If there are three things we could want for ourselves, let it be Serenity of Mind, Clarity of Words and Keeping the Body Clean and Healthy.

The practise of yoga is entered into by developing personal and social norms, followed by the repetition of asana practise until stability, strength and flexibility, poise in daily posture is developed.  Soon the voice becomes soft, as the glandular system becomes balanced and with this a level of self-restraint and a general state of dispassion for what was previously so important to the ego.

Yoga is a tool towards wholeness.  A way to collect ourselves.  It forms a backdrop, a once-melody, to which we can dance a thousandfold dances, in expressing and the search of knowing oneself on deeper levels.  It is in these deeper levels of understanding of self that we develop true self-compassion and true self-love.  This enable us to give to others from a deeper place without any expectations or attachments.

There certainly is many forms or ways to come closer to oneself.  Yoga is free from religion or dogma and renders tools towards all levels of personal well-being, the structure of a healthy society and towards harmony and peace.  It is the ancient documentation of how to make life, every breath, every motion an expression of art – conscious and liberated at the same time.

yogena cittasya pdena vacam

malam sarirasya ca vaidyakena

yo’pakarot tam pravaram muninam

patanjalim pranjalir anato’smi

abahu purusakaram sankha-crakra-asi-dharinam

sahasra-sirasam svetam pranamami patanjalim

When things get worse

When stars collide

When peace falls upon

When oceans seize their ohm

When exquisite is stepped upon

endurance prevails

whilst

the open heart bleeds

It is Devali – fireworks and families gathering for the festive season. I sit on my bed in padmasana. It is time to go to sleep, but impossible with the deafening noise of fireworks. Had a practise and pranayama, followed by back bending at the Shala this morning. Sanskrit and Philosophy has been cancelled. Tomorrow we’ll be back to a full day schedule ending with an observation on Acharya Venkatesh, as he teaches a class. Must say, being in a room where yoga is happening, is my favourite place to be……no matter how long the day was, I love sitting there on the cotton mat watching……it is like drinking sweet water…..Today, I had the most awesome day in the streets of Mysore. On returning home, a feeling of joy, enough to last me for another two lifetimes, is what I felt. The origin of this joy belongs to my children. I am the mother of the three most beautiful spirits. My joy is that their spirits chose me to be their mother. As I’m writing, memories flash through my mind of our times together. They have shaped me and loved and confronted and protected and…and .. and… never have we been uninvolved or un-loved with one another. Yet, there is so much space between us and also no space at all. It goes beyond the relationship or impact we had on each other. Or the fruits of us ever meeting. It is purely about honouring them for who they are. That is my Anahata Nada on this day.And my wish for my children: “To those who worship with a single-minded devotion, who are in harmony with their Creator every moment, I bring full security. I shall supply all their wants and shall protect them forever.”

In the words of BKS Iyengar: “The life of an ordinary man is filled with an unending series of disturbances and frustrations and with his reactions to them. Thus there is hardly any possibility of keeping the mind in a state of equilibrium. The sadhaka has developed the capacity to remain satisfied with whatever happens to him. Thus he obtains peace to take him beyond with what our world is saturated. Everything he really needs will come to him by itself at the proper time.”

All great people had a single-minded devotion.

May Tapas never burn out for anyone of us…

Asmita – am I this am I that who am I if I no longer do the things I used to do?

In modern society we often find ourselves having 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 your 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 clear Self reflection that reflects back at the Self from a calm, clear lake becomes rippled and distorted. Thought patterns and analysis like this is mostly driven by fear or the search for love and acceptance and opportunities in a materialistic world.

Only when the mind is stilled can one reflect on one’s own beauty.  It is not about labels in a hat.  Rather about dropping down 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.  Experiences, the understanding and knowing is what lessens the ego and breaks down the walls that prevents clear compassion, for ourselves and others.  We are all on this journeys, individually and collective.

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)

If ever you go

To Champs Elysees

Or plan to cross

The English Channel

Or just go for a stroll

Or even stay home

Let me know

I want to go with you

For now

In my mind, heart and soul

For now

In your mind, heart and soul