Readings for Mapleton Yoga Class, 11/11/10

“In the future, happy occasions will come as surely as the morning.
Difficult times will come as surely as the night.
When things go joyously, meditate and give thanks
When things go badly, meditate and give thanks
Meditation in the manner of gratitude and compassion will guide your life.
To say the words ‘love and compassion’ is easy.
But to accept that love and compassion are built upon patience
and perseverance is not easy.”

Readings for Mapleton Yoga, October 28, 2010

“I am breathing in and liberating my mind. I am breathing out and liberating my body.”

Does the rose have to do something? No, the purpose of a rose is to be a rose. Your purpose is to be yourself. You don’t have to run anywhere to become someone else. You are wonderful just the way you are. This teaching allows us to enjoy ourselves, the blue sky, and everything that is refreshing and healing in the present moment. We already have everything we are looking for, everything we want to become. Just be. Just being in the moment in this place is the deepest practice of meditation. There is “nothing to attain.” We meditate not to attain enlightenment, because enlightenment is already in us. We don’t need to search anywhere. We don’t need to practice to obtain some high position. We can enjoy every moment. We have everything we need to make the present moment the happiest in our life, even if we have a cold or a headache. We don’t have to wait until we get over our cold to be happy. Having a cold is part of life. I am happy in the present moment. I do not ask for anything else. I do not expect any additional happiness. Our deepest peace is found in stopping and realizing the happiness that is already available.

Thich Nhat Hanh

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Readings from Mapleton Yoga Class, October 21, 2010

“The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.”

~Thomas Merton (Trappist Monk, Our Lady of Gethsemane Abbey 1915-1968)

Live in Joy

Live in Joy, In love.
Even among those who hate.

Live in joy, In health,
Even among the afflicted.

Live in joy, In peace,
Even among the troubled.

Look within. Be still.
Free from fear and attachment,
Know the sweet joy of living in the way.

There is no fire like greed,
No crime like hatred,
No sorrow like separation,
No sickness like hunger of heart,
And no joy like the joy of freedom.

Health, contentment and trust
Are your greatest possessions,
And freedom your greatest joy.

Look within. Be still.
Free from fear and attachment,
Know the sweet joy of living in the way.

from the Dhammapada, Words of the Buddha

Readings for Mapleton Yoga class, October 14, 2010

BEING HOME by Danna Faulds

Where can I soften
in this posture?
Where is the edge
between opening
and force, the line
between stretch and
too much effort?

The mind and body
serve up a feast of
feelings, each breath
another chance to
deepen and release.

The smallest motion,
or even just a quiet
sigh could be all that
I require to shift my
focus from the outer
to the inner realm,
a change from feeling
lost to being home.

THE PRACTICE OF BEING PRESENT by Danna Faulds

Attend the breath.
Let the rhythm slow and settle.
Filling and emptying, draw the outside in, and then release.
Simplicity and ease.
Nothing to do but breathe, relax and feel the free movement of air and life force,
watch the play of energy and sensation, allow everything to be,
without the need to change or fix or make it different.
This moment, you can listen to your soul.
This breath, you can have no goal but being.
You are already complete.
This, just this, is what it means to be whole.

Today may there be peace within you. May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be; that you have the capacity to be exactly who you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others. May you use the gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content with yourself just the way you are. Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.
It is there for each and every one of us.

author unknown

Reading for Yoga class, October 7th 2010

The Four Great Qualities of the Heart Mind

The mind becomes clear and serene when these qualities of the heart are cultivated:

Friendliness toward the joyful,
Compassion toward the suffering,
Happiness toward the pure, and
Understanding toward the impure.

Peacefulness towards all beings
I am blessed with peace.
I am peace, Itself.

Joyfulness towards all beings
I am blessed with joy.
I am joy, Itself.

Kindness towards all beings
I am blessed with loving-kindness.
I am loving-kindness, Itself.

Compassion towards all beings
I am blessed with Compassion.
I am compassion, Itself, in action.

