Tapas and the cultivation of true spontaneity

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are considering Tapas and the cultivation of true spontaneity.

The loathsome mask has fallen, the man remains

Sceptreless, free, uncircumscribed, but man

Equal, unclassed, tribeless, and nationless,

Exempt from awe, worship, degree, the king

Over himself.

                                   – Percy Bysshe Shelley

None of us wants to be artificial. We all want to be natural and spontaneous. But true spontaneity is not simply doing what we feel like doing and not doing what we don't feel like doing. That is simply reacting as we have been conditioned to react. It is really no more spontaneous than a rubber ball which bounces when we drop it on the sidewalk.

We are being truly spontaneous when we can change the habits of a lifetime. We are being truly spontaneous when we are able to drop our pet project and work for the welfare of those around us without a ripple of protest in the mind. We are being truly spontaneous when we can respond calmly, constructively, and compassionately to a difficult situation. The secret of spontaneity is training. We cannot just decide to be spontaneous overnight; but we can all make these marvelous transformations in our lives if we are prepared to put in the sustained effort they require.

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

The homework is to review the third Niyama (practices of self-purification through discipline) or Tapas.  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.  Consider how you can cultivate Tapas in your Yoga practices and elsewhere and create more true spontaneity in your life.

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

Santosa (contentment) and the ability to Love and be Loved.

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are considering Santosa (contentment) and the ability to Love and be Loved.

Existence is a strange bargain. Life owes us little; we owe it everything. The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a purpose.

                                                                         – William Cowper

We often think that if we go after what we want, we will probably get it; then we will be happy and secure. The mass media have latched onto this line of thinking and intone it like a litany: grab, grab, grab! Yet sooner or later the whole smorgasbord of things begins to lose its luster. Then the sensitive person asks, "If I go on grabbing and grabbing, at what point do I become secure and feel no more need to grab?" This question can lead to some far-reaching changes in our lives.

Our needs are much too big to be satisfied with things, no matter how many we can manage to acquire. The more we try to get, the more acutely we feel those bigger, undeniable needs. Our deepest need is for the joy that comes with loving and being loved, with knowing we are of genuine use to others. The more we give of ourselves to others, the more the Lord within wants to give us. Every day we empty ourselves by giving all we can in the way of kindness and loving help. Then every morning we will find ourselves full again - of love, of understanding, of forgiveness, of energy.

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

The homework is to consider the second Niyama (practices of self-purification through discipline) which is Santosa or Contentment.  This is a commitment to being content, reducing desires, becoming cheerful and creating balance of mind.  Additionally, we have to be willing to let things go, especially likes and dislikes.  Ask yourself how the practice of Santosa will impact your ability to Love and be Loved?

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

Witnessing the "mind stuff" and directing our attention.

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are considering the process of witnessing the "mind stuff" and directing our attention.

Thoughts of themselves have no substance; let them arise and pass away unheeded. Thoughts will not take form of themselves, unless they are grasped by the attention; if they are ignored, there will be no appearing and no disappearing.

                                                                         – Ashvaghosha

Life is a kind of play in which we are called upon to play our part with skill. But in meditation we are sometimes more like the audience, while our thoughts are the actors. If we could go backstage, we could see all the actor-thoughts getting made up. Anger is there putting on his long fangs. Fear is rattling his chains. Jealousy is admiring herself in the mirror and smearing on green mascara.

Now, these thought-actors are like actors and actresses everywhere: they thrive on a responsive audience. When Jealousy comes out on stage and we sit forward on our seats, she really puts on a show. But on the other hand, what happens if nobody comes to see the performance?

No actor likes to play to an empty house. If they're real professionals, they might give their best for a couple of nights, but after that they're bound to get a little slack. Jealousy doesn't bother with her makeup any more; who's going to admire it? Anger throws away his fangs. Fear puts away his chains. Whom can they impress? Finally, the whole cast gives it up as a bad job and goes home.

In other words, when you can direct attention, your thinking will never be compulsive again.

