Perhaps the rhythm of the rain has inspired me. For the last week while we had non-stop rain, I have included drumming as part of my morning meditation. I have a tiny djembe that fits snugly in my lap. Its tones and rhythm created by the movement of my hands and fingers sooth my ears and mesmerize my soul.
The sound of rain is deeply ingrained in my consciousness. Growing up in Thailand I experienced three straight months of non-stop rain every year from July to September. I was born during the monsoon season. The rain was always welcomed after an extremely hot summer. The clear sky was always appreciated after the rain. You receive exactly just what you need at just the right place and the right time.
Yesterday the sky was cleared. I put a variety of baby vegetables in the big garden box inherited from the last homeowner. Digging through the dirt I saw many worms. They were dancing. I made my apology for having invaded their space and tried to shove the dirt gently. I have no training in gardening or drumming. Instead of reading books, googling about them or asking experts, I close my eyes and feel my way through the dirt and the drum. Not that this is the most efficient way but it is the way which life has presented to me.
Springtime is associated with the water element. Water provides nutrients and prana for all things to flourish and grow. This is the most supportive time to flow, co-create, pro-create, plant and grow. Is there something which prevents you from flowing and growing? Are you trying too hard? Life gives you the answer you need if you would allow yourself to see exactly how it is. Perhaps you can change your course and move downstream rather than upstream. Instead of fighting try dancing (or drumming, or gardening)! Flowing with the rhythm of life allows you to appreciate the ordinary gifts that you already have. You may have to close your eyes and go "inside" in order to feel the magic.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Welcoming Spring
I have been harvesting oranges, avocados, rosemary and lavender from my backyard. It's truly amazing how many fruits a tree can bear. So, much to my delight I have been sharing them with neighbors, friends and students. After a session of weeding therapy this afternoon I thought a blog therapy was called for. Being a city dweller most of my life I have spent little time tending to the earth. Being close to nature is vital to our well being. In fact, I believe much of our idiocy, inauthenticity and imbalance can be cured by being with nature and working with the earth.
Mother Maya, the author of The Path of Practice, went away from New York City to live close to nature while suffering the last stage of cancer. Her doctor told her she had very little time left. Nature gave back her life. Or rather, she allowed herself to live her nature. Ayurveda stems from the knowledge of nature. I imagine the ancient sages and physicians must have spent a vast amount of time observing and meditating on nature's ebb and flow and its complete connectedness. Ayurveda means the science of life.
Nature is self sustaining and self recycling. I dreaded the cleaning up of all the leaves that fell during the fall. Yet, after coming home from a x'mas trip I found most of them have decayed and perished. It has been raining. A welcoming sign of spring. The junction between the end of winter and the beginning of spring is the time to clear space hence, my weeding. I checked many of the bushes and trees that still look like dry carcasses from the winter cold. I was especially nervous about the little persimmon tree that got put in during the fall. It produced two delicious full grown fruits by the winter. I had no cause to fear. All life wants to live including the ones in my yard. They have grown their tiny baby buds soon to be leaves and branches.
To welcome spring into your life first lighten up. Read my past blog called "Create Room for the New." Then, enliven yourself with activities that keep you close to the earth and nature. Go hiking, sitting by a lake or in a park, gardening, tap your feet/dancing, drumming outdoor by a fire pit by an ocean, visiting a hot spring, camping, etc. The idea is to get down and dirty. If you have a tight budget go for weeding. If you don't have a yard to weed create an indoor container garden. Sitting under a tree is the best way to spend your time contemplating, meditating or just relaxing. Get together with your friends and go for a picnic. Become a child, a new bud again. Enjoy!
Mother Maya, the author of The Path of Practice, went away from New York City to live close to nature while suffering the last stage of cancer. Her doctor told her she had very little time left. Nature gave back her life. Or rather, she allowed herself to live her nature. Ayurveda stems from the knowledge of nature. I imagine the ancient sages and physicians must have spent a vast amount of time observing and meditating on nature's ebb and flow and its complete connectedness. Ayurveda means the science of life.
Nature is self sustaining and self recycling. I dreaded the cleaning up of all the leaves that fell during the fall. Yet, after coming home from a x'mas trip I found most of them have decayed and perished. It has been raining. A welcoming sign of spring. The junction between the end of winter and the beginning of spring is the time to clear space hence, my weeding. I checked many of the bushes and trees that still look like dry carcasses from the winter cold. I was especially nervous about the little persimmon tree that got put in during the fall. It produced two delicious full grown fruits by the winter. I had no cause to fear. All life wants to live including the ones in my yard. They have grown their tiny baby buds soon to be leaves and branches.
To welcome spring into your life first lighten up. Read my past blog called "Create Room for the New." Then, enliven yourself with activities that keep you close to the earth and nature. Go hiking, sitting by a lake or in a park, gardening, tap your feet/dancing, drumming outdoor by a fire pit by an ocean, visiting a hot spring, camping, etc. The idea is to get down and dirty. If you have a tight budget go for weeding. If you don't have a yard to weed create an indoor container garden. Sitting under a tree is the best way to spend your time contemplating, meditating or just relaxing. Get together with your friends and go for a picnic. Become a child, a new bud again. Enjoy!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Karma Yoga: Live Responsibly; Take Nothing Personally
Lately this title has been my mantra. As a yoga teacher I have had fear of causing catastrophic disharmony to many people who show up in my classes. People just like me who have many likes and dislikes. And God forbids that it should turn out they don't like me! So, I try to live responsibly. At the least I know I have done my best and there is no regret. Fortunately, yoga has laid out a path for a practitioner like me to follow. Specifically, the teaching of Bhagavad Gita gives you the answer to how to live your life responsibly. It is the path of karma yoga.
