Archive for category Philosophy
Is it just Monkey Buisiness?
Posted by fratellic in Philosophy on April 25, 2012
My friend and I were recently discussing an article in the Economist entitled, Misery index: Low social status is bad for your health. Biologists are starting to understand why.” This article draws some conclusions about living and longevity. More times than not we often attribute living a long healthy life to how we treat and nourish our bodies. The article in the Economist, however, theorizes that social status can genetically alter the body in such ways to promote and sustain a healthy life. At this point in our discussion, and after reading the article, I think “wow, this is great news for all of those overworked lawyers, doctors, and company CEOs in our society!” But what about the rest of us? What if our social status is such that we have no special letters after our names? Are we doomed to die sooner than our acronym-carrying compatriots?
The scientist in me immediately recognizes some holes in the Economist theory. I think the following question needs to be addressed: What happens if you are truly happy with your current (yet meager) social standing? Does this social happiness in someway mimic scientists findings from the paper? Can you change your genetic code for healthy living simply because you are happy with your lot in life?
The yogi in me calls to mind a quote by Ranchor Prime who wrote Ramayana. In this story, Prime says, “The forest is full of thorns and wild beasts. In wind and rain you search for food, while serpents creep among the sharp stones.” Basically, I am thinking you are damned if you do and you are damned if you don’t. For example, imagine you rise up the ranks of society, clearly becoming a leader, but the lack of awareness and time prevent you from having (or keeping) a healthy body. You then find yourself slowly growing obese from the processed food that you continually purchase from the office vending machine because you do not possibly have the time to cook a meal, let alone sit and lavish in the delicious flavors. Therefore, you suffer a heart attack and die suddenly. (wah-wah-wah-WAH!) On the flip side, contemplate for a moment that you were lower in social standing (not at the bottom rung, but pretty close), but you were quite mindful of your health. You worked hard to earn your money and were frugal in your attempts to seek good nourishing food. You placed exercise, health, and happiness at the top of your list of “MUSTS.” In this scenario, you lived to a ripe old age. (woo-HOO!) What life would you choose? Or is this all just monkey business?
Here’s my theory…If you want to live a long, happy life then the key is B-A-L-A-N-C-E. It takes all of your mental, emotional, physical, and social qualities to create and maintain a long healthy life. Not one quality can over-rule or undermine another…it’s all a fine balance. So instead of focusing on just one particular area, drown yourself so supremely into all aspects of your life.
Find your happiness in the balance of here and now!
Navratri: A Celebration of the Feminine Goddess
Posted by fratellic in Asana, Meditation, Philosophy on March 23, 2012
Nav means “nine” and ratri means “night,” so put it together and Navratri means “nine nights.” Nine nights of festivals and pooja (or worship).
The beginning of spring and the beginning of autumn are two very important junctions of climatic and solar influence. In India, these two periods are taken as sacred opportunities for the worship of the Divine Mother (Shakti), the feminine goddess and her various forms. Therefore Navaratri is celebrated twice a year in India. The first Navaratri falls in the month of Chaitra, which is March- April according to the Gregorian calendar, and the second festival is celebrated in the month of Ashwani, which correlates with the months of September – October according to the Gregorian calendar. More specifically, the first Navratri is called Chaitra Navratri and the second Navratri festival is celebrated as Durga Pooja. (Wikipedia, 2012)
The dates for Navratri this year are March 23rd through March 31st, 2012. The first three days of Navratri (March 23rd – 25th) are dedicated to the Goddess Durga (Warrior Goddess). She can be found dressed in red and mounted on a lion. To embody Durga means to have a fearless sense of compassion and an impeccable source of patience. Durga is the protector and destroyer of all that does not serve to benefit us in this world.
The next three days (March 26th – 28th) are dedicated to Goddess Lakshmi (Goddess of Wealth and Prosperity). Dressed in gold, seated on a lotus and often accompanied by elephants, Laxmi shows and offers all the abundances life has to greet us with. To embody Laxmi is to feel undeniably beautiful, grateful, and overflowing with blessings.
Finally, last three days (March 29th – March 31st) are dedicated to Goddess Saraswati (Goddess Of Knowledge). Saraswati arrives dressed in milky white and mounted on a pure white swan. She shows us that when we learn to focus our creative energies we can feel truly happy and inspired by this life.
It is during Navratri that I find a profound direct relationship between asana and our natural divine connection to our feminine side. Yes, men, you too have divine qualities that could always use cultivating. I really feel that mindful practice during these auspicious days has the ability to transform our mind and body, better aligning ourselves to our true nature. Therefore, in celebration of Navratri, I will be offering classes focused around each goddess and their divine qualities.
Come celebrate with me!
Un-defining Myself
Posted by fratellic in Meditation, Philosophy on February 1, 2012
Last week, I asked my students to ponder the question: “Who am I?” I asked them to dive beyond the obvious, beyond their names or the names of the cities where they reside or the states they originally came from, into the layers beneath the surface of their identities. Of course I didn’t want them to answer me verbally, but I wanted to give them the opportunity to reflect on themselves.