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

The homework is to cultivate the practice of Pratyahara - the refinement or the withdrawal of the senses and combine this practice with dharana - one pointed concentration and learn to be a witness to the "mind stuff".  These two limbs of Yoga prepare us for the meditative state - Dhyana - that will guide us in directing our attention in meaningful ways. 

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

The shift from greed to gratitude.......

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are considering the shift from greed to gratitude.

The second of the eight limbs of Yoga are the Niyama's – practices of self-purification through discipline.  The second Niyama is Santosa, or Contentment.  This is a commitment to being content and reducing desires and becoming cheerful and creating balance of mind. 

The second niyama, Santosa, is found in verse II.42 of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras.

II.42 – santosat anuttamah sukhalabhah

From contentment and benevolence of consciousness comes supreme happiness.

Contentment cannot be achieved through the accumulation of possessions and people.  We can start our contentment practice with the understanding that everything we need for happiness we already have.  Additionally, we have to be willing to let things go, especially likes and dislikes.  To really practice or experience contentment we have to make a shift from greed to gratitude - gratitude for all of the little things that sustain us.  Contentment asks for only one thing: that you truly live in the experience of the moment.  With contentment comes a lessening of fear.  And with this comes the ability to share the most important thing that you have been given: your love, your wholeness.

Quote from, The Essence of Yoga: Reflections on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. 

“Contentment comes from mental well-being (saumanasya) that moves us to consider the positive in all beings and situations.  …………

Contentment is a dynamic and constructive attitude that brings us to look at things in a new way.  It calms the mind, bringing a flowering of subtle joy and inner serenity that are independent of all outside influences and perishable things.  It is essential for self-confidence, for succeeding in our personal endeavors, and for relationships, education, teaching and therapy.

It is very difficult, however, to sustain contentment.  Though it may be easier to be happy when we are successful, only an exceptional soul remains positive in the midst of adverse currents.  Contentment means looking at every moment with a smile.  It helps to have a good sense of humor.” 

Homework:  As usual try to relate this practice to your asana practice first and then discover how you can take this practice off of the mat.  Can you be content with where you are in your yoga practice?  Can you maintain your gratefulness for your current level of abilities knowing that they will change?  Can you discover a time when you were greedy about your practice?  Is it possible to be greedy and grateful at the same time?     

References:

Light on Yoga, Light on the Yoga Sutras, both by BKS Iyengar , The Essence of Yoga: Reflections on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Bernard Bouanchaud, and Living Your Yoga by Judith Lasater

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 

The Atman or Our Real Nature

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are considering the Atman or our real nature.

As pure water poured into pure water becomes the very same, so does the Self of the illumined man or woman verily become one with the Godhead.

                                                                   -Katha Upanishad

For some reason, it is very difficult for us to accept our divine nature. This has always puzzled me. We pay money for books about how destructive we are. We stand in line to see movies that emphasize our capacity for making trouble. Then, when Jesus comes to tell us that the kingdom of heaven is within us, we say, "There must be some mistake."

It is to convince us that our real Self is always pure and eternal that men and women of God keep arising among us. More than anything, we need to hear their good news that the source of all joy and security is right within. In the Hindu scriptures there is a precise term for our real nature: the Atman. All it means is "the Self" - not the little self, the changing personality with which most of us identify, but the higher Self, our real, changeless personality.

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

The homework is to learn from your own experience how your Yoga practices help you move from the physical plane to the spiritual plane.  Ask yourself how you use your body to move towards a state of oneness.  Experience how your Yoga practices move you in the direction of discovering your true nature. 

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

Passage Meditation and Slowing Down

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are considering passage meditation and slowing down.

We must do our business faithfully, without trouble or disquiet, recalling our mind to God mildly, and with tranquility, as often as we find it wandering from him.

                                                                   - Brother Lawrence

A fast mind is like a race car in the hands of a dubious driver. Fear, resentment, greed, anger, self-will, and jealousy rush through the mind at a hundred miles an hour. At such speeds we cannot turn, stop, or keep from crashing into people. At speeds like this we are not really driving  at all. We are hostages, trussed up in the trunk. And who knows who is at the wheel?

