Practising at the moment....

                                                                          And…

It is proving to be rather challenging and making me focus on hip opening and rotation. This is great since I think I was cheating somehow with my soft and pliable ankles and knees :-) Great review of some basics in Ashtanga yoga. I am also working on some stiffness in my sacral area and hips to deepen Kapotasana and prepare for Sarath's adjustments for backdrops :-).... Love the warm weather, it really helps for deepening the practice...
My sister just went to see our beloved Mooji on a silent retreat in London. first thing she said: "All we ever hoped for it true"... so beautiful...

                                                   om shanti shanti shanti     

                                           

YOGA AND MENSTRUATION

YOGA AND MENSTRUATION

At some stage in our yoga practise, women (and men out of curiosityJ) might come across the issue of whether or whether not to practise yoga during the menstruation cycle.

Sometimes, I recommend to take three days off or even a week, depending on how low the individual energy level is.

The founder of Ashtanga yoga as we practise it today, Sri Pattabhi Jois recommends three days of complete rest during menstruation. The body goes through intense changes while a woman is bleeding and the vigorous practice of Ashtanga may interfer with this purifying process. According to Pattabhi Jois the uppwards contraction of the bandhas as practiced during yoga is contrary to the natural downward movement of menstruation- referred to as apana (downward flowing energy).

Having said this, menstruation is experienced vastly different by each woman. Some women go through severe pain and might even have to take a few days off work or stay in bed.

Ashtanga yoga is a very intense practise that requires strength, energy and focus. If menstruation is experienced with low energy and pain it seems unnatural to me to force yourself onto the mat just to tick off the practise for the day.

On the other hand I know that many Ashtangis obey to Pattabhi Jois rule of three days no matter how they feel. And some women might even feel full of energy during the menstruation period.

As with most things, I do not think there is a general ‘rule’ that applies to everyone.

We are intuitive beings and yoga is all about connecting with that inner intuition, the self that is free from conditioning and acts according to a higher wisdom.

I remember when I was doing my yoga teacher training and we had many sessions on ‘yoga and menstruation’ mainly taught by teachers with a strong Iyengar background.

Iyengar has some pretty strict rules in terms of what or what not to do during menstruation.

There even was a “special practice” particularly designed for menstruation days. It involves mostly restorative poses and completely avoids inversions (such as headstand, shoulder stand, elbow balance, or full- arm balance) and vigorous standing poses.  Twists are also to be avoided as well as any strong abdominal asanas such as Navasana.

Personally I do not experience menstruation as an obstacle to do my practise. Sometimes I feel low of energy for a day but sometimes I don’t feel much different at all. I feel that a general rule about anything is somewhat limiting because we are all different beings, we experience things differently and why should it not be like this?

A woman who feels tender and low of energy and wants to rest should follow this intuition and rest.

Another women might not feel different at all and why should she stop practising?

Same thing applies to the inversions.

There are no clear proven studies that show that inversions during menstruation actually harm the body.

Geeta Iyengar, BKS Iyengar’s daughter said that during inversions the blood flow will be arrested, which is detrimental as it may lead to fibroids, cysts, endometriosis, and cancer.

Well, if you have a history of such illnesses in your family or fear that such things may happen follow your instinct and stay away from inversions.

But if you are used to do them and feel great even during your moon days, same thing, follow your intuition and enjoy them!

I believe that yoga is a purely cleansing, purifying practise. It is free as it is designed to lead us towards freedom.

There are no rules for yoga- (there are so many different ways to explain, get into and out of poses, sometimes even contradicting each other…)

If you really understand the essence of it.

Yoga is for freedom, the body, the mind, the soul.

It assists us tapping into a intuitive knowledge that is beyond any signpost or conditioning.

Menstruation, just as anything else… can become an excuse to follow tapas tendencies, the tendency of laziness and inertia

Or Ashtanga can become an obsession whereby the needs of the body are ignored and then it can lead to injury and illness.

So best thing is to keep finding your true self… and everything comes naturally.

