asana

by

Summer Fun in Seattle Area

Continuing Thoughts on the Joys of Summer

Since writing yesterday’s post, I have been thinking more about all the things I love to do in Seattle.  In fact I moved to Pacific Northwest because I had such fond memories of summers spent up here.  Well actually, I moved up here because we could get jobs and find affordable housing, but Seattle was a contender also because of all that it offers.

So here is a list of some of my favorite summer activities.  Please chime in so we can help each other have a truly amazing, inspiring and nourishing summer. I have included some links,

  • Berry picking at Harvolds Farm
  • Watching Firework Displays
  • Beach combing and tide-pooling
  • Concerts in the park at ZooTunes, Chateau St. Michell, or Marymoore Park
  • Bike Riding on the Burke-Gilman Trail
  • Swimming at Lincoln Park Pool in West Seattle
  • Mountain Biking
  • Kayaking or canoeing in the Mercer Slough or Lake Union
  • Sailing  on Lake Union – Center for Wooden Boats
  • Sailing on the Sound – Shilshoe Marina
  • Watching boating activity – so many beach parks abound on Lakes and the Sound
  • Hiking – So many trails on the I90 corridor you could go to a different one every day of summer and not get bored.
  • Check out local islands – Vashon, Bainbridge, Whidbey
  • Check out further islands – Orcas, San Juan, Shaw, etc
  • Camping – Mt. Baker, Mt. Rainer, Cascade Wilderness, Olympics
  • Hanging out at the beach – Ocean Shores, Olympic Peninsula, Shi Shi, Cannon Beach in Oregon
  • Ferris Wheel on the the Seattle waterfront
  • Yoga for Hope – outdoor yoga at the Seattle Center for City of Hope
  • Wanderlust – Multi-day yoga and music event offered this year in Whistler, BC
  • Meditating while sitting in the dunes by the beach, or next to a river
  • Yoga on the beach

Okay, this is enough to get everyone started.  Off to meditate, work in my garden and study yoga.  Perfect day.

 

Shalom & Namaste

Diana Bonyhadi

by

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

by

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

by

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

by

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

by

Yoga can help Insomnia

Sleepless in Seattle

I don’t know if it is the change in the weather, or the shift from summer awareness to winter awareness, but either way, sleeplessness has been a recurring theme for many of my students of late.

Insomnia is a plague for many of us. For some it is the struggle to fall asleep, for others, it is the waking up in the middle of the night, but either way, all  insomniacs are desperate for more/enough sleep.

Can yoga help?  There is a definitive yes.  There are many asanas which you can do prior to bedtime to help relax the body.  Also, having a regular yoga practice, which includes asana, pranayama and meditation will help to reduce stress, and thereby lesson the likelihood of insomnia.

Here is a link to a an article published in Yoga Journal over a year ago, which I have found to be very helpful for many of my students and friends.

If getting to sleep is the issue, it is important to try to go to be at the same time every night.  Take a warm drink with you to the bedroom.  Here is a wonderful ayurvedic recipe for a bedtime drink which is very soothing and soporific.  On the asana front, do a few cat-cows, a couple of twists, and some forward bends. Shoulderstands are also very helpful but please make sure that you are both safe and comfortable in your shoulderstand before trying them at bedtime.

If the issue is waking up in the middle of the night (mine), I have found it useful to get up right away.  Don’t hang out in bed, haranguing yourself, it won’t help.  Go downstairs, make a cup of tea.  Try to avoid going any where near your computer or desk.  Chores are not allowed. So what to do with your wakeful self?

I have begun to look on these hours as a gift.  No one is around to bug me, or ask me to do something for them. The house is quiet. The street is quiet.  It’s like I have the world all to myself.  I curl up on the couch and read and write in my journal.  If after an hour, I find that I am still up, then I will deal with the things that are on my mind/to-do list.  If I am still up, well, then it is time for a hot bath with lavender.  But usually, the cup of tea and boring book do the job, and I am ready to go back to bed within the hour.

I hope this helps. If any of you have other hints and tips, please do add them as comments.
Shalom & Namaste,
Diana Bonyhadi

by

Living Sutra I:33 – Life with Joy and Balance

May I be happy. 