The function of passage meditation is twofold: it slows the mind, and by absorbing the words of an inspirational passage deep into consciousness, it gradually transforms negative emotions into positive states of mind. The slower the thoughts go, the greater the control you have over them, and the more positive they become.

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

Passage meditation is the silent repetition in the mind of a memorized inspirational passages. Practiced for one-half hour each morning.  By meditating on words that embody your highest ideals, you drive them deep into your consciousness. There they take root and begin to create wonderful changes in your life – changes you have wanted to make, but have not known how to bring about.

The homework is to choose an inspirational passage for you to contemplate on.  In whatever way works for you contemplate on this passage for one half an hour every day.  Consider how slowing down in general can help you with all of this work.  Especially learn to move slowly in your asana practice cultivating dharana or concentration.

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

Nurturing ourselves

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are considering nurturing ourselves.

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 to “fill your tank.”  Use the awareness you cultivate through your Yoga practices 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

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

Character Development

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are considering character development.

It is the mind that makes one wise or ignorant, bound or emancipated.

                                                                   -Sri Ramakrishna

Mental habits are like ditches in the mind. They have to be dug laboriously. But they can also be filled in and new channels can be dug. Take resentment for example. It does not burst full-blown into the mind; it grows. At first you simply expect people to behave towards you in a particular way. If they behave in their own way instead, you get surprised, then irritated. You are digging a little channel in consciousness.

In the early stages, this channel may be only an inch or so deep. Thought may flow down it, but it may also flow somewhere else. Also, the walls are still soft and crumbly; they may cave in and fill the channel a little - for example, when someone you dislike says something kind. There  is an element of choice. But every time we respond to a situation with resentment, the channel gets a little deeper. Finally there is a huge Grand Canal in the mind. Then anything at all is enough to provoke a conditioned resentful response. Consciousness pours down the sluice of least resistance.

We can dig new mental channels - kind ways of thinking instead of resentful ones, patience instead of anger. Every time you try to return good will for ill will, love for hatred, you have dug your new, beneficial channel a little deeper. Transforming character, conduct, and consciousness is not a moral problem. It's an engineering problem.

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

The homework is to use the experience of your Yoga practices to work on transforming your character.  Use the breath to remind you that you have a choice in how you respond and use the same level of concentration (dharana) you bring to your asana practice to notice when you need another second or two to make an informed decision to be in the moment and choose a beneficial path.

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

What is discriminative intelligence ?

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are considering discriminative intelligence.

Mind is consciousness which has put on limitations. You are originally unlimited and perfect. Later you take on limitations and become the mind.

                                                                   -Ramana Maharshi

Much of our daily behavior is conditioned by forces deep below the conscious level of our minds. This means we are limited to a conditioned, automatic way of thinking and responding to the events of life around us. When such a conditioned behavior is strong, we think of it as a fixed part of the personality. Othello is jealous, Hamlet indecisive, Macbeth ambitious; that, we say, is their nature. To many biologists, this is something that is built into our very genes.

I do not agree. Jealousy, vacillation, competition, and the rest are not permanent mental furniture; they are a process. A mental trait is a thought repeated over and over a thousand times, leading to words repeated a thousand times, resulting in action repeated a thousand times. At the beginning it is only a burgeoning habit of thought; you do not necessarily act on it. But once it becomes rigid, it dictates behavior. It is possible, through the practice of meditation and the other disciplines, to go against these conditioned ways of thinking and actually change ourselves from the inside out.

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

The homework is to evaluate areas in our lives where we are holding on to rigid ways of being that are not healthy for us or those around us. See if you can use your Yoga practices as a way to challenge this rigidity and create positive change.  Start by challenging yourself when your mind encourages you to avoid a posture or come out of a pose.  Instead of following your mind see if you can observe the thought and use your discrimination (viveka, see Patanjali's Yoga Sutra II:26) skills to make a more informed decision about what you want to do.  Then generalize this discriminative intelligence to situations off of the mat.

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

Oneness

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are considering oneness.

"This is myself and this is another." Be free of this bond which encompasses you about, and your own self is thereby released.

