Technology Spirituality Mash-Up

Posted on May 30, 2019 by april dechagas

Some final thoughts this month’s focus at Jivamukti Yoga as we close the month of May…⁣⁣

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We live in a technological world, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing! We have become interconnected with other human beings in ways most of us couldn’t have ever imagined! I wouldn’t be able to connect with most of you if not for this technological world! But there should be a happy medium…we cannot solely rely on technology, and we cannot go off to live in a cave somewhere to meditate all the time and ditch life (Bharati also spoke about this at Ananda Ashram this weekend)⁣⁣

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Here are some thoughts on this by Thich Nhat Hanh, from his book The Sun My Heart:⁣⁣

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“Meditators have always known that they must use their own eyes and the language of their own times to express their insight. Wisdom is a living stream, not an icon to be preserved in a museum. Only when a practitioner finds the spring of wisdom in his or her own life can it flow to future generations. All of us must keep the torch of wisdom glowing in order to light the path ahead.⁣⁣

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Our insight and our language are inseparable from the times in which we live. For many years, the East followed the West down the path of technological and material development, to the point of neglecting its own spiritual values. In our world, technology is the main force behind economics and politics, but scientists in the West have begun to see something similar to what the spiritual disciplines of the East discovered long ago. If we can survive our times, the gap that separates science and spirituality will close, and East and West will meet one another on the path to discover true mind. We can start working towards convergence right now, using our own daily mindful lives.” ⁣

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#MythMonday : Agni

Posted on May 27, 2019 by april dechagas
Agni the Fire God

If you do too much too quickly, your fire will burn out. If you take on more then you can handle, your fire will burn out. If you try to shove your knee to your ankle in agnistambhasana before it’s ready, your fire (and your knee!) will burn out! Take things slow, breath deep and take it all in. Practice and all is coming.

Agni-Stambhasana (Fire Log Seat)
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#MythMonday : Bharadvaja

Posted on May 20, 2019 by april dechagas

Bharadvāja was a dedicated yoga student and devoted his entire life to studying the vedas. All he did, all day, every day, was study. He studied so much, that he exhausted an entire lifetime doing so.

Upon his rebirth, Bharadvāja did the same thing all over again. He thought the more he studied, the more likely it was that he’d break the cycle of saṃsāra, the continuous circle of birth, death, and rebirth. He again exhausted an entire lifetime just studying.

In his third lifetime, Bharadvāja again did the same thing. At this point people all over the kingdom would whisper to each other about the weird hermit who never left his home and only studied yoga. He was giving yoga a bad name! Who wants to study yoga if your just trapped inside all day reading thousand-paged books and never having any fun? He had no family, no friends, and was always alone. What kind of life is it if you can’t share it with others?

At the end of this third lifetime, Shiva came to Bharadvāja at his deathbed. Bharadvāja thought that this was finally it! That he knew the vedas so well that he would not have to be re-born and could live with the Gods and Goddesses. But oh was he wrong! Shiva scolded him (in a loving gentle way), and asked what on earth Bharadvāja thought he was doing? He spends all this time studying, but what good is all this yogic knowledge if he isn’t sharing it with others? Why keep the joy of yoga to himself when he could help others find joy and happiness as well?

In his fourth lifetime, Bharadvāja finally understood. Rather than living his hermit lifestyle, he became a teacher. And not only was he a teacher, but he also had more friends than he could have ever imagined. Rather than finding yoga in just books, he was living it.

At the end of this lifetime, Shiva again came to visit Bharadvāja. “You did it,” Shiva exclaimed! “You finally get it! You no longer have to be subjected to karmas and re-birth. Come let’s go, you’ll love it in “The Good Place.” But Bharadvāja refused, instead choosing to again be re-born as a teacher, deciding that living this great joyful life was all he needed.

