Category Archives: Peace

Yoga Month

Posted on by
Reply

For those of us who still live in linear or clock time, please join the celebration of Yoga Month! On the lower bar of the video above, there is a menu of short interviews of many different people sharing what yoga means to them. Though we are late to participate in the official month’s activities, we can still jump into the cultural movement inspiring a healthy lifestyle and contemplative life.

It’s a great time to share the gift of yoga with folks who, traditionally, have not been a part of the community: elders, kids, prisoners, mentally ill, rural folks, etc. I’m sure you can name a few more groups who’d enjoy the benefits of yoga and meditation. Perhaps you have family members who would love to learn some skills for increasing their awareness and happiness while alive on this planet. Offer what you’ve learned or invite them to join you in your class. If you are a teacher, you may want to look beyond the typical studio arrangement and bring your skills “out of the box” and into……. wherever! The river is wide and the currents are many.

Here in Fredonia, the Friday HAPPY HOUR relaxation and meditation has become a wonderful way to end the work week and begin the weekend. Collecting all proceeds for an international non-profit group adds an element of opening compassionately beyond our personal needs. The seeds of yoga practice grow!

Can we, as a culture evolve into a more peaceful, caring, and aware group? We, as individuals, certainly can – that is born our again and again in the lives of yoga students everywhere.

Practicing Gratitude, Head Balance

Posted on by
2

HURRICANE IKE hit and the gang in Houston remains without power. Dinners have become very interesting. And the nights are long. A great time for meditation! By the way, Laughing Yogini’s server is wrapped in plastic in a bathroom until power returns. If you have left a comment, it won’t be approved until nutopia is back on line. Try re-submitting to the yogini at laughingyogini dot com and I’ll see what I can do from here. Lots of lovingkindness meditations going out to those whose lives have been shattered by the storm.

We all have an opportunity to practice gratitude – name 5 aspects of your life that you are grateful for. Can be anything …here are a couple of mine: the smell of my shampoo, the delicious cup of coffee I enjoyed this morning, the sweetness of the breeze upon the skin of my face, being able to tie my shoes, a very cool student who smiled at me this morning. Do this every day, either in meditation or in your journal, and the practice will go far towards alleviating sadness and depression – those “I feel so sorry for myself” moments that come upon us even in the best of times.

chair head balance


My own many years-long struggle with head balance surfaced in a dream. Yogis need to constantly work against the inevitable frustration that comes from self-imposed goals and standards. I work at letting the frustration become the guru! Sitting in my heart, the frustration offers a lesson of acceptance, very tangibly. Surrendering into self-acceptance, my asana begins to take off. And if it doesn’t soar in a way that LOOKS better, it most certainly FEELS better, enabling access to the particular energy flow of the asana.

********************************************

Dream of a Perfect Head Balance

In the screened sunroom of this dream,

your long white hair and fierce sapphire eyes

shone like far-away stars. I was teaching you

how to stand on your head—

separation from your wife had left you

a quagmire of guilt, a swamp of suffering.

Night surrounded the room as it usually does

in my dreams, but we worked in a circle of light.

Kneeling in the middle of the reed rug

I explained how to press your ulnar points,

how to lift through the shoulders, how to reach

through the balls of the toes.

Though I have yet to do this in my life,

I demonstrated a perfect sirsasana

without any wall for support.

You nodded, attentive to every detail.

I assured you regular practice of head balance

would discipline your mind, broaden your spirit,

and warned heart trouble was a contraindication.

*********************************************

Then there are those poses that, well, you really can barely make an attempt. For me, those are the arm balances. I set up my props, and psyche myself by visualizing myself in the pose, and blam…the lift-off does not happen. At that point, it’s either a flop into frustration OR I can choose to enjoy the ride. In this case, the ride doesn’t go very far, but hey, it was fun falling on my face a few times. Afterwards, as I curl into Child Pose, the seeds of gratitude for even being able to attempt such the inversion, germinate, filling me with light. Laughing at how silly I must have looked trying fuels the spirit of exploration that’s so important for a healthy yoga practice. It breaks the chains of competition in class too because every student is trying to challenge individual, personal edges.

How do you deal with frustration in your daily practice or in group classes? Do your frustrations surface in your dreams? Have you written about them?

Have you found any satisfaction from practicing gratitude?

How does this relate to contentment …to peace…to compassion…in your life?