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Reflections on Yoga & Gardens

Happy Spring/Almost Summer. 

 
Wow! I am amazed at how much growth there has been in my garden this week.  Flower beds that have been dark and empty all winter are now overflowing.  Honest, I haven’t  planted anything. I just get to watch and enjoy.  I guess it’s just that the conditions were perfect for emergence.  The soil had all the nutrients, there was plenty of water, a burst of sun and some careful attention, and plenty of space to allow for expansion and abundance.

 
And that is what we do in yoga, we create conditions which enable us to emerge from the darkness.  We sow the seeds of abundance and create space in which to grow.  We kindle the natural energies of expansion – earth, fire, water, air.

 
And it is from this place of nurturence that we find our deeper selves rising to the surface.  Our bodies begin to shed the densities of the winter months and perhaps even years of dormancy.  As we move slowly, with compassion and integrity, our bodies begin to heal and strengthen.  Injuries and traumas from years past which have remained buried and stuck can be carefully addressed.  Injuries of the spirit and soul which have become stored within the body memory, can also be released.

Plant the seeds of your healing, nourish with healthy food and plenty of water, build some heat, and add some prana, breath deeply and aerate, allow space for growth, and be open to the growth and change that can and will happen.

Have a great week.

Shalom & Namaste

Diana Bonyhadi

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Rembering Maurice Sendak

Maurice Sendak, illustrator and author of many wonderful children’s books passed away yesterday.  This is a loss I feel deeply, for Sendak’s work was not only a part of my childhood, but also a part of my children’s childhood.  As a child I was fascinated with the boy who stole away in a ship of his own making, whose room had been covered in vines and trees.  As a mother, I loved showing my claws and gnashing my teeth with my children.

While Sendak was clearly a marvelous illustrator, what I treasure most about his work, was his irreverence for social norms and his willingness to embrace the freedom of a child’s imagination.  His characters all seem a bit tousled, like they had just had so much fun on the playground or just climbed out of bed.  They get in trouble and take on monsters.  They eat chicken soup and rice, every day of the week, and curl up in their grandmother’s lap after coming back from space.  Sendak used his pen to awaken our dreams and inspire us to be ourselves. His characters seemed to embody their thoughts and emotions  so fully that they are still clearly imprinted upon our minds and hearts.

We shall miss you Maurice.  Thank you for inspiring us to howl at the moon, dance with kings, and make soup with friends. Thank you for creating memories for parents and children that shall forever be cherished. Thank you for encouraging us to step more fully into our creative, imaginative and wonderful selves.

Shalom & Namaste

Diana Bonyhadi

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Brain Research Confirms Yoga Lessons

V.S. Ramachandran is one of my heroes. He manages put into simple and clear language the most revolutionary ideas in neurology and brain research. In the video below, he may have just provided us with scientific proof that indeed we are all connected.

As I go deeper into my studies of Yoga, I continue to be amazed that the yogis of so many hundreds and hundreds of years past were already exploring these areas.

Questions to Ponder:

  • What is consciousness?
  • What is self and not-self?
  • How am I connected to you and everyone?
  • How do I deepen my awareness in each and every moment?
  • How does knowing a bit more about brain chemistry and function make a difference to my awareness of self and my yoga practice?

So here it is, another amazing video from the folks at TED Talks.

V.S. Ramachandran on the Brain Chemistry of Empathy

Please let me know what you think.

Shalom & Namaste,

Diana Bonyhadi

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Meditation Blog – I will always be a beginner

So I have been meditating off and on for over 20 years.  That seems like a long time when I put it down on paper.  But in actuality, it feels like a short time.  Why?  Because I still feel like such a beginner.

This Fall I rededicated myself to my meditation practice.  I promised myself I would meditate at least twenty minutes a day every day of the week.  Twenty minutes isn’t that long.  Particularly if you think of what a small fraction it is of a twenty-four hour day.  But actually taking out twenty minutes from every day to meditate has been harder than you might think.

