Anusara Chaos and the Dance of Shiva February 11, 2012

• ‘Shrishti’ – creation, evolution
• ‘Sthiti’ – preservation, support
• ‘Samhara’ – destruction, evolution
• ‘Tirobhava’ – illusion
• ‘Anugraha’ – release, emancipation, grace

These are the 5 acts of Shiva. All of them are happening all the time, everywhere. This week they happened in a very impactful and resounding way throughout the Anusara Yoga community of which I am a member. Our teacher and founder of Anusara Yoga, John Friend, has been accused of and admitted to, behavior that is not in alignment with the Ethics and guidelines of Anusara. I learned one hour before I was about to teach Monday night that literally all hell had broke loose~ and my teacher , who I held in the deepest respect and  great esteem,  suddenly was shown to have clay feet.

I could wax on about what he did, but honestly, I don’t really care. John is a brilliant man and the method he synthesized is the best I have ever taught, practiced or experienced.  I am also very much a liberal and you can do what you want in your private life,  as long as it doesn’t hurt others and it’s not unethical to the standards of which you hold yourself and others. I hate hypocrites. But  I mean really… smoking weed??? It’s almost legal where I live! Unfortunately the issue is that John denied the behavior or hid the behavior from the community at large, which has now been to the detriment of all those associated with the method. He was not ” walking his talk” and that has created a large “disconnect” in a method that tries at its heart to create connection- to our own hearts, to the  pulsation of nature around us and to the Absolute.

We know when we are “disconnected” because there is this uncomfortable unsatisfactory feeling of rubbing up against something that creates a friction, a pain, a suffering. Part of this is truly God given as it causes us to then change the behaviour, the thinking, the heart- to move back into connection. This is  part of the Dance of Shiva- the dance of life.

We conceal our hearts and create illusions of what is the truth and then these creations of the ego become unable to sustain themselves and they crumble back into their component parts. The heart is still there- it is indestructible: but we continually go through this process of concealment and revelation, creation and destruction, as a cycle of manifested life. We dance the life of shadows and light until we die. The true yogi still dances, but there is an abiding stillness that remains at the center- at the heart.

The Dance of Shiva contains – “sthiti” – preservation; the leg that stands upon the demon of ignorance as it wiggles to get free. Can you stand in the chaos of this dance of life and not get swept away- lost in the chaos- thrown off balance to let the demon arise? This is what the yogi- in the form of Nataraja- represents. The yogi sees through the illusions, stands in the wildness and yet remains in a meditative state in the heart. Grace helps hold them there.

Awakening to the wisdom that this is the cycle and this is your dharma does not allow you to waver- the foot remains firmly rooted out of profound love. Grace is the power that holds the heart to the highest- even when life can be at it’s lowest.

When I signed my certification I signed on to a method – not a personality- and I have a profound love of this practice that is not going to let the chaos waver my steady leg – a leg that is in direct correlation to my heart. As I taught shortly after the chaos began , I felt the strength and power of the teachings flow through me and my heart sang a song of connection. There was nothing there that felt anything but beautiful. I realized that this is destruction of the old, immature, adolescent dependence that we had on John as the figure head and that we now have all the component parts in front of us to  create again . The heart is not lost, the heart is not broken, it is there waiting for us to Open To Grace and rebuild and create in a mature way- seeing the illusions, staying steady in the heart and yet remaining in the chaotic dance of life-

what will we create out of destruction?

How Do You Climb A Mountain? August 22, 2011

I climbed  Mt. Fuji in 1992- coming up 20 years now. I remember how hot it was at the beginning station during the day- upwards of 30 degrees Celsius and we waited patiently for the sun to go down. Ideally you climb Mt.Fuji in the chill of the night so you can be at the top to watch the sun rise over the land. As we started our ascent on the slippery volcanic rock I just kept thinking, ” One foot after the other- one step at a time. Don’t go so fast you burn out from the elevation, don’t go so slow you get cold and cramp up- one step at a time.” So step by step we climbed the mountain.  Most climbers had wooden walking sticks with us that had a Japanese flag and some small chimes attached.  The rhythmic sound of bells accompanied all the climbers steps echoing brightly in the utter darkness. I chatted occasionally with those in our group but mostly I just listened and felt- we were walking up the greatest geographical icon in Japan. A mountain whose mere glimpse will often bring tears to Japanese eyes. Yet the path wasn’t particularly scenic it’s mostly black volcanic scree and it was also the middle of the night. I sometimes would look up the mountain to see little lights ahead of us- small headlamps attached to helmets or hats-  like fireflies dancing to the sound of the bells.

I would get tired on some parts or slide and slip on others but I just kept putting one foot in front of the other, trying to find a rhythm in the mountain- something I could follow. I wasn’t a yogi in those days- I was a 22 year old straight out of university following my dream. Living in Japan, climbing Mt. Fuji- all these radical new experiences that I was trying to absorb. It was like trying to do your dance to some music you had never heard- clumsy, awkward, and naive. Somewhere about half way up something changed and it was like the mountain and I were suddenly in relationship. The rhythm came and the effort softened and suddenly the dark wasn’t quite so intimidating.

We reached the top at 3:30 am and had to wait until 5 for the sun to rise. It was -3 Celsius at the top. I could barely make out a torii gate as we shoved cans of hot coffee into our pockets to keep warm. At 5 am the sun rose on Fuji, a line of orange to start and then breaking into reds and yellows- so bright it was almost blinding. The torii gate became illuminated in the morning colours and we looked out over the lakes and mountain below us. We had made it- one step at a time.

I thought about this climb a lot lately because I have often thought of the certification process as climbing a mountain. We often start out with a group of friends, a guide and high energy. As the journey continues some friends take different paths, others give up. Our guide stays with us for a certain amount of time and then they too leave us- they have taught us all they can and they point to the path ahead which you now follow on your own. You get tired, you want to quit. At that point you and the mountain have to come into relationship. It’s just the two of you now. One step at a time, one foot in front of the other….and suddenly….without quite believing it’s true- you are at the top.  The sun has risen and you have “upeksha”, the wide sweeping vision like that of an eagle, and what you realize is that the mountain was you all along. You were literally climbing through the layers of yourself. As soon as you realize that, the mountain dissolves and you are left with a new path in front of you….that leads to another mountain. One foot in front of the other…. beyond certification.

On the day that Anusara turned 14 years young, I reached the top of the mountain and passed my certification video. To my friends who started this climb with me- I love you all. To my teacher, Christina Sell, who encouraged me to climb the mountain- thank you for your belief in me. To my teacher, Robin Golt, who let me radio in to home base when the climb got tough- thank you for your wisdom. To my husband and children who put up with this long climb of 6 years- I could never have attempted this without your support. There are no words for all the love I have for you. To my teacher, John Friend, who gave me the best damn map to get up that mountain- thank you and deepest gratitude. You made sure I saw all the highlights and beauty along the way. To my father who’s work ethic never allowed me to give up- I miss you- I know you wouldn’t get this yoga thing but it’s a big deal. To all of you who I have met along the way- thank you for your encouragement . You know who you are.

Love and light~

” It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves”~ Sir Edmund Hillary

Anusara Harmonic Recalibration Retreat in Maui/ May 2011 June 7, 2011

I purposely did not take my computer to this retreat…. so it could be a retreat. I have to say I felt a little guilty as I usually blog from every training but I really wanted time every night to just relax and absorb the teachings. What this makes for on another level then is a more reflective blog. So rather than from my usual ” in the trenches” mode of writing, this will have a little more of a sense of impressions…shadows and themes of the week as what was most potent hopefully rises to the surface.

First of all this was a crazy event to have happen. I had planned out my year to spend May 21st in Christchurch with the Merry Band for my birthday- first ever trip to New Zealand. I was sacrificing my yearly Japan training to do it but I have roots in NZ and thought why not. Well, we all know the terrible crisis that rocked through Christchurch; and the trip was cancelled. I thought about trying to make it for Japan training when tragically the Tohoku area of Japan was devastated. It seemed John’s tour was not going to go as planned this year. Suddenly Maui was revealed as a new venue for a training ; the shakti provided a beautiful alternate- on days I could travel!

The days were divided into morning talk and meditation, a breakfast break, morning practice, long lunch break, and afternoon talk- 7am to 7pm for 5 days. I have to say it was one of my favorite schedules. We did not get in the usual two asana practices a day as we do during most trainings, but the practices we did do were full on.

Day one started with an introduction to the theme of the week: Harmonic Recalibration. I laugh as I write this because I am not honestly sure if it was calibration or recalibration but really- you get the point. Everything in the world is vibrating- Yantras and sacred geometry are forms of this greater vibration. Mantra is sound as vibration. We started with the most familiar sound to us- the invocation. John explained that OM as the form A*U*M represents the “A” as the first sound of most languages- the first sound in Sanskrit and “U” is the 16th and final sound in Sanskrit. The alphabet itself contains vowels and consonants. The vowels are refined- they can be likened to Shiva and the consonants represent the outer form- Shakti. The “AU” is sung together as “O” and the “M” actually has a dot over it called an anuswara ( not to be confused with Anusara) which gives it a reflection of the previous sound- so “M’ sounds like “ng” and goes up through the palette to vibrate in your head. You do not actually close your mouth to make the “M” sound. Try it sometime…

He went on to say that the God you hold in your heart- no matter the name it is given, vibrates at OM- and so do we. Even the universe has a sound- the sound of radiation- a background hum to the universe. ( you can check out this link I found to John G Cramer– prof of physics at U of W.. Can you hear the OM in that?)

