July 26, 2012 by Diana Gould Bonyhadi

Summer Schedule Changes

I find it hard to believe we are half way through summer. But I know it must be true, because I just sent my daughter off to Camp Nor’Wester for a month, and she won’t be back till the end of August. That means there are only 6 weeks left of summer.

Earlier in the month I wrote a post about what to do in Seattle in the summer. How are you all doing with that? So far I have been to the beach, hiked in the woods and gone berry picking & made some raspberry jam. I have a lot to do in the next 4 weeks. Next month, I will cram in all the rest – summer concerts, Shakespeare in the Park, Paddleboard Yoga and a trip to the San Juans, to name a few. Did I mention I want to go on a food cart junket?

I missed Wanderlust at Whistler (the 3-day outdoor yoga & music festival) – Did any of you go? How was it?

As you may have noticed there are some changes to my teaching schedule this summer. New Summer hours:

Yoga at Swedish Hospital:
Tuesday & Thursday Noon – 1:00 Hatha Integration/Therapeutic Alignment

Village Green Yoga:
Monday & Wednesday Mornings:

9:30 – 10:45 Hatha Integration – Alignment/Anusara Inspired

Tuesday & Thursday Evenings:

5:30 – 7:00 Vinyasa Flow

The Meditation Circle will restart in the Fall.

Speaking of meditation, if you have ever dreamed of going to India to study meditation and/or yoga, there is still time to sign up for Journey to the Source – a 2 week life changing trip to India in October. Travel with Ajayan Borys (Effortless Mind Meditation)and myself to the Majestic Himalayan Mountains and the source of the Ganges River and explore the roots of Yoga and Mediation. For more information and to sign up, click here. As the date draws nearer I am getting more and more excited. Two weeks of meditation and yoga right in the very birth place of the tradition. Ajayan spent many years in this very location deep in meditation, so not will we be traveling to an amazing location, but we will be traveling with an amazing and dedicated teacher. Join us as we reach deeper into the very heart of our practice.

Have an adventuresome August.

Shalom & Namaste

Diana Bonyhadi

June 22, 2012 by Diana Gould Bonyhadi

The Freedom of Summer is Good for Your Soul

I love summer time!

School is out for almost everyone. The kids are off to summer jobs or enjoying the luxury of sleeping in. Mornings are slow and calm. This parent has a lot less driving to do and a lot less nagging. No more homework, no more projects, no more school related meetings. The sun has even popped out once or twice this month, and I went to my second outdoor summer concert this week.

Summer is the time to slow down, refuel and reconnect. Almost everyone will take some form of vacation, whether it is a weekend of camping, a trip to the beach or maybe even something longer and more adventurous.

Many of us will have a bit more time to be with friends and families enjoying picnics, sightseeing, concerts, camp-outs, barbeques, and bonfires,(with marshmallows and dark chocolate of course).

Taking time off from our regular routine not only allows us respite but it also provides us the opportunity to reconnect with our deeper selves. We get the extra moment for reflection, we get the extra moment for play, we get the extra moment for love.

I wish we could have summer all year-long. It’s not that I am lazy (I might be, but that’s not the point), it’s just that I think people would be healthier and happier if we all embraced the value of summer throughout the year.

So, to all my friends and yogis, I wish you a summer full of:

rest
music
dancing
sunshine
friendship
good books
fresh berries
corn on the cob
walks in the moonlight
strolling along the beach
hiking in the woods
family
bonfires
meditation
YOGA

Shalom & Namaste

Diana Bonyhadi

May 31, 2012 by Diana Gould Bonyhadi

Inspiration from a Local and Amazing Yogi

Theresa Elliott of Taj Yoga in Seattle moves from the core, with her breath, inspiring us in the abundance and depth of movement.

Thank you Theresa.

Diana Bonyhadi

KharmaBellaYoga

May 20, 2012 by Diana Gould Bonyhadi

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

May 4, 2012 by Diana Gould Bonyhadi

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

April 25, 2012 by Diana Gould Bonyhadi

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

April 20, 2012 by Diana Gould Bonyhadi

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

April 5, 2012 by Diana Gould Bonyhadi

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

March 16, 2012 by Diana Gould Bonyhadi

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.