Pratyahara.........

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are exploring the fifth limb of Yoga Pratyahara, the withdrawal of the senses or the refinement of the senses.

Before us are life and death, good and evil. That which we shall choose shall be given us.

                                                   – Ecclesiasticus

The capacity to discriminate between right desires and wrong desires is very precious. Right desires benefit everyone - including ourselves. Wrong desires may be pleasing, but they benefit no one - again, not even ourselves. The criteria are simple to state, but not so simple to apply in everyday life.

The problem that arises is that wrong desires can be very skillful impersonators. They put on a three-piece suit and a false mustache and present themselves suavely as Mr. Right, the benefactor of all; if they happen to be just what we like, that is only happy coincidence. To live wisely, we need to be able to recognize right desires and yield to them, which is a pleasant but rare state of affairs. But much more important, we need to be able to recognize wrong desires and resist them.

This can be very difficult. There are times when we have to take on the desire face to face, like a boxer in the ring. The very attitude of resisting in the face of a wrong desire is the beginning of good health, vitality, and love.

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

The homework is to study the fifth limb of Yoga: Pratyahara.  Pratyahara is the withdrawal of the senses or the refinement of the senses.  The work of practicing pratyahara is to have the perspective and discrimination to not be drawn into the foray of mind stuff about the goings on in the world.  See how your Yoga practices can help you develop more discrimination, especially as it relates to desires.  What is the end result when we become more aware of our desires and evaluate them in light of their impact on our relationships?

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 exploring oneness.

A human being is part of the whole, called by us "universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.        

  
                                                 – Albert Einstein

None of us see life as it is, the world as it is. We all see life as we are. We look at others through our own likes and dislikes, desires and interests. It is this separatist outlook that fragments life for us - man against woman, community against community, country against country. Yet the mystics of all religions assure us on the strength of their own experience, if only we throw away this fragmenting instrument of observation, we shall see all life as an indivisible whole.

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

The homework is to use your Yoga practices to explore the unity of life.  Yoga teaches us how to slow down and challenges the concept of "doing" and encourages movement towards a state of "being".  It encourages us to become or "be" the pose with a oneness.  See if slowing down and being, instead of always doing, provides you with the experience to cultivate the compassion that allows us to embrace this oneness.

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

Choice

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are exploring choice.

When you move amidst the world of sense, free from attachment and aversion alike, there comes the peace in which all sorrows end, and you live in the wisdom of the Self.         

                                                             – Bhagavad Gita

The grace of God sometimes comes in the form of sorrow. If we are not prepared to realize the unity of life, the Lord in his infinite love will let us suffer until we are forced to change our ways.

Of course, it isn't at all easy to change: often it is quite painful. It's very much like learning to use a stiff arm again. If your arm has been injured, and twisted into a rigid position, even the slightest movement becomes painful. Yet you have to learn to move it in order to regain the use of your arm. There is suffering in this, as there often is in any kind of growth.

We should never conclude that our lives are hopeless, that we can never improve, that we are condemned by God or fate or chemistry or conditioning to repeat the same mistakes. We always have a choice. That is the glory of our human nature: not only that we can always choose a better path, but that someday we will. We can never alienate ourselves from our divine Self, and the whole force of evolution is pushing us towards the divine vision, in which we see ourselves as we really are.

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

The homework is to remember that you have a choice when it comes to how to deal with difficulties and that difficulties could be a blessing in disguise.  Learn what your habits are when difficulties arise and challenge this habitual response and work to re-direct your energy towards a healthier response for you and the people 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

Kriya Yoga

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are exploring Kriya Yoga.

Wandering with thee, even hell itself would be to me a heaven of bliss.  

                                                             – Ramayana

For the long spiritual journey, ongoing support, guidance, and inspiration are necessary for everyone. We all need the support of people who share our aspirations, and to whom we can turn in difficult times. So we should not overlook the importance of spiritual companionship.

Meditating with two or three friends gives tremendous support. When husband and wife practice meditation together, they strengthen one another immeasurably. The challenges of self-transformation become so much easier to bear when we can face them with the support of those we love.

