There is nothing new under the sun.  So the saying goes.  Indeed, technology contra verse this saying.  Now, we can rather say, there is nothing new, not written or expressed on the walls of the World Wide Web.  This is where all emotions, ideas, ideologies, education, experiences and trends manifests in today.  

There has been a womb of vulnerability in our community these past few weeks.

And, with the assassination of Charles Kirk, a broad, world wide vulnerability is permeating.  

Discussions whether his message was hurtful and hateful is treating online and among us. Yes, his message will leave a legacy. 

What is unveiled in this moment, is that Public Debate, to step out into a public space, with a personal view and conviction, is still not tolerated, just like it wasn’t in the times of Socrates in 399B.C.E whom was executed for corrupting the youth and his controversial debates in public spaces, posing a threat to political powers.

Today, Debate happens online and is broadcasted. Hateful messages.  Behind the facade of the Walls of the Web or the safety of a camera lens.

There still is nothing new under the sun in our real life.  Public Debate with a face, bravely facing the opponent in open space, is a matter of life and death.

Now is not the time to reminiscent on the message of Charlie Kirk and how his message contradict or hurt, even if true.  Now is the time to reminiscent on freedom of speech.  On freedom of public debate, not on TV or online, but in civilised spaces such of Universities, or coffee shops, communities. To take our faces, minds and hearts outside of the walls of our homes to express it where there is tolerance and freedom to do so. 

Civility, what happened to civility?  It lacks online in dogma and debate, where the messenger hide behind a screen.  It lacks on the city plains where the messenger gets shot.  

There’s opposing views throughout the ages. Freedom to all. To Live, Love, Pray or not pray, to express. Just as I want to be safe to be me, so does the other.

Public Debate is an ideal channel for connecting, discussing and to agree or disagree civilly.

Freedom.

Asmita – am I this

am I that

who am I

if I no longer do the things I used to do?

In modern society one often have to market oneself for just about anything and everything that we aspire to do. Be it professional, physical, mental or even in finding love–  you have to show yourself. Rip and analyse who you are. Is this the modern idea of self-knowledge? I believe it is. Pull labels out of a hat that suits your appearance – ones that validates the lines on your face and the clothes you wear, the food you eat and the entertainment you enjoy. And don’t forget your intelligence, after all –  who wants to be dull in the eyes of the judgmental beholder! Remember that you are always fun to be around. . …   .truthful and ever graceful just to put the cherry on top!

The above is the dense thought patterns that we sometimes fall trap to. It is limiting the Spirit that is whole and everything. This causes pain and submerges the mind. The simple Self reflection that reflects at the Self from a calm, clear lake becomes rippled and distorted. Thought patterns and analysis like this,  mostly driven by fear or the search for love and acceptance and opportunities in a materialistic world.

Only when the mind is still, can one reflect on one’s own beauty.  It is not about labels in a hat.  Rather about dropping into your own darkness, finding the seed of nothingness inside – the zero point of infinite possibilities, infinite compassion, infinite vibration.  The yogi is in constant self-study; in constant reflection. It takes discipline, a physical and spiritual fitness, to stay clear from chitta vrtti, from limiting oneself. By visiting the pain that Asmita (klesa) brings, the knowledge becomes the known. All lessons in life are valuable.  Knowing lessens and break the ego and the walls that prevents compassion.  We are all on this journeys, individually and collectively.

Fill the seat (asana) of your own nature – the Omni-Nature that is Prana, the Oneness that connects us all. Only then can Spirit be free to manifest from a Higher Consciousness. For we are Everything! I am not this (a South African, British, French…) nor that (a receptionist, lawyer, agent..),

I am willingly nothing

I am the world and I am not this world.  I am part of a collective play without becoming the story told.

(Photo by: Lettism, Little Theatre Yoga, 2012)

Valentine’s Day, a Day devoted to the Celebration of an Emotion – Love.

Emotions are evoked by stimuli to the nervous system from the senses and in the case of Love, it is directly related to an experience of Beauty and what is pleasant.

