Yoga with Melissa

Yoga for Energy

In our Awakening Your True Self Series we are exploring the Six Paramitas or Six Perfections. The intention behind cultivating the six perfections is for the development of compassion. It is considered a path of the Bodhisattva. Today we are reflecting on the fourth paramita or the fourth perfection, the perfection of energy.

Virya whose root “vir” we know in yoga from the yoga asana virasana or hero’s pose, means virtue or the pursuit of good, diligence, good, effort and diligence. This does kind of conjure the image of a warrior or pursuing something that exists outside of ourselves, however with perfect energy we do not have to cultivate anything that isn’t already within us. This is about the conservation of energy. We already possess as much energy as we need. Through our yoga and meditation practice we can bring awareness to the energy that we have within us and guide it with discernment and wisdom.

Each time we practice yoga, and then off our yoga mats and through our days we can choose how we expend our energy. Through this level of deep awareness of our vital life force we can begin to pay attention to the level of prana at our disposal at any given time. We can then be diligent and disciplined with its application.

In preparing for today’s class I read a parable of a greedy donkey who would continually exhaust himself going between two piles of hay, never dedicating himself to one pile of hay. The moral of the story of course, is that there is an abundance of energy at our disposal, it is up to us to become still and tap into our vital life force energy, rather than running all over, scattering our energy in an unfocused way in pursuit of something better.

Virya Paramita has three parts:

* The development of virtue within ourselves (I would describe virtue as discerning the life force of prana available within)

* Study of the teachings

* Helping Others

When we spend time in self reflexive practices like yoga and meditation we come to understand our own personal energy in a deep and lasting way. We know how to spend our energy with discernment and how to restore our energy with nurturing compassion.

We need trusted teachers on our path to validate our self-reflection. The true meaning of guru is one who dispels the darkness of ignorance. A trusted teacher will shed light and help illuminate your path. Spending time listening to the teachings, taking yoga classes, reading books, all of these things give us deeper understanding mentally, emotionally, energetically and spiritually. Sometimes one small thing can resonate so deeply that it will reverberate in your life for years, like ripple in a pond.

Finally to be of service to others helps us to withdraw from our ongoing preoccupation and habit of wallowing in our own suffering, suffering that is both real and imagined. As I mentioned at the beginning, the teachings of the six paramitas are part of the Bodhisattva path. Bodhisattvas make this vow, “sentient beings are numberless, I vow to save them all.” We can ask ourselves these powerful questions, “Who is suffering? Where is there need? Where can I begin?”

Virya paramita or perfect energy is not about using effort to chastise ourselves into greater feats of endurance and outputs of energy. Rather, it is to allow the subtle energy at our core, which brings the full potential of our life, to come forward and to turn that energy to the task at hand. We have all the prana that we need and it will last our entire lives. We can tap into that endless beautiful prana and use it for the benefit of the world.

Props Needed: wall, yoga bolster, yoga mat, blanket, yoga blocks

Patience Part 3 In our Awakening Your True Self Series we are exploring the Six Paramitas or Six Perfections. The intention behind cultivating the six perfections is for the development of compassion. It is considered a path of the Bodhisattva. Today we are reflecting on the third paramita or third perfection which is ksanti paramita […]

Patience Part 3

In our Awakening Your True Self Series we are exploring the Six Paramitas or Six Perfections. The intention behind cultivating the six perfections is for the development of compassion. It is considered a path of the Bodhisattva. Today we are reflecting on the third paramita or third perfection which is ksanti paramita or forbearance, tolerance and patience.

Ksanti Paramita teaches that life is difficult from time to time. We will all experience the suffering of illness, financial hardship, difficulties in relationships, addiction, and emotional despair. There is even the everyday suffering of small annoyances from frustrations, to setbacks and situational depression. With ksanti paramita, we have the option to meet our resistance, our “I can’t believe this is happening to me,” with patience, tolerance and forbearance. Instead of refusing to accept and blaming anything, anyone even ourselves and becoming bitter we can ask for patience. May I be patient.

According to ksanti paramita there are three kinds of hardships that we will face.

* Personal pain and hardship both physical and emotional

* Pain caused by our personal relationships or interactions with others

* The painful truth about our life

Two weeks ago in Namaste Yoga 326 we practiced with the physical and emotional pain we experience by creating space in our bodies through breath and yoga postures. Last week, with Namaste Yoga 327 explored the pain of human relationships and our interactions of others. Today we explore the painful truth of our life.

The difficult truth of our life is that life is not perfect, we are all going to die. We’re all going to lose everything that we love and everything that we’ve worked so hard to build. We only get to live today once. Each day is closer to our last.

Through our yoga practice we can become more familiar with our fear loss, failure and impermanence. Today, we are practicing three part breath, or deergha swasam pranayama as a way to take in all the richness of prana/life force and then to put into practice letting it go and the impermanence of it all. Balancing postures will allow us to surrender to letting go and impermanence as well. The pushan mudra, is another powerful vehicle through which to explore taking in the richness of life as well as letting go without attachment. These are difficult lessons as human beings.

