Our Yoga Blog » Acts of Kindness

Little Bits of Integrity Count Too

Kali Devi — Sun, 23 May 2010 20:09:53 +0000

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.

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Unique Lessons in Forgiveness

Sumedha — Fri, 21 May 2010 23:28:19 +0000

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?

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How Devotion Transformed my Life

Sumedha — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 21:39:43 +0000

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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Ignorance is Not Necessarily Bliss

Sumedha — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:11:57 +0000

I haven’t worked in a 9-5 job for many years — for good reason. First, I’m an entrepreneur at heart; but more to the point, I couldn’t stand office politics. I also abhor the resistant culture many office environments adopt as they age. In my experience, when people have worked in the same office for a long period of time, they don’t like to have the pot stirred. Introducing change in the form of a new person or heaven forbid, a young person with different ideas on how to do things, is like dropping a fox in the hen house. Fur is going to fly and all hell will break loose … you can count on it.

As fate would have it, I occasionally have to fill in for someone in the office and it’s always difficult for me to make a smooth transition. I usually keep my head down and get the work done as fast as I can so I can get out again. But last week luck wasn’t shining down on me.

The “others” in the office got into a lively conversation about how much they deplore our current President. For whatever reason, the president’s polarizing personality incites some people to near violence. They all wanted to “punch him in the face every time he comes on TV,” or so they said.

I never enter willingly into a political fracas, so I just kept my mouth shut. Of course one of them turns to me eventually and says, “How about you, do you like Obama?”

Crap, now I have to say something. So I respond, “Yeah actually, I do. But more importantly, I think we all live in the same United States and we should learn to get along.”

Dead silence. They have to think about that for a minute and then the meanest one of the bunch rallies. She says, “But you are a Canadian aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am,” I reply.

“That means you can’t vote, right?”

“Yep, that’s what it means.”

To which she laughs hysterically and says, “That’s a good thing.”

Ugh. I’ve been around long enough and as a result, it’s normally pretty tough to hurt my feelings. But I was vulnerable and didn’t see it coming. I felt her negative energy rip at my heart immediately.

Everyone knew the comment was awkward at best because the room got really quiet. But no one apologized as is typical in dysfunctional ‘family’ relationships.

So my point is this, how many times do we say something from our ego that we think is right because of our political beliefs, for example, but is mean-spirited and mean and actually harms another?

If we all made an effort to act kindly toward others including considering other people’s feelings before you speak, this world would be a kinder, gentler and more peaceful place.

Make today an act of kindness.

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Peace Knows no Anger

Sumedha — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 20:30:18 +0000

News reports from Europe suggest insights into why some of the Muslim population are angry with England and America.

With a better understanding of what makes them angry, I hypothesized, maybe we could figure out a way to deal with that problem.

As anyone who as ever contemplated the notion of world peace has discovered, I realized that changing another person’s point of view or response to life is not possible. They must first want to change.

It seems to me that this situation requires self regulation, for example:

1. It’s not possible to solve another person’s anger issues. Anyone experiencing anger also owns the ability as well as carries the responsibility to transform it into something positive. We must begin with the desire to change.

2. England and America as a culture and cumulative population are who they are; we must all learn to work together. Just as the acknowledgment that there are populations all over the world struggling with different areas of growth for their people such as hunger and disease; so too do these nations have their learning curve.

3. We must view each other as one human, spiritual race and give the same courtesies to all.

4. Peace is not possible with anger or hate involved. Everyone deserves love and understanding as a starting point.

Historic violence teaches us that killing in the name of religion is not only wrong thinking, it has not solved any issues between our nations. War is clearly not the answer. A woman who has long spearheaded the idea of a peace department with the United States is Marianne Williamson. Let’s align with her efforts. You can find out more about this movement at The Peace Alliance or www.thepeacealliance.org

We all need to learn to communicate safely. One of the best teachers of non-violent communication is Marshall Rosenberg. You can find his information at The Center for Nonviolent Communication or www.cnvc.org.

Here’s to finding our way to world peace in 2010. Happy New Year!

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Cut Greenhouse Emissions by Eating Vegetarian

Sumedha — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:14:50 +0000

According to the Australian Greenhouse Office, the most important gas causing gobal warming is methane which is 21 times more powerful than C02.