Yoga Sutra of Patanjali 1:33
Translated by Alistair Shearer

Before Buddha or Jesus spoke, the nightingale sang, and long after the words of Jesus and Buddha are gone into oblivion, the nightingale still will sing. Because it is neither preaching nor commanding nor urging. It is just singing.
- D. H. Lawrence

Readings for Mapleton Yoga Class September 23, 2010

The purpose of coming to yoga is a little different than the purpose of attending an aerobics class or a zumba class. A workout class is designed simply to burn calories and reshape your physical body. Yoga has those benefits, too. But we practice yoga to learn how to live. The way you approach your mat is the way you will approach your life. We will begin in this class by re-learning how to breathe, just as you learned to breathe when you were born. Then, at the end of class, we’re going to die. Savasana is an experiment with letting everything go; your stress, your tension, your ego, your conscious self. And in that process of losing yourself, you learn to find yourself.     ~Laura Curtis

Untitled prayer, written by  Swami Kripalvananda

My beloved child,
break your heart no longer.
Each time you judge yourself,
you break your own heart,
you stop feeding on the love
which is the wellspring of your vitality.
The time has come. Your time.
To live. To Celebrate.
And to see the goodness that you are.
You, my child, are divine.
You are pure.
You are sublimely free.
You are God in disguise.
And you are always perfectly safe.
Do not fight the dark.
Just turn on the light.
Let go.
And breathe into the goodness that you are.

by Linette Landa of the Shanti Yoga Center for Harmony

When bringing a child into the world, taking care of ourselves is our joy and our duty. We must learn, and put into practice, good breathing, exercise, diet, relaxation and positive thinking. These are the necessary foundations for our bodies and minds to be healthy and to work in harmony for a positive pregnancy, birthing and parenting. Yoga, a comprehensive, holistic, self-care system, offers guidance and methods in all of these areas. HypnoBirthing® complements yoga beautifully. It tells us very convincingly why and how to rid ourselves of the notion that birth is a dangerous, painful process to be feared, and teaches relaxation and natural breathing techniques to bring the baby into the world in the calm and gentle way that nature intended.

“Nothing disturbs the course of natural labor more than fear. That is a known and well-proved scientific fact,” wrote Dr. Grantly Dick-Read in Childbirth Without Fear, 1944. Dick-Read is the father of natural childbirth according to Marie Mongan who developed the HypnoBirthing Program in 1989 based on his work. Eliminating fear is the first step in the program, because couples learn where the fear of childbirth comes from and its effect on labor and the baby. “Tense woman, tense cervix; relaxed woman, relaxed cervix,” said Dick-Read. Fear releases catecholamines – constrictor hormones – as part of the fight/flight response of the body. That not only prolongs labor and causes pain while the uterus tries to pull open tight muscles, but can lead to fetal distress as the oxygen supply to the uterus is reduced, contractions become more violent and labor drags on.

HypnoBirthing mothers learn to be calm and confident during labor and birthing, and they learn skills in physical and mental relaxation. Not in a trance, they are very present, keen observers of the process that is taking place in their bodies. The hours of practice with breathing, relaxation and visualizations induce the release of endorphins (our body’s natural anesthesia), creating the conditions that allow the mother to open up first and then to quietly breath the baby down to crowning and into her waiting arms.

Yoga and HypnoBirthing practices “teach” relaxation to the baby by circulating endorphins and reducing stress during the pregnancy. Also, parents are encouraged to connect with their unborn baby so there is a strong bond of love even before the birth. There are plenty of ways to do this according to prenatal psychology experts. Singing, talking, playing music, reading, stroking, etc., all help mothers, fathers and siblings know that the baby is real and already part of the family. Imagining what it is like to be your baby in the womb is also very effective. For example, if you have had an argument or see a violent scene on the news and then realize your baby heard that, too, your best motherly instincts come forth to try to prevent future exposure to negative stimulation and to assure your baby that it has nothing to do with him/her. When this kind of connection is made, parents realize more profoundly how important this stage of life is, and become advocates for a positive environment for the pregnancy and birth of their child.

[...] read the full article at hypnobirthingutah.com

Truth is the offspring of silence and unbroken meditation

                                                                                   — Isaac Newton