Abhinivesah

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we will be exploring Abhinivesah which translates as "Clinging to life" or "Fear of death".

We know only that we are living in these bodies and have a vague idea, because we have heard it, and because our faith tells us so, that we possess souls. 

                                            – Saint Teresa of Avila

I am not my body. This body is like a jacket that I wear.

I have a brown jacket with a Nehru collar, made in India, which has served me very well. I take good care of it, and I expect it to last me at least another five years. This body of mine is another brown jacket, made in South India and impeccably tailored to my requirements by a master tailor, whose label is right inside. This jacket has to last me much longer than the other, so I am very careful with it. I give it the right amounts of nutritious food and exercise. Just like my Nehru jacket, this body-jacket will someday become too worn to serve me well. When death comes I will be able to set it aside, with no more tears than I would shed when I give my old Nehru jacket away.

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

The homework is to review the fifth klesha (afflictions) called Abhinivesah.  Abhinivesah translates as "Clinging to life" or "Fear of death".  In the Yoga sutras it is written that the root of all of the afflictions is Avidya or spiritual ignorance.  The other afflictions are egoism, attachment to pleasure, and aversion to pain.  What does it mean to you to be "spiritually ignorant" and how would not being spiritually ignorant help us overcome the kleshas? 

References: Yoga Sutras II:2 - II:12 (and many more referenced).

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

Detachment

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we will be exploring detachment.

Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be attained only by someone who is detached.        

                                                             – Simone Weil

One of the profoundest laws of spiritual psychology is: you see what you are, and you are what you see. The observer cannot help conditioning what he or she observes.

Those who cannot love see a world where love has little place. Those who live to enlarge their love, by contrast, see a world of hope: a world of men and women who, despite their failings, are capable of love in the core of goodness in their hearts.

To see life from this lofty vantage, we need detachment, not from others but from ourselves.

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

The homework is to understand for yourself what it means to be detached from yourself and how your Yoga practices can help you in this process.  This concept is found in Yoga Sutra 1:12: “Abhyasa Vairagyabhyam Tannirodhah - Practice and detachment are the means to still the movements of consciousness.”  Study this sutra and see how the concepts of Abhyasa : effort, willpower, practice and Vairagya : letting go, acceptance, detachment are explained.

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 oneness that our Yoga practices encourages us to cultivate

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we will be exploring the oneness that our Yoga practices encourages us to cultivate.

But charity means pardoning what is unpardonable, or it is no virtue at all. Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all. And faith means believing the incredible, or it is no virtue at all.   

                                                             – G. K. Chesterton

Every one of us can learn to love without qualifications or reservations. Naturally, we start with imperfections. But there is no need to throw up our hands as so many are doing today and say, "Let us be separate and have a relationship. Here are my duties, here are yours. This is the boundary line. If you stay on your side, I'll respect you; but if you cross over, you're an invader." Wherever people go their separate ways like this, love cannot grow. It is not possible to have both separateness and intimacy.

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

The homework is to embrace the oneness that our Yoga practices encourages us to cultivate and apply this concept to all of your relationships.  Observe the changes that come as a result of this effort.

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 silence that our Yoga practices help us cultivate.

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we will be exploring the silence that our Yoga practices help us cultivate.

People see his pleasure-ground; him no one sees at all.   

                                         – Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

When I was a boy in my ancestral home in South India, the children used to play a game called kooee. One little boy or girl would run and hide in a room of the labyrinthine building. Then he would call out "kooee," and we would hear "kooee" echoing from all corners. "Kooee" would be coming from upstairs and downstairs; from the ceiling "kooee" would reverberate. We would race through the halls, tear through each room in search of the one who was crying "kooee." Then at last we would catch her, and the game would be over.

This is the game we are all playing. Some people hear the call coming from the bank. Others hear the call from the haunts of pleasure. Many hear it coming loud and clear from status and prestige. Still others, tragically, seek power that calls to them with a loud voice.

We need to open our ears, so that when we hear the elusive call we will say, "Oh, that is Krishna playing on his flute. That is Jesus beckoning to us to follow him. That is the Divine Mother calling us home. That is the Buddha trying to wake us up." Finally, we learn how to trace the sound to its source and say, "Caught you at last!"

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

The homework is to observe the silence that your Yoga practices helps you to cultivate and see for yourself what is calling you.  The practices of Yoga encourage us to create silent space and in that space comes openings to whatever divinity means to 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

Rushing Water Yoga in Camas, WA 

The impact of our energy on those around us

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we will be exploring the impact of our energy on those around us.

If there is righteousness in the heart, there will be beauty in the character. If there is beauty in the character, there will be harmony in the home. If there is harmony in the home, there will be order in the nation. If there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world.  

                                                             – Confucian tradition

In a home where one person can be patient and forgiving, even if the rest of the family does not see eye to eye with him or her, they will share in a spiritual bonus. All of us benefit by living with someone who does not live for himself or herself.

It is misleading to think that people who meditate are seeking only their own illumination. They are contributing to the removal of selfishness and separateness in the world.

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

The homework is to learn for yourself how your Yoga practice can contribute to the removal of selfishness and separateness in the world.  Use the observation skills you develop in your Asana practice to notice the impact of your own energy on 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