The Witness

Sometimes, as we stand at the point of an observer can be quite interesting.
Today, when i passed by a supermarket...

There were people looking at the red- blood cherries,

There were people picking them into bags.

There were others looking at the people scanning through the cherries,

There were some others standing outside the supermarket

observing the others who were looking at people who were 

browsing at the cherries.

I was walking by witnessing,

the doer, the observer( including myself) and the subject.

What a moment:) 

sukha and dukha

Shirly was sharing with me about sukha and duhka many months back. A conversation on making wise decision and how our decision that we acted upon can affect us and the people around us. Each of us contains a ball of great energy that radiates, our thoughts, actions and speech ripples from inside out.

Yesterday, i received an emailer written by Ekthan Easawaran, a short and sweet notes on sukha ( please, comfort, bliss) and duhka ( pain, sufferings, unsettled) that i would like to share it here:)

"As human beings, we have been born with the capacity to make choices. No other creature has this capacity, and no human being can avoid this responsibility. Every day, whether we see it or not, we have a choice of two alternatives in what we do, say, and think.

These alternatives are: what is pleasant and what is beneficial. The first pleases us now. The second may be unpleasant at the beginning, as anyone who has begun a physical fitness program knows; but it will improve our health and contribute to our peace of mind.

Both choices promise satisfaction. One we get immediately, but it comes and goes; the other requires effort, but its benefits stay with us and often benefit those around us as well."

Instead of making a smart decision, why not a wise one?

In the midst of waits...

The dawn has gone, the dusk has arrived;

The baby birds has grown and fly away from their nest;

The petals has fallen, the flower withered;

The the time flows by without the ticks of the clock.

My hair has turned grey, teeth has dropped;

Skin has wrinkled, like a train tracks running on my face;

My body is weakened, my smile is strong;

Seconds has passed like the flowing river.

The seed has merged, the roots are deepen;

Trees has grown, fruits are bear;

The rain departed, the rainbow arrived;

You are still here, stringing and un-stringing the guitar.

Has the tune gone with the wind?

 

Share your scripture!

When i registered myself for the Yoga teaching program, i was given two books---basic philosophy of yoga.
I went blank when i started flipping through the pages. What! How could i possibly understand all these stuff?
When i read upon one of the practice is--- svadhyaya. I googled it and it explains: study of the Vedic scriptures. All my excitement of going to the program zoomed straight down the drain. Scripture.. sounds tough!

Do all Buddhists read the traditional scripture?
Do all Christians flip through the bibles?
Do all Muslim understood the Koran?
I don't know.

I can share with you my own little library of "scriptures study"...

It can run from Yoga Sutra by TKV Desikchar and Bhagavad Geeta by Ekanath Easwaran ( introduced by my teacher), to random pages and lines from the Bible, to articles  in the Yoga Journal from teachers all over the globe, to eye-opening readers' digest, to beautiful true reflection by Mitch Albom, to the tasty novels by Paulo Coelho, to the ever- inspiring quotes by Robin Sharma.

"Scripture reading" is like zooming in an area on a map we're going to explore. It may not be a substitute in self- exploration, but it helps in familiarise the area we want to travel into--- by reading others' experiences. 

Sometimes, i find myself flipping the same books or reading them repeatedly-- each time i learn new things from the same old lines. That i allow it to sit deeper in my heart, to share it with others and enact it in my life.

Scriptures can be any good read that matches our path and direction--- and able to lead and bring us to where we want to go. Reading those works that speak to our true nature.

Often we find that statements or concepts that we couldn't understand, or had no use for when we first read them, may come alive days or months or even years later, as the circumstances of our lives confirm their messages.

* with reference from Meditation from the Mat by Rolf Gates and Katrina Kenison

Loka~ Samasta..

Something keeps going in my head, and it goes...

Loka~Samasta~

Sukhino Bhavantu.

( its extracted from a closing mantra of  the practice)

On and off in random, i find myself singing this two sentences whenever i gave myself some space for a daze. Just only, it lullabies in my ears again... so i decided to share it here:)

To translate it to English from the original language in Sanskrit:

May all beings everywhere be happy and free,

and may the thoughts, words, and actions of my own life contribute in some way to

that happiness and to that freedom for all.



This little mantra reminds me of all other past conversations, events and people i'd met these years. Never anyone is a wasted experience. In any random days, we can't possibly get to meet all nice people; that i've got myself feeling really down after attending class with a teacher i may not really like; or meeting a student in the class who's constantly trying to press my red button...

And i learn that i myself is also flawed in perfection--- that there are still work to get down on to be done.

All those grudges that i carried on my back from previous days, i need to put them down; to free them and myself one day.

