Mantras

I didn't used to like chanting mantras...mostly because they are rarely explained and broken down. I felt like someone was forcing me into "church" when I just wanted to do yoga...at a gym, no less! I still have mixed feelings about that kind of thing, BUT I have learned to like mantras!

Mantra in sanskrit means manas -mind or consciousness; tra or trayate -to free. So, transcending the mind or creating transformation.

Another aspect of chanting mantras that I have come to like is that the sanskrit words and sounds activate and vibrate the chakras. We have all experienced this from chanting Om at the beginning and ending of Yoga class and though we may not always pay attention to it, we've all noticed its affects.

Favorite mantras:

Om namah shivaya
The chant for Shiva. Giving recognition to your true nature, and the true nature of the universe. 

Om gam ganapataye namaha
The chant for Ganesha. Removing obstacles from our path. 

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu
May all beings be happy and free

Come to my class at Jai and get your chakras going! Jai Yoga Arts -Bushwick!

Ganesha, Guay Yin Temple in Koh Samui, Thailand

The Heights Shiva'd it up in my meditation workshop yesterday

Sometimes you get what you asked for

Om Namo Shivaya

Destroy the Ego

Being a "beginner" in yoga vs. "experienced" is not about going into binds, inversions or whatever you might think is the deepest variation of a pose. Its not doing every chattarunga or being able be in a headstand for 9 breaths. The difference is being able to let go and know when your body needs child's pose or to skip a vinyasa. Its being able to know what is available and appropriate at any given time. Just because you can bind in side angle pose doesn't mean its appropriate to do that version every single time you do it! This is a time in our practice when are challenged by our ego. Sometimes as simple as tree pose might seem...we have that day where its just not happening and you just can't get into it. This is when we have to give ourselves permission to not be perfect and not be as "advanced" as we thought we were. Sometimes we're faced with challenges in life. Those days that go completely wrong...when things don't happen how we expect and we're suddenly late for everything or missing the bus or losing our jobs or whatever it is that life throws at us. It is so important to allow ourselves this concept that...life is not easy. It is a challenge every day. And that being the case, we cannot allow it to hold us back! Let go, move on...destroy the ego!

The current

As the season of fall works its way through us...we should consider following the flow of the current. Make space for lightness and rake away the leaves!

The working of change

"Shiva Energy" is what one of my Yoga teachers refers to as the energy of destruction. There is this natural movement of things towards destruction in order for change and rebirth. We can look at the ideas of death and destruction as negative but they are a way of wiping the slate clean for us. We can start all over again. And change cannot truly happen without the actions of leveling and letting go completely. This is an important concept because in order for life to go on we have to have change. If things stay the same they are motionless and stagnant -the opposite of life. There is this idea we talk about in Yoga a lot about "surrendering" and "trusting the universe". The season of fall brings about this strong energy of change and if we don't surrender to it, or go with the flow...it only makes things more difficult. If we become rigid and fight it, we start to find that we're tiring ourselves out, fighting the inevitable. Its important to trust the decisions that we've made that are now coming into play. At the same time the Fall is metal energy which is also has to do with refining. Its the working of change. It is deciding what is absolutely necessary and what is absolutely unneeded and getting rid of it. It is being strong and decisive and cutting off the waste and only keep what is pure.

In celebration of Mid-Autumn Moon Festival