If you know who you truly are (or what you are not: a limited person with ego in a body) than your actions unfold in a sweet natural way, are always appropriate and no one has to tell you what to do.                   

Om shanti shanti shanti

What to wear....

What to wear 

A few weeks ago one of my yoga students inquired about what to say to people when they ask you if as a vegetarian I am wearing leather. I thought this question was really interesting since I haven’t mentioned anything on this in my blog on vegetarianism.

It seems quite apparent to me that wearing leather is not much different to eating meat. The animal is slaughtered much in the same way, if not worse- sometimes being skinned alive.

Leather comes from farmed animals, mostly cattle, all of which do not reach the natural end of their lives. They must go through a lot of suffering on the farm before meeting their violent and frightening death. Cows and cattle are certainly amongst the most exploited animals on our planet. Beef and dairy cows are both used for leather. Beef cows are bred simply to eat, get big and die. They are almost universally kept in housing during winter and in some places all around the year. Dairy cattle are among the most exploited animals on the planet. Like every other mammal, cows only produce milk when they have offspring, so to increase productivity a dairy cow’s life is a constant cycle of pregnancy and lactation. On top of this physical strain is the psychological stress when the calves are separated from the mothers. After being allowed to suckle her colostrum – the first milk produced by the mother after birth which provides vital immunity to the calf -the calves are taken away within days in order to maximise the amount of milk available for humans[1]

As what concerns the leather production, soft leather does not come from old cows but from calves, and the softest leather of all comes from unborn calves whose mothers have been slaughtered. Despite supposedly humane stunning in abattoirs, millions of animals are still conscious when their throats are cut, and can be skinned alive.

It is quite apparent thus that anything from eating meat, to drinking milk, eating cheese, eggs, wearing leather and other clothes that contain animal product contribute to this chain of slaughter and torture.

Essentially I do not think there is anything wrong with farming and using the products of animals if it is done in a humane natural way, letting the animal live a peaceful natural life, looking after it, and then sharing its natural gifts. In our world today however it is pretty hard to find anything that has been produced in such a way. Because society and humankind is obsessed with material possession and the cheaper things can be produced the better, no matter what the cost.

So one can be sure that anything one buys, be it food or clothes that contains animal product carries the smell of greed, slaughter and torture, the tears of innocent souls. Truly there is no difference between leather boots, jackets or purses and beef, chicken or eggs.

Each time we are at the supermarket or in a clothes store we have the choice to ignore all these facts and to support the slaughtering and torturing of animals and the proliferation of greed in the world or to make a conscious choice to find alternatives. Yes, it requires effort because it is still a minority of people who realise that every action carries a vibration into the world, creates a certain karma for our selves, our children and further generations. But it is effort well worth it because truly, say you would stand in a field besides a cow who peacefully suckles her calf, would you separate her violently from the baby, abduct it to a slaughterhouse and skin it alive in order to get the latest fashion of leather boots?

Who in their right set of mind would do this? And where is the difference between taking away a calf from its mother and a human child from their mother? When you look into the eyes of the animal there truly is no difference. An animate soul is dwelling behind all living eyes, who can deny this?

It is only convenient if someone else does gets their hands dirty and we just walk into a nice store and chose whatever we like in this moment and the next month or even day it is going to be something else. But conscious living does not work like this. It means that things, places, actions, everything carries a certain vibration. Who for instance would want to live in a place that was once a slaughterhouse? There is something inside us that naturally repels any form of violence that is caring and protecting. I really don’t like to make such kind of comparisons- but here it goes: the concentration camps during the Nazi regime, they too were located on the outskirts soehwere where people did not see for themselves what truly was going on in there. People sort of knew perhaps, or sensed something and some even knew... but they didn’t have to pull the trigger themselves or lead the children into the chambers and so few showed resistance.