                                                                   -Saraha

To love completely, it is not enough if I care deeply; I must also be detached from myself. To know what is best for someone, I have to be able to step aside from my own prejudices and preconceptions, slip into that person's shoes and become one with her temporarily, looking at life through her eyes rather than my own. When I step back again, I will have seen her needs from the inside; only then can I see clearly how to serve those needs with detachment and compassion.

Why, then, do we find it so difficult to get ourselves out of the way? The reason, quite simply, is that we live rather superficially, on the surface of life. On the surface, we feel that it is natural for people to quarrel, for nations
to go to war. "It's only human," we say. Only in the depths of the soul can we realize that quarreling and fighting are not natural at all. What is natural is loving everybody, seeing everybody as one.

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

The homework is to consider that the practices of Yoga are centered around the idea of oneness.  Oneness in the pose, oneness with our environment, oneness with each other, oneness with God.  Learn for yourself how practicing the eight limbs of Yoga moves you towards a state of detachment and how that places you in a position to experience oneness.  What would this experience of oneness be like?

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

Contemplation

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are considering how a contemplative practice can support us in uncovering what is “really important in life."

One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach.  One can collect only a few, and they are more beautiful if they are few.

-Anne Morrow Lindbergh

If you are determined to stick to what is really important in life, then from day to day you will see that the unimportant pastimes, the distractions that lead you away from your purpose, will gradually weaken their hold.

On the list of priorities, first and foremost is meditation.  It will clear your eyes and bring the detachment and discrimination we all need to make wise choices. So right at the top of your list should be the resolution to practice meditation, and not to let anything come in the way.

Not even the greatest of worldly achievements will satisfy us completely. Nothing finite can ever satisfy us. Sooner or later, all the vitality that has gone into pursuing countless goals in the outer world must flow into one huge desire to discover the divine presence within. This supreme discovery is what matters most in life. We are all born to seek the supreme truth.

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

The homework is to consider how meditation or any contemplative practice can support you in uncovering what is “really important in life”.  See if having a contemplative practice has the effects of creating peace, clarity and vision?  The only way to answer this question is from your own experience, to practice.  Work to establish a contemplative practice.

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

Tapas (no, not Spanish appetizers!)

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are considering Tapas (no, not Spanish appetizers!). 

We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.

                                                                        -Albert Einstein

The teachings of great spiritual figures such as the Buddha are practical, not theoretical. The Buddha will say beautifully, "I have no theories." It's one of his most disarming statements. He did not engage in intellectual discussion, and often he would meet questions with a noble silence.

The scriptures are meant for translation into our daily lives over a long period of years. And in order to practice the teachings of the Compassionate Buddha, or any other teacher, we need an immense tool like meditation by which we can work on our consciousness. In this, it is not of much help to have only an intellectual understanding.

The Buddha doesn't talk about theory. Like all great teachers, he says, "These are things that you can verify for yourself." He is a supreme scientist who will say, "Undertake this experiment and discover the results for yourself."

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

The homework is to work on understanding your Tapas.  Tapas means to use burning effort under all circumstances to achieve ones goal in life.  In other words what is your work?  What should your experiment be on right now?  Yoga is 100% experiential and the results are unique to each person.  Discover what your results are!

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

Awareness and our habits

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are considering awareness and our habits. 

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

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

Ahimsa.......a practice to keep coming back to.

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are considering Ahimsa.......a practice to keep coming back to. 

All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love.

-Leo Tolstoy

There is nothing easy about learning to love. The real romantic must be very practical: it takes a lot of hard, unromantic work to sustain any human relationship. Naturally there are going to be differences between you and your partner. Identical twins have differences of opinion, so why should two people from, say, New York City and Paris, Texas, expect life together to be smooth sailing?

Even on the honeymoon there may be difficulties. You open Pandora's box expecting a lot of doves and out come a couple of bats instead. You have to be ready to say, "The doves are there; they're simply lying low. Why don't we get to work and shoo away these bats?" Rather than dwelling on the negative, try to respect the potential in the other person and help him or her to realize that potential through your support. If you want a relationship to get deeper and deeper with the passage of time, you will go on strengthening it all your life.