The vapours of freshly brewed coffee transmit sensations to the brain and the euphoria is further experienced with the enjoyment of taste – “I love coffee!” the sigh of satisfying the sense stimuli.  An octave – 8 simple notes gave the outlet to composers and musicians to create all the musicals and love songs ever written and there is a song for each and everyone of us to love and enjoy!  How pleasing is the touch of luxurious fabric on the skin, dressing up in a favourite garment!  How nourishing is the touch of a loved one and enticing is it to see and adore the beauty of the physical body, of a flower, blue sky, green grass, seamless rivers and unending oceans!

On Valentine’s Day, we bring our attention more so than always, to the appreciation and enjoyment of beauty and create a lovely atmosphere with family, friends or a special someone to enjoy time in good taste, feeling pleased, appreciated and Loved.

In “good taste” will mean different things according to culture, personal orientation, spiritual refinement.  Love is essential for physical, emotional and spiritual health and giving the emotion free range on Valentine’s Day, thus also comes with the responsibility seeded in freedom, of being aware not to bring harm to the wellbeing of Self or Others by distasteful overindulgence and to celebrate the emotion in line with what our ego’s tolerate.

Love and Beauty are elements of Purity.  Therefor, a cleanliness in intentions, thoughts and an attitude of placing the needs and ego of the loved one above one’s own, will result in a mutual sharing of what is comfortable and pleasing for both and a better balance between male and female energies, a healthier, moderated dependancy and identification with the coming and going emotions, also that of love.

In this way, we progress on the path of Divine Love, where a close relationship becomes one of surrender to the Beauty of Nature and accepting and welcoming of our interdependence and how we relate to Self, Others and basically every person, animal, plant we encounter.

It is innate to humanity to be inspired by the input received from our senses.  This results in emotions that spills over from the body, in the form of tears, laughter and creativity – painting or sculpting art, dance and daydreaming.

Modern day shows a lack of noticing and appreciating Love because it’s associated with the gross expressions thereof and because of living in a state of fear, isolation and ignorance.  We do not experience love because we are afraid to love yourself’ve.

Love is the simplicity and splendour of being natural, clean and conscious.

Wishing everyone a Valentine’s Day of purity, internal and outward, into society.  May you see your own beauty shinning from within.  May you step out and allow the joy’s of being, of seeing, smelling, hearing, touch and taste, of relationships and nature, to fill your Soul, inspire you and bring growth and inner calm in good taste and moderation.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

We make certain choices in our lives and then again there are inevitable things that enter our lives. This may come in the form of a person, an event or by the sheer influence of nature and changes in our bodies.

Often our instinct is to reject and get away from what is. We had a different vision, plan, dream or goal we were working towards.

If there is one lesson I have really learnt these past few months, it is the one of learning to stay even when you are where you never imagined being or want to be at.

This is how meditation also started out for me years ago. It was so difficult to sit with myself. I would, in the beginning, visualize myself sitting with a child I care deeply for, or even with the family puppy. I was afraid to be present for my life. I felt unloved, unsafe, betrayed, ignored with a loss of purpose. How long should one stay with these unpleasant emotions when they are more than just an emotion but a wound to the soul? The truth is that we have to stay for as long as it takes to cleanse and strip desires and the ego.

We really need to fall and stay down until we can rise in stillness and peace. We need to stay until we understand the depth of our own desires and what it was we longed for from another on a soul level. Stay until we are ready to move back into life, taking on roles again making wiser choices of what to leave behind and what to put back on spiritually, intellectually, in beliefs, in our dreams and aspirations. The only real purpose of life is the balance of heart mind. once desires is burned are we ready to find the deep innermost place of contentment, purpose no matter where we are.

I am so grateful that I stayed in my discomfort long enough.

A seed needs to fall and break open and wait for the rain.  Sometimes for years. And to grow is a dangerous and unforeseen journey for the seedling.

Patience, endurance, humbleness to accept, a belief in goodness and hope together with self-love and Love for Creation and all living beings brings a plant to fullest. Each one has been given his or her own experiences. Love what has happened to you.

Let go of desires that rob you from the moment, from making this moment a moment of Art. To Love is art in its purest form. Make every moment conscious – a moment of Art.  Stay, repeat, go back, revisit the uncomfortable until you settle into ease.