Surely there is a difference because people were also forced into silence through violent threats and psychological brainwashing. But some of it applies also to current live situations. The abattoir is far away somewhere, we don’t smell it, see it. And we see the advertisements for wonderful clothes and meat bargains and meals on TV all the time. One is made believe so many things each day, conditioned in a certain way that considers meat eating as normal and all the glorified chefs that sprout on TV shows all over the place vent themselves as refined carnivores and vegetarians are still regarded as ‘missing out’ on the main ingredient of a proper meal.

Best thing is to know thyself... to continue the wonderful journey of self inquiry, who am I really? Beyond conditioning and the body mind conception of a self. And all the rest will come naturally.

*I am not a fundamentalist with some set ideologies that i read in a book somewhere or someone told me. I do own a few things made of leather that i received or bought before I was aware of how they were made. I did not frantically rage through my closet to remove anything animal made. I just simply would not buy anything leather or animal now that I know.

---

[1] http://www.vegetarian.org.uk/factsheets/leather.html

 

ONLY ONE THING



http://www.123rf.com/photo_8533447_cherry-branch-in-blossom-with-pink-dove.html



What to say on a blog about yoga. You can say many things but really why miss any opportunity to say exactly that. Without ways around and about. Right to the point. Yoga means freedom. To be your true self and everything else comes from that.

You can do your asana but if the purpose is not to be free and your true self (same thing) you are not getting the real deal :-). Any yoga class that does not remind you to look inside, to see, to confirm is selling you short. Yoga is not about becoming more flexible and lean, it is about remembering that you are a free being- beyond anything that you can put a name to, a concept or a limitation. If you have not found this urge inside your being this is all I want to share with you. Forget about bringing the belly to the thighs in forward bends or crossing your legs in lotus. All of this comes automatically once you start looking inside. Your perfect being does not need to even learn these things, it already knows it.

There are some beings for whom it is clear that this life is only for freedom.

Freedom means what? Freedom beyond even the concept of freedom. That urge is burning in them. And the urge is to remove the idea that I am not free. And then one more step: to remove even the idea of freedom. To that pure innocence.

All you need to find out is: who is watching all of this? And don’t put any assumptions to this. Don’t say I think, I think. Find out. When you find out, then, everything will become quiet for you: You don’t have to worry about the future, you don’t have to be living in the past. You don’t have to be vigilant in the present. You are that. You are that in whose presence time appears and passes. Thoughts appear and pass. Emotions appear and pass. Everything is floating like clouds in the sky. There are no footprints. Nothing that stays and interferes with your pure being, the uninterrupted happiness that is your true nature. All the sensations all time space memory intellect, ideas, they are floating in your being just like that.

You are like the infinite sky.

Who can hold the sky? Catch it? Hinder it? Define it? Put restrictions on it?

You will know this. And everything becomes a play that you watch from above. You can play, continue your daily affairs but they will not leave any footprints.

There is not need to study or learn, rehearse repeat, repeat, just look. Just look. Keep looking, bring it into your heart and trust what you find, work with it. Make it your own truth.

All you need to find out is who is watching all of this? You are that. You are that in whose presence time appears and passes. Thoughts appear and pass, emotions appear and pass. Everything is floating like clouds in the sky. All the sensations, all time, space, memory, intellect, ideas, they are floating in your being just like that. You are like the infinite sky. It is all you need to know.                                 

                                                     OM SHANTI

(excerpts from satsang with ©©© Moojiji ©©©)

A few thoughts on Yoga and Vegetarianism

Vegetarianism is one of these topics that always appear in relation to Yoga.

And there are many different views and explanations.

If we look at Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra and the Eight Limbed Path of Ashtanga yoga we soon come across the concept of ‘ahimsa’ or ‘non-violence’.

I have talked briefly about ‘sattvic’ food in one of my previous posts which also means non-violent food.

Of course the preparation of food always entails some sort of ‘violence’ if it is understood as interfering with the growth or existence of living entities.

However there are obvious stages and levels. Cutting off fruit or vegetable usually does not entail the death of the entire plant. We take some of it- which otherwise would be naturally ‘discarded’ by the plant itself to ensure further growth and production.

