Awaken Your Intuition: Here and Now!

Hello All,

One of the most thrilling aspects of establishing a regular yoga + meditation practice is the awakening of your intuition. Receiving superconscious wisdom from deep within can provide simple joy that comes with clarity and a sense of knowing. Many of the great innovators of our time have acknowledged the roll of intuition in their work. Einstein made it crystal clear when he said, "The only real valuable thing is intuition."

In this age of information overload and its accompanying confusion arriving at clarity can bring tremendous relief. Practicing yoga + meditation helps to restore our connection to that ever-flowing quiet wisdom we know as intuition. When we talk of awakening our intuition it is more like waking up to our intuition. We access that intuition when we settle into the present moment that is here and now. The chatter of the mind and the ego's tendency to indulge in numerous desires keeps us from being present and receiving the flow of wisdom that is our intuition. This flow never stops but rather our ability to access it is impeded by our over- identification with thought.

Take time this day, maybe even right now, to sit and let the mind be. Unplug yourself from the busyness and connect deeply with awareness, with the witness. Allow everything to simply be as it is, arguing with nothing. Notice the mind's tendency to complain, to judge, to compare. Acknowledge the beauty and power of those functions but choose to be the witness. With time you may notice thoughts arise that seem inspired by a deeper sense of wisdom and they are often accompanied by quiet feelings of gratitude. You may want to write those ones down because they may just be the fruits of intuition.

Namaste,

Steve

Yogi Jayanta

Don't Just Set a Resolution...Be Resolutionary!

Most of us have realized from painful experience that lasting change rarely occurs as a result of a New Year's Resolution. Why is it that we are so often incapable of becoming the person we want to be? Too often, resolutions are inspired by fear and are set up as self-imposed expectations that reinforce the gulf between who we think we are and who we think we want to be. It is time to establish our resolutions from a deeper place; 2010 is a year of deepening. People are beginning to understand the profound nature of the present moment and will begin taking action from this place. Rather than another New Year's Resolution, now is the time to become Resolutionary.

Reaction or Resolution?

In many cases our resolution is inspired by a negative self-image adopted from society or an influential voice in our lives. For example, we compare our bodies to those we see in the media and decide the way we look is bad. The pain from this comparison becomes the fuel for our change. The resolution is not sustainable and we end up in that familiar negative spiral that reinforces the unworthiness that inspired the resolution in the first place.

Gratitude: The Power of the Resolutionary

The resolutionary recognizes gratitude as the true power behind sustainable transformation. Chis Walker told me once "Don't leave anything until you love it." This is great advice rooted in the awareness that love is more empowering than fear. Love and gratitude are intertwined. The Resolutionary uses self-love as the inspiration behind this path of living transformation. The traditional resolution is based on fear and limitation and lacks fundamental acceptance. Be grateful for the miracle of your body and and allow the spontaneous gratitude for this sacred mystery to fuel your growth and expansion in 2010.

From Expectation to Anticipation

The old-school resolution is a self-imposed expectation and expectation is the root of all evil. OK, that may be dramatic but spend some time contemplating the possibility the expectations you put on yourself and those you place on others are the heart of the suffering that creeps into your life day by day. Expectation states that we will be "happy when...". Expectation is one of the root problems with the New Year's resolution. Let me introduce a new word to replace the thorny and insidious seed of suffering known as expectation. This word frees us from the dependence on some future event to be OK with ourselves and instead brings us back to the present moment. To access the present moment there is a requirement for a deep sense of acceptance and honesty, this is the starting point for a life-altering New Year's Resolution. This new word that holds the seed of freedom and guides the Resolutionary back to the moment of now is ANTICIPATION. The official definition describes anticipation as "pre-sentiment or pre-knowledge". Anticipation brings us immediately into the experience of our resolution rather than emphasizing the gulf between where we are now and where we hope to be as is the case with expectation.

A Resolutionary Practice

In order to anticipate we must make the experience of fulfillment real in our minds and bodies. Consider this an invitation to imagine the greatest version of yourself for 2010. The Resolutionary takes time to sit in silence and practice gratitude. Give yourself the gift of 5 minutes per day to sit and breathe with awareness and simply be grateful. Let gratitude flood your body soaking every cell with liquid light. Even now, you can simply breathe with awareness, relax the body, allow the mind to be and reconnect with the Source of life, with your Beloved. Gratitude is the mystical power that fuels authentic transformation and is the direct experience of your own essence. Gratitude is the fuel of the Resolutionary, fill up every single day and soon you will be filling up with every single breath.

Don't wait for some future moment to be the highest version of yourself. The future is a fantasy and the past is over; the Resolutionary realizes their transformation here and now. May this year be full of transformative moments and big-time gratitude. To all the Resolutionaries out there, I wish you a very HAPPY NOW YEAR!!

Discrimination

Hello All,

On this blustery day in Yarmouth my attention is drawn towards the classical teachings of yoga. The two wings that carry the yogi beyond the suffering of the world are detachment (vairagya) and discrimination (viveka). Discrimination refers to the discrimination between the real and the unreal, the impermanent and the permanent. A practical place to start may be the way we constantly pull the past into our present situations. For example, begin to notice how your mind tends to drudge up past emotional situations in fresh new moments.

You may be enjoying your day and then you see someone who you may feel has wronged you and you remember the emotions of that moment and now you are back in the past. This is not real. You are not responding to the person and moment at present but are living in memory and fantasy.

To learn to discriminate we must learn to become rooted in the present moment and observe the antics of the mind-body system. See how gracefully the leaves die and fall from the tree? There is no resistance only beauty and simplicity. Permanence is that eternal part of yourself that is the subject of all religions. Look to that part of yourself and reinforce your faith. Faith is like the sword of discrimination. Have faith in kindness, have faith in love, have faith in simplicity. The ancient word for faith meant "connection to life itself". Use that as your starting point for discrimination. Never mistake discrimination for judgement. Discrimination is an internal process and judgement is another name for the blame game.

See you in the morning at the Boathouse...8:45am. You can do it, you are amazing!

Namaste,

Jayanta