November 2024

IT’S NOT PERSONAL

Kindness, and compassion definitely are at the foundation of our practice. But make no mistake yoga practice will bash your ego. That’s how you know it’s real. An authentic and genuine practice will challenge every notion of ego: who you think you are and what you believe. This understanding alone will help one diminish any identification one has with being a victim. The ego can mire us in addictive victimhood to the extent that our lives become bereft of any lasting joy.

“If you blame someone else, there’s no end to the blame” -Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

Basically, anytime we find ourselves taking something personal, it is an indication that ego consciousness is running the show. Even if someone is coming directly at you, it’s not personal. Many sage teachers put a high value on getting humbled. Chogyam Trungpa said “the spiritual path is painful... it involves insult after insult” and Swami Sivananda said the highest yoga is to “bear insult and bear injury”. And Mother Theresa is famous for saying, “love them anyway”. When we identify with Soul or Self, we connect to that aspect of what we really are: indestructible, eternal. As stated in the Bhagavad Gita, the Soul: fire cannot burn it, time cannot age it, a knife cannot cut it, water cannot drown it.

“When somebody upsets me, that’s my problem” -Ram Dass

The equanimity we cultivate in our yoga practice; allowing ourselves to be lead in motion and breath, engaging in things that challenge us, taking personal responsibility for own happiness - to name a few - create an ease and flow with life. A great truth is discovered that no one has the power to make us unhappy or happy, unless we allow it. In other words, others are truly powerless and deserve none of the blame - so let them off the hook.

When His Holiness The Dalai Lama was asked if he was angry at the Chinese for invading Tibet - which included some of the most heinous acts known to humankind, like rape and murder, and where his personal flight of refuge from certain capture or death was to literally walk across the Himalayas, his response was, No, that’s not functional. And his life is a living example of this compassion.

Victor Frankl, author of Man’s Search for Meaning and Holocaust survivor, claims his survival in concentration camps came from humor, compassion towards his Nazi captors, and responsibility for his own actions to not see himself as a victim. In fact, it was only under these extreme conditions that allowed this truth to be discovered. Powerful.

In my own personal journey to not see my mother’s suicide as it personally effects me has allowed for immense self healing and has brought a depth of understanding that is at the very foundation of any effectiveness I may have as a teacher. Yoga has fostered this level of acceptance.

The reality is we all get hung up at times and can find it extremely hard to let go or at the very least, let it be. But we must. And why must we? Because when we don’t, we carry on the battle within ourselves that we project outward, that is at the very root of all conflict. We contribute to the chain of pain. We inherit it and in all fanfare pass it on to our younger generations. So to help us identify what may trip us up, the Satsang teachers and I had a powwow and came up with a list of things that we might take personally. Enjoy:

Any text or email, Death, Vegans, Cancer, Being called the wrong pronoun, Cancelled plans, Another’s bad mood, Leaving the seat up, Parents/kids, Saying or not saying hi, Stealing a parking space, Cursing, Being lied to, Chosen last, Being critiqued, Being complimented, Excluded from plans, People not showing up to class, Getting called out in class, Being unfollowed, Being ghosted, Trolls, Falling out of love, Gossip, Screaming, Political views, The universe, Mansplaining, Back seat drivers, Basically everything and the list goes on.

As the results of our tumultuous election cycle loom, let us embrace the compassion and forgiveness yoga fosters and resolve to be kind to ourselves and one another - no matter how awful and unforgivable our/their actions may seem. May our kindness allow us to rejoice in our individual connection to the abundant, resplendent source of the Soul.

In Yoga we dwell - Jeffrey

October 2024

FORCE OF LOVING KINDNESS

“You begin with yourself because without loving yourself
it is almost impossible to love others.” - Jack Kornfield

Last month we explored the truth that you are the most powerful instrument for change. This month we will practice loving kindness. Pure compassion towards oneself, in the words of The Tao Te Ching, “You reconcile all beings in the world” and when you “Love the world as yourself, then you can care for all things”.