And it is not that I don’t want to meditate.  I do.  In fact, I love meditating. It’s just that I can find all sorts of reasons to procrastinate – too much going on around me, I might be interrupted, I just need to make that phone call, and return an email, I woke up late, I will get to it later….

The trick I have found is to either do it first thing in the morning, or at mid-day during my lunch break.  Getting to it in the evening never seems to work.

You can probably tell by all this that I haven’t always meditated every day, but I think that getting to it at least 5 days a week is a good start.

Now about those 20 years of practice.  I have learned/tried a lot of different styles of meditation.  Living in the Bay Area in the 1970’s, Transcendental Meditation (TM) was all the rage.  Since then I experimented with several other kinds of meditation, with varying degrees of satisfaction.

I can’t say there is one best way to do it.  I view all the different styles as useful paths to get to the same place.  Some are more rigid and demanding than others.  All offer tools and techniques to assist you in your journey.  The main thing I have found is that it takes patience and practice.

Here are few tools I have found to be very helpful this year.

  • Listen to Dharma Talks:  They are readily available on the internet.  Google Dharma talks and see where it takes you.  I have over the past year had the privilege to listen to so many wise teachers just by checking out their audio blogs online.  I have learned so much about myself and my practice, and the Dharma path.
  • Insight Meditation Timer:   This is a handy app available for both Droid and IPhone formats.  I turn my phone to silent mode, and choose a preset timer, and off I go.  I have created several presets, so that I can choose whether I will have a 10, 20 or 40 minute meditation.  I love the interval gongs and the ending gongs, and the journal and statistics options are helpful.   It is also nice to see who else around the world is meditating with you.
  • Find a Teacher:  Meditation is both hard and easy.  It is helpful to have someone you trust to whom you can direct your questions.  You will be amazed at what you discover about yourself and your mind while in meditation.  Having someone to talk to about your experiences and to guide you is nourishing.
  • Meditate with Others:  If you have a commitment to share meditation space with others it will help to ensure that you will actually practice on that day at that time.  This is the obvious benefit.  But there is also the amazing energy of being in the same room with other folks who are meditating.  Their energy will support your energy.  For all you know, they too could be wondering about the dust in their navel, but maybe, just maybe, they are deeply connected to the energies of the universe, and that is good mojo.
  • Give Yourself a Break:  Okay, so you skipped the meditation this morning.  The world won’t end.  Okay, so you spent your entire meditation doing your errands in your head.  That’s happens too.  Meditation is not about being perfect.  It is about learning; learning to  watch the mind, learning to calm the mind, learning to learn and learning to connect. Meditation is about everything else and nothing else, and so, it is about learning to give yourself a break.

Yes, after all these years I am still a beginner.  I don’t know what my meditation practice will yield on any given day.  I don’t know if I will be able to sit comfortably or not.  I don’t know if I will have one of those amazing moments of connection and stillness.  I may have none or a may feel transported for the entire session.  But I do know, that just by trying, my response to my world has gotten calmer, and for that I am grateful.

Shalom & Namaste
Diana Bonyhadi

 

 

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Yoga Videos Worth Thinking About

Hi Everyone,

It has been a busy couple of weeks around here.  I have been on vacation with my children.  Driven from Seattle to San Francisco and back again.  Gone on a journey from Slavery to Freedom, eating the whole way, and have launched a meditation circle, just because folks seemed interested.

There has been  lot of interesting news out in the yoga world.  It amazes me how much one can learn about the yoga world by keeping their eyes on their computer.  But as you know, sitting in front of a computer is not one of my favorite things to do, so I do it in fits in spurts.  I admire all of you super active bloggers and yogis.

Anyway, I came across these videos over the past couple of days and they continue to tumble around in my head.

I haven’t decided if I really like the first one, or if it really bugs me.  The yoga is amazing, but there are a couple of other details about it that leave me wondering. What do you think?
.

And this next video is so simple and wonderful, I just had to share it.

Happy Weekend.

Shalom & Namaste

Diana Bonyhadi

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Issaquah Morning Meditation Starts Monday

Happy Spring.

