Choose To Make More Beauty

Being on modified bed rest has been a great opportunity (looking for the good) to go through old yoga notes. Yesterday I was reading my notes from the Anusara-Inspired teachers gathering in Tahoe during Wanderlust, during it John Friend said, “Every day we get to choose to make more beauty, to make more light, to bring more love into the world, or not”. This really stood out to me. We have a choice! Meaning we can choose to bring more beauty + light + love into the world or we can choose to bring more ugliness + darkness + hate into the world. I hadn't thought about the flip slide of this before. I just thought laa dee daa I am bringing more beauty into the world. I didn't think that all those times I don't feel good, don't hold the door open for someone, flip someone off driving, make rude judgemental mental comments in my head at the market, gossip with friends about someone, be in self pity, or just leave the house in a bad mood. In all those examples I am choosing to negatively impact the world we live in and share.

This made me think about emissions. We are all emitting energy all the time, it is often called our aura or the energy field that surrounds our body. Think about what it feels like to be physically close to someone who is happy and how it makes you feel to just being near them. Now imagine what it would feel like if that person was sad, or angry. The energy they are emitting and you are experiencing just from being in their field is drastically different. In this way just by choosing our attitude we are choosing to either add more love + joy + enthusiasm to the world or we are choosing to add more  hate + sadness + angry to the world. (Not to say we should never experience these feelings it is healthy to experience the full spectrum of emotions but not healthy to stew in it... another topic for another post.)

When I think of things that emit in a way that brings more beauty and love into the world I think of the sun, artists, flowers, happy dogs, color full leaves, rainbows... when I think of things that pollute the world I think of smoke stacks, cars, oil spills, garbage, cigarette smoke.... Which do you want to be? I want to be a bright flower that makes people smile + feel better.

WHAT ARE YOU EMITTING?

 OR...

This simple yet profound teaching has struck a chord in my heart and now I am so much more aware every time I open my mouth to speak (or sometimes too late, and I notice it after I have already spoken...change comes at first with awareness).  I am a big fan of the gratitude practices, of writing in my journal, often at night, a list of things I am grateful for. I do this especially when I am feeling sorry for myself. Well I am starting a new practice! A Shri (beauty) practice! I write down how I added beauty + light + love to the word for the day. It has been making me feel really good to look at the list and brings happiness to my heart as participate in creating a happy earth for all. I invite each of you to become more conscious of the ways that you contribute more beauty to the world each day.

Look, touch, speak, and breathe beauty!

Definitions:
E·mits: To give or send out (matter or energy).
pol·lu·tion: The presence in or introduction into the environment of a substance or thing that has harmful or poisonous effects.

sunday morning practice with John Friend Q&A's (mercury in retrograd, anger, supreme) + asana notes

I woke up Sunday morning feeling so great. Like I wrote in a previous post I completely loved saterday afternoons topic during practice about samskaras, so I woke up reved for more. John again started the morning session with questions, here are a few with some of the main points we discussed.


Q: mercury in retrograde, how do we work with it?
A: In any situation find how to utilize it for your advantage! If you look at the word retrograde it stars with “re” as in “review” or “re-evaluate”. We can use this time when mercury is in retrograde to our advantage by pausing. Pause and go back and look at your stuff. John said when mercury is in retrograde he goes and reads all the emails that were skipped and went unread. When we try to go forward during this time we find our self stuck.
Q: how to deal with other peoples anger
A: In Shiva-shakti tantra there are skillful ways to interact with any kind of energy
We can deal with anger negatively in 3 ways:
1. We put our self down. We feel guilty.
2. We meet fire with fire. We get angry.
3. We get scared and run away

We can also deal with anger positively in 3 ways:
1. We settle and our patient
2. We are generous and loving
3. We help them skillfully address their anger
Q: Shiva Shakti tantra and the 6 attributes of the divine.
A: (I know these attributes and have been talking about them regularly in my classes. I think these six attributes are amazing and we often forget that they exsit with in us!) John said these can be good responses to who is God? What is God? That was really cool and allowed me to connect to these attributes in a different way.
1. Ananda, blissful, joy of radiance
2. Chit, aware, alive, awake, self knowing
3. Svatantrya, ultimate freedom, not bound by anything
4. Spanda, has a pulsation
5. Purnatva, lacking nothing, completely full and perfect
6. Sri, the highest form of goodness, sacred

We can summarize these 6 attribute with chit ananda. Which is also why we practice yoga…To know more and to be happy. I find myself thinking about chit ananda all the time. I recently started going back to school studying therapeutic recreation and am feeling really busy. What I love about school is that the more I learn (about anything) the more I learn about myself. All this learning helps me be happy because I am learning who I really am. Learning more helps me look at my junk, my stuff. This self examination, chit (knowledge) helps me to get rid of habits and stuff that isn’t help lift me up and keep doing the things that do. When we look at our stuff we see where we make mistaks. And we all make mistakes I know I do. We make mistakes because we loss the connection to the highest because we loss the connection to the clear, bright, rocking delight. But once we are aware (chit) we can make changes. (read my previous post about Ma Durga and how Durga can help cleanse us of these cycles and a mantra to help)

In the morning practice “we held space for rocking shifts in our self and everyone around us”

Asana notes:
• Bakasana: get low, flat back at fist then round your back puff into your kidneys. Pelvis should be in line with heart
• In the transition in vinyasas keep the finger pads rooted. Finger tips never come up that is a sign of being lazy on our path
• AMS-> chaturanga arms with knee bet over arm
• Sputa virasana-> push up with arms in ½ urdhva-> come up to camel (head last)
• Urdhva danurasana one hand to front of femur bone, bend the elbow on the floor lightly touch head then push back up
• In urdhva danurasana hands are positioned slightly out

My teaching:
tomorrow/wednesday 540-7 at the yoga center
thruday 12-1 only 4$ at the yoga center
 
I have cut back my teachign schedual so much. It is weird not taeching more and at more locations. I will be starting a private weekly session with waterford highschool faculty. i did this last year and it was such a wonderful experience. When we started everyone was telling me I am not good, I am a begginer, will this be easy... By the end they were rocking cant and asking questions like. Can you tell a differnce in our attitude we are all getting along better as faculty and the with the students. cant wait to continue our work. I am also hoping to sub alot and do privates or group privates. The cut back was to help me focus on school and my own practice.
 
Happy evening
cheers