The number one source of methane gas in the world is animal agriculture, which produces 100 millions tons of methane a year. That translates to 30% of the greenhouse emissions.

By becoming a vegetarian people could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30% and significantly reduce global warming in our lifetimes. In addition, with the freed up land being returned to native forest, we could also extract carbon from the atmosphere equal to the other 70%! That’s a significant reduction at no cost.

For all the data, read this http://www.earthsave.org/news/earthsave_global_warming_report.pdf

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Kind Acts Make all the Difference

Sumedha — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 05:59:09 +0000

Random Acts of Kindness

People often ask me, “What small things can I do to make a difference?” I’m guessing you already know that making a change in the world starts from the inside and moves outward.

In other words, you have to change yourself first to then have a positive impact on the people around you.

So what kind of positive changes am I specifically referring to?

Your thoughts, your feelings and your actions reflect out into your immediate environment and have an impact on others every day. So the more we can make our thoughts, feelings and actions positive, the greater the productive impact we can expect to have on other people and the world around us.

Let’s take an example that you can work on immediately.

You’re walking down the street to get your morning coffee and along the way you pass a women who is overweight; maybe 300+ pounds. What is your immediately reaction? If it wasn’t love, or some form of it such as compassion, this is one instance where you can make a difference in the world.

Instead of wincing; send her love. Feel love inside your own being emanating from your heart, smile at that person, and send love in her direction. Trust me, she is used to people looking at her with disdain or some form of judgment. But how many people can she count on to genuinely send her a good feeling that changes how she feels about herself and being alive?

You leave the coffee shop and head for work. On the way someone cuts you off in traffic and our first reaction is to fly the middle finger. Stop! Take a deep breath and exhale twice as long until you feel yourself let go of the fear and anger. Now send that person a positive thought, for example just imagine a person who was driving that car and think, “may you slow down and experience peace today.”

These actions not only leave you and your body in a healthier place, but if enough of us do it regularly, the entire world can also be transformed into a more peaceful experience for everyone.

William Blake gave us a great line, “Learn to endure the beams of love.” We all know how easy it is to feel the emotions of anger, fear and pride etc., but how many of us know how to experience and express love at any moment of our choosing? How many of us ask to expand that ability to feel and give love more every day? These are great goals to have if you sincerely want to make a difference in our world.

Acts of kindness are very important for everyone. Even though not all of us have the means to support multiple charities with our time or money; everyone has the ability to control our own thoughts, feelings and actions in a way that can benefit the overall happiness level of mankind.

How about we all start now?

PS Click on the Your Story tab and the top of this page and submit your own story. We want to hear how you are making a difference in the world.

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10 Tips for Greening Your Home

Sumedha — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:07:45 +0000

10 Tips for Greening Your Home

Here are ten tips that will help you easily begin to green your home environment.

1. Use rechargeable batteries and recycle regular batteries. Go to earth911.com and enter your zip ocde to find a place near you to take them.

2. Use smart strips to synchronize shutting down your electronics such as your TV, DVD and stereo etc.

3. 20% of your heat is going out through your windows and doors. If yours are letting in cold air, try caulking and weather stripping the edges or invest in glazed, energy star-rated windows.

4. Instead of paper towels use Skoy cloth. One can last as long as 15 rolls of paper towels and are made from 100% biodegradable materials such as wood pulp and coton. (www.skoycloth.com)

5. Switch to low-flow toilets and save 0.8 gallons with every flush (see www.savewateramerica.com).

6. Install a 1-gallon-per-minute aerator on your bathroom faucets and save 15,000 gallons of water a year.

7. Use biodegradable garbage and sandwich bags (www.biobagusa.com)

8. Use cleaning scrubs and scouring pads from goodbyedetergent.com for household cleaning.

9. Eliminate plastic tableware by using disposable that can be composted (Stalk Marekt or Earth Shell).

10. Update appliances to energy star models and benefit from the federal stimulus reimbursements. That includes your refrigerator, dishwasher, air conditioning and washing machine. The energy savings are significant, for example, washing a full load of dishes by hand can use ten times as much water as washing them in a new Energy Star compliant dishwasher. In addition, using cold water in your washing machine saves 90% of the energy spent.

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