Resources: Upaya Zen Center The Six Perfections Dharma Podcast Series with Norman and Kathie Fischer

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu

Through that practice we are taking the fruits of our yoga practice and offering them out into the world. We have taken the spiritual goodness we have generated through our yoga practice and given it to those in need. This is a highly valued and incredibly important and generous practice.

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Today’s question to answer in the comments is: What are you letting go of today?

Patience Part 2 In our Awakening Your True Self Series we are exploring the Six Paramitas or Six Perfections. The intention behind cultivating the six perfections is for the development of compassion. It is considered a path of the Bodhisattva. Today we are reflecting on the third paramita or third perfection which is ksanti paramita […]

Patience Part 2

In our Awakening Your True Self Series we are exploring the Six Paramitas or Six Perfections. The intention behind cultivating the six perfections is for the development of compassion. It is considered a path of the Bodhisattva. Today we are reflecting on the third paramita or third perfection which is ksanti paramita or forbearance, tolerance and patience.

Ksanti Paramita teaches that life is difficult from time to time. We will all experience the suffering of illness, financial hardship, difficulties in relationships, addiction, and emotional despair. There is even the everyday suffering of small annoyances from frustrations, to setbacks and situational depression. With ksanti paramita, we have the option to meet our resistance, our “I can’t believe this is happening to me,” with patience, tolerance and forbearance. Instead of refusing to accept and blaming anything, anyone even ourselves and becoming bitter we can ask for patience. May I be patient.

According to ksanti paramita there are three kinds of hardships that we will face.

* Personal pain and hardship both physical and emotional

* Pain caused by our personal relationships or interactions with others

* The painful truth about our life

Last week in Namaste Yoga 326 we practiced with the physical and emotional pain we experience by creating space in our bodies through breath and yoga postures. This week are are going to explore the pain of human relationships.

If human beings were completely loving, compassionate and forgiving then there would be no conflict in human relationships. In truth we all come into relationships with some level of ignorance, greed, fear and desire that leads to poor behaviour and pain in relationships. With mindful awareness we can learn to see that it is lack of clear thinking, rather than the person themselves that is at fault and have compassion and forgiveness.

Our relationships can become the object of our yoga practice, just like a yoga posture or breath practice. When we experience pain in a relationship, we can say, “Oh Wonderful! This is a tremendous opportunity for practice in off my yoga mat and in my life.” We can practice loving kindness first for ourselves and for our own distressed and tender heart. Then we can practice loving kindness loving kindness for the person bothering that is bothering us, knowing that they too are suffering to not be able to meet another human being with love, compassion and respect.

Breath again is another vehicle through which we can create space when we notice that tightening in our bodies in response to the suffering that we experience in relationships. In your day to day life you can pause and take a deep and grounding breath. Today we are practicing nadi shodhana or alternate nostril breathing because it is to me the breath of relationships and an incredibly purifying and balancing breath. Nadi means channel or flow and shodhana means purification and so I feel it is a wonderful breath to clear and purify the subtle energy channels of our body, while balancing our left and right or masculine and feminine aspects that may easily get out of balance when we experience pain in relationships.

Resources:

Upaya Zen Center The Six Perfections Dharma Podcast Series with Norman and Kathie Fischer

How to Neti Pot: Click Here

Thank you to Sounds True for Mark Nepo’s book Inside the Miracle

I read the poem “Willfulness” from Inside the Miracle in savasana today

The Six Perfections: Patience In our Awakening Your True Self Series we are exploring the Six Paramitas or Six Perfections. The intention behind cultivating the six perfections is for the development of compassion. It is considered a path of the Bodhisattva. Today we are reflecting on the third paramita or third perfection which is ksanti […]

The Six Perfections: Patience

In our Awakening Your True Self Series we are exploring the Six Paramitas or Six Perfections. The intention behind cultivating the six perfections is for the development of compassion. It is considered a path of the Bodhisattva. Today we are reflecting on the third paramita or third perfection which is ksanti paramita or forbearance, tolerance and patience.

Ksanti Paramita teaches that life is difficult from time to time. We will all experience the suffering of illness, financial hardship, difficulties in relationships, addiction, and emotional despair. There is even the everyday suffering of small annoyances from frustrations, to setbacks and situational depression. With ksanti paramita, we have the option to meet our resistance, our “I can’t believe this is happening to me,” with patience, tolerance and forbearance. Instead of refusing to accept and blaming anything, anyone even ourselves and becoming bitter we can ask for patience. May I be patient.

Today we are going to talk about creating inner space through our yoga practice. Through yoga, meditation and breath practice we can create an inner space large enough to hold all of our feelings that come up in life – the big ones and the small annoyances. As spiritual aspirants, when difficulty arises we know that as painful as they are, they offer us an opportunity to increase our strength and resilience. As difficult, painful and heartbreaking as it is, we have opportunity for growth.

According to ksanti paramita there are three kinds of hardships that we will face.

