" If we are to reach real peace in this world and if we are to carry on a real war against
  war, we shall have to begin with children and if they will grow up in their natural innocence, we won’t have the struggle, we won’t have to pass fruitless idle resolutions, but we shall go from love to love and peace to peace, until at last all the corners of the world are covered with that peace and love for which consciously or unconsciously, the whole world is hungering.
- M.K. Gandhi


“The Little Boy and Sugar”

One day a mother came to Gandhi with her little boy for  help. She asked Gandhi, Please, Bapu, will you tell my little boy to stop eating  sugar. He simply eats too much sugar and will not stop. Gandhi told the mother to leave and come back with the boy in three days.

The mother returned with her son and said to Gandhi. We have come back as you asked, Gandhi turned to the boy and said, “Young boy, stop eating sweets. They are not good for you.”

The mother then asked Gandhi, “Bapu, why didn’t you tell my son that when we first came to see you? Why did you ask us to leave and come back in three days? I don’t understand.”

Gandhi said to the woman, “I asked you to return with the boy in three days, because three days ago, I, too, was eating sweets. I could not ask him to stop eating sweets so long as I had not stopped eating sweets.”



For the rest of the quotes I used in class, I went to a site called www.makesmethink.com. Check
it out sometime for a good reminder of all the sweet things you have in your life that you, maybe, sometimes forget be grateful for.

There's a Zen story called "Just Two Words" and it goes like this...

"There once was a monastery that was very strict. Following a vow of silence, no one was allowed to speak at all. But there was one exception to this rule. Every ten years, the monks were permitted to speak just two words.  After spending his first ten years at the monastery, one monk went to the head monk. “It has been ten years,” said the head monk. “What are the two words you
would like to speak?”

 “Bed… hard…” said the monk.

 “I see,” replied the head monk.

 Ten years later, the monk returned to the head monk’s office.  “It has been ten more years,” said the head monk. “What are the two words you would like to speak?”

 “Food… stinks…” said the monk.

 “I see,” replied the head monk.

 Yet another ten years passed and the monk once again met with the head monk who asked, “What are your two words now, after these ten years?”

 “I… quit!” said the monk.

 “Well, I can see why,” replied the head monk. “All you ever do is complain.”


Is the moral of the story about change or complaining? Or both???
Thirty years it took for this monk to quit something that wasn't working for him.  For thirty years,
although appearing silent to others, his mind constantly focusing on the negative aspects of his situation, of his life. We are not unlike that monk. How long have you been willing to be silent in exchange for what would make you happy? How many times have you pushed your gut intuition to the side rather than risk change?  
 
“We are not going to change the whole world, but we can change ourselves and feel free as birds. We can be serene even in the midst of calamities and, by our serenity, make others more tranquil.” ― Swami Satchidananda, The Yoga Sutras

Jane Wagner stated, “I personally believe we developed language because of our deep inner need to complain.”  Who is Jane Wagner? She's an author and Lilly Tomlin's comedic writer. 
What a horrible quote! Was that supposed to be funny? Does she really believe that? Or is she just creating an excuse for her own complaining? Do you know someone who seems to constantly complain?

I wanted to also offer up a present-day story about change. I  caught on the news a few days ago a story about an eleven year old boy who, on his own accord, walked into his local police station to donate $10.03. He was quoted on the news stating, "If every person would do that we would have such a great world- it would be awesome. " You should have seen his expression when he
said this; his eyes literally sparkled and he was so happy to be able to make a difference, to be able to make a change. Get ready for the punch line... this boy elicited change by offering up
his $10.03 in all change. 
 
“In the East they say suffering is avoidable and not necessary.  Life is bliss! You know why? This is because wisdom, yoga and meditation are
ways to avoid suffering which has not yet come.” – Sri Sri Ravi
  Shankar


And fear of what change might bring, vis complaining or silence,
is suffering over what has not yet come (and might
never!).