What happened for me was much more unexpected…
I never give my students information or a reflection that I would not also take seriously, so I too have been reflecting on the question: “Who am I?” What I found myself doing was listing paths to an end, such as scientist, school teacher, yoga teacher, mother, and wife. First, I got frustrated with my inability to dive deeper when I asked myself: “Who am I?” But then I realized that I needed to figure out why I could not release my mind from these “positions” of myself. What I decided was that I have been defining myself by what society dictates as acceptable social practice. For example, when you meet someone new at a party of many unfamiliar people what is usually the first question you engage someone with? Hmm…could it be “what do you do for a living?” (I can see you all nodding in agreement right now, maybe even picturing yourself in this situation.) Knowing this, I finally figured out why I kept answering my own question of who I was with career positions, like scientist, teacher, etc; it was because in social settings everyone defines themselves by what they do, not who they actually are!
Okay, let’s put the ego aside for a moment, and dive beneath the layers. Who are you…as a person, deep inside your soul? Can you be more than what society dictates (or judges) you should be? This contemplation is NOT about what society says you should be, but actually who you are?
I sat for periods of time thinking to myself who am I underneath all these layers of skin and bones, I searched my soul to define myself. I am not a scientist, but I am a living breathing soul that is curious about the world in which I live. I like to ask questions like “why” and “how.” I am not a school teacher; rather I am empathetic to those people needing help. I am not a yoga teacher; instead I find myself part of a collective of minds who likes to search deeper into our beings where not even philosophy can satisfy its own desires. I am not a wife or a mother; rather I am someone who can fall ever so deeply in love with the creation of life.
Instead of defining myself by asking “Who am I?,”
I unraveled the mysteries of what is means to BE – my un-defining self.
The Luckiest Year
Posted by fratellic in Life Happenings, Philosophy on January 24, 2012
Some people ask me if my life is all rainbows and flowers. I wonder if this is a common misconception amongst many in relation to yoga instructors. At times I feel that people seem to carry a serenity torch for me, yet my life is not free from the same daily struggles, and frustrations as most. I think what may be different is my approach to those difficulties that arise in my life.
It is for this reason that I write for you, my students. I want you to see that life is all about perspective and how you chose to view the situations that arise. I believe if you approach life from a more rose-colored perspective, then life will be sunnier and sweeter in general. There is always time to embrace new perspectives in life. Maybe today is the day, a quite auspicious time on the calender too.
Yesterday was the beginning of the Chinese New Year, often called the Chinese Lunar New Year, the most important holiday of the year in China. This year, 2012, the Chinese celebrate the Year of the Dragon. This year more than any other is considered the luckiest year in the Chinese Zodiac.
The Dragon symbolizes power, freedom of spirit, high energy, adventure, confidence, and creativity. You can harness the spirit of the Dragon to bring greater freedom and confidence into your life and your yoga practice. I encourage you to ride the power of the Dragon and create a confident, healthy you, not only in body, but mind and spirit too; see the world from a new vantage point today!
It’s never to late to begin anew. If you missed your fresh start at the beginning of this Solar New Year, then NOW is the time to embrace the new beginnings of the Chinese Lunar New Year.
~ Catch you in the Flow…riding the Dragon ~
What I Carry Forward (Post #3 in a Series)
Posted by fratellic in Life Happenings, Philosophy on December 31, 2011
You may be wondering: why am I telling you this story, and these most intimate details of my life? Or you may be thinking: how does this relate to yoga in any way?
It must be told that my father did finally pass away on 1-1-11, but not before he left us with the most revealing lessons of his entire life with us. One reason I would like to share these lessons with you is that I believe these lessons are so profound, yet so simple. Another reason is to help chronicle those last moments in my father’s life so that my siblings can continue to celebrate my father’s life even upon his death, and that my children can remember and recall such lessons as they grow.
Did you ever hear the prayer: Now I lay me down to sleep; I pray the Lord my soul to keep; and angels watch me through the night; and guide me to the morning light…?
One of the most profound things my father said during this week of his passing between the end of the old year and the upcoming New Year was that “our entire life was but one day in God’s infinite universe.” This powerfully parallels the so commonly heard night-time prayer heard above. What are we truly praying for every night? Do we actually die in our sleep? No, we know that we return to our conscious mind every morning when we awake…at least in our world. It seems from my father’s perspective though maybe our prayers are not so much for ourselves but for the divine, in hopes that in God’s world the divine returns us to our conscious mind in the morning ensuring that we go on living and fulfilling our promise to find the divine within our own being? And so we search subconsciously, as we sleep, for that morning sunshine to physically awake us, but what about our mental awakening.
Yogis often suggest that their course in life is to find enlightenment, or their mental awakening. Did my father somehow find this enlightenment this last week of his life? As he bridged this world and the next, my father spoke ever so clearly, revealing his mental awakening. It was not until months later that I began linking the pieces of his spoken words to what Yogis report as enlightenment. It just made sense. As Yogis, we learn that we are not separate from the divine, but rather the divine resides in us. Part of our seva is to find the divine in ourselves, and upon finding this source of the divine residing inside of our being that we learn that each person is connected to each other through this source. My father did not need to teach me that the divine resides within me, but what my father did give me during that last week of his life were pieces, no glimpses, into the divine afterlife. Because my father chose to share his last moments with his family gathered around we all were showered with those rare glimpses into another world that we often dream of as a child.
I am truly grateful for this last gift that my father had given to me, and I carry it every day feeling ultimately blessed. These divine glimpses are what carried me through this past year, 2011, and why I look forward to this upcoming, 2012. Therefore, with gratitude and honor, I will light one single candle to my father this evening; it is because of him that I treasure life even more today than I did last year. I will carry his gift forever, and I will pass this gift onto my children: the gift of living yoga.
~ Blessings to all of you in this New Year! Jai 2012 ~