This is not possible with meat, we can’t chop of a pig’s leg and the next day his ear or trunk and then the pig magically reproduces these parts.

It will die.

The degree of violence imposed is clearly of a different kind.

Essentially I find that eating meat is in opposition with living a yogic life. The more one adheres to the guidelines portrayed in the yogic scriptures the more a love grows in the heart that rejects all forms of violence and ‘unnecessary noise’.

Is it perhaps that the heart becomes pure, through asana and mind control and that blood and slaughter is unthinkable in such a purified temple?

We have so much choice, each day. We are spoiled with choice of food, organic, fresh and simple. There is absolutely no need to kill and buying meat at the supermarket to let someone else do the job is simply an illusion.

Yoga also takes away illusion. It gradually strips off all the layers of superficial matter and brings us right to the source of the self. This is with everything in life: food, body, mind, relationship, ‘purpose’, breath and the subtle layers.

To live a yogic life means to live a simple, pure and truthful life.

Scientists have shown that the human body is not even made for eating meat. The

American Hygiene Society has come up with a very interesting study showing that the nature of our teeth and digestive system for example is similar to those of herbivores, simply not equipped to the processing of meat. This is just one of the fascinating results of their study.

It has also been shown by environmental studies how eating meat negatively impacts the eco- system to the extent of destroying it as well as is prime cause of starvation and poverty in the world.

As the consciousness and awareness grow, these connections and consequences become more and more evident. A little child gradually discovers a sense of self and sense of others and much later how these two are related with each other.

As we get older, we learn that our actions have consequences, nothing is lost (good or bad) and that we reap what we sow.

Having said all this, my approach to yoga is always from the heart.

Rather than conceptualizing about things or reading about them, truth is to be felt, it is to be experienced.

Looking at a piece of meat in the super market stirs feeling in me similar to watching a mother smack a child or a robber snatching a handbag off an elderly woman or a killer torturing an innocent person.

And why is it that most people feel like this? A minority would actually go out into the forest and hunt down an innocent dear or pig or lamb. Conveniently the job has been taken care of by someone else but even a piece of raw meat is not the most attractive sight for most people. In fact, there are many who don’t like sushi for that reason.

There is something that intuitively feels wrong about it.

So why do so many people eat meat? I believe it is conditioning. Growing up in societies that have meat as main ingredient to make ‘a proper meal’. (While most children in fact have to be reprimanded to go near it, because they need it to become 'strong and healthy').

All of this is conditioning. Most of mankind for most of human’s history has ‘survived’ on a vegetarian diet and it is a known fact that eating meat, especially red meat is unhealthy and can lead to high levels of cholesterol and other fat related conditions. In terms of being strong and healthy, just think of the fact that cows, gorillas, elephants and rhinoceroses are all vegetarians (herbivores) but look at how tough these animals are and they also have a longer life span compared to the carnivores (meat eating animals).

It is also conditioning to think that meat is needed to make a ‘proper meal’. Most of us remember things we didn’t consider ‘real food’ some years ago and then grew to like it due to exposure and then appreciation of its taste.

Taste and cravings are all down to conditioning, to what we are ‘used’ to eat. It can easily be changed.

I have a quite intense yoga practice six days a week and live on a fully vegetarian diet as do most yogis and yoginis all over the world who do all these amazing things like standing on their head, balancing on forearms and bending and twisting their bodies into all sorts of shapes. Yoga requires internal strength that is different to superficial muscle bulk, established over time through purification of body mind and soul, through the unity of movement and breath and the one-pointedness of attention.

Some say that eating meat is the course of nature and even wild animals in the forest do it. This is however exactly what I mean with spiritual growth. Since we are not living in the wild forest (and even there are plenty of other options…) and we are born as a human being we have that unique opportunity of making conscious decisions.

We are not ruled by instincts, we can make conscious decisions.

