gratitude

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Appreciating the Labors of Living

Hello Everyone,

This weekend marks the official end of summer. Folks are bounding out for their final fling; boating, hiking, beaching, capturing live music. I hope that this weekend you will find some time to celebrate and honor the labors that you have put forth this year.

Often times we find ourselves running from one thing on our “to-do” list to the next. We wonder if we will ever get it all done. By the time we are half way through that list, we are already building the next list. It is this busy-ness of living that wears us down. Without taking time out to appreciate all that we have done, we will forever feel like the mouse on the wheel; spinning and spinning, yet going no where.

This is, I think one of the true gifts of meditation. We set aside time to be in stillness. We give ourselves permission to step off the spinning wheel of the doing and busy-ness of living. This is really hard to do, believe me, I know. I really like my lists. I am a doer of the highest order. And while we may stop our physical activities, the mind is still trying to keep it all going. It takes time for the mind to slow down, and stop making lists and telling stories. But if we get in the habit of sitting, every day, if even for a just a little bit, our bodies and our minds begin to look forward to this time of not doing, to this time of being. If you are new to meditation, or are looking for a refresher class, I will be hosting a meditation workshop September 22 at Village Green Yoga.

So, I am grateful for Labor Day Weekend. I am grateful I have the time to pause and reflect on all that I have done this year. I am grateful to all the workers – that would be all of us – who make this life possible. So a big shout out to farmers, truckers, engineers, laborers, office workers, cooks, writers, yogis, scientists, teachers, all of you who put your time and energy into making a living and making a life. Thank you for your labors of living.

Have a great weekend. Step with ease into the Fall. Lots of interesting things will be happening in the Seattle yoga community. My contributions include a couple of workshops and a meditation circle to begin in October, after I return from a meditation trip to India. A brief summary of my schedule is listed below, more details available through the links.

Shalom & Namaste

Diana Bonyhadi

Upcoming Events:

Loving Your Sun – A workshop exploring the fun-damentals of the sun salutation series

Intro to Meditation – A workshop offering tips and tools to help your meditation practice.

Class Schedule

Day                       Time                   Style                                     Location

Monday         9:30 – 11:00         Hatha Integration        Village Green Yoga

Tuesday         Noon – 1:00        Hatha Integration        Swedish Hospital

Tuesday         5:30 – 6:45          Vinyasa Flow                 Village Green Yoga

Wednesday    9:30 – 11:00        Hatha Integration         Village Green Yoga

Thursday        Noon – 1:00        Hatha Integration          Swedish Hospital

Thursday        5:30 – 6:45          Vinyasa Flow                  Village Green Yoga

Sunday           9:30 – 11:00        Sunday Salutations        Village Green Yoga

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The wisdom of having a spiritual practice

Hi Everyone,

Hope you have been having an awesome, amazing and abundant summer.  How did you do on that Pacific Northwest checklist of fun?  Let’s see, just this week, I logged:

  • Blueberry picking
  • Camping
  • Visited the San Juan Islands
  • Watched the Orcas swim by
  • Jumped and played in three separate lakes
  • Danced to Pink Martinis at Zoo Tunes
  • Meditated – lots and in some really cool places
  • Finished a couple of books

Whatever you decide to do these next few weeks make sure it nourishes your soul.  So often we forget about that in the hustle and bustle of living, and then I wonder if we really are living.  Find Joy & Embrace it.

Next month (September) I will be hosting two workshops at Village Green Yoga.  More info to follow shortly, but mark your calendars now.

  • Loving Your Sun – learning the fun-damentals of the Sun Salutation Sequence
    Sunday, September 23, 1:00 – 3:30
  • Taking the Time to Meditate – opening to the heart of a meditation practice.
    Sunday, September 30, 1:00 – 2:30

And here it is, the reason for the title of this posting.  This is an excerpt from a letter from my rabbi on this week’s Torah portion.   The whole of his writing is powerful, but this short bit says it all.  Enjoy!

 

When we make spirituality an essential part of our existence, however, what we are able to see is radically different. Because our spiritual path serves to reconnect us to Source, it expands our awareness beyond the tunnel vision of the ego. In removing our blinders and opening our eyes it also opens our heart. As we become spiritually aware, we are able to see the essential goodness of the world, the miracle of life, the unfathomable gift of our own birth, and the preciousness of relationship. We are able to hold the pain and suffering, the struggling and the fear with acceptance, understanding and compassion. The existence of love brings up feelings of gratitude, the wonder of aliveness, feelings of pure joy. In such awareness the other is no longer seen as a means to satisfy one’s needs; one is able to leave the past in the past, welcome the future with an open heart, and be fully present to one’s experience in every moment, just as it is. When awareness transcends the ego, one can’t help but see abundance and love.

 

Shalom & Namaste

Diana Bonyhadi

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I Do Not Live Here Alone

I came across this poem today, and since its been so long since I’ve done a post I thought I would keep it short and sweet.   I do believe that everything we do is interconnected. That every action is significant, and that every person is important and perfect.

I Do Not Live Here Alone

Each breath I take affects the air all around me


Each word I utter falls on someone else’s ears.

That which I touch is felt by another
.

That which I do will certainly affect another
.

That which I do not, will also affect another.

We never know how far-reaching something we say or do 
really is, until it returns to us.

And it always does.

All things in life form a circle
.

Whether or or not we see the circle.