Today's class theme was based on the poem "The Pinewoods" by Mary Oliver...

Just 
before dawn
three deer
came walking
down the hill
as if the
moment were nothing different
from
eternity–

as
lightly as that
they nibbled
the leaves,
they drank
from the
pond,

their
pretty mouths
sucking the loose silver,
their heavy eyes
shining.

Listen,
I did not really see them.
I came later, and saw their tracks
on the
empty sand.

But 
I don’t believe
only to the edge
of what my eyes actually see
in the
kindness of the morning,
do you?

And
my life,
which is my body surely,
is also something more–
isn’t
yours?

I
suppose the deer waited
to see the sun lift itself up,
filling the hills
with light and shadows–
then they went leaping
back into the rough,
uncharted pinewoods
where I have lived so much of my life.
where
everything is so quick and uncertain,
so glancing, so improbable, so
real.


 Mary Oliver is asking you if you believe in what you cannot see? 

This past week I've started sharing my food with a new friend.  He lives outside under my front walk and, very cleverly, has a front door, a side door and a back door.  I very creatively(!)
have named him Chippy since he's a chipmunk.  We met on my journey back one day from
my mailbox. We both stood still and I am sure time did as well. I thought he was inspecting me as much as I him but, when I finally moved away, that's when I realized I was between him and his back door that he wanted to scamper down.  Since then, I have left friendly offerings of nuts and raisins.  Sometimes he comes out and lets me watch him shove all of this food into
his cheeks until he has to scamper down his hole to unload. Other times, like the deer in the poem, I know he has been there- not because of tracks he has left- but because of the food that is
gone.


 Isn't it interesting Mary Oliver calls this unseen unchartered area of life real;  as though referring to the rest, the seen, as illusion.  Sounds a little like Patanjali, doesn't it?

Helen Keller stated, "It gives me a deep comforting sense that "things seen are temporal and things unseen are eternal."” 
 
Do you believe in what your eyes cannot see?  In class, I compared a restorative yoga practice with a fast-paced vinyasa or sculpt class.  In a restorative class, we languish comfortably over props for about five minutes. While it may appear as though no work is being done, does that mean the body is working any less to restore balance and healing and health? I think not.

Dr. Edward Frost wrote, "We who gather here are not of one mind about what is and what we are, or about where the edges of the known world are, or whether there is a place to fall off into mystery. Some live only on the firm  ground; others live with a toe dipping into the boundless,
ready for the sea to  part or smaller miracles.  To the skeptic I can only say, with Hamlet to Horatio, “There are more things in heaven and earth …than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” 

So I went to Riotfest with my daughter yesterday.  Why?  Because I didn't think before I spoke when I made the offer! (Yoga lesson #1 in this story- "I have often regretted my speech, never my
silence. "   Publilius Syrus (~100 BC),  Maxims).  Everything I am about to tell you is true, totally true!

In our yoga themes, we have many times spoken of fear, should have's, love, and frustration; all of these are present in my story. I began on Friday to look into exactly where Riotfest was occurring.  I already had purchased the tickets and seen the line-up, happy that I at least knew Blondie and liked the Violent Femmes...only to find it was being held in Humboldt Park which, besides the area's reputation, isn't in the confines of downtown Chicago. There's no parking garage and most websites said you would be crazy to drive, so that left us with the train.  Then, I either figure out the bus system or take a cab.  Here is where fear set in- fear of the unknown- and mostly fear about how to get back as cabs wouldn't be so easy to find.  Mainly, it is a fear of being stuck somewhere; I like to know my car is nearby!

Fear is a mindset. But before I could rationalize it, my fear took me to should-have land: I should have never said I'd go, I should have looked up the location prior to buying tickets...  I chose to let fear get the best of me and I got grumpy and stressed.  (Yoga breath, here.) When I finally came to the conclusion that we could do this, that zillions of other people were doing this, I became my calm yoga self again.  

