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If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting! The poem exemplifies the kind of courage it takes to make it on the yoga path. I found it in the movie Invictus as spoken by Nelson Mandela:
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.
by William Ernest Henley 1849-1903
 I often wonder if I am progressing spiritually and ultimately it’s probably not possible to judge this process unless you are the master. But I found this checklist (my words) in The Yoga of the Bhagavad Gita (click on the photo to review this book) written by Parmahansa Yogananada. I find it to be helpful and hope you will too.
Each spiritual apsirant and yogi should every night before retiring ask his intuition whether his spiritual faculties or his physical inclinations of temptation won the day’s battle BETWEEN:
-good and bad habits
-temperance and greed
-self-control and lust
-honest desire for necessary money and inordinate craving for gold
-forgiveness and anger
-joy and grief
-moroseness and pleasantness
-kindness and cruelty
-selfishness and unselfishness
-understanding and jealousy
-bravery and cowardice
-confidence and fear
-faith and doubt
-humbleness and pride
-desire to commune with God in meditation and the restless urge for worldly activities
-spiritual and material desires
-divine ecstasy and sensory perceptions
-soul consciousness and egoity
 There are many forms of deep breathing practices that you can learn from ancient yoga practices.
Here’s one that comes from Deepak Chopra at http://www.chopra.com/ujjayi:
Ujjayi (pronounced oo-jai) is an ancient yogic breathing technique that helps calm the mind and body. Commonly translated as “victorious breath,” Ujjayi has a balancing influence on the entire cardiorespiratory system and releases feelings of irritation and frustration.
Here is how to perform Ujjayi breath:
- Take an inhalation that is slightly deeper than normal. With your mouth closed, exhale through your nose while constricting your throat muscles. If you are doing this correctly, you should sound like Darth Vader from Star Wars.
- Another way to get the hang of this practice is to try exhaling the sound “haaaaah” with your mouth open. Now make a similar sound with your mouth closed, feeling the outflow of air through your nasal passages. Once you have mastered this on the outflow, use the same method for the inflow breath, gently constricting your throat as you inhale.
Try shifting into Ujjayi breath whenever you find yourself becoming aggravated or stressed, and you should notice a prompt soothing effect. If you practice yoga, focusing on Ujjayi breathing will help you stay focused and centered as you flow from one posture to the next.
Finally, Ujjayi is also useful when you’re doing aerobic exercise such as running or cycling. In fact, some Olympic-level athletes have introduced Ujjayi into their training routines to improve their respiratory efficiency. Experiment with this breath technique when you are working out and see if it reduces wear and tear on your body.
 A friend of mine has experienced soreness and stiffness in her lower back for many years probably brought on by many years of heavy sports involvement. She’s been to every kind of specialist there is, but has never been satisfied with the various diagnoses.
Most doctors prescribe medication of some kind, but the last thing most people want to do is become reliant on prescription pain killers. One doctor did recommend exercise and while she was researching what to do, I recommended she attend a yoga class.
You need a teacher that will work with you individually especially if you have back trouble. There are some poses you just shouldn’t do until the pain is alleviated first.
The key to using yoga for back pain is being able to identify problem areas so you can do the right yoga postures to release tension and strengthen surrounding areas.
Most appropriate yoga exercises to help with back issues consist of simple stretches that help you move to the point of tension and then release it completely. The stretch can increase in intensity once you build up some strength and stamina, but you absolutely should not push past your point of tension when you are dealing with pain. Remember, yoga is not a competitive sport and it does not matter how far you (or how far your neighbor can bend into a pose either). If only matters whether or not you release the tension stored in the muscle.
Many balance poses help strengthen muscle and improve posture which is important to keep the body in proper alignment. Proper posture eliminates extra stress on the joints and lower back.
Yoga might not be the only answer for all back pain sufferers, but I do believe that it’s worth a try. Many people have been helped to relieve their pain completely, some even with conditions such as scoliosis.
Just be sure to do the exercises based on proper instruction (which you can get at the yoga center). The key is to learn how to release your tension. Believe me, your body will thank you for it and you can continue on to enjoy the benefits of deep relaxation, pranayam and meditation. Jai!
