Greetings Sadhakas,

This week in class we will be exploring going beyond our self-imposed limits.

Most people live, whether physically, intellectually or morally, in a very restricted circle of their potential being. They make use of a very small portion of their possible consciousness, and of their soul's resources in general, much like a man who, out of his whole bodily organism, should get into a habit of using and moving only his little finger.

                     – William James

We think we are very limited creatures, very small, good for maybe only fifteen minutes of love or patience before we have to crack. Instead of identifying with our deepest Self, we are identifying with some biochemical-mental organism.

But when you calm the mind in meditation every morning, you will see how far you can stretch your patience and your love during the day. You will see for yourself how comfortable you feel with everybody, how secure you feel wherever you go. You will find that you have a quiet sense of being equal to difficult situations.

These discoveries give a hint of the heights to which a human being can rise. Once we see this for ourselves, we will catch the exhilaration of the mystics when they say that because the Lord is our real Self, there is no limit to our capacities.

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

The homework is to see how your Yoga practices can challenge you to go beyond your self-imposed limits.  Learn how going further in your asana practice relates to challenging your limits off of the mat.  Relate this challenge to things other than physical ability.

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 Unity that Embraces us All

Greetings Sadhakas,

This week in class we will be exploring the unity that embraces us all.

If your heart were sincere and upright, every creature would be unto you a looking-glass of life and a book of holy doctrine.

           

                                              – Thomas a Kempis

The pure in spirit, who see God, see her here and now: in her handiwork, her hidden purpose, the wry humor of her creation. The Lord has left us love notes scattered extravagantly across creation. Hidden in the eye of the tiger, the wet muzzle of a calf, the delicacy of the violet, and the perfect curve of the elephant's tusk is a very personal, priceless message.

Watch the lamb in awkward play, butting against its mother's side. See the spider putting the final shimmering touches on an architectural wonder. And absorb a truth that is wordless. The grace of a deer, the soaring freedom of a sparrow hawk in flight, the utter self-possession of an elephant crashing through the woods - in every one of these there is something of ourselves. From the great whales in the blue Pacific to the tiniest of tree frogs in the Amazon basin, unity embraces us all.

Words to Live By: Inspiration for Every Day – Eknath Easwaran (paraphrased to change gender)

The homework is to see how your Yoga practices invite you IN to explore the unity of life.  Learn how to notice the unity that embraces us all through your practices.  This can only come from your own experience as a practitioner.

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

Divine Grace

Greetings Sadhakas,

This week in class we will be exploring divine grace.

At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposes of our lives, which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our own mind or the brutalities of our own will.

                                                        

                                                                         – Thomas Merton

The impetus to gain mastery over one's mind and senses does not come from a distant deity. It doesn't come from any monastic rule, or even from one's spiritual teacher. It comes from deep within yourself. You have had a fleeting glimpse of the shining presence within, and in its bright remembered light, all your flaws and blemishes are thrown into sharp relief. You can't wait to start removing them.

To have the desire to travel deep into consciousness is a sure mark of divine grace. To be no longer content to pick up what is floating on the surface of life, and to want only the pearls at the bottom of the sea, this is grace, welling up from deep inside.

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

The homework is to learn for yourself how your Yoga practices encourage you to "travel deep into consciousness".  If your practices are not fostering this process consider how to deepen your commitment to yourself to make this exploration happen.

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

Pratyahara

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we will be exploring Pratyahara.

When thoughts arise, then do all things arise. When thoughts vanish, then do all things vanish.

                                                          – Huang Po

When meditation deepens, and the thinking process slows down, we will find that we don't have to think all the time. It sounds simple, even scary, but it is a mighty achievement that yields unimaginable peace. Thoughts are no longer compulsive.

Just as we turn the key in the ignition of our car when we want to go somewhere, we should be able to find the ignition switch in our own mind. When we want to think constructively we switch the mind on and drive all the way to Los Angeles without any detours or breakdowns. Anger is a breakdown. Resentment is a protracted detour that often makes us forget our original travel plan entirely and then leaves us out of gas in the middle of nowhere. But when we know where to find the ignition switch, we can start the mind out in Seattle on Interstate 5 and drive straight through to Los Angeles. We have a wonderful trip, and when we arrive and our project is completed, we switch the mind off and let it rest.  There may be a certain pleasure in letting the mind wander, but for how long? What the spiritual teacher asks us is simple: Don't you want to decide your destination? And don't you want to get there with your body still healthy and your mind at peace?

