"MInd your own business, and concentrate on your own style"

 This is yet another great article on Elephant Journal: http://www.elephantjournal.com/2010/04/how-to-defuse-a-prostration/

Deep in the Tantra: part 1

"I'm an acquired taste".

Those were the first words uttered from Douglas Brooks at the Tantra Philosophy workshop I attended last weekend.  I totally related to that statement and felt myself sit a little taller on my stack of blankets.  I took pages of notes and have enthusiastically been sharing tidbits in classes and conversation for the last two days.  Several people have asked me to post them, I have not review them enough to put them in essay form (and I REALLY want to do that, so it's coming....), here are just a few points that really struck me...

• The sacred is a relationship.  We bring ourselves into the sacred because we can and because we want to.
• This is a powerful universe, not a moral one. It is what it is based on its expression of energy.  Nature does what it does. Nature has no moral presence. Energy = power. Power = advantage. Nature = success.
• We can achieve collectively that which we cannot achieve independently.  In the greater relationship of collective energy we can gain success.  The universe "rewards" success.  We are just part of nature. We  are not the center of the universe, this world was not made for us to take care of. The universe is doing, not being. We are bound by the patterns of nature. (chew on that one for the next 10 years)
• Your intention and your behavior are the same.
• Letting go is the hardest thing to do. Yet we don't really have natural boundaries. We create, address and define them.  We put ourselves into being by the way we create our boundaries.  We write the book of life, we're not written into it. The more we can move the boundary, the more we can increase.
• The greatest is not the only. Unique does not exist. The power of the universe is never one of a kind. It is everywhere. Oneness is diversity.
• Power lies in the way you treat the relationship. Inaction has consequences. Those who deny relation are practicing a yoga of exemption.  Principle is only as good as the outcome. Anything out of relationship is not sacred.
• Yoga is not virtuosity is someone else (some days I would like to put this sticky note on my forehead). You are free. You are not ever exempt from you. Do not do as another desires, do as you are. Stop looking for "it" and start making "it".  Looking for one's self is like looking for the infinite.
• If things aren't different, there is no meaning.
• The gift is in the accepting, not the receiving.
• Stop looking for what was never there and look at what IS there.
• There are no static absolutes. The absolute is dynamic.  It is living, not fixed. Absolutes engage passive energy.  Everything is the way that it is because it is perfectly free to do so.

Deep in the Tantra: Part 2 coming soon....

May you be awesome.

Namaste

xxoo

Rasa Vinyasa Playlist ~ Spring 2010

Pre-class tracks:
Let the Su Shine In - Gospel Choir of Lousiana
Da Feelin' - Nightmares on Wax
In Knowing - Swimming in Speakers
Slowly - Max Sledgley
Tiffany's Party - Ranga

Wind - Peter Davison
Sri Krishna Govinda - Massod Ali Kahn
Paper Aeroplane - Angus & Julia Stone
L'amour - Rouge Rouge
Adore - I:Cube
Hush - Jensven
Night Over Manaus - Boozoo Bajou
Seeds of Fire - Layne Redmond
Amba Amba - Larisa Stow
Drink You Sober - Bitter:Sweet
Djorolen - Oumou Sangare
Om Namah Shivaya - Massod Ali Khan

see you in the flow...
always love,
shani

Praising Dan Honegger Photography

I don't really like having my picture taken.  Seriously.  I mean, I don't mind having it taken randomly.  I DO like to update my photos in my emails and flyers and on FB regularly.  But the scheduled photo shoots fill me with anxiety!   I have worked with a couple photography hobbyists and with a few people who are totally dedicated to the craft and artistry of photography and those who take pride in never editing their pics.

Most recently, I worked with Dan Honneger.  He made me feel sooooo relaxed and made the photo shoot really fun.  He did "work" on the photos, and I must say....I adore what adjusting the exposure of a pic does!

How We Flow

I've been awake since 4am.  Typically in the spring I begin to emerge into awareness much earlier than in the autumn and winter months.  In the summer 4am wakings are not uncommon for me at all.  I like it.  This being the first one, is a little rough :- /

I've been reminding classes this week that we are in separate from nature.  In fact, we ARE nature!  But far too many of us are disconnected from KNOWING this. Our over-populated culture spends waaaaay too time in artificial environments eating modified or processed food.  Our culture determines what season we are in by the "holiday" display at the grocery store.  This saddens and frustrates me.

It's SPRING!  Our days are longer, we plant seeds (literal and metaphoric), plants are erupting, trees and flowers are blooming.  As the weather warms here in the North East, our bodies awaken.  We see more people running and walking, I experience a surge of increased enrollment in my yoga classes.  And what id the reason these students are coming to yoga?  I hear things like, "I need to firm up", "I have gained so much weight", "I want to get back into shape".  All valid reasons for seeking out a dynamic yoga class.  What saddens me is that these words are often stated with a tone of regret or shame.

Let me say again, IT'S SPRING! Of course we feel like a gelatinous mess :D
We are supposed to gain a bit of weight over the winter.  It is totally natural.  Embrace your curves! And so, let's step into this season with an attitude that we need to lighten up.  A few suggestions:

1. Stop it with the potatoes.  They are not being harvested here right now.  You can enjoy them again in the autumn.
2. Milk, cheese...dairy.  Slow it down.  Dairy products create phlegm and cause sluggishness.  Yogurt can be really good, if it is REALLY good yogurt.  But most of us are buying those cups from the grocery store and tossing them into our lunches....nearly every day because they are easy to pack.  So I am going to say, stop it with the yogurt, too.
3. How about some bitter greens? Some kale! You all know how much I love kale! Get those greens moving through your GI tract and let them scrap the walls and clean you out :)
4. And yes to diverse dynamic movement! Sweat.  A lot. And drink plenty of water!
5. Lastly, stop placing sooooo much emphasis on how look.  How do you feel? 

Spring and autumn stimulate HUGE lifestyle changes. I was recently asked about a student who no longer takes classes with me.  "What happened???" Like it was some great tragedy that they had left.  I have been teaching yoga for over 15 years.  The majority of people who take classes with me now, have only been practicing with me for 2 to 3 years.  There are a  handful who have been with me for 4 to 7 years.  People move on. I do miss them. However, I find it to be really exciting when through the practice of yoga, they get real with what they love and GO FOR IT! 

And what is even more exciting is when they drop back in occasionally and share their amazing life stories.  I love that.  So, for me, it is never good-bye. I'll see you in the flow ♡♡♡