 My 94-year old uncle was as robust, energetic and intelligent as a high-energy 25-year old until he passed away last year. Yet I often meet people in their 60s who keep saying they don’t have the health or energy they used to have. And, oh those senior moments when their memory fails. So what’s the difference?
I think it’s all about attitude. My uncle was active, walked on his treadmill every day and was a caretaker for his wife who had Alzheimer’s for years. What’s more, he was not only able to learn new things, but eager to try something new. He set up an amazing bookkeeping system after having had someone else do all his check writing and bill paying for most of his life. He thought it was fun to learn something new.
When it comes to what most people consider aging (lack of health, energy and mental capacity), I think we have a choice. I believe that, like gray hair, that kind of aging is an option. In his book “Ageless Body, Timeless Mind: the Quantum Alternative to Growing Old,” Deepak Chopra agrees and talks about how our body and mind react to what we expect to happen. And to stress. If we expect to look and feel at certain way because we’ve turned 40 or 50 or 60, then our body responds and gives us what we expect—a lack luster life. However, if we’re like my uncle, and I sure hope I am, we have very different expectations.
Our expectations affect others as well. We all expected my uncle to be able to do anything because that’s how he felt about himself. Of course, he did look after his health, but he wasn’t all that careful about it. He was also good at dealing with stress, another major cause of poor health, energy and yes, memory problems. In fact, many psychologists today say that what people often think is a loss of memory is really an inability to concentrate.
We all know about stress. I sure do. At one time in my life, I had 3 or 4 of what psychologists consider life’s major stresses happening at once. It wasn’t a fun time in my life, and I did notice that I was forgetting things. I saw my energy getting low, my skin looking older, and I got bronchitis. Having done yoga for a while, I knew it was time to beef up my practice to reduce the impact of all the stress. I increased my practice of asanas (exercises), making sure to practice yoga the natural, classical way that methodically releases the tension stress stores in our bodies. I did many of the asanas in “In the Mood of Yoga: An Illustrated Guide” every day and I doubled my meditation time. It worked. Pretty quickly I started to feel my energy, memory and health improve.
Not everyone is going to agree with me on this topic. But for those who do, I think we’ve got some good times ahead of us. What do you think? Do you agree that the loss of energy, health and mental capacity most people consider a part of aging is an option?
 Let’s face it, we’re all attracted to books or movies that focus on a hero who overcomes adversity and stands up for what’s right even if his or her well being is jeopardized. Look at the popularity of Avatar, www.avatarmovie.com, a total blockbuster in the theaters and now selling like crazy on DVD. Critics call it a “mythical archetype,” that’s been in many stories. Well, whether that’s true or not, we like to see this kind of hero because it’s so darn rare to see that kind of integrity.
Recently a colleague told me something that I won’t forget. We were talking about a friend who was someone we had respected and who we had seen as a person of integrity. Now, my colleague said, our friend, who has a serious illness, had borrowed money from him supposedly to pay his divorce attorney. Turns out, he didn’t use the money for that at all and actually spent the money on a lavish, first class trip to Europe. What’s more he was also inappropriately expensing items to his company. “When the chips are down,” my colleague said, “people define themselves. And, I don’t like the way our friend is defining himself.” Just the opposite of our Avatar hero.
Unfortunately, all too often we see people responding to adversity like my friend. And I think that’s why we’re so thrilled when we see integrity on the screen. However, I don’t believe any of us have to settle for just reading about someone else’s integrity. We have opportunities every day to create a habit of standing up for what’s right. When I first started practicing yoga, I got a quick lesson. I’d been involved in a project, and a mistake had been made. Everyone was pointing fingers at everyone else because they didn’t want the yoga master to think they’d made the mistake. I was certainly part of the mistake happening, and I took responsibility for it. Taking the blame didn’t feel great at the time, but later I really benefited from this whole thing. A few months later, the yoga master told me that just by being honest and be willing to admit I’d made a mistake, I’d made huge progress in yoga. I was aware of this growth in my meditations, which had improved significantly. I didn’t do it for that reason, but nevertheless, the benefit came to me.