A MEDITATION ON LOVING-KINDNESS - from the book, A Path With Heart by Jack Kornfield
“The quality of loving-kindness is the fertile soil out of which an integrated spiritual life can grow. With a loving heart as the background, all that we attempt, all that we encounter, will open and flow more easily. While loving-kindness can arise naturally in us in many circumstances, it can also be cultivated.

The following meditation is a 2,500-year-old practice that uses repeated phrases, images, and feelings to evoke loving-kindness and friendliness toward oneself and others. It is best to begin by repeating it over and over for fifteen or twenty minutes once or twice daily in a quiet place for several months. At first this meditation may feel mechanical or awkward or even bring up its opposite, feelings of irritation and anger. If this happens, it is especially important to be patient and kind toward yourself, allowing whatever arises to be received in a spirit of friendliness and kind affection. In its own time, even in the face of inner difficulties, loving-kindness will develop.

Sit in a comfortable fashion. Let your body relax and be at rest. As best you can, let your mind be quiet, letting go of plans and preoccupations. Then begin to recite inwardly the following phrases directed to yourself. You begin with yourself because without loving yourself it is almost impossible to love others.

May I be filled with loving-kindness.
May I be well.
May I be peaceful and at ease.
May I be happy.

As you say the phrases, you may also wish to use the image from the Buddha’s instructions: picture yourself as a young and beloved child, or sense yourself as you are now, held in a heart of loving-kindness. Let the feelings arise with the words. Adjust the words and images so that you find the exact phrases that best open your heart of kindness. Repeat the phrases again and again, letting the feelings permeate your body and mind.

Practice this meditation repeatedly for a number of weeks until the sense of loving-kindness for yourself grows.

When you feel ready, in the same meditation period you can gradually expand the focus of your loving-kindness to include others. After yourself, choose a benefactor, someone in your life who has truly cared for you. Picture them and carefully recite the same phrases, May he/she be filled with loving-kindness, and so forth. When loving-kindness for your benefactor has developed, begin to include other people you love in the meditation, picturing them and reciting the same phrases, evoking a sense of loving-kindness for them.

After this you can gradually begin to include others: friends, community members, neighbors, people everywhere, animals, the whole earth, and all beings. Then you can even experiment with including the most difficult people in your life, wishing that they, too, be filled with loving-kindness and peace. With some practice a steady sense of loving-kindness can develop and in the course of fifteen or twenty minutes you will be able to include many beings in your meditation, moving from yourself, to a benefactor and loved ones, to all beings everywhere.

Then you can learn to practice it anywhere. You can use this meditation in traffic jams, in buses and airplanes, in doctors’ waiting rooms, and in a thousand other circumstances. As you silently practice this loving-kindness meditation among people, you will immediately feel a wonderful connection with them—the power of loving-kindness. It will calm your life and keep you connected to your heart.”

September 2024
Back to the Future

Heyam Duhkam Anagatam YS 2.16
Future Suffering is Avoidable.

“Act as if the future of the universe depends on what you do, while laughing at yourself for thinking that your actions make any difference.” - Buddhist Axiom

Karma means action. That’s all it means. Actions are thoughts, words, & deeds - everything we do. There is no good or bad karma, but from a source text standpoint, like in the Patanjali Yoga Sutra and the Bhagavad Gita, we see karma described as dark, light, or clear. Simply, an action taken in lack of knowledge of the true Self, mires us deeper in ignorance of the true Self (avidya), referred to as dark. This disconnection is the source of all suffering, duhka. Whereas, action engaged in knowledge of our true identity, reinforces our connection to the higher Self, which is clear or light karma. This connection is ānanda, Yoga, bliss. It’s all mixed, really. Most of the time we fumble along in life’s matrix without too much awareness of how this works, until something wakes us up (what wakes us up is a topic for another Pushti).

What’s important about this teaching is two fold; 1) there is nothing you can do to change how this moment is unfolding and 2) This moment was created 100% by your past actions - don’t like it, you can change the future. Which implies you are the most powerful being in the universe. Gandhi knew this when he said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world”.