I feel that following the eight limbed path of Ashtanga yoga- which is in fact our true nature- people become more sensitive and conscious. They realize that everything is connected and that the light that shines in your heart is the same that shines in everyone else’s heart including the animals

Om shanti shanti shanti

ASTHANGA MYSORE WORKSHOP

YOGA WORKSHOP



http://www.theyogicflower.com.au/yogatherapy2.htm

Just a few words on a lovely workshop with Peter Sanson - one of New Zealand's foremost teachers of Ashtanga Yoga - who is visiting Wellington at the moment. I find workshops are always a great opportunity to re-fresh the yoga practice.

I am very fortunate to practise with Mike Berghan who has studied with Pattabhi Jois so many times and he clearly carries Guruji’s blessings. So i have a regular good yoga practice with great support and inspiration. But I think a workshop naturally gives a little boost to the routine- even if it is just the room filled with steamy bodies, mat next to mat, the continuous tidal rhythm of the ujaii breath carried along by all the different practitioners. It is different to practising with mostly the same ‘morning crew’ that gathers at the shala at around 6am and has notably thinned out by 8am when I finish my practice.

Now the shala is gleams with yogis and yoginis and there is an ongoing flow of surya namaskar from beginning to end of my two hours. I have never seen many of the faces before-  it is interesting how a visiting expert teacher always attracts new people – and some that I haven’t seen since Peter’s last visit. It makes it easier to get up at dawn and walk up to cuba half asleep launching into this challenging yoga sequence. (Of course I am glad it is not always this packed- I think the ‘excitement’ state would wear out after some time, especially when it comes to adjustments it is a privilege to be a small number and get so much attention).

But I must say that Peter is very expert in how he handles the great number of students. I feel that the last two poses that I was given recently are coming along very well with his assistance. In fact, before Peter’s classes I was struggling with Supta Vajrasana quite a bit. I just could not cross my elbows behind my back. Although I can manage to grab my toes nonetheless, if you can’t get this intense crossing at the back you won’t be able to hold on to your toes while folding back.

With all the work I gave the pose I started to strain my left shoulder and it hurt quite a bit. But with Peter now, the pose is coming along really well and I am very happy!

I feel with great teachers it is often one touch or two that opens up space in the body and makes things possible that you might have been struggling for a long time. Also with Kapotasana I feel much more comfortable now. With Peter’s or Mike’s help I can reach the heels and then hold the pose on my own.

So as much as sometimes it is nice to retrieve back into self-practice, the inspiration and assistance of a teacher are vital in progressing. I feel sometimes I get stuck with the idea that certain asana are impossible- the famous ‘I will NEVER be able to do this!!!’ and all it needs is the gentle touch of a teacher to remind you that it is not completely out of reach!

Om Shanti shanti shanti

Julia



SADHANA: SPIRITUAL PRACTICE, READING SPIRITUAL BOOKS

srikrishnachaithanya.wordpress.com

Over the weekend I did a bit of house cleaning and I also dusted my book shelf. I came across the Srimad Bhagavatam a multi-volume collection of stories about Krsna’s pastimes, His glories and the glories and stories of His devotees and associates. This eighteen-thousand verse collection of pure nectar fills up the whole shelf and I was stunned that I read all these books and not even that- they touched my heart so deeply that I put the most loved verses of each booklet onto the back and sometimes on the first pages if there wasn’t enough space. Because there were so many!

Like the Yoga sutras and the Upanishads, the Srimad Bhagavatam is pure and perfect. Once you start reading it you just simply cannot put it down and before you notice, you have read all the many Cantos (translated and commented by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Srila Prabhupada).

This is the thing about spiritual knowledge: it is always fresh, new and so attractive. You feel it comes from a place that is pure and of utmost beauty, reflected in the language used, the concepts portrayed and the unconditional love that resides in every single word. Nothing else compares to it. This is one of the verses that I picked out and pasted onto the back of Canto One, Part III. It is very simple yet so powerful:

 

‘The devotees of the Lord are accustomed to licking up the honey available from the lotus feet of the Lord. What is the use of topics which simply waste one’s vulnerable life?’

