Yogafly2

Moving to the Yoga of Sound, Austin, TX Workshop

This workshop will be introduced at the lovely Yoga Yoga North in Austin, Texas - on Sunday, February 5th from 1:00 to 4:00 pm. The investment is $30 and you can register by calling 512-380-9800.

In the 3-hour retreat, we will begin chanting bija mantras or seed sounds - and feeling the effects of the mantras as we sit and chant. The bija mantras relate to the seven chakras or seven major energy fields in the body. Manorama explained that chanting them is like planting seeds in each chakra -which then open and blossom for each practitioner in his/her own way. Divine seeds.

These seed sounds include:
OM
AIM
HRIM
KLIM
DUM
GAM
PHAT
SWAHA

Each one represents a diety, goddess or god. We will explore the deeper meanings behind each of the dieties - and how each one can become a friend that represents all of the energies that make up the body/mind/spirit.

In the asana portion of the class, we will introduce the 5 main Anusara principles of alignment - 1) Open to Grace 2) Muscular Energy 3) Inward Spiral 4) Outward Spiral 5) Organic energy into your favorite asanas as further refinement to your practice.

And to integrate the chanting and asana - we will find what it's like to be most superbly aligned for your individual body, chant the seed sounds and feel the effects of the vibrations created.

Please Register by calling 512-380-9800 and registering for Move to the Yoga of Sound on February 5, 2006.

Art as Life, Life as Art

...Early this morning your long letter, with all your
thoughts...Surely all art is the result of one's
having been in danger, of having gone through an
experience all the way to the end, to where no one can
go any further.  The further one goes, the more
private, the more personal, the more singular an
experience becomes, and the thing one is making is,
finally, the necessary, irrepressible, and, as nearly
as possible, definitive utterance of the
singularity...Therein lies the enormous aid the work
of art brings to the life of the one who must make it,
---:  that it is his epitome, the knot in the rosary
at which his life recites a prayer, the ever-returning
proof to himself of his unity and genuineness, which
presents itself only to him while appearing anonymous
to the outside, nameless, existing merely as
necessity, as reality, as being---.

So we are most definitely called upon to test and try
ourselves against the utmost, but probably we are als
bound to keep silence regarding this utmost, to be
aware of sharing it, of parting with it in
communication so long as it has not entered the work
of art:  for the utmost represents nothing other than
that singularity in us which no one would or even
should understand, and which must enter into the work
as such, as our personal madness, so to speak, in
order to find its justification in the work and reveal
the law in it, like an inborn drawing that is
invisible until it emerges in the transparency of the
artistic. ---Nevertheless there are two liberties of
communication, and these seem to me to be the utmost
possible ones:  the one that occurs face to face with
the accomplished thing, and the one that takes place
within actual daily life, in showing one another what
one has become through one's work and thereby
supporting and helping and (in the humble sense of the
word) admiring one another. 

But in either case one must show results (KL note:
results is italicized in the book, don't have this
choice on e-mail until I upgrade), and it is not lack
of trust or withdrawal or rejection if one doesn't
present to another the tools of one's progress, which
have so much about them that is confusing and
tortuous, and whose only value lies in the personal
use one makes of them.  I often think to myself what
madness it would have been for van Gogh, and how
destructive, if he had been forced  to share the
singularity of his vision with someone, to have
someone join him in looking at his motifs before he
had made his pictures of them, these existences that
justify him with all their being, that vouch for him,
invoke his reality.  He did seem to feel sometimes
that he needed such contact in letters (although
there, too, he's uaually talking of finished work)...

Rilke wrote these letters to his wife Claire

Austin, Texas Dates for Open Your Heart Anusara-Style

We're hosting this at Yoga and Talk in Austin, Texas. 

www.yogaandtalk.com

DATES and TIMES below:

Open Your Heart with Anusara-Style Yoga
4 week event (1 hour and 45 minute sessions)
$80 for all 4
$25 for each
Yoga and Talk
Limit 10

1st Session:  Saturday, February 4, 1:00 pm
Connect to the entire physical body
In this two-hour Anusara-inspired Vinyasa session - participants will
dive into connecting to the entire body - by understanding what the
"inner body" is made of and the energy that moves from your core to
the outermost tips of your fingers and toes.
This Vinyasa practice will integrate Anusara principles of alignment
seamlessly into the flow. Dive deep into your whole body in a
supportive and creative environment.

2nd Session: Saturday, February 11, 1:00 pm
Twist and Back Bend into Detox Bliss
Twists and back bends work deep into the nervous system - cleansing
and rejuvenating the entire spine and inner body. In this 2-hour
retreat - we will work with both active and restorative back bends to
help you re-energize your internal organs and viscera. We'll wash out
the "old" and bring in some light, new energy into your practice.

3rd Session: Thursday, February 16, 6:30 pm
Inversions and Arm Balance Immersion
Upside down and steady - is what we will practice throughout this 2
hour retreat into connecting the upper body dynamics with the lower
body, belly and core. Learn how to safely position yourself in
handstands, headstands, forearm stand, crow and other inversions and
arm balances using Anusara yoga principles handed down by John Friend
and the Anusara kula. Partner work will help you see more clearly into
your own body and support you in these powerful asanas.

4th Session: Saturday, February 18, 1:00 pm
Hip and Heart Openers
Soften into the heart, open up the hip muscles, pelvis and get to know
your own sweet hip and heart anatomies.  We will warm up the entire
shoulder and hip area so that you can get a more profound experience
of these parts of the body and how they serve you and all of your
relationships.  At the end of the 4th session, we'll integrate
everything we've learned from all 4 sessions into a home practice for
each student.

Hanuman Chaleesa

I just spent a few hours yesterday chanting the Hanuman Chaleesa with so many old and new friends at Dharma Mittra's yoga studio - it was pretty sublime.

Bhajelo Ji Hanuman!  Bhanjelo Ji Hanumaan!

O Friend, Sing the praises of Hanuman!

Shree Guru Charana saroja raja, Nija manu mukuru sudhaari

Having polished the mirror of my heart with the dust on my Guru's lotus feet

Baranaun Raghubara bimala jasu, Jo daayaku phala chaari

I sing the pure fame of the best of the Raghus, which bestows the Four Fruits of Life

(Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksha)

Buddhi heena tanu jaanike, Sumiraun pavana kumaara

Knowing this body to be devoid of intelligence, I recall the Son of the Wind

Bala budhi vidya dehu mohin, Harahu kalesa bikaara

Grant me the strength, wit, and wisdome to remove my sorrows and shortcomings

Seeyaavara Raamachandra pada Jai Sharanam

Hail the refuge of the feet of Sita's bridegroom, Ramachandra.