“Most people have an antagonistic relationship with the present moment. Which means they don’t like it.” - Eckhart Tolle

Yoga makes everything better. Why? Because yoga is making friends with the present moment. I make friends with this breath, this weather, this child, this win, this loss, this challenge, this suffering - this, this, this. I do not have to approve, but I can accept. I can choose not to blame, gossip, retort, rage, go to battle. Yoga practice means exercising my awareness of choice. I allow myself to be reminded that I have the ability to change not the condition, but how I feel about this condition. I choose. Is it ‘what it is’ or is it someone, something, shitting on me? Can I swāha this? Did I create it or am I a victim? Which answer aligns me with infinite possibility and which limits me? Asking these and similar questions relieves us from our heaviness and disconnection. Our Source becomes more self-evident (knowledge of our Self). In this moment, we allow for stillness as the bullets whiz by our heads. This is our base line where our love gushes for what we love. Yoga means we continue to practice planting sweet seeds of loving kindness and acceptance that bear the fruit of future joy. Practice is our skillful means that changes the very outcome of our future. In other words, how the whole Cosmos unfolds depends on you, in this moment.

Satsang is the place where we remind each other of the significant truth that with the power of love we do not have to suffer. This may possibly be the most practical and consequential teaching that exists.

August 2024
Drunk & Stoned - Love is the Drug

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
-Serenity Prayer
“You’re always re-attaching yourself to what is going to get you free.”
-Ram Dass
“The great Way is easy, but people prefer the side paths.
Be aware when things are out of balance. Stay centered in the Tao”
-Lao Tzu, Ch 53 Tao Te Ching

Drugs and alcohol are a part of our human experience. As long as there is pain, there will be substances used to alleviate it. We live in a time where using drugs (prescribed or otherwise) is so alluring and common place, that what is uncommon is to find someone who doesn’t. There is no shortage of drug use in popular spiritual and therapeutic pursuits and practice. There is always modern expressions which seem to normalize their usage. Beyond social drinking, marijuana has shed its counter culture shade and is as common as candy. We can microdose mushrooms, engage in ayahuasca ceremonies, ketamine therapy, and it seems like everyone is on Adderall (41.4 Million people prescribed in 2021), to name a few.

We have spiritual heavyweights that tell tantalizing tales of psychedelic awakenings and some even have reputations as the iconic drunken master. The great meditation teacher and Tibetan Buddhist master, Chögyam Trungpa was renowned for oft being drunk on sake. One of my most beloved teachers referred to another one of my revered teachers as a pothead. Many yoga festivals have become convenient excuses for debauchery behavior. Master Patanjali, in the fourth book of the Yoga Sutra, the Kaivalya Padah, which is a detailed discourse on the nature of Samadhi or enlightenment, says in the very first sutra (4.1), drugs are one of the means to open the door to powerful psychic powers.

But the reality is the nature of attachment is so insidious, that for most of us it is not too long before we confuse their usage with the very freedom and wholeness we desire. That’s called prison - or addiction. An erroneous causal relationship between our happiness and their usage is reinforced, amplifying the lie that happiness is found in an external condition. This is commonly referred to as a spiritual bypass - fulfillment in a device - that would bypass good ol’ fashion yoga sadhana (practice), which fosters the basic understanding that happiness is a garden that needs consistent loving attention and tending. There is no short cut to nirvana - or at the very least, no short cut to residing in the blissful nature of our own being-ness.  As drugs may break down barriers, the gain quickly becomes pain. We cannot circumvent the skill of exercising our muscle of awareness.

In my experience, drugs can be aids, providing seductive flashes of insight, brilliance, and relief. But what they gave me was scant compared to the confusion, paranoia, isolation, and destruction, sending me adrift in an ocean of shame and unrealized potential from their continual and habitual use. Their siren’s song has caused too many shipwrecks. Moreover, they dangerously veil the truth of my disconnect from love because of their numbing effect - looking for love in all the wrong places. But I’m not of the mind that any of that is inherently bad. The rift of despair only created a space for yoga to arise. Do I want to get high? Yes, most definitely. But if I am to be honest, the times I have felt the most fearless, clear, and aligned came from my connection to the divine - as created by an earnest pursuit of ripening myself to the Self. High on my own supply. And for me regular drug use inevitably shrouds that.