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#MythMonday : Galava

Posted on May 13, 2019 by april dechagas

In this challenging arm balance, the bound leg represents the rope, or gāla, tied around Gālava’s waist, and the extended leg is the tail of the rope being held by his mother. In order to maintain the āsana, a counter-balance must be present, and it looks almost like a see-saw. Bringing weight into the hands, the upper torso moves towards the earth while maintaining a lift in the head and sternum. At the same time, the back leg lifts up off the floor, all the way up towards the sky, to an angle at which the body is in one straight line from head to toe, and looks like a see-saw. Once the back leg lifts high enough, past the fulcrum point of the front leg resting on the arms, the āsana feels a bit weightless, like you are defying gravity.

The story of how Gālava received his name also lends itself as a reminder that there must be a balance between our yoga practice and our everyday lives. Ideally we are living our lives in a joyful, yogic way, but we also can’t ditch our family, friends, and responsibilities just to practice. It is easy to become seduced by the benefits of a daily yoga practice – it has a magical affect on our body, mind and soul!  But this might start to be an issue if you are missing dinner with your family or friends, or your kid’s soccer game just to get a class in. A Jīvanmukta is one who has found liberation in THIS LIFETIME. Which means that you have reached a state of enlightenment, but you are still living in this current world, in this body, with the same everyday responsibilites. You are just not affected by the ups and downs of everyday life. (Supposedly…I am not there yet!)

BKS Iyengar
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#MythMonday : Vishvamitra

Posted on May 7, 2019 by april dechagas

King Kaushika had absolutely EVERYTHING. He was extremely wealthy, had the largest army in the land, and had anything you could possibly think of at the tip of his fingers.

One day, while traveling with his large army, he came across the small, humble hermitage of the sage Vaśiṣṭha. They stopped to pay their respects, and as was customary, Vaśiṣṭha invited them to stay for a meal. Kaushika refused, saying there was no way that Vaśiṣṭha’s small home could provide enough food for the entire army. Vaśiṣṭha insisted, and Kaushika finally agreed, thinking they would be lucky if they even received a piece of bread each.

As the evening went on, more and more food kept coming out, and the entire army was completely satisfied. Kaushika was baffled, and asked Vaśiṣṭha how this was possible. Vaśiṣṭha told Kaushika that he had a magical cow named Nadini, that could provide whatever was asked for. Kaushika had never heard of a magical cow! He didn’t have one and he has everything, and demanded Vaśiṣṭha hand over the cow. Vaśiṣṭha was appalled. Nandini was part of the family, and Vaśiṣṭha could never give a family member away. Kaushika demanded Vaśiṣṭha give him the cow, or else he would declare war and just take the cow. Vaśiṣṭha said “Fine, go right ahead.” Kaushika thought Vaśiṣṭha was crazy. How could this little yogic sage defeat the largest army in the land? He couldn’t go back on his word, and so they went to war.

Battle after battle Vaśiṣṭha consistently won until Kaushika and his army couldn’t take it anymore and surrendered. Baffled again, Kaushika wondered how Vaśiṣṭha was able to defeat him. He realized there must be more to this yoga stuff than he realized, decided to give up everything except what he deemed essential, and went off to study yoga. After many, many years of study King Kaushika also became a yogic sage. His took the name Viśvāmitra (Viś = expansive/universe; mitra = friend) and dedicated his life to taking care of others and spreading the teachings of yoga.

Similar to King Kaushika having everything, viśvāmitrāsana also has a bit of everything! It is a side bend, shoulder opener, hip opener, standing āsana and arm balance all in one! You can not take this one by force! What’s interesting is the elements of vaśiṣṭhāsana (side plank) are also here, with the arm holding the foot representing the bow and arrow of war. Slow and steady wins this battle, and with patience you will find expansion and openess to all.

Drawing by @jason_crandell
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#MythMonday : Patanjali

Posted on April 29, 2019 by april dechagas

Śiva and Viṣṇu were hanging out… Viṣṇu was sitting on his serpent couch ĀdiŚeṣa, who is also sometimes referred to as Anantā. They were listening to the beat of Śiva’s ḍamaru drum, and Śiva was performing his cosmic dance. Viṣṇu became so captivated by the dance of Śiva that he started to vibrate to the rhythm – becoming heavier and heavier, starting to crush ĀdiŚeṣa.

