Monthly Archives: August 2020

Through Friendliness, Kindness and Compassion, Strength Comes

Posted on August 18, 2020 by april dechagas

We’ve been discussing in classes this month the pre-requisites for receiving the teachings of yoga, but really, as I’ve been saying, these are pre-requisites for just making our way through this world. The requirements we’ve discussed are LOVE, RESPECT, AND FRIENDSHIP.

Below are two sutras from Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra chapter 3 – the chapter on powers – discussing friendship and love. We’ll discuss more this week 🙂


Speaking of friendship…a bunch of my friends from high school are supposedly coming to the 7 am class this Friday – you should all come too! One of my teachers, Lady Ruth, said this about 3.23, “Power comes, begins with, friendship. Do everything for your friends. Never underestimate the power of a friend.”

3.23 maitry-adiṣu balāni ॥23॥

Through friendliness, kindness and compassion, strength comes.

3.37 te samādhav-upasargāḥ-vyutthāne siddhayaḥ ॥37॥

By giving up the love of power, you attain the power of love.

Categories: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

To Comprehend and Respect Another

Posted on August 11, 2020 by april dechagas

COMPREHEND:

Latin root “com” = together in mind, “prehendere” = to grasp it, or pick it up


To comprehend something means to pick it up and be one with it. There is no other way to understand something.


RESPECT:

Latin Root “respectus”, from the verb “respicere” to look back at, regard. Consisting of  “re” = back  “specere” = look at or look back

Respect means to look again, to keep looking with increasingly sensitive eyes.

Respect only arises when we can take another look and realize the preciousness of what someone or something has to offer.

From Thich Nhat Hanh’s “The Heart of Understanding”:

“When we want to understand something, we cannot just stand outside and observe it. We have to enter deeply into it and be one with it in order to really understand. If we want to understand a person, we have to feel their feelings, suffer their sufferings, and enjoy their joy.

If we are concerned with peace and want to understand another country [or our own], we can’t just stand outside and observe. We have to be one with a citizen of that country in order to understand her feelings, perceptions, and mental formations. Any meaningful work for peace must follow the principal of non-duality, the principal of comprehension [and respect]. This is our peace practice” to comprehend, to be one with, in order to really understand.”

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Blog at WordPress.com.