And that’s what this month’s Pushti is about, an honest discourse via the yogic arts. Conscious, continuous spiritual practice allows us to explore the sting of our short cuts and opens us to the subtle, albeit powerful vibration of genuine unconditional love. In satsang, we allow ourselves to be seen without judgement. Our desire for genuine fulfillment is held accountable just by showing up. And if there any “shoulds” - that’s the best one - to show up. Show up hung over, stoned, drunk, sober, happy, sore, sad, beaten down, puffed up - whatever. The inevitability of your realization is in direct proportion to your regularity. Yoga is so powerful, its imprint is eternal and eventually something will shift because what you are practicing is developing an authentic relationship with your Self, this is the very definition of recovery. The subject matter is always an exploration of and attachment to unconditional love. And because of the indescribable and mysterious nature of love, this exploration is a joyous life long pursuit that gets better and better as we adventure.

July 2024
Kirtan!

YS I.28 taj-japas tad-artha-bhāvanam
By chanting Om one realizes the meaning of Om.

“Kirtan isn’t about how much you know, thats for sure. Kirtan is about how much you feel.” -Shyamdas
“One can realize God through kirtan alone” -Sivananda
“Bhakti, devotion, is the essential nature of Satsang”

The most well known practice of chanting in the West is Kirtan, call and response singing of Mantra. The root of the word Kirtan means “to cut”. With each repetition we are slicing away the barriers of ego and personality that disconnect us from our hearts. The great kirtan singer (also called a “wallah”) Krishna Das provides a metaphor (paraphrasing here) saying that with each repetition is like blowing off the dust that is collected on the mirror of our minds and then we are able to get a truer reflection of our Soul that is not distorted by the crud and dust of our egos. Also, given that most of us feel we have little control over our thoughts and that thought is more of something that happens to us, as opposed to what we do, always having the name of God on our lips is a welcome change and refuge from the usual content of the mind, which creates much suffering and dysfunction. All month we will chant and on Wednesday July 31 our month will culminate with a Kirtan, evening of ecstatic chant with a full band, and the bhav will be illustrious.

Check out these great Kirtan Wallahs: Krishna Das, Shyamdas, Jai Uttal, Donna De Lory, Wah!, Deva Premal & Miten, Snatam Kaur, Bhagavan Das

Listen to this playlist of essential Kirtan songs.
On Spotify, Jeffrey & Joy Pilots

Somewhere in the bible it says, “My father’s house has many rooms”. This is to say there are infinite ways to know and name God. There is a room for everybody and each of us always has a place to stay. Let’s not get caught up in the patriarchal nature, nor the word, God - that way we can avoid not only a few arguments, but also a few wars. Call it whatever you want. Don’t like God? Don’t use it. Names are infinite and all names point to the Divine, both and beyond female and male.

Moreover, the Sanskrit names or mantras are God, just not a label, but the actual - and really, beyond description. Chanting Sanskrit mantra is more experience of pure prana and vibration than heady thought and meaning. Sanskrit is the ancient language of yoga. The great Sage Ramakrishna said each utterance and repetition is a powerful seed that will inevitably bring about the fruit of bhavanam  - the ecstatic atmosphere of Divine realization. We have a direct line to the Divine. Simply, we call it Bhav. Bhav is the feel good where meaning makes no sense and a peace beyond all understanding. This is the true heart of the matter, literally and figuratively. This is devotion, the Pushti Marg, or the Path of Grace, detailed by the great Acharya, Vallabha (teacher of the Upanishads). The most intelligent and popular practice of yoga on our planet is chanting the Sanskrit names of God. It is rare to find an asana practicing native in India, but greet an elder in Vrindavan with a “Jai! Shri Krishna!” and boy! do their faces light up and you feel like you’ve been given the keys to the kingdom.