All in all, we're standing on the same location; we are the reflection of one anothers' flaws--- at the same time recognising our blind spots too.

Shirly told me once which i could not disagree more than anything, " Through you, i see the monster inside me. Thank you."

Enjoy the finer things in life...

Enjoy the finer things in life, or rather--- refine the things in life.

If you are thinking of going for an upscale lifestyle, bombing a hole in the pocket.... uh-uh, don't get me wrong. We can learn the "art of refine" starting from our breaths. Yes! Why not?
Putting the yoga practice of Pranayama ( life-force expansion technique) aside for now, i am referring to just pure in and out breaths. Like what you are doing now.

If you were to close your eyes, check that our initial breathing pattern is just like eating in a market place and food courts. Random, maybe trying to catch an extra breath or so. Roughly cut, making some noise at the nostrils.

Stay there longer, still observing---- we are now dining at a cafe. The breaths relax, slows down a little for a cuppa. Few deliberate forceful breaths to push the air way down the lungs, releases the tightness from within---  just like smelling the aroma of the coffee bean.

Linger there for a while more, bring the focus to laser beam. The breaths slowly become more refine. That as if you can breakdown each ingredients of the smell, dividing the atoms one by one.Just like enjoying a 12- course of fine-dining. We aim for the quality of each breath, flowing through really gently and smoothly.

This is a luxury. To be able to enjoy our breath. To really appreciate the reason of our presence, to not neglect and take it for granted for the tools given by birth.

Honour the breaths every morning before we even open our eyes--- that we're given another chance to make ourselves a better person.
Pray gratitude to the breaths every night before we even close our eyes--- for the support it has given us for the whole day. That we can still do the things we want to do, creating a better days for the others and ourselves.

Evey breath is a second chance given to us. Take them wisely.

Ever since i'd heard a man wheezing for his breaths behind me while i was at a bus- stop; 3 years ago.  I then realise that breaths is what keep us here. When we abuse or neglect it, we're pushing them away from us. Breaths, is the underlying reason for our presence. No matter how different human race want to be--- the fact that we're breathing---- we're same in unity.

Yoga--- mystical power?

" So, does practising yoga gives you psychic power, like those masters staying in the Himalayas skilled with those mystical power?"

Nope, at least not for now. I can't turn atoms into gold chain, i can't elevate my butt off the ground, i can't pour a cup of drink just by staring at it. Not any power from the X-men.
But, yoga practices do allow me to become more sensitive, towards myself and others.

Each of us represent a little piece from a jig-saw puzzle. What many of us are doing is trying to re-shape this little piece, so that it can fit anywhere. We are not universal, we are part of the universe. There's just one empty space waiting for us to fit in, to complete the whole puzzle.

We are once or still living in denial. Its a sweet fantasy to stay in there. A believe that we want to take on, and trying so hard to not be ourselves. Finding some comforts in this little struggles. Because we fear. We fear of disappointment towards ourselves for not keeping up with the game.

Yoga practice does not give me any mystical vision. All it does, is by revealing to me everyday, every second, every breath about who i really am. Each step forward in practice is a step inwards, "oh... this is it."

Initially, there's always a strong refusal to admit our deed, who likes confrontation anyway?
But as we learn to relax into our truth moment by moment, breath by breath, posture by posture... the need to pretense starts to fall away. We gently sheds layers of illusions we present to the world.

Soon, we learn to be honest with ourselves--- that we can just be who are already are. 

Do i have the patience to wait till the mud settles and the water is clear? Sometimes when i got myself in a puddle of mud, i deny that there is such thing as clear water. When i am in the mud for too long, i got so used to it... and see mud water as clear.

Time will reveal all... to the point when i am struck by the need to sift through layers of illusion, blame, fear, and manipulation to get what i really need to say in a given situation.

No more hiding.

No friend, No foe

Today, during a morning chat with my papa... we talked about the people in his workplace--- in a very dramatic way. He acted out comically, that there are some people we can be close to, but not all. And this, we need to brush on " discrimination skill".

Yoga sutra mentions this as : Viveka or discrimination power.
By noting this, i am not supportive of discriminate against human race--- barriers of skin colours, languages, castes, races, religions, status, family backgrounds, educational level, income...etc.
But going beyond.

Not being friend is not equivalent to making a foe. See the fact that--- some friends make us a better person, some don't. Some friends enable us to see ourselves more, some pull us away from the truth. The fine line that divides--- discrimination power.
 Its probably just not the right time to make any connection with them at the moment. Maybe later.