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

The homework is to check in with your commitment to Ahimsa - non-harming or Love.  Consider it using the principle of ahimsa in your relationships.  B.K.S. Iyengar writes that "the yogini, grounded in the practice of ahimsa, acts from a place of love and respect for all beings, including herself. This begins a new cycle of love and respect instead of harm and pain."

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

Character Development

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are considering character development. 

You are not the same, nor are you another.

- The Buddha

The Buddha is saying that we change from moment to moment. Personality is not cast in a rigid mold; the whole secret of personality is that it is a process. The nature of a process is that it can be changed. For a time, it is true, the changes you are trying to make will not seem natural. When someone is rude to you, you will still feel a wave of resentment inside. It does not matter; at the outset, it is enough to act kind, to pretend to be kind, to stage a sort of kindness performance.

Gradually, if you put your whole effort behind this transformation, using the tool of meditation, the seething will subside. Then it will not just be a flawless performance, you will actually transform anger into compassion. You will feel sorry for the person who has offended you. You will not be the same angry person you used to be; and yet you will not be someone else, either. To be patient, kind, and secure is our real nature; anything else is being false to ourselves.

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

The homework is to learn how our Yoga practices help us discover our true nature.  To see how the practices of Yoga involve character development.

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

The cultivation of sensitivity.......

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are considering the cultivation of sensitivity. 

Just as a flower gives out its fragrance to whomsoever approaches or uses it, so love from within us radiates towards everybody and manifests as spontaneous service.

- Swami Ramdas

Many of us find it difficult to be compassionate towards other people for the simple reason that most of our sensitivity is directed towards ourselves. The less we dwell on ourselves, the more our sensitivity will open out to the needs and feelings of others.

Every time you hurt someone and then grieve inside because of it, you are attending a valuable seminar on sensitivity. It is a seminar at the deepest and most personal level, the experiential, and it is infinitely more effective than anything we can attend for college credit. The credit comes to us directly, when we change our behavior and don't hurt people again. "Everybody's feelings can be hurt," we realize, "just like my own. I have to take others' feelings into consideration in what I do."

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

The homework is to use the training ground of your Yoga practices to develop external sensitivity - a sensitivity that is directed towards others.  In order to practice Yoga asana safely we have to develop sensitivity in our practice.  We have to learn to be present and aware and use these qualities to inform our practice.  Learn how the sensitivity you bring to your asana practice translates to your life off of the mat.  

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

Saucha.........a commitment to purity internally and externally.

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are considering the second Niyama, Saucha.  Saucha is a commitment to purity internally and externally. 

As an archer aims the arrow, the wise aim their restless thoughts, hard to aim, hard to restrain.

                           - The Buddha

Thoughts are things, even though we cannot hold them in our hands or see them with our eyes. This is very different from our usual view. Usually we consider thoughts as immaterial, so we are not aware of how a fleeting thought can affect us. If I throw a beach ball at you, it won't hurt much; in five minutes you will have forgotten about it. But if I say something harsh to you, you will not be able to forget that thought; you will take it home in your mind, have nightmares about it, and wake up oppressed the next morning. We all know from personal experience how a harsh comment from a parent or a friend can rankle in our consciousness for years. This is the immense power of thoughts.

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

The homework is to apply the second Niyama, Saucha or purity to your thought process.  Saucha is a commitment to purity internally and externally.  How do you practice Saucha?  Think about your own rituals for self-purification. What steps do you currently take to cleanse your physical being? Do you have a daily ritual to cleanse your mind and emotions? Consider how purification of your physical, mental, and emotional being can affect your Yoga practice and your daily life?

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

Ahimsa and Asteya..........

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are considering the first and third Yamas: Ahimsa and Asteya.

Trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle.

- Michelangelo

Mogul art, one of the great periods of artistic achievement in India, often is in miniature. The artist concentrated on very small areas, on little things, and worked with tenderness and precision. Only somebody who understands art will be able to see all the love and labor that has gone into it. Family living is like Mogul art, worked in miniature. The canvas is so small, and the skill required is so great, that most of us really do not appreciate the vast potentialities of family life.

