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Dear Community,
Harvest
Blessings! I hope this message
finds you enjoying the harvest of your garden, hiking with dried leaves
crinkling under foot, or enjoying warm cups of miso or tea with friends.
Blessings,
Sarahjoy
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Dharma Highlight
dharma: wisdom teachings, duty, wisdom in action
The Center of Love
I'll begin and finish this newsletter with a quote from Saint Francis of
Assisi:
"Lord, grant that I may not so much seek to be loved as to
love."
For me, this quotation is an extraordinary reflection on our undertaking as
persons interested in living a life rooted in spiritual wisdom. It also poignantly reflects the
journeys we weave along the mountain paths to the exalting heights of Love.
As Westerners, we've been conditioned to think from the outside in. We have also been conditioned to search
outside of ourselves for Love, God, happiness, wisdom, and grace.
Yoga, and many Eastern traditions, encourages the spiritual
aspirant to begin from within, from the center of Love.
In my own life, I traversed the mountain terrains of spiritual
practice for many years before I collided, somewhat abruptly (though
delightfully), with this paradigm shift. I had assumed, a long time ago, much farther back than my first
footsteps on the paths of yoga and meditation, that one had to organize and
accomplish certain things (not just stages of development, but even in the
microcosm, cleaning the house, getting the schedule figured out, securing a
livelihood), before attaining peace, realization, ease, or even that mysterious
thing called contentment. I
practiced every day, and felt the benefits of my time on the cushion or on the
mat, but I saw those practices as pit stops on my To Do list for life. (Considering that the life I had chosen
was one of spiritual community and service, not the pursuit of a particular
career, income bracket, or title, I can smile as I remember the phrase "no
matter where you go, there you are."
No matter what we're doing, here we are!)
Consider this: how often have you postponed your practice in
exchange for the To Do list? Do
all of the dishes have to be clean, all of the phone calls returned, every
aspect of your psychological life organized and understood in sustained
insight, or every conflict, intra- or inter-personal, soothed before you can
come to your mat? Would such a
requirement ever be accomplished? Do we have to stretch every muscle and calm every system of the body
before we return to our center?
In the model of the koshas, as I look through the lens of yoga
psychology and contemporary experiments in living (that is my own stumbling
along!), these unconscious, habitual, patterned assumptions keep us circling
the outer ripple of our life in a somewhat endless attempt to create change at
a level that is more symptom and outcome than source. In other words, we're trying to change the symptoms of our
life for more comfortable symptoms!
The Koshas, as a model for spiritual and psychological yoga,
remind us that Love is our center. The teachings implore us to start from Love and move out into the
world. Through studying the Koshas
we come to understand how our orientation to moving from the outside in
actually postpones discovery of the deep relief, insight and expansiveness that
is our nature. The teachings also
alert us to how innate intelligence gets interrupted and how our senses have
interpreted the world, laid down belief systems and thought-pathways, affected
the flow of our vitality, and influenced our physical, mental, and
psychological health.
Anyone exploring the possibility of living in more sustained
wakefulness and ease may find our discussion compelling, as well as anyone
living with addictive tendencies, anxiety, fear, long-held belief systems, or
health challenges. We'll explore
the nature of reactivity, judgment, mental overwhelm, and psychological
distress, and the suggestion from the koshas to consistently and deliberately
return to Love versus strategy.
There's a bumper sticker sold at pet stores that always makes me
smile: Wag More, Bark Less. If I
were to make my own bumper sticker it would be: Love More, Strategize Less!
For my personal reflections about Koshas, I'm reading The
Inner Tradition by Michael Stone, The Heart of Yoga by Desikachar, Why Good
People Do Bad Things by Joel Kramer, No Boundary by Ken Wilber, and two by Eknath Easwaran: Strength in the Storm and Love Is God. In this month's Dharma Study Group we'll discuss the Koshas in
a traditional and psychological sense.
I look forward to our time together! Please join us on Tuesday, October 20
at 7 pm. Click here to read more about the ongoing Dharma Study Group at amrita...
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Karma Yoga
A chance to make a contribution to the changes
we wish to see in the world...
Living Yoga Gala: Invest in the
Human Spirit!
Attend the Living Yoga Gala on Friday, October 23rd at the Melody
Ballroom and support us in offering more than 10,000 student hours each year to
the most marginalized citizens of our community. We're auctioning off several amazing opportunities and
items. You could win a 10-day trip
to Thailand with me and Mike Sapiro; a year of unlimited yoga at amrita with
one private lesson each month; a handmade ravioli dinner with Executive
Director, Amy Eaton, Living Yoga Founder, Sarahjoy Marsh (me!), and Italian-by-birth ravioli master, Tom Soma (three different flavors, three different family
recipes, served with Scott Paul wine sommelier, appetizers, dessert, and lively
conversation on topics ranging from social justice to year-round gardening in
the Northwest); or a Breitenbush Hot Springs weekend retreat (again, with me).
