wisdom

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Celebrating Freedom

Happy Independence Day

Aside from the the usual – bonfires, s’mores, roasting hotdogs, parades and fireworks – how will you celebrate 4th of July?  I will practice sun salutations on the beach and stand on my head and watch the waves move in and out.  I will also watch a parade and go to a bonfire.  But there is more to it than that.  I am called on this day to look deeper.  I am called to a moment of presence, an opportunity to set an intention and to honor the gift of freedom, given to me as a citizen of this fine country.

This American of American Holidays stands as a hallmark of our country’s commitment to freedom.  Freedom to be who you are, celebrate how you wish, pray as you believe and walk tall as an individual.  It also marks our country’s determination to choose our own alliances and set our own economic and political trails.  This is a heady list of choices to make at the personal and social level.

I can’t remember who said this, but “with choice/independence there  comes great responsibility.”  So it seems that on this day when were are celebrating our freedom, we should also be examining our own commitments and intentions.   So perhaps today is a day which can practice living  in the same way that we our start our yoga practice.  Today let us set our intentions for our practice of life.

Questions to consider

  • I am free to choose how I live – how do I want to live?
  • I am free to pray as I want – to what or whom do I want to dedicate my prayers?
  • I am free to associate with anyone – how shall I choose my friend and how can I support them?
  • I am free to vote and exercise my political will – what do I truly care about and how can I support that with my vote?
  • I am free to live each day as I wish – how can I live each moment of each day more fully?
  • I am free to celebrate as I wish – what is it I want to celebrate and bring light to?

Have a fantastic 4th. Enjoy the celebration of freedom.  Enjoy your freedom.

Shalom & Namaste,

Diana Bonyhadi

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108 Sun Salutations

108 Sun Salutations, are you kidding?  All in a row? One right after the other?  Why?

There are a lot of good reasons, and I will give them to you in a minute, but for now, let me give you the details.

Yoga for Hope

Fundraiser for City of Hope

Cancer Research

July 10, 2010

Registration @ 9:00am

Salutations begin @ 10:00am

Memorial Stadium at the foot of the Space Needle

Seattle, WA

Nine of Seattle’s leading yoga instructors will teach an outdoor class focused on the sacred number 108-practicing 108 Sun Salutations underneath the Space Needle at Memorial Stadium in hopes of bringing the spirit of health and community together! The instructors have partnered with City of Hope, a leading biomedical research, treatment and education center, to help raise support and awareness for cancer and other life-threatening diseases.

Researchers at City of Hope understand the importance of complementary and integrative therapies like yoga. Their Integrative Medicine Program, by incorporating complementary modalities with state-of-the-art medical care, is seeking to understand the mind-body-spirit connection to assist those battling life-threatening diseases, such as cancer, diabetes and HIV/AIDS.

Click here to register, and support this fine project. It will be a great day, a great practice, a fantastic experience.

Tomorrow I will share with you about the wisdom and history of this amazing practice.

Shalom & Namaste,

Diana Bonyhadi

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Compassionate Seattle

Compassionate Seattle

Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra 1.33:

Maitri karuna mudita upekshanam sukha duhkha punya apunya vishayanam bhavanatah chitta prasadanam.

By cultivating attitudes of friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and equanimity toward the non virtuous, the mind maintains its attitude undisturbed calmness.

In this Sutra, Patanjali reminds us that our practice of yoga is indeed a practice of living and acting from the heart of compassion.  Whatever we do on the mat to bring health and clarity to body, must also be an integral part of how we live beyond the mat.  Balancing love, happiness, pain, virtuousness and equanimity in all that we do, will bring greater calmness and peace to our hearts and our communities.

You could say it started when His Holiness the Dali Lama came to Seattle in April of 2008 for the Seeds of Compassion Conference.  During that historic week people from all over the Pacific Northwest and beyond came together to envision a world of compassion.  And what a fantastic week it was.  I had the privilege of being involved in many aspects of the event and was touched at the deepest levels by the heart and vision of our community.

