Set the stage...following and finding your dharma

Sometimes all that we ask for comes all at once.  And then we are left with many canvasses to choose from. Listening to santosha on cd yesterday, the tears just flowed as I listened in gratitude to words of simple wisdom. Words from others can at times serve to simply remind us what we already know, or better still, lead us to question things. For me, the questioning prodded at my samskara of security and habits.

I got accepted into my next level of yoga training and it was a feeling that literally warmed my heart. For those of us lucky enough to question, sometimes we are led back home.  Which I thought for me meant Sydney. It’s where I grew up, what I’m used to. But listening to Akash’s example of a stagnating river, I was left with the question…was I letting metaphorical water flow in and out of my life? Or were my barriers too stringent, so I stuck to what I knew.

Following your heart and your truth, which is my understanding of dharma, is not necessarily going to be an easy path. As I did my run this morning, I was reminded of Yogananda’s quote which always comes back to me in challenging times…’an easy life is not a victorious one’. I know that I have found my bliss in yoga. The feeling of leaving a class where there is an equal exchange of this amazing energy between yourself and your students really is a gift that I can’t find words for.  And the truest security we can easy have lies in our heart space.

Remembering back to my time in Nepal, I saw the Nepalese people so blissfully happy living such simple lives. Upon my return and walking through Sydney’s QVB…weird out of body experience. We had so much materialism but where was the heart, the connectedness? Sometimes it seems, the more you have, the less you have.

Santosha, or contentment, comes from feeling at home and trusting in that sacred space within ourselves. So it seems that I have done a 360 since moving here. When I first moved here, I missed my then home and wanted the fast pace and all the trappings both good and bad that came with it. But in the words of Martin Luther King, I have a dream…to leave my mark upon the world. And this only comes from following our dharma…which is ours. It takes at times setting ourselves free from both judgements and expectations.

I close my classes now with a ritual, to remind us to come back home. It’s the first spiritual ritual that I remember..grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference. So as you all enjoy the rituals of your Sunday morning, remind yourselves that life is destined to be set on a stage rather than a spreadsheet.  

Set the stage...following and finding your dharma

Sometimes all that we ask for comes all at once.  And then we are left with many canvasses to choose from. Listening to santosha on cd yesterday, the tears just flowed as I listened in gratitude to words of simple wisdom. Words from others can at times serve to simply remind us what we already know, or better still, lead us to question things. For me, the questioning prodded at my samskara of security and habits.

I got accepted into my next level of yoga training and it was a feeling that literally warmed my heart. For those of us lucky enough to question, sometimes we are led back home.  Which I thought for me meant Sydney. It’s where I grew up, what I’m used to. But listening to Akash’s example of a stagnating river, I was left with the question…was I letting metaphorical water flow in and out of my life? Or were my barriers too stringent, so I stuck to what I knew.

Following your heart and your truth, which is my understanding of dharma, is not necessarily going to be an easy path. As I did my run this morning, I was reminded of Yogananda’s quote which always comes back to me in challenging times…’an easy life is not a victorious one’. I know that I have found my bliss in yoga. The feeling of leaving a class where there is an equal exchange of this amazing energy between yourself and your students really is a gift that I can’t find words for.  And the truest security we can easy have lies in our heart space.

Remembering back to my time in Nepal, I saw the Nepalese people so blissfully happy living such simple lives. Upon my return and walking through Sydney’s QVB…weird out of body experience. We had so much materialism but where was the heart, the connectedness? Sometimes it seems, the more you have, the less you have.

Santosha, or contentment, comes from feeling at home and trusting in that sacred space within ourselves. So it seems that I have done a 360 since moving here. When I first moved here, I missed my then home and wanted the fast pace and all the trappings both good and bad that came with it. But in the words of Martin Luther King, I have a dream…to leave my mark upon the world. And this only comes from following our dharma…which is ours. It takes at times setting ourselves free from both judgements and expectations.

I close my classes now with a ritual, to remind us to come back home. It’s the first spiritual ritual that I remember..grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference. So as you all enjoy the rituals of your Sunday morning, remind yourselves that life is destined to be set on a stage rather than a spreadsheet.   

It’s only the beginning

And I was literally just making daisy chains in my backyard. Starting something new can sometimes seem a bit bigger than Ben Hur. Take this term of teaching…how the crap was I going to teach art? Needless to say, I absolutely love it to bits.  So inspired by the amazing works that young people can just churn out. Sadly though, often not believing in themselves…’it’s a bit fail Miss’…really? You could have fooled me! And therein lies the rub, we don’t know how great we are or can be and sadly for some that doesn’t change.