I do not live here alone.

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Yoga Practice for Memorial Day

Thoughts on a Memorial Day Practice

Honoring those who continue to inspire and guide us

Class today was supported by inviting in and celebrating the energies of those whom we hold sacred in our lives.  We chose to remember people whose very existence has deepened our own experience on this planet.  It didn’t matter whom we chose to bring with us into our practice.  Some may have chosen their mothers, or grandmothers, or friends, or maybe they invited Lao Tsu, or Rumi, or Leonardo DaVinci, or Ramakrishna, or Abinhavagupta or Gandhi.

We didn’t discuss who was inviting whom to class, or why.  We simply chose in our hearts, one or two people to celebrate during our practice.  And what a magnificent practice it was.  Heads bowed to open hearts, warriors were courageous and strong, mountain poses were the embodiment of strength and endurance, and forward bends – poses of stillness and embrace were soft and nurturing.

I am grateful to my wonderful students today who chose to honor Memorial Day through their yoga practice, and in doing so, honored their heroes, ancestors, and sacred teachers as they celebrated and nourished themselves.

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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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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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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Thanksgiving – Begining a Practice of Gratitude

Thanksgiving is right around the corner.  Our to-do lists are full, as are our shopping lists.  We will spend a significant amount of time this week cleaning and cooking, and preparing to welcome friends and family into our homes.  We may even travel to join our friends and families in near or distant locations.  This is the time of year when we as a culture sanction taking a few precious moments out of our busy schedules to open our hearts to gratitude.  And we do it in community.  Perhaps we all become yogis on Thanksgiving.

I believe that gratitude is the foundation of yoga.  We start our practice with intention setting and we finish it with gratitude for the practice and our teachers.  We strive to cultivate the niyama of santosa (contentment) on the mat by letting go into each of our asanas; accepting and rejoicing in each asana for the strength and energy it brings to us.  We seek to be present and content for each moment and for each breath during our practice. And finally, we bring our hands together in Namaste in recognition and gratitude for the divine spirit which lives and breaths in all of us.

But once we leave the studio, and move beyond the mat, shouldn’t we also seek to build a mindfulness practice of gratitude?  Medical studies from such esteemed institutions as the Harvard Medical Center note the health benefits of engaging in a practice of mindulness meditation.   Indeed, such practices have been shown to reduce the effects of stress related to chronic health concerns, and loss of loved ones.

The question then, is where and how to begin.  Why not this week with Thanksgiving?

As you prepare for the holiday, take time to note the beauty around you. Notice the red and yellow leaves as they fall to the ground.  Take a moment to be consciously grateful for friends and family. Remember those moments of joy shared with different family members.  Appreciate the bounty in the stores, the truckers who delivered it there and the farmers who brought it forth from the earth. Open your heart with gratitude for the artists who bring beauty to our eyes and ears; for the activists and foundations who provide shelter and services to those in need; and the for physicians who bring healing.  The list can go on and on.  Be thankful for each moment of life, the beauty that surrounds you and the kindnesses you experience.

Lest someone should accuse me of polyannaism, let me state that there is no denying that these are difficult times we’re living.  Challenges of hunger, poverty, racism, sexism, exploitation and yes death are a part of our daily existence.  The goal though, is not to descend into to pain of these experiences.  The understanding gained from practicing mindful gratitude keeps us from getting lost in the loss of freedoms and life.  So even when you are stuck in traffic, late for a meeting, low on blood sugar, or suffering from illness or the loss of a loved one, you can still allow gratitude to soften the moment.

Breath in, look around and remember many wonderful moments in your life and community.  Practice santosa and gratitude, both on the mat and beyond.
Happy Thanksgiving
Shalom & Namaste,

Diana Bonyhadi

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Abiding in Gratitude

Everyone once and a while I am called to notice how full my life is, how much I have to be thankful for.  I guess you could call it counting my blessings. Honoring our blessings is indeed a “practice that takes us beyond the mat,” for as we take a moment to express our gratitude, we open our hearts to blessings and are open to the energies of healing.

Last week was Yoga with a Purpose Week.  My classes were full, and we raised some much-needed funds for the African Village Survival Initiative. I am thankful we could all be part of helping others less fortunate develop means for economic sustainability.

This weekend I spent with my book club friends up on the Olympic Peninsula.  Wow, what a gorgeous spot: Snow-capped Mountains in the distance, water lapping at the deck, seals and eagles playing for our amusement, and sun!  Oh, I am so thankful to live near the Puget Sound.  If you haven’t given yourself a 24 vacation, do so soon and visit Kingston, WA, just an hour and a half (including ferry ride) north of Seattle.

No book club retreat could be complete without the book discussion.  This weekend we discussed the Help by Kathryn Stockett.  This book is so worth the read. The author deftly combines history of the 1960’s, race relations in the south, and explorations into the meaning of family and friendship.  This is a book that will keep you laughing and crying and glad to be alive.  I am thankful I can read,and thankful that such great books exist, and that I have a community of friends with whom i can share my love of reading.

Mother’s Day.  Okay, it’s a gimme, but I gotta tell you.  Those hand-made cards and poems from my family rock my world.  Thank you Hallmark for giving me a moment to revel in the love of my family.

I think that is enough for now.  I think I will add my list of thank yous to my daily meditation practice.  Perhaps you will join me.

Namaste,

Diana