But in reality, Seeds of Compassion wouldn’t have happened here, if the spirit of compassion was not already alive and vibrant within our community.  People from all walks of life, have been working together behind the scenes for years, living and sharing the spirit of compassion.  And that is why, Seattle is about to become the first city in the US and perhaps the world to have an official Charter of Compassion.  Living, educating and working from a place of compassion will now be officially incorporated into almost every aspect of our city’s vision and plan.

So, how can you get involved?  Be part of the official celebration and launch of Compassionate Seattle, April 2010 – http://my.compassionateactionnetwork.com/profiles/blogs/compassionate-seattle-its-up

Date: April 24th 9am – 8pm
Main Event: 9am – 5pm: Compassion Showcase and Exchange
Evening Celebration and Performance: 5- 8pm
Location: Center for Spiritual Living, 5801 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, Washington 98105
Tickets: Available through Brown Paper Tickets and can be purchased for the entire day/evening (9am – 8pm) or just for the evening celebration (5pm – 8pm). Lunch can also be purchased in advance (or bring your own.)

Shalom & Namaste,

Diana Bonyhadi

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Routine as the Touchstone to Deepening your Practice

Home again from vacation.  The bags are unpacked, the laundry clean and put away, meals planned for the week, and all of us have returned to the routine of school and work.

Routine which may become monotonous, does provide a stable ground upon which to rest.  We know what is expected of us, and how best to manage our strength and energies within it.  Routine, which can sometimes lead to boredom, also provides an opportunity for renewal and deeper introspection.

Take for example the sun salutations.  We know the routine:

  • Tadasana
  • Utanasana
  • Adho Mukha Svanasana
  • Plank
  • Bhujhangasana/Urdhva Mukha Svanasana
  • Utanasana
  • Tadasana

As we breath and move from asana to asana we gain strength and clarity.  Each asana is a meditation in and of itself.  And yet each asana leads to the next asana, deepening the meditation.  As the flow becomes more and more familiar, we begin to deepen our practice and our understanding of ourselves.

Sure, there is room for boredom.  All the room your are willing to allow yourself.  As soon as you mentally jump ship (so to speak) the asanas no longer provide the foundation for the meditation, and become no more than an aerobic exercise.   The true gift of the sun salutation lies in its ability to link our breath, movement and mind into a heart opening practice.  One in which we put aside all of our “to-do” lists, and allow ourselves to experience a greater sense of well-being and connectedness.

And there is great room for enhancement and variation.  All the other asanas can be incorporated into the sun salutations.  Routine becomes enhanced, and yet grounded in a deeper practice.

So, as we return again to the routine of daily living, I find myself embracing my sun salutation practice as a touchstone for renewal and re-entry.  May it be so for you as well.

Shalom & Namaste,

Diana

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Vacation – Being present in the rush to go

Vacation – that long awaited break from the routine.  Ahhhh.  You make the reservations, contact your friends and count the days. And then, there is that last minute scury to get out the door.  Clean, pack, dash off the last few emails and pay a couple of bills, take out the last load of laundry and stuff it in your bag.  And whoosh, you’re gone.

But the real question seems to me to be:  How do we preserve and integrate the best of vacation mentality into our daily lives?  How do we prevent ourselves from getting so revved up in the preparations, that we find ourselves at the departure gate stressed out and burned out?  How do we stayed focused and clear and present, even if there is something really amazing that is on the horizon?

Because that’s the thing, isn’t it?  It is up to all of us to find and embrace that vacation mentality in each and every moment of every day.  This is the teaching that every wisdom teacher has given us.

  • Be Present
  • Be Here Now
  • Grace is Yours
  • Breath in this Moment

And it is only through our presence that peace will come to us.  If I spend all my time getting ready to go, then I will miss what is beautiful in this moment.  If while I am on vacation, I am thinking and getting ready to go back to my daily life, then I will miss my vacation.

So, here I go, off to practice being present.  And to enjoy time spend with good friends I haven’t seen in a very long time.  And to find a couple of cool studios in which to practice.

Namaste

P.S.  If I am in adhomukhasvanasna and I am thinking ahead to bhujhangaasna, then am I really in adhomukhasvanasana?