tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83848443878172708362024-02-07T19:57:17.548-08:00Yoga wisdom quotesAmrit Senhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12782449536467925760noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384844387817270836.post-7372739911114059192010-02-17T03:41:00.000-08:002010-02-17T04:16:46.916-08:00THOUGHT POWER—ITS PHYSICS AND ITS PHILOSOPHY - Part 3<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIODyuc-pCXOBqGJ9XrULFAolstieBcRvig2uGGTKd2-6LwYimtjFPaA9-Dj7d4r3nWLIWlivlIffsR0rkLnQe1MO-kFVCeFWqcTSjRz_S-sxH10LlbIF7-Qbb6_TDnIqLLd3lDkqVvIRl/s1600-h/yoga-thoughts-mind.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 265px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIODyuc-pCXOBqGJ9XrULFAolstieBcRvig2uGGTKd2-6LwYimtjFPaA9-Dj7d4r3nWLIWlivlIffsR0rkLnQe1MO-kFVCeFWqcTSjRz_S-sxH10LlbIF7-Qbb6_TDnIqLLd3lDkqVvIRl/s400/yoga-thoughts-mind.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439181224283613122" border="0" /></a>Radium and the Rare Yogi Radium is a rare commodity. Yogins who have controlled their thoughts are also very rare in this world, like radium. Just as sweet perfume continuously emanates from an incense stick, so also divine perfume and divine effulgence (magnetic, Brahmic aura) radiate from a Yogi who has controlled his thoughts and who is constantly dwelling on Brahman or the Infinite.<br /><br />The effulgence and perfume of his face is Brahma-Varchas. When you hold in your hand a bouquet made of jasmine, rose and Champaka flowers, the sweet perfume pervades the whole hall and tickles all alike.<br /><br />Even so the perfume or fame and reputation (Yasas and Kirti) of a Yogi who has controlled his thoughts spreads far and wide. He becomes a cosmic force. Thought—Its Weight, Size and Shape Every thought has got weight, shape, size, form, colour, quality and power. A Yogi can see all these thoughts directly with his inner Yogic eye.<br /><br />Thoughts are like things. Just as you hand over an orange to your friend and take it back, so also you can give a useful, powerful thought to your friend and also take it back. Thought is a great force; it moves; it creates. You can work wonders with the power of thought. You must know the right technique of handling and manipulating a thought.<br /><br />Thought—Its Form, Its Name and Colour Suppose your mind is rendered perfectly calm, entirely without thoughts. Nevertheless, as soon as thought begins to rise, it will immediately take name and form. Every thought has a certain name and a certain form. Thus you find that every idea that man has or can have, must be connected with a certain word as its counterpart. Form is the grosser and name the finer state of a single manifesting power called thought.<br /><br />But these three are one; wherever there is one, the other two also are there. Wherever name is, there are form and thought. A spiritual thought has yellow colour. A thought charged with anger and hatred is of a dark red colour; a selfish thought has a brown colour and so on. Thought—Its Power, Workings and Uses Thought is a vital, living <a href="http://www.gurumaa.com/content/active-meditation-urja-sakriya-dhyan-2.html">dynamic power</a>—the most vital, subtle and irresistible force existing in the universe. Through the instrumentality of thought you acquire creative power.<br /><br />Thought passes from one man to another. It influences people; a man of powerful thought can influence readily people of weak thoughts. There are nowadays numerous books on thought-culture, thought power, thoughtdynamics. A study of them will give you a comprehensive understanding of thought, its power, its workings and usefulness.<br /><br />We Live in a Boundless World of Thoughts Thought alone is the whole world, the great pains, the old age, death and the great sin, earth, water, fire, air, ether. Thought binds a man. He who has controlled his thoughts, is a veritable <a href="http://soulcurrymagazine.com/sc/who-is-god.html">God</a> on this earth. You live in a world of thoughts. First is thought.<br /><br />Then there is the expression of that thought through the organ of speech. Thought and language are intimately connected. Thoughts of anger, bitterness and malice injure others. If the mind which is the cause of all thoughts vanishes, the external objects will disappear. Thoughts are things. Sound, touch, form, taste and odour, the five sheaths, the waking, the dreaming and deep sleep states—all these are the products of mind. Sankalpa, passion, anger, bondage, time—know them to be the result of mind.<br /><br />Mind is the king of the Indriyas or senses. Thought is the root of all mental process. The thoughts that we perceive all round us are only the mind in form or substance. Thought creates, thought destroys. Bitterness and sweetness do not lie in the objects, but they are in the mind, in the subject, in thinking.<br /><br />They are created by thought. Through the play of the mind or thought upon objects, proximity appears to be a great distance and vice versa. All objects in this world are unconnected; they are connected and associated together only by thought, by the imagination of your <a href="http://www.gurumaa.com/content/sufi-way-to-know-mind.html">mind</a>. It is the mind that gives colour, shape, qualities to the objects. Mind assumes the shape of any object it intensely thinks upon. Friend and enemy, virtue and vice are in the mind only.<br /><br />Every man creates a world of good and evil, pleasure and pain, out of his own imagination only. Good and evil, pleasure and pain do not proceed from objects. These belong to the attitude of your <a href="http://www.gurumaa.com/content/sufi-way-to-know-mind.html">mind</a>. There is nothing good nor pleasant in this world. Your imagination makes it so.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >From Yoga Thought Power</span>Amrit Senhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12782449536467925760noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384844387817270836.post-88943872213608514952010-02-17T03:27:00.000-08:002010-02-17T03:40:21.005-08:00THOUGHT POWER—ITS PHYSICS AND ITS PHILOSOPHY - Part 2<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdmCpPEnyPW3XxDU4FTG9RnyP0nv8t3YBhNAiTBZ8AGFyMXt200oAMLe_1hveiRyk61ZAnBLGqDqLIF_slmTqx_kIZxWuCkEGygfXyqDtZS-aHVkC0yyUjnJAYKe_q-cko5vZcBKqCXOUI/s1600-h/yoga-thoughts.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdmCpPEnyPW3XxDU4FTG9RnyP0nv8t3YBhNAiTBZ8AGFyMXt200oAMLe_1hveiRyk61ZAnBLGqDqLIF_slmTqx_kIZxWuCkEGygfXyqDtZS-aHVkC0yyUjnJAYKe_q-cko5vZcBKqCXOUI/s400/yoga-thoughts.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439174794348080754" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.gurumaa.com/spiritual-question-answers/feel-sleepy.html">Thoughts</a> Are Tremendous Powers Thought has got tremendous power. Thought can heal diseases. Thoughts can transform the mentality of persons. Thought can do anything. It can work wonders. The velocity of thought is unimaginable. Thought is a dynamic force. It is caused by the vibrations of psychic <a href="http://www.gurumaa.com/videos/tag/science-of-prana">Prana</a> or Sukshma Prana on the mental substance. It is a force like gravitation, cohesion or repulsion. Thought travels or moves.<br /><br />Thought-waves and Thought-transference What is this world, after all? It is nothing but the materialization of the thought-forms of Hiranyagarbha or God. You have got waves of heat and light and electricity in science. There are also thoughtwaves in Yoga. Thought has tremendous power. Everybody is experiencing the power of thought unconsciously to a greater or lesser degree. Great Yogins like Jnanadev, Bhartrihari and <a href="http://www.gurumaa.com/videos/kumbhak-pranayama-patanjali-yoga-sutras.html">Patanjali </a>used to send and receive messages to and from distant persons through mind-telepathy (mental radio) and thought-transference. Telepathy was the first wireless telegraph and telephone service ever known to the world. Just as you take physical exercises, play games such as tennis and cricket in order to maintain physical health, you will have to maintain mental health by radiating the right thoughtwaves, by taking Sattvic food, mental recreation of an innocent and harmless nature, change of mood, relaxation of mind by entertaining good, ennobling and sublime thoughts and by cultivating the habit of cheerfulness.<br /><br />Marvels of Thought-vibrations Every thought that you send out is a vibration which never perishes. It goes on vibrating every particle of the universe and if your thoughts are noble, holy and forcible, they set in vibration every sympathetic mind. Unconsciously all people who are like you take the thought you have projected and in accordance with the capacity that they have, they send out similar thoughts.<br /><br />The result is that, without your knowledge of the consequences of your own work, you will be setting in motion great forces which will work together and put down the lowly and mean thoughts generated by the selfish and the wicked. Diversity of Thought-vibrations Every man has his own mental world, his own mode of thinking, his own ways of understanding things and his own ways of acting.<br /><br />Just as the face and voice of every man differ from those of another man, the mode of thinking and understanding also differs. That is the reason why misunderstanding easily occurs between friends. One is not able to understand rightly the views of another. Hence friction, rupture and quarrel occur within a minute even amongst fast friends. The friendship does not last long. One should be in tune with the mental vibrations or thought-vibrations of another.<br /><br />Then only can one easily understand another. Lustful thoughts, thoughts of hatred, jealousy and selfishness produce distorted images in the mind and cause clouding of understanding, perversion of intellect, loss of memory and confusion in the mind. Conservation of Thought-energy In physics you have the term ‘power of orientation’. Though the mass of energy is there, the current will not flow. It must be connected to the magnet and then the electric current will flow through the power of orientation.<br /><br />Even so, the mental energy which is dissipated and misdirected in various worthless worldly thoughts should be well directed in proper spiritual channels. Do not store in your brain useless information. Learn to unmind the mind. Unlearn whatever has been of no use to you. Then only can you fill your mind with divine thoughts. You will gain new mental strength as the dissipated mental rays are collected now. The Cell-theory and the Thoughts A cell is a mass of protoplasm with a nucleus. It is endowed with intelligence. Some cells secrete, while some cells excrete. The cells of the testes secrete semen; the cells of the kidneys excrete urine. Some cells act the part of a soldier. They defend the body from the inroads or attacks of foreign poisonous matter and germs.<br /><br />They digest and throw them out. Some cells carry food materials to the tissues and organs. The cells perform their work without your conscious volition. Their activities are controlled by the sympathetic nervous system. They are in direct communion with the mind in the brain. Every impulse of the mind, every thought, is conveyed to the cells. They are greatly influenced by the varying conditions or states of the mind. If there are confusion, depression and other negative emotions and thoughts in the mind, they are telegraphically transmitted through the nerves to every cell in the body. The soldier-cells become panic-stricken. They are weakened.<br /><br />They are not able to perform their function properly. They become inefficient. Some people are extremely body-conscious, and possess no idea of the Self. They live irregular, indisciplined lives and fill their stomachs with sweets, pastries, and so on. There is no rest for the digestive and the eliminating organs. They suffer from physical weakness and diseases. The atoms, molecules and cells in their bodies produce discordant or inharmonious vibrations. They have no hope, confidence, faith, serenity and cheerfulness. They are unhappy. The life-force is not operating properly. Their vitality is at a low ebb. Their mind is filled with fear, despair, worry and anxiety.<br /><br />Primal Thought and Modern Science Thought is the greatest force on earth. Thought is the most powerful weapon in the armour of a Yogi. Constructive thought transforms, renews and builds. The far-reaching possibilities of this force were most accurately developed to perfection by the ancients and put to the highest possible use. For, thought is the primal force at the origin and back of all creation; the genesis of the entire phenomenal creation is given as a single thought that arose in the <a href="http://www.gurumaa.com/spiritual-question-answers/tag/macro-cosmic-mind">Cosmic Mind</a>.<br /><br />The world is the Primal Idea made manifest. This First Thought became manifest as a vibration issuing from the Eternal Stillness of the Divine Essence. This is the reference in classic terminology to the Ichha, desire of the Hiranyagarbha, Cosmic Soul, that originates as a Spandana or vibration.<br /><br />This vibration is nothing like the rapid oscillation to and fro of physical particles, but is some thing infinitely subtle, so subtle as to be even inconceivable to the normal mind. But this has made it clear that all forces are ultimately resolvable into a state of pure vibration. Modern science also has newly arrived at this conclusion after its prolonged researches in external physical nature.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">From Yoga Thought Power</span>Amrit Senhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12782449536467925760noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384844387817270836.post-50639890541906750552010-02-17T03:14:00.000-08:002010-02-17T03:26:24.616-08:00THOUGHT POWER—ITS PHYSICS AND ITS PHILOSOPHY - Part 1<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJXQAyaPsChEbE-JzApLv0VS9Aayze6WsESBhxk4w3qDe5TvetviUZ6tzyQsmgP3pOistEpzVvlVnrJQ4G88quA6aEqCrvZH1fBFNBxgVu4D3gSo0XjagXQsvJgDvaGi6bnMdc9r0NYXDN/s1600-h/mind-power.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 261px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJXQAyaPsChEbE-JzApLv0VS9Aayze6WsESBhxk4w3qDe5TvetviUZ6tzyQsmgP3pOistEpzVvlVnrJQ4G88quA6aEqCrvZH1fBFNBxgVu4D3gSo0XjagXQsvJgDvaGi6bnMdc9r0NYXDN/s400/mind-power.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439170254485524258" border="0" /></a>Thought Excels Light in Speed While light travels at the rate of 1,86,000 miles per second, thoughts virtually travel in no time. Thought is finer than ether, the medium of electricity. In broadcasting, a singer sings beautiful songs at Calcutta. You can hear them nicely through the radio set in your own house at Delhi.<br /><br />All messages are received through the wireless. Even so <a href="http://www.gurumaa.com/videos/god-is-beyond-mind.html">your mind</a> is like a wireless machine. A saint with peace, poise, harmony and spiritual waves sends out into the world thoughts of harmony and peace. They travel with lightning speed in all directions and enter the minds of persons and produce in them also similar thoughts of harmony and peace. Whereas a worldly man whose mind is full of jealousy, revenge and hatred sends out discordant thoughts which enter the minds of thousands and stir in them similar thoughts of hatred and discord.<br /><br />The Medium Through Which Thoughts Travel If we throw a piece of stone in a tank or a pool of water, it will produce a succession of concentric waves travelling all around from the affected place. The light of a candle will similarly give rise to waves of ethereal vibrations travelling in all directions from the candle. In the same manner, when a thought, whether good or evil, crosses the mind of a person, it gives rise to vibrations in the Manas or mental atmosphere, which travel far and wide in all directions.<br /><br />What is the possible medium through which thoughts can travel from one mind to another? The best possible explanation is that Manas or mind-substance fills all space like ether and it serves as the vehicle for thoughts, as <a href="http://www.gurumaa.com/videos/tag/science-of-prana">Prana</a> is the vehicle for feeling, as ether is the vehicle for heat, light and electricity and as air is the vehicle for sound.<br /><br />The Ether of Space Registers Thoughts You can move the world through thought-force. Thought has great power. It can be transmitted from one man to another man. The powerful thoughts of great sages and Rishis of yore are still recorded in the Akasa (Akasic records).<br /><br />Yogins who have clairvoyant vision can perceive those thought-images. They can read them. You are surrounded by an ocean of thought. You are floating in the ocean of thought. You are absorbing certain thoughts and repelling some in the thought-world. Everyone has his own thought-world. Thoughts Are Living Things Thoughts are living things. A thought is as much solid as a piece of stone. We may cease to be, but our thoughts can never die. Every change in thought is accompanied by vibration of its matter (mental). Thought as force needs a special kind of subtle matter in its working. The stronger the thoughts, the earlier the fructification.