The Maha-mantra “Om namah shivaya” – has been chanted now for 1800 years- its vibration has been expanded by  the length of time it has been chanted. It takes form in the akashic space- “namah” we bow out of awe- we are uplifted not subordinated. “Shivaya” goodness, auspicious, sacred- that which is at the essence of all that awes you is benevolent. Every time we chant we expand the global mind and collective consciousness through it’s vibration. Part of our practice is to get so sensitive we can attune to that harmonic vibration- to the vibration of spirit. ” If you can attune to spirit it’s all there”- John Friend

John then introduced our first drawing lesson. The dot and the circle- the circle represents the absolute realm- no form, time, sound, or space. In Buddhism, they refer to the circle as the void- shunyata– but in Shiva/ Shakti tantra we see the void as purna– full- full of yet unstruck potential. The bindhu– the dot- then becomes the way in which the unmanifest becomes manifest- it is manifestation that comes out of the attributes of the circle; the attributes of the Absolute: Sat Chit Ananda Svatantrya Shri Purna Spanda.

SAT: “IS”ness , truth

CHIT: conciousness, awareness, self knowing, light that is self reflective

ANANDA: our soul is bliss, love, joy

SHRI: Goodness, only goodness, no concept of evil

SVATANTRYA: ultimately unbounded freedom

PURNA: fullness of creative potential

SPANDA: how the one becomes the many, pulsation and vibration as waves

Manifestation then follows a deep order and organization ( krama)  from this seemly empty place- because really it is not empty. “ In what appears to be empty is spirit- not a vacuum or a void. There is nothing that is no thing”- John Friend

The week, John explained, was about cultivating direct knowing through practice- the direct truth of experience. For us to understand the absolute we have to understand from the relative- because that is where we are. The absolute is beyond words- but words are all we have. We use numbers to express something that is infinite, we use sequence to describe what is not linear and time to describe that which is beyond time. In my words,  we are being described a strawberry without actually ever having tasted one. This week was about having a taste- an indescribable taste.

To get that first taste we have to go to the first principle: sensitivity. This is the first practice of attuning to spirit. Our sensitivity is directly related to one’s clarity. John likened it to rust on an antenna. I would go as far to say that our yoga practice then become the mechanism which cleans some of the rust off our antennas. This image of the antenna seemed to stay with me as John talked about the “highest opportunity to see the dancing delight of the universe”. We receive this clarity and then there is a transformation and finally a transmission back out. We start to create clarity in others. Everything during the week was in a process of relationship: receiving and transmitting in a relation to the energy of spirit.

The body than becomes a yantra- a condensation of spirit in form- made of vibration that all starts from that one bindu in the circle. The practice that day then became of one of co-participating with nature- seeing the patterns in our hands and feet that are slower, grosser vibrations of  the Absolute. We started with just the hand and seeing the order of the finger pads, the meta carpels, the 4 corners laying them out in krama ( deep order) while staying sensitive to the bigger energy. The flavour was much different then “do this in order because it is the order” it was do this as a way to be receptive to the bigger energy- to create the body into a pattern that contains the vibration of the highest consciousness. Dance with the divine in you- make sacred art. It was a very powerful and beautiful practice.

After our break- which I spent swimming far off into the ocean- we gathered for our afternoon session which I like to call art class- sacred geometry simplified. I wish I could produce nice drawings on my blog but all I have is my notebook which I copied for you to see. (Please don’t laugh at my spelling or poor drawing.) We drew two over lapping circles horizontally  which represents Shiva/Shakti. The part of the two circles that overlaps becomes an oval that can represent the yoni (shakti) or the lingham (shiva). By putting a bindu in the middle of both circles you can make a triangle in the top part of the oval. We then took the upward facing triangle ( shiva) and downward facing triangle ( shakti) . In the absolute realm shiva is still and shakti is active- as the two pass through the magical mirror of maya they become reversed and the upward facing triangle of shiva becomes action ( yang- masculine- fire) and the downward facing triangle of shakti becomes reflection ( yin- feminine- water). This was our introduction to the shri yantra which John would expound on through the rest of the week.

Day one notes

Day 2 started with John asking about our sankalpa– our intention. Our intention is based on the degree of our will ( iccha). One of the interesting things he brought up was that before intention comes our darshan– our viewpoint. For one of the first times,  John started to more heavily draw out the Buddhist philosophies and how they align with Shiva/Shakti tantra. He said that “ even though the Buddha had everything there was still a hole. That hole is God given- we do not feel full” this longing to feel full is what spurs us into action. In the Buddhist philosophy, they say ” sarvam dukam” – everything is suffering. John flipped this around to say in Anusara we say ” sarvam sukham” everything is flowing. These two terms “ sukha” and “dukha” we have come to know as ease and suffering but they actually come from the description of a wheel.  When a wheel turns true and causes no friction or wobbling  that wheel is said to be “sukha“.  “Dukha” is the wheel that is off. If the wheel wobbles and it bothers you that is suffering. The wobbly wheel will create heat from friction. So we chose our view- to see suffering or to see flow. Your view becomes your philosphy of life- the way you look at things is also your shradda ( faith).

Your view is important because it determines how you direct your mind- how you imprint the akashic field. Wherever you have directed the mind the most becomes like the deepest hole you have dug in the field of the akasha. This is where you will go during under stress. We can dig out so to speak- we can chose to change our view if it has not served us. You really are what you think. So this becomes your darshan. In Anusara, our darshan then becomes the first line of the invocation “ Om Namah shivaya” I see the good. What is your darshan? It’s a great consideration. I ended up teaching a whole class on “is your glass half empty or half full?- how do you see the world?”. The responses I received from students were interesting and brought out a lot of deep questions and stories after class.

During the practice John talked more about the invocation and specifically about the meaning of words in the lines.  For example,  “satchidananda murtaye“: “murtaye” is from the root ” murti” meaning form. (Some of you may be familiar with statues of Hindu gods being called “murtis”). Therefore  Truth, Consciousness and Bliss take form. The form is an imprint of the formlessness, an imprint of the Absolute. Because we also contain these qualities,  we can take the form of the bliss of consciousness.

At the level of the Absolute there is no relationship. Relationship has the connotation of the relative world- the world where we live our lives. The  word “ratio” is a term we use to describe the relationship between two numbers or measures. Form is constructed in nature through ratios. For example the ratio between your hand and your forearm is  1.618- this is known as the Golden Ratio. So the line ” nishprapanchaya” – is saying that all 5 elements ( pancha) are held together in relationship. The form can arrange itself in relationship– there is intelligence to the manifestation of form. “Niralambaya” , John said, was relationship held in partnership but it doesn’t need the support to exist but chooses relationship to enjoy life more. “Tejase“, the light or luminosity, then allows us to see that all relationship has deep order- we become “enlightened”.

We traced our hands and then drew the five elements with their glyphs down on paper.

Thumb= space – it is represent by a dot- a bindu

Index=  air- represented by a circle

Middle= fire- represented by an upward facing triangle

Ring= water- represented by a downward triangle

pinky= earth- represented by a square

The foot works exactly in the same way. You can have fun playing with your feet and hands in poses and seeing which part lifts up – which part fidgets- how it feels if you change an ” element”. The body is a fractal or hologram for the whole web and the hands and feet, even the ear, then are microcosm of the whole. This is one of the reasons why acupuncture or reflexology in a foot or ear can affect some deeper part of the body.

We had a beautiful evening concert that second night and suddenly my girlfriend Jean bumped me and pointed up- there in the dark night around  the luminous moon was a circle. We had the circle and the bindu…just like John had been teaching. It was one of those crazy things that happens around trainings – you literally start seeing exactly what you have been learning- everywhere!

Day three started with a clarification of the Shiva/ Shakti tantra that informs Anusara yoga. John explained he used the tantric system because it really had the best explanation to the questions of life: ie. If God is good why do bad things happen? If the Absolute is completely free why would it chose to bind itself? The energy is so free that s can choose to create an energetic appearance of being limited. It can bind part of itself but does it without ever reducing or taking away from itself. It is never reduced or disturbed as it creates a world of limitation. Out of freedom and delight it can play a game with itself: it can express itself artistically. Why do children play? It is not for outcome or conditions- it is for the fun of it. The absolute does the same and we call that play lila. The Supreme literally plays hide and seek with itself.

When we have the relationship of hide and seek, love and loss, we have revelations about ourselves. Accomplishing what you thought you could not do- that is revelation as well. The Supreme cloaks itself like a magician to create abuta– astonishment and wonder- the child that squeals with delight as you pull your hands away to reveal again what they thought was gone. The very dark times in our life can often hold the most revelation- look back at your experiences and I am sure you will find one like that.

One of the coolest things John talked about was the story of the caterpillar. There is an actual stage in the chrysalis where the caterpillar complete liquefies and reforms to the butterfly. I had to go look this up because it so captured my imagination ( here is great link). He explained that there is a point in the cycle where we can become something else- we can recreate ourselves. Concealment and revelation are happening in unison, sometimes it takes a while to see that. There is always a cycle of creation, highest refinement and dissolving happening- in our own bodies, in nature, in our experiences.

In Anusara, we use the three Goddesses: Saraswati, Lakshimi and Kali to explain this cycle. Saraswati is the beginning of the cycle and is represented by the colour white. Lakshimi is the height of the cycle and is represented by the colour red and Kali is the end of the cycle- the dissolving- and is represented by the colour black. Saraswati’s name has the root “sara” in it- to flow ( as in Anu”sara”) and her color of white represents purity and you will often see her holding a stringed instrument called a vina. She represents the beginning of the wave pattern a climb that brings with it the beginning of language and fundamental music. There is an innocence and purity at the beginning of the cycle. Lakshimi represents the fullness of the cycle- fullness of power, fertility, creativity. She takes the developments of the first cycle- ie. the alphabet and basic music- into greater complexity and refinement- the highest artistic beauty at the crest of the wave. Kali is the downward pulsation of the wave- the devourer of time- that which takes back in all the creative power to wait to start to create again. Within each of these cycles is smaller cycles- all parts of the cycle have a purpose and can be an entry point into the center- into the bindu.