This started a habit for me that anyone can do. Every day we have little opportunities to be truthful, to express integrity. It can be as small as admitting you made a mistake or being truthful to a potential client even though there’s pressure to exaggerate or being a friend to someone the rest of the group stays away from. Every little bit of integrity we express plays a part in us creating a new habit. A habit that leads us to being that hero we admire so much in the movies.
 A woman at church gave a talk one Sunday about the lesson of forgiveness that Jesus taught us. I’ve never heard the story told this way, so I will retell it her words and hope that you might enjoy this new perspective as much as I did.
We all know that upon the cross Jesus said, “Forgive them for they know not what they do.” What if our critics, or so-called enemies, are really our best friends in disguise? Such people push us to new levels of awareness and offer us the opportunity to respond in ways that we would likely do without their influence. For example, someone at your office decides that you are the source of their anger and treats you poorly every chance they get. You don’t know why you feel negative vibes off of this person because the two of you barely interact.
But you decide to put any logic or facts aside and instead of responding to their anger in kind, you just send this person love. You may even go out of your way to offer them help on a project and just be kind to them whenever you get a chance. In effect you have been raised to a higher level of consciousness and you realize that we don’t really need anyone else but God.
There were other things Jesus said on the cross that day. There were two thieves on either side of him, and in the afore-mentioned person’s story, she postulated that they represented both our past and future. Here’s how: One thief is living in the past when he says to Jesus, “I know I deserve what I’m getting because I know I’ve done a lot of negative things. However, you don’t deserve this, Jesus.” This man was identifying with all of the negative things he had done in the past. The other thief said to Jesus, “What’s going to happen to us after we die?” This thief was lost in the future.
Jesus however being between the two thieves represents the confluence of creativity where heaven is revealed on earth. It represents the here and now. Jesus said, “Today thou shalt be with me in paradise.”
What could Jesus be saying by this statement? First, it is not the past that determines our current experience; it is our thought about the past that determines our current experience. That’s because a thought cannot be in the past. If we have any thoughts moving through our mind, they are right now affecting every aspect of our being: physically, mentally and emotionally. Right now we’re either getting younger or aging depending on what we’re giving our attention to. It’s not the past doing this, it’s our present thinking about the past that is affecting our life right now.
Those who hang out in the future worrying about what’s going to happen are also shaping their now moment. Our present thinking is simply a sneak preview of our upcoming experiences. If we want to get an idea of what life is going be like, we simply have to look at what we’re thinking about right now.
When Jesus said, “Now thou shalt be with me in paradise,” could he have been referring to bringing our attention into the present moment? It is in the present moment that Christ consciousness exists and it is within all of us. That which is within us is greater than that which is in the world.
Interesting don’t you think?
 When you are troubled, had a difficult time in some area of your life, usually there are a host of people offering input. Have you ever noticed what kind of response from a friend or loved one has a positive effect on you? What kind of response makes a difference?
Usually it’s not the abstract stuff or the cheerleading. Like you lost a job after 15 years and someone says, “I’m sure you’ll find something else.” Or you just ended a long-time relationship and someone says, “You’ll meet someone else.” Usually that kind of response makes you want to walk away or maybe strangle the person.
When my daughter was about 13 a friend of mine, a marriage and family counselor was talking about teenagers and said, “If you want to stay connected the best thing you can do is try to empathize with what they’re feeling and give input from that understanding.
Shortly after that conversation I had a chance to check out her theory. My daughter was interested in a boy, who she used to ride the bus with to football games. One day he got off the bus, walked right passed her and sat with another girl. My first impulse was to try to cheerlead her out of the sadness, but remembering what my friend had advise, instead I said, “That hurts doesn’t it?” And I was open to feeling her pain. That part, mothers don’t usually have too much trouble with when it comes to their kids. She cried for a while and then it was over.
I’ve found that most of the time, what we value most, what helps us most, in difficult times or in the good times, is when someone feels our pain and offers insight from that understanding. A connection is made, and that connection is where compassion comes from. And it’s where valuable insights come from. It’s where we give someone an understanding and caring that makes a difference.
