13
Jan
2020
Yoga Challenge
Challenge Day 13- Yoga is Patience
I am not a naturally patient person. In fact, I would say that my resting state of mind is rather impatient. In Sanskrit, patience, called Kshanti, also includes the attitude of forbearance and forgiveness. In Buddhism, patience is one of the paramitas, the six perfections that are evident in enlightened beings. Yoga has taught me…
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12
Jan
2020
Yoga Challenge
Challenge Day 12- Yoga is Gratitude
Yoga is a process of training the mind, as much or more so, than it is training the body. Thoughts, emotions, and other states of being are practiced and cultivated just as strongly as the poses. Without this inner work, yoga is a two-dimensional fitness-based stretching routine far from its original intention. Sorry if that…
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11
Jan
2020
Yoga Challenge
Challenge Day 11- Yoga is Compassion
Compassion = empathy + action. The practice of yoga cracks your heart open so that you are strong enough to feel and be present to your own suffering and all the suffering beings of the world. Then, the next step for a yoga practitioner is action—conscious action taken with the intent to alleviate suffering. Empathetic…
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10
Jan
2020
Yoga Challenge
Challenge Day 10- Yoga is Happiness
Be happy where you, as you are, right now. Or, even when you achieve the soaring heights of your dreams, it won’t make you happy. The idea of delaying happiness until the distant dreamed-of day in the future when you finally check off all the right boxes is a flawed way of thinking. This trope…
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9
Jan
2020
Yoga Challenge
Challenge Day 9- Yoga is Kindness
We are friends. We are kind and forgiving to one another. We support one another. We love, honor, cherish and respect one another. I’m grateful for that and I appreciate your friendship. The decision about who your friends are and who your enemies are has the power to determine the entire course of your life….
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8
Jan
2020
Yoga Challenge
Challenge Day 8- Yoga is Harmony
No more war. But, also, then, no more fighting for peace. Just peace. The Buddha says in the Dhammapada, “Hatred is never appeased by hatred in this world; it is appeased by love. This is an eternal Law.” But, we cannot make peace in the world if we are not at peace with ourselves. There…
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7
Jan
2020
Yoga Challenge
Yoga Is Challenge Day 7- Awareness
Awareness is a faculty of mind that you can cultivate. Defined as the ability to perceive, feel, know, or cognizant of, or in other words, the state of being conscious or aware. Awareness is happening in you right now. Just reflect for a moment and you will see that you are aware of many things…
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6
Jan
2020
Yoga Challenge
Yoga Challenge Day 6- Yoga is the Breath
There is perhaps no greater mystery than the breath. Ask yourself this—by what force were you empowered to take your first breath and by what force will you be compelled to take your last breath. In the space between your first inhalation and your last exhalation is the entire journey of your life. Each inhalation…
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5
Jan
2020
Yoga Challenge
Challenge Day 5- Yoga is Healing
It’s hard to explain how a series of physical poses that bend, twist, and lift the body bring about deep healing and total life transformation. What may make this non-linear process more evident is to look at the ways in which we are all wounded and in need of healing. In contemporary Western culture there…
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4
Jan
2020
Yoga Challenge
Yoga Is Challenge Day 4- Balance
Falling is the best way to learn balance. No one likes to hear that. We would all prefer if we could just decide to be in balance, whether physically, mentally or emotionally, and have it just be so. The reality of life is far from that. Well, I should say that there are people with…
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