That afternoon was a wonderful potpourri of information which I think I was too absorbed in to write proper notes or it could have been distraction as it was the day that my friend fell out of a tree in the mango grove right before lecture and dislocated his shoulder. It was a bit of a crazy start to the afternoon- I think John would agree. One of the notes I did make at the beginning that really sat with me was “We live this life to wake up“. I talked with my husband about his at some length after I returned and mused how much simpler life was in some ways “before I woke up”. Now I am not saying life was better, in fact I think it is supremely better now, but there is a level of responsibility that happens when you wake up- we don’t get to stick our head under the covers anymore and cry ignorance. It can be rather upsetting when you look around your life and the light of consciousness shines on some things you would rather not deal with- and now you HAVE to deal with them. I will leave it at that for this blog but I may go a little deeper in that vein on a future date.

John spoke of shri and defined it as the sacred, divine, auspicious- the highest goodness; that which we consider to be sacred. He explained that is why when we see something beautiful we immediately become reverent- the highest level of beauty reminds us we are all divine. We also touched on a touchy subject for some- beauty or auspiciousness that has been stolen by that which is malevolent. Specifically we spoke of the swastika. That yantra which is so auspicious in India that people draw it on their door steps to ward off evil and bring in luck , and yet,  when we see it,  we feel revulsion and sorrow for the hate it contained for only a few short years. Just think- a symbol that represented good for 1000’s of years was completely corrupted in 12 years. Can it ever be recovered or is the samskara so deep in the akashic field that it is beyond reclamation?

From there we talked about the fact that we wake up in relationship. At the relative level the highest purpose of relationship is love. Love ( prema) then is the relative slow vibratory form of bliss (ananda). So relationships are mixing of energy fields. We spoke a little on what then are the key elements for your highest relationship- your highest beloved. The first element is trust-similar vision- how you see the world. The second element was compatibility of mind- ability to communicate- emotionally and intellectually. The third was polar energy- yin and yang. All of us have both energies in us- it is not male and female in gender but in energy.

Day four morning was a meditation on the bij sounds of the chakras. We started out by talking about the view of maya in Tantra vs Vendanta. You will often hear maya refered to as “illusion” but in Tantra we call it the “magical mirror” where the absolute reverses itself as it passes through. You can use this idea to think that as the universe breathes out we take our first breath; and as we expel our last exhale the universe inhales and takes us home. As above so below- the universe is breathing and therefore we breathe. Tantra also looks at incarnation as a gift- it’s not like you screwed up and now you are back. John recommended we become a connoisseur of life~ we get better and better and then we come back and we enjoy it even more: this is the Tantric perspective.  This perspective is our darshan– we keep it fresh, we question, we experience. We then made the chanting of the bij sounds of the chakras like a science experiment inside each of us; letting the auspiciousness of the vibration open us up. We would receive the divine in the form of the inhale to manifest it into that particular chakra and let it vibrate. We went up the chakras 2 or 3 times- focusing on the elements and color of the chakra as we did it. I liked the idea of bringing the divine in through the form of the breath- it gave a meditation I had done previously a whole new perspective.

Practice that day was amazing- back bending heaven I seem to recall. The talk was fascinating to me as we covered so much material and some really new stuff. John said basically he was getting ready to set the foundation for his tour next year  including Egypt and a broadcast from the Mayan pyramids. John will be in Tulum when the Mayan calendar ends. I am not going to get into what that means or the significance but just to let you know in case you want to join the merry band. John talked numbers and base systems to start with. For example the number 108 which is an auspicious number is made up of 12- the number of the universal and also the guru- and the number 9- the number of the individual and also the top number in our base 10 numbering system. The number 12 is actually from the base 60 system- 60 minutes in an hour, 360 degrees, 12 hours in a day. The base 12 system was used by the Egyptians and Babalonians. The Mayans used a base 20 system- and it is this system that the Mayan pyramids were built on. I am sure there will be more interesting lectures on this as the year goes by. Might be worth some self research if you are going to study with John this year.

John also discussed the periodic table as being a chart of sound or vibration. The columns of the table just are more refined vibrations as they move down the chart. It’s incredible that I never even thought of that approach to the chart…makes me think I could have been a much better science student if John Friend was my teacher! So even though they discover new elements- the chart dosen’t get more columns.  The size of the atom decreases from left to right, and increases from top to bottom: and atoms are vibrations. If this is confusing think of the Tantra tattva chart and it might become a little clearer. The conversation veered into GMO’s and modification of food and what that does to the vibration and what it does to us as we ingest it- makes you think a little more about having a fake sugar in your coffee. Your body recognizes the vibration of sugar from a plant…might not be great for you but at least it is natural. Messing with our food is literally messing us up- from the inside out. Another thing that we can’t hide under the covers from ….

The last chart we copied down before practice was the astrological chart. I read my horoscope occasionally but I have no deep knowledge of the astrological calendar. The chart of years moves in reverse order to the monthly one we follow for people’s birth month. Each age last 720 years. We are currently in the Age of Pisces (though at some level this is heavily debated) and moving into the Age of Aquarius. The two previous ages were Aries and Taurus. If you look at the glyphs for these ages there is some interesting notes for the history buff. The Age of Taurus, with its bull glyph,  is known to be an age where the worship of bulls was common in Assryia, Egypt and Crete.  Aries, represented by the ram, was a time in history where various gods rose with the name contain that sound: Rama, Bhrama , Ra, Abraham etc. and the sacrifice of sheep replaced that of bulls. The Age of Pisces marks the rise of Christianity and the glyph of the fish- still seen on countless bumper stickers across North America. The Age of Aquarius  is marked by a glyph of two waves- which may represent not just water but is speculated to represent vibration, electronics,( wifi?) etc. Perhaps the age of Aquarius being harkened in as an age of awakening, is that we will be able to use technology to create freedom. Though I do have to say I feel like a slave to my computer a little too often….

The afternoon in the mango grove was calmer that day and John spoke of many of the teachers such as Babamuktananda and Maharaji and their shakti and some crazy stories of things they could do. He said that pictures of your teachers then are yantras that are passing the shakti of that person. The form then holds the vibration- holds the shakti. There is a great little picture we have of Maharji with his hand held up and we have always found it mesmerizing. It’s like it contains some special message that we have not yet figured out- a yantra we have not yet deciphered. John talked about never showing the souls of your feet towards your guru. We all started nervously tucking our feet under ourselves and John laughed and said God is everywhere- so don’t worry about your feet around him.  He said that spirit and blessings are also in the feet. He told the story of Muktananda getting completely recalibrated one night walking home with the gift of his guru’s shawl-wrapped sandals on his head. One mile with his guru’s shakti sandals changed his life!

Anywhere we create a place to worship , prana will accumulate in that area. If we worship at certain hours, then prana will circulate more in that specific time- we create a momentum so to speak- a swirling around a bindu. This harnessing of energy can be used as a practice. John suggested we journal our mind for the last hour at night. By using mantra to anchor ourselves we can be in a beautiful space even in intensity. We can then cultivate what we think as we dissolve this cycle of the day. The energy of that last cycle is what we carry into the next. If we carry momentum and our anchored in our darshan, we are less likely to get knocked off balance. Something to consider if you watch TV before falling asleep every night.

Shri yantra and sacred geometry notes

We spent that afternoon learning to draw the shri yantra– really- it was hilarious.  We were breaking into fits of laughter as we tried in desperation to follow John’s drawing- some of our renditions were so bad! I was sitting right up front and I still messed up. I have since bought myself a yantra colouring book- maybe that will help…. The book that John was using to draw from I also bought and recommend for further study Yantra: The cosmic Symbol of Tantric Unity by Madhu Khanna. The shri yantra itself is a pictographic vibratory diagram of the tattva chart- it represents how shiva/shakti bring everything into creation. The upward and downward triangles represent these two energies. I am still reading right now and have a very raw understanding of it so I will not continue but I find the book very useful.

Day 5 started as guru vs guru principle. For the guru principle is present at anytime and any place- we can learn to access it wherever and whenever through skilled means. John explained that serendipity is not raw luck. It is the revelatory power of the shakti at work. I see this more and more in my own life and I can see that really nothing is random- it is all the actions of the shakti. My favorite phrase when things go a little haywire is ” the shakti is messing with me” and rather than freak out I look to see what it is I am supposed to be awake to in that moment. It is a much calmer way to react to life’s obstacles.

Shakti has a frequency that is infinite. It can be felt as low energy or high energy in a space that we can get recalibrated to: it can change our mood. I am sure you have had experiences like that. When we hear the truth, when we see beauty we are momentarily shifted by that vibration- we have an experience beyond mind- it is intuitive. It may only be a second or two but that’s all you need for a revelation. Our practice is about learning to be skillful in holding that resonance- extending it. So through the dharma- in alignment with Grace- the guru principle reveals you. That which opens the curtains and brings in the light- a person, an object, an experience can be the guru. Once we have had moments of the curtains opening, and become more skilled at holding the vibration, then everyday becomes a moment of shri. We become shifted at some level. Everyone is different. We could all be watching the same sunset, but one person will have an unbelievable experience. We often look outside ourselves to seek these moments, but it is always there inside of us and there are practices to connect you with that guru principle.

For example, John spoke of the fact that the shakti is not air but in the air. So when we do ujayi pranayama we set up a resonance with the shakti. We try to hold that resonance we find and use it to ride the waves of doubt and fear,anger and sadness. The waves are all from the same source. You can literally ride the wave of anger straight back to the bindu of love. This is a very Tantric way of thinking- anything can be a gateway. Anything can be a gateway because the shakti is in everything: and shakti is always full of Grace.