When the dance was over, the weight was lifted. ĀdiŚeṣa was so amazed by this by this dramatic change he expressed a wish for legs so he can learn to dance.

At the same exact time, Gonika, a dovited yogini, was praying for a worthy son to pass along her knowledge of yoga. Viṣṇu, who is the sustainer of the world and yogic knowledge, sent ĀdiŚeṣa down to earth. He fell from the heavens into the palms of Gonika (legs and all!) and she named her new son Patañjali (pat = to fall; añjali = palms).

Patañjali grew up to be a great vedic scholar. He went through thousands and thousands of pages of veda (so we didn’t have to! Thanks Patañjali!), took what he thought was the most essential, and strung them together. He compiled three books: Purification of Speech, Purification of Body and Purification of Mind. The Purification of Mind is what we commonly refer to as The Yoga Sutras of Patañjali.

Anantā means infinite or endless, and Ādi means first. It refers to the state of yoga – timeless, beyond birth, death, and all changes in between—a limitless state of joy and contentment. Anantāsana helps us cultivate this sense of contentment and equanimity. It requires a bit of balance, flexibility, and core strength – all aspects we need in our every day lives!

Anantasana (Vishnu’s Couch)


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How you like me now? — Thought Salad

Posted on April 22, 2019 by april dechagas

My friend Amanda just posted this on her blog and I wanted to share! Please read! It’s quite yogic 😉

I saw this quote and the resonated with the hell out of me. Parenting. Social media. Parties. Parking lots. Everywhere we go. Have you seen that episode of Black Mirror called “Nosedive”? Here is the Wikipedia synopsis of the episode: “The episode is set in a (futuristic) world where people can rate each other from one to […]

How you like me now? — Thought Salad
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#MythMonday : Hanuman

Posted on April 8, 2019 by april dechagas

Anjaneya was the son of Vayu, the wind God, and Anjana, a mortal woman. Because of his demi-God status, Anjaneya had superpowers – he could grow really large, and shrink really small, he had super-strength and could leap to great heights. Because of this, Anajaneya was unintentionally a bit of a troublemaker as a child.

One morning, Anjaneya saw the sun in the sky and thought it was a mango. He leapt up to eat the sun, but before he could, Surya, the sun god, threw a lightning bolt that hit Anjaneya in the jaw (hanu in Sanskrit) and he fell to the earth.

The Gods and Goddess were in distress. This little guy with all of his powers could cause the destruction of the world. They agreed to revive him, but with short-term memory, so that he would never remember the powers he had. He was given the nickname Hanumān, in reference to his broken jaw, was sent to foster with Sugriva the monkey king and was given the form of a monkey to fit in with his new family. Hanumān lived most of his life with no knowledge of the true power he held within.

When Hanumān was grown, he met Rām in the Dandaka forest and joined him on his journey to save Sītā from the evil demon Rāvaṇa. After travelling for many days, they arrived at a large ocean that was separating them from the island of Lanka, where Sītā was being held. Hanumān was distraught and felt defeated. They had come all this way, and all he wanted was to help his friend Rām. He was about to give up when his friend Jambavana, King of the Bears, whispered in his ear that Hanumān was more powerful than he realized. With that subtle reminder, Hanumān, out of pure love, devotion and joy for Sītā and Rām, and without thinking about tight hamstrings, quadriceps or psoas muscles, leapt across the ocean to the island of Lanka to save Sītā.

Most of us are more capable that we realize, and we all have so much power within, it is just clouded sometimes, by physical and/or emotional pain. We are all stronger than we know, and can handle A LOT. Most of the time, when we finally leap across what seems like a very large chasm of an ocean, we say to ourselves, “Well, that wasn’t so bad!” On the other hand, sometimes we don’t realize how powerful we actually are. That our thoughts, words and actions, hold so much power, that we don’t realize how what we put out into the world affects the other living beings around us.

