rushingwateryoga.com
info@rushingwateryoga.com
Serving Yoga to Camas, Washougal, and Vancouver Washington since 2003
Monday, January 31, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
p e a c e and l o v e
Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,
This week in class we are considering the topic “ p e a c e and l o v e .”
Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
-Saint Francis of Assisi
When we ask to be made instruments of peace, what we are really asking for is the boundless determination to empty ourselves of every state of mind that disrupts relationships – anger, resentment, jealousy, greed, self-will in any form. Our first priority is to reform ourselves; without that, how can we expect to help other people reform themselves? It is the living example of a man or woman giving all they have to making love a reality that moves our hearts to follow. We do not need a bumper sticker that says, “You are following an instrument of the Lord.” Our everyday actions speak for themselves.
Words to Live By: Inspiration for Every Day – Eknath Easwaran
The homework is to notice when you experience a disruptive state of mind and work to turn that disruption with something positive. Try to turn anger into love, resentment into sympathetic joy, jealousy into understanding, and greed into giving.
Blessings,
paul cheek
Rushing Water Yoga
The BKS Iyengar Yoga School of Southwest Washington
417 NE Birch St., Camas, WA 98607
360.834.5994
www.rushingwateryoga.com
info@rushingwateryoga.com
Serving Yoga to Camas, Washougal, and Vancouver Washington since 2003
This week in class we are considering the topic “ p e a c e and l o v e .”
Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
-Saint Francis of Assisi
When we ask to be made instruments of peace, what we are really asking for is the boundless determination to empty ourselves of every state of mind that disrupts relationships – anger, resentment, jealousy, greed, self-will in any form. Our first priority is to reform ourselves; without that, how can we expect to help other people reform themselves? It is the living example of a man or woman giving all they have to making love a reality that moves our hearts to follow. We do not need a bumper sticker that says, “You are following an instrument of the Lord.” Our everyday actions speak for themselves.
Words to Live By: Inspiration for Every Day – Eknath Easwaran
The homework is to notice when you experience a disruptive state of mind and work to turn that disruption with something positive. Try to turn anger into love, resentment into sympathetic joy, jealousy into understanding, and greed into giving.
Blessings,
paul cheek
Rushing Water Yoga
The BKS Iyengar Yoga School of Southwest Washington
417 NE Birch St., Camas, WA 98607
360.834.5994
www.rushingwateryoga.com
info@rushingwateryoga.com
Serving Yoga to Camas, Washougal, and Vancouver Washington since 2003
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Forgiveness
Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,
This week in class we are considering the topic “forgiveness.”
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.
-Saint Francis of Assisi
There are times when past mistakes swim into our vision and do their best to consume us in guilt or regret. At such times it is essential to repeat the mantram and turn all our attention outwards, away from ourselves. Analyzing our mistakes and dwelling on how to repay them is of no earthly benefit at all. If, when you were in Milwaukee, you happened to say something insulting to your girlfriend’s dog, it is not necessary to go to Milwaukee and find your old girlfriend or her dog to make amends. Every dog you treat with kindness will be a proxy for that dog. If you have treated a particular person badly, even if you can no longer win that person’s forgiveness, you can still win the forgiveness of yourself, of the Lord within, by bearing with people who treat you badly and doing your best not to treat anyone badly again. Whatever we have done, we can always make amends for it without ever looking back in guilt or sorrow.
Words to Live By: Inspiration for Every Day – Eknath Easwaran
The homework is to remember that forgiveness starts with forgiving yourself. Choose a few mistakes from your past and make a conscious effort to forgive yourself. Work to realize this self-forgiveness in your daily life by expressing lovingkindess (metta) in all of your relationships.
Blessings,
paul cheek
Rushing Water Yoga
The BKS Iyengar Yoga School of Southwest Washington
417 NE Birch St., Camas, WA 98607
360.834.5994
www.rushingwateryoga.com
info@rushingwateryoga.com
Serving Yoga to Camas, Washougal, and Vancouver Washington since 2003
This week in class we are considering the topic “forgiveness.”
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.
-Saint Francis of Assisi
There are times when past mistakes swim into our vision and do their best to consume us in guilt or regret. At such times it is essential to repeat the mantram and turn all our attention outwards, away from ourselves. Analyzing our mistakes and dwelling on how to repay them is of no earthly benefit at all. If, when you were in Milwaukee, you happened to say something insulting to your girlfriend’s dog, it is not necessary to go to Milwaukee and find your old girlfriend or her dog to make amends. Every dog you treat with kindness will be a proxy for that dog. If you have treated a particular person badly, even if you can no longer win that person’s forgiveness, you can still win the forgiveness of yourself, of the Lord within, by bearing with people who treat you badly and doing your best not to treat anyone badly again. Whatever we have done, we can always make amends for it without ever looking back in guilt or sorrow.
Words to Live By: Inspiration for Every Day – Eknath Easwaran
The homework is to remember that forgiveness starts with forgiving yourself. Choose a few mistakes from your past and make a conscious effort to forgive yourself. Work to realize this self-forgiveness in your daily life by expressing lovingkindess (metta) in all of your relationships.
Blessings,
paul cheek
Rushing Water Yoga
The BKS Iyengar Yoga School of Southwest Washington
417 NE Birch St., Camas, WA 98607
360.834.5994
www.rushingwateryoga.com
info@rushingwateryoga.com
Serving Yoga to Camas, Washougal, and Vancouver Washington since 2003
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Learning to Love
Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,
This week in class we are considering the topic “learning to love.”
