As we head deeper into Fall and Winter, we'll continue reading the evocative poetry of Danna Faulds from her book Go In and In (2002). In keeping with Patanjali's description of yoga as the stilling of the mind (like a clear lake in which we can observe ourselves and the world clearly) this week's reading is a powerful invitation to compassionate awareness...
Witness When I can be the witness, all manner of miracles occur - old wounds heal, the past reveals itself to be be released, present dramas play themselves out without sinking emotional talons into my soft skin. The witness welcomes truth and dares to meet reality on its own terms. It is the ground in which the seeds of transformation take root and finally flower. When the witness is awake, the lake of the mind is still, and in that mirrored surface, I see my own true face as Spirit smiling back at me. Greetings all, and welcome to the last class of this session. We continue reading from Danna Faulk's gorgeous book Go In and In (1997) with a theme of being present, and listening deeply.
Being Present Breathe, relax and feel; take time to slow down to the pace of life. Watch the rise and fall of moods, the birth and death of dreams. Feelings and sensations seem so real, yet they shift like changing clouds, and flow with the high tide out to sea again. Allow it all to be, no need to grasp or push away. Present with each moment, the whole of you, body, mind and soul, opens to receive. And of course, once we have welcomed, allowed, and listened deeply, we will know how the moment calls us to respond. This week's reading is exquisite in its yogic simplicity - an invitation to fully embody our practice and be with every sensation as it arises, unfolds and dissolves...
Do yoga with no goal but to be in the moment. This breath, this stretch, this wave of emotion rolling in. Watch it crest, and break, then dissipate. Hold the body like a lover in a close embrace, listening with intimacy, touching with tenderness. Yoga is a threshold to a mystery; each pose an open doorway and an invitation to unfold. Sensations rise and fall, and through it all the deathless centre radiates the simple truth of union. In the midst of the sometimes terrible and painful state of the world, and our need to understand and respond skilfully, yoga and meditation offers us a place to rest and reconnect before returning outward.
From Dana Faulds Breath, the mindful breath, the rhythm, out and in the wave that washes through our days, creating space for stillness, sorrow, joy, or exaltation. Full then empty, ebb and flow, breath accompanies each step into the unknown. In the breath, the soul finds an opportunity to speak. Images or intuition, poetry or wordless wisdom come and go -- no effort but to breathe and listen. This week we'll drop into the second half of Danna Fault's "The Weaver and the Loom", continuing the theme of listening deeply, and allowing, welcoming and gently inquiring into all we become aware of, even as we notice who it is that we are that is aware...
Sit still and the thin line between sacred and profane simply fades away. There is nothing then to reconcile. All the disparate threads are woven on the loom of life. Sit here for a bit and your unique place in the pattern becomes clear. Take the still point with you when it's time to walk away. Make the choice to see affinity, to watch the picture taking shape as thread joins thread. Dare to be the weaver and the loom, creator and creation, the sower and the sown. In the moment of stillness, all that came before is seen as one. Welcome to Fall! Danna Faulds, poet and kripalu practitioner/teacher's work - always evocative - seems so timely as we head into the Earth's period of introversion. For the next two weeks, we'll be reading from her piece "The Weaver and the Loom". As last week, the invitation is to open to meet it all...
Part I: Sit here for a bit. Place yourself outside the frenzied pace of life. Slow down long enough to appreciate birds in flight, water drops like prisms in the grass and countless shades of green. Step off the fast track and listen to the sound of breath and birdsong. Take a moment to just be, and in the being, know the whole of this creation, mystery and madness, passion and profanity, know it all as one, stunning tapestry. For the rest of our session, we'll be reading from the work of Danna Faulds, a poet and practitioner/teacher of Kripalu Yoga. The book we'll be sourcing from is "Go In and In: poems from the heart of yoga" (2002).
To start us off, we follow Richard Miller's quote on deep listening from last week with a poem from Danna inviting us into the embodied experience of our interconnection and oneness with everything else that is arising, as well as a reminder to inquire into the messengers (sensations, thoughts, feelings, experiences...) we meet along the way instead of refusing them: Go in and in. Be the space between two cells, the vast, resounding silence in which spirit dwells. Be sugar dissolving on the tongue of life. Dive in and in, as deep as you can dive. Be infinite, ecstatic truth. Be love conceived and born in union. Be exactly what you seek, the Beloved, singing Yes, tasting Yes, embracing Yes, until there is only essence; the All of Everything expressing through you as you. Go in and in and turn away from nothing that you find. Welcome back to Fall session, everyone -
We'll begin this session with one of my favourite quotes from my teacher Richard Miller PhD on what yoga is and isn't (from a lecture on retreat in 2007). It focuses on a key aspect of our yogic path: releasing our need to figure out or fix, and instead learning to listen deeply (in Sanskrit, sravana) We may arrive on our mat with pain or injuries we label 'bad' or want to 'fix'. In yoga, these are not seen as 'bad' parts to be refused, or overprotected, or figured out, or fixed, but rather as messengers to be deeply listened to. Whenever we separate from ourselves or our truth, it leaves a residue of pain and disharmony which points back to our innate intelligence. There is no single cause to be figured out for anything because everything co-arises out of multiple interdependent factors both inside and outside ourselves. What our practice does is deepen our ability to listen to our body's messages, and to the deeper call of intelligence within ourselves, so we can live in harmony with life. How can our physical practice become not simply "physical" but rather one of many yogic tools (ethics, postures, breath awareness, and various levels of concentration and meditation) that help us move towards or come into closer contact with our individual self and our deepest Self? One method is to bring meditative awareness to all levels of our being, including the body and breath in our hatha practice...
From Rod Stryker: Unlock Your Locks Mind is the key that either locks you in the prison of your own creation or frees you to play in nature's exquisite and boundless landscape. It is easy to see that your mind isn't inclined toward peace. Penetrate beyond its surface however and access the majestic Universe the answers to all questions and the path through any obstacle. Meditate to [observe and] train your mind day after day and awaken its spectacular capacities. |
AuthorMisha Butot RCSW, ERYT 500 is a longtime clinical social worker and senior yoga teacher living in Victoria, BC Archives
March 2024
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