Sunday, May 31, 2009

the third eye


The third eye is in between your eyebrows.
It doesn't see like your regular eyes see; it sees the inside of you.
It sees consciousness.
Here is a exercise to help you feel the power of your third eye:

Close your two eyes.
Focus on the top of your head.
You can imagine a blossom right there, open toward the sky.
From the very center of that blossom travel down over your forehead until your awareness rests right between the eyebrows.
Take this awareness a 1/2 and inch back to exactly where your third eye is. The color is thought to be blue, and the name is Ajna.

Now mentally massage your third eye, waking it up.
Let it's energy move toward the center of your head, and then flood your body with its consciousness.


Remember the third eye sees what your regular eyes do not!

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

the cannon-like flight


Jeremy said something really good on Friday night. Just out of the blue he said:

When we are born its like we are just shot out of this cannon and even when we think that we aren't doing anything we still are moving and changing. Our bodies are burbling and digesting and growing or shrinking. We are spinning with this earth around and around. Day after day. It never stops. There really is no such thing as doing nothing, because its like we are part of this force that begins the day we are born and goes until we die.

And my yoga-fying brain thinks that stopping for a moment to watch that cannon-like flight is fascinating.

And, in case you are wondering, Jeremy is my husband-to-be! Wahoo!


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Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Newton's Yoga


Today, my student was telling me how yoga is rooted physics; he said that to whatever we do, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
I totally agreed with him.
Ooh!, but now I wonder what is the equal opposite reaction of "totally agreeing with him"?


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Saturday, May 9, 2009

blue sky meditation

Close your eyes and imagine an endless blue sky underneath your eyelids.

When your mind begins to think, for example, "I wish I was sitting on the beach with this blue sky instead of in my bedroom", see the thought on a puffy white cloud and watch it float through the sky.

When your mind asks, "Should this puffy white cloud be big or small?", label that as a thought and put it on another cloud. Watch that cloud float along.

Judith Hanson Lasater said in her restorative yoga trainin that we shouldn't worry about how our mind keeps on thinking when we try to meditate.
She said that thinking is the brain's job. Just as you can't ask your skin not to sweat, or your lungs not to breathe, asking your brain not to think is impossible.

The key is to not grab onto the thoughts. The key is to watch them for what they are, only thoughts. They are not you.

You are the blue sky.

Monday, May 4, 2009

oh well

I have a friend named Annie. She was my roommate two times (!) in college. I realized during the second time that she was a natural born yogi, with no Asana practice necessary.
When she did her homework, she did it. When she watched TV or goofed off or whatever, she did that too. She wasn't worried about homework when she was playing, or wanted to be playing while she was working.

She also taught me her secret mantra that I still think about: "oh well."

You can put it at the end of any and all sentences for a super-yogic effect.

1. I left the lights on in my car and now it won't start and I have no time to move it, oh well.
2. I missed the train and now I'll be late, oh well.
3. I can hold a handstand longer than anyone else, oh well.
4. I lost $20 bucks, oh well.
5. I ate too many cookies, oh well.

Try it, and notice if you feel a little more even, and a little less like holding on.
For a physical practice, try this: go to the beach and scoop up and handful of sand. Let the sand fall through your hands back onto the beach. Pick up another scoop of sand and let the second scoop fall through your hands back to the beach. Continue for as many scoopfuls as it takes until you realize that here is an endless amount of sand for you to scoop and drop.