Today we hear a great deal about the family becoming obsolete. Let us hope this is just the fantasy of those who do not understand the value of the family. To me, the family is like a free university, where we can get our finest education in living for others. Family does not just mean Papa, Mama, Junior, and Janie, but all the members, including grandparents, uncles and aunts and country cousins. The family can include dear friends and those who participate closely in all our endeavors.

We begin by being tender and unselfish and putting up with innumerable discomforts for the sake of adding to the joy of our family. Then, gradually, we extend our love to include our friends, our community, our country, and our world.

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

The homework is to look at how you define your family relationships and the quality of those relationships.  Evaluate how you are applying the yamas Ahimsa (love, non-harming) and Asteya (non-stealing, selflessness) to your relationships.  Consider how this way of being can be generalized across the board in all areas.

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

The fifth Yama, Aparigraha.......

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are considering the fifth Yama, Aparigraha.

Love does not insist on its own way;

            it is not irritable or resentful;

                        it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.

- I Corinthians

In My Fair Lady, Rex Harrison sings in exasperation: "Why can't a woman be more like a man? . . . Why can't a woman be like me?"

It did not surprise me to learn that this was a very popular song. In every emotional relationship, even if we don't put it into words, each of us has a rigid set of expectations which requires the other person to act and think in a particular way. Interestingly enough, it is not that person's way; it is our own.

When he or she acts differently, we get surprised and feel irritated or disappointed. If we could see behind the scenes, in the mind, this sort of encounter would make a good comedy. Here I am, relating not to you but to my idea of you, and I get irritated because you insist on acting your own way instead!

It is really no more than stimulus and response. If you behave the way I expect, I'll be kind. If you behave otherwise, I'll act otherwise too: rude, or irritated, or disappointed, or depressed, depending on my personality, but always something in reaction to you. It means, simply, that none of us has much freedom; our behavior is dependent on what other people say and do. To live without self-centered expectations is the secret of freedom in personal relationships.

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

The homework is to look at your relationships with a new perspective - a perspective that includes an awareness of when you are being self-centered.  Observe if you can catch yourself when you want things to go your own way and watch what happens.  The fifth Yama can be applied here: Aparigraha which means in part freedom from rigidity of thought, training our minds not to feel the loss or lack of anything and/or greedlessness. 

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 

The senses and Dharana and Pratyahara.......

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are considering the senses and Dharana and Pratyahara.

The senses have been conditioned by attraction to the pleasant and aversion to the unpleasant: we should not be ruled by them; they are obstacles on our path.

- Bhagavad Gita

We are conditioned to like some things and to dislike others. There is not necessarily any logic to it - it is often just a matter of habit.

Take food, for example. We like what we learn to like. In Kerala we have a particular kind of mango that is eaten green, when it is acutely sour. There is nothing inherently pleasant about this sensation; in fact, a detached observer would call it painful. But everybody likes it; everybody eats it; so you learn to like it too. And in the end, you cannot do without it.

Beneath all likes and dislikes is a basic compulsion of the mind to pass judgment on everything: "I like this, I don't like that." When this compulsion is rigid, it is rigid everywhere - with food, with philosophies, and especially with other people.

So, when we free ourselves from a compulsive liking for sour green mangos - or chocolate cake or red chilis - the whole likes-and-dislikes compulsion is weakened. As a result, all our other likes and dislikes will have a looser hold on us, giving us greater freedom, which will affect even our personal relationships for the better.

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

The homework is to consider the fifth and sixth limbs of Yoga Pratyahara – refinement and/or withdrawal of the senses and Dharana – concentration as a way to help you observe your likes and dislikes.  As you observe see if you can challenge some of your habits - even if they are related to something that is considered good.  See for yourself if challenging some of your habits leads to greater freedom.

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

Patience

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are considering patience.

Adopt the pace of nature, her secret is patience.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Poets like to write about love, popular singers like to glorify love, but nobody bothers to sing the praises of patience. I once heard of a man who prayed to God, "Give me patience, O Lord, and give it to me now!" That man was not born with a patient nature. Most of us aren't - but we can develop it through practice.