The event starts at 6 pm and tickets are available through Living Yoga and
amrita. Click here to read more about the Living Yoga annual gala...
If you can not attend the event but would like to participate in
the Special Appeal, we welcome your contributions gratefully. You may confirm your donation with the
amrita or Living Yoga office and we will announce your giving at the event. Thank you!!
Global Mala:
Thank you to everyone who was able to join us last month for the
event! We collectively raised
$1200 for Living Yoga's programs. A special thank you to Tiffany Cruikshank for all of her efforts and
support!
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Muscle of the Month
This month's muscle focus is the rectus femoris, one of the four
quadricep muscles. Its origin is
on the anterior inferior iliac spine, which you can find by palpating your
frontal hip bones. I've occasionally referred to these frontal hip bones as the
"bathing suit bones," meaning if you were a very thin bathing suit model, these
bones would protrude. The inferior
aspect is the one closer to your thigh. (The superior aspect is closer to your
rib cage.)
The rectus femoris inserts, with the other quadripceps, through
the patellar (knee cap) ligament onto the tibia (shin bone). While it has two functions, extension
of the knee (straightening your leg) and flexion of the hip, for this month,
we'll focus more on the shortening that occurs in flexion. In our efforts to lengthen this muscle,
we'll stretch it, but we'll also address its antagonist muscle group, the
extensors, with strengthening work. In other words, plan on strengthening your glutes and hamstrings while
maintaining a posterior pelvic tilt to address tightness in your rectus femoris.
This is one of the few muscles that still challenge my
post-car-accident-hip surgery recovery. I look forward to working with you on this -- with great personal
passion!
A useful book for your self-study on this would be Judith Lasater's new book, Yoga
Body (available in the lobby).
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Poses
of the Month
Based
on the seasonal changes & our evolution as students
This month's focus is on opening the front of the pelvis to keep
vata (the wind element) flowing well through the colon. We will also continue our exploration
of headstand and shoulderstand for grounding and preparation for meditation.
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Ayurveda
and You and Me...
Last week I was blessed with the seasonal reminder of sinus
care! As we encountered the
season's winds and accompanying dryness, my sinus passages rebelled by becoming
dry and painful. Ayurveda
addresses our health from the inside out; sometimes by applying remedies from
the outside in.
In a state of discomfort and the resulting tiredness that comes
from being awoken by one's nose in the middle of the night, I called upon my
friend Richard Haynes.
Fortunately, he had neti pots and nasya oil available for purchase (I
have both at home, but didn't have them at the studio).
To address your sinus health, try the following:
- Heat a
kettle of water (it does not need to boil, and should not be too hot to
breathe comfortably), pour it into a bowl, steam your sinuses by placing a
towel over your head and the bowl, breathe the warm steam through your
nose.
- Use a neti
pot at least once a day (I follow the steaming with my neti).
- Apply drops
of nasya oil to your sinus passages (I do this after my neti).
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International Travel & Yoga
I'm delighted to announce two opportunities in 2010 for
traveling and deepening your yoga as well as your cultural immersion. I'm teaching both of these retreats;
each is led by a friend who has been immersed in the host area for many years.
Thailand Yoga and Meditation Immersion
February 4 - 15, 2010
Hosted by
Michael Sapiro, our trip leader, comedy relief, and Ayurvedic inspiration.
Michael has been deeply committed to meditation, yoga, ayurveda, and social
justice for many years. He also lived in Thailand monasteries where he studied
deep meditation. He will host and guide our trip. You can reach him at
mpsapir@yahoo.com.
This
trip is limited to 12. We only have a couple of spaces left. So, please let us know soon if you are
interested. One space will be
auctioned off at the Living Yoga Gala. Click here for pricing and registration info...
Yelapa, Mexico Yoga and Culture Immersion
March 20 - 28, 2010
Just south of Puerta Vallarta, this little fishing village
is traffic free, hosts a bird sanctuary, and invites us into its culture with
warm hearts. Judith Roth is our
host for this adventure. A long time yoga teacher, she moved to Mexico 5 years
ago and is inviting teachers to bring their travel-hungry students for a
vacation, cultural immersion, opportunity to work with village children, and
more.
Trip limited to 20; registration is now open
through amrita. Click here for pricing and registration info...
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Quotations of the Month
Intended to simply inspire, mildly challenge, or thoughtfully provoke
contemplation!
"You are quaffing drink from a hundred fountains: whenever
any of these hundred yields less, your pleasure is diminished. But when the sublime fountain gushes
from within you, no longer need you steal from the other fountains." - Jalaluddin Rumi
"My mind withdrew its thoughts from experience, extracting itself from the
contradictory throng of sensuous images, that it might find out what that light
was wherein it was bathed...And thus, with the flash of one hurried glance, it
attained the vision of That Which Is."
- Saint Augustine
"Lord, grant that I may not so much seek to be loved as to love." - Saint Francis of Assisi
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