<br /><br />Thought is focussed and given a particular direction and, in the degree that thought is thus focussed and given direction, it is effective in the work it is sent out to accomplish. Thoughts Are Finer Forces Thought is a finer force. This is supplied to us by food. If you read Chhandogya Upanishad—the dialogue between Uddalaka and Svetaketu—you will understand this point well. If the food is pure, thought also becomes pure.<br /><br />He who has pure thoughts speaks very powerfully and produces deep impression on the minds of the hearers by his speech. He influences thousands of persons through his pure thoughts. A pure thought is sharper than the edge of a razor. Entertain always pure, sublime thoughts. Thought-culture is an exact science.<br /><br />Thoughts As Wireless Messages<br /><br />Those who harbour thoughts of hatred, jealousy, revenge and malice are verily very<br />dangerous persons. They cause unrest and ill-will amongst men. Their thoughts and feelings are like wireless messages broadcast in ether, and are received by those whose minds respond to such vibrations.<br /><br />Thought moves with tremendous velocity. Those who entertain sublime and pious<br />thoughts help others, who are in their vicinity and at a distance also.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">From Yoga Thought Power</span>Amrit Senhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12782449536467925760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384844387817270836.post-13149535978524301792008-11-17T04:03:00.000-08:002010-01-28T03:30:26.219-08:00YOGIC DISCIPLINE - Part 2<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE-56cbHf4p8C0VB-E3mPlyDVBsL4KrgoZF2TDWjktG63MvyyUFks-V0uaAYu2W5OZj_e5_UmWrh9U7_5qxLgPrmYz9GCo-hPY16C182V_KfnYZCVEve92DpnatFdkueK527q1hQNBW9S7/s1600-h/yog.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE-56cbHf4p8C0VB-E3mPlyDVBsL4KrgoZF2TDWjktG63MvyyUFks-V0uaAYu2W5OZj_e5_UmWrh9U7_5qxLgPrmYz9GCo-hPY16C182V_KfnYZCVEve92DpnatFdkueK527q1hQNBW9S7/s320/yog.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269597061620687234" border="0" /></a>The fourth virtue is the practice of celibacy. That portion of human energy which is expressed in <a href="http://soulcurrymagazine.com/sc/sex-brahmacharya-understand-it.html">sexual</a> union when controlled, becomes transmuted into a form of special spiritual energy called Ojas-Sakti and this is stored up in the brain. If you practice Yoga and at the same timelead an impure, voluptuous and immoderate life, how can you expect progress in Yoga? All great spiritual giants of the world have practiced celibacy and that is the reason why they were able to thrill and electrify the whole world through the power of the special spiritual energy they had stored up in their brains.<br /><br />A Yogi with an abundance of this energy keeps his audience spell-bound, as itwere, and sways them even as a monarch sways his dominions. There is a peculiar charm in his smile and power in the words emanating from his heart. He produces a very profound impression in the minds of all with whom he comes in contact.<br /><br />Householders are allowed to visit their wives once in amonth at the proper time, without the<br />idea of sexual enjoyment, but just for the sake of preservation of progeny. If this rule is observed, then it tantamounts to the practice of celibacy. Such observers of this rule are also Brahmacharins. As soon as a son is born, the wife becomes the mother, because the father himself is born in the form of the son. A son is nothing but the modified energy of the father.<br />Brahmacharya is the basis of acquiring immortality.<br /><br />Brahmacharya brings material<br />progress and psychic advancement. Brahmacharya is the substratum for a life in the Atman. It is a potent weapon for waging a relentless war against the internal monsters—passion, greed, anger, miserliness, hypocrisy, etc. It contributes to perennial joy and uninterrupted, undecaying bliss. It gives tremendous energy, clear brain, gigantic will-power, bold understanding, retentive memory and good power of enquiry (Vichara-Sakti). It is through Brahmacharya and Brahmacharya alone that you can have physical, mental, moral and spiritual advancement.<br /><br /> What is wanted is restraint and not suppression of <a href="http://soulcurrymagazine.com/sc/understand-the-science-of-sex.html">sexual desire</a>. In restraint no sexual thought will arise in the mind. There is perfect sublimation of sex-energy. But in suppression the aspirant is not safe. There are <a href="http://soulcurrymagazine.com/sc/sex-is-the-biggest-issue.html">sexual thoughts</a>. When favourable opportunities occur, the repressed desire manifests with redoubled force and vengeance, and there is the danger of a miserable downfall. One should be very careful.<br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">From - SRI SWAMI SIVANANDA</span></span>Amrit Senhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12782449536467925760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384844387817270836.post-76571702272213221752008-11-17T03:59:00.000-08:002008-11-17T04:03:49.571-08:00YOGIC DISCIPLINE - Part 1<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSbCw96ju4ZLBC5_NawzK_YyLepZtGSUUmaZMVouEPNKpKkO-l7-lR5hOET1_-t_iGZHEsA1fxs4p0RA9VAAReAsZgFXeMEfreGTOjA0m4fhmJkvSH52M7JoErM2xW_dDONWuz6rpFGm44/s1600-h/c.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 280px; height: 185px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSbCw96ju4ZLBC5_NawzK_YyLepZtGSUUmaZMVouEPNKpKkO-l7-lR5hOET1_-t_iGZHEsA1fxs4p0RA9VAAReAsZgFXeMEfreGTOjA0m4fhmJkvSH52M7JoErM2xW_dDONWuz6rpFGm44/s320/c.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269595910099968610" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.yogawonders.com/">Yoga</a> is rooted in virtue. Ethical discipline is very necessary for success in Yoga. Ethical<br />discipline is the practice of right conduct in life. The two moral back-bones of Yoga are Yama and<br />Niyama, which the aspirant must practice in his daily life. These correspond roughly to the ten<br />commandments of Lord Jesus or to the noble eightfold path of Lord Buddha. Non-injuring<br />(Ahimsa), truthfulness (Satyam), non-stealing (Asteya), continence (Brahmacharya) and<br />non-covetousness (Aparigraha) are the component parts of Yama. Internal and external purification(Saucha), contentment (Santosha), austerity (Tapas), study of religious and philosophical books (Svadhyaya) and self-surrender to the Lord (Isvara-Pranidhana) come under Niyama. Practice of Yama and Niyama will eradicate all the impurities of the mind. In fact, Yama and Niyama form the corner-stones of <a href="http://soulcurrymagazine.com/sc/yoga-pregnancy.html">Yoga</a> philosophy. Pre-eminence is given to abstention from injuring any living creature (Ahimsa) amongst all other virtues. There must be non-injuring in thought, word and deed. Non-injuring is placed first because it is the source of the following nine. The practice of universal love or brotherhood isnothing but the practice of non-injuring. He who practices non-injuring will get quick success in Yoga. The practitioner must abandon even harsh words and unkind looks. He must show goodwill and friendliness to one and all. He must respect life. He must remember that one common Self dwells in the hearts of all beings.<br />Truthfulness (Satyam) comes next in order. Thought must agree with word, and word with<br />action. This is truthfulness. These virtues are attainable only by the unselfish. Truth can hardly arise unless there is pure motive behind all actions. The word of the Yogi must be a blessing to others.Then comes non-stealing (Asteya). You must be satisfied with what you get by honest<br />means. The Law of Karma is inexorable. You will have to suffer for every wrong action of yours.<br />Action and reaction are equal and opposite. Amassing wealth is really theft. The whole wealth of allthe three worlds belongs to the Lord. You are only a caretaker of his wealth. You must willingly share what you have with all and spend it in charity<br /><br />From - SRI SWAMI SIVANANDAAmrit Senhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12782449536467925760noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384844387817270836.post-21050637558205316492008-11-13T03:05:00.000-08:002008-11-13T03:09:04.916-08:00PRACTICAL LESSONS IN YOGA<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzqAU8EEX9_-ovRXNK4wfuHzuoFFhUAOjXO9KnxuTsX0o_y10piHHtjK4n66q8BkKgFt5ZK2fJi6ag_40VjWqRJqVDKpoKplJSA2skIxfh0UT786GdnPPOWX89XjEhgjr9_ihQIlsP298m/s1600-h/22.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzqAU8EEX9_-ovRXNK4wfuHzuoFFhUAOjXO9KnxuTsX0o_y10piHHtjK4n66q8BkKgFt5ZK2fJi6ag_40VjWqRJqVDKpoKplJSA2skIxfh0UT786GdnPPOWX89XjEhgjr9_ihQIlsP298m/s320/22.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5268097494598178258" border="0" /></a>The Yogic student should first try to weaken these five afflictions. Three practices are<br />prescribed for this purpose. They are: Austerity (Tapas), Study of Scriptures (Svadhyaya) and<br />Resignation to the Will of the Lord (Isvara-pranidhana). The practitioner should have intense faith in the efficacy of his practices.Then the energy to carry on with the practices will manifest by itself. Then the real memory will dawn. When there is memory, then there is no difficulty in practicing <a href="http://www.yogawonders.com/">concentration</a>. If there is concentration, discrimination will dawn. That is the reason why Patanjali says: “Samadhi will come through faith, energy, memory, <a href="http://soulcurrymagazine.com/sc/concentration.html">concentration</a> and discrimination.” Therefore, to get success in concentration, meditation and the practice of Yoga, you must have tremendous patience, tremendous will and tremendous perseverance. Plunge yourself in concentration. Merge the mind in the one idea of <a href="http://www.gurumaa.com/videos/category/god">God</a> and God alone. Let the mind fully get absorbed there. Forget other things. Let the whole body, muscles, tissues, nerves, cells and brain be filled with the one idea of God. This is the way to positive success. Great sages and saints of yore have practiced Yoga in this way only. Work hard. You will reach the goal. You will also become a great saint. Whatever one has achieved can be achieved by others also. This is the Law.<br /><br />From - SRI SWAMI SIVANANDAAmrit Senhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12782449536467925760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384844387817270836.post-89534424896803034262008-10-30T23:28:00.000-07:002008-10-31T00:01:06.003-07:00What is Genius"Q." What is genius, and how is it produced?<br />"A." Let us take several specimens of the species, and try to find some one thing common to all which is not found in other species.<br /><br />"Q." Is there any such thing?<br />"A." Yes: all geniuses have the habit of <a href="http://soulcurrymagazine.com/sc/concentration.html">concentration</a> of thought, and usually need long periods of solitude to acquire this habit. In particular the greatest religious geniuses have all retired from the world at one time or another in<br /><br />"Q." Of what advantage is such a retirement? One would expect that a man who so acted would find himself on his return out of touch with his civilization, and in every way less capable than when he left.<br />"A." But each claims, though in different language, to have gained in his absence some superhuman power.<br /><br />"Q." Do you believe this?<br />"A." It becomes us ill to reject the assertions of those who are admittedly the greatest of mankind until we can refute them by proof, or at least explain how they may have been mistaken. In this case each teacher left instructions for us to follow. The only scientific method is for us to repeat<br /><br /><br />"Q." But their instructions differ widely!<br />"A." Only in so far as each was bound by conditions of time, race, climate and language. There is essential identity in the method.<br /><br />"Q." Indeed!<br />"A." It was the great work of the life of Frater Perdurabo to prove this. Studying each <a href="http://www.gurumaa.com/listen-download-hindi-devotional-bhajans.php">religious</a> practice of each great religion on the spot, he was able to show the Identity-in-diversity of all, and to formulate a method free from all dogmatic bias, and based only on the ascertained facts of anatomy, physiology, and psychology.<br /><br />"Q." Can you give me a brief abstract of this method?<br />"A." The main idea is that the Infinite, the Absolute, God, the Over-soul, or whatever you may prefer to call it, is always present; but veiled or masked by the thoughts of the mind, just as one cannot hear a heart-beat in a noisy city.<br /><br />"Q." Yes?<br />"A." Then to obtain knowledge of That, it is only necessary to still all thoughts.<br /><br /><br />"Q." But in sleep thought is stilled?<br />"A." True, perhaps, roughly speaking; but the perceiving function is stilled also.<br /><br /><br /><br />"Q." Then you wish to obtain a perfect vigilance and attention of the <a href="http://soulcurrymagazine.com/sc/category/mind">mind</a>, uninterrupted by the rise of thoughts?<br />"A." Yes.<br /><br />"Q." And how do you proceed?<br />"A." Firstly, we still the body by the practice called <a href="http://spiritualguidedmeditation.com/mind-body-spirit/yogasanas.html">Asana</a>, and secure its ease and the regularity of its functions by Pranayama. Thus no messages from the body will disturb the mind. Secondly, by Yama and Niyama, we still the emotions and passions, and thus prevent them arising to disturb the mind. Thirdly, by Pratyahara we analyse the mind yet more deeply, and begin to control and suppress thought in general of whatever nature. Fourthly, we suppress all other thoughts by a direct concentration upon a single thought. This process, which leads to the highest results, consists of three parts, Dharana, Dhyana(<a href="http://www.mysticamusic.com/meditation.php">meditation</a>), and Samadhi, grouped under the single term Samyama.<br /><br /><br />"Q." How can I obtain further knowledge and experience of this?<br />"A." The A.'.A.'. is an organization whose heads have obtained by personal experience to the summit of this science. They have founded a system by which every one can equally attain, and that with an ease and speed which was previously impossible. The first grade in Their system is that of students<br /><span style="font-size:85%;">from - THE WAY OF ATTAINMENT OF GENIUS</span>Amrit Senhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12782449536467925760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384844387817270836.post-70058458859598372532008-08-20T23:33:00.000-07:002008-08-21T00:01:41.538-07:00Yoga quotes<p style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);" align="left"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">A</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 128);font-size:100%;" ><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">nyone who practices can obtain success in yoga but not one who is lazy. Constant practice alone is the secret of success.</span> </span></span> </strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 128);font-size:100%;" ><em><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">(Hatha Yoga Pradipika)</span></span></em></span></span></p> <p style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 128);font-family:Arial;" ><b><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The body is your temple. Keep it pure and clean for the soul to reside in.</span> </b><i style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">(B.K.S Iyengar)</i></span></p> <p style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 128);"><strong style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> <span style="font-family:Arial;">When the winds of change blow, some people build walls and others build windmills </span></span></b></strong> <span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-family:Verdana;" ><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:Arial;" > <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">(Chin</span></span><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ese proverb)</span></span></span></span></span></p> <p style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 128);font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Undisturbed calmness of mind is attained by cultivating friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and indifference toward the wicked.