The best example i can quote to explain Viveka is:

The hardest thing to do is--  not to give something to someone you wish to give.
Sometimes when we see street beggars; its always on a compassionate impulse that we want to give them some cash, so that they can buy some food to fill up their stomach for the day.

But, a second thought enters--- we pull back. Not because we are cold hearted by ignoring or shooing them away. Because we may just encourage them to beg more, that begging can be a way of survival. And their children would probably follow through next time.

This is when we can practice Viveka here. Acting not on symptoms, but the root. That how our choice can make either make them better or worse.

We don't have to go against what others are doing, let them be. Neither friend nor foe... just as it is.

i've got a couple of really close mates whom i grew up with. Instead of " sweet nothings", they uncover me with very "blunt and direct" words. We laugh like witches and cry horribly together. Though we are all doing very different things in life, we support and respect one another on a common values and grounds. thanks mates!

Why Sequencing is important?

When i was just a started practising yoga, i've never give much thought about sequencing. That's the job of the teacher anyway, and i just have to follow through. Later to realise that some practice guided me smoothly and confidently into poses; however some others seemed like a bumpy rides.

Let say, if the final pose is to move into a Wheel Pose (back bend). All other poses before is a preparation work for this pose. Maybe, open the shoulders, gentle extension of the spine, forward fold to counter rest, more chest opening... and eventually to enter Wheel Pose confidently and comfortably.

Instead of, doing random poses, whichever looks interesting to do. And jump into a Wheel Pose--- which may invite more fear and tension to the body, or uninvited injuries.

When i started teaching, i soon to see the importance of sequencing. Not only applies in classes, but in anything that we are doing. Everyone of us has got a goal, and a plan to follow through. We don't have to look too far to see if we're getting nearer or further to the goal, just check out the habits and activities we're engaging now. It's all enough said.

Sequencing our thoughts and activities helps to guide ourselves to a directed path. We know that each action we take is for the good. That our next act should lead us closer, with more confident when moving into something bigger. Our tongue loves to shoot out promises, plucking from the moon and the stars. But our behaviour and next act already tells us if we're directing ourselves to closer or further away from our promises.

I was attending " Sequencing Backbendings" by Rodney Yee and Colleen Saidman; its a click of reminder for me that there are plans we still need to follow through with discipline and faith. Though our mind likes to suggest otherwise, for the surge of excitement, but our heart is rooted to the truth.

" Ask yourselves. Where are you directing yourselves to... at the things you are doing RIGHT NOW?
Are you moving closer or further? We have to check constantly, we have to know clearly where we are leading to... beacause nobody else will."

Sweetness of falls

Arm balancing is like a sweet- desert i enjoy in practice. Initially i was attracted to the satisfaction of getting up there, and the thrills of falling down repeatedly. Slowly, as all these peel away; i appreciate the comfort of resting in an arm balance.

The most painful fall for arm-balance was when i was trying to get up into a Crow pose. I was so determine to just fly up there; i placed a cushion in front of me... and i fell hardly through the cushion and hit on my lips. For a moment, i thought i was going to lost my front tooth!

Frightened, i was very. Ironically, this fall had not pull me away from the pose. Instead, i practice with more wisdom than just pure ego-ness. I learn how to foresee a fall if it has to happen, and how to save myself from it. I accepted that failing is part of the whole lesson; and having to stand up back again and again makes me stronger.

Whether its a crow, scorpion or handstand, there's always process of repeated falls, countless picks up back again... till eventually we when we learn how to draw complete focus to laser beam within, bore through all distraction and doubts, we reach a comfort in such instability. When we decided to drop all other things to just gather all the strength to our deep core line.

Its an amazing feeling where i could not get from standing on both feet. The equilibrium between falling front, sides and back... that i don't any other things but the centre point.

Just like in life, be it our falls happen because we tripped or someone pushes us; we wipe our tears, stand up and keep moving forward. And in that darkness, we learn how to stretch out our arms to helping- hands whom are willing to give us a boost. Thus, i would like to thank all the falls i got myself into, that deliver painful but genuine lessons.

"Our greatest strength lies not in never failing, but in rising each time we fall" - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Temptations

"Yes" is a nice word we all like to use. Of course, if we can, we would probably want to say "Yes" to everything. But every "Yes" comes with many "No".

The point that we are right here, now... is because we'd said "No" to all other things; for the "Yes" to choose to do what we are doing now. The question is, how strong is our "Yes"?
There's always those moments our mind will want to test how strong our faith can be, trying to pull us down. And we need to appreciate that by saying "No" even to ourselves give us a leap forward.

Are we willing to give all other things up just to do be here? Are we willing to let go of all other things to be just committed to this "Yes"?

A stones collector gave up all his collections just for this gem..