Hanumānāsana requires a balance of strength, trust, ease, grace, and a bit of fearlessness. Rather than focusing on tightness and un-comfortableness of the āsana, you can return to the intention you set in the beginning of class. Offering the efforts of your practice to someone other than yourself is one way of bringing a sense of mindfulness into the practice. Let go of what is holding you back!

Video edited by https://www.facebook.com/jivamuktiyoganyc/

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#MythMonday : Parvati

Posted on April 8, 2019 by april dechagas

Hey guys! This is a special #mythmonday video shot from my retreat location in La Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia, the largest coastal mountain range in the world! I’ll be telling the story of Pārvatī, but while I was here in Colombia I did some research on local indigenous mythology and found a description of a myhtological figure named La Madre Monte, Mother Mountain:

Madre monte (Mother Mountain) is a stout, elegant woman who wears moss and leaves and a green hat that conceals her face.  She lives in dense jungle and supposedly bathes in rivers, causing flooding and heavy storms. Madre monte haunts those who steal others people’s land and casts plagues on cattle owners who usurp fields or ignore boundaries. She also dislikes unfaithful spouses, vagabonds and general mischief-makers and punishes them by placing insurmountable obstacles in their path when they walk through the jungle. They eventually fall asleep with exhaustion and do not wake for hours.

I found many of her attributes similar to those of yogic mythology, like Pārvatī, or her son Gaṇeśa. Check out the #mythmonday video below.

Pārvatī was born into royalty; her father Himavat was king of the Himalaya, who was also sometimes referred to as King Parvat. Pārvatī was named after her father, and her name translates to ‘Daughter of the Mountains’. She is the goddess of fertility (everything comes from the mountain, or Earth), love, devotion, but also of strength and power – just like a mountain!⁣
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The alignment of tāḍāsana (mountain seat) exists within every single other āsana we come into during class. All the āsanas have the same physical alignment, they are just shaped different. Similarly, everything on this planet, living and inanimate, are made of the same elements, we are just shaped different.⁣
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The mountain, or let’s say Earth, is also the connection between all of the other forms we come into. We come into the form of humans – warriors and sages and saints, of animals – dogs, monkeys, birds, frogs, fish, insects. We come into the form of flowers and trees. We come into the form of tools – compasses, plows, boats. The mountain (Earth) is the common factor. Everything on this planet, even what we think of as inanimate objects, comes from this earth.⁣
The practices of yoga – physical, spiritual and philosophical – teach us how to relate and connect to everyone and everything around us in a meaningful and supportive way.

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#MythMonday: Aṣṭāvakra

Posted on March 25, 2019 by april dechagas

This story is very much about ego. Kahola could not stand being corrected by his unborn son, and cursed him, causing a birth deformity. Aṣṭāvakra couldn’t stand the mistakes being made by Kahola and could not help but correct him from the womb. The supposed vedic scholars could not believe that someone who looked like Aṣṭāvakra could also be a vedic scholar and were embarrassed when he proved them wrong.

Similarly arm balances are also all about ego. Yes, they require strength and flexibility – both attributes we need in our everyday lives. But when we can all of a sudden come into an arm balance, it all of a sudden becomes our new social media profile pic or new party trick (don’t drink and yoga you guys!) And when we can’t do them, we are looking around the room comparing ourselves to those who can and wondering why we can’t. It’s all about ego, and none of that matters. You won’t all of a sudden become enlightened when you come into Aṣṭāvakrāsana the first time (wouldn’t that be nice!) There is a deeper meaning behind why we practice āsanas, and it’s not about circus tricks. Although this does not mean that you shouldn’t at least try and work your way up to the full asana. If you never try, nothing will ever change. We can say that nothing we do will make changes in the world, but if we don’t at least try, then DEFINITELY nothing will ever change. Be the change you want to see in the world.

Videos created by Jivamukti NYC

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