(Canto 1, Part 3, chapter 16, text6)

 

When you read texts like the Srimad Bhagavatam or the Upanishads or the Yoga Sutras or the Bhagavat Gita, you automatically lose interest in mundane topics. They are predictable, boring, stale and limited in comparison. When I walk into a commercial book store in fact, I never browse through books other than perhaps some nice vegetarian or vegan cook books because I already know all the stories and places and things portrayed in them. Seen and heard it so many times before. But a spiritual book always remains fresh and the more you read it the more meaning it reveals. There is no end- but most of all, it is so beautiful!

Why waste words if not to describe the highest?

Why waste thoughts if not about the highest?

What waste energy and deeds if not in service to it?

It truly seems like  a waste of time.

The same applies to yoga which is also a sadhana! (spiritual practice). Why is it so different to other forms of ‘physical activity’? Why so much more attractive and fulfilling? Because it addresses everything. Not only the body but also the mind and the soul. The physical asana help to calm and master the body. The breathing, pranayam, helps to calm and master the mind. And when body and mind are calm and peaceful, we can see things more clearly, our inner light, soul or true self can shine trough and everything in life takes on a different turn. If we align to the Higher Intelligence or Self everything in life becomes effortlessly, falls into place naturally. I am talking out of my own experience... but who am iJ... there are thousands of much more elevated souls whose lives reconfirm this. We always think we have to do so much, to organise and plan and make sure everything goes the way we think is right.

But is it not much simpler to stop wrecking the mind with thoughts and worries. To find this place within us where nothing needs to be done at all. First, because everthing is already here. And second because we start to realise this: that everything is already here and we do not need to do anything at all.

There is so much beauty in this.

The scriptures are a good reminder. This is why it is a great pastime to do some regular reading. But ultimately no book can convey or tell you something that is already here. It might help to realise it, to be reminded.

Om Shanti shanti shanti

Julia

 



 

  THE UPANISHADS - YOGA PHILOSOPHY

http://secretdoctrine.wordpress.com/2012/05/



Om Shanti.

Initially I wanted to post a few lines of the Yoga Sutras today since they are perhaps the most known scriptures on yoga philosophy in these parts of the world.

But then I saw a quote on the Upanishads, referring to them as the ‘mystical Upanishads’.

I really was surprised to see this expression yet again in connection with yoga and in a way it made me feel like writing a book on DEMYSTIFYING YOGA J

I rememeber when I first read the Upanishads, many years ago, even before I practised yoga asana. To me it was the most comprehensive piece of writing that I have had in my hands all my life- and believe me there were many (I went to a German school J). But all really useless, or shall I say mystical?

The Upanishads made sense to me. For the first time in my life I could recognise some truth and it felt as if I was waiting my whole life for it to ‘come back to me’.

I was actually sitting at my desk in Hofheim, Germany, and crying! I was so moved by the beauty and the truth of these writings.

There is nothing mystical about it, in fact, it is one of the few books worth reading because it simply talks about the true self- the essence of yoga in all its forms.

I just flicked through my old copy (luckily I brought it to New Zealand!!!) and found a few inspiring quotes.

First one is an invocation that starts of THE ISHA UPANISHAD, the first one in the collection.

All this is full. All that is full.

From fullness, fullness comes.

When fullness is taken from fullness,

Fullness still remains.

OM shanti shanti shanti

This gives already a taste of what is to come in this wonderful collection of wisdom and truth… FULLNESS, purnam (full). This is the inexhaustible reality of the self.

Many times I hear people say, I am so exhausted, I gave so much energy to this or that or even someone, I feel depleted. But the true self is inexhaustible, when you live in it there is never anything taken from it nor given to it.

Isn’t this wonderful?

The self does not need anything to be added to it to become something or someone, it is complete in itself.

In this world we are made to believe that we need to ‘achieve’, to learn, to get experience, to be someone or something. This leaves people very stressed and alienated constantly running after what people/society tells them to be.