So, we drove to the train station, took the train into the city and a cab to Humboldt park. I chose to not let fear creep back in when the cab driver didn't know about Riotfest or where Humboldt Park was- I figured he and the Universe would figure it out! And we arrived.

I had thought my daughter would be easily locatable with her dyed red hair- I don't know what I was thinking!  There was hair of a million colors and a peacock colored mohawk.  The only park of my story that may not be true but will be very close to the truth is everyone, besides Sam and I, was smoking.  By the time we left, we agreed we had inhaled at least a pack of cigarette's each, our lungs hurt and a cloud hung over the park.  But this inspired me to do some research as to how many people get cigarette burns in a crowd packed that tight- I'm just wondering?  Continued education is good, right?  People were walking around with large ziplocs picking up cigarette butts. At first, Sam and I feared the worst but later found out if you filled a bag up you received a free 3 day pass to next year's event. Many people got those passes.

So, I mentioned love.  My daughter ran into a group of her friends who were planning on "moshing" and "crowd surfing".  I said go, I'll find a tree to sit under. She said, no I came with you and I  am staying with you.  LOVE.  We did bond as we made jokes together....one couple inseparably making out behind us we thought should "find a porta potty" since there were no rooms around- well, it was funny at the time of our smoke induced stupor.

I learned my daughter knew one of the carnie vendor's from Ribfest. Why does my daughter know a carnie vendor?  See, more continuing education on my part to find out. He was very nice and pulled her up on top of the Whack-a-Mole to take a picture with her.  I learned yoga is necessary for balance in a port-a-potty, I have no more to add to that subject!  And I learned a 21 year old band called Rancid, which I had never heard of, was more entertaining than Blondie.  Violent Femmes still outranking both.

My daughter, at one point, gave me an out to leave early and, looking back, I am embarrassed I jumped at it. In retrospect- here's a should have- we should have stayed.  A fellow yogi was there- I love yogi's!!!!- and had offered us a ride back to our car at the end of the concert.  But I kept thinking, if we leave now, I will get one more hour of sleep before teaching my class in the morning.  Well, just as I thought, we couldn't find a cab. We paid a petty cab (bike pulled cab) to take us to a real cab. The cab took us to Union Station- all was good.  Until we got to the Berwyn train station where a car was stuck on the tracks.  All I know is forty minutes later we began moving again and ended up at home at the same time we would have had we stayed for the whole concert!  My yoga friend who had offered us a ride even offered to get us when we were stalled and I was so grateful...did I mention I love yogi's?!!!

There's another yoga theme in this story that is very important- letting go.  I am always coaching my students to let go of what no longer serves you. Attachment is a big yoga theme, as well.  I learned both.  Next year, I will detach myself from my teenager and let go as I let her go to Riotfest on her own, with her friends, rather than her old mom.  Having said that, she's the best concert friend and I would do it all over again with her in a heartbeat.



 

As much flak as Facebook gets, sometimes people write some very inspirational and thought-provoking messages.  One such "blog" on my FB page was titled "By the Book."

The phrase, by the book, itself means correctly and/or according to the rules. It is thought to have originally referred to the Bible and written records of this phrase date back to 1833. 
From Edgar Allan Poe's Murders in Rue Morgue in 1845, he writes, "To have a retentive memory, and to proceed by 'the book', are points commonly regarded as the sum total of good playing."

So here's the facebook blog with minor editing extractions made by me!

by the book….by poundcakedreams- Glenn Bastek

"I don’t read the newspaper cuz it gets my fingers all black and icky!  f the cliff notes are
boring can you imagine what the book was like?   Show me a movie, and I’ll show you
another book I don’t have to read!
 
So…today I  was going to make salsa…In the past I would get out the recipe and follow
along…but I’m finding…as I get Older..by the book…is sometimes just a crutch we
use. We all know that salsa has tomatoes, onion, garlic, cilantro and some type
of heat…plus salt, sugar and lime juice…why not just make the salsa on how we
feel it should come out..not the way a recipe tells us! "
 
[Hmmm- why not practice a yoga pose the way we feel it should come out rather than follow a
step by step guide? Just putting that out there for thought!]