As for its effect on the physical practice of asana, know that chanting opens up that pranic channels, called nadis, and practice enters an exalted realm. Each breath, movement and posture is sanctified by making it an offering and becomes a vehicle of intimacy with your most divine Self.

My lineage is one of great bhaktas. Devotional yogis, who always have the name of God on their lips. In my experience, I’ve had the humble honor of knowing many great teachers and it is the bhaktas who turn out to be the most fun to hang out with. They exist only to have Satsang, gatherings of seekers on the path. They are scholars, they are musicians. They are the mystics that keep yoga pure. They are jovial, wise, and don’t mind a good cuss word. Lovers of imperfection, they make no show of themselves and seem to be most skillful at transforming suffering into nectar. Their sadhana is what they teach. They share themselves openly and live simply, close to earth. And we sing and sing and sing (and dance). And when the singing is finished, we feast on prasad, blessed food.

June 2024
Svāhā!

Gonna free fall out into nothing, gonna leave this world for a while -Tom Petty

We thought of life by analogy with a journey, a pilgrimage, which had a serious purpose at the end, and the thing was to get to that end, success or whatever it is, maybe heaven after you’re dead. But we missed the point the whole way along. It was a musical thing and you were supposed to sing or to dance while the music was being played. -Alan Watts

If you want to be reborn,
Let yourself die.
If you want to be given everything,
Give everything up.
-Ch 22, Tao Te Ching, Stephen Mitchell Translation

Surrender to the grief, despair, fear, loneliness, or whatever form the suffering takes. Witness it without labelling it mentally. Allow it to be there. Embrace it. Then see how the miracle of surrender transmutes deep suffering into deep peace. -Eckhart Tolle

Surrendering, letting go of possessiveness, and complete non-attachment -
all are synonyms for accumulating merit. -Pema Chodron

Svāhā! is exclaimed when offerings are thrown into the fire, agni. It is a fire offering, ceremonially called Agnihotra. Svāhā is the female energy of fire, the wife of Agni. Our emphatic proclamation of svāhā, often at the end of chanting a mantra, is to say ‘I release this into the exalted fire of transformation’. It changes the tone of the let go from a bitter and resentful ‘whatever’ - when things don’t go according to plan, to a blissful path to freedom. We dance on the grave of our attachments.

This month, we will start each class by doing what most of us hold fear around - dance - which not only may be a trigger for vulnerability, but also is perhaps the most base, and simple path to joy.

The idea of letting go resonates with us so deeply - we put it on t-shirts and hats, write songs about it, remind a friend to do it when (s)he is freakin’. Because letting go is the truth that there is absolutely nothing one can hold on to. Yoga asks, ‘when it’s time for the inevitable transition out of this body, what can you take with you?’ Nothing. And there is little in our culture that prepares us for this reality. With great fanfare we battle, we hold on, we accumulate, we rage, we fear. And we perpetuate this ruse by making the only certainty we know of in this life - death, which is completely natural - the absolutely worse thing that could ever happen. This insane and dysfunctional dynamic is perhaps the greatest source of suffering.

Sadhana (conscious spiritual practice), however, requires that we not only contemplate death, we practice it (shavasana). Become intimate with the reality of our own demise, thereby fully embracing the preciousness and abundance of the days embodied, as well as the mystery of death’s unknown arrival (who doesn’t love a good mystery?) When death is close, befriending the thing that terrifies us most, life is vibrant, unapologetic, courageous, and adventurous - Svāhā! Let’s dance!

Svāhā is a cathartic shift in perception. By making ‘svāhā’ part of common language, inserting where blame, anger, and resentment used to be, we identify our attachments and the burn of disconnection from the reality of our Being. Knowing that in an exalted letting go is an act of profound love and we gain everything, we boldly proclaim ‘Take from me all that is not free - Svāhā! Svāhā! Svāhā!’

In Yoga we dwell, Jeffrey

May 2024
Sama Vritti Ujjayi Pranayama

Om Shantih Shantih Shantih

Make the breath equal and our minds become equanimous and serene.

