Paul Cheek / Rushing Water Yoga in Camas, WA: December 2016

Sunday, December 11, 2016

Love and Mercy and the Forces of Life that Reside Within

Greetings Sadhakas,

This week in class we are considering which Yoga practices can help us rule our decisions by Love and Mercy. And which practices helps us cultivate or connect with the “forces of life” that reside within.

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

-The Gospel According to Saint Matthew

Even if we agree intellectually with the Sermon on the Mount, how many of us act as if its words apply to us? We let mercy wait while we pursue goals we understand. A luxurious home overlooking the sea through a forest of pines, prestige in our job, success for our children: don't all of us dream that such things can make us happy?

"That is not enough," Jesus would say quietly. Our need is for love, and we can get it only in the measure that we give. Instead of pursuing external satisfactions, we need to let love and mercy rule our decisions from day to day, and our long-range goals as well.

Then the forces of life will rise up from within to protect us. They will protect our health by keeping us clear of physical addictions. They will protect our mind by keeping it calm. People will surround us with affection and support when they see we care about them more than we do about ourselves.

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

The homework is to reflect on how training the mind through Yoga practices can help us rule our decisions by Love and Mercy. Consider as well which practices helps us cultivate or connect with the “forces of life” that reside within.

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 5, 2016

Applying the Practices of Yoga to your Life off of the Mat

Greetings Sadhakas,

This week in class we are considering how to refine the practices of Yoga through Asana and apply these practices to our life off of the mat.

Life consists in what a man is thinking of all day.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

A compulsive desire is like any other thought over which we have no control. It flows continuously: "I want that; I want that; I want that." There seems to be no space between the thoughts. But when your meditation begins to deepen, two things happen. First, the thought process slows down. Second, you develop a new attitude toward desires - you begin to realize that you needn't give in to the desire. You have a choice.

Now, when a very strong desire starts to overtake you, and your mind is just one long string of "I want that," you catch sight of a tiny opening between the demands. It may be only a split second in duration at first, but in time it grows long enough for another thought, another kind of thought, to make itself known. "Hmmm," we think, "maybe part of me does want that - but do I? Is it really in my long-term best interest to gratify this desire?"