Learning to unlearn, to learn.

Whenever i lead an instruction to a cobra pose, this student would later let out a sigh. I would apply the same adjustment on the same cobra pose for the same issue. This is habit. In this pattern, i could foresee the arriving adjustment i'd to do.

I later pull back my adjustment, but pointed out verbally about her mistake. Every time when i reminded her about the same point, she would reveal some irritation on her face. This time, when entering the cobra pose once again, i kept quiet. Interestingly, her face frowned a little and made the adjustment herself.

She released the pose and told me, " Aiya! I kept making the same mistake. Adeline, you know why i keep doing cobra like this? I learnt it in a class last time, the teacher did not make any adjustment in the class, and i did  not know i was not doing the correct thing.
And now, i have to unlearn everything and learn it again."

Interesting. Very few of us realize the habits that we're in until we see something else. But then again, even if we know, how many of us are willing to put that much of the effort to make it right?

Learning is one thing, learning to unlearn makes a whole lot of difference in our learning journey.            

When unlearning, we're also stepping backwards to the place where we first started--- and bringing in new knowledge.

Its very OK to doing things right slowly, instead of doing things wrong quickly. If we fail to get it right previously, then make it right this time.

What's there to rush anyway?

Competitions

Competitions, why do we want to get involve in it? 

Some take competition as Bulls- Fighting and others as Education. 

The hair- line of difference: Attitude 

Competition is another way of presenting fear. We reveals them unknowingly.

The reflection of fear is ego. 

The fear of not having enough.

The reflection of fear is greediness. 

The greed of never is enough.

We compete with a thought of monopolization.

A world that we can control and manipulate;

its a world of power. 

Is that true?

Its a world of desires.

That's why competitions are striving so well today.

Tell me, where is the point of joy in competition? 

I can't see them.

Things that can be get hold of through competition,

is not worth getting any.

Things that can be get hold of not through competing,

are worth sharing them. 

How's your practice going?

The question starts... so, how is my practice going? Beginners, intermediate or advanced?

As our practice goes, for weeks to months, from years to a lifetime... how do we gauge our level of practice? Sometimes, i find this as the easiest and challenging question to answer.

In these days of how yoga has been modernized by the cities, many take the performance of poses as a benchmark. A person who touches the toes in a forward bend does not make him/her any superior than the person who can barely bend forward. 

Asana practice, is just one aspect of the whole system of the yogic practice. However, our asana practices helps us by keeping an indication of our spiritual progress in life.

As Don Peers says: Practice loses its point if it is not reflected in how we live our life. 

The real practice starts only when we step out of our mat, carrying the same attitude as we are having while on the mat. 

How is your life going? That tells us how has our practice been going. 

Happiness and a sense of well- being wholesomeness form the core of yoga--- when they are growing in you and your life, you know you are on the right path.

Find the connection between your practice and your life, and break away from samsara. 

What do you see in the mirror?

Reflection...

Do you like the person you see in the mirror?

Are you even comfortable to rest your gaze on this person?

I look at the girl inside the mirror everyday,

someday i like what i see, someday i don't.

I can lie to any others, but not her.

I can hide from any others, but her.

The girl inside the mirror tells me the truth.

I said that the truth is really ugly;

she said i made it ugly--- truth is just being itself.

however harsh it may be, 

it never fails to keep me grounded.

Do right, and fear no men.

Do right, and hide from none.

Do right, and look into the mirror without a drop of shame.

We choose to get injure, don't we?

I've got this little scarring of the deep tissue muscles in my right hip. It has been following me since last year, and has not throw in any white flag yet. I would not take it as any major injuries, but i do believe that it will somehow snowball if i ignore it.

I am quite sure it was the cause of my ego-ness and ignorance, and over stretched myself earlier in my days. And now, the repercussion of my deeds come knocking on my door.

Injuries causes our muscles to tense up more than before--- due to the after- effect -shock. And it create a sense of fear mentally, that our nervous system turn on " fighting" mode to protect. 

Opening the old wound takes a lot of courage, soothing the wound takes a lot of patience. All i did for the therapy practice was to counter stretch, and i was soaking wet with sweats. It took that much effort just to ease of the discomforts.

We choose to get injure. Yup, it sound total ridiculous--- yes, we invited them.
Injury happens when we lack of focus and allow ourselves to get drifted off by external distraction;
we do things because of ego, and pushes ourselves over the limit with a snap!
we reject the whole idea of self- inquiry and prefer to be the ignorant ones;

And thus, injury enters our life to offer us some lessons.
If not for this irritable discomfort living in my hip, i would not go about understanding how to practice safely, that to break away from the tangle of ego-ness in my practice, and taking myself as a case study to eventually pass on this knowledge to the people.

Though you are a pain, but i appreciate you as ever.

Food for summer time!

The summer in this year round has been fabulously strong. I am pretty much overdosed with Vitamin D; and i'm having a huge summer time with my body system too. My tummy has gone hay-wire these days. Any stimulating meal in the day, would keep me flipping into sleepless night ( yes... insomnia) and frequent loo visits.