This is the time of year when all sorts of new things pop-up. The ground is fertile and the weather is fair.  Today the sun is even shining, and my garden is full of flowers.  I am full of gratitude for the bounty of the earth, my family and my community.

Speaking of community, our new meditation circle starts tomorrow at Village Green Yoga  in Issaquah.  That’s right, you asked, you dreamed, you made it happen.

Starting tomorrow morning at 8:40am we will open the doors at Village Green Yoga to anyone who is interested in being part of a meditation circle.  We will begin each circle with an intention and a pranayama practice, and then join each other in silence for a 25 minute meditation.  The circle is open to everyone and will be held twice weekly:

Meditation Circle

Monday and Thursday Mornings, 8:45 – 9:15.

This is a donation-based class.

Doors close promptly at 8:50am and will reopen at 9:15.

I look forward to starting my week with you.

 

Shalom & Namaste

Diana Bonyhadi

 

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Ahimsa – Taking Care of Yourself & Others

Ahimsa

The first leaf on the first limb of the 8 limbed tree of Yoga is ahimsa.
Ahimsa roughly translated means to “do no harm”.

When Patanjali set out the eight limbed path of yoga sometime between 100 BCE and 100 AD, it appears that his intent was to tersely codify the previous 4000 years of yoga wisdom.  He did a very fine job of it.  Laying out in short simple verses (sutras), the wisdom of yoga as it had been taught until that point.  He stated that there are 8 limbs on the tree of yoga; yamas (personal practices), niyamas (community practices), asanas (postures), pranayama (breathwork), pratyahara (withdrawal of senses), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation) & Samadhi (ultimate enlightenment).  

So, ahimsa – do no harm – is the very first thing we must strive to do as yogis.  It makes sense.  Every spiritual/philosophical path I know embraces this philosophy.  But in yoga, the goal is not only to save random spiders from their doom and avoid taking swords up against our neighbors, but we are also encouraged not to commit harm against ourselves.

This is difficult.  We live in a world where we are constantly bombarded with messages about how thin we should be, what cars we should drive, what knowledge we should have, what clothes we should wear, etc. All this in order to be happy.  So it is no surprise that many of us beat ourselves up trying to fit ourselves to this commercial image of what we are supposed to be, all with varying degrees of success.

This dissatisfaction with how we look or feel, may be what got us to yoga in the first place.  “If I just take that class, I will loose weight, get better muscles and maybe that nagging ache in my back/neck will go away.”

In mind my, there is nothing wrong with this.  Whatever gets you in the door and on the mat is good.  But I do worry about negative self speak, and not listening to the cues our bodies are sending us. Practice Ahimsa – do no harm – to others or yourself, through your actions or through your speech.

I read somewhere that we process over 60,000 thoughts a day. Unfortunately, the majority of these thoughts are less than complementary.  It turns out that we are experts at self criticism.  I know from experience that while I am pretty good at being kind to others, I am pretty rotten at being kind to myself.  I frequently hear all those would’ves should’ves.

Thus the trick really is to practice ahimsa with our selves.  When you go to yoga, listen to what your body needs.  Don’t push yourself too hard just to get that firm butt and those strong biceps. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against those, but not at the sake of physical or spiritual injury.  Don’t try to do some else’s practice.  Don’t try to do more than you are ready for in the moment.  Yes, push your boundaries, but don’t hurt yourself.  Be kind and compassionate and loving with yourself.  And then from that foundation, you will find yourself expanding and reaching farther than you ever could from a place of self-criticism.



Shalom & Namaste,

Diana Bonyhadi

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Great News at Kharma Bella Yoga

Great News at Kharma Bella Yoga

Yoga Wall: Come check out the new addition to the Kharma Bella Studio.  We have installed a yoga wall.  Book a private session and experience the amazing benefits of working with a rope and wall system for enhancing your asanas and healing your body. Just drop me an email, or give me a call, and we’ll get you set up for your introduction to the wonders of the yoga wall.