One great way to make that connection is to try to sense what it’s like to be in someone else’s shoes. Once you can genuinely feel what it’s like to be them, only then can truly help them and open ourselves up for an insight from higher consciousness on what to do.
Often we want to bypass the step of being in the other person’s shoes. But, no matter how good our intentions, without that step, we don’t make the connection, and the compassion is not deep enough.
Any time I’m feel angry at someone, I try to step back and feel what they are feeling. What it’s like to be them at that moment. Always my anger dissipates because usually I’ve felt their pain. My heart opens to them and the compassion flows. Only then can I help them and myself.
 Meditation happens when you are able to transcend the mind and connect with your source or what some call spirit or God. To get there requires much discipline because one needs to know how to relax the physical body and calm your mind. Therein lies the rub; it’s not easy and it requires some self-regulation.
People who meditate well often report significant benefits including more peace of mind, less stress, increased awareness, the ability focus easier, as well as an increased ability to concentrate. In addition, your outlook on life naturally becomes more positive because you are attuning to a level of happiness not accessed prior to meditation.
The most important principle for beginning meditators to understand is how to encourage the mind to stop drifting away. For example, when we first sit to meditate, we immediately become aware of how loud the mind actually is. For most of us, it never stops talking and we often notice it most when we are trying to go to sleep at night. So the first thing you need to learn is how to move past that restlessness of the mind.
Keep in mind that learning to meditate requires effort at first. But then it will become easier and an essential part of your well-being that you can’t wait to do every day. The benefits are tremendous and you will know this intimately as your experiences become direct and personal.
A lot of the work that people are currently doing in focusing on being positive will help you greatly in becoming a better meditator. For example, if you have already healed parts of your personality that were damaged or confused from childhood, it will be easier for you to calm the mind.
If you know how to focus on the positive things in your life and can easily release the negative, you will be ahead of the game in learning to meditate. But the main thing is to begin your practice of meditation and do not stop until you succeed.
How will you know when your meditation is successful? Good question.
The answer is when you come out of a session of meditation and you realize that an hour has gone by and it feels like it was only a few minutes. That means you went deep. What a thrill that is.
A few basic rules include: sit in a location where you won’t be disturbed. Maybe your bedroom or just any quiet place where you know you can be alone for awhile. You don’t want to get deep into meditation and be disturbed by a ringing phone or door bell if at all possible. If incense makes you relax, go ahead and burn it. Ideally you want complete silence and as you grow in your ability to meditate, you will learn to adore silence even more.
Sit cross-legged with a straight back and your head resting comfortably on your shoulders. Make sure you are comfortable and that you aren’t experiencing tension anywhere; if possible. Wear loose, comfortable clothing. If you know how to do some yoga postures, this will help alleviate physical stress so you can sit more comfortably for meditation.
One simple technique to meditate is to simply chant the word OM – at first out loud maybe 10 times and then allow the chant to go quieter until you are only chanting it internally. If the mind drifts to anything other than chanting OM, kindly bring it back to the word OM.
Just know that, at first, your mind will want to wander to things such as your day’s activity, or what you need to do next, or that thing that happened at work … but don’t let it! This is the challenge you must win in a kind and gentle manner. Just encourage your mind to come back stay with OM and keep practicing. It will get easier.
If you want to learn more meditation or breathing techniques as well as more about Hatha and Ashtanga yoga postures, go to the Yoga Center of California website.
Studies have shown that meditation does bring about beneficial physiologic effects to the body not to mention all of the mental, emotional and spiritual benefits.
People have known for thousands of years about the many blessings meditation offers and now even the Western medical community is beginning to wake up to how helpful meditation can even be in the healing process.
But one thing is for sure – anyone who is a long-time meditator will tell you that the benefits far outweigh the effort. So what are you waiting for? Go meditate.
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 Evelyn Underhill had a great quote about worship that sounds like devotion to me, she said, “Worship is the adoring acknowledgment of all that lies beyond us. It is the response that conscious beings make to their Creator.” That feels like devotion to me.