Chili.... toilet. Curry... toilet. Even cold drinks... toilet. Phew!

I requested for porridge, porridge and more porridge for dinner now. Simple food, does not need to be bland and boring. Here's what you can prepare at home:

Survival food--- Sweet potato Porridge

Instead of just having bland watery plain porridge.... bring in some sweet potatoes to the bowl. ( Yup, just like what our great- great- great grandparents ate to survive the war time.) It helps to add in some natural sweetness to the porridge too!

* please do also add in few small pieces of ginger slices---anti- human "gas bomb".

you can choose to eat them as prepared. I like to smash all the sweet potatoes and mix them with the porridge, its much sweeter this way:)

The Coolest Veg.

Hey yes, Its the cucumber! Our best friend in summer...!

We can consume them the conventional way. Raw. Sliced. Why not cook it, it taste as good too!

Keep the cooking process really simple: cucumber + little oil + little garlic + stir fry

Its a real juicy dish!

Simple ingredients. Simple cooking. Happy tummy.

Thanks to Yogi Cook ( my mum), she started the sweet potato porridge long time back, but i did not really give it a second look at that time. Thumbs up to her integrity for all these years: never give in to her basic principle in the kitchen. Clean ingredients, less oil, less salt... keep it simple!  

When outside food makes us sick.... simple home- cook food is actually all our tummy is asking for:)

 

Do the ground work & Rise with grace

Its pretty comical to see people start to dance and hoping around their mat--- refusing to let go of their grip on their toes in the mid-air, frowning their browns, determine to catch their balance somehow.

So, what's the deal for balancing pose? 

What's not keeping us in balance?  Many times is just simply that we're focusing on the wrong area to ask for a balance. Let's say: Grip your right toes with your right hand, and balance on the left feet. 

Where's do we draw energy from to give us the strength?

Try it yourself now, and check it out how you react in this situation!

Commonly, we tend to stare hard at the feet that we are gripping, and trying to get ourselves to the center point. But ended up dancing around, following where our feet wants us to go. Sometimes, it just feels like getting lead by a dog.

The whoo- haa is... we're looking at the wrong feet to ask for a good balance. 

Yes, its the boring standing left feet--- working really hard to root itself to the ground. Try this pose again, but this time... have your focus to the standing leg instead. Not literally looking down, but just put your mind and attention on the standing leg.

The standing feet is the only base that is closely in contact with the earth. Drawing energy from the earth upwards create a lightness at the top--- thus bring us a step closer to the mid-point. I would like to image myself in a standing balance pose... as to like a big tree standing firmly and strongly on its own... even a gush of strong wind comes by... i sway with the wind.... without affected the deep-rooted stance.

Balancing poses has so much to offer--- not only on the mat, but also valuable life lessons. Every fall gives us a space for self encouragement and patience. That we build a firm foundation on the standing heels, and a strong, spacious and elegant pose will grow--- instead of relying the feet flying in the mid-air as a pillar.

Interestingly, yoga teaches us that--- in life, its always that we create illusions for ourselves, and we often bring our mind to these illusions for solutions. When we learn to break free from this sheath of illusion, the solution is there waiting for us to touch. 

The flying feet creates the problem... the rooted heels provides the answers. Happy balancing! 

Starbucks of the day: Decaf Venti Latte

Something for us...s dreamers

The human catalysts for dreamers

are the teachers and encouragers  that dreamers

encounter throughout their lives.

So here's a special thanks to all the 

teachers.

~ Kevin Carroll, guest

Starbucks of the day: Venti Americano

Follow your madness

Let go your sadness, give up the fight,

follow your madness and take flight...

take flight.

~ Seal, musician

Starbucks of the day: Short Americano

Keep it moving!

"Everyday is a leap of faith."

~ Lizz Write, musician

Starbucks of the day: Decaf Grande Cuppucino

Who says life's boring?

Imagine we are all the same,

Imagine we all agree about politics, religion and morality.

Imagine we like the same type of music, arts, food and coffee.

Imagine we all look alike. Sound boring?

Differences need not divide us.

Embrace diversity. Dignity is everyone's human right.

~ Bill Brummel, documentary film maker

Starbucks of the day: Grande Caramel Macchiato

Commit with a heart that leads...

The irony of commitment is that it's deeply liberating-

in work, in play, in love.

The act frees you for the tyranny of your internal critic,

from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around

as rational hesitation.

To commit

is to remove your head as the barrier to your life.

~ Anne Morrise, cuupa lover from NYC

Starbucks of the day: Grande Skim Latte

You are beautiful, just the way you are

They told you that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

What they failed to tell you is that what you  look like isn't important.

What is important is who you are inside and that choices

you are making in your life...

~ Tiana Tozer, paralympic basketball-er 

I want to come Home...