But if we find that there seems to be no one to share our interest in meditation, the important thing is to be patient - to have faith that we will eventually find the spiritual companions that we need. Until then, we can turn to a few invaluable books in which spiritual aspirants share their experiences. These books can become old friends: the writings of Swami Ramdas, the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, the works of Saint Teresa of Avila, Of the Imitation of Christ, the teachings of the Buddha, to give a few examples out of a vast storehouse of spiritual wisdom.

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

The homework is to review the concept of Kriya Yoga as presented in Pada II of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras.  Kriya Yoga is the Yoga of action and involves the last three Niyamas*.

            -Tapas, Austerity (Discipline).  This is a commitment to being disciplined in the mind and body and directing the mind towards the self within.

            -Svadhyaya, (Self-study).  Study the source of our actions.  This is a commitment to continuing to study and learn and search for truth and self-realization and remembering to “be aware”.

            -Isvara Pranidhana, (Surrendar to God).  To practice Isvara Pranidhana is to dedicate all that you do in life towards humanity.

            Apply this concept of Kriya Yoga to your own spiritual journey.

* Described in the second chapter of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, the Niyamas establish the rules of conduct that apply to individual discipline.  Practicing and adhering to these principles creates self purification in the 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

Aparigraha - the fifth Yama.

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are exploring Aparigraha - the fifth Yama.

The earth which sustains humanity must not be injured; it must not be destroyed.

                                         – Hildegard of Bingen

In the ancient Indian tradition, many timeless truths underlying life - on which the health of the world depends, and our life too - are conveyed in simple, beautiful allegories. The earth is Goddess Earth. She is a person. She is a living personality. Today we have forgotten that the earth is our mother, and that unless she is healthy, that with which she nourishes us will not make us healthy.

Air is also considered to be a great god, whom we are expected to worship by keeping it pure, because our very life depends upon it. It is incomprehensible to me how this vital necessity of ours has been ignored in our modern civilization in the frantic pursuit for material possessions, many of which are not necessary. We needn't embrace poverty, but a beautiful life can be a simple life. Isn't pure air more precious than anything else?

This is not a pessimistic outlook; it is a very optimistic one, because environmental problems can be solved by little people like us, working together.

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

The homework is to review the fifth yama, Aparigraha.   "Parigraha means hoarding or collecting.  To be free from hoarding is aparigraha.  It is thus another facet of Asteya (non-stealing).  Just as one should not take things one does not really need, so one should not collect things one does not require immediately.  By the observance of Aparigraha, the yogini makes her life as simple as possible and trains her mind to not feel the loss or the lack of anything.  Then everything she really needs will come to her by itself at the proper time."*  Learn what it means for you to observe Aparigraha and embrace simplicity.

*Paraphrased from Light on Yoga  -  BKS 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 

Developing the capacity to bear with our errors.

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are learning how to develop the capacity to bear with our errors.

Love and pity and wish well to every soul in the world;

dwell in love, and then you dwell in God.

                                                                         – William Law

Loyalty is the quintessence of love. When two people tell each other, "As long as you do what I like, I'll stay with you, but as soon as you start doing things I don't like, I'm packing my bags" - that is not love; that's convenience. Loving somebody means that even when they trouble you, you don't let yourself be shaken. Even when they are harsh to you, you don't move away. Even when they make a mistake that hurts you, you don't go off and make the same kind of mistake to hurt them.

All of us are so liable to human error that unless we have some capacity to bear with the errors of others, we will not be able to maintain a lasting relationship, which is the tragic situation that many people find themselves in today. We should never settle for this unhappy state of affairs.

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

The homework is to use your asana practice to develop the capacity to bear with your errors.  Notice when you do not like an asana and when your mind suggests that you should avoid it.  Try to witness this process and ask yourself why.  Work to go beyond avoiding asanas that you are not drawn to and that challenge you.  Consider that practicing whatever part of the asana you can will help you develop the capacity to bear with your own errors.  Then generalize this process to your relationships.

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 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