Responsible living is not only about doing your best but doing it with no personal interest and expect no personal gain. Karma yoga takes the concept of service to the greatest height. The practice of karma yoga may sound daunting but a deeper contemplation would result in the realization that it is simply the most effective way to live. What freedom and joy it is to be doing for the sake of doing. When you are genuinely curious and deeply interested in what you do, you do it impeccably. You simply savor the journey no matter where it takes you. On the other hand, what a drag it is to be dreading an imperfect result or anxiously hope for a perfect outcome. Your energy is dispersed in to the past and future. You fail to show up because you are too busy worrying about where you came from and what destination you will be arriving.
What prevents you from enjoying your journey is your own limiting beliefs. You feel ill at ease when you limit yourself to who you think you are- wife, husband, teacher, student, Asian, American, addict, famous, ordinary, beautiful, ugly, fat, skinny, intelligent, stupid, etc. Your story and other people's stories that have been feeding you are extremely convincing. But the more you limit yourself to what you are, the more you need fulfillment for what you are not. You convince yourself that you need him or her, a great career, a house, a vacation, children, pets, cup cakes, yoga classes, yoga teachers, whatever, to fill you up. Yet, after acquiring or experiencing them you still feel empty.
In journey to Ixtlan, Carlos Castaneda wrote about loosing self importance. When you feel ill at ease because of guilt, shame, anger, jealousy, etc., you are placing yourself above the rest. You are seeing and feeling from your own personal perspective. They are limited by your personal story. Can you tell yourself that who you think you are is not important; that you are not the center of attention? Not being enough or spiritually fulfilled produces an ongoing internal anxiety which at best creates discontentment and at worst a psychopath. You simply treat yourself and others (living or non-living) as "things". Yoga teaches that peace and happiness can only be found inside. No thing can give a permanent satisfaction because nothing is permanent.
Karma yoga teaches that all thing is divine and when you serve others you serve your highest self. When I get stressed out about teaching I tell myself that all I need to do is to show up and breath. And trust that my personal practice would see me through and serve others well. Whatever I experience in a class is a gift. Whatever the participants in the class experience is also a gift. Do I still get nervous? Sure. But the practice of karma yoga continues to strengthen my faith and fill me up with joy. Through living responsibly and taking nothing personally you orient yourself from the macrocosmic perspective. Your action has its cause and effect that ripples through the universe. The more you take the responsibility of your own action for the good of others the more it reflects back to you.
Responsible living is not only about doing your best but doing it with no personal interest and expect no personal gain. Karma yoga takes the concept of service to the greatest height. The practice of karma yoga may sound daunting but a deeper contemplation would result in the realization that it is simply the most effective way to live. What freedom and joy it is to be doing for the sake of doing. When you are genuinely curious and deeply interested in what you do, you do it impeccably. You simply savor the journey no matter where it takes you. On the other hand, what a drag it is to be dreading an imperfect result or anxiously hope for a perfect outcome. Your energy is dispersed in to the past and future. You fail to show up because you are too busy worrying about where you came from and what destination you will be arriving.
What prevents you from enjoying your journey is your own limiting beliefs. You feel ill at ease when you limit yourself to who you think you are- wife, husband, teacher, student, Asian, American, addict, famous, ordinary, beautiful, ugly, fat, skinny, intelligent, stupid, etc. Your story and other people's stories that have been feeding you are extremely convincing. But the more you limit yourself to what you are, the more you need fulfillment for what you are not. You convince yourself that you need him or her, a great career, a house, a vacation, children, pets, cup cakes, yoga classes, yoga teachers, whatever, to fill you up. Yet, after acquiring or experiencing them you still feel empty.
In journey to Ixtlan, Carlos Castaneda wrote about loosing self importance. When you feel ill at ease because of guilt, shame, anger, jealousy, etc., you are placing yourself above the rest. You are seeing and feeling from your own personal perspective. They are limited by your personal story. Can you tell yourself that who you think you are is not important; that you are not the center of attention? Not being enough or spiritually fulfilled produces an ongoing internal anxiety which at best creates discontentment and at worst a psychopath. You simply treat yourself and others (living or non-living) as "things". Yoga teaches that peace and happiness can only be found inside. No thing can give a permanent satisfaction because nothing is permanent.
Karma yoga teaches that all thing is divine and when you serve others you serve your highest self. When I get stressed out about teaching I tell myself that all I need to do is to show up and breath. And trust that my personal practice would see me through and serve others well. Whatever I experience in a class is a gift. Whatever the participants in the class experience is also a gift. Do I still get nervous? Sure. But the practice of karma yoga continues to strengthen my faith and fill me up with joy. Through living responsibly and taking nothing personally you orient yourself from the macrocosmic perspective. Your action has its cause and effect that ripples through the universe. The more you take the responsibility of your own action for the good of others the more it reflects back to you.
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