I joined the Yoga Center of California Costa Mesa, Ca almost 30 years ago. When I first came to the yoga center my level of devotion had nowhere to go but up.
I was rajasic, impatient, and sometimes unkind to my fellow human beings. I didn’t have peace of mind and I don’t think I understood what giving love even meant. Devotion has transformed all of that for me.
One of the main components of devotion is love which is primarily self-giving.
Part of me thought I was a giver because I had learned how to do things for people out of a sense of mostly family obligation, but what I didn’t understand was how to give of the self.
Being devoted to spirit taught me how to listen to people at a deeper level and allow them be who they are, while surrendering the idea that I knew how to change them for the better. Because mostly I didn’t.
I learned that it’s very difficult to be kind when my mind is in constant motion. I used the yoga tools taught at YC including postures, deep breathing, and meditation etc. in order to understand how to stay in spirit and let go of my reasoning.
My devotion has also led me to a place where I healed the need to always be the doer because I discovered that I’m not the doer, so who am I kidding? That has given me a sense of freedom that is hard to describe and helped me understand what having bhakti in my life might be all about – which is still a constant fascination for me.
And being around other loving yogis has helped keep me on the path, so I thank all my fellow yogis for continuing to show up all of the years because now I can experience a flow of love for and from God on a daily basis. And I wish I could give that back to everyone, so in its own way devotion has not only transformed my life but also changed me into a self-giver.
Another quality of devotion is humility. Boy did I have to work on this one. Not so much because of pride, but I did have arrogance to deal with. Part of that was because I felt like it protected me somehow. Probably from the judgments of other people which seemed to be so readily forthcoming.
Being devoted to God has helped me deal with arrogance by understanding that we are all ONE humanity. Nobody likes to be judged, we all have fears, and we’re all ultimately searching for the same thing. By understanding how the ego operates, I could see that things I perceived as a threat had nothing to do with me.
I think arrogance still pops its stupid head up for me every once in awhile, but because of my devotion, I can easily recognize it now and choose not to waste any time on it.
Devotion shows up in my life now in so many other fulfilling ways. For example it shows up in how I experience and appreciate spirit in other people. Some people are easy to appreciate because they manifest spirit more readily. Others not so much. But the difference for me is that I’m devoted to seeing someone’s true nature and I can hang in there when they are not expressing from spirit. I am much more patient.
That allows me to feel more like a friend to everyone. I used to be really awkward in meeting new people, especially in business situations, because I figured they had to be smarter or richer than me and somehow that was not ok. But now I’m much more relaxed and kind because I know we’re all the same and I don’t have anything to prove. That makes me less fearful.
So many people talk about how awful it is to be alone. But because of my devotion, I don’t feel lonely. My whole concept of being alone has transformed. Now I treasure the moments I can spend loving God, meditating, reading the gospel.
Another area of my life that has changed significantly through devotion is that I no longer experience doubt. I had a lot of doubt when I first came to the yoga center. So I went from doubt being a constant companion of mine to I can’t remember the last time I experienced doubt. How great is that? My faith is so much stronger and I can thank devotion for that.
Let me you a personal and recent example of how devotion has made me a better person. My mother who is 78 and dealing with a lot of health issues and struggles with family members called me and just needed to talk yesterday.
We’ve had our ups and downs over the years, and I’ve gone through numerous stages of thinking I knew how to “deal” with her. In the past in, I have tried consoling, counseling, controlling, and giving advice – all well-intended. One of the biggest breakthroughs I had with her was when I realized sometime back that “The truth is always kind.”
Those 5 words changed my life radically and I have never forgotten them. So when I speak with my mom now, I am able to just open my heart and listen to her. That is all she needs.
As she talks, I just stay open to spirit moving. Somehow in the process of her talking and me listening, she has a breakthrough and suddenly understands what really happened and what she needs to do next. I felt her energy lift and lighten.
I felt such gratitude for the ability to just be there for her. This life is so precious and God is so great.
I thank God for my devotion every day.
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