“As is the breath so is the mind, as is the mind so is the breath’. They reflect one another, whereas there is no greater tool than breath to detach from the condition of the fluctuating mind and the subsequent havoc it creates. Thus, it is almost always our first consideration in yoga practice, and it is the foundation of vinyasa to make movement like the breath. In balanced breath, we give rise to continuous movement and the mind by default becomes balanced. Tension in the body from the grasping, wanting mind naturally falls away and available to us is a powerful truth - which is our mind-created idea of happiness, is largely conditioned based and fleeting at best, but true happiness is unconditional and a result of being the same in the vicissitudes of our life. This is Shantih - the real peace that exists beyond the external conditions of wanted and unwanted.

“There are two great disappointments in life. Not getting what you want and getting it.”
- George Bernard Shaw

Sama vritti ujjayi pranama means inhales and exhales that are equal in time, rate, and volume, while engaging in a sonorous breathing sound, ujjayi, by narrowing the air flow in the throat region.

We get our English word ‘same’ from sama and the meanings of equal, steady, even, etc. are implied. Yoga is also implied - all things being the same - oneness of being. Vritti means fluctuation or whirling and most are familiar with the term paired with citta or mind stuff. Citta vritti are fluctuations of the mind that yoga practice aids in from detaching - lifting the veil to the unattached, tranquil reality of who we are. Om Shantih.

In sama vritti ujjayi pranayama, vritti means specifically the fluctuation of breath. And sama means what kind of vritti, which is to say equal. But equal how? Under the conditions of ujjayi pranayama. Pranayama practices are very specific ways to restrict (yama) breathing, opening the channels (nadis) in the subtle energetic body and unleash the potential of our life force, prana, accessing the unattached, tranquil reality of who we are. Om Shantih.

Blah blah blah. Words don’t teach. Yoga says, want to know who you are? Go to the breath. Then you’ll know. But prioritize it. As teachers it is our priority to facilitate that. The breath moves your bones, like the wave (breath) moves the surfer (your body). In class, breath not equal or rushed or anxious, or mouth breathing, or largely unconscious, etc.? Then pause, relax, regain the rhythm, listen, then re-engage. We will provide the metronome. We call this refuge and let’s joyfully explore.

April PUSHTI 2024

Power of Touch

SahanA vAvatu Saha Nau Bhunaktu Saha Viryam KaravAvahai
Tejasvi Nav-Adhitam-Astu MA VidvishAvahai
Om Shanthi, Shanthi, Shantih.
Accept us both together. Protect us both together. May our knowledge and strength increase. May we not resent one another.

1996 I walked into Jivamukti Yoga School for the first time, 2nd Ave, East Village, NYC on Saturday at 2pm for David Life’s class. Hungover and ears ringing from my band’s gig the night before, I took off my armor of 501s, engineer boots and leather MC jacket and put on a pair of checkered Umbro short shorts from 1986 and entered - late, to a sold out class with my fire engine red hair and set down in the center row of a dark room with harmonium and a collective Ommmmm swirling in the ether. WTF. Later, I was assisted in bound extended side angle (Utthita Parsva Konasana), whereas my wrists were grabbed and pulled together one arm behind my back and the other underneath my front thigh so I could bind my hands together. I had no clue I was able to do such a thing. Long story short, it was a shock, unexpected. It was a declaration - it was a revelation. His move felt courageous, gutsy, and strangely knowing and compassionate. Laying on my back in final relaxation (shavasana), I received a neck and skull massage and a voice arouse in my awareness, ‘you will do this someday’ and I cried.

Over time came the insight that my life (and many others) was largely impoverished of a healthy intentioned touch - a basic human need, and receiving it was revolutionary. Having been trained by Jivamukti co-founders Sharon Gannon & David Life and later teaching at the NYC schools and leading the teacher trainings, I have come know the potency of touch and a skilled yoga assist is one of the foremost incredible and powerful experiences for student and teacher. Besides daily meditation, it is unparalleled to bringing a great loving kindness and acceptance of one’s self. Love is the teacher.