We then did pranayama and traced the breath back to the bindu and waited and served the shakti in the air. You don’t grab or push- you just open to it and it comes in. We worked with a few pranayamas including nadi shodana. John explained that there are 5 nadis in each nostril, which relates to the five elements, and one can actually get good enough to affect and manipulate the different elements thorough their pranayama practice. The energy in us changes every 2- 2.5 hours so you can use this understanding to align and calibrate yourself with what time it is. We can garner energy or slow ourselves down as long as we know the bigger energy. Day 5 was the top of the cycle- the accumulation of 5 days of shakti- the purnahuti. There was extra magic available that day- a high resonance we could calibrate with. You could chose to shift right there- I like to think of it as “make a wish day”….. what is your highest desire?

Someone asked a question about people in dreams and John discussed how people are doorways to the energy- the shakti. So if you dream of someone it may not be that person specifically that you are engaging with but the energy that form takes. The forms will change but the shakti comes to us at our level of understanding- even in our subconscious. May be interesting to journal who comes up on your dreams and what the energy of that person means to you. I dream of my dad a lot when I have questions- his energy was one of love and stability- he calms me down, makes me feel brave. I feel empowered after I dream of him. Ram Dass often speaks of his teacher, Maharaji ( Neem Karoli Baba) being a gateway so I understood this from my talks with him. Don’t get lost in the form- get lost in the energy behind the form.

Day 5 practice was in relationship to the guru principle. There is a leader and a follower- a dancing couple. But the dance does not begin with the leader; it begins with the follower- the student. The student has to ask the question first. Both the student and the teacher contain the guru principle- there is nothing subordinate in the relationship- both have Grace. We call these terms ” chalikripa” the Grace of the student and  “Gurukripa” the Grace of the teacher. The teacher will only help you once you ask- this is dharmic. The teacher will not answer what has not been asked. The guru appears when the student is ready- when the students adikara( studentship) is high enough to have the ability to hear and see the guru. The student must always stay open and questioning for the path is not straight- it is a dance. We form a question and then we are just open and we listen- we wait for the shakti to dance with us.

All of us can dance with the divine- we just need to practice coming back into ourselves- realize the preciousness of the moment. We humble ourselves without putting ourselves down and we look to our strengths and our shadows. We all have talents and tendencies- we all have a heritage of blood and DNA. All these things come together to makes us our unique selves- to make our dance unique. The shakti wants to dance with all of us because of that uniqueness. To stay dancing with the shakti we keep going to our strengths and stop feeding the shadows- sounds simple but it is a lifetime of practice. Every moment of every day is a choice- every moment is a gateway to the heart- can we truly learn to live that way? You can if that is your vision.

Day 5 ended with a guest- Dr. Jacob Liberman. He is an optometrist who now researches light and how it affects us. His story is that during a meditation he had a profound experience of seeing the air between things and a sparkling of something in the space between things. When he came out of meditation his eyesight- which had needed corrective lenses- was vastly improved. He could read things see things he hadn’t before without glasses. The crazy thing his when he hooked himself up to the machine in his office it said his eyesight was unchanged!It led him to question what is it to see and what is seeing?

The eye doesn’t move- it only responds. For example we say ” it caught my eye”. The eye responds to light but no one has ever seen light. It is formless, it has no attributes and no mass. It is the biggest mystery of science. In religion though we have phrases such as ” God is light” – so what is it about light? Why is it so important?

We absorb 2%  of light through our skin and 98% through our eyes. 75% of that light goes from the retina to the hypothalamus and then to the pineal gland which is our biological clock so to speak. Before artificial light we were all entrained ( guru principle ?) with nature by light. Think about rising with the sun and going to bed with it- what a novel idea in our current times.  We all need a certain amount of light to be healthy- in fact studies have shown that populations in northern countries with less sunlight have a higher incidence of multiple sclerosis. Light is necessary for our body to work in harmony with nature.

We also need the dark. Dr. Liberman spoke of how light at night during the time we sleep can affect us by affecting the pineal gland which affects melatonin. Things such as “light pollution” in big cities, night lights or bathroom lights left on at night in our home- can actual affect our patterns of sleep. The pineal is the regulator of all the rest of the regulators of the body- the endocrine system. He took us through an interesting mediation he called the train journey. Seeing which color stations( by the chakra color) we felt like we wanted to get off and visit and which color station we just wanted to go past.  ( I just wanted to hang out in the green station all day)It is based on chromotherapy which is use of color to determine how to better balance your energy. Color is determined by light and the vibration of that light- we don’t see the colours but visualize them and yet there is a perception inside of us interacting with that vibration.

He went on to say that life is looking for us- it is calling to us and we actually have to work to NOT hear it. His experience with light and his sight opened him up to a whole new revelation in thinking. Though a doctor and a student of science, he is also a mystic. Taking time to see that little simple things are really so profound.  “Consider that every instance is a miracle” – Jacob Liberman . Interacting with awareness is a qualitative different experience than thinking. We stop using our thinking and then we see- we see that life has been looking for us, inspiring us, breathing us. Imagine meditating not just once a day but through every minute of every day. What would that be like? I have to say he was a very cool guy. ” There is nothing like direct experience- we confuse the menu for the food”- Jacob Liberman

It was a beautiful way to end a five-day retreat. Five days of exploration, study, practice, absorption- all used in a way that created a deep resonance inside all of us. What we carried away in each of us that week was more than just knowledge- we carried at the cellular level a shift in who we are and how we are in the world. We didn’t just read the menu- we ate the food- and it was delicious. But don’t take my word for it- practice and taste it for yourself…... om

Be Here Now 40th Anniversary- Part Two October 18, 2010

” I am loving awareness” – Ram Dass

Day Two of the weekend workshop started with John Friend talking about the significance of numbers, rhythm, patterns and how they are all connected. I was scribbling down notes as fast as I could but to be honest as I try to read them back they are hard to decipher. You see my linguistic tendencies also came out of a need to avoid all algebra and stats classes….Japanese no problem…numbers……hmmm not so good….

I will try to find the highlights that were new to me and that don’t need deep mathematical understanding…

Today was 10/10/ 10. John took the number ten and explained as two 5’s. The flower of Shakti or the goddess’ is the red hibiscus..it has 5 petals. In the vibratory world, the highest vibration is white ( Shiva) and the slowest is red ( Shakti). I have no idea what flower is Shiva’s! So basically the number 5 is the number of life.

The idea was first there is 2, for example Sun and Moon. The energy between these contrary compliments is 3. The number 4 represents the stability that holds them in relation and 5 is the spiral….is the activation of the expansion and contraction of the relationship.

The number 10 is a 1 and 0. It is the creation of the binary rhythm of all life. There was something in there about the binary system creating wave patterns and that things like crystal and silica can resonate these wave patterns and that is why they are used in computers. The 0 also represents in Sanskrit “shunyata” – the void. But that which appears to be empty is completely full. The 1 then represents the sperm and the 0 the egg and from that all creation is born. Something to look up and research yourself when you are surfing the net.

We had a super juicy hip opener practice in which my leg was behind my head and I rolled down and back up but was too scared to stand up- that was pretty far for me already!  That may have been one of the deepest I have ever been in that pose. It also helps we warmed up for an hour towards it!

Ram Dass came back in the afternoon for satsang. Today he told the story of the Hanuman murti ( holy statue) that is currently housed in Taos, New Mexico. Maharaji’s devotee’s would build temples for him all over India. So Ram dass decided as a devotee that they should build a temple in America. The temple would need a murti so he went to Jaipur to the families that been making murtis for generations and found the family that specialized in Hanuman. Now usually Hanuman murtis are with Hanuman kneeling or Hanuman standing.  Ram Dass, recalling the story of Hanuman flying across the ocean to Lanka in the Ramayana carrying Ram’s ring to Sita, decided, since America was across the ocean, the murti should be of a flying Hanuman. Well, the family just looked at Ram Dass in astonishment. No one had ever made a flying Hanuman- how would he stay up? No, they didn’t want to do it.

I am not sure how Ram Dass persuaded them but somehow they agreed to make a marble Hanuman and created a large cape for him to hide the post which supports him in his flying pose. Hanuman then travelled from India to San Francisco where the devotees debated where he should be housed. One of the devotee’s had a farm near Taos so that is where Hanuman came to rest. That location, over the next few years, developed into what is today the Neem Karoli Baba Ashram in Taos, New Mexico.

One of the funny asides that Ram Dass told us is that to bless the murti- to breathe life into it- there must be a ceremony. He laughed as he told us their were two factions: one that  wanted Brahmans and a proper Hindu ceremony and the the others that were stoned and just wanted to climb naked into the crate with Hanuman. I never did find out which faction won out…..

Ram Dass then gave us all a great insight to his personal practice- his “sadana”. He explained he was a Bhakti yogi-a yogi who finds oneness through the path of devotion- and he said ” sadana, in my game- is who you think you are..and who you think you are is mostly based on fear- identifying with the individual “I”.”

He explained this further by saying he thought he was Dr. Richard Albert, he was a Harvard prof, he was a Freudian, he was a ..etc etc…all the titles and labels the individual “I” wants to hold on to. He said the real “I”  is not in the mind but in the heart and in the heart you are awareness.  ” I am loving awareness” – he whispered.” I am loving awareness”.

“You will never find your awareness”, he said,  “you ARE awareness”. “You stay there in your heart”, he explained, “and you stop identifying with all the thoughts.”

“I am loving awareness” is a thought but it is a thought that takes you to a subject not an object. You can’t focus on it because it is no thing, nothing…..it’s cool”.

” Everything I am aware of I love”, Ram Dass said. He talked about loving the wall, loving the room – it was quite funny. He then told a story about how one of his friends called him on it. It went something like this.

“So are you telling me, Ram Dass, that you love everything?”

” Yes”

“You love me?”

“Yes”

“You love that rug?”

“Yes- I love the rug”

“Hmm…”

His friend used to phone him and say, “This is your rug calling….” I just about rolled over laughing!