May I be peaceful. 


May I be safe from harm. 


May I enjoy happiness and the root of happiness. 


May I experience ease and well-being in body, mind, and spirit.

Today has been perfect, and I am only half way through.  I attribute it to my morning meditation on Pantajali’s Yoga Sutra 1.33.

maitri karuna muditopeksanam sukha duhkha punyapunya visayanam bhavanatas citta prasadanam
Tranquility of thought comes through the cultivation of friendship, compassion, joy, and impartiality in spheres of pleasure or pain, virtue or vice.

There are 4 words that stand out for me in this sutra, and they are:  Metta or maitri (lovingkindness); Karuna (compassion); Mudita (joy); and Upeksha (equanimity).  Patanjali places these words in balance with their opposition.  Yes, in difficult situations and with difficult people it is especially important to cultivate joy, compassion and equanimity.  But what really resonated for me today, was the importance of living fully in the moment, aware of the need to bring joy, compassion, kindness and balance into all aspects of my life.

 
Thus, I started today’s class with the prayer/chant above.  We then moved into a practice that allowed everyone to deepen and yes, sweat.  We did vinyasas, we did the sagital series, we did arm balances, head stands and more, but the best came at the end.

Because our focus was on staying happy, and peaceful, and practicing compassion, everyone slipped gracefully into Svasana.  I could feel the room melt.  The pranayama practice and the meditation happened effortlessly.  We were all breathing together.  Breathing in to a place of peace and joy.  There a a tangible sense of letting go and letting in.  It was truly a moment of blessing.

And then after class, I got to totally yoga-geek-out with my good friend Pat.  We played with hand-stands and arm-balances and jump-throughs.  I still have yet to master lifting up into a handstand with legs together but we got awfully close.  And again, I think it all worked so well, because I came to it from a place of Mudita/joy, and Upeksha/equanimity.  I left the need to “conquer/master” and just went to have fun with some cool and challenging asanas.  And it worked.

 
Later in the afternoon, I got to romp in the woods with my dog.  The air smelled so good, and the leaves were just changing colors.  because I didn’t stress out about my to-do list, I was able to get that one more thing in.

So, I just wanted to let you know that, yes, today it worked.  Starting off with a meditation on balance and joy and compassion, can and does make a difference.

Now it is off to feed kids, make dinner, run errands, drive kids and teach again.

Have a great day

Shalom & Namaste,
Diana Bonyhadi

by

Skiing, Sunday Salutatuions and Interfaith

Now there is a title.  Really, I just wanted to let you know that this entry is all about everything, and that everything is connected.

So, I went skiing on Saturday.  Haven’t been in 3 years, and I admit that I was a bit concerned about my ability to stay upright on those skis.  I was afraid of getting hurt (no time for that), and at not being as good as I used to be.  And the good news is, the skiing was wonderful.  It took a couple of runs, but I found my rhythm and I let go into the  joy and beauty of the moment.  I realized that I had let my attachments to the past and my fear of the future keep me from doing something I truly enjoy.  I had also let the business of my life get in the way of my living of life.

On Sunday morning I was back at Village Green Yoga for my Sunday Salutations Class.  This class combines yoga asana with philosophy and spirit.  My day of skiing had left me neither sore nor tired.  In fact, I was stronger and more revitalized than I had expected.  Taking time off from my routine had restored my energy.  I was reminded once again of the importance of staying present and living in the moment.  And I was reminded that our connections to the divine are invigorated by our joyful participation in life.  Class was amazing, and all of us were renewed and inspired by our practice together.

In the afternoon, I attended an Interfaith Gathering called Tending Adam’s Garden.  Jews, Muslims, Christians and Buddhists came together to discuss what we can do together to help repair the world. This is a monthly meeting that brings members of different faith communities together to address the critical issues that are confronting our world today.  At the heart of it, is the understanding that while our faith traditions may be different, our hopes and dreams for a life of full-fill-ment, wholeness and connectedness are shared.  Here are just some of the responses that were given to the question  “What are the essential qualities that are needed to repair the world?”:

  • Open-heartedness, commitment, courage, education, self-awareness, recognition of our interconnectedness, respect for one another and ourselves, compassion, the willingness to listen, patience, belief in our capacity to do good, and a connection to the divine.

