Free Movie

This link is the movie Living Yoga: The Life and Teachings of Swami Satchidananda. According to the site, Swami Satchidananda was among the first Yoga masters to bring the classical Yoga tradition to the West and popularize the philosophy and practices. The distinctive teachings he brought blend the physical discipline of Yoga, the spiritual philosophy of Vedic literature and the interfaith ideals he pioneered. His role in the birth of the modern Yoga movement and its impact on the world is chronicled in this hour-long documentary that informs, entertains and provokes self-inquiry. The role of spirituality in wellness and the link between inner peace and outer peace is explored in the film with commentary by Dr. Dean Ornish, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Rev. James P. Morton, Rabbi Joseph Gelberman, Peter Max, Felix Cavaliere, Br. David Steindl-Rast, OSB, Dr. Bhagavan Antle, Dr. Sandra McLanahan and CNN’s Larry King, among others.

Article

I found a great yoga article on a blog that I follow. The blog is http://theyogablog.com/ and the article is
http://theyogablog.com/the-tantric-roots-of-hatha-yoga/

This gives a great intro to yoga and is the exact sort of thing that I want to be sharing with you all. I hope that it answers some questions that any of you may have. If you want to know more post comments, email me, like me on Facebook, or follow me in Twitter.

Updates

I am currently working on a total face lift of this blog. Please take a look around and see all there is to see. It is my attempt to make this and/or my Facebook page to be your one stop shop for everything yoga. Today I added some links to the left for Community Yoga classes at local yoga studios. Please know that I do not work for these places. I am promoting yoga because that is what I believe in. These places offer these classes to the Community at affordable prices and I love that. If you happen to know about or hear about an event you think I should add please let me know and I will be happy to add it. Thank you all for your support.

Exhale that which doesn't serve you

So, at work I catch a lot of crap from people. I am teased, lied to, thrown under the bus, called names, I am the blunt of rumors, and so on (to name a few). I am not necessarily in management, although at times (when it is convenient) I am told that I am. I am the administrator and my job is to create, update, and enforce policies. Guess it is a thankless job. These sorts of things I am no stranger to. At my previous job, my first "adult" job, I was picked on. I held a few thankless positions of field training officer and scheduling manager. I was also picked on a lot growing up. My sister even had to fight people for me.  I have never quite understood why this happened. I believe people to be "friends" only to find out that they are doing the above said things. I am pretty much a loner. I don't hang out with people. I go to work, I go to school, I go to yoga, and I go to kickboxing. So, my work relationships are primarily my only friendships, but when I left my old job, my first "adult" job, after 9 years of humiliation I decided to change things and not have friendships outside of the work place at my new job. I have pretty much stuck to this, but I did add many of these people on facebook. Despite this change I still was the brunt of the aforementioned things and still am. So, yesterday I did a facebook clean up. I have only three or four work people on my facebook. Only those I specifically trust or believe have purpose in my life. I am "exhaling (or deleting) that which doesn't serve me". I am in a very new place in my life. A path that is beautiful and very fulfilling to me. I want people to walk next to me, even if on a different path we can still walk parallel giving love and support  I don't need negative, mean, non-compassionate, wicked people. Which reminds me of my favorite yoga sutra from Book One, Verse 33; "By cultivating attitudes of friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and disregard for the wicked, the mind-stuff retains its undisturbed calmness." So, I have disregarded those wicked people in order to keep my mind-stuff undisturbed.

At the time I was writing this blog I got into one of "those" moments with a co-worker. This is someone I bump heads with a lot. It was a moment that I really had to try to remain yogi like. It worked for me...not him. I was bashed and put down, but by him, not myself. See, I have a tendency to be hard on myself when this happens allowing myself to take blame, even in a blameless situation, but this time I didn't let myself be down like I would have in the past. I won't let other people put who I am down. I won't let them assassinate my character. As I was looking at facebook earlier I saw a great quote and that is how I am going to end this post today. It sums up my recent encounter and it is what I am taking with me throughout the rest of the day.

The energy is INTENSE right now. Don't take anyone else's ego issues personally. It's their stuff, not yours. Instead, focus upon the sweetness within you, within life, and within other people. You will find it if you seek it

Virabhadrasana

...or Warrior I, was never always comfortable or easy for me. I didn't like it much...until yesterday. I am fortunate to be able to take yoga classes outside of my teacher training with my teacher training instructor and I am learning so much. Yesterday his cuing for this pose was spot on for me and for the first time I found my Warrior.