Ram Dass told us when he is looking at the world from his soul he finds the world beautiful and lovable. When you love the whole world, including yourself, you merge into a sea of love. There is no action, he explained, love isn’t action, it’s just merging. You don’t have to act. He then took a moment and looked around the room and smiled, ” this room is full of love”.

He then went back to the previous days talk of “being” and “doing”. He explained the difference between the Atman and the Jiva-atman- the One and the embodied soul. Maharaji was the Atman, on that plane, and Ram Dass was the jiva-atman. Seeing Oneness and being Oneness is a difference of spiritual planes of existence, he explained, and it takes Grace to get over that hump. He said that was interesting because people say they feel so loved when I am with him but he didn’t do anything. Wow- he thought- Grace is here- I got some of that. You get pure enough, he said, and then you wait for Grace.

John had a beautiful offering when he said that Ramakrishna had a saying about preparing your boat the best you can and then waiting for the winds of Grace. ” The waves will take you to the shore” John said quoting Rumi.

Feeling small, Ram Dass said, is a thought. Insecurity is a thought. Atman is so big- I am so small. The ego tells you that you cannot be him ( Maharaji). It’s still a thought- it’s who you think you are. You gotta be somebody before you’re nobody……

We seem, to me, that we have to shed the layers all over again to get back to that one original Atman…and  that is a part of the game- the sadana as Ram Dass put it- that we all have.

We then had a Q and A session with some interesting stuff coming up. We had the typical psychedelic questions- every time I am with Ram Dass this comes up- and he was good natured about it. He really nailed it when someone asked about getting to that plane of the Atman through drugs and Ram Dass said- ” it get’s you into the room but you can’t stay. All those guys [that took psychedelics] were nothing like Maharaji. He could stay in the room.” I then asked about Maharaji’s lineage as many teachers came from lineages ( ie. Nityananda, Baba Muktananda, Gurumai…) Apparently Maharaji was from a village near Agra but his beginnings are not well known. He was actually married with three children which I found surprising. According to his children he was a very good father- made all the marriage arrangements for his daughters etc. Then we had the most shocking thing occur- John started asking Ram Dass about his family. Family?? I thought….

Well,  apparently a man in his 50’s contacted Ram Dass because he looked so much like him and guess what…it was Ram Dass’ biological son! They just found each other this spring and this man has children so Ram Dass is actually a grandfather. When John said “How wonderful!” Ram Dass looked at him and said ” Why is it wonderful?” It really was one of the first times I saw John kind of at a loss for a moment. Ram Dass was really just making a point that love goes beyond blood and genealogy and that in the heart it doesn’t really change anything. I think he does secretly find it wonderful though! Wow-  I really didn’t see my question going in that direction. Quite the unexpected revelation!

John asked Ram Dass if he wanted to leave the young teachers with a message and this is what he responded:

” God is within you. We have to go inside rather than outside…what you want is what you already have.”

Be Here Now- 40th Anniversary Part One October 10, 2010

 

John Friend and Ram Dass Oct/09/2010

 

We are on Maui at a very special time. This weekend workshop with John Friend coordinated with the 40th Anniversary of the book “Be Here Now” by Ram Dass. At the end of each day of asana practice, we get the privilege of sitting with Ram Dass to hear his story.

John had started our asana practice with a talk about positioning ourselves to receive Grace. That nothing is random, he said, but maybe we just can’t see the beginning and the end because it is across such a long thread of time. Think about the last ten years…what were the highlights? What were the things that gave you big openings? What brought you here today to be on this mat in Maui? It was really crazy to think about.

I thought about how ten years ago my dad died. I was barely doing yoga. I started doing yoga from money he left me. I started in Ashtanga and then almost stopped practising all together until I met Christina Sell.That was significant. I met John 4 years ago in Maui- here I am 4 years later , in the certification process, with my mat in front of him in the front row. Wow- I have come a long way…….. I can see the thread very distinctly now. Nothing seems crazy or random- it just seems…well...right. Like the right in that deepest knowing inside of yourself – my soul knows what my mind can barely conceive. How wonderful!

Of course, to top this all off,  John dropped me back into a backbend. There is no way 4 years ago it would have looked anything like what it looked like today. It just felt so good and so right- no fear, no discomfort – just the deep knowing that I am where I am supposed to be...right here….right now.

When we started satsang with Ram Dass in the afternoon it was wonderful to see the love between the two of them. Ram Dass speaks slowly because of his stroke but John creates such a beautiful space for Ram Dass to take his time and chose his words.

Ram Dass asked us I we were all Shavaites ( followers of Shiva) , he said he had been a Buddhist when he met Maharaji ( Neem Karoli Baba) who was a Vishnuvite ( follower of Vishnu) but he said the most important thing was that we could all come together as lovers of God. “God is Krishna, God is Buddha, God is Us.” I will never forget that quote.

He then introduced his talk by saying, ” So how did “Be Here Now” get here now?” For those of you that have not met Ram Dass, he has an incredible sense of humour. He had us laughing a few times during the talk.

Ram Dass told us of his journey to India and how he finally wound up meeting Maharaji ( I will leave you to read that in the intro of Be Here Now).  What was new to me is how he explained he wrote the book during his “miracle stage”, the stage where he was still entranced with Maharaji’s ability to read his mind and know his secrets.  He said he missed, at first, the real power of Maharaji, which was his unconditional love.

From there, he told us the story of the book. You see Ram Dass didn’t plan on writing a book. His teacher, Hari Dass , told him that Maharaji had given Ram Dass his ” asherbad” ( blessing) for his book. ” What book??” thought Ram Dass. ” I guess I am supposed to write a book….” So upon his return to New York, Ram Dass wrote a book on travelling in India. No publishers would take it. Hmmm, he thought, guess that must not be “the” book!

Shortly after that, in New York, one of the group who had always gathered to hear him lecture gave him a stack of papers. “What is this?” he asked.

“It’s your words. ” the woman said. She was a stenographer and she had been writing notes of every lecture. Ram Dass threw the notes into a box in the back of his car and drove out to see friends. When he got to his friend John’s place, John was getting his suitcase out for him and saw the box.

” What’s that?” he asked.

” It’s my words.” said Ram Dass.

” Can I see it?” he asked.

” Sure- go ahead.”

So John took the words and when Ram Dass left he handed them back saying ,

” I have marked all the relevant stuff”.

Ram Dass then threw them back in the trunk of the car and drove to a commune called the Lama Foundation near Taos. While helping him with his bags, another friend, Steve, saw the box.

” What’s that?” he asked.

” Oh- it’s my words, ” said Ram Dass.

“Can I see it?” Steve asked.

“Sure” said Ram Dass.

Well at the Lama Foundation there was very little money but lots of creative people. As they sat with “the words” , five artists there decide to make pictures with the words. Slowly and surely, ” What’s that??” was becoming a book. A book with Maharaji’s blessing in it.

The group of them were then trying to figure out who would want such a book about spirituality and Oneness etc. Not maybe such a hot topic in 1970, so they decided that everyone who came to Ram Dass’ lectures would receive, for their $1 entry fee ( seriously? A buck???), the lecture and the book. But at that time the book was actually a paper box. The box contained: a book called “our story” now the intro to Be Here Now, a cookbook (!), a record, a large paper with quotes you could cut out and ” put on your fridge” as Ram Dass put it, another large paper with pictures of the Gods and Saints, and of course- the book-made of brown paper that looked like grocery bags and hand bound. Ram Dass jokingly called it “ the do it yourself kit”.

Ram Dass brought a bag up on his lap and John Friend, assisting him with much reverence, pulled out one of the original boxes containing Be Here Now. It was so amazing. Apparently 1000 copies were made. I have no idea how many are still  in existence. Out came all the little books and posters and quotes you could cut up and post- John held them up and we all marvelled at the humble beginnings of a book that has now sold  2 million copies.

 

Ram Dass with the orginal box of Be Here Now

 

In 1970, Ram Dass presented what was to be the book, as we now know it, to Maharaji. While looking at it Maharaji exclaimed ” Mistake! Mistake!” Ram Dass tried to explain to Maharaji that the second printing was about to start and the amount of money involved and they couldn’t stop the printing now and Maharaji said. ” Money and truth have no business with each other!”

Ram Dass ran off  to telegram Steve in Taos to stop the printing and fix the error. Steve said that the printing was already on the press- it was too late.

Ram Dass went back and explained to that it was too late. Maharaji asked him about he letter, ” Did you get the letter? What did it say?”

” What letter?” asked Ram Dass. ( thinking, ” if you know I got a letter then you already know what it says!!! “)

Going back to the hotel there was a letter for Ram Dass from Steve. One of the printing blocks was missing- they were missing a whole page of the book and couldn’t even locate the original. They could not print the book…..

They fixed the mistake and the book went into it’s second printing.

 

John holding up one of the posters with the gods and saints

 

We ended the day by Ram Dass talking about the miracle stage and the love stage. For Maharaji’s greatest power was his ability to unconditionally love. Ram Dass explained in the West we identify with our “roles” and in the Himalayas they identified with their “souls”. In Anusara, all of us have a “soul role”. Those two words sunk so deep, and rung with such truth, that it could become my mantra.

In honour of that unconditional love and 40 years later being able to see the greater message, Ram Dass pulled from his bag his brand new book, not even yet released, ” Be Love Now”. In front of all of us , John Friend became a recipient of one of the first copies. The official release will be November 2, 2010. Ram Dass left us with a last thought to ponder.

He said, ” I am trying to do unconditional love, I try but still…..I am doing. Maharaji didn’t “do” it, he “be’ed” it . Maybe for you as yogi’s , one day you will “be” the asana.”