Shel served up santosha in a truly lush class this morning. I will miss those classes girl, I think I’ll have to bottle them. Contentment as I have come to understand it is knowing that we are enough and we have enough at any given point in time. The belief that we need something external to fill a void is the biggest marketing con around. We can get satisfaction…a breath of air when the rain has passed…a dive in the ocean first thing in the morning…the smell of coffee in the air. Simplicity and the serendipity that these things bring is priceless. Excuse the Master Card (?) analogy here.

I’ve tried finding contentment by looking to things in the future, but that just led to a 3am wake up call. A favourite teacher of mine has a quote that I find golden: being present is the most profound thing we can do for ourselves and in turn others.

Alanis Morisette also reinforces this in her lines: ’the rest is still unwritten’.  It’s quite amazing to sit on your grass at dusk and make daisy chains, who would want to be anywhere else?

Pure and simple…what is this yoga thing all about?

As I watch Wall Street in the background whilst checking my emails, I am finding that less is more and what is one man’s trash is indeed treasure to another.  Saucha is the focus for my teacher’s classes this week. Purity and cleanliness are two lay translations of this niyama (spiritual observation). After cleaning out my room today in preparation for the move north, I did feel lighter as a result of more physical space. And of course cleanliness isn’t just a physical thing, but nor is it a fanatical thing for that matter.

After my evening yoga class, I shared some of my Francsco riesling with my flatty. On appearances, not that I’m trying to justify, this choice of beverage may not seem the most pure.  However, on a Sunday and as a gesture of sharing, to me that does have connotations of cleanliness, as it allows me to clean my slate of greed.  Sharing lets people in and what a gift this is. Not more than two minutes after we agreed Wall Street was a waste of time, I received an email about an upcoming yoga workshop in Melbourne next year – and this is where the greed bit steps in.

I am a reformed workshop junkie, which is one of the reasons I have had many a Carrie Bradshaw moment of being the woman that lives in her shoes. But rather in my case, it was the woman that lives in an asana session, notebook in hand and mind often wandering to the next workshop on my agenda. And I had this sense of having to do it all now and then I’d feel dirty for selling myself out by working extra to pay for my greed. And the thing is, the sense of uncleanliness starts to creep up on you, as you realise that you are not digesting anything, You are merely moving from one place to the next, without rinsing off the mud so to speak.

So having the voice of my Radiant Light teacher in my head, I was able to look at this flier for what it was. Testing, tempting, but ultimately tiring. I am so blessed to be given the gift of yoga teaching. As I drove to teach restorative tonight, I listened to Akash’s voice and it at many a time brought a tear to my eye. For the immense sense of wow that I am where I am. For the ‘wow’ response from a new student with a background in cross fit. How ace is yoga that it can offer such profound transformations!

Akash also talks a lot about dharma and of not straying from our path.  So for me that means spending a moment to myself before I go to sleep. To remind myself to listen and to allow. To slow down and breathe. And to do what I tell my students to: be kind to myself and others. So yoga is many things to me, but most of all it is home. And I don’t have to be a workshop junkie anymore to find that; but rather just find my own mat.

Into the valley of the Kings without a shadow of doubt.

Once upon a fine Saturday morning, two girls venture into the wilds of the King Valley.  Frocked up, soundtrack ready and handbags in hands. A day on the green in the sunshine it was…a day of feeling blessed by the good things. It’s funny how a morning can prove hectic and feel at times hopeless, but then there comes the relief that lies in a cup of Melburnian coffee and terracotta baked eggs.  Thankyou Whitfield’s Mountain View Pub. Patience again proving to be a virtue..that and the power of persuasion in encouraging my friend to join me.

Francesco was the first stop and also my favourite, as it had soul and simplicity. My two wine purchases were at the first and last wineries, as they both ticked these two boxes.  And ps they both had great names…Francesco and Avalon. After a few appetite inducing tipples, the gnocchi fiesta at Pizzini proved worthy of being on our itinerary. Serenaded in Italian as we were eating our gnocchi...little piece of heaven right there.  And we both showed impressive restraint when it came to consumption of wine and food. We had our fix: cannoli, prosecco  and not to mention being pursued by cute boys at bocce J Ah, the Italians really do have it figured out...a sweet life is found in joy. There was no fast food here. It was cooked with love by the nonnas in the kitchen, the wine made with grapes that were sun kissed and then harvested at the right time. There is a strong scent of love wafting through the hills that enclose this beautiful valley.

Roses are one of my favourite flowers, particularly so as they remind me of my beloved nonna. Her roses gave her joy. It buffered her from the elements of life that at times aren’t as blissful. I discovered that roses in vineyards serve as protection for the vines. When the roses are attacked, that’s the warning sign to cover the fruits of one’s labour.

And I love that idea that something beautiful like a rose serves to protect something as precious as one’s livelihood but also one’s passion. We could all do with a buffer in life, or even a few. Something as simple as the smell of a newly blossoming rose or as complicated as stepping outside of your comfort zone by trying new things.

Salute to the Italians, for reminding us to celebrate life.