The story behind this pose is as follows:(according to Wikipedia. Differences may vary according to sources)

Sati was the youngest daughter of Daksha, the chief of the gods. When Sati grew up she set her heart on Shiva, worshipping him in secret. In the Swayamvara of Sati, Daksha invited all gods and princes except Shiva. Sati cast her wreath into air, calling upon Shiva to receive the garland; and behold he stood in midst of the court with the wreath about his neck. Daksha had no choice but to get Sati married with Shiva.

One day Daksha made arrangements for a great horse sacrifice, and invited all the gods omitting only Shiva. Sati was enraged by this deliberate exclusion of Shiva and set out to attend, and confront her father Daksha. Daksha then went on to insult Shiva; and as Sati's rage at the disrespect toward Shiva peaked, she declared to her father, "I will tolerate no more of your filth" and she released the inner consuming fire, and fell dead at Daksha's feet.

Then Shiva came to know about this incident and became furious at the non-righteous yagna. Shiva burned with anger, and tore a lock of hair, glowing with energy in Kailasa. At that moment, was born Lord Veerabhadra, the destroyer of Ajnana, sprang from it, his tall body reached the high heavens, he was dark as the clouds, he had a thousand arms, three burning eyes, and fiery hair; he wore a garland of skulls and carried terrible weapons. To provide him the power, arrived Bhadrakali, a wrathful incarnation on Devi.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virabhadra

Doing further research for this post, this site: http://yogaclasschicago.blogspot.com/2010/02/virabhadrasana-story-of-virabhadra.html, says this, "Next time you perform one of the Virabhadrasanas, imagine yourself capable of anything that needs to be accomplished -- because you are!"

Well I guess you can figure out from here what was going through my mind. This moment symbolized an accomplishment for me and a reminder that I am strong. This was a reminder that I needed. It was a great moment for me and a great class. 

Personal Reflection: Yoga Teacher Training Assignment 1

            About four years ago I decided I wanted to change myself; physically. So, I joined a gym; American Family Fitness. I would take classes and use machines, but nothing really resonated with me. I decided to try the latest fad, yoga. At first I hated it. I was not “good” at it, it made me sweat while doing what I thought was little effort, and I just didn't get all the hype. However, for some reason I kept going back. I tried several different instructors until one day one really made me love the class…”J”. His personality resonated with mine thus my ideas and views of yoga changed. I became really interested in yoga and this interest has continued to grow since. As it has grown yoga has become a way of life for me. It is no longer something physical I do at the gym. It is how I think, how I act, how I respond, it is in everything that I do, it is how I live my life. Yoga has changed me. It has helped me to see life differently and appreciate life more. It has helped me to heal myself, others, and my relationships with others. Yoga has helped me discover who I am, what my purpose is, and whether my life is aligned with this purpose and who I am.

            Who am I? I am someone who has so much love inside that I sometimes don’t know how to deal with it. I am someone that has so much passion that I don’t know how to effectively act with it. I am someone who hurts easily. I hurt for myself, for others, for all. Sometimes I just hurt. I am someone who has changed a lot, but has always hurt and loved just the same. I am someone who appreciates the immense anger that I used to have; that I now know it comes from all this bottled up love. I am someone who loves the bad in my past, sometimes more than the good. I am someone who is learning every moment and learning to live in that moment, every moment. I am someone who wants so desperately to give all of this love to everyone. I am someone who loves everyone, even those I don’t know. I am someone who cries over all of this and everything.

            What is my purpose? To Love! It is what I feel within the deepest and shallowest parts of my being. It is what my heart is for. I wrote somewhere once before that if I could be unzipped from head to toe that the only thing that would come out is love because it is all that I am.

            Am I currently living a life aligned with my purpose? Not every day, not every moment, but I try. I fall away, I slip up, I get lazy, and I make mistakes. I often do not think or act out of love. I often do not speak out of love. I often do not teach out of love. But I am working on it.

            I am taking my yoga teacher training to learn more about yoga. I want to be able to take yoga to others and give them what has been given to me. My goal is to take yoga off of my mat and into the lives of others.

            I wasn't drawn to yoga on a spiritual quest. I thought I had that taken care of. I came to it for physical reasons. The spiritual part came to me and found me. It told me that through the control of my thoughts of life I could be a happier person.