Maui Therapy Training Oct/2010 Day 5

” The heart is in every cell of the body” – John Friend

This morning started by John asking us to condense all the information of the week and come up with some key principles. These are a few the group came up with:

– Go from the Highest- universal perspective

– Listen and Open – let go of some of the paradigms, be open to shifting

– Curve then length ( form then action)

– Polarity vs Duality

– The cure is in the poison when applied in the right amount

– Stability leads to opening ( stabilize the periphery move from the core)

– the governor of the back is the legs

– intentionality is fundamental to change

– Good alignment is good therapy

and my own that I never said out loud, therapy is establishing a new dominant pulsation in the body.

So Ivy came back today. Yesterday she sat with us after she told us her story and she stayed on stage with John as we all prayed and chanted and guess what….. she came back feeling better today and JOHN HADN’T EVEN TOUCHED HER!! By just listening to her story and making her comfortable and giving her hope, she had already started to feel better.

John said that the krama ( order) of therapy -after first principle- is to go from the ground up. John did a lot of root work on the pelvis to make the energy go down ( apana vayu) because after any trauma the body will naturally pull up energetically.

After grounding her a bit then John went through the following~

1) diagnostic

2) Manual shoulder loop- keeping an eye on the chin level

3) side body long from the back- pulling shoulders onto the back

4) felt the fascia of the head diagnostic

5) neck therapy by one hand on occiput and one on forehead to create a vector by squeezing the two towards each other as she relaxed tongue and jaw and she did shoulder loop for herself

6) diagnostic

7) kidney loop manual adjustment ( she did shoulder loop and John observed the energy in the head and neck

8 ) Standing forward bend with wide stance. ( Better to repeat than hold) John noticed a slight torque. stabilized her coming up to keep the rooting.

9) Laying supine. Tell them you are going to touch them before you do. John rooted her hips straight down and told us to be aware of when you are over top of someone to be slightly off their midline as being on the midline is too invasive.( *this was a really great point)

10) worked her feet a little to get the energy once again to move down

11) aligned all the body: feet up- femurs rooted and inner spiral, kidney loop, shoulder loop

One of things I noticed that I had not addressed in my own thinking was the trauma and what it did to her energetically. The rooting of the energy downwards in the pelvis  and in the feet was really a key point.

We then put everything on the board that we hadn’t yet covered that people had questions about. We grouped them and the started with the most gross ones ( structural things) to the subtle ( auto-immune).

It got a little crazy so I have only a few points on some varied topics. Obviously there are more in depth things you can do but some of these the basic thing to look at.

TMJ- usually flat neck 9 out of 10 times. Balance shoulders and build neck muscles. Don’t be surprised if their mouth  guard doesn’t fit.

Sciatica– Rubbing the piriformis dosen’t really work as it is a receptor of tightness in another area. A diagnostic is putting them on their belly and watching to see if the butt lifts up when you fold back the leg. Get the quads stretched out and the psoas flowing downward. Check spine after if no relief because it could be a disc issue. If after all that still pain send for follow up with MD.

Osteoporosis– get the alignment and then the circulation will flow better and the minerals will be in better dynamisim. Moving is better than not moving.

Knee/ACL– “drawer test” as diagnostic. Sitting  on the floor get the client to put foot on your foot and keeping the base often tibia back, track foot in a line as you move the leg up and down. Will also help reduce swelling in the knee. If you are getting ACL surgery tell them not to tighten it so much and then work the principles like crazy as the surgeons will tend to over-stabilize after injury.

Migraines- usually related to levator scapula and the rhomboids. Tends to be that the migraine presents more on one side. Often migraines have to do with environmental triggers etc which are out of our control but we can help mitigate with good alignment. Viparita karanai ( legs up the wall) may be used as treatment but it will initially INCREASE the severity of the migraine. After 10 minutes bring them up to sit supported at the wall and as the blood drains down it will often take the migraine down significantly.

Colitis/ Crones- usually have a flat thoracic. get the curves back in the spine and work on getting the energy to flow downward as it is usually stuck or flowing upwards.

MS– Most MS clients have a steady raised heart rate all the time. Use a heart rate monitor for accuracy and do variation exercises to get the pulse up and then go into a deep relaxation and when heart rate goes down for a bit go back to high heart rate activity and repeat. Short burst of activity and relaxation will help reprogram the pulsation of the body.

My mind is now feeling very full. What John has learned over 30 years he passed down in 5 days- it was incredible.  I was thinking if I could condense all 5 days of therapy training into one sentence what would it be……

“Honor the Spirit and align the outer form – from that all freedom will flow”

om namah shivaya

Maui Therapy Training Oct/2010 Day 4 October 8, 2010

 

Haiku heaven......

 

I am pretty tired. I don’t usually say that on my blog but it’s the truth. The information download this training has been so great for me that I am really starting to feel I know nothing….

So how appropriate that the day started with feeling. The most important thing in good health is attitude. Our relationship with our student/client is not so much about what we just do and say but about what kind of energy we put out. If you are tired or sick how do you work on people without getting drained? How do you work on people that are energetically pretty low without getting dragged down with them?

Years ago John talked about taking the seat of teacher in an immersion. In many ways it is no different in therapy. You have to make yourself a pillar of light that can go into other people’s energetic field to be sensitive to what they are feeling but not to be dragged into it. I had one student that used to drain me ( John called them energetic vampires!lol). She was so energetically negative that I would be so happy when she would not come to class. It wasn’t until I truly took the seat of the teacher, both energetically and mentally, that she no longer had that pull on me. I could teach her unaffected. So it goes with therapy.

You have to prepare to touch people- you are in an energetic relationship. You need to have your own physical practice to keep your body strong and your own spiritual practice to keep your light strong. I have a little ritual I go through before I start therapy sessions of washing my hands and visualizing the light in side of me and then making a subtle barrier on that light so I can shine it out to be more sensitive to what I see, feel and touch but that it cannot be affected by what I encounter. I think of a hurricane lamp- lots of light but the wind cannot blow it out. You have to make yourself a great big energetic field of light. I also pray, ” Grace please come help me help this person”- and if I do help them in some small way I give that back to Grace as well…. and my teachers. John had a great way of putting it,” You are tethered to the Universal as you come into their field”.  I love that.

We transmit Shakti or energy in 4 ways~

1) Touch

2) Eyes

3) Voice and words

4) Will or Intention

This is interesting to me because unknowingly I have been doing this and watching what I say and think during a session. This is intuitive- all of us have a level of intuition and psychic power but we tend to dismiss it. Learning to trust this again and use it is very important.

We started the morning working on sensitivity exercises to see if we could tell stuff about another person holding hands with our eyes closed. People were surprisingly accurate- it was very cool. We then worked on shoulders and getting the inner and outer deltoid to move at the same rate as the arms go over head. We were supine on the floor for these so it was nice to practice options for clients who don’t have the stamina to stand for so long.

Urdva dhanurasanna backbends were next. We then worked on back bends on the wall on blocks for students who cannot get their forearms parallel to the floor. One of things John mentioned was that we can take the blocks wider to help them with the arms. We also talked about legs in backbends and two things came up: 1) burning thighs and knees- more muscle energy on the underside of the leg by pulling the heels towards the pelvis more 2) sore back from legs splaying out- make sure the outer thigh and inner thigh are moving at the same rate as it is more likely that the inner thigh will move faster ( too much outer spiral) . The last thing we talked about was necks in backbends. One of the girls had herniated discs so John made her go very slow and created the curve of her cervical and kept it the whole way through the back bend. Stopping on the top of the head and rooting the forehead and keeping the head back all the way up and then coming back to the forehead before coming all the way down was key.The neck discussion led into some great neck therapy by creating curve first and then length- one hand wrapped around the occiput and one hand on the forehead. It felt great!

In the afternoon we looked at friends who had Fibromyalgia,  rheumatoid arthritis,  and other auto immune disorders. It was actually a very emotional afternoon. Most of our other friends had been guys with some mechanical stuff but the stories this afternoon were very deep and so was their pain. The skin on one of the friends was spongy and felt distinctly different to the touch ( I have to go by what John and another student were saying). It was like there was a spongy layer before the muscle. As John said,  it was like the facia had actually come away from the muscle and bone in the trauma of their accidents. To touch it softly was painful but when the pressure was applied evenly and the skin, fascia and muscle where brought right to the bone and held it brought relief and you could, after a few minutes of therapy, feel a change in the quality of the skin and layers underneath- a firming and holding.

One of the other points that was brought to our attention is how the student lays down and gets up after therapy- especially with neck issues. Getting them to roll to the side to transition is much better. Their hands when on their bellies should also be forward or under their heads as when the arms are along side the body the head of the shoulder tends to drop. Great little observation things.

One of the friends today cried. John talked about how it is important to let them cry or breathe through their mouth to let that old stuff clear but to remind them of the positive. “That incident is over now and I am going to try to help you the best I can and now is going to be the time to heal.” ” Let the new form take shape and let the old stuff clear out” such a beautiful way to honour the client but encourage healing….

The last part of the afternoon was a crazy hodgepodge of stuff that was all so great but I have no time to write all up. Lets see if I can condense it.

Concussion/head injury– squeeze uniformly on the fascia of the head to take pressure off

Thyroid– shoulder stand or Viparittakarani to get the glands working more effectively and getting blood to flow the other way. Make sure the kidneys are supported in legs up the wall.

Low blood pressure/ dizziness– keep curve of the neck especially in uttanasana- take the time to create that at the half way mark.

Restless leg syndrome– work on the pelvis to get the energy going downward ( apanavayu)

The last task of the day was homework: Here is the scenario~

Our friend was struck by a large heavy wooden lid of her hot tub while lying in it. It struck her on the top of the head and pushed her down into the water as the lid closed on top of her. It was February of this year. She had a concussion. Now her arms are constantly aching in no particular area ( systemic) and she has difficulty raising her arms above her head. She gets headaches 1-2 a week.