</span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span></strong><em style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">(The yoga</span> <span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">sutras of Patanjali)</span></em></span></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 128);font-size:100%;" ><strong style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">When the breath wanders the mind also is unsteady. But when the breath is calmed the</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">mind too will be still, and the yogi achieves long life. Therefore, one should learn to control the breath. </span></span></strong><em style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">(Hatha </span> <span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Yoga Pradipika</span></em></span><em style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">)</em></span></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 128);font-family:Arial;" ><b style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Yoga exists in the world because everything is linked</b><i><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">(Desikashar)</span></span></i></span></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 128);font-family:Arial;" ><b><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Do your practice and all is coming </span></span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span></b><i style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">(Sri K</span> <span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Patthabi Jois)</span></i></span></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 128);font-family:Arial;" ><b><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Before you've practiced, the theory is useless. After you've practiced, the theory is obvious. </span></span> </b><i style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">(David Williams, Ashtanga teacher)</span></i></span></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 128);font-family:Arial;" ><b style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">This calm steadiness of the senses is called yoga. Then one should become watchful, becomes yoga comes and go<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span></span></span></b><i style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> (Katha Upanishad)</span></i></span></p>Amrit Senhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12782449536467925760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384844387817270836.post-66859217490049532482008-08-16T01:42:00.000-07:002008-08-16T02:22:03.861-07:00Inspirational Yoga Quotes, Poetry and Yoga Wisdom<a href="http://spiritualguidedmeditation.com/mind-body-spirit/breath-meditation.html">Breath</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://soulcurrymagazine.com/sc/category/meditation"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 282px; height: 211px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhga6Ffmfhh70qtlPY_Zt6fkyvMcljbLth63DglH0mbp1_ZDUXl_jNNkNlR01ZHR5LOR25Y57giV0Zb22ZF6vG6T48qlDMLhlH_14fj1TRJWZ3L5H_nqo2M8bIuPgf7H0in7vt31B8fftEL/s320/Breathe_In_by_xThsIsRltyGregx.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235042671415421506" border="0" /></a><a href="http://soulcurrymagazine.com/sc/awaken-to-your-breath.html">Breathing</a> in, I know I’m breathing in.<br />Breathing out, I know<br />As the in-breath grows deep,<br />The out-breath grows slow.<br />Breathing in makes me calm.<br />Breathing out makes me ease.<br />With the in-breath, I smile.<br />With the out-breath, I release.<br />Breathing in, there is only the present moment.<br />Breathing out, it is a wonderful moment.<br /><br />-Thich Nhat Hanh<br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://mysticamusic.com/rumi.php"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 136px; height: 131px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXi1rWaWZySZ8aP5CmoL6UPRu8PeAxji6jEm3prBQ3fXRWvANR1VlFoAQnUU3q40oK3gWL3bQMdVj8hk3Op95Zq7juNvTI5Uqnhayf2ZX5RwdTUj15CWf6FN7hbT_ZFWz8vOfISvMzkGSc/s320/rumi.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235041931851025970" border="0" /></a>Your hand opens and closes and opens and closes.<br />If it were always a fist or always stretched open, you would be paralyzed.<br />Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expanding, the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated as bird wings.<br /><br />- <a href="http://www.gurumaa.com/rumi-sufi-love-poems-audio.php">Rumi</a><br /><br /><br />Prayer<br /><br /><br />I have just three things to teach:<br />simplicity, patience, compassion.<br />These three are your greatest treasures.<br />Simple in actions and in thoughts,<br />you return to the source of being.<br />Patient with both friends and enemies,<br />you accord with the way things are.<br />Compassionate toward yourself,<br />you reconcile all beings in the world.<br /><br />- A great thanks to Stephen Mitchell's translation of Lao Tzu's Tao te Ching<br /><br /><br /><br />Watch your thoughts; they become words.<br />Watch your words; they become actions.<br />Watch your actions; they become habits.<br />Watch your habits; they become character.<br />Watch your character; for it becomes your destiny.<br /><br />- Upanishads<br /><br /><br /><br />Let me not <a href="http://mysticamusic.com/devotional.php">pray</a> to be sheltered from dangers,<br />but to be fearless in facing them.<br />Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain,<br />but for the heart to conquer it.<br />Let me not crave in anxious fear to be saved,<br />but hope for the patience to win my freedom.<br /><br />- Rabindranath Tagore, Indian Poet/Saint<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />i thank You God for most this amazing<br />day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees<br />and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything<br />which is natural which is infinite which is yes<br /><br />(i who have died am alive again today,<br />and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth<br />day of life and love and wings: and of the gay<br />great happening illimitably earth)<br /><br />how should tasting touching hearing seeing<br />breathing any--lifted from the no<br />of all nothing--human merely being<br />doubt unimaginably You?<br />(now the ears of my ears awake and now the eyes of my eyes are opened)<br /><br />- e.e.cummings<br /><br /><br /><br />Then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts,<br />the depths where neither sin nor desire can reach,<br />the person that each one is in God's eyes.<br />If only they could see themselves as they really are.<br />If only we could see each other that way,<br />there would be no reason for war, for hatred, for cruelty ...<br />I suppose the big problem would be that<br />we would fall down and worship each other.<br /><br />- Thomas Merton<br /><br /><br /><br />God regards with merciful eyes not what you are nor what you have been but what you wish you to be.<br /><br />- The Cloud of Unknowing<br /><br /><br /><br />Letter to a Friend<br />I salute you. I am your friend and my love for you goes deep. There is nothing I can give you which you have not got; but there is much, very much, that while I cannot give it, you can take.<br /><br />No Heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in today. Take Heaven! No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instance. Take Peace! The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet with in our reach, is Joy. There is radiance and glory in the darkness ... could we but see and to see we have only to look. I beseech you to look.<br /><br />Life is so generous a giver, but we, judging it's gifts by it's covering, cast them away as ugly or heavy or hard. Remove the covering and you will find beneath it a living splendor, woven of love, by wisdom, with power.<br /><br />Welcome it, grasp it, and you touch the Angel's hand that brings it to you. Everything we call a trail of a sorrow is there; the gift is there, and the wonder of an overshadowing presence. Our joys too; be not content with them as joys. They too conceal diviner gifts.<br /><br />Life is so full of meaning and purpose, so full of beauty ... beneath it's covering ... that you will find earth that cloaks heaven. Courage then to claim it, that is all! But courage you have, and the knowledge that we are pilgrims together, wending through unknown country, home.<br /><br />And so at this Christmas time, I greet you. Not quite as the world sends greetings, but with profound esteem and with the prayer that for you, now and forever, the day breaks, and the shadows flee away.<br /><br />- Fra Giovanni written in 1513 A.D<br /><br /><br /><br />A <a href="http://mysticamusic.com/buddhist-chants-buddha-paradise.php">Buddhist</a> Prayer Before Practicing<br />By the power and truth of this practice:<br />May all beings have happiness and the cause of happiness<br />May all beings be free from sorrow and the causes of sorrow<br />May all never be separated from the sacred happiness which is sorrow less<br />And may all live in equanimity with out too much attachment and too much aversion<br />And live believing in the equality of all that lives.<br /><br />-The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi<br />Lord, make me an instrument of your Peace,<br />Where there is hatred let me Love,<br />Where there is injury, pardon,<br />Where there is doubt,<a href="http://www.gurumaa.com/"> faith</a>,<br />Where there is despair, hope,<br />Where there is darkness, light,<br />And where there is sadness, joy.<br /><br /><br />Oh <a href="http://mysticamusic.com/chant-meditation-divine-reverence.php">divine</a> master,<br />Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console,<br />To be understood as to understand,<br />To be loved as to love.<br />For it is in giving that we receive<br />It is in pardoning that we are pardoned<br />And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.<br /><br /><br />As long as there is breath in the body, there is life.<br />When breath departs, so too does life.<br />Therefore, regulate the breath.<br /><br />- Hatha<a href="http://yogawonders.com/yoga.php"> Yoga</a> Pradipika – Ch.2:S.3<br /><br /><br /><br />May all beings give and receive compassion,<br />Live free from fear,<br />And dwell in peace.<br /><br />- author unknown<br /><br /><br />First of all the twinkling stars vibrated,<br />but remained motionless in space,<br />then all the celestial globes were united into one series of movements.<br />… Firmament and planets both disappeared,<br />but the mighty breath which gives life to all things and in which all is bound up remained.<br /><br />– Vincent Van Gogh<br /><br /><br />"I cannot dance, Lord, unless you lead me."<br /><br /><br />How God Answers the <a href="http://soulcurrymagazine.com/">Soul</a><br />It is my nature that makes me love you often,<br />For I am love itself.<br /><br />It is my longing that makes me love you intensely,<br />For I yearn to be loved from the heart.<br /><br />It is my eternity that makes me love you long,<br />For I have no end.<br /><br />- Mechthild of Magdeburg<br /><br />The Earth Braces Itself<br />The earth braces itself for the feet<br />Of a lover of God about to<br /><a href="http://www.mysticamusic.com/">Dance</a>.<br /><br />The sky becomes very timid<br />When a great saint starts waving his arms<br />In joy,<br /><br />For the sky knows its prized fixtures,<br />The sun, the moon, the planets<br />Could all wind up<br />Rolling so wild on the floor!<br /><br />My dear, this world, its laws,<br />Our perception,<br />Are such a minute of existence.<br /><br />Should not all our suffering and sadness be like this:<br /><br />As just dropped from an infants palm<br />That is asleep against the breast<br />Of God?<br /><br />The earth braces itself for the feet of Hafiz,<br />The sky pulls a mirror from its pocket<br />And is practicing looking<br />Coy.<br /><br />For the beloved has at last<br />Opened His arms<br />And is inviting to eternally<br />Dance!<br /><br />The day candle (sun) has forgotten the hour:<br />The whole worlds has gone joyfully mad.<br /><br />Look,<br />The sun’s sweet cheeks are blushing<br />In the middle of the night<br /><br />Desiring the rampage of the feet<br />Of Gods lovers.<br /><br />- Hafiz<br /><br /><br />Miracles By Walt Whitman<br />Why! who makes much of a miracle?<br />As to me, I know of nothing else but miracles,<br />Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,<br />Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky,<br />Or wade with naked feet along the beach, just in the edge of the water,<br />Or stand under trees in the woods,<br />Or talk by day with any one I love--or sleep in the bed at night with<br />any one I love,<br />Or sit at table at dinner with my mother,<br />Or look at strangers opposite me riding in the car,<br />Or watch honey-bees busy around the hive, of a summer forenoon,<br />Or animals feeding in the fields,<br />Or birds--or the wonderfulness of insects in the air,<br />Or the wonderfulness of the sun-down--or of stars shining so quiet<br />and bright,<br />Or the exquisite, delicate, thin curve of the new moon in spring;<br />Or whether I go among those I like best, and that like me best--<br />mechanics, boatmen, farmers,<br />Or among the savans--or to the soiree--or to the opera,<br />Or stand a long while looking at the movements of machinery,<br />Or behold children at their sports,<br />Or the admirable sight of the perfect old man, or the perfect old<br /><a href="http://www.meditationwithgurumaa.blogspot.com/">woman</a>,<br />Or the sick in hospitals, or the dead carried to burial,<br />Or my own eyes and figure in the glass;<br />These, with the rest, one and all, are to me miracles,<br />The whole referring--yet each distinct, and in its place.<br /><br />To me, every hour of the light and dark is a miracle,<br />Every cubic inch of space is a miracle,<br />Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread with the same,<br />Every foot of the interior swarms with the same;<br />Every spear of grass--the frames, limbs, organs, of men and women,<br />and all that concerns them,<br />All these to me are unspeakably perfect miracles.<br /><br />To me the sea is a continual miracle;<br />The fishes that swim--the rocks--the motion of the waves--the ships,<br />with men in them,<br />What stranger miracles are there?<br /><br />- Walter Whitman (1819 – 1892) was an urban American poet, essayist, journalist, and humanist.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.gurumaa.com/">Peace</a><br /><br /><br />Om Bhur Bhuva Swaha,<br /><br />Tat Savitur Varenyam,<br /><br />Bhargo devasya Dhimahi,<br /><br />D'Yo Yona Prachodhyat.<br /><br /><br />Earth, Mid-heaven, Heaven!<br /><br />Let us <a href="http://mysticamusic.com/meditation.php">meditate </a>on that most<br /><br />Excellent light of Divine sun,<br /><br />That it may illuminate our <a href="http://soulcurrymagazine.com/sc/category/mind">minds</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br />Imagine<br /><br />Imagine there's no heaven,<br />It's easy if you try,<br />No hell below us,<br />Above us only sky,<br />Imagine all the people<br />living for today...<br /><br />Imagine there's no countries,<br />It isn't hard to do,<br />Nothing to kill or die for,<br />No religion too,<br />Imagine all the people<br />living life in peace...<br /><br />Imagine no possessions,<br />I wonder if you can,<br />No need for greed or hunger,<br />A brotherhood of man,<br />Imagine all the people<br />Sharing all the world...<br /><br />You may say I'm a dreamer,<br />but I'm not the only one,<br />I hope some day you'll join us,<br />And the world will live as one.<br /><br /><br /><br />- John Lennon (1940 -1980)<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.gurumaa.com/prem-ka-chalkata-jaam-book.php?genre=2">Peace</a> is every step.<br />The shining red sun is my heart.<br />Each flower smiles at me.<br />How green, how fresh all that grows.<br />How cool the wind blows.<br />Peace is every step.<br />It turns the endless path to joy.<br /><br /><br />- Thich Nhat Hanh<br /><br /><br />Peace cannot be kept by force.<br />It can only be achieved by understanding.<br /><br /><br />- Albert Einstein<br /><br /><br />Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing, there is a field.<br /><br />I'll meet you there.<br /><br /><br />- <a href="http://www.gurumaa.com/rumi-sufi-love-poems-audio.php">Rumi</a><br /><br /><br />You can search the whole universe<br /><br />and not find a single being more worthy of love than yourself.<br /><br />Since each and every person is so precious to themselves,<br /><br />Let the self-respecting harm no other being.<br /><br /><br />- <a href="http://www.gurumaa.com/tantra-yoga-guided-meditation-vcd-sparsh.php">Buddha</a><br /><br /><br />I have learnt silence from the talkative,<br />toleration from the intolerant,<br />and kindness from the unkind;<br />yet strange,<br />I am ungrateful to these teachers.<br /><br /><br />- Kahlil Gibran<br /><br /><br />Thanksgiving<br />"Today, I make my Sacrament of Thanksgiving.<br />I begin with the simple things of the days:<br />Fresh air to breathe, Cool water to drink, The taste of food.<br />the protection of houses and clothes, the comforts of home.<br />For these, I make an act of Thanksgiving this day!<br /><br />I bring to mind all the warmth of human kind that I have known:<br />My mother's arms, The strength of my father, the playmates of my childhood,<br />the wonderful stories brought to me from the lives of many who talked of days gone by when fairies and giants and all kinds of magic held sway:<br /><br />The tears I have shed, the tears I have seen;<br />The excitement of laughter and the twinkle in the eye with it's reminder that life is good.