Wednesday, June 19, 2013

The Hand Pointing to the Moon is Not the Moon

"The hand pointing to the moon is not the moon." ~ Buddhist saying

Our teachers, styles, and even religions, with the best of intensions and rich pearls of wisdom, still show only one perspective, one view, one of the many paths to awakening.

Many students, practitioners and followers make the mistake of clinging to the path so tightly, that they miss the actual experience the path is aiming to lead them into.  They become so attached to the rituals of the path themselves, that those lose their purpose, and become stiff dogmatic containers and walls to create false divisions between "right" and "wrong" and "them" and "us". The stare at the path itself instead of looking out at the majestic views the path affords. Some will become so narrow and fearful that they will punish others for not walking the identical pathway.

All religions, all styles of meditation and yoga, are not the luminous moon of the ever-unfolding Divine Consciousness that dwells in all things. They are helpful hands pointing to the moon. Let your awareness guide you, as you choose the best of what you discover, and keep using what is working to make you feel luminous, blessed, light, loving, wise and joyous. Use it in conjunction with whatever gems work for you. And when they cease to work as you grow and change, let them go.

Who are we to imagine that the Consciousness Within All is to be accessible by only one mean? Just by the sheer fact of diversity in this world, it leads one to believe that many, many, many effective ways exist to realization. It is said that there are as many paths as beings that exist. Maybe there are even more.

Go experience the moon. Stop obsessing about the hand.

With love and light for all beings~

Thursday, June 13, 2013

The Struggle is Part of the Game

As a butterfly MUST struggle its way out of the cocoon in order to force the blood into its wings, so must we experience discomfort, struggle, and sometimes misery.

Like the late Winter and early Spring ices and storms, and wild Spring and Fall winds tear branches from the trees, pruning them for more abundant growth, we must shed the husks of old ideas, habits and world views that no longer serve us, and no longer are a fit for who we have evolved to become.

As we raise our vibrations foods, mentalities, actions, colors, styles, and other people may cease to resonate or compliment who we now are.. And that is okay.. That is part of the path.

There is a time when we first wake up and begin to align ourselves with our inner truth, we go through a massive shedding, and lose many of our interpersonal connections. However the period of loneliness that ensues is a necessary introspective period; our time in the cocoon.

When we are much more anchored in our new base wavelength, new experiences and people will come to us; ones that uplift, inspire, nourish, and compliment where we are, and who we truly are.

So when those days come, when we can't shake the blues, the blahs, or we are immersed in heartache, know it is the wild storm, teaching, cleansing, realigning... Know that even loss is for our growth, purpose and greatest good.

Anchor your sense of self in your soul, your heart and truth. Don't anchor in roles, labels, tragedies or diagnosis. You are not these things. Always remember that you are an eternal spirit, a being of loving light dancing in a role that is this lifetime, in order to develop the skills of bring the Divine spark into the physical word through the interface of physical body and metaphysical spirit.

And the struggle is part of the game..


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Sunday, June 2, 2013

On Freedom

Freedom is finding the perfect balance of form and energy; structure and lightness, effort and receptivity.

This balance comes of a constant dance with the current reality, it isn't a solid balance, a concrete block, but instead it is like floating on the surface of the ocean.. A dance.

The balance, of all opposites, initiates the middle path.. The path of centered mess and groundedness.. Wholeness.. Yoga.

We have to consciously designate boundaries.. Emotionally, and physically, and keep reassigning these boundaries as we evolve and life happens and the truth changes. And within and beyond these energetic structures, we must expand infinitely, organically and creatively, without limitation or self-conscious restraint. It's a dance.

This is why in my asana classes I offer very structured traditional yoga poses-structure, alignment, boundaries, geometry... And also integrate free-form individual creative movement that is completely unstructured and emanates from the direct experience of the present moment- spirals, expression, lightness... Freedom is dance between form and boundless spaciousness... The harmonious interface of spirit pouring into the physical through our bodies. This is our task to accomplish: be energy beings and express vast limitless force while mastering this physical layer of our manifestation, respecting its limited nature, in order to transcend all of its limits.

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