Make her a 15 minute routine.

You can do this at home with all of us here and I will share on tomorrow’s blog what we call came up with and you can comment on what you thought might be appropriate.

Good luck- we can compare answers tomorrow!

Maui Therapy Training Oct/2010 Day 3 October 7, 2010

 

Shiva dancing in hibiscus

 

“When we rest we rebuild and we are reprinting on to the matrix that we established during the day”. – John Friend

What kind of matrix are you building for yourself? What are you creating for your mind and body during the day? This is how day 3 started. John discussed how even the layman could look at a cell in a microscope and tell the difference between a healthy cell and a cancer cell- there is no harmony to a cancer cell – it is misshapen and ugly.

The body will produce all new cells within 7 years. In 7 years you will not be the same as you were right now- the body holds such an amazing intelligence. You have the ability even at the cellular level to change- how incredible a gift.

We worked on the hamstrings for the morning. Any good yogi worth their salt will tell you when they hurt their hamstring…mine was 3 years ago almost. It still twinges at the thought of Visvamitrasana……

Back to the previous days the most important thing is attitude. Check. Now the next thing is alignment and the hamstring muscle and fascia tend to spiral AWAY from the midline. So to stretch it affectively you have to align the hamstring taking into consideration the spiral of the muscle. You then have action- You must engage the muscle to stretch it. One of the things that has proliferated the stretching world is that to stretch the hamstrings you must engage the quads ( I know I have heard that) but really to stretch the hamstring you have to ALIGN ,ENGAGE and STRETCH the hamstring. Wow – I know – novel concept.

I know when I tore my hamstring ( I think I blogged it way back…) I told everyone that Christina said I had to go back and do the pose ( or a close one to it) I hurt it in. So I healed my hamstring doing uppavista konasana and hanumanasana- yes splits. The secret was to go very slow, keep super strong boundaries of the lower legs,  then hold the muscle and fascia to the bone and engage it has I turned the hamstrings and widened them from the insertion up to the origin of the muscles. It was intense and slow but it did the job. The poison – in the right dose- is often the cure according to John.

When you hold the muscle to the bone- especially an injured one- there is a calming that comes. I want to ask John but I think the premise is when we get hurt the muscle over stabilizes to protect further injury and actually cuts some of the blood supply which affects the rate of healing and also the tightness of the muscle. The best time to work on an injury seems to be immediately. The longer you wait the more overly stable and more scar tissue builds up in a reactive way.

One of the other points that John emphasized in the morning session is that EVERYTHING IS A DUAL ACTION- it is Shiva/Shakti. In actuality, it is the hallmark of the method of Anusara Yoga. You cannot do muscle energy without organic energy, you cannot do inner spiral without outer spiral, shins in thighs out, seesaw principle etc.

We did a whole bunch of hamstring therapy on ourselves and once again if I get a chance to make it in a form you can see then I will. Think parsvakonasana to trikonasana with super muscle energy and super shin in as you manually work the front hamstring with your hand. My heel was digging into the mat and pulling back isometrically so hard that I thought I was going to wrinkle the mat up. We then also did the same in prasaritta , uttanasana with arms wrapped around the shins and purvottanasana. Think the most major shins in thighs out you have ever done…and then multiply it by 10X. That is how hard we worked the legs this morning! I think my legs are still a little in shock……

 

John brought a Pez dispenser to help us.......

 

Ok- How do you get someone to work that hard? Muscle energy and steadiness and ability to hold is a discipline. How much you can discipline yourself is directly related to meaning. How badly do you want to get better? How much do you want to get out of pain. For those of us training and not in pain it was “how badly do you want to serve?” That was a big bunch of people wanting to serve today!

We helped each other in Uppavista konasana- the most common seated pose to hurt your hamstring in- and I got to work with Carol Wray. Carol is my good friend and fellow Inspired teacher from Surrey B.C. What I like about working with Carol is that we both do a lot of therapy and we can use each other as resources and practice buddies. One of the key things we both noticed in Uppavista when going to align the hamstring in an inner spiral as that the heel has to really be anchored and working. If the heel lifted during the adjust then much of the stability was lost as well. The two pints that we really needed to anchor were heel and INNER KNEE . We went from bottom of the leg to top ironing and rotating the fascia and muscle. As the student bent forward,  John asked us to look to see if the legs splayed out and if they did then sure enough the inner knee had lifted and muscle energy was lost and therefore stability.

We also worked on janu A ourselves and looked at how to stabilize knee pain by leaning TOWARDS the sitting bone on the side you are folding in. I always tell my students to let their foot roll out and use their muscles rather than their hands to pull in their knee to keep the groin soft but putting more weight on that side makes it even better! If you are dealing with someone with  a rebuilt knee or knee replacement then you can close the joint first ( knee towards chest) and then take the folded leg out to the side as a unit. Once in the full pose, lifting the bent leg heel to engage the side of the calf muscle ( peroneal muscles) will also help relieve knee pain.

In the afternoon we had some friends of our group come in to see how we could learn to help them. Two of our friends had plantar fasciitis so that is what we started with. One of things we noticed right away was that both of them had almost arch in their foot. By slightly elevating their foot on a rolled sticky mat and getting them to firm the shins and then place the foot in order ( big toe mound,inner heel- stretch across the transverse arch to the pinky toe mound and then outer heel) an visible arch was created. If you have a student with it in class they can do standing poses with the front foot working on a rolled mat like this- uttanasana, trikonasana etc. After class yesterday I actually did some research and I found that the most common treatment for plantar fasciitis was anti-inflammatory drugs, orthodics and soft shoes and a recommendation of no stressful exercise.  There was almost nothing on physical therapy…..

Next we looked at the Achilles tendon and on a friend who had it surgically reattached.  One of the worst things you can do for it is the classic runners stretch- you know when you hand your heel off a step and create a really deep angle in the ankle to stretch the back of the calf? Yup- I used to do that one too!

The technique that is more effective is to raise the heel with the toe mounds on the floor and get the calf to engage strongly. From there- keeping the engagement start to stretch the heel towards the floor. The other thing John did was actually work on the surgical area. Sitting on the floor he placed the friends shin on his thigh so the top of the sin was raised and heel on the floor ( think seesaw principle) . He then went to the SIDES of the scar and kept pressure there as he moved the foot. You could see the difference in blood flow in just a few minutes. The next one was similar for the treatment positioning but he used one hand you really work downward pressure on the ankle and keeping that again put the foot through a variety of positions flexing and rotating different directions.

We then went to each other and worked an S-curve massage on the feet. You basically stabilize one part of the foot as you move the other back and forth or figure eight. I laughed when we did this one because my husband and I do this for each other when we sit on the couch! I had no idea it could be used as therapy it just felt good and after my husband broke his foot here a Maui a few years ago it seemed to make a big difference. Hmm- who knew?

Carol was up next which an old surgery in her ankle and after she was finished with John I got to work on her which is so great. You can’t really do a lot of this stuff on yourself because you can’t relax and just work what you need. We got right up under Carol’s scar and pushed it to the bone while we worked the ankle in different directions. It was painful for her but she had much less pain and greater mobility after. I wonder if it lasted? I will ask her today.

One of the most interesting things we looked at in the afternoon was scoliosis. One of the ways you will see it in one of your students is in uttanasana. If they are wearing a tight shirt it will show up very distinctly. Scoliosis is measured in degrees and at 50 degrees doctors usually put a rod in your spine. Darren Rhodes , who is the poster boy for Anusara Yoga,  had 45 degree scoliosis- after doing what John suggested he is now down to 10 degrees. The key is to de-rotate the spine using the strength of the muscles to pull it back in line. Putting the student on all fours, you start by seeing the dominant and subordinate areas clearly. To align you get the subordinate areas to brighten and the dominant areas to release. I found this interesting because rather than looking at the bones we were really looking at the skin and muscles. The muscles will eventually influence the bones. Twisting is effective too using the same technique of brighten the more collapsed areas and softening the more dominant areas. One of the keys was to work the non dominant side twice as much. Putting student in balance poses that create instability where also effective for building strength and balance in the non dominant side. We just did a simple hand and knee pose with one leg up and opposite hand up and moving the arm and leg side to side very slowly keeping them parallel to the floor.

The last thing we worked on was the lumbar spine that had injury. We felt to see if the vertebrae were posterior or anterior, if they had a slight twist, and then used twists and inner spiral to get the spine to line up again. The sacrum has to work very hard in these to move in and up. The vertebrae then need to create the visible trench on the spine and widen away to free them back to their proper alignment. We got to work on each others back and once again , thanks to my husband, I am really good at aligning vertebrae while someone is laying on their belly. I took one of the biggest guys in the room and had no problem getting him aligned. He looked a little amazed….

John said something causally at the end but it really resonated with me- “you have to make harmony with whatever you got.” For many of us there will always be something that is not ideal or perfect- and I am not just talking about the physical here. We have a choice to become despondent and angry or we can chose to make harmony. That is why attitude always comes first……

wonder what tomorrow will reveal?

 

Island girls- Kathryn Wiese- Big Island and Samantha Fox- Kauai

 

Maui Therapy Training Oct/2010 Day One October 5, 2010

 

BJ, Skeeter and I

 

Welcome and Aloha~

I am in Maui for John’s therapy training. It has been so great to reconnect with old friends and meet some new ones in person ( I have a lot of “cyber” friends that I met in person today- Hi Katie and Jeremiah).

Day one of training was already so full. I felt like I just wanted to take all the training today and go work with it for a month and then come back for day two! I have been trying to really pay attention and focus and make lots of drawings so that I have good reference material to go back and look at when I need it. I hope I can decipher it all later…..