<br />For all these I make an act of Thanksgiving this day."<br /><br />- Howard Thurman<br /><br /><br />The goal is not to tie ourselves in knots ...<br /><br />we're already tied in knots.<br />The aim is to untie the knots in our hearts.<br />The aim is to unite with the ultimate, loving, and peaceful power in the universe."<br /><br /><br />- Max Strom always inspires and impacts the lives of all yoga students. Max built and directed Sacred Movement, Center for Yoga and Healing in Los Angeles, and now travels extensively teaching and lecturing on yoga, spirituality, and personal transformation. For more information, visit, Maxstrom.com<br /><br /><br />Too Busy to Relax By Aaron Hoopes<br />Too busy to relax they say... complaints, excuses everyday<br />They sound so weak, so stressed, so tired... a mundane world in which they’re mired<br />No time to sit and just be quiet... their mind’s a rush of thoughts, a riot<br />No chance they have to hear the sound... of nature’s wonder all around<br />Of birds and trees and clouds and air... too much work, it’s just not fair<br />This really seems quite sad to me... so much to do, no time to be<br /><br />Breathe I say and move a bit<br />Then after that we can just sit<br />And watch the world at its own pace<br />There is no rush, it’s not a race<br />And if it were, what is the goal?<br />Where are you going mind, body, soul?<br /><br />Too busy to relax I hear... these words seem like they’re based in fear<br />Tired, weak and too much stress... how did our lives turn such a mess?<br />We don’t need to look above... to find a place that’s based in love<br />Turn instead and look within... find your self, it is no sin<br />Forgive, let go, open your heart... it is the only place to start<br />Think on that and you might find... throughout your life you have been blind<br /><br />Breathe I say and move some more<br />Run, walk, jump, stretch on the floor<br />Move your body, get up and go<br />Feel the energy, let it flow<br />Don’t get caught in negative<br />Habits that won’t let you live<br /><br />Too busy to relax? Not true! ... this hoax must end, it starts with you<br />If all you do is just the same... you never will escape this game<br />Do something new, do something Zen... begin right now, not ‘if’ or ‘when’<br />Do one thing different, or two, or five... change how you live, become alive<br />Do or do not, there is no try... step off the cliff and start to fly<br /><br />Begin with this, you won’t go wrong... remember to breathe, deep and long.<br /><br /><br /><br />- Aaron Hoopes, founder of Zen Yoga Breathe - Move – Relax www.artofzenyoga.com<br /><br /><br /><br />When You Are Old By William Butler Yeats<br /><br /><br />When you are old and grey and full of sleep,<br />And nodding by the fire, take down this book,<br />And slowly read, and dream of the soft look<br />Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;<br />How many loved your moments of glad grace,<br />And loved your beauty with love false or true,<br />But one man loved the pilgrim Soul in you,<br />And loved the sorrows of your changing face;<br />And bending down beside the glowing bars,<br />Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled<br />And paced upon the mountains overhead<br />And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.<br /><br /><br /><br />Nor dread nor hope attend<br />A dying animal;<br />A man awaits his end<br />Dreading and hoping all;<br />Many times he died,<br />Many times rose again.<br />A great man in his pride<br />Confronting murderous men<br />Casts derision upon<br />Supersession of breath;<br />He knows death to the bone<br />Man has created death.<br /><br /><br /><br />William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) - Irish poet, dramatist and prose writer, one of the greatest English-language poets of the 20th century. He renounced the transcendentalism of his youth, though he remained preoccupied with physical and spiritual existence, masks and cyclical theories of life. He is one of my family's favorite poets. Yeats received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923.<br /><br /><br /><br />Superman Died Today<br />Superman died today<br />How can that be<br />His cryptonite was cryptic<br />yet unmasked for all to see<br />Getting to the truth<br />by assisting where there's need<br />True heroes live forever<br />inside of you and me<br /><br /><br /><br />-Cheri<br /><br /><br /><br />Grief<br /><br />A parent dies.<br />A pregnancy is terminated.<br />A soldier is killed.<br />Civilians are hurt.<br />A love is lost.<br />Leaves turn, and drift to the ground.<br /><br />Sadness<br /><br />Deep as a dark, dry, dusty well.<br />No light, no movement.<br />You're torn from life's joys.<br />Stretched between two worlds.<br />Lost in the mist.<br /><br />Alone.<br /><br />Then, you awaken.<br />Exhausted and relieved.<br />You think it's over.<br />But grief revisits.<br />Relentless.<br /><br />You're distracted by family.<br />Friends, children, and sunshine soothes.<br />Still, grief seeps back again.<br /><br />Slithers and surrounds,<br />as it creeps across the tender moments.<br /><br />Time passes.<br />And finally, over time.<br />You're over your grief.<br />It passes.<br /><br /><br />- Megan McCarver<br /><br />One leaf left on a branch and not a sound of sadness or despair.<br />One leaf left on a branch and no unhappiness.<br />One leaf left all by itself in the air and it does not speak of loneliness or death.<br />One leaf and it spends itself in swaying mildly in the breeze.<br /><br />- David Ingot<br /><br /><br />The <a href="http://www.spiritualguidedmeditation.com/">Spirit</a> of the Warrior<br />Although we have been made to believe that if we let go we will end up with nothing, life itself reveals again and again the opposite: that letting go is the path to real freedom.<br /><br />Just as when the waves lash at the shore, the rocks suffer no damage but are sculpted and eroded into beautiful shapes, so our character can be molded and our rough edges worn smooth by changes. Through weathering changes we can learn how to develop a gentle but unshakable composure. Our confidence in ourselves grows, and becomes so much greater that goodness and compassion begin naturally to radiate out from us and bring joy to others. That goodness is what survives death, a fundamental goodness that is in every one of us. The whole of our life is a teaching of how to uncover that strong goodness, and a training towards realizing it.<br /><br /><br /><br />- Excerpt from The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying By Sogyal Rinpoche<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.soulcurrymagazine.com/">Life</a><br /><br /><br />If you want to become whole,<br />let yourself be partial.<br />If you want to become straight,<br />let yourself be crooked.<br />If you want to become full,<br />let yourself be empty.<br />If you want to be reborn,<br />let yourself die.<br />If you want to be given everything,<br />give everything up.<br /><br />- Tao Te Ching<br /><br /><br /><br />I do not know what I may appear to the world;<br />but to myself I seem to have been<br />only like a boy playing on the sea-shore,<br />and diverting myself in now<br />and then finding a smoother pebble<br />or a prettier shell than ordinary,<br />whilst the great ocean of truth<br />lay all undiscovered before me.<br /><br />- Isaac Newton<br /><br /><br /><br />When I examine myself and my methods of thought,<br /><br />I come to the conclusion<br />that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me<br /><br />than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge.<br /><br />- Albert Einstein<br /><br /><br /><br />Smiling is infectious,<br /><br />you catch it like the flu,<br /><br />When someone smiled at me today,<br /><br />l started smiling too.<br /><br />I passed around the corner,<br /><br />and someone saw my grin,<br /><br />When he smiled l realized,<br /><br />l'd passed it on to him.<br /><br />l thought about that smile,<br /><br />then l realized it's worth.<br /><br />A single smile, just like mine<br /><br />could travel round the earth.<br /><br />So, if you feel a smile begin,<br /><br />don't leave it undetected,<br /><br />let's start an epidemic quick,<br /><br />and get the world infected!<br /><br />- from a leaflet l picked up from Raja Yoga Philosophy<br /><br /><br />The life of one day is enough to rejoice.<br />Even though you live for just one day,<br />if you can be awakened,<br />that one day is vastly superior to one endless life of sleep….<br />If this day in the lifetime of a hundred years is lost,<br />will you ever touch it with your hands again?<br /><br />- <a href="http://soulcurrymagazine.com/sc/category/zen">Zen</a> Master Dogen<br /><br /><br />When You Are Old<br />When you are old and gray and full of sleep,<br />And nodding by the fire, take down this book,<br />And slowly read, and dream of the soft look<br />Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;<br /><br />How many loved your moments of glad grace<br />And loved your beauty with love false or true,<br />But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,<br />And loved the sorrows of your changing face;<br /><br />And bending down beside the glowing bars,<br />Murmur, a little sadly, how love fled<br />And paced among the mountains overhead<br />And hid his face among a crowd of stars.<br /><br />-W.B. Yeats<br /><br /><br /><br />If we could read the secret history of our enemies,<br />we should find in each person’s life sorrow and suffering<br />enough to disarm all hostility.<br /><br />- Longfellow<br /><br /><br /><br />Know What It Is To Be a Child<br />Know you what it is to be a child?<br />It is to be something very different from the man of today.<br />It is to have a spirit yet streaming from the waters of baptism,<br />It is to belief in loveliness, to believe in belief.<br />It is to be so little that the elves can reach to whisper in your ear.<br />It is to turn pumpkins in to couches, and mice in to horses,<br />lowness in to loftiness and nothing in to everything.<br />For each child has his fairy godmother in his own soul.<br />It is to live in a nutshell and count yourself king of the intimate space;<br />it is to see a world in a grain of sand,<br />Heaven in a wild flower,<br />To hold infinity in the palm of your hand,<br />And eternity in an hour.<br /><br /><br /><br />-Francis Thompson<br /><br /><br />An Old<a href="http://www.mysticamusic.com/"> Musician</a><br />How<br />Should<br />Those who know of God<br />Meet and Part? The way An old musician<br />Greets his beloved<br />Instrument<br />And will take special care,<br />As a great artist always does,<br />To enhance the final note<br />Of each<br />Performance.<br /><br />- Hafiz<br /><br /><br /><br />When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds; your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be<br /><br />- <a href="http://spiritualguidedmeditation.com/mind-body-spirit/?p=4">Patanjali</a><br /><br /><br />Our Light<br />Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.<br /><br />Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.<br /><br />It is our light, not our Darkness, that most frightens us.<br /><br />We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?<br /><br />Actually, who are you NOT to be?<br /><br />You are a child of God.<br /><br />Your playing small does not serve the world.<br /><br />There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.<br /><br />We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us.<br /><br />It is not in just some of us; it is in everyone.<br /><br />As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.<br /><br />As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.<br /><br /><br />- Marianne Williamson<br /><br /><br /><br />Every action has both good and evil results.<br />The best we can do is to intend the good.<br /><br />-Wolfram, Midieval Poet<br /><br /><br /><br />Enlightenment is the "quiet acceptance of what is". I believe the truly enlightened beings are those who refuse to allow themselves to be distressed over things that simply are the way they are.<br /><br />- Wayne Dyer<br /><br /><br /><br />Tat Tvam Asi: "That thou art!"<br />It is the affirmation of God to Man.<br />Tat Tvam Asi: "That thou art!"<br />It is the recognition among Mankind of the Godhood in each of us.<br />Tat Tvam Asi: "That thou art!"<br />It is the acceptance of, and surrender to God by Man.<br />Tat Tvan Asi! "That thou art!"<br /><br /><br />- a primal Sanskrit teaching from the Upanishads<br /><br /><br /><br />Garden<a href="http://spiritualguidedmeditation.com/mind-body-spirit/category/yoga"> Yoga</a>: Healing Body and <a href="http://soulcurrymagazine.com/sc/category/spirituality">Soul</a><br /><br />This article is dedicated to my dear friend, talented gardener, and student of yoga. This past summer, she celebrated her 70th birthday and a successful completion of five and a half months of aggressive Chemo Therapy.<br /><br />As a traditional yoga instructor from San Juan Capistrano, California, my mission in her life is to meet her weekly (sometimes bi-weekly) in her home by Mission Viejo Lake—where all things grow, for a private yoga lesson. In her beautiful courtyard, original nature is captured. It is filled with vine-covered trellises, mixed shrub planting, and colorful floral combinations. This garden sanctuary became life’s metaphor during her arduous journey.<br /><br />Even after teaching yoga for 14 years, I continue to be a student, learning from life itself, and more so from my students. Her recovery is an amazing inspiration, testifying to survival and witnessing nature at it’s best. During the five and a half months she suffered, her garden never lacked joyful color and a life force full of gratitude, love and enthusiasm. On days she had strength; she would prune and parade with delight. On days she felt depleted and depressed, she would sit with a view of her garden and listen to the hummers or rest to the morning dove’s lullaby. Her garden, the reflection of her heart, was a healing force for her body and soul.<br /><br />When asked to write of yoga and gardening, my eyes swell with big tears of joy. Again, I witnessed another great yoga discipline: the view of her garden, the persistence and practice of a yogi letting go to become well, while treasuring the present moment each and every day.<br /><br /><br /><br />BY Megan McCarver<br /><br /><br /><br />The many great gardens of the world,<br /><br />of literature and poetry,<br /><br />of painting and music, of religion and architecture,<br /><br />all make the point as clear as possible:<br /><br />The soul cannot thrive in the absence of a garden.<br /><br />If you don't want paradise, you are not human;<br /><br />and if you are not human, you don't have a soul.<br /><br /><br /><br />- Thomas Moore<br /><br /><br /><br />Nature<br /><br /><br /><br />I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there. Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not spare any more time for that one. It is remarkable how easily and insensibly we fall into a particular route, and make a beaten track for ourselves. I had not lived there a week before my feet wore a path from my door to the pond-side; and though it is five or six years since I trod it, it is still quite distinct.<br /><br />I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined; he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings.<br /><br /><br /><br />- Great thanks to Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), another great American teacher of freedom and non-violent resistance, representing one of the most authentic and individualist voices in all American thought.<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://childrenyoga.blogspot.com/">Yoga</a> is not an ancient myth buried in oblivion.<br /><br />It is the most valuable inheritance of the present.<br /><br />It is the essential need of today and the culture of tomorrow.<br /><br /><br /><br />- Swami Satyananda Saraswati<br /><br /><br /><br />Think Different<br /><br />Here's to the crazy ones.<br />The misfits. The rebels.<br />The trouble-makers.<br />The round pegs in the square holes.<br />The ones who see things differently.<br />They're not fond of rules,<br />and they have no respect for the status-quo.<br />You can quote them, disagree with them,<br />glorify, or vilify them.<br />But the only thing<br />you can't do is ignore them.<br />Because they change things.<br />They push the human race forward.<br />And while some may see them as the crazy ones,<br />we see genius.<br />Because the people who are crazy enough<br />to think they can change the world,<br />are the ones who do.<br /><br />- Apple<br /><br /><br /><br />Security is mostly a superstition.<br />It does not exist in nature,<br />nor do the children of men as a whole experience it.<br />Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run,<br />than outright exposure.<br />Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.