Monday, November 30, 2015

Practices That Help us "Control the Mind"

Greetings Sadhakas,

This week in class we are considering practices that help us "control the mind".

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove.

                                    - William Shakespeare

Many of the disruptions that take place in personal relationships can be prevented by learning to control our attention, for attention is closely linked with loyalty.

I can illustrate with that most fascinating of relationships, the romantic. Suppose Romeo and Juliet had turned out differently, and the two lovers had married and settled down to a normal domestic life. After a few years, as sometimes happens, Romeo's attention gets restless. Once the sight of Juliet made him think of flowers and bubbling brooks and the "light, sweet airs of spring"; now she reminds him of the laundry and his morning espresso. After a while, his attention falls on Rosaline, his old flame. Now she reminds him of flowers and brooks; his attention seizes her and will not let go.

Today, Romeo would most likely receive the advice, "Follow your desires. That is where happiness will be." But that is just where unhappiness will be. If Romeo's attention cannot stay with Juliet, how is it going to stay with Rosaline? If he cannot get control over his attention, happiness can only recede farther and farther.

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

The homework is to consider how our Yoga practices help us to "control our attention" and why that would be helpful in all areas of life. Ask yourself which practices are most relevant to this work. Dharana? Tapas? Pratyahara? Pranayama? Dhyana? Svadhyaya? Isvara Pranidhana?  

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, November 23, 2015

Tapas


Greetings Sadhakas,

This week in class we are considering the third Niyama - Tapas.

You are what your deep, driving desire is.

                                           - Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

Desire is the key to life, because desire is power. The deeper the desire, the more power it contains.

Most people start life with many small desires. Their power and vitality trickle away in many different directions. None of their desires is deep enough to contain much power. But there are people whose lives are molded by only a few, consuming desires. Such people usually achieve their goals. Because their desires are unified, their will becomes nearly invincible. To desire something deeply is to will it, and to will is to achieve. If they want to become a great artist, build a bigger pyramid, explain the movements of the planets, they devote their life to that, and usually succeed. Wherever you find great success in life, it is fueled by the intense unification of desires.

But the most successful people of all are the rare men and women like Mahatma Gandhi and Saint Teresa of Avila who have but one desire. All lesser desires have been consumed in the great fire of love for God.

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

The homework is to study the third Niyama or Tapas. Tapas means to use burning effort under all circumstances to achieve ones goal in life.  Tapas needs to be applied in three areas: body, speech and mind.  Practicing non-violence towards your own body is one way to practice tapas of body.  Speaking kindly and truthfully can be one way to practice tapas of speech.  Developing an even mind that stays balanced in sorrow and joy and practicing self discipline is tapas of mind. Observe for yourself how unifying this practice of Tapas across these three areas can help you navigate and stay on your 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

Monday, November 16, 2015

Pranayama and Pratyahara

Greetings Sadhakas,

This week in class we are considering the fourth and fifth limbs of Yoga, Pranayama and Pratyahara.

The enemy is more easily overcome if it be not suffered to enter the door of our hearts, but be resisted without the gate at its first knock.

                                    - Thomas a Kempis

The body is rather like a city with five gates, the five senses. We are fairly fussy about what enters the gate of the mouth. But just as food enters the mouth and goes on to nourish or damage the body, sense impressions enter consciousness through our eyes, ears, nose, and skin, and in most of us the traffic is somewhat unregulated. We all want to be open to experience, but we also need to be watchful. When impressions come knocking, we need to check IDs.

Take popular films, many of which glamorize violence. We can pretend this is only entertainment, bearing no relationship to real life, yet every year violent crimes enact with terrible precision episodes from television or movies. In our violent society, how can anyone argue convincingly that witnessing casual cruelty on television does not affect us? We all have a personal stake in not supporting any of the mass media when they give us poisonous food for our eyes, our ears, and our minds.

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

The homework is to consider the fourth and fifth limbs of Yoga, Pranayama and Pratyahara. Pranayama teaches the aspirant to regulate the breathing, and thereby control the mind.  Pratyahara teaches the aspirant to discipline the senses, helping free the senses from the thralldom of the objects of desire. If you don't currently practice Pranayama talk to your teacher and consider taking up this art. Additionally learn what it means to practice Pratyahara. See for yourself how the practice of these two limbs of Yoga can work together.

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, November 9, 2015

Santosa


Greetings Sadhakas,

This week in class we are considering Santosa.

Faults and virtues arise from our companions.

                                    - Sanskrit proverb

According to this ancient saying, what is good in us and what is bad, our strong points and our weak points alike, develop because of constant association. When we associate with calm people, we become calm; when we associate with agitated people, we become agitated. When we frequent the company of people who are wise, we become wiser; when our company is otherwise, we become otherwise too.

We've all experienced this. When we have spent an evening with someone who is overwrought, we come home so agitated ourselves that we can't get to sleep. But there is a positive side of the power of association: we absorb good qualities too, by spending time with people who embody them. Whenever we associate with people, we participate in their mental states.

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

The homework is to consider the second Niyama - Santosa. Santosa can be defined as contentment, reducing desires, becoming cheerful and creating balance of mind. Determine for yourself how to practice Santosa and work to be the calming force in peoples lives. Become the person that others want to associate with.

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, November 2, 2015

Oneness

Greetings Sadhakas,

This week in class we are exploring oneness or not being separate.

Sages speak of the immutable Tree, with its root above and its branches below. . . . The limbs of this tree spread above and below. Sense objects grow on the limbs as buds; the roots hanging down bind us to action in this world. The true form of this tree - its essence, beginning, and end - is not perceived on this earth.

                                    - Bhagavad Gita

We are all familiar with the unflattering expression, "He can't see the forest for the trees." Similarly, it can be said that most of us don't see the tree for the leaves, that we fail to see the Tree of Life because we are fascinated by the leaves. We are so obsessed by the leaves - the millions of little fragments that grow on the tree - that we are not aware of the tree at all. We do not see that without the tree the leaves do not have any life, that it is the sap, coming from the very life of the tree, that flows into the leaves and supports them.

In our modern world, most of the emphasis is on separateness, on the leaf rather than the tree. Daily we receive the message, "Find your joy in your own way; live your life in your own way; find your fulfillment in your own way." This drive for personal satisfaction is based on a cruel fiction: that the leaf can prosper without the living tree. In reality, none of us are separate; we are all part of the same creation, drawing our strength, happiness, and fulfillment from the cosmic tree.

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

The homework is to observe how your Yoga practices connect you to everything that is.  Yoga means many things including oneness or not being separate.  The challenge is to learn how to apply this experience to our lives in every way and see how it impacts our behavior and choices.

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