Reading from Class: Beyond Struggle

“Your work really begins when you release struggle. To let go of struggle initiates a change of vibration within you. This change puts you in touch with the flow of Life Itself, which is essentially what you are.  To cultivate your awareness of this flow is your real work.

When you’re in touch with the flow of Life and feel your heart and mind open, you’ll note that a certain presence starts to assert itself. This presence changes your physical chemistry, your feelings, and your mind. It is the spirit itself, starting to inform you about yourself, about it, about Life, and about God. It’s a simple work.” – Swami Chetanananda

 

Shared from Yoga Gems

 

Reading From Class: Openness

“The openness to Life Itself that we cultivate frees us from a great deal of conditioning and many inherent and inherited assumptions…Life is not about answers.  It IS about learning to live in the middle of complete uncertainty, and doing so gracefully.” – Swami Chetanananda  

 

Shared from Yoga Gems.

Reading from Class: Self-discovery

“Yoga is meant to give us a way to discover or rediscover ourselves. It teaches us how to find the great margin of maximum capacity that we have inside us so that we are able to expose ourselves to ourselves and find out what we really are.” — Geeta S. Iyengar

Reading from Class: Awareness of Intentions

“By making an effort to notice our intentions with honesty and clarity, we gain a great deal of freedom. If we take the time to pay quiet attention, perhaps through meditation or contemplation, we may develop a completely different understanding of why we do the things we do and a new perspective on how to trust that we’ve done the best we can.” – Sharon Salzberg

 

 


This is my fourth sharing from this article.  I highly recommend it:   “The Power of Intention” by Sharon Salzberg.   Please find more on Intention below:
 

“Intention is not just about will—or about resolutions we make on New Year’s Eve with shaky hope in our hearts—but about our overall everyday vision, what we long for, what we believe is possible for us. If we want to know the spirit of our activities, the emotional tone of our efforts, we have to look at our intentions.”– Sharon Salzberg
 

 
“Intention, I tell you, is kamma. Intending, one does kamma by way of body, speech, & intellect.” — Anguttara Nikaya 6.63
 

“‘I am the owner of my actions (kamma), heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions, and have my actions as my arbitrator. Whatever I do, for good or for evil, to that will I fall heir’…
“[This is a fact that] one should reflect on often, whether one is a woman or a man, lay or ordained…” — Anguttara Nikaya 5.57
 

 
“One of the Buddha’s most penetrating discoveries is that our intentions are the main factors shaping our lives and that they can be mastered as a skill. If we subject them to the same qualities of mindfulness, persistence, and discernment involved in developing any skill, we can perfect them to the point where they will lead to no regrets or damaging results in any given situation; ultimately, they can lead us to the truest possible happiness. To train our intentions in this way, though, requires a deep level of self-awareness.” — Thanissaro Bhikkhu

 

 
 
 


To continue reading from  Thanissaro Bhikkhu on Intentions read this  “The Road to Nirvana Is Paved with Skillful Intentions.”

Reading from class: Power of Intention by Sharon Salzberg

“By prizing heartfulness above faultlessness, we may reap more from our effort because we’re more likely to be changed by it. We learn and grow and are transformed not so much by what we do but by why and how we do it.” – Sharon Salzberg

 

This is my third sharing from this article.  I highly recommend it:   “The Power of Intention” by Sharon Salzberg. 

New Event: Alignment-Based Flow Master Class @ clubXcel

Alignment-Based Flow Master Class

@ clubXcel in Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA

Saturday August 16, 2014    4 -5:30p   Hips and Hamstrings

Saturday August 23, 2014    4 -5:30p   Shoulders and Back Bends

A challenging and mindful practice with a strong connection to alignment, core, stability and breath. Strengthen deepen and refine your practice.  All are welcome.

Agust 16:  Hips and Hamstrings – enhancing range of motion around the hip

August 23:  Shoulders and Back Bends – strengthen the back  body (especially upper back) and open and release tension from the front body (hip flexors, pecs and shoulders)

The two sections will build on each other, and can be taken together or individually.  Both practices will include twists, deep stretching and offer great opportunities to release the lower back releasing.    Register: https://clients.mindbodyonline.com/ASP/home.asp?studioid=4290

ALIGNMENT-BASED FLOW MASTER CLASS (1)

 

Reading from Class: “Bootstraps” by Sharon Salzberg

“If we fall, we don’t need self-recrimination or blame or anger—we need a reawakening of our intention and a willingness to recommit, to be wholehearted once again.” – Sharon Salzberg

My mind easily wanders down dark alleys of fault, mistakes, failure and disparaging thoughts. After faulting, I can be consumed with worry, guilt and frustration. I can be hard-pressed to get out of that negative space. To no surprise (…and much like the activity of my mind) I sound a like a broken record.

This reading is also from “The Power of Intention” published in O Magazine in 2004. Sharon Salzberg speaks to the power of cultivating awareness of the intentions behind our thoughts and actions.

Being present and mindful is what helps to keep us in a better space, out of worry about ‘what should have happened‘ and ‘what could happen next‘ and able to move forward. A worthy life long practice.