Learn to stay until you can embrace whatever it is that’s changing your inner landscape.

Hari Om

Our social world has changed forever – a change that has the seal of the dawn and rise of the Internet all over it. More so, our social structures have changed. A woman plays her vital role within marriage and family with her qualities of unconditional Love, tolerance and sacrifice, enriching and developing the wealth and wellness of her family. Then dawns the reality of Desires and betrayal of trust. This is followed by divorce, the only way to regain your life back. Consumed with the fire of possessiveness, the only force that remains to control the life of the one you have already taken for a ride all her life, is money. That is the power that remains.
Women are not protected by society or by law. This is only but one scenario and I can continue to add many many more. Greed is sometimes not obvious to people, even the ones living with the effects thereof. Greed is only one more offspring of fulfillmenting lust and power. One who got away with it, also gets use to it, and can no longer see the world differently or do different. This creates a strain in the mind, an alteration. Such a man looses his own value.
Lust , desire and wishing or craving for – or “Kama” is natural to being human. A man controls his desires with self discipline and social protocol and the sacred social contracts he has entered into.
Society needs to consciously go back to personal refinement and to applying social conducts, as the five yamas and niyamas, in the philosophy of yoga indicates it.
Mothers and woman, young and old, needs the shade and protection of their immediate families and of society at large. We are falling short, as humans, greatly.

Svadhyaya places the responsibility of learning on the shoulder of the individual.  Yoga is known as a “living philosophy” and the sadhaka (practitioner) sits at the feet of a guru (teacher).

Svadhyaya – or self-study – asks of a yogi to become a compassionate observer of Self.  To have devotion in aligning all of ones actions and non-actions to become balanced, of highest awareness and from this state of being, having a constant willingness to grow and learn and adjust to become more and more whole, more and more united from the inside out. This brings inner harmony and harmony with life and all of its experiences and difficulties.  It brings a higher understanding and a level of absorbing what is, without unnecessary illusions.  A quick and intelligent grasp of what is and what isn’t.    This process of reflection opens a gateway to living a life of divinity.  Constant reflection sharpens the intuition.  It brings a stability and fluidity of spirit.

Furthermore, Svadhyaya implies a continued effort towards self-education.  To seek the knowledge from sacred texts, from your guru, from reflecting on experiences to move away from ignorance and to gain more and more knowledge.  Experience and knowledge become the essence of your personal liberation from whatever it is that bonds or ties you down.  Svadhyaya is a never ending process with ongoing shifts in consciousness.  There is a beginning to this journey but no ending.

Learn, apply, adjust, grow.  Become more and more aware of every breath that you take, every motion you make, become completely contained and unscattered.  The asana practise is an undeniable tool in growing, with self-love as the basis, in self-awareness.  Off the mat, read with an eagerness and steadiness uplifting poetry and sacred texts.  Seek people that enhance your learning, a guru.  Love and Respect the experiences of life, even the difficult ones, Love and Respect the ones that give of their knowledge.  Honour the Ones before us, for the precious gifts of lessons learned and to be learned.

Tapas is a Sanskrit word meaning to burn, shine, suffer pain or to be consumed by heat.  Tapas can be applied on all levels of our existence, physically – the asana practice, completing a marathon or a tedious physical task.  It can also be the determination of a student over many years, to single pointedly become an expert on his/her topic.  It can also be applied to the Visuddha or purifying of speech and thought.

All of the above processes involves a certain amount of pain and suffering.  It is when the practitioner has a burning effort to achieve his/her goal, that this element of suffering turns from a red blazing flame, to a white purifying flame. Tapas is the basis of character building and turning your own life into a life of Love and dedication with purpose and a goal.  It is the vehicle to Self Realization and then taking the current down to Manifestation again.

A burning commitment is needed to find harmony and balance in both joy and sorrows, this in itself is a practise of Tapas, until the inner flame disappears into a white light.

Tapas gives one the characteristics of being straightforward, courageous, being exquisite in simplicity, having integrity, being trustworthy and wise.

Tapas brings an unshakable will and faith in the Unseen.

Celebrate your mind body and spirit with continued effort towards turning the flame white, from the inside out.