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

The homework is to consider the fifth stage of Yoga, Pratyahara, or the withdrawal and emancipation from the senses.  Pratyahara is the transition from the external world to the internal world, to turn the senses inward toward the soul.  In the words of BKS Iyengar, “Here lies the true role of Pratyahara… It is the friend who releases you from the snares of the external world, and leads you towards happiness in the delight of the soul.  Observe how the practice of Pratyahara can direct you away from thinking all of the time and help encourage a meditative state.

References:

Light on Yoga and Light on the Yoga Sutras, by BKS Iyengar, Yoga: A Gem for Women, by Geeta 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 

Yoga Sutra 1:33

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we will be exploring Yoga Sutra 1:33.

Whatever I am offered in devotion with a pure heart -

a leaf, a flower, fruit, or water - I accept with joy.

                                                          – Bhagavad Gita

We can look upon everything we do as a gift to the Lord. If we hoe the garden carefully so that our family - or a neighbor's family, or someone in need - can have fresh vegetables for dinner, that is an offering to the Lord. If we work a little more than is expected of us at something that benefits others, that too is an offering to the Lord. Everywhere, in every detail of daily living, it is not a question of quantity or expense that makes our offering acceptable; it is cheerfulness, enthusiasm, and the capacity to forget ourselves in helping others.

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

The homework is to observe your daily rituals and see where you can forget yourself more and work to help others.  Yoga Sutra 1:33 says that "By cultivating attitudes of friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and disregard toward the wicked, the mind-stuff retains its undisturbed calmness."   - The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Sri Swami Satichidananda

In one of Patanjali's most quoted sutras we are encouraged to cultivate Metta or Lovingkindness, Karuna or Compassion, Mudita or Sympathetic Joy, and Upekkha or Equanimity.  Patanjali suggests that if we do so we can keep the fluctuations of the mind at bay and realize our true nature.

In forgetting yourself more see if you can do so with sutra 1:33 in mind.

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

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we will be exploring the Tapas - the third Niyama.

In truth, to attain to interior peace, one must be willing to pass through the contrary to peace.  Such is the teaching of the sages.

                                                          – Swami Brahmananda

I once asked my grandmother, "Why shouldn't we go after pleasant things, Granny? It's only human. And what's wrong with wanting to stay away from unpleasant things?" She didn't argue with me. She just told me to eat an amla fruit.

It was easier said than done. The fruit was so sour that I wanted to spit it out, but she stopped me. "Don't give up. Keep chewing." Out of love for her, I did, and the sourness left. The fruit began to taste sweeter and sweeter. "Granny, this is delicious," I said.

"But you didn't like it at the outset. You wanted to spit it out." That is how it is with spiritual disciplines.

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

The homework is to review the third Niyama - Tapas.  Learn how the discipline we bring to our Yoga practice - part of our Tapas can help us challenge ourselves to progress in our spiritual practices.  Tapas means to use burning effort under all circumstances to achieve ones goal in 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

Kriya Yoga

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we will be exploring the concept of Kriya Yoga.

I was held back by mere trifles, the most paltry inanities, all my old attachments.

                                                             – Saint Augustine

Sooner or later, most of us encounter the haunting fear that if we turn our senses inwards, which is what diving into the murky water of consciousness means, we may lose everything enjoyable in life. This fear is one of the most formidable obstacles between us and deepening meditation. But if we persevere, we will see the day when these old attachments will fall away, almost of themselves, and no one will be as surprised as we are.

Gradually, with experience, our faith grows that deep within us the Self is willing and able to take responsibility for our ultimate welfare. Slowly we can surrender our personal will to an immeasurably more profound purpose. Bit by bit, we can work ourselves loose from the grip of compulsive entanglements in the faith that our capacity to love and be loved will thereby be magnified a millionfold.

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

The homework is to study the Niyamas, the second of the eight limbs of Yoga and see where the concept of surrendering our personal will for a more profound purpose fits in.  The Yoga Sutras present the concept of Kriya Yoga.  This would be a good place to start your study.

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