You will find opportunities every day if you look for them. In a situation where there is a lot of friction, where people differ from you and aren't shy about letting you know it, don't run away. Move closer to them. You may have to grit your teeth; you may have to bite your lip to keep from giving vent to a harsh retort. And then, of course, you need to smile too, which doesn't come easily with your lip between your teeth. It is a demanding art to do this gracefully. But it is an art that can be learned.

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

The homework is to work on developing a practice for patience and love.  Start by cultivating patience and love for yourself.  Be gentle and loving with yourself.  Forgive yourself when you stray.  Use positive affirmations and remind yourself that tomorrow you will be more patient, more loving and more forgiving.  Extend this practice to all beings.    

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 

Self-will and Kriya Yoga....

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are considering self-will and Kriya Yoga.

Love makes everything that is heavy light.

-Thomas a Kempis

It is love that teaches us our real stature and reveals the heroism we never thought we possessed. The renunciation that might be well-nigh impossible in a vacuum can be blessedly simple when someone we love stands to gain. Turning down a second glass of wine might take some doing in ordinary circumstances, for example; but when you're in the company of an impressionable teenager, you'll gladly set it aside.

Suppose you're tempted to add to your collection of antique fire screens: hard to resist, maybe, if your aim is solely to reduce your own acquisitiveness. But if the money you save can be spent on a tent for family camping trips, it can be a breeze. You feel so good inside! A knack for quiet self-sacrifice is the very life and soul of friendship. Reducing self-will needn't be a joyless deprivation - it can be so many little acts of love, performed over and over throughout the day.

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

The homework is to explore what it means to “reduce self-will”.  Consider that reducing self-will is a practice; like asana, meditation, or prayer.  In The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali Sadhana (practice) is defined as Tapas (burning desire), Svadhyaya (self-study) and Isvara Pranidhana (devotion to God) or together as Kriya Yoga.  Sadhana is practice to reach a goal in spite of obstacles.  Develop a practice to help you reduce your self-will.

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

Our native state of being....

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are considering our native state of being.

Know the Self within and go beyond all sorrow.

- Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

When all hostility, fear, and insecurity are erased from your mind, the state that remains is pure joy.

That state, hidden at the very center of consciousness, is the Eden to which the long journey of spiritual seeking leads. It is "the peace that passeth all understanding," that resolves all conflicts, fulfills all desires, and banishes all fear.

The purpose of all valid spiritual disciplines, whatever the religion from which they spring, is to enable us to return to this native state of being - not after death but here and now, in unbroken awareness of the divinity within us and throughout creation. Theologians may quarrel, but the mystics of the world speak the same language, and the practices they follow lead to the same goal.

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

The homework is to explore how the practices of Yoga can help us uncover what our "native state of being" is.  How does cultivating presence, concentration and awareness serve us in this process?  How does cultivating a quiet mind and relaxed nervous system aid us in this process?     

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 

The consequences of our actions......

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are considering the consequences of our actions.

A human being fashions his consequences as surely as he fashions his goods or his dwelling. Nothing that he says, thinks, or does is without consequences.

- Norman Cousins

The Hindu and Buddhist scriptures give us the same truth in what is called the law of karma, which is the psychological equivalent to the physical law that every action has a reaction equal and opposite to it. The Buddha says we can fly higher than the heavens or hide in the depths of the earth, but we will not be able to escape the consequences of our actions. Though we drive to another city or fly to another country, though we change our job or our name, our mistakes will pursue us wherever we go.

Paradoxically, the only way we can begin to escape from the consequences of our actions is to stop running from them and to face them with fortitude. In this sense, every difficult situation is a precious opportunity. When we find ourselves in some situation where we always make the same mistake, if we can manage not to make that mistake, the chain can be broken. Often, if we face it squarely, that situation will not come up again.