<br /><br />- Helen Keller<br /><br /><br /><br />The Fall of the Year By Howard Thurman<br />For many of us the fall of the year is a time of sadness and the long memory. All around us there are the evidences of fading, of withdrawal, of things coming to an end. What was alive and growing a few short days or weeks ago seems now to have fulfilled itself and fallen back into the shadows. Vegetation withers but there is no agony of departure; there seems to be only death and stillness in the fall.<br /><br />It is the time of the changing of the guard. It is the season of the retreat of energy. It is a time of letting go. It is the period of the first exhaustion. There is a chill in the air in the fall. It is not cold; it is chilly, as if the temperature cannot quite make up its mind. The chill is ominous, the forerunner of the vital coldness of winter.<br /><br />But the fall of the year is more than that. It marks an important change in the cycle of the year. This change means that summer has past. One season ends by blending into another. Here is a change of pace accenting a rhythm in the passing of time. How important this is! The particular mood inspires recollection and reflection. There is something very steadying and secure in the awareness that there is an underlying dependability in life – that change is a part of the experience of living. It is a reminder of meaning of pause and plateau.<br /><br />But fall provides something more. There is a harvest, a time of ingathering, of storing up in nature; there is a harvest, a time of ingathering, of storing up in the heart. There is the time when there must be a separation of that which has said its say and passes - that which ripens and finds its meaning in sustaining life in other forms. Nothing is lost, nothing disappears; all things belong, each in its way, to a harmony and an order which envelops all, which infuses all.<br /><br />Fall accentuates the goodness of life and finds its truest meaning in the strength of winter and the breath of spring. Thank God for the Fall.<br /><br /><br /><br />A Litany of Thanksgiving By Howard Thurman<br /><br />In Your presence, O God, we make our Sacrament of Thanksgiving<br />We begin with the simple things of our days: Fresh air to breathe,<br />Cool water to drink,<br />The taste of food,<br />The protection of houses and clothes,<br />The comforts of home. For all these we make an act of Thanksgiving this day!<br /><br /><br /><br />We bring to mind all the warmth of humankind that we have known:<br /><br />Our mothers' arms,<br />The strength of our fathers,<br />The playmates of our childhood,<br />The wonderful stories brought to us from the lives of many who talked of days,<br />gone by when fairies and giants and diverse kinds of magic held sway;<br />The tears we have shed, the tears we have seen;<br />The excitement of laughter and the twinkle in the eye with its reminder that life is good.<br /><br />For all these we make an act of Thanksgiving this day.<br /><br /><br /><br />Howard Thurman (1900 -1981) was an author, philosopher, theologian, educator and civil rights leader.<br /><br /><br /><br />When The Holy Thaws By St. Teresa of Avila<br />A woman's body, like the earth, has seasons;<br />when the mountain stream flows, when the holy thaws,<br /><br />when I am most fragile and in need,<br />it was then, it seemed, God came closest.<br /><br />God, like a medic on a field, is tending our souls.<br />Our horns get locked with desires,<br />but don't hold yourself too accountable;<br />for all desires are really innocent.<br />That is what the compassion in His eyes tell me.<br /><br />Why this great war between the countries<br />-- the countries -- inside of us?<br /><br />What are all these insane borders we protect?<br />What are all these different names for the same church of love<br />we kneel in together?<br />For it is true, together we live;<br />and only at that shrine where all are welcome will God sing<br />loud enough to be heard.<br /><br />Our horns got locked with the earth and sky in some odd<br />marriage ritual; so what, don't worry.<br />We should be proud of ourselves for everything we helped create in this magic world.<br /><br />And God is always there, if you feel wounded.<br />He kneels over this earth like a divine medic,<br />and His love thaws the holy in us.<br /><br />(Love Poems From God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West<br />versions by Daniel Ladinsky. Saint Teresa of Avila was a most remarkable woman, author and an ascetic with great heart. She reformed the order of the Carmelites during the sixteen century leaving a tremendous mark on the Catholic Church even to this day. Her achievements led the Catholic Church to honor her as a Saint in 1622, and a Doctor in 1970.)<br /><br /><br /><br />Please Call Me By My True Names<br /><br />Do not say that I'll depart tomorrow<br /><br />Because even today I still arrive.<br /><br /><br /><br />Look deeply;<br /><br />I arrive in every second to be a bud on a spring branch,<br /><br />to be a tiny bird, with wings still fragile,<br /><br />learning to sing in my new nest,<br /><br />to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,<br /><br />to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.<br /><br /><br /><br />I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,<br /><br />in order to fear and to hope,<br /><br />the rhythm of my heart is the birth and the death<br /><br />of all that are alive.<br /><br /><br /><br />I am the mayfly metamorphosing on the surface of the river,<br /><br />and I am the bird which, when spring comes,<br /><br />arrives in time to eat the mayfly.<br /><br /><br /><br />I am the frog swimming happily in the clear water of the pond,<br /><br />and I am the grass-snake who, approaching in silence,<br /><br />feeds itself on the frog.<br /><br /><br /><br />I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,<br /><br />my legs as thin as bamboo sticks,<br /><br />and I am the arms merchant, selling deadly weapons to Uganda.<br /><br /><br /><br />I am the twelve year old girl, refugee on a small boat,<br /><br />who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea pirate,<br /><br />and I am the sea pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and loving.<br /><br /><br /><br />I am a member of the Politburo, with plenty of power in my hands,<br /><br />and I am the man who has to pay his "debt of blood" to my people,<br /><br />dying slowly in a forced labor camp.<br /><br /><br /><br />My joy is like spring so warm it makes flowers bloom in all walks of life.<br /><br />My pain is like a river of tears, so full it fills all four oceans.<br /><br /><br /><br />Please call me by my true names<br /><br />so I can hear all my cries and laughs at once,<br /><br />so I can see that my joy and pain are one.<br /><br /><br /><br />Please call me by my true names,<br /><br />so I can wake up and so the door of my heart can be left open,<br /><br />the door of compassion.<br /><br /><br /><br />- Thich Nhat Hanh<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Butterfly Yoga<br /><br />Namaste to the butterflies that are parading through the beach cities of Southern California celebrating spring's arrival. They are one of the most impressive and certainly one of the most visible signs of time and transition. Yes, springing forward to longer and lighter days are inspiring. Yes, the brightly colored flowers painting the hillsides share an uplifting fragrances of beauty. And yes, the abundance of eggshells and baby animals are heartwarming to the wonder sounds of oohs and aahs.<br /><br />Especially remarkable are the butterflies as miraculous messengers. They remind us that there is a "master plan" beyond our power as dependable as the seasons and as fleeting as time itself. Practice a walking asana and observe the gentle transitions of nature … small miracles abound everywhere. <a href="http://www.gurumaa.com/online-video-discourses.php">OM</a> SHANTI.<br /><br /><br />- Megan, Gary and Rose McCarver<br /><br /><br /><br />"Walk slowly! Talk a little! Love breath! Be thrifty with affairs! Think clearly!<br />The body will consequently be light and the hundreds of arteries<br />will flow and irrigate. The four limbs communicate pleasantly.<br />The Yellow Court Canon, therefore states,<br />”The thousand calamities disappear and the hundred illnesses are healed.<br />One does not fear being injured by the cruel tiger or the wolf.<br />In addition, one gets rid of old and extends life forever.”<br /><br /><br />- Sung-Shan T'ai Wu Hsien-Sheng Ch'i Ching: "A Book on Breath by the Master Great Nothing of Sung-Shan:"<br /><br /><br /><br />The <a href="http://www.mysticamusic.com/">Song</a> of Wandering Aengus<br />I went out to the hazel wood,<br />Because a fire was in my head,<br />And cut and peeled a hazel wand,<br />And hooked a berry to a thread;<br />And when white moths were on the wing,<br />And moth-like stars were flickering out,<br />I dropped the berry in a stream,<br />And caught a little silver trout.<br /><br />When I laid it on the floor<br />I went to blow a fire a-flame,<br />But something rustled on the floor,<br />And someone called me by my name:<br />It had become a glimmering girl,<br />With apple blossom in her hair.<br />Who called me by my name and ran<br />And faded through the brightening air.<br /><br />Though I am old with wandering,<br />Through hollow lands and hilly lands,<br />I will find out where she has gone,<br />And kiss her lips and take her hands;<br />And walk among long dappled grass,<br />And pluck till time and times are done,<br />The silver apples of the moon,<br />The golden apples of the sun.<br /><br /><br />- W.B. Yeats<br /><br /><br /><br />To understand truth one must have a very sharp, precise, clear mind;<br />not a cunning mind, but a mind that is capable of looking without<br />any distortion, a mind innocent and vulnerable.<br />Only such a mind can see what truth is.<br />Nor can a mind that is filled with knowledge perceive what truth is;<br />only a mind that is completely capable of learning can do that.<br />Learning is not the accumulation of knowledge.<br />Learning is movement from movement to movement.<br /><br />- J. Krishnamurti<br /><br /><br /><br />There is vitality,<br />a life force that is translated through you into action.<br />And because there is only one of you in all time,<br />this expression is unique,<br />and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost.<br />It is not your business to determine how good it is,<br />or how valuable it is,<br />or how it compares with others expressions.<br />It is your business to keep it yours,<br />to keep the channel open.<br />You do not even have to believe<br />in yourself<br />or your works.<br />You have to keep an open mind<br />and be aware directly to the urges that motivate you.<br /><br />- Great thanks from The Life and Work of Martha Graham (1894 - 1991), born in Pennsylvania and lived in California, Dancer, Choreographer and devoted Teacher, a true pioneer to modern dance and liberator of life.<br /><br /><br /><br />As he came naked from his mother's womb,<br />so shall he return as he came.<br />He will take nothing from the fruit of his labor<br />that he cannot carry in his hand.<br />So what is the advantage to him who toils for the wind?<br /><br />- Ecclesiates 5: 15,16<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Light (for Marion) By Duane Tucker of Ontario Canada<br /><br />i.<br />Because it is older than time yet never grows up;<br />Seesawing leaves, Goosing grasses, it gets off on any weather.<br /><br />Because it rushes with the crush of water, and never hurries.<br />It puckers on ripples like the tip of your tongue when you're teased.<br /><br />It is the nimble feet of the alto sax, boots of brass and even<br />When it writhes it is still Praying.<br /><br /><br />ii.<br />Because it drinks all day and, except when it carouses<br />With vagabond winds,<br /><br />Is rarely drunk. Even when it’s parched; it splashes as we walk.<br /><br />It adores shadows and chuckles<br />In lonely puddles.<br />Dawn’s open wound, dusk’s shrug.<br /><br />Because it is in the veins of your veins, and rings in your eyes<br />Like your loose-screw laughter.<br /><br />Because it shivers in steam, sunbathes on frost;<br />Lolls on surfaces,<br />But deepens whenever it touches.<br /><br />Because it refuses to be crushed and blossoms<br />Even when you bang your head<br />On the cabinet I’ve left open and laugh it off.<br /><br />Because it’s always guilty of concealing the Radiance<br />Its arms like yours<br />Are always open.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Only as a spiritual warrior can one withstand the path of knowledge. A warrior cannot complain or regret anything. His life is an endless challenge and challenges cannot possibly be good or bad. Challenges are simply challenges. The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge, while an ordinary man takes everything as a blessing or a curse.<br /><br />- Don Juan<br /><br /><br /><br />Recognize the power of mind, respect the power of mind.<br />And also recognize the Power behind the power,<br />the ocean holding the wave.<br />Recognize yourself as the ocean,<br />with your stories, your feelings, as waves.<br />Waves can be beautiful or terrifying,<br />but always they return to the ocean.<br />Every wave always is made up of the ocean.<br />No wave can ever be separate from the ocean.<br />Waves of thoughts, waves of emotions, waves of sensations,<br />waves of events, are all made up of consciousness.<br />And all return to consciousness,<br />while never being separate from consciousness.<br />And if this becomes another story, let this go, and see what is true.<br /><br />- Gangaji, who is of the lineage of the beautiful Ramana Maharshi and a direct disciple of Poonjaji (Papaji).<br /><br /><br /><br />Learn from nature: See how everything gets accomplished<br /><br />and how the miracle of life unfolds without dissatisfaction or unhappiness.<br /><br />That's why Jesus said:<br /><br />"Look at the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin.<br /><br /><br />- Eckhart Tolle<br /><br /><br /><br />I Have A Dream<br />Delivered on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.<br /><br />August 28, 1963<br /><br />Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.<br /><br />But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition.<br /><br />In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.<br /><br />It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.<br /><br />It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.<br /><br /><br /><br />- Martin Luther King, Jr.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The most dangerous man in the world is the contemplative who is guided by nobody. He trusts his own visions. He obeys the attractions of his inner voice, but will not listen to other men. He identifies the will of God with his own heart .... And if the sheer force of his own self-confidence communicates itself to other people and gives them the impression that he is really a saint, such a man can wreck a whole city or a religious order or even a nation. The world is covered with scars that have been left in its flesh by visionaries like these.<br /><br />-Thomas Merton<br />Love<br /><br /><br /><br />Love is the strongest medicine. It is more powerful than electricity!<br /><br />- Neem Karoli Baba Maharaji<br /><br /><br /><br />Compassion is a verb.<br /><br /><br />- Thich Nhat Hanh<br /><br /><br /><br />Excerpt from The Prophet<br />And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said,<br />Speak to us of Children. And he said:<br />Your children are not your children.<br />They are the son’s and daughter’s of Life’s longing for itself.<br />They come through you but not from you,<br />And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.<br /><br />You may give them your love but not your thoughts,<br />For they have their own thoughts.<br />You may house their bodies but not their souls,<br />For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,<br />which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.<br />You may strive to be like them,<br />but seek not to make them like you.<br />For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.<br /><br />You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are set forth.<br />The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,<br />and He bends you with his might<br />that His arrows may go swift and far.<br />Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;<br />For even He loves the arrow that flies,<br />so He loves also the bow that is stable.<br /><br /><br /><br />- Kahlil Gibran<br /><br /><br /><br />I love you for what you are,<br />but I love you yet more for what<br />you are going to be.<br />I love you not so much for your realities<br />as for your ideals.<br />I pray for your desires that they may be great,<br />rather than for your satisfactions,<br />which may be so hazardously little.<br />A satisfied flower is one whose petals are about to fall.<br />The most beautiful rose is one hardly more than a bud<br />Where in the pangs and ecstasies of desire<br />are working for a larger and finer growth.<br />Not always shall you be what you are now.