"And perhaps  we should stop using that book for lots of things in our lives! There is a book
that says gay people are an abomination….how about let’s not use that book in reference to gay people and just act and live how we feel it should be! There is probably a book that tells us how to get a job that will make us rich( but not happy)…. let’s return that book, and actually find a job that makes us happy, and take it from there! There is also ….” probably” a book on how to sell a
house, how to negotiate, when to offer when to counter offer, what to counter, what percentage…I prefer to use the strategies I’ve learned while watching Million Dollar Listing on Bravo! I’ll let you know how it works out…but as most of my friends know…if I can avoid a book…I’m very happy!!! Now if I can only apply what I’ve learned from the Housewives…then I’d be a millionaire!!!"
 
I have a fabulous yoga book that is about  two inches thick and is only pictures. It shows pictures of poses and variations of poses and variations of variations of poses. The majority of the poses in
this book I will never be able to do in this lifetime!   I really don't care;  I just like looking at them and admiring the capabilities of the people who can.  If I were to teach yoga from that book,
no one would come back to my class because it would be unreasonable....I  wouldn't want to come back!   So, maybe I take one pose mixed with a lot of common sense and intuition and find a way to teach some aspect of that pose...so it's not so "by the book."


Henry David Thoreau  wrote, "Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it.” 
 
And Ansel Adams stated, "There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs." 
 
Now of course, there are guidelines  for taking a good picture but no RULES! There are guidelines
for your poses (alignment, ahimsa and safety to name a few), but no RULES!

Your yoga practice cannot be "by the book";  it has to be "from the heart."  I  think that's what my Facebook friend was getting at!!!

Dalai Lama XIV said, “Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively.” 

My daughter and I went to an antique mall in WI, because Sam loves "vintage" stuff.  I used to like antique stores.  But, the older I get, the more I see toys and things I used to have...does that make me "antique"?!  Sam wants to be in charge of decorating our house for Halloween this year and wants it to be scary. So, at this particular antique mall, she began looking for "creepy" dolls she may be able to use.  I hear her say, "Aha! Look at that creepy doll! It's perfect!"  I look up to follow her hand pointing to a top shelf and she's pointing at my old Mrs. Beasley doll!!!!  Antique?!  Creepy?!
I think not! And, no, we didn't buy it and, yes, we soon left!

Remember Etch-A-Sketch?  You would turn the two knobs and, generally make structures made up of 90 degree angles.  One knob made horizontal lines and the other made vertical.  Unless you were really good at the two knob twisting thing, you couldn't make curvy lines...only straight. Symmetrical. Boxed in.  How's your life been treating you lately?!  Is your life like an Etch-A-Sketch?  Has your yoga practice become boxed in to the confines of your mat?  If, as I constantly tell my classes, your yoga practice is all about you, isn't it possible your life is as well?  Not in a selfish me, me, me kind of way but in a more exciting exploratory who am I kind of way.  How do I learn to sit still with just me so I  can better meet and greet and hear my inner voice?

"To think outside of the box you must be outside of the box." 
ALFREDA DOYLE, Poetry about Creativity

"The creative process is also the most terrifying part because you don't know exactly what's going to happen or where it is going to lead. You don't know what new dangers and challenges you'll find.
It takes an enormous amount of internal security to begin with the spirit of adventure, discovery, and creativity. Without doubt, you have to leave the comfort zone of base camp and confront an entirely new and unknown wilderness.  "    STEPHEN COVEY, The 7 Habits of Highly
Effective People


It is time to stop boxing yourself in. It is time to use your yoga practice as a tool for a creative and exploratory life when off the mat.  It is time to let go of the Etch-A-Sketch...but, don't throw it out! It's worth money at an antique store!