Touch heals. That’s a fact. A non-verbal language of deep communication. To develop the necessary trust, as teachers, we invoke the above Vedic teacher/student prayer, (a Shantih Mantra), so that we align with the highest intention of serving another’s deepest desire for truth, freedom, and happiness - so that the best, most ethical environment is created before we place our hands on a student to assist an asana. As students, we can allow a receptivity to take part in this symbiotic dance. Without elevating our intention, ego gets involved making way for confusion and ulterior motives.

A culture of peace is not possible without touch. A peacefully intended touch dissolves our armor and cultivates trust. Allowing touch in yoga class may invite controversy in our time. But staying away altogether because of the potential issues and triggers is never a solution. Besides, you can always opt out with a gentle saying so. Yoga is still for you. Ultimately, we have an opportunity to elevate one another.
In Yoga we dwell, Om Shantih,
Jeffrey

March PUSHTI 2024

Blue Zone Yoga

Thus whoever is stiff and inflexible
is a disciple of death.
Whoever is soft and yielding
is a disciple of life.
-Tao Te Ching Ch 76

May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the light surrounding you
May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
May you stay forever young.
-Forever Young, Bob Dylan

According to wikipedia, “Blue Zones are regions in the world where people are claimed to live longer than average”. It’s not just longevity, but more importantly, longevity with its roots in quality of living. Some of these regions are recognized in areas of Japan, Italy, Costa Rica, & Greece. And perhaps, Satsang Yoga Charleston.

Decide how you want to age
The soft overcomes the hard;
the gentle overcomes the rigid.
Everyone knows this is true,
but few can put it into practice. - Tao Te Ching, Ch. 78

A typical ‘All Levels’ class at the Shala (what we call the ‘studio’, Sanskrit for house) can have an average age as high as 65, with an average age span between 25 and 80. We have people practicing asana that include arm balances, forearm stands, backbends and headstands - in a rigorous paced flow - with an increased strength and flexibility that is not only far beyond people their own age, but well beyond most people who are decades younger. Not uncommon is a class that can include three generations of a single family. If there is a metric that could measure the value of yoga, one would be hard pressed to find one as powerful as that. We have students practicing daily since we first offered classes in 2005, that strike awe and inspiration in newcomers. We are a community that is literally rewriting the rules on how to age in our modern society. Our baseline is increased mobility, happiness, & quality of life, with a decrease in weight, medication, and physical and psychological trauma. Simply, our normal is what the Sages and Masters have been teaching us about for centuries through source texts such as Patanjali Yoga Sutra, Bhagavad Gita, Tao Te Ching, and Hatha Yoga Pradipika.

Are these people different from you? Never, in our experience, but they may differ in one distinct way. That’s the good news because that is the easiest thing to change. They have continuity. No matter what condition, if you keep returning, a shift is inevitable - and it is always better than imagined.

Simplicity
Yoga is a simple practice for complicated people. All one need do to receive these benefits is show up. Every class we remind each other to breathe, be aware, be still, be present - more being, less doing. Soften around your difficulty. If there are tears, let there be tears. If there is sickness, let there be sickness. Love is the teacher. And we are held unconditionally. Knowledge is so overrated, but let’s be reverent and practice intelligently. Make your self available to the mystery. Listen to the music. Let yourself fall apart. Don’t miss the miracle. And repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. This is referred to as mastery.

I learned from Ram Dass
that in Eastern wisdom traditions to be called “old” is one of the highest compliments one can receive. It is because not only do you have experience, but you have wisdom - which is of the greatest value for a society to evolve. With glee, I often refer to our wise, elder practitioners as “old”. Some have even come to expect it, and have embraced it as the compliment for which it was intended. We joke, we laugh, we play - and we don’t take it personally. I guess it is that kind of paradigm shift that occurs in blue zones.
In Yoga we dwell, Om Shantih,
Jeffrey

February PUSHTI 2024

My Heart Goin’ BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

YS1.23 īśhwara praņidhānād vā
By giving your life and identity to the heart, you attain the identity of the heart, which is the highest.