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

The homework is to learn how you can use your Yoga practices to prepare for breaking the chain of habitual behavior that is unhealthy for you and those around you.  Notice when you have an aversion to an asana and concentrate on overcoming that aversion by doing the best you can do and being grateful no matter what the outcome.  Consistently face your aversion with the joy of practicing and learn to appreciate the process.  Then apply this process to life situations off of the mat.  

 
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 

The third, fourth and sixth limbs of Yoga: Asana, Pranayama and Dharana

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are considering the third, fourth and sixth limbs of Yoga: Asana, Pranayama and Dharana.

Know well what leads you forward and what holds you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom.

- The Buddha

Blaming ourselves when we get angry is not going to be of much help in the long run. What is helpful is to gain a clearer understanding of how anger comes about. Getting angry is like having a malfunctioning engine. The mind is like the engine of the body, which can be compared to the chassis of the car we drive. But the sad fact is that most of us know a lot more about our car engine than we do about our own minds.

We don't even have the slightest idea of where the ignition switch of the mind is located. As a result, the engine goes on cranking out thoughts of every description throughout the day and throughout the long night in dreams. Worry and resentment and anger use up enormous quantities of vitality. It's like leaving our car idling in the garage all night long; in the morning when we need to get to work, we have to push it down the road.

What we need to do is learn how to slow down the mind, and eventually to park it at the side of the road when travel isn't necessary. Then we will have all the vitality, all the fuel, we need when we want to reach a worthwhile destination.

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

The homework is to learn how you can use the breath (pranayama) as your ignition switch to interrupt the mind and slow it down.  Learn to use the concentration (dharana) you develop in your asana practice to direct the mind in ways that encourage the positive use of your vitality.  Combine the use of both the breath and concentration to rest the mind more and store up your vitality. 

Is this a description of the practice of Yoga?

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

The second Niyama, Santosa or contentment.....

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are considering the second Niyama, Santosa or contentment.

We must not wish anything other than what happens from moment to moment, all the while, however, exercising ourselves in goodness.

- Saint Catherine of Genoa

A tremendous amount of our vital energy is squandered in the vacillations of the mind. If things go our way, we get elated; if things do not go our way, we get depressed. Yet elation and depression are made from the same cloth.

It is when the mind is getting elated that we need to be very vigilant, because what goes up will inevitably come down. If, through the practice of meditation and repetition of the mantram, we can keep the mind calm when good things are coming our way, then when bad things come, we won't be dejected. Our mind will stay calm.

Only then will we be free to be truly spontaneous in our responses to life.

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

The homework is to consider the second Niyama (practices of self-purification through discipline) which is Santosa or Contentment.  This is a commitment to being content, reducing desires, becoming cheerful and creating balance of mind.  Additionally, we have to be willing to let things go, especially likes and dislikes.  Ask yourself how the practice of Santosa will impact your responses to life?

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

The use of a mantram.......

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are considering the use of a mantram to redirect our minds when they go down an unhealthy path.

Suffering is the ancient law of love; there is no quest

without pain; there is no lover who is not also a martyr.

- Heinrich Suso

Practically speaking, in order to learn to love, we need a tool for transforming anger into compassion, resentment into sympathy. We need some kind of brake to apply when the mind shifts into high gear under the influence of anger and other negative emotions. The mind is so used to having its own way in almost everything that all it knows is how to race out of control.

How many of you would ever step into your Pontiac or Toyota if you knew the brakes could suddenly fail. I could say, "You have plenty of gas, a big engine, gorgeous upholstery, and radial tires. Why don't you go ahead?" You would reply, "But I can't stop the thing!" Amazingly enough, most of us manage to travel through life without knowing how to brake the engine of the mind.

We can all install a simple but effective brake - the mantram. Whenever you feel agitated, annoyed, impolite, or downright angry, keep repeating the mantram. Gradually the mind will race less and less. When the brake is thoroughly road-tested, you will have the equipment to be patient and kind in every situation. You will be ready to face the tests that real love demands.

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

The homework is to create your own mantram that you can invoke to brake the mind.  Choose something meaningful and short.  Then use this mantram to divert your attention when you start to follow the mind down a path that is not healthy for you or those around you.

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