<br />You are going forward toward something great.<br />I am on the way with you and<br />therefore I love you.<br /><br /><br />- Carl Sandburg<br /><br /><br /><br />What happens when your soul<br />Begins to awaken<br />Your eyes<br />And your heart<br />And the cells of your body<br />To the great Journey of Love?<br /><br />First there is wonderful laughter<br />And probably precious tears<br /><br />And a hundred sweet promises<br />And those heroic vows<br />No one can ever keep.<br /><br />But still God is delighted and amused<br />You once tried to be a saint.<br /><br />What happens when your soul<br />Begins to awake in this world<br /><br />To our deep need to love<br />And serve the Friend?<br /><br />O the Beloved<br />Will send you<br />One of His wonderful, wild companions ~<br />Like Hafiz.<br /><br />Hafiz (1320 - 1389)<br /><br /><br /><br />A lover may banker after this or that love,<br />But at the last he is drawn to the King of love,<br />However much we decide and explain love,<br />When we fall in love we are ashamed of our words.<br />Explanation by the tongue makes most things clear,<br />But love unexplained is clearer.<br /><br />Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi 1207 — 1273 CE, The Spiritual Couplets. Rumi was a 13th century Persian (Tajik) poet, jurist, and theologian. He believed passionately in the use of music, poetry and dancing as a path for reaching God.<br /><br /><br /><br />In all the three worlds<br /><br />there is no boat like Satsanga<br /><br />to carry one safely across the ocean<br /><br />of births and deaths.<br /><br /><br /><br />- Be As You Are By David Godman<br /><br /><br /><br />An Excerpt from Man’s Search For Meaning<br />… A thought transfixed me: for the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into songs by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth – that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is in love and through love. I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved. In a position of utter desolation, when man can not express himself in positive action, when his only achievement may consist in enduring his sufferings in the right way – an honorable way – in such a position man can, through loving contemplation of his beloved, achieve fulfillment. For the first time of my life I was able to understand the meaning of the words “The angels are lost in perpetual contemplation of an infinite glory."<br /><br /><br /><br />- Victor E. Frankl<br /><br /><br /><br />Loss<br /><br /><br /><br />Autobiography in Five Chapters<br /><br />1) I walk down the street.<br />There is a deep hole in the sidewalk<br />I fall in.<br />I am lost … I am hopeless.<br />It isn’t my fault.<br />It takes forever to find a way out.<br /><br />2) I walk down the same street.<br />There is a hole in the sidewalk.<br />I pretend I don’t see it.<br />I fall in again.<br />I can’t believe I am in the same place.<br />But it isn’t my fault.<br />It still takes a long time to get out.<br /><br />3) I walk down the same street.<br />There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.<br />I see it there.<br />I still fall in … it’s a habit<br />My eyes are open<br />I know where I am<br />It is my fault.<br />I get out immediately<br /><br />4) I <a href="http://spiritualguidedmeditation.com/mind-body-spirit/walking-meditation.html">walk</a> down the same street.<br />There is a deep hole in the sidewalk<br />I walk around it.<br /><br />5) I <a href="http://spiritualguidedmeditation.com/mind-body-spirit/walking-meditation.html">walk</a> down another street.<br /><br /><br />- Excerpt from The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying<br /><br />by Sogyal RinpocheAmrit Senhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12782449536467925760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384844387817270836.post-79898115463362859252008-08-13T23:37:00.000-07:002008-08-13T23:56:23.993-07:00Inspirational Quotes from Yoga and Meditation Teachers<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgolXAB2_mSTp5ADsf_dhgF6AA9O0ID-GhEQJ1DvUhLmHyOhUYgOibvnffRnFVzJPEYZQWAOf5WlFveIOSPx8W46ynv3mgS4v7P-J11izF3Zd6ddkF_6v-lUfpByBSFdb1414Ad0J0UXOMA/s1600-h/Donna+Farhi.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 61px; height: 79px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgolXAB2_mSTp5ADsf_dhgF6AA9O0ID-GhEQJ1DvUhLmHyOhUYgOibvnffRnFVzJPEYZQWAOf5WlFveIOSPx8W46ynv3mgS4v7P-J11izF3Zd6ddkF_6v-lUfpByBSFdb1414Ad0J0UXOMA/s320/Donna+Farhi.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5234263087819634546" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:100%;" >“Without intention, all these postures, these breathing practices, meditations, and the like can become little more than ineffectual gestures. When animated by intention, however, the simplest movement, the briefest meditation, and the contents of one <a href="http://soulcurrymagazine.com/sc/awaken-to-your-breath.html">breath</a> cycle are made potent.” Donna Farhi<br /><br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:100%;" >“I’ve learned to trust what I call the Braille method of living – relinquishing grand plans and schemes in favor of an intuitive approach, feeling my way from tree to tree, relinquishing my attempts to control the world and learning, instead, to trust a discerning surrender.” Stephen Cope<br /></span><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:100%;" ><br />“When you’re experiencing peace, it’s coming from within you, you’re ‘doing’ peace. And this is true of anything else you might be looking for.<a href="http://mysticamusic.com/meditation.php"> Love</a>, <a href="http://soulcurrymagazine.com/sc/category/lifestyle">happiness</a>, contentment, well-being come from within. Nothing external needs to change for you to have what you want…..If you want to be happier – be happier. If you want to be more relaxed – relax. If you want more friends – be friendly. Sounds simple. It is.”<span style=""> </span>Cheri Huber<br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:100%;" >“I did not come to <a href="http://yogawonders.com/yoga.php">yoga</a> to stretch. I came to live.” Maya Breuer</span><br /><br /><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:100%;" >“Practicing <a href="http://spiritualguidedmeditation.com/mind-body-spirit/category/yoga">asanas</a> began to teach me about myself. The body is such a great school of learning. It makes you pay attention.” Lilias Folan</span><br /><br /><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:100%;" >“The challenge, and the opportunity, that Yoga presents to us is the possibility of breaking the conditioning cycle. We do this by becoming aware of the depth and pervasiveness of our patterns and, at the same time, by working to change them. And true transformation begins at the moment that we become aware of our actual condition.” Gary Kraftsow</span><br /><br /><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:100%;" >“What I want to say is that there is a strong relationship between yoga on the mat and yoga off the mat. I’ve really come to believe that the energy accumulated in practice has a lot to do with my ability to get clarity about the reality of things.” John Friend</span><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:100%;" ><o:p><br /></o:p></span><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:100%;" ><br />“I practice now not so much with ambition as with gratitude. And I ask myself frequently, ‘How can I express kindness right now?’ whether I am in a headstand of washing dishes.” Judith Lasater</span><br /><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:100%;" ><br />“In truth, it matters les what we do in practice than how we do it and why we do it. The same posture, the same sequence, the same meditation with a different intention takes on an entirely new meaning and will have entirely different outcomes.” Donna Farhi</span><br /><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /></span>Amrit Senhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12782449536467925760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384844387817270836.post-33262370777683086932008-08-12T23:07:00.000-07:002008-08-12T23:31:43.614-07:00Yoga Quotations<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.gurumaa.com/bhagavad-gita.php"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 232px; height: 335px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2QPV4IT7Tmcgm-YrtEAs6mj7OJX_fbl7Ur0s8IuQ-EPH6uv7s6yW5r4p_oX2NMVFfRGzaQxXyIJD-X20o0QS-KkSCxH0qVDGC3VFHzXZyyxkJ8iwFpN0uIy25OFR6fATMiPVQtBVc8lxZ/s320/Bhagavad+Gita.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233886031357792322" border="0" /></a><br /><div id="authortab"><span class="indquote_link">~ This <a href="http://spiritualguidedmeditation.com/mind-body-spirit/category/yoga">yoga</a> should be practiced with firm determination and perseverance, without any mental reservation or doubts. ~ </span><span class="author_text"><a href="http://www.gurumaa.com/gita-gyana-yagya-shivir-registration.php">Bhagavad Git</a><a href="http://www.gurumaa.com/gita-gyana-yagya-shivir-registration.php">a</a><br /><br /></span><div id="authortab"><span class="indquote_link">~ Anyone who practices can obtain success in yoga but not one who is lazy. Constant practice alone is the secret of success. ~</span><span class="author_text"> Svatmarama<br /><br /></span><div id="authortab"><span class="indquote_link">~<a href="http://yogawonders.com/yoga.php">Yoga</a> has a sly, clever way of short-circuiting the mental patterns that cause <span class="kLink" style="text-decoration: underline ! important; position: static;"><span style=";font-family:Georgia,";font-size:15;color:#b00000;" ><span class="kLink" style=";font-family:Georgia,";font-size:15;color:#b00000;" >anxiety</span></span></span>.~</span><span class="author_text">Baxter Bell<br /><br /></span><br /> <div id="authortab"><span class="indquote_link">~<a href="http://childrenyoga.blogspot.com/"> Yoga</a> is difficult for the one whose mind is not subdued. ~</span><span class="author_text"> <a href="http://www.gurumaa.com/bhagavad-gita.php">Bhagavad Gita</a> </span></div><br /><br /> <div id="authortab"><span class="indquote_link">~ <a href="http://soulcurrymagazine.com/sc/category/spirituality">Karma-yoga</a> is a supreme secret indeed. ~</span><span class="author_text"> <a href="http://www.gurumaa.com/bhagavad-gita.php"> Bhagavad Gita</a> </span></div><br /><br /> <div id="authortab"><span class="indquote_link">~ In Karma-yoga no effort is ever lost, and there is no harm. Even a little practice of this discipline protects one from great fear [of birth and death]. ~</span> <span class="author_text">Bhagavad Gita<br /><br /></span><div id="authortab"><span class="indquote_link">~ <a id="KonaLink1" target="_top" class="kLink" style="text-decoration: underline ! important; position: static;" href="http://spiritualguidedmeditation.com/mind-body-spirit/category/yoga"><span style=";font-family:Georgia,";font-size:15;color:#b00000;" ><span class="kLink" style=";font-family:Georgia,";font-size:15;color:#b00000;" >Yoga</span></span></a> is about clearing away whatever is in us that prevents our living in the most full and whole way. With yoga, we become aware of how and where we are restricted -- in body, mind, and heart -- and how gradually to open and release these blockages. As these blockages are cleared, our energy is freed. We start to feel more harmonious, more at one with ourselves. Our lives begin to flow -- or we begin to flow more in our lives. ~</span><span class="author_text"> Cybele Tomlinson </span></div><br /><br /> <div id="authortab"><span class="indquote_link">~ What yoga philosophy and all the great Buddhist teachings tells us is that solidity is a creation of the ordinary mind and that there never was anything permanent to begin with that we could hold on to. Life would be much easier and substantially less painful if we lived with the knowledge of impermanence as the only constant. ~</span><span class="author_text"> Donna Farhi </span></div><br /><br /> <div id="authortab"><span class="indquote_link">~ Yoga does not remove us from the reality or responsibilities of everyday life but rather places our feet firmly and resolutely in the practical ground of experience. We don't transcend our lives; we return to the life we left behind in the hopes of something better. ~</span><span class="author_text"> Donna FARHI<a href="http://www.finestquotes.com/author_quotes-author-Donna%20FARHI-page-0.htm"> </a></span></div><br /><br /> <div id="authortab"><span class="indquote_link">~ If I'm losing balance in a pose, I stretch higher and God reaches down to steady me. It works every time, and not just in yoga. ~</span><span class="author_text"> Terri Guillemets </span></div><br /><br /> <div id="authortab"><span class="indquote_link">~ Yoga is 99% practice and 1% knowledge. ~</span> <span class="author_text"> Sri Krishna Pattabhi Jois </span></div><br /><br /> <div id="authortab"><span class="indquote_link">~ This yoga is not possible, for the one who eats too much, or who does not eat at all; who sleeps too much, or who keeps awake. ~</span> <span class="author_text"> <a href="http://mysticamusic.com/meditation.php">Bhagavad Gita </a></span></div><br /><br /> <div id="authortab"><span class="indquote_link">~ The state of severance of union with sorrow is known by the name of yoga. ~</span> <span class="author_text"> Bhagavad Gita<a href="http://www.finestquotes.com/author_quotes-author-Bhagavad%20Gita-page-0.htm"> </a></span></div><br /><br /> <div id="authortab"><span class="indquote_link">~ The word yoga comes from Sanskrit, the language of ancient India. It means union, integration, or wholeness. It is an approach to <a href="http://www.gurumaa.com/meditation.php"><span class="kLink" style="text-decoration: underline ! important; position: static;"><span style=";font-family:Georgia,";font-size:15;color:#b00000;" ><span class="kLink" style=";font-family:Georgia,";font-size:15;color:#b00000;" >health</span></span></span></a> that promotes the harmonious <span class="kLink" style="text-decoration: underline ! important; position: static;"><span style=";font-family:Georgia,";font-size:15;color:#b00000;" ><span class="kLink" style="border-bottom: 1px solid blue; color: blue ! important;font-family:Georgia,";font-size:15;color:#0000e0;" >collaboration</span></span></span> of the human being's three components: body, <a href="http://soulcurrymagazine.com/sc/category/mind">mind</a>, and <a href="http://www.spiritualguidedmeditation.com/">spirit</a>. ~</span><span class="author_text"> Stella Weller </span></div><br /><br /></div><br /><br /></div><br /></div><br /><br /></div>Amrit Senhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12782449536467925760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384844387817270836.post-91040631481898756152008-08-11T21:41:00.000-07:002008-08-11T22:08:29.738-07:00QUOTES ON YOGA<p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">Sit still. Stop thinking.</span></p> <div align="right"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">ALEISTER CROWLEY, <i>Eight Lectures on <a href="http://yogawonders.com/yoga.php">Yoga</a></i></span></p> </div> <div align="left"> <p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.gurumaa.com/"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 76px; height: 86px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4BphSEovwDRr0db0fHXEZjJYhN3tE6Q2AJClAkXy0l2c7bR5DLN4N3njS7FlNcQXzbNLO9bkJp00bEHZfvOltWqBM1NZnHhss2j0o6GPcePMETTN519UeN32WyMpozwKUC6cgva4x0BE5/s320/Rabindranath+Tagore.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233489414114913474" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">The meaning of our self is not to be found in its separateness from God and others, but in the ceaseless realisation of yoga, of union; not on the side of the canvas where it is blank, but on the side where the picture is being painted.</span></p> </div> <div align="right"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">RABINDRANATH TAGORE, <i>Sadhana: The Realization of Life</i></span></p> </div> <div align="left"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">The word yoga comes from Sanskrit, the language of ancient India. It means union, integration, or wholeness. It is an approach to health that promotes the harmonious collaboration of the human being's three components: body, mind, and spirit.</span></p> </div> <div align="right"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">STELLA WELLER, <i>Yoga</i></span></p> </div> <div align="left"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">There is no waiting and no delayed gratification because yoga is both the means and the result, and the seed of all that is possible is present at the very beginning. This experience of stillness is possible in the first ten minutes of your first yoga class. It is possible in this very breath.</span></p> </div> <div align="right"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">DONNA FARHI, <i>Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit</i></span></p> </div> <dl><div align="left"> <dt><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;"><a href="http://spiritualguidedmeditation.com/mind-body-spirit/category/yoga">Yoga</a> powers.