Speaking of Privates:  I highly recommend them.  They are great for tuning up your practice, exploring poses deeper, or working at a more therapeutic level, that can only be achieved when working individually with your teacher.  Privates are also great as an introduction to yoga.  If you know of someone who has been hankering to try yoga, but is worried about going to a class of Gumby bodies and feeling left out, this is a great and safe way to discover yoga.

Radio:  I have signed on to co-host a radio show on Mondays at 1:00pm on 1150AM  KKNW.  (I know, this is big news. It took a real leap of faith for me.)  I am joining the wonderful Ajayan Borys of Effortless Mind Mediation on Mind Matters Radio.  Together we will be exploring the intersections of yoga and meditation and all things glorious about your mind, spirit and body.  Tune in next Monday to hear about the first yama, Ahimsa (non-violence) as I discuss the many (obvious and not so obvious ways) this weaves through our lives and our practice.

Music:  Here is a treat: The Toure-Raichel Collective: Wonderful acoustic music. Check out this link, and maybe even attend their show April 28th at the Triple Door.  Thank my son Ben for the link.

Classes continue to fill and expand. Be sure to arrive with enough time to get signed in and settled in, so you can fully enjoy your wonderful self in class.

Happy Spring,
Shalom & Namaste,

Diana Bonyhadi

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Enjoying Your Yoga Like a Fine Meal

Practicing yoga is like eating a beautiful meal.

What is the best way to prepare for your yoga practice?
Why do we sit in silence before we begin our practice?
How do we move through our practice in ways that are truly nourishing?

Practicing yoga is like eating a beautiful dinner. Yes, you can throw the food on a plate and eat standing at the counter, but for that meal to feel truly full-filling, it is better to   set your space.  Take out your napkins, choose your place mats, set up the silverware and stemware. Make your table beautiful, maybe even add some flowers for a center piece. And then before you even begin to eat, stop and say a short blessing.  Extending gratitude to those who have harvested and prepared your meal.

When we sit down before our practice in silence, it is like setting the table before your dinner.  You gather your thoughts, and let the busy-ness fade from the brain.  You become aware of your breath and the feelings in your body.  You acknowledge what hurts and what feels good.  You notice those parts of your being that need nourishment. And you set your intention for practice, choosing a focus which will enable you to gain the most from your soon to be consumed yoga meal.

And the practice itself is like the dinner.  Served in many courses; appetizers to warm the body, salad to awaken the body, soup to sip and lubricate the body, and then the main course, the big “meaty” part, into which you will sink your teach, and finally, you finish with dessert, something sweet and soothing, the final touch to finish off the fine meal.

Remember, there are many parts to this meal.  Don’t eat too much to quickly.  Don’t make your bites too big.  Taste everything and feel how it all comes together.  Take nothing for granted. Savor it all, and the yoga will truly nourish you.

When you finish, before you push your chair away from the table, stop for a moment and give thanks.  To the cooks for preparing the meal, to authors of the recipes which inspired the cooks, to the universe for providing the seeds, and to yourself, for staying present throughout, for savoring the meal and receiving its bounty.

Bon Appetit.

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Yoga Events around Seattle

Namaste,

Last week was all about backbends. This week we are moving into arm balances.  Last week we lifted and opened our hearts.  This week we are exploring the boundaries of gravity and our relationship to the earth.  That’s right, its getting deep in here and we are having a great time.  And let me just say how much I love and admire my students.  Your strength and heart inspire me.

Come join us at Village Green Yoga, and feel the glow.

Monday and Wednesdays we focus on alignment, and Tuesdays and Thursday we open to the flow.  Hope to see you soon.

Other news and events in the local yoga world:

Steve Gold will be bringing his  beautiful music to Bala Yoga in Kirkland later this month for an evening of Yin Yoga and fine music.  Check it out  here.

Wanderlust:  Good news Wanderlust will also be at Whistler BC this summer.  Click here for more information.  Many wonderful teacher and musicians will be there to make for a fine weekend of play in the sun and fresh mountain air.

Restorative Yoga at Village Green Yoga this Friday evening at 7:00pm.  Wind down and restore yourself with this beautiful and deep practice.

Have a great week.

Namaste

Diana Bonyhadi