As I listened to the group discussion, I was brought back to yoga.  Not only are all of these qualities identified in the 8-fold path, but many of them are also specifically identified in the yamas and the niyamas.  And as I think about our practice of yoga, I am reminded that on the mat we are encouraged to practice with compassion, to study ourselves and the teachings, to listen with an open heart, to practice with ashimsa, and at times we need both courage and patience to find the next pose.  And certainly we must practice with compassion.  If all goes right, and we stay very present, we can’t help but feel our deep and abiding connection to the eternal divine wisdom that lives within all of us.

So, skiing, yoga and interfaith.  It is all connected.  Have a great week.  Do something you love.  Share it with someone who nurtures your spirit.  Practice your yoga with an open hear, both on the mat and beyond.  Look  at the world and pitch in to make a bit better.  And rejoice in our interconnectedness – with each other and the Divine.

 

Shalom & Namaste,

Diana Bonyhadi

by

Insight from a weekend with Sara Powers

Greetings,

I spent this past weekend with Sara Powers who is the founder of Insight Yoga.  Sara and her husband Ty have been leading yoga classes and workshop for many, many years, and although I had not yet had the opportunity to study with her in person, I had been familiar with her through her video “Insight Yoga.”  As the only yoga video with which I like to practice, it felt like re-meeting an old friend when I walked into to take her workshop.

Sara Powers has set her heart and mind to the integration of yoga, meditation and transpersonal psychology.  So to spend a weekend with her, was an experience focused within, on the prospect of “being in yoga”, rather than of “doing yoga.”  And what a pleasant prospect it was.

As everyone knows who reads this sporadic blog, my focus has always been on “living yoga,” whether it occurs on the mat or hopefully even beyond the mat.  Thus to spend a weekend focused inward, breathing our way into the deepest parts of ourselves, was a great blessing.  I will admit however, that I am not so adept at being still for such long periods of time.  Not only did my body shout out its discomfort, but my brain was also busy, sending me all sorts of messages.

And yet that was what we were there to do.  Become aware of the ramblings of the brain.  We sat meditation before and after asana practice.  We practiced meditation in the asana practice.  In fact, yoga with Sara is meditation in stillness and in motion.  Our work in meditation was not to shunt away the messages of the brain but rather to become “mindful” of them.  Instead of noting a thought and saying “I see you now go away,” we were to acknowledge the thought and follow it. By allowing ourselves to follow a thought, we engage in a process of self-acknowledgement, and self-affirmation.  It becomes liberating to enter this process, and a bit entertaining.  For example, here is just one of the thought trains that I followed…

“Breathe in to the hara. Awareness of breathing into the hara. Am I thinking my breath?  Am I focusing on my breath? Am I focusing too much on my breath? Am I distracting myself from my breath? Am I really meditating?  Mindfulness… What happens if I spend the whole time analyzing the focus of my breath?  Will I no longer be practicing mindfulness? Follow a thought … There are no thoughts … How did I do that?  Oops, there is a thought.  My thighs are beginning to hurt … Should pay more attention to hip openers, or maybe I should pay more attention to closed hip positions … how to teach this balance …  Are my students getting it?  How can I serve them better”

Okay, you get the idea.  Not only did my mind search around for things to latch onto, but under it all, was a common thread of “am I good enough?”  And I doubt I am the only one out there who is constantly filled with self-doubt.  But that is the power of a mindfulness practice.  We can see how often we go to these places, and by doing so disempower those voices of self-doubt.  Recognizing our communal need for love and affirmation, and the collective tendency towards self-doubt, we in turn become more accepting and nurturing as individuals and as community.

Now that is pretty darn cool.

So, take some time (ten minutes) to sit in contemplation of your thoughts.  Acknowledge them  for what they are.  Enjoy the process.  Enjoy letting go.  Live your yoga.

Shalom & Namaste,

Diana Bonyhadi