Lord, grant that I might not so much seek to be loved as to love.
-Saint Francis of Assisi
Millions of people today suffer from loneliness. Here St. Francis is saying, “I know the cause of the malady and I know the secret of its complete cure.” No matter what the relationship may be, when you look upon another person as someone who can give you love, you are really faking love. That is the simplest word for it. If you are interested in making love, in making it grow without end, try looking on that person as someone you can give your love to – someone to whom you can go on giving always.
Learning to love is like swimming against the current of a powerful river; most of our conditioning is pushing us in the other direction. So it is a question of developing your muscles: the more you use them, the stronger they get. When you put the other person’s welfare foremost every day, no matter how strong the opposite tide inside, you discover after a while that you can love a little more today than you did yesterday. Tomorrow you will be able to love a little more.
Words to Live By: Inspiration for Every Day – Eknath Easwaran
The homework is to work on cultivating unconditional love. Start by putting others needs before your own without any thought of getting something in return. Try to extend this love to those closest to you first and move out from there.
Blessings,
paul cheek
Rushing Water Yoga
The BKS Iyengar Yoga School of Southwest Washington
417 NE Birch St., Camas, WA 98607
360.834.5994
www.rushingwateryoga.com
info@rushingwateryoga.com
Serving Yoga to Camas, Washougal, and Vancouver Washington since 2003
This week in class we are considering the topic “learning to love.”
Lord, grant that I might not so much seek to be loved as to love.
-Saint Francis of Assisi
Millions of people today suffer from loneliness. Here St. Francis is saying, “I know the cause of the malady and I know the secret of its complete cure.” No matter what the relationship may be, when you look upon another person as someone who can give you love, you are really faking love. That is the simplest word for it. If you are interested in making love, in making it grow without end, try looking on that person as someone you can give your love to – someone to whom you can go on giving always.
Learning to love is like swimming against the current of a powerful river; most of our conditioning is pushing us in the other direction. So it is a question of developing your muscles: the more you use them, the stronger they get. When you put the other person’s welfare foremost every day, no matter how strong the opposite tide inside, you discover after a while that you can love a little more today than you did yesterday. Tomorrow you will be able to love a little more.
Words to Live By: Inspiration for Every Day – Eknath Easwaran
The homework is to work on cultivating unconditional love. Start by putting others needs before your own without any thought of getting something in return. Try to extend this love to those closest to you first and move out from there.
Blessings,
paul cheek
Rushing Water Yoga
The BKS Iyengar Yoga School of Southwest Washington
417 NE Birch St., Camas, WA 98607
360.834.5994
www.rushingwateryoga.com
info@rushingwateryoga.com
Serving Yoga to Camas, Washougal, and Vancouver Washington since 2003
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Remaking Ourselves
Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,
This week in class we are considering the topic “remaking ourselves.”
As an irrigator guides water to the fields, as an archer aims an arrow, as a carpenter carves wood, the wise shape their lives.
– The Buddha
The glory of the human being is our ability to remake ourselves. The Buddha is very rightly called the Compassionate One because he holds out hope for everybody. He doesn't say our past has been dark, therefore our chances are dim. He says whatever our past, whatever our present, the sky is bright for us because we can remake ourselves.
The Buddha says, be a good woodworker. Consciousness is the wood, and you can make it take any shape you like. Just as a carpenter works the wood to build a house or a fine piece of furniture, similarly we can fashion the responses and attitudes we desire: love, wisdom, security, patience, loyalty, enthusiasm, cheerfulness.
Words to Live By: Inspiration for Every Day – Eknath Easwaran
The homework is to consider how your yoga practice can help you “shape” your life. What does the discipline of yoga have to offer you?
Blessings,
paul cheek
Rushing Water Yoga
The BKS Iyengar Yoga School of Southwest Washington
417 NE Birch St., Camas, WA 98607
360.834.5994
www.rushingwateryoga.com
info@rushingwateryoga.com
Serving Yoga to Camas, Washougal, and Vancouver Washington since 2003
This week in class we are considering the topic “remaking ourselves.”
As an irrigator guides water to the fields, as an archer aims an arrow, as a carpenter carves wood, the wise shape their lives.
– The Buddha
The glory of the human being is our ability to remake ourselves. The Buddha is very rightly called the Compassionate One because he holds out hope for everybody. He doesn't say our past has been dark, therefore our chances are dim. He says whatever our past, whatever our present, the sky is bright for us because we can remake ourselves.
The Buddha says, be a good woodworker. Consciousness is the wood, and you can make it take any shape you like. Just as a carpenter works the wood to build a house or a fine piece of furniture, similarly we can fashion the responses and attitudes we desire: love, wisdom, security, patience, loyalty, enthusiasm, cheerfulness.
Words to Live By: Inspiration for Every Day – Eknath Easwaran
The homework is to consider how your yoga practice can help you “shape” your life. What does the discipline of yoga have to offer you?
Blessings,
paul cheek
Rushing Water Yoga
The BKS Iyengar Yoga School of Southwest Washington
417 NE Birch St., Camas, WA 98607
360.834.5994
www.rushingwateryoga.com
info@rushingwateryoga.com
Serving Yoga to Camas, Washougal, and Vancouver Washington since 2003
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