Sunday, February 27, 2011

What it Takes to Fill Your Tank

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are considering what it takes to “fill your tank.”

Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of trouble, attempts what is above its strength. . . . It is therefore able to undertake all things, and it completes many things, and warrants them to take effect, where one who does not love would faint and lie down.
-Thomas a Kempis

Without a tank full of gas, no car can drive very far. The mind, too, needs a full tank of vitality to draw on for patience, resilience, and creativity. Filling that tank every morning is one of the most practical purposes of meditation. The test of your meditation is: How long can you be patient with those around you? In the beginning, you should aim to make it at least to noon acting like the proverbial angel.

Most of us, however, even if we start with a full tank, have little control over the thousand and one little pinpricks that drain vitality as we go along: worry, vacillation, irritation, daydreaming. By lunchtime the indicator may be hovering around empty.

Then it is that you have to be acutely vigilant. The tank is nearly empty, but by sheer effort and deft defensive driving, and using the mantram, you manage to coast through to the end of the day without any serious accidents.

The more effort you make, the more endurance you gain. The next day you may find the tank itself a little larger; you start the next day with a greater capacity for love and patience than before.

Words to Live By: Inspiration for Every Day – Eknath Easwaran

Note: A mantram is a powerful spiritual formula which, when repeated silently in the mind, has the capacity to transform consciousness. Learn more at http://www.easwaran.org/.

The homework is to learn what it takes “fill your tank.” Work to notice when your “tank” is becoming low and recognize when it is time to nurture yourself. When you find yourself loosing your patience do whatever works for you to find patience, love and compassion.

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, February 13, 2011

Detachment from Likes and Dislikes

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are considering the topic “detachment from likes and dislikes.”

Manifest plainness,
Embrace simplicity,
Reduce selfishness,
Have few desires.

-Lao Tzu

Detachment from likes and dislikes, habits and opinions, is not a sign of weakness. It is an enormously strong and positive quality. Nor does freedom from likes and dislikes mean that life is insipid for us, but rather that we are not driven compulsively by rigid ways of thinking. Even if we don't get what we want - or if we do get what we don't want - we can still function cheerfully and efficiently.

Detachment from habits does not mean that we have no habits. Good habits can be very useful to cultivate in life. But we should be able to change our habits gracefully, or drop them altogether when necessary, especially if we learn that they are harmful to us or are not exactly endearing us to those around us. If we are used to a cup of coffee every morning with our breakfast and one morning we discover that we are out of coffee, we don't say, "I can't function without my coffee," and go back to bed. We should be able to say cheerfully, "I'll have tea instead - or soy milk."

Words to Live By: Inspiration for Every Day – Eknath Easwaran

The homework is to cultivate awareness and to evaluate your habits. Part of our asana practice exposes our habits on the mat and asks us to face them, to explore them, and to possibly make some changes – at the least we generate more awareness of what we are doing. Take this “awareness” off of the mat and explore your habits without judgment and try to make some subtle changes in your patterns to better support your practices.

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, February 6, 2011

Starving our Egos

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are considering the topic “starving our egos.”

Wherever you go, you will always bear yourself about with you, and so you will always find yourself.

-Thomas a Kempis

There is only one way to get a real vacation: get as far away from the ego as possible.

Worrying about your problems all the time makes for misery with a capital M. For getting away from misery, I recommend this "economy plan": do not feed your ego and your problems with your attention. They will slowly lose weight.

When we feed them, constantly begging them to have one more helping even when they are gorged, we acquire obese problems that hug us tightly and weight us down. So if you really want a vacation, do not brood on your troubles. Do not let yourself get jealous or say uncharitable things about anyone. In other words, do not give the ego breakfast in bed; do not pack it a bag lunch; do not fix its dinner; do not give it pocket money for buying snacks; do not even give it a glass of water. Slowly, surely, the ego will lose weight, until one fine day it will be nothing but a thin ghost of its former self.

You will be able to see right through it, to the divine presence that shines in each of us.

Words to Live By: Inspiration for Every Day – Eknath Easwaran

The homework is to use the concentration skills you are developing in your asana practice to starve your ego. Recall the extra effort you often use in class to stay in an asana a bit longer than you thought you could. Use this attention to help you to become aware of when you are worrying and try to “not feed” your worry.

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