We rented a vacation home in the Dells last weekend.  The house was surrounded by tall trees that flanked the backyard.  It was one of those perfect weather days where sitting in the sun was a little too hot and sitting in the shade slightly cool.  I chose to sit on the deck reading Anne Lamott's Grace (Eventually) Thoughts on Faith, which is a good read minus her political rantings.

All of a sudden, the wind picks up enough to catch my attention; the sound of the leaves rustling against each other so loud it muted the sound of the highway traffic not too far away.

I looked up and it seemed to me to be a beckoning of my Universe to pay attention...I looked
up at the leaves, noticing the different layers of leaves and branches.  I thought life is like those
layers.

I was recently reading a blog where a woman described a sunset in Haiti versus one in her
home of California.  In CA, she associated the sun setting with being blinded on the highway driving home from work.  She describes the Haiti sunset as beautiful.  But, isn't it true, it's the same sun?
I, hypothetically, might be able to say it's the same sky, in the same Universe...  It's her perception that is different and she questioned that if her heart was more moved by the sunset in Haiti, where was her real home?

But I think she has it wrong.  The wind and leaves that drew my attention in WI can be found here in IL.  The main difference is that my house is not surrounded by tall trees so it is not the sound of the wind that catches my attention, as much as it is its feel. I  don't have to go somewhere else to find the wind, the sun, the warmth, the coolness- it is all a matter of being more aware, attentive. Though, sometimes we need to go away to remind us of what is always present.


"All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind,
because oneness is the secret of everything.
Swami Vivekananda 
 
"It's difficult to believe in yourself because the idea of self is an artificial construction. You are, in fact, part of the glorious oneness of the universe. Everything beautiful in the world is within
you. "  Russell Brand 

Mullah Nasruddin is a fabled character whose goofy stories embody morals or messages.  The following two are the ones I used in Friday's class where the theme was "When I enough enough?"

 Two Mullah Nasruddin stories...


 One day Nasruddin repaired tiles on the roof of his house. While Nasruddin was working
on the roof, a stranger knocked the door. 
 
- "What do you want?" Nasruddin shouted out.
- "Come down", replied the stranger, "so I can tell you."
Nasruddin unwillingly and slowly climbed down the ladder.
- "Well!" replied Nasruddin, "What was the important thing?"
 -"Could you give little money to this poor old man?" begged the stranger.
Tired, Nasruddin started to climb up the ladder and said,
 - "Follow me up to the roof."
When both Nasruddin and beggar were up on the roof, Nasruddin
said,  "The answer is no!" 


 
As Nasruddin emerged from the mosque after prayers, a beggar sitting on the street solicited
alms. The following conversation followed:

 - Are you extravagant? asked Nasruddin.
 - Yes Nasruddin. replied the beggar.
 - Do you like sitting around drinking coffee and smoking? asked Nasruddin.
 - Yes, replied the beggar.
 - I suppose you like to go to the baths everyday? asked Nasruddin.
 - Yes, replied the beggar.
 - ...And maybe amuse yourself, even, by drinking with friends? asked Nasruddin.
 - Yes I like all those things. replied the beggar.
 - Tut, Tut, said Nasruddin, and gave him a gold piece.

A few yards farther on. another beggar who had overheard the conversation begged for alms
also.
 - Are you extravagant? asked Nasruddin.
- No,  Nasruddin, replied second beggar.
 - Do you like sitting around drinking coffee and smoking? asked Nasruddin.
 - No, replied second beggar.
 - I suppose you like to go to the baths everyday? asked Nasruddin.
 - No, replied second beggar.
 - ...And maybe amuse yourself, even, by drinking with friends? asked Nasruddin.
 - No, I want to only live meagerly and to pray, replied second  beggar.

 Whereupon Nasruddin gave him a small copper coin.
- But why, wailed second beggar, do you give me, an economical and pious man, a penny, when you give that extravagant fellow a sovereign?  
-Ah my friend, replied Nasruddin, his needs are greater than yours.