Bodhisattva Vow

Bodhisattva Vow

by Laura Harrison




I open my heart wide

as if my body were just sky

in fact I know it has become light...           
                                                             once again..

I offer myself to feel everything

if I can have just two things-

Always to be in touch with the spacious freedom of my own heart...

and the blessing to always know where others end and I start...

This living light, this adorable bliss,

I will cultivate ecstacy, to shine on all who exist,

I will talk to and recognize the consciousness in the entire world of form,

and may the light of my remembering, free them from their prison of ignoring.

November Teaching: Gratitude and Perception

"Yoga provides the means to reintegrate all aspects of one's being. If one's heart is filled with sincere,

pure, and selfless intention, then one will experience a deep internal healing and a deep inner peace in one's own body,

mind, and soul".

  -Sharon Gannon,  Cofounder of Jivamukti Yoga

November 2011: Gratitude and Perception

The Buddha said, "What we think we become." What we are looking for and
expecting colors what we find, as does our attitude. Therefore, life truly is what we make of it. It doesn't mean everything
is easy or clear just because we have a good attitude, however, we do have the option not to struggle or suffer. Pain and
discomfort are inevitable at times, but if we keep ourselves open and remember that everything is an opportunity for mental-
emotional-spiritual growth, then we will be connected to the peace deep within. Even when we are sick, we will have gratitude
for whatever is good in our life. Our very life depends on the sacrifice of the lives of others- both in the sense of hard
work, and at times, literally the giving up of life so that we may continue on. Plants are just as alive as animals, and they
sacrifice for us constantly. Our breath and their breath is a constant exchange: we breathe in the oxygen that they breathe
out, and they breathe in the carbon dioxide that we release. If we open our minds and hearts to revel in every small and
large wonder, we can regain a connection to the sacredness of every moment. In finding that connection, we live a compassionate life, filled expansive freedom, unlimited love and deep joy. If you look for the good, the connection, and the opportunity to love and be loved, you will find the kind of life that you long for. Change your perception, change your intention, change your actions to embody a vibration of conscious compassion, and this is what you will find within all life.

Throughout the month of November I will try and post many thoughts on living a life of gratitude, non-harm and compassion, and about the consequences of our expectations and actions. I will share ideas for a healthy, compassionate, sustainable, and delightful Thanksgiving feast (which can be applied to your holiday celebrations if you don't celebrate Thanksgiving).

While plants and animals sacrifice their lives to support our lives everyday, we can choose to eat only plants, which spares hundreds of animals per person each year, spares our health from the main killer diseases, spares the earth unsustainable and unneccesary abuse, and provides a bounty of delicious, affordable, enjoyable choices. Choose life, choose sustainability, choose compassion, choose plant-foods! 

Everything is Consciousness

Let us guide our lives in a way that honors the Consciousness that is in everything and all forms. If we remember that everything in the world wears the gentle smile of consciousness, we cannot be so callous with human and animal lives, so quick to slice down a tree that has lived two hundred years, to toss our faithful possessions around and abuse them like ingrates and to treat the intricately living Earth like merely inputs to be manipulated.

We all felt the "aliveness" in the world as children. We are not wiser or smarter for forgetting. We are colder and duller, a little bit dead when we give up acknowledging the beingness of all that is.

Life is vibrant and miraculous when we live with wonder, gratitude, patience, and respect for life itself, and everything that manifests within our experience.
To know this and live this is surely a path of yoga.
May all beings be free from suffering and have total happiness! May existence clearly sparkle once again in the eyes and hearts of all conscious beings!

Special Workshop Event: Simple Ways to Transform Your Life- protect your health + the earth at the same time, this April at ~ Enlighten ~

On April 21st, from 4-8 pm we are conducting a special workshop to raise funds for Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary (www.woodstocksanctuary.org).

We will explore our topic- Simple Ways to Transform Your Life: ways to protect your health and the earth at the same time.
We will begin with a gentle yoga practice and meditation for 90 minutes, then talk about the vast and amazing benefits of regular meditation + yoga practice. We will talk about simple changes you can make in your everyday choices to help the earth and protect your health at the same time. We will talk about the most profound way to protect yourself and the earth- through dietary habits. Learn what foods harm and what foods heal, learn how to maintain a healthy weight or lose weight without having to ever count calories or starve again. This workshop will give you powerful tools and information to protect your health and help the earth at the same time- and for the most part saving money too.
Our suggested donation is $50, which includes tea during the last half of the workshop. As with any of Enlighten's offerings, pay only as you can afford, so no matter what, if any, donation you make you will be treated equally.
Wear comfortable exercise clothing. Bring a notebook and pen to take notes, and those who would like a booklet e-mailed to them with the workshop info can request it at the end.
We are using this workshop as a way to serve the well-being of our community and at the same time raise funds for Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary and their good work. They rescue and rehabilate and provide life-long care for the animal victims of factory farming. They give enjoyable and educational tours, allowing people to see and form true connections with the sweet and sensitive farm animals which have survived the egregious cruelty of the modern food system.
Tell your friends and co-workers, clients and aquaintences about this transformative event! For more information, e-mail Laura at naturalmethodyoga@gmail.com or call/text 518 866 3621.
Namaste!

How Can We Allow This Kind of Suffering?

 

This is a re-post of a Farm Sanctuary Update......

"Daniel Lee Clark, the Pennsylvania man charged with 832 counts of animal cruelty after hundreds of pigs were found dead and abandoned on his Fulton County property in November, was sentenced on January 7. Clark pled guilty to 10 animal cruelty counts, and the remaining 822 were dropped. His sentence: a $2500 fine. 

At his appearance, Clark told the judge that the pigs’ deaths resulted from an agricultural disaster, explaining that an equipment malfunction caused the animals to drown in liquid manure. Yet, regardless of the cause of death, Clark’s minimal sentence demonstrates just how weak animal cruelty laws are when it comes to farm animals. In many cases, cruelty charges are not even filed, and egregious suffering is overlooked.  

The fact that cruelty charges were even filed – thanks to the more than 12,000 of you who took action by contacting District Attorney Kendall – attests to some legal progress for farm animals. And, had you all not taken action on this effort, the plight of these pigs may never have been known outside of Fulton County either. While we are encouraged that farm animals are beginning to receive some recognition under the law and in our courts, it is important that we continue advocating for better legal protections and justice for farm animals who are treated with such wanton disregard. 

Yours in compassion,
Gene Baur
President and Co-Founder"

This is why in our current times, in order to practice Ahimsa (non-harm), we can't help but look to veganism as a sound option. If you are eating products that came from pigs, this is the kind of industry you are supporting! Please consider a change in diet that will help end this kind of suffering in the world. At the same time, you will improve your health and sharply reduce your negative environmental impact, benefiting all earthlings.    Namaste.

click on blog title to view the ~enlighten~ vegan resource page...