* Personal pain and hardship both physical and emotional

* Pain caused by our personal relationships or interactions with others

* The painful truth about our life

With personal pain, there is a completely natural knee jerk reaction to say anything but this when we experience pain – whether it be physical or emotional. We immediately try to fix or change the situation. Often the adjusting can be in the form of self soothing with food, alcohol, drugs, social media, television, but some way of disconnecting from the pain of the situation. We can even use our spiritual practices as a way to bypass pain.

With ksanti paramita we are turning towards the discomfort and breathing with more strength. We are learning how to endure our pain with grace and composure. This does not mean to stay in a yoga pose or meditation position if it is injurious, that would go against the first rule of ahimsa or non-harming. But it does ask of us to stay with uncomfortable feelings and emotions and to breathe into the discomforts that come up all the time. That may mean that you are asked to stay in a standing yoga posture a little longer than you are comfortable and you can feel your leg muscles trembling. It may mean confronting your loneliness instead of turning on YouTube. Notice when you avoid and adjust to disconnect from discomfort, because when you can get beyond this and bring and inner spaciousness, you will experience a deep inner wisdom as a human being.

I think I am going to have to save pain caused by relationships with others and the painful truth about our lives for the next two subsequent Namaste Yogas.

Today we will focus on creating inner space through our breath and our yoga postures.

Resources:

Resources: Upaya Zen Center The Six Perfections Dharma Podcast Series with Norman and Kathie Fischer (link)

Thank you to Sounds True for Mark Nepo’s book Inside the Miracle

I read the poem “Willfulness” from Inside the Miracle in savasana today (

Morality In our Awakening Your True Self Series we are exploring the Six Paramitas or Six Perfections. The intention behind cultivating the six perfections is for the development of compassion. It is considered a path of the Bodhisattva. Today we are reflecting on the second of the six perfections or six paramitas, sila paramita or […]

Morality

In our Awakening Your True Self Series we are exploring the Six Paramitas or Six Perfections. The intention behind cultivating the six perfections is for the development of compassion. It is considered a path of the Bodhisattva. Today we are reflecting on the second of the six perfections or six paramitas, sila paramita or morality. Morality in this sense is an act of kindness and compassion that grows organically from the inside out as a result of your regular yoga and meditation practice. This ethical conduct is not self righteous, morally superior, arrogant or intolerant in any way. Sila paramita allows you to be flexible, open, forgiving and generous.

The longer you practice, the more your practice purifies you and you recognize that there is a direct connection between your actions and the discomforts that you experience physically and emotionally. You begin to realize that your yoga and meditation practice becomes easier, your mind becomes calmer, you experience more acceptance and patience when you live a life of right ethical conduct and morality. As I mentioned at the beginning, this mindfulness and honesty opens from the inside as you develop a deeper and deeper relationship with your Self. You begin to develop a deeper sensitivity and, you recognize your own suffering and that others experience the same suffering as you and your conduct is naturally elevated.

There are 16 ethical Bodhisattva precepts. They begin with the triple treasure.

* Take refuge in Buddha

* Take refuge in dharma

* Take refuge in Sangha

You can see the triple treasure across many religious traditions – to seek security in something greater than yourself, to rely on the teachings of the spiritual texts and to come together in a spiritual community.

The triple treasure is followed by the 3 pure precepts

* Restrain from causing harm

* Doing good

* Benefiting Others

Doing good we spoke of a bit last week. Doing good includes your spiritual practice. Your yoga practice, your meditation practice, your mantras generate positive energy, they influence your mind and develop your heart. You may do them first for yourself, but then, with the triple treasure, you can offer your practices for the benefits of all beings. All that you do can be an offering for the benefits of others.

Finally there are 10 Prohibitory Precepts which are offered here in the positive.

* I vow to cherish life (not kill)

* I vow to accept gifts (not steal)

* I vow to respect others (not misuse sexuality)

* I vow to practice truthfulness (not lie)

* I vow to practice clarity (not to intoxicate myself or others)

* I vow to speak with kindness (not slander)

* I vow to practice modesty (not to praise self at the expense of others)

* I vow to practice generosity (not to be possessive of anything)

* I vow to practice love (not to harbour ill will)

* I vow to cherish the 3 treasures

These practices are not linear or one dimensional. They are to be practiced with discernment and skill. With discernment and skill we will know how to apply them for the benefit of others.

Today we are focusing on yoga postures and pranayama growing from the inside out, with the understanding that morality grows organically, naturally from the inside out. We are also focusing on postures that create clarity and focus.

Props Needed: wall, meditation cushion, folded blanket, chair

Yoga Postures/Asanas: Alternate Nostril Breathing or Nadi Shodhana, Knee to chest pose or Apanasana, Little Boat Pose Vinyasa, Cat Pose or Marjaryasana, Warrior One or Virabhadrasana One Vinyasa,

Generosity With Namaste Yoga 325, we enter into a new phase of our Awakening Your True Self Series with the Six Perfections or the Six Paramitas. According to Mahayana Buddhism the six perfections are: generosity, morality, patience, energy, meditation and wisdom. Dana Paramita or The Perfection of Generosity believes that everybody has enough according to […]