The people who used to shunned off by the word yoga; who reasoned out that this is not my kind of stuff; who can't stand to believe that there's so much more to those visually simple to perform poses... at their darkest time, when they have never been so loss before--- realizing themselves going no else where. but moving closer to the yoga mat.

Many yoga teachers and gurus gives very very little advice to all sort of questions and problems the student asked. Sometimes i think that they are "stingy" with their answers, it just as though nothing can be dig out from them. Then again, there's no point explaining so much--- Just keep going back to your mat and practice. Everything will be just fine. 


I've come across quite a handful who decided to turn to yoga practice, after equipping themselves with full knowledge of dealing with different hospitals and clinics around the island. 


The practice of yoga has been put off as the last resort by many. We seek help from the doctors, from therapists, from advisers, from consultants of different specialization, from psychiatrist, whoever is available--- only when the body is tired, the mind is drained, the emotion is exhausted... we thought of yoga. That we decided to stop listening the others; that we yearn for a rest, listen to ourselves and starting to make our way back Home.

At the end of the day, whatever problem we created outside, we solved them at Home.

Taking up yoga practices does not just mean by enrolling into a class. But its a good start. Keep going back to the mat, dig deeper... and you'll find your way home.

Does cause- and -effect ever exist?

Talking about karma, can be really tricky. I am surprise by how this topic can be interpret into various religion belief. It may be adopted, but not created.

If i used the Sanskrit "karma" and "Samara" --- some may relate it as Hinduism or Buddhism belief. Also, the

But, if i used it simply in English " action or deed" and " cause and effect"--- it become more of a western practice. Christian concept of reaping what you sow from Galatian 6:7.
Both are the same.

It doesn't matter whether we believe that whether there's such a thing, but it is happening right without our consent. The very thing we are doing right now represent an act or a string of action--- "karma" and "deeds"
If Samara or "cause and effect" does not exist--- then why are we still doing what we are doing now? Since it will not produce any result anyway.

Let me quote a simple example:

Why do we eat? 

Because we are hungry, we need energy. ( cause)

What happen after we eat?

No more hunger, and we got body energy ( effect)

And this event is a cycle of action ( Samara)

" I  work hard because i want a better life..." ( this is cause and effect)

When doing good deeds, like charity, we want to believe that cause and effect does exist--- because the result is favorable. 

When doing bad deeds, like stealing, we deny that it exist--- because the result is unfavorable.

We get restricted by our own believe.

In the cycle of Samara and karma, there's not categories of positive or negative--- everything is neutral. You plant seed A, you bear fruit A. If you plant seed B, you bear fruit B.

The works of nature does not need our consent, because we are operating as part of it.  

When we create something, we eventually need to dissolve it. 

Creation- Preservation- Dissolution, that the basic cycle we are living with each day. We can choose not to recognize it, but the cycle moves on.

Don't have to be a Yogi. Never a Bogi.

It is very interesting that as others see people who practice yoga to be peaceful and calm. It is even more interesting to see how people who are practicing yoga trying to appear be zen and serene.

Because we all know that yoga does make us a happier person--- and we should always smile, no matter what happen--- because we want to live up to people's expectation of yoga, we want to live up to the reputation of yoga created by sages 5000 years ago, we want to follow religiously on what the scripture stated--- therefore, i am a good yogi!

For a second thought, is it true? Once we step onto the yoga mat, do we transform from a barbarian to an angel? That we can already reap the harvest of calmness without sowing seeds and plowing the land first?
Most people devote themselves to regular yoga practice, because they have tasted the speechless flow of peace in the last pose ( corpse pose) of their first lesson. This touch of yoga is unforgettable.

This pure sweetness marks the starting point of a life marathon. The decision to take up the practice--- is a decision to open our inner- doors to face challenges--- a choice to do a massive cleaning- up of ourselves.
As the level of awareness increases, the amount of challenges and struggles follow; taking true knowledge to overcome year-long ignorance.
So, how calm can these people be?

Sometimes, i would think that the ignorant crowds are happier people. They lead days with pleasures, using whatever resources they have to the last bit, living in a world of fantasy illusions, casting all troubles away by not acknowledging them, choose not to know too much about themselves and the environment, who cares anyway?

To start yoga is not difficult, to maintain the practice is tough--- that's where the sweats begin to pour, to drift away from the practice is as easy as ABC.
Getting all frustrated, depressed, happy, disappointed, excited, bored.... there are so much to learn from all these emotions. There's no point pretending that yoga has made us zen- it- all, when we are not.
Pull up your selves, be prepared to get dirty and start cleaning!

Practice with truthfulness.

When started practicing yoga, we become more conscious of how others may look at us. When the practices get deepen, it doesn't matter how people look at us---- but how we look at ourselves. When there's no point fulfilling others' appetite, and pretend to be a yogi.


Yes, yoga does make us a happy person when we put in effort for long- lasting happiness, by forgoing short term pleasures. Not all practicing are enjoyable, some can be really annoying--- nevertheless, it teaches us not to destruct ourselves.   


We don't have to be a Yogi. But, never a Bogi.
Live truthfully.