</span> </dt><dt><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">To make oneself invisible or small.</span> </dt><dt><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">To become gigantic and reach to the farthest things.</span> </dt><dt><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">To change the course of nature.</span> </dt><dt><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">To place oneself anywhere in space or time...</span> </dt><dt><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">in one's deepest inner mind, or in the minds of others.</span> </dt></div></dl> <div align="right"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">JIM MORRISON, <i>The Lords: Notes on Vision</i></span></p> </div> <div align="left"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">Yoga heals, nourishes, and challenges us. The practice infiltrates every corner of our lives.</span></p> </div> <div align="right"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">VALERIE JEREMIJENKO, <i>How We Live Our Yoga</i></span></p> </div> <div align="left"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">Yoga is a science, and not a vague dreamy drifting or imagining. It is an applied science, a systematized collection of laws applied to bring about a definite end. It takes up the laws of psychology, applicable to the unfolding of the whole consciousness of man on every plane, in every world, and applies those rationally in a particular case. This rational application of the laws of unfolding consciousness acts exactly on the same principles that you see applied around you every day in other departments of science.</span></p> </div> <div align="right"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">ANNIE WOOD BESANT,<i> Introduction to Yoga</i></span></p> </div> <div align="left"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">Yoga is about clearing away whatever is in us that prevents our living in the most full and whole way. With yoga, we become aware of how and where we are restricted -- in body, mind, and heart -- and how gradually to open and release these blockages. As these blockages are cleared, our energy is freed. We start to feel more harmonious, more at one with ourselves. Our lives begin to flow -- or we begin to flow more in our lives.</span></p> </div> <div align="right"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">CYBELE TOMLINSON, <i>Simple Yoga</i></span></p> </div> <div align="left"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">Yoga in Mayfair or Fifth Avenue, or in any other place which is on the telephone, is a spiritual fake.</span></p> </div> <div align="right"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">CARL JUNG, <i>Collected Works,</i> vol. 11</span></p> </div> <div align="left"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">What yoga philosophy and all the great Buddhist teachings tells us is that solidity is a creation of the ordinary mind and that there never was anything permanent to begin with that we could hold on to. Life would be much easier and substantially less painful if we lived with the knowledge of impermanence as the only constant.</span></p> </div> <div align="right"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">DONNA FARHI, <i>Yoga <a href="http://soulcurrymagazine.com/sc/category/mind">Mind</a>, Body & Spirit</i></span></p> </div> <div align="left"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">Yoga is so universal in its principles and so holistically beneficial, it is possible for any person, young or old, <a href="http://www.gurumaa.com/spirituality-mind-body-soul-forum/index.php">religious</a> or agnostic, to embrace and enjoy a practice.</span></p> </div> <div align="right"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">CHRISTY TURLINGTON, <i>Living Yoga</i></span></p> </div> <div align="left"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">The Self in you is the same as the Self Universal. Whatever powers are manifested throughout the world, those powers exist in germ, in latency, in you.... If you realize the unity of the Self amid the diversities of the Not-Self, then </span><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">Yoga Will not seem an impossible thing to you.</span></p> </div> <div align="right"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">ANNIE WOOD BESANT, <i>Introduction to Yoga</i></span></p> </div> <div align="left"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">The most important pieces of equipment you need for doing yoga are your body and your mind.</span></p> </div> <div align="right"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">RODNEY YEE, <i>Yoga: The Poetry of the Body</i></span></p> </div> <div align="left"> <p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWt9wy7EQuyOMPexJBvd9DYSjQBgkqPDYHWlE2V5AZdUNFU57vwrh3MS83JgzBLhtgSYQCFu-2NfbKNSesv9eCQfiRw-ZNxSKALplKWRVdko_M6zDmAEhltPh7B4-y-aA6lkh4GM77BTFm/s1600-h/osho.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 77px; height: 65px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWt9wy7EQuyOMPexJBvd9DYSjQBgkqPDYHWlE2V5AZdUNFU57vwrh3MS83JgzBLhtgSYQCFu-2NfbKNSesv9eCQfiRw-ZNxSKALplKWRVdko_M6zDmAEhltPh7B4-y-aA6lkh4GM77BTFm/s320/osho.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233491023389057410" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">You can enter yoga, or the path of yoga, only when you are totally frustrated with your own mind as it is. If you a</span><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">re still hoping that you can gain something through your mind, yoga is not for you.</span></p> </div> <div align="right"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">OSHO, <i>Yoga: A 50-Card Practice Deck</i></span></p> </div> <div align="left"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">For all the practical purposes of Yoga, the man, the working, conscious man, is so much of him as he cannot separate from the matter enclosing him, or with which he is connected. Only that is body which the man is able to put aside and say: "This is not I, but mine."</span></p> </div> <div align="right"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">ANNIE WOOD BESANT, <i>Introduction to Yoga</i></span></p> </div> <div align="left"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">Yoga does not remove </span><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">us from the reality or responsibilities of everyday life but rather places our feet firmly and resolutely in the practical ground of experience. We don't transcend our lives; we return to the life we left behind in the hopes of something better.</span></p> </div> <div align="right"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">DONNA FARHI, <i>Bringing Yoga to Life</i></span></p> </div> <div align="left"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">Yoga is really trying to liberate us from ... shame about our bodies. To love your body is a very important thing -- I think the health of your mind depends on your being able to love your body.</span></p> </div> <div align="right"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">RODNEY YEE, <i>Yoga: The Poetry of the Body</i></span></p> </div> <div align="left"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">Can you remember what it was like to walk in the midst of a world of miracles? Can you remember ever traveling within a world of pure delight with a joy untainted by craving or aversion? What happened to that world? All yoga, including the Buddha's yoga, is often called "the path of return" -- a return to our true home, which we eventually come to see was never really lost.</span></p> </div> <div align="right"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">FRANK JUDE BOCCIO, <i>Mindfulness Yoga</i></span></p> </div> <div align="left"> <p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVKgUG9EOt7npu4Qzg918arKxx-8Xy1hYRYfht1OXLIcLDZAcquDTJLTqhW5GeJ8x3dFLnhEL3FQhJpotI-Up7wBBnUADTdiL6FFdh0t3tH3u7scJysyRvDbQqPf0LprKZY7NLrj3CFnqr/s1600-h/patanjali.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 95px; height: 71px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVKgUG9EOt7npu4Qzg918arKxx-8Xy1hYRYfht1OXLIcLDZAcquDTJLTqhW5GeJ8x3dFLnhEL3FQhJpotI-Up7wBBnUADTdiL6FFdh0t3tH3u7scJysyRvDbQqPf0LprKZY7NLrj3CFnqr/s320/patanjali.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233491639670471602" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;">Yoga is the cessation of <a href="http://soulcurrymagazine.com/sc/category/mind">mind</a>.</span></p> </div> <div align="right"> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:-1;"><a href="http://spiritualguidedmeditation.com/mind-body-spirit/?p=4">PATANJALI</a>, <i>The Yoga Sutras</i></span></p> </div>Amrit Senhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12782449536467925760noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384844387817270836.post-53203759325697804362008-08-10T23:06:00.000-07:002008-08-10T23:32:33.794-07:00Quotations about Yoga<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlaKo-Wv6yIy7CvbTgx6uIS3X7qbfYQ30wfmUEQ5puG2MQC-awxl23FWiutnEEY7KGgXjE9q8zedOmWR1O_HrNv35K_f7UdooJL2FEe4ueaB1z-RiasoUbF6FQRKx_BlQVsBTJpG1Omc_6/s1600-h/bki.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 61px; height: 64px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlaKo-Wv6yIy7CvbTgx6uIS3X7qbfYQ30wfmUEQ5puG2MQC-awxl23FWiutnEEY7KGgXjE9q8zedOmWR1O_HrNv35K_f7UdooJL2FEe4ueaB1z-RiasoUbF6FQRKx_BlQVsBTJpG1Omc_6/s320/bki.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233137918469897922" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:georgia,bookman old style,palatino linotype,book antiqua,palatino,trebuchet ms,helvetica,garamond,sans-serif,arial,verdana,avante garde,century gothic,comic sans ms,times,times new roman,serif;"><a href="http://yogawonders.com/yoga.php">Yoga</a> teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured. ~B.K.S. Iyengar<br /><br /><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRydWtD1ebpK49SQdm2Udeh2mbFneG7dezCBCd-trjaXHZgnBUWj79pG9dGS2qf2Hgb7bCEQaQzHmGsclUKgX-Vs5y5-MUcdOk-TY6hOCdd1ZMJ76dxBqVJaqK_T6-Ay43TG2CYEyFBIH-/s1600-h/Amy+Weintraub.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 61px; height: 45px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRydWtD1ebpK49SQdm2Udeh2mbFneG7dezCBCd-trjaXHZgnBUWj79pG9dGS2qf2Hgb7bCEQaQzHmGsclUKgX-Vs5y5-MUcdOk-TY6hOCdd1ZMJ76dxBqVJaqK_T6-Ay43TG2CYEyFBIH-/s320/Amy+Weintraub.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233138112617329042" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:georgia,bookman old style,palatino linotype,book antiqua,palatino,trebuchet ms,helvetica,garamond,sans-serif,arial,verdana,avante garde,century gothic,comic sans ms,times,times new roman,serif;">The <a href="http://spiritualguidedmeditation.com/mind-body-spirit/category/yoga">yoga</a> mat is a good place to turn when talk therapy and antidepressants aren't enough. </span><span style="font-family:georgia,bookman old style,palatino linotype,book antiqua,palatino,trebuchet ms,helvetica,garamond,sans-serif,arial,verdana,avante garde,century gothic,comic sans ms,times,times new roman,serif;">~Amy Weintraub</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia,bookman old style,palatino linotype,book antiqua,palatino,trebuchet ms,helvetica,garamond,sans-serif,arial,verdana,avante garde,century gothic,comic sans ms,times,times new roman,serif;"><br />Yog</span><span style="font-family:georgia,bookman old style,palatino linotype,book antiqua,palatino,trebuchet ms,helvetica,garamond,sans-serif,arial,verdana,avante garde,century gothic,comic sans ms,times,times new roman,serif;">a is the fountain of youth. You're only as young as your <a href="http://mysticamusic.com/meditation.php">spine</a> is flexible. ~Bob Harper<!-- from the Biggest Loser original airdate 29 Jan 2008--></span><span style="font-family:georgia,bookman old style,palatino linotype,book antiqua,palatino,trebuchet ms,helvetica,garamond,sans-serif,arial,verdana,avante garde,century gothic,comic sans ms,times,times new roman,serif;"><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxvvvbufWh6IADAFqiZAKMQwQGk58R_NhPL6nYJLNj16xXpy-tC0KaIU9NAYPpSP0yKCNyY_pN64aiAsN17hgTcCwuOJ5aWZOfNFz667qWormuCaMcIWqyepFbcAnxfgacklASKT2ehs9V/s1600-h/Sharon+Gannon.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 65px; height: 75px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxvvvbufWh6IADAFqiZAKMQwQGk58R_NhPL6nYJLNj16xXpy-tC0KaIU9NAYPpSP0yKCNyY_pN64aiAsN17hgTcCwuOJ5aWZOfNFz667qWormuCaMcIWqyepFbcAnxfgacklASKT2ehs9V/s320/Sharon+Gannon.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233138593922794322" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:georgia,bookman old style,palatino linotype,book antiqua,palatino,trebuchet ms,helvetica,garamond,sans-serif,arial,verdana,avante garde,century gothic,comic sans ms,times,times new roman,serif;">You cannot do yoga. Yoga is your natural state. What you can do are yoga <a href="http://yogawonders.com">exercises</a>, which may reveal to you where you are resisting your natural state. ~Sharon Gannon<br /><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia,bookman old style,palatino linotype,book antiqua,palatino,trebuchet ms,helvetica,garamond,sans-serif,arial,verdana,avante garde,century gothic,comic sans ms,times,times new roman,serif;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOcqxRz5Ttl8H3yZxP3BwIGwI7yNiRAxsBTLFpv0PnKUzmb5owEfOhYlI5_7KnVdtVjOE6miwubEAlRZVZJlVwGsMMgChpN2tXEBikNrJ2CVPU-YTSW-kfkhI9rk8YdbG5CDt7BAtaG0hr/s1600-h/Sri+Krishna+Pattabhi+Jois.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 92px; height: 114px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOcqxRz5Ttl8H3yZxP3BwIGwI7yNiRAxsBTLFpv0PnKUzmb5owEfOhYlI5_7KnVdtVjOE6miwubEAlRZVZJlVwGsMMgChpN2tXEBikNrJ2CVPU-YTSW-kfkhI9rk8YdbG5CDt7BAtaG0hr/s320/Sri+Krishna+Pattabhi+Jois.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233139458687199346" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:georgia,bookman old style,palatino linotype,book antiqua,palatino,trebuchet ms,helvetica,garamond,sans-serif,arial,verdana,avante garde,century gothic,comic sans ms,times,times new roman,serif;"><br />Yoga is possible for anybody who really wants it. Yoga is universal.... But don't approach yoga with a business <a href="http://www.soulcurrymagazine.com">mind</a> looking for worldly gain. ~Sri Krishna Pattabhi Jois</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia,bookman old style,palatino linotype,book antiqua,palatino,trebuchet ms,helvetica,garamond,sans-serif,arial,verdana,avante garde,century gothic,comic sans ms,times,times new roman,serif;"><br /><br />By embracing your mother wound as your yoga, you transform what has been a hindrance in your life into a <a href="http://www.gurumaa.com">teacher</a> of the heart. ~Phillip Moffitt</span>Amrit Senhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12782449536467925760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384844387817270836.post-75684677240779960642008-08-07T03:06:00.000-07:002008-08-07T03:15:53.404-07:0010 Inspirational Quotes!"Life With Woody" 10 inspirational quotes than can improve yourself<br /><br />It might take a little coffee or probably a few rounds of beer or any other booze you could get your hands on when it comes to <a href="http://www.yogawonders.com/">relaxing</a> after a hard day's work. Well, yeah I'm guilty about that one as well, unless I'm caught dead wearing a lampshade over my head after a few rounds of vodka… half-naked! Okay, bad example and I apologize to everyone reading this after getting nightmares about me in that state of drunken stupor.<br /><br />Just don't ask how it happened, please.<br /><br />But what's really interesting is that how do people go through the usual part of life when faced with vein-popping stress? I mean, the new age thing like <a href="http://soulcurrymagazine.com/sc/category/zen">Zen</a> or <a href="http://yogawonders.com/yoga.php">yoga</a> is one of the good things and it actually works. Is there room for the intellectual side of people who can actually smell the roses-in-a-can while on the move? It kind of had me thinking that there really must be something in this 'mind-over-matter' thing.<br /><br />Humor is indeed the best medicine there is whenever you are. I mean anyone can pay good money to listen to a comedian just to make you wet your pants after laughing so hard. Despite of what's been happening, and to those who has gone though the ordeal, it's better to just laugh while facing the troubles with a clear mind than anger with a clouded vision. One of my favorite celebrities of all time may have to be Woody Allen. Now this is one guy who gives you the in-your-face bluntness that he pulls out with gusto, even without even trying. You can talk just about anything with a man, and he's bound to mock the subject and you'll end up laughing rather than being upset about it.<br /><br />Woody Allen has this to say:<br /><br />1. "Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons." It sounds good to me, I mean the practicality of all things does involve money but it doesn't have to take an arm and a leg to get it.<br /><br />2. "I believe there is something out there watching us. Unfortunately, it's the government." 