Becoming a great teacher

I heard that if you can heal yourself, then you can become a great teacher.

This can take years I think, not just days.

I also think that when you are great, you don't want anything from your students. You are just like the sun and the rain, giving without expecting. Teaching really is (or can be) *karma yoga.

*from wikipedia "Karma Yoga is described as a way of acting, thinking and willing by which one orients oneself toward realization by acting in accordance with one's duty (dharma) without consideration of personal self-centered desires, likes or dislikes. Acting without being attached to the fruits of one's deeds."

cilantro and yoga

This has (almost) nothing to do with yoga, but has solved a major mystery for me.
And because yoga is about enlightenment, freedom and mystery solving, or at the very least mystery viewing, I want to share what I have found ~

The question is this: Why do some people (myself included) hate cilantro and think it tastes like tarmac (me again), and other people love, love, love it?

And the answer can be found in The (lovely) New York Times column, the curious cook.

Now, yogically speaking, it is good to remember that some people love, love!, to be in a Sarvangasana (shoulderstand), and others can't stand it.

Those same people might switch preferences completely in Virabhandrasana II (Warrior II).

Now this may not be for the same reasons that some of us are anti-cilantro, but it is interesting, satisfying, and calming to celebrate our uniqueness.

Garden Yoga

Lately gardening feels to me more like yoga than yoga itself!

moving dirt = circulation

waiting for seeds to sprout = patience

getting dirty = working hard

breathing of plants and trees = pranayama

dying, beginning new = savasana and getting up from savasana

enjoying the beauty of what you have planted and knowing that the plant sprouted because that is what plants do = yoga

*Upavista Konasana

The name of this pose always sounds like a party to me, especially when you accent the "vista" part. This is also a pose that turns just about anyone who does it into a 3 year old child.
Try it with a friend. Sit with the legs open to a comfortable width. Sit up on a blanket or cushion if your legs are really tight. Face your friend or your own lovely self in a mirror and smile really wide ~ you'll see, you will turn back the clock for that luscious moment, years and years and years.

This **picture is a few years old, but upavista konasana joy is everlasting.

ooopaveesta konasana to you all!

*The full Upavista Konasana pose is to bend forward in this shape, and if you want to quiet your mind and stretch your hamstrings more, please do. For fun, and lengthening core strength, do it this way.

**if you are on my website please go to my blog to see this picture ~

An idea to combat speeding

To slow down, we need to open up to what is right before us.

To speed, we shut all our doors and windows and just zoom.

The zooming can be a defense mechanism, a habit, or a combination of both.

When we are open, we have no choice but to slow ourselves. Speeding in an open state would be dangerous and uncomfortable.

A good place to practice being open is in final relaxation pose, Savasana.
Imagine as you lie on the floor that your body, mind and breath are open like a window, and let the breeze come in and ruffle your curtains.
Remember that you have nowhere to be and nothing to do but to just lay there, open.

Speeding

Why are we all moving so very quickly!?

Try this: Sit down and stop moving your eyes,arms, legs, mouth, just for a moment. See if you can still feel the speediness.

How can we/I (!) slow down?
Oh I try, but I feel like a wind-up doll that an overactive child can't stop playing with.
Its seriously exhausting.

What lies beyond your bones

Beyond your body is your mind. And beyond your mind is your Self.
The lovely body you get from practicing yoga is really just a bonus, and possibly even a distraction! :)
The real thing happening as you press the foot bones down and lift the arm bones up, is that you learn to find equanimity in the face of adversity, and that brings you closer to your Self.

That is really why I fell in love with yoga in the first place; yoga can take you from the far reaches of your own personal pendulums, and lets you float right there in the middle.

In the middle there is clarity, space, and many heartbeats.

~

the yoga of blog posting!

It comes in waves, these feelings of being more yogic, or less.
Especially the wanting to share ideas.

There is:
Writing, and not writing.
awake, asleep
inhaling, exhaling
sweating, restoring
smiling, crying
stopping, going
rightside up, upside down
computer on, computer off

Hatha yoga is:
ha = sun, tha = moon, yoga = union

I feel much better! I hope you do too :)

yoga and digestion

Aryuvedic medicine practitioners say that our digestion is like a fire.
You want to stoke the fire and give it the wood that it needs to keep burning, but if you put too much wood on, the fire smothers.
They say you should have 1/3 food, 1/3 water, 1/3 god(whatever that may be for you!)

Familia and Buddhism

I was just scooping my homemade version of the tasty swiss cereal Familia (recipe below!) from its mixing bowl, into a jar and feeling impatient.
It was taking a while! I was dropping oats on the floor and my hand was cramping.
Then I thought, how would I be scooping this Familia if I had to fill one thousand jars?
How would I go about scooping if there really was no end in sight?
If there were 1,000 jars I wouldn't, or couldn't think about the end. And as a result, I'd probably move more slowly and have more awareness of the grains falling from the little red scoop into the glass (really quite pretty!)

From that moment on, my scooping became much more enjoyable.

I think about this with food and eating sometimes too ~ Like what if this chocolate-chip cookie I am eating was the size of of the borough of Brooklyn!? Would I still be devouring it as quickly? I really can't imagine that (both a bklyn sized cookie, plus devouring).

So there you have it, a Buddhism inspired kitchen experience, and a Familia recipe.
Enjoy! :)

Eva's Homemade Familia~
(all of this is very approximate!)

6 cups rolled oats
10 dates, chopped fine (may be mushy its ok!)
handful of dried apples, chopped fine
handful of raisins or currants
1 cup almonds
1 cup roasted hazelnuts
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
3/4 cup wheat germ
1 packet (about 3/4 cup) dried milk powder
a little salt
sugar (optional - I like to leave it out so eaters can choose their own sweetness)

Toast the oats in a 350 deg. oven for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.
Add the dates and apples to the oats and mix well
Turn the oven down to 200 and bake oat mixture 15 minutes longer, take out from the oven and let cool.

While the oats are toasting, grind the hazelnuts and almonds. A food processor helps, or you can be very yogic/buddhist about it and chop them mindfully until they are teeny-tiny.

In a big bowl mix the almonds/hazelnuts with all the other ingredients and add in the oat mixture.
Stir well.
Scoop, with awareness and love and a never ending sort of feeling into glass jars.

Serve with cold milk (better if you let it sit 5 or 10 minutes), or with hot water, a little milk and maple syrup - yummmmm