But in reality we are already that: the perfect truth, wisdom and happiness-

Those who depart from this world without

Knowing who they are or what they truly

Desire have no freedom here or hereafter.

But those who leave here knowing who they

Are and what they truly desire have freedom

Everywhere, both in this world and in the next

This quote comes from THE CHANDOGYA UPANISHADS. It somehow fits to the previous one. Once we realise that the true self does not need anything or anyone to be completely free and happy, we can move through this world untouched.

This is also what the Buddhist ‘detachment’ refers to. It doesn’t mean that you don’t care about people or things and become as cold as ice.

On the contrary, it means you see things and people for what they are, without the ego interfering and inserting interpretations and colorations.

One who identifies with material reality is bound to experience the modes associated with it: temporariness, decay, separation, unreliability etc.

One who realises the self that is eternal, complete and independent can do things without ‘being attached’, or ‘needing’.

You can have relationships, eat, sleep, do your job, but you know that this is not you, it is what you do. But none of it adds or takes anything away from your true self.

One way to remind us of this eternal nature is the chanting of OM at the beginning and or ending of a yoga class. It is an ancient sound vibration that helps us connect to what has been before and what will be after- also our true self.

Here is a quote from THE MANDUKYA UPANISHADS that puts it very clearly… by the way, even if you don’t ‘know’ what OM means intellectually, meaning will be revealed by simply chanting the mantra, through the sound vibration. This is how mantras work since thousands of years and why they are always used with yoga practice.

AUM stands for the supreme Reality.

It is a symbol for what was, what is,

And what shall be. Aum represents also

What lies beyond past, present, and future.

Om shanti shanti shanti

Julia

                                        Some thoughts on YOGA

http://aliciakata.wordpress.com/tag/heart-chakra/

I have heard people talking about the ‘mystical yoga’ or being curious about what it all is ‘about’.

The yoga process is very simple; there is nothing obscure or secretive about it.

Yoga is what we all will do one day or another as we progress from incarnation to incarnation. But putting it even simpler, yoga simply means to be your true self!

Everything else comes from that.

Some might wonder but what is my true self? Also that is very simple, your true self is the self without a self!

To find your true self you have to lose yourself.

As long as we walk though life thinking that we are the body, the mind, our thoughts, our worries, our anxieties, our relationships, work, achievements, family and all these aspects of material life, we are bound to experience a lot of disappointment and grief. And I do not mean to portray a negative outlook on these things. Once you know who you are, you can enjoy all this, and it just won’t stick, it will leave no footprints in the soul.

As we all have experienced I am sure J the body is very fragile and it will deteriorate with age and suffer various diseases.

It will even disappear after a few years.

Relationships can be very happy… but again- much more likely if you know who you are and don’t step into it being needy or wanting someone to fill in some gap or void. If this is the case it will most likely fail. Real love does not need anything, it is a one way traffic.

Any achievement, job etc are temporary, never fully satisfying. People who earn a lot of money usually occupy their minds with how they can make even more and more and more. Money cannot buy inner peace and happiness, it cannot buy health and clarity and an equipoised mind.

Most jobs are rather unsatisfying as they are part of a system that is built on money and greed.

The list goes on and on..

Nothing in the material world stays forever and nothing in the material world is fully satisfying.

But we all are looking for happiness! And this is because it is our natural state. So rather than asking what can make me happy and run after the many illusory …that promise you such, we have to ask:

what is it that prevents me from realising the happiness that is already here inside of me.

No one has put it there and no one can take it from you, it is your natural state.

This is what yoga means, it means to re-connect (I am using this term, but really, we are never disconnected) with our true self which is always happy and content not depending on anyone or anything.

It goes even further than this, the true self is beyond happiness, it is complete, not one nor the other but beyond all definition.

Now it also might become clear why it even does not have an individual self. It does not think as ‘I’, ‘me’ and ‘mine’. These are very limited concepts and also are binding us to the material modes of existence. Think of how nice it feels if you give something to someone without expecting anything in return, not even a thank you!

