Calm Abiding

Mary — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 02:55:39 +0000

To quote the insightful 20th Century philosopher, Rosanne Rosannadana, “It’s always something.” An axiom which is often misconstrued (even by Rosanne herself) to mean that since there’s always a problem, why do anything? “Never mind.”

However many argue that Rosannadana’s intended meaning was that life presents us with unlimited opportunity to observe, assess, take the bull by the horns, and dive into whatever it is that’s arising right in front of our very noses, rather than diving into (grasping or pushing away) the illusions of mind that are often so much more comfortable to focus our attention on. (more…)

The Illusion of Time

Mary — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 17:34:08 +0000

If you believe what you hear in yoga class, you might start to recognize that one good thing about time is that, like everything else, it’s an illusion. It happens like this: You drop into a pose, feeling the toes plugging into the floor, the coccyx heavy like gold. And then you notice that half an hour has passed and you haven’t even thought about time. The next thing you know, two hour classes start to zip by, then a week doesn’t really seem that long. And in a blink you’ve been practicing yoga for a year or two just watching incremental changes in the length of your hamstrings. (more…)

Deep Avoidance and Fear of Yoga

Mary — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 22:28:20 +0000

Here we are at the beginning of another new year. As a kid you hear adults droning on at the New Year about how quickly time passes, and not only is it boring, but it makes no sense. Number one, who’s paying attention to whether or not time is passing (get a life!). And number two, what makes adults think they have any say in how quickly or slowly something like time moves? Time is a given and youth is the opportunity to just try to squeeze as much life into it as you can. Maybe that’s why trends like seeing how many people could be stuffed into a phone booth are appealing—metaphors for life. (more…)

Things DO Eventually Get Done….

Mary — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 16:15:03 +0000

It’s as if we’re in an unpleasant time warp at this time of year. The pace speeds up, it always seems to take more time to do everything, as the days indeed get shorter. People who look almost familiar, but who’s faces are a bit more (more…)

Boulder dogs and rotten hearts

Mary — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 03:43:26 +0000

It’s a great day to be a dog in Boulder. Actually, Boulder is good in general if you’re a dog because there are at least three bakeries catering specifically to dogs (all right next to cafés so people tend to use picking up treats at the bakery as an excuse to be in the neighborhood of a café so they can have another late.) Boulder’s also good for dogs because (more…)

Philosophical Extremes

Mary — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 03:22:04 +0000

In a recent Sunday Talk Richard addressed the danger that philosophical extremes could become an obstacle to yoga. That was the cue for many of us to smugly re-settle on our cushions and kind of zone out, knowing we were out of danger from having that happen to us. First of all, how many of us there that night were actually philosophers to begin with? And secondly, (more…)

Nobody Listening to Nothing

Mary — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 05:23:31 +0000

While in Hong Kong back in September, Richard gave a talk to a group of yoga practitioners and teachers on the subject of “nada” or sacred sound. He discussed “doing dristi through our ears” and the art of absorption into the immediate senses as a means of waking up from a disembodied state. At this time of year in particular, it’s helpful to have reminders that the onslaught of sensory overload we are presented with can be a direct route into a slightly more awakened—or extremely more dulled—state of being. (more…)

Intensive as in “Intense”

Mary — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 04:15:02 +0000

If you’ve participated in a training with Richard, you know the drill. Before-hand there’s the anticipation and worry: maybe this time he’ll require us to hover in adho mukha padmasana or have us listen to lectures while sitting in yogadandasana. This leads to confusion after the first asana class: what was he was trying to get through our thick heads? It seems like we spent an inordinate amount of time in ekam and did no third series postures at all. Then there’s the relief of chanting

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The Supreme Ego……

Mary — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 02:48:22 +0000

The lecture Richard gave a couple of Sundays back was entitled “The Supreme Ego” which had me, for one, worried. How could he do the talk without giving me a pre-lecture interview? And wouldn’t it be embarrassing to be the center of a public talk? Fortunately, I kept my egocentric fears to myself, and the lecture commenced without a hint to anyone that I’d been foiled by my own mind again into believing that I was the center of the universe and that my own little perception of reality had even a shred of reality in it.

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Obstacles to Yoga, Moha and Halloween appearances …

Mary — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 17:57:51 +0000

In Richard’s second talk in the series about obstacles, entitled “Loose Ends and Stinky Mats” he expanded on the idea of the five kleshas as obstacles and also explained the classic obstacles of mind described in the Yoga Sutra Samadhi Pada verse 30. (more…)