I have taken the liberty to offer a more poetic translation for this sutra from Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra (Book One, Sutra 23), whereas Ishwara is usually referred to as God (or original teacher), and we know the truth of ourselves as That from being the result of holding Ishwara as the recipient of our unwavering attention and affection. In other words, Ishwara lives in the spiritual heart. It’s an inside job. If we were to simplify yoga practice into one singular practice, it would be, listen to your heart.

Sadhana (spiritual practice) is to remember to listen to the heart.
A Satsang (uncommon company) is where people are doing it.
A Sadhaka is the love warrior (spiritual aspirant) who walks the path.
Suffering reminds us we are disconnected to it.

After you Start Again, (ad infinitum January’s Pushti) - the path becomes one with heart. That makes my heart beat, as I write this.

Excerpt from A Path with Heart, Jack Kornfield,
“It is possible to speak with our heart directly. Most ancient cultures know this. We can actually converse with our heart as if it was a good friend. In modern life we have become so busy with our daily affairs and thoughts that we have forgotten this essential art of taking time to converse with our heart. When we ask it about our current path, we must look at the values we have chosen to live by. Where do we put our time, our strength, our creativity, our love? We must look at our life without sentimentality, exaggeration, or idealism. Does what we are choosing reflect what we most deeply value?”

Heart, what should I do here? What am I missing? Can you help me? Where is your rhythm? Can you help me find it?

“Wind was blowing time stood still. Eagle flew out of the night.
He was something to observe. Came in close, I heard a voice.
Standing, stretching every nerve. Had to listen, had no choice.
I did not believe the information. Just had to trust imagination.
My heart going boom, boom, boom,
"Son", he said, "grab your things, I've come to take you home” -from Solsbury Hill, Peter Gabriel

Vishnu Granthi is the energetic wall between our ego center, (manipura chakra) - where the predominating reality is disconnection & attachment to and preservation of our individual self - and our heart center (anahata chakra) - where we merge with compassion, “the quivering of a pure heart” (Jack Kornfield). Sadhana is the tearing down of this wall and subsequent joy.

Just a few heart practices this month to listen to our heart, increase our compassion:
Uddiyana Bandha - “flying up” lock to pierce the wall between ego and heart.
Loving Kindness - a plant-based diet that reflects a deep desire for happiness & freedom for all beings.
Forgiveness - a fearless inventory of our blame & resentment, and willingness to let it go.
Back Bending - creating warrior strength and flexibility, literally opening our hearts through spinal extension.

January PUSHTI 2024

START AGAIN.

Yoga Sutra 1.1 atha yogAnushAsanam
Yoga is now. Now is Yoga. Allow into Now. That is the only instruction.

“The birds they sang at the break of day.
Start again, I heard them say.
Don't dwell on what has passed away.
Or what is yet to be…
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.”
-Leonard Cohen

The waves of our life will forever crest and fall.

We will suffer and we learn. And we will never stop the waves.

And we don’t want to, because we love an adventure.

And we love a good drama.
And we can be heroes.

Beneath the surface is THAT which is unmoved. Allowing means we are always and forever beginning where we are. The allowing starts Now - in the present moment. In presence, we see things are never as bad as they seem. We do not fear the drama. We gamble, and go into the danger - the crack. We have the realization that we are ever-evolving to know ourselves as the Truth - that deep unmoving, still place within:
the Self (atman)
the Source (ishwara)
the Free (moksha)
the Creative (prakriti)
the Genuine Joy (ananda)
the Reality - (brahman)

These names are just pointers. Pick one that suits your fancy, or make up your own. It’s beyond words. Words don’t teach. But you feel it. Practice (sadhana) is when your feelings guide you, and always Start Again.
Now. where you are.
It’s in the Breath.
It’s in the Vision.
It’s at the Root.
It’s the Vibration.
It’s the Rhythm.
It’s the sadhana.
It’s the gathering.

By definition, this is Satsang, the uncommon company that reminds us and offers refuge to Start Again.
So, go ahead Dear Soul, get as lost as you want or can,
knowing you can always come back to the satsang and Start Again.