It is so liberating! We don’t trouble the mind with thoughts like: why did he or she not even thank me for this? Or what will I get in return for it?

These are things that weigh us down, compromise our actions and our happiness.

You also might find that when you stop thinking as ‘I’ or ‘mine’ you become much more relaxed. You can wander through life as it unfolds, trusting that things will come to you naturally if you need them.

You can accept each moment as it is without tormenting the mind with thoughts such as ‘I wish it was like this’, ‘I wish I could do that’, ‘I wish I had this or that’.

Such thoughts always put us into an imaginary past or future that again are not real and compromise our inner happiness-

The higher self is one with a perfect intelligence and knowledge (and beyond that). So when we can drop that ‘dot’ on the smaller ‘i’, the ego, we can access our true potential which is perfect in each moment, not lacking anything, not desiring, being always super-happy. J

Om Namo Shivaya

Julia

My dear yogis and yoginis!

Today I would like to share a few thoughts on ‘yogic food’.

Eating the right food is essential for a good yoga practice on as well as off the mat…

Some of you might have heard the term ‘sattvic food’ which basically means ‘healthy, fresh, non-violent’ food. Sometimes we forget how much we are influenced by what we eat. Many people get very tired after lunch, thinking it is ‘food’ in general and its digestion which makes you want to sleep.

However, try simply leaving out the bread, rice or other very starchy food such as potatoes and you will immediately see the difference!

It doesn’t mean that lunch must be fruit or a few green leaves, it can still be fun! Just think of adding some lentils or chickpeas, seeds and nuts for the energy! This will make it a fully satisfying meal without depressing your energies and mood.

I don’t think any human being is completely free from the famous gravings… chocolate, pizza, pasta…to name a few favrouites… and there is nothing against including those moderately into the diet. There is nothing worse than not eating something and thinking about it the whole time!!!

What I found a very useful technique to make healthy eating a very natural attitude

(as it should be! All good things are natural, it is just the conditioning that make us believe differently)

is to not go with that primal graving of rich and fatty and unhealthy but to think about how the food makes me feel once I have eaten it!

The pleasure of eating is comparatively short to the hours of enjoying it becoming part of your being, so stay strong and just try it!

The more you rewire your thinking on the long term result, the easier it will get.

Isn’t it much nicer to be full of energy, mental and intellectual alert and feel good than that sluggish feeling and guilty conscience you get after eating the wrong kind of food…?

A few more words on sattvic (good food).

There are a few very easy rules:

1)     always eat fresh! I sometimes store left-overs in the fridge but generally try to avoid it. Only after one hour bacteria starts building up in food

2)     Always cook and prepare your food at home! As you probably know, all take-away or fast food is full of nasties (sugar, salt, artificial flavours and colours etc) to make it taste ‘good’ using few and cheap ingredients. You can see how food simply reflects a certain way of thinking…

3)     When body and mind are living a healthy life you naturally feel what is good for you! Some studies tell you this others that and it changes all the time. So trust your own self, feel into your body and see what is it that will make me feel good!!!

4)     Of course there are some guidelines, basically a meat free diet is much healthier… more and more studies reveal this and clearly when we grow up as children most of us will remember that we our parents had to ‘force’ the dead animals into us! As I said, we naturally feel what is good for us until we get conditioned by what we are supposed to eat or do or be!

5)     Balance your diet, eat lots of veggies (fresh), salads, grains, seeds, fruit, legumes and be generous with experimenting with spices, it not only makes cooking creative and fun, it also opens the palate to different tastes and some of the spices have amazing health benefits!!!

Suggestion of the day: try TUMERIC… not only is it an incredibly versatile spice- it can be added to any meal, ads an interesting yellow colour and does not have an over-powering taste if used in moderation. It is anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and recent research reveals that turmeric provides benefits in the treatment of many different health conditions from cancer to Alzheimer's disease…

Last but not least remember that eating fresh and healthy food does not take time or effort, it is very simple!

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti