Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,
This week in class we are considering tapas and endurance.
Endurance is one of the most difficult disciplines, but it is to the one who endures that the final victory comes.
-The Buddha
People often find that meditation is easy for the first few months; but then, just when they think things are going well, it becomes difficult. It is like digging in your garden. The surface level of consciousness is soft loam, easy digging for the first twelve inches or so. The blade of the shovel is turning over the soil so easily that you say, "This is great! Isn't meditation wonderful?" Then you strike something hard and impenetrable. Your hands sting from the shock, and your arms ache. That is the first stratum of bedrock - a dense, rock-hard layer of sheer resistance. Congratulations! You are getting somewhere at last!
How do you know you have hit something? The most common sign is a wave of sleep during meditation. Your mind is saying, in effect, "My shovel is getting blunted, and my arms are tired. Why not stop digging and have a snooze?" It is extremely important not to yield to this inclination. Sit up straighter and draw away from your back support until the wave of sleep has passed. This problem of sleep may be with you for a long time. You have a lot of strata to dig through, and there is great joy in this digging.
Words to Live By: Inspiration for Every Day – Eknath Easwaran
The homework is to explore the third Niyama - Tapas. BKS Iyengar writes that, "tapas is a burning inner zeal and austerity, a sort of unflagging hardness of attitude towards oneself which make possible compassion and forgiveness towards others.” Apply the concept of tapas and the idea of endurance put fort by the Buddha to your own life and practices.
Light on the Yoga Sutras - BKS Iyengar
Blessings,
paul cheek
Rushing Water Yoga
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, December 19, 2011
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Pratyahara, patience, forgiveness, and freedom from likes and dislikes.
Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,
This week in class we are considering pratyahara, patience, forgiveness, and freedom from likes and dislikes.
The Perfect Way is only difficult for those who pick and choose; Do not like, do not dislike; all will then be clear. Make a hairbreadth difference, and Heaven and Earth are set apart.
-Seng-Ts'an (Jianzhi Sengcan)
Happiness and sorrow, good and bad, pleasure and pain - these are the very texture of life on the superficial level. The less you are bound by these dualities, the more clearly you will be able to see the core of purity and selflessness that is the real Self in everyone, even in people who cause trouble.
My grandmother had a pungent phrase for difficult people: "a lash in the eye." We all know from experience how an eyelash in the eye can be so irritating that we just cannot think about anything else. That is exactly how difficult people affect those around them, so naturally most of us try to avoid such people.
But this lash in the eye is an opportunity for learning the skills that matter most in life: patience, forgiveness, and freedom from likes and dislikes. It is only the spiritually mature person who can go and put his arm around someone who has given him a really difficult time, and say sincerely, "Without you, how could I ever have learned to be patient? How could I have learned to forgive?"
Words to Live By: Inspiration for Every Day – Eknath Easwaran
The homework is to notice when a "lash in the eye" comes your way and be slow to respond. Consider the fifth limb of Yoga, pratyahara and how this practice can encourage the cultivation of patience, forgiveness, and freedom from likes and dislikes. Roughly, Pratyahara is the withdrawal or the refinement of the senses. The concept of pratyahara is found in verse II.54 and II.55 of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras.
Blessings,
paul cheek
Rushing Water Yoga
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 pratyahara, patience, forgiveness, and freedom from likes and dislikes.
The Perfect Way is only difficult for those who pick and choose; Do not like, do not dislike; all will then be clear. Make a hairbreadth difference, and Heaven and Earth are set apart.
-Seng-Ts'an (Jianzhi Sengcan)
Happiness and sorrow, good and bad, pleasure and pain - these are the very texture of life on the superficial level. The less you are bound by these dualities, the more clearly you will be able to see the core of purity and selflessness that is the real Self in everyone, even in people who cause trouble.
My grandmother had a pungent phrase for difficult people: "a lash in the eye." We all know from experience how an eyelash in the eye can be so irritating that we just cannot think about anything else. That is exactly how difficult people affect those around them, so naturally most of us try to avoid such people.
But this lash in the eye is an opportunity for learning the skills that matter most in life: patience, forgiveness, and freedom from likes and dislikes. It is only the spiritually mature person who can go and put his arm around someone who has given him a really difficult time, and say sincerely, "Without you, how could I ever have learned to be patient? How could I have learned to forgive?"
Words to Live By: Inspiration for Every Day – Eknath Easwaran
The homework is to notice when a "lash in the eye" comes your way and be slow to respond. Consider the fifth limb of Yoga, pratyahara and how this practice can encourage the cultivation of patience, forgiveness, and freedom from likes and dislikes. Roughly, Pratyahara is the withdrawal or the refinement of the senses. The concept of pratyahara is found in verse II.54 and II.55 of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras.
Blessings,
paul cheek
Rushing Water Yoga
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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