John started the day by talking about the deep order in nature, in fact he defined Anusara as ” to be in the flow of Nature”. He showed us the curl of the ear and how it is the same shape as a fetus and how that same curl is in the hand when turned on it’s side and the hand is curled shut. He said the body is complex but to not confuse that with complicated- that the very complex is “simple” multiplied. Look at the big picture and you will see the larger order of nature.

The next interesting thing he brought up was that even bone when you look at it has a spiral. If you follow the spiral it will flow in the direction of the midline. I found that really crazy and I now want to go look at some bones to see if I can actually see that…( John kept saying to us to challenge him and stay open so I am going to test this one out…no dogma for me…)

As the body moves from the core it grows in complexity- it evolves so that the hands and feet are an evolved part of the initial core of the body. There is a natural growth of even a seed-  the roots go down and from the stem it branches out into greater and greater complexity. I think of the flowers on the trees as the most evolved form of the plant but all of the plant – the roots, stem, branches all came from the same core. Even trees spiral- look from the top of the tree downward like you are in a helicopter-  and you will see the arrangement of the branches spiral- it is not a coincidence.

John carried this thread through to the fact that the person who is now standing in front of you did not come to you by chance. The person in front of you is there for a reason- you might not be able to see why- you will probably never know why- but they are there for a reason- a deeper pattern. When someone comes to us and says “my knee hurts” our tendency will be to look at their knee right away and just start working on the knee. Instead- he explained- you have to step back and be like the Sky- first principle- be open. Feel the person’s energy- is it going up or down? Look at them and see the person- not the knee. Look for the beauty.

Now I know that may sound so simple but so many therapists and doctors do not see the person- they see the knee, the bad back, the rotator cuff etc. When you touch someone to do therapy on them it is not just mechanics- it is a deeper expression of empowering someone to find the supreme intelligence inside themselves. Somehow they cannot hear that intelligence anymore and if you just mechanically move them there is no shift of the inner self to help them learn to listen again.

When you are bringing someone into alignment in the outer form of the body you are actually affecting pulsation deep within the body. If the rhythm or pulsation is too fixed- no ups and downs – (think sitting on the couch all day and then going to bed vs cardio during the day and then deep sleep at night) then actually that is UNHEALTHY. There should be a variety to the pulsations of the body- ups and downs in the rhythm of blood, lymph, organs- over the course of the day to bring optimal health. Our form will actually affect these pulsations so by aligning the outer form in a more harmonious way the form becomes a better conduit for the pulsations- nature comes back into alignment.

When you look you may also see parts of the body that are dominant and other parts that almost seem dark. By quieting the dominant parts and shining more light into the darker parts you also bring alignment to the outer form and the pulsation flows better.

We focused today mostly on the pelvis. It is really the core of the body- the seed so to speak. We worked on really understanding how the head of the femur moves in the acetabulum and anatomical neutral was for the hips. You guys know this one?  On your hands and knees. When you are on your hands and knees the head of the femur more naturally roots into the acetabulum- it’s when we stood up as a species that problems seem to have happened. John said “imagine you painted the head of the femur gold- when you are on hands and knees you can’t see the gold- the head is so firmly nestled into the hip but when you stand up you could see a ridge of gold at the femur- the head moves forward and out”. Most of us have feet that turn out as well- that is also dictated by the hips. Much lower back pain can be relieved just by getting the femur to move back deeper into the acetabulum.

We then worked on getting the curve of the low back. In yoga, forward folding can cause more problems for people with low back issues- it can actually make things worse. Create the curve of the lumbar first and then lengthen. If a student cannot create the curve, they should not be folding forward and trying to lengthen.We looked at where the apex of the back should be- at the sacrum- and then noticed for many people it was L-4. We took some students and worked on getting the curve in the low back by taking their hands further ahead and their feet wider in uttanasana and then getting the upper trochanter to get in line with the ankle. The legs are the governor of the back. I am used to looking to see hips over feet but the trochanter and the ankle are landmarks on the side of the body that will help me a lot in the future. If your student cannot do uttanasana you can create the same actions with hands on the wall or hands on a table.

John explained how he also discovered muscle energy and why we hug from the periphery to the core. All muscles have an insertion and an origin. The origin is more stable and the insertion is more flexible. From the core, the muscles have their origin and as you move away from the core they have their insertion. He said if you stabilize the more flexible part than you open the fixed part. “Stabilize the periphery and move from the core” I have heard this many times but I never thought about it in relation to origin and insertion in muscle. Very cool- can’t wait to share that with my physio friends…..

There was so much today that I just can’t get all of it down but there is one other interesting nugget I got. Have you ever been told that one leg is longer than the other?? Do you know how small the chances are that the bone is actually different in length? Very , very small…. the leg length is usually due to muscle and soft tissue pulling that leg up, or forward etc. You may have better luck working on the psoas etc then going to get it pulled by the chiro every week. ( but I do love my chiro for getting my SI back in when it just gets to cranky for me to stabilize and pull back in myself anymore)

One last thing I wanted to share was muscle monitoring.  Sometimes where we think the issue is is just a muscle trying to tell you that something else is having a problem. How about that knot in your piriformis ( butt cheek) that won’t go away- things like sciatica. The piriformis has a direct relation as a monitor for the psoas. If you can get the psoas to release, get the thigh bones to move back more into relation with the acetabulum, suddenly piriformis calms down. The muscles of the buttocks are all monitors of tension in the thighs. Stretching the thighs  with good alignment may be better than a massage of the butt cheek- though massage does feel pretty darn good! Another one to go talk about with the physios….

So today in a macadamia nut shell~

Sky– look at the energy and feel – be open- don’t get stuck in paradigms

Earth– stabilize the periphery and then go to the core

Water– create curve in the lumbar by taking the femur heads further back into the sockets and getting the sacrum to tip in

Fire– root the tailbone only enough that the action is down and forward but that it doesn’t over-ride the femur heads

Air– root down and rise up keeping all the previous alignment

Need to sleep to getting to open and absorb for tomorrow!

The Dharma of Teaching September 8, 2010

I have been considering the role of the teacher lately. What does the teacher help us do? I think we can all agree on a little list that says something like…helps us learn new information, keeps us accountable to someone, directs our learning. But what does a great teacher do?

Think back to all the teachers you have had in your life- school teachers, sports coaches, relatives, friends- the role of the teacher comes manifested in many forms. Now think back to the ones that really stick out in your mind and bring a fondness of memory- what made these teachers different from all the others? What made them so significant in your memory? I know for me they are the ones that inspired me- that literally breathed life into my realm of imagination and animated new possibilities.  Even to have one teacher like that in our lives is a blessing; I have been blessed with more than one.

Sometimes when I am teaching I have had students approach me after class and tell me things like how ” the class spoke exactly to what I needed to hear” and ” how did you know what I was thinking?” I had one student even say that my classes have changed her life. I have to be honest with you and say my first reaction wasn’t ” Hey- cool!” it was more like” NO- I don’t want that responsibility!”.  I had to ground a little and remind myself that what was happening was good and natural- that as students started opening they would look to me as the agent of that change. But thankfully, because of one of my teachers John Friend, I know more clearly what is happening. For a great teacher is just a conduit of light, a beautiful pure light that allows the students to see more clearly in an often dark place. The teacher becomes the mirror merely reflecting back the realm of possibility inside the student and the student starts to see what has always been there- their own power.

This sounds simple but to be a conduit is not easy- you must be strong inside and out. The conduit carries the light but must not confuse itself by identifying as the light. When teachers identify as the light, as the transformative power itself, than their ego becomes misaligned. They become ego driven and then all sorts of ugliness arises: jealousy, fear, narcissism, and greed. The teacher must always remember the source of their power and realize that it is the students Grace- chali-kripa in Sanskrit-  that allows them to take the seat of the teacher. When the teacher holds that remembrance they can be dynamic and successful but always humble. In yoga, teachers prepare through meditation and asana to be the conduit but I have had many great teachers that were not yogi’s- how does that happen? If they do not meditate and do asana how do they become such amazing conduits?

I think the answer is Love. All my teachers that were great loved what they did and loved their students. I often think to Ram Dass speaking of his teacher Maharaji ( Neem Karoli Baba) and saying that his power was the ability to love everybody. When we love someone unconditionally we give them the confidence and support to go inside. Love comes from the heart, it is not tempered by the ego, and therefore the teacher that teaches from love is always aligned. I believe that mediation and asana can help the love get stronger but the love must be there first- the love of sharing, the love of empowering others, the love of seeing someone grow into who they are in their heart.

Some teachers are only with us for a short time. They see us in a only a small fraction of our life and then they are left wondering if their students did realize their potential- did the teacher make a difference? We are human, and though we really shouldn’t be seeking out affirmation, I thought about how as the student I should be telling my great teachers that they were great- that they had made a difference in my life. For this is the dharma of the teacher- to affect change in a positive way. So I have began to seek them out one by one…

I had coffee with my Grade 2 teacher last week- I hadn’t seen her in over 30 years. I sent her a letter a few months ago to tell her what an influence she was in my life and how her business trip to Japan with her husband in 1977 changed my life. She had come back full of enthusiasm with wonderful photos and kimono’s for us to touch and rice crackers for us to taste and a beautiful doll in a glass case for us to gaze upon. Her love of sharing greatly affected me and to her shock and amazement her small influence changed my life. I have a University degree in Japanese Studies, lived in Japan for many years and speak fluent Japanese. My connection with Japan brings such happiness to me that it is hard to imagine that door may have never opened if it not been for her. She was so amazed  to get my letter and she said it was every teacher’s dream that they had a student tell them that they made a difference. We plan on meeting for coffee a lot more often now!

Every time we teach we have the opportunity to awaken something in the student. I like to think that rather than focusing on that if we simply focus on becoming the best conduit that we can be- full of love, enthusiasm and gratitude – the awakenings will naturally happen…for both the students and the teacher.

And go find an old teacher and tell them how great they were and why…..

Neem Karoli Baba