'Nuff said.<br /><br />3. "There are worse things in life than death. Have you ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman?" This happens to be one of the classic ones. I mean the issue about life's little problems isn't all that bad, until 'he' shows up.<br /><br />God Bless,<br />Sherri Lynn<br /><br />Sure, relationships can get complicated, or does have its complications that probably any author about relationships is bound to discover it soon. We follow what our heart desires, unless you're talking about the heart as in the heart that pump blood throughout your body.<br /><br />4. "Love is the answer, but while you're waiting for the answer, sex raises some pretty interesting questions." And if you want more, just keep on asking!<br /><br />5. "A fast word about oral contraception. I asked a girl to go to bed with me, she said 'no'." It sounds, 'practical', I think.<br /><br />And when it comes to everyday life, he really knows how to make the best out of every possible scenario, and it doesn't involve a lawsuit if he strikes a nerve.<br /><br />6. "Basically my wife was immature. I'd be at home in the bath and she'd come in and sink my boats." I never had a boat in my bathtub before. Just staring at it while soaking in hot water makes me seasick already.<br /><br />7. "I am not afraid of death, I just don't want to be there when it happens." If it rains, it pours.<br /><br />8. "I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose." It could get worse when you're guzzling on beer… or mouthwash, and it happened to me once!<br /><br />9. "If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans." At least he doesn't smite us with lightning, and I'm thankful for that.<br /><br />And despite of what may happen to all of us in the next ten, twenty, or even thirty years, I guess we all have to see things in a different kind of light and not just perspective. I can't seem to imagine life without any piece of wisdom that could guide us. Whether we're religious or not, it takes more courage to accept your fears and learn how to deal with them is all that matters when it comes to even just getting along.<br /><br />And to sum things up, here is the last nugget of wisdom to go by… however, whenever, and wherever we may be.<br /><br />10. "The talent for being happy is appreciating and liking what you have, instead of what you don't have."<br /><br />Written By:-<a href="http://www.articlealley.com/author_1_118857.html">Sherri Lynn</a><br />Article Source: <a href="http://www.articlealley.com/article_588295_24.html">http://www.articlealley.com/article_588295_24.html</a>Amrit Senhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12782449536467925760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384844387817270836.post-11442275579931360382008-08-05T01:52:00.000-07:002008-08-05T02:16:46.930-07:00Yoga: Ancient Wisdom for Today's Health<div id="body"><p><a href="http://yogawonders.com/yoga.php">Yoga</a> may be as old as 5000 years, according to some. One of the six schools of Hindu philosophy and very much a living tradition today, it antedates other major religions of the world. Its wisdom is timeless and its perspectives on health and wellness prescient.</p><p>Yoga, like all major religions and religious philosophies explores the relationship of mind, spirit and body. The Bhagavad Gita ("Song of the Lord"), written perhaps between 400 and 100 b.c.e., defines four major branches of yoga. Each is focused on an aspect of mind, spirit or body and explores their relationship from a different perspective.</p><p>* The first, <a href="http://www.gurumaa.com/">Karma </a>yoga, is the yoga of action in the world.</p><p>* The second, <a href="http://www.gurumaa.com/">Jnana</a> yoga, is the yoga of wisdom and intellectual endeavor.</p><p>* The third, Bhakti yoga, is the yoga of devotion to God.</p><p>* The fourth, <a href="http://www.gurumaa.com/dhyandoot-meditation-messengers.php">Dhyana</a> yoga, is the yoga of meditation.</p><p>Hatha yoga, a system of yoga introduced by Yogi Swatmarama of the 15th century is based on the yoga of <a href="http://spiritualguidedmeditation.com/mind-body-spirit/the-eight-fold-path-of-meditation-patanjalis-ashtanga-yoga.html">Patanjali</a>, who wrote sometime between 200 b.c.e. and 300 c.e. Patanjali's eight-step yogic system is a form of Raja yoga, meaning it presents meditation as the path to the ultimate goal of enlightenment.</p><p>Hatha yoga is the style most well-known in the West today. It focuses on purification of the physical as the path to purification of the mind and prana (vital energy). In this respect, it is very different from Patanjali's yoga in that Patanjali's yoga focuses on the purification of the mind as the path to purification of the prana and body.</p><p>In viewing the body as the path to the <a href="http://www.soulcurrymagazine.com/">mind</a> and <a href="http://www.soulcurrymagazine.com/">spirit</a>, <a href="http://yogawonders.com/yoga.php">yoga</a> is similar to those western religions: which emphasize ritual practices as the path to spiritual understanding.</p><p>Hatha yoga practices Yoga applies a broad holistic approach that teaches people a different way of being in the world. Hatha yoga teaches this approach by way of a series of asanas, or positions. Asanas should be "steady but comfortable, firm but relaxed”, according to the teachings of classical yoga. A first step is to learn rhythmical yoga breathing (pranayama) and to maintain this rhythmical breathing throughout a posture.</p><p>For this reason - that is maintaining good breath - one of the first postures that is taught is <a href="http://www.gurumaa.com/yog-nidra-meditation-hindi.php">savasana</a>, or "the corpse" pose. <a href="http://www.gurumaa.com/yog-nidra-meditation-english.php">Savasana</a> is a supine asana. Lying on the back, one lets the arms and legs fall naturally at about a 45-degree angle from the body. Starting with the toes and moving upward through the body, one concentrates on each body part, feeling the rhythm of the blood moving through that part. The effect is to produce alert relaxation and regular deep breathing.</p><p>Asanas include standing exercises, sitting exercises, exercises which start from a position lying on one's back, exercises which start from a position lying on one's stomach and twisting exercises. Each position is held for a few moments. Early on in the practice of yoga, there may be a tendency to become so relaxed that one falls asleep. The proper state, however, is one of relaxed alertness. While doing the exercise, one should check that breath remains rhythmical throughout - and also that muscles which are not the current focus of the stretch remain relaxed.</p><p>Health effects of yoga practice: Yoga concentrates on the spine, which we know today is the sheath, which protects the central nervous system and thereby controls all parts of the body as well as mood and mental functioning. Indeed, manipulation of the spine for the benefit of health is the basis of chiropractic, with which many in the West are very familiar.</p><p>In a survey conducted by Yoga Biomedical Trust in 1983-84, 3000 individuals who engaged in yoga to treat a particular condition were asked how beneficial the treatment was. It was reported as most effective for back pain, benefiting 98% of respondents. It was also reported to be 96% effective in cases of nerve or muscle disease. In regard to heart disease and anxiety, respondents reported 94% improvement. And finally, with regard to alcoholism, respondents reported a whopping 100% improvement.</p><p>Based on chiropractic information, we can safely assume that yoga might be directed toward treating specific physical issues like, for example, thyroid dysfunction. If the T6 (thoracic) vertebra is affected in such a way as to impinge on the nerve that goes to the thyroid, it will affect thyroid function. Conversely relieving this stress on the nerve, if appropriate yoga practice is introduced early enough, can reverse the problem.</p><p>Yoga nutrition Yoga nutrition emphasizes foods that promote prana, or vital energy and to eat them in such a way that these foods have the maximum opportunity to do their work. This means that, according to yogic principles, one should eat small quantities of the best quality foods - those that produce the minimum of toxins and in quantities such that the body is not overtaxed through the process of digestion. These foods include fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds.</p><p>According to yogis, the best food is fruit, which contributes most to life force. It is a source of energy, which, all else being equal, does not produce toxins in the process of digestion. Yogis emphasize freshness and raw foods. A food, which must be approached with great caution, is meat, which does produce toxic waste products as it is metabolized in the body.</p><p>Interestingly, these principles are those which modern medical science is demonstrating are valid today. Drs. Roizen and Oz, in The Owners Manual Diet, recommend eating when hungry, not famished and including at least two snacks. Foods to eat on a daily basis and the foundation of the diet are fruits, vegetables, whole grains and nuts. This diet goes hand-in-hand with a program of physical activity directed toward flexibility and strength, as is the yoga "diet”.</p><p>Conclusion On a recent Oprah show, Dr. Roizen indicated that the next important medical development will be a greater focus on "energy" medicine, bringing us full circle to the perennial puzzle, the one with which we began: the connection between mind, body and spirit and how we integrate between them to reach our fullest potential as human begins. This is the question that hatha yoga addresses, and the teaching is that by learning to speak with our <a href="http://www.soulcurrymagazine.com/">body</a>, we address our minds and souls, increasing the clarity and strength of each.</p></div><table style="width: 510px; height: 118px;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td valign="top"><div id="sig" class="sig"><p>Written By:-Michael Russell</p><p>Your Independent guide to <a id="link_100" target="_New" href="http://yoga-guideto.com/">Yoga</a></p><div><p>Article Source: <a id="link_101" href="http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell">http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell</a></p></div></div></td><td><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Amrit Senhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12782449536467925760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384844387817270836.post-46165895166900791362008-08-04T01:26:00.000-07:002008-08-04T01:35:20.130-07:00Healing Power Of YogaDiscover <a href="http://www.yogawonders.com/yoga.php">Yoga's</a> Healing Power<br /><br />There are several medical conditions that can be improved by practicing yoga. It can be used to lessen the negative effects of infertility, lung disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, insomnia, cancer, high blood pressure, and joint pain. The beneficial effects of yoga practices are well recognized not only by the yoga community but also by medical doctors.<br /><br />One of the main elements that lead to an illness is stress. Being responsible for a huge number of sicknesses, this item, which we develop in our minds, can be reduced through a good usage of <a href="http://www.yogawonders.com/yoga-nidra.php">yoga techniques</a>. Here are just some of the problems that are related to an over active stress response: depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, some types of diabetes mellitus, cardio-vascular disease, several autoimmune diseases, irritable bowel syndrome, colitis, reproductive problems, and an aggravated suppression of the immune system.<br /><br />The response of the sympathetic nervous system can trigger stress in our metabolism. The reaction to various outside stimuli is also known as the “fight or flight” response – the mind and body, faced with an endangering or disturbing element, prepare for one of the two options. Physically, this is manifested through an instantaneous heart rate increase, together with a high ascent of blood pressure. Breathing gets shallow and the muscles tense in anticipation to the following action. Internally, this response reduces the blood flow to internal organs and processes that are not essential in that particular moment (such as digestion and elimination) are shut down. This state of increased awareness and readiness is beneficial on a short term, preparing our body to react to the outside interventions and stimuli. Both in a “fight” and in a “flight” situation, the body is physically and mentally prepared to act. The problem arises when long-term exposure to similar stress takes place. This “fight or flight” response is only meant to help on short periods of time – the longer it is activated the less resources will the body have to function normally.<br /><br />There is a natural countermeasure for the “fight or flight” response. It is called the parasympathetic nervous system or the “relaxation response.” It is automatically activated when the elements that caused the stress are gone but it is also possible to increase its effects by breathing deeply and relaxing your muscles. By increasing the length of this process we allow our body to recover faster, enabling it to eliminate the harmful effects of stress in a prompt and efficient manner.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.yogawonders.com/yoga.php">Yoga</a> highlights the idea that by using breathing and relaxation techniques you can reduce the harmful effects of stress factors on your body. A lessened “fight or flight” response can also be achieved by looking at adverse factors as challenges rather than threats. This approach allows your <a href="http://soulcurrymagazine.com/sc/category/mind">mind</a> to focus on finding a solution, rather than creating an abrupt response. Another concept employed by this technique is that of acting versus reacting, of taking initiative versus responding to outside factors.<br /><br />The positive effects of yoga during a healing process are undeniable. However, these techniques should only be used as a form of support and the healing shouldn’t rely solely on them. The best results are achieved by combining yoga with traditional and modern medicine and by addressing a problem both from a mental and physical point of view.<br /><p class="author">Written by : <a href="http://www.articledashboard.com/profile/The-Yoga-Master/66407">The Yoga Master</a></p> <p class="articletext"> </p> <p class="articletext"> Gary Li Is The Yoga Master And Author Of The Healing Power Want To Discover The Power Of Yoga Purchase 4 Ebooks At Price Of 1 At <a href="http://www.the-power-of-yoga.com/" target="_blank">www.the-power-of-yoga.com</a> </p>Amrit Senhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12782449536467925760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384844387817270836.post-13197999560246402842008-08-02T02:28:00.000-07:002008-08-02T02:30:52.296-07:00Yoga as a Lifestyle<div id="body"><p>A person interested in health and wellness should take a look at what <a href="http://www.yogawonders.com/yoga.php">yoga</a> can offer. They may be surprised to find that many of the beliefs they held about yoga are not true. Many people underestimate yoga as a way to better their health and wellness. However, many others have found the truth and are living a healthier and happy yoga lifestyle.</p><p><a href="http://www.yogawonders.com/">Yoga</a> is a low impact workout, but can also offer an aerobic workout. There are some forms of yoga that offer an amazing workout for the cardiovascular system. The focus on breathing and intense poses give the body an unbelievable workout that can be compared to almost any aerobic workout.</p><p>Yoga is great for a person of any fitness level. Poses can be modified for a beginner and advanced for someone more experienced. It is an exercise routine that can grow with a person. It is varied and there are many different types of yoga, so a person will not become bored.</p><p>Yoga is an exceptional fitness activity for health and wellness. Yoga is the exercise where breathing and stretching take the forefront. A person practicing yoga is working both their mind and body to bring about an overall good sense of health and wellness. Many see yoga as a lifestyle more than an exercise regime because it is so easy to cross over into daily life.</p><p>Yoga involves poses and breathing. A person works through various poses, while concentrating on breathing and relaxing. It works the body by manipulating and stretching it and it works the mind by relaxing and clearing it.</p></div><p>Believing in good balanced diet, taking vitamins and minerals. Daily exercise, yoga, stretching, breathing exercises, drinking enough water, <a href="http://www.mysticamusic.com/meditation.php">meditation</a>, <a href="http://www.yogawonders.com/">relaxation</a>, positive thinking, and trying to be happy. <a id="link_76" target="_new" href="http://www.preferedforms.com/">http://www.preferedforms.com</a></p>Amrit Senhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12782449536467925760noreply@blogger.com0