Once in a blue moon...

Today is August 31, 2012. We started the month with a full moon, and we end with another.

“Tell me what you feel in your room when the full moon is shining in upon you and your lamp is dying out, and I will tell you how old you are, and I shall know if you are happy” ~ Henri Fredic Amiel

We have a chance to change our answer within the same month.

For this evening's reflection...

"Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken. Although its light is wide and great, the moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide. The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in dewdrops on the grass,or even in one drop of water.

Enlightenment does not divide you, just as the moon does not break the water. You cannot hinder enlightenment, just as a drop of water does not hinder the Moon in the sky." ~ Dogen, 13th century Zen Master

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And while we're on the moon,  here's remembering Neil Armstrong who passed away this month.

For more fascinating moon stories, read The Moon Myth, Magic and Fact by Diane Brueton. Photo above was re-edited from this book. 

American Veda

American Veda is a fascinating, well-written book that takes us through the journey of India's spirituality from East to West. Full of interesting facts on how ancient Indian philosophies from Vedanta to Yoga have had immense influence and impact on the lynchpins of Western culture, the book is an easy read, with witty titles, organized in good chunks of text. It is a refreshing supplement to ancient and modern books and commentaries on Yoga and Indian spirituality, and is also an engaging read for our social and cultural understanding, as the world swirls into a finer, more homogenous mix.

The snippets of stories on literary greats, artists, intellectuals, and quotes from the Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, and Scriptures narrate how each nurtured the other and infused the ancient teachings in these modern times with increasing breadth.  Interestingly, as the story unfolds, one's own personal spiritual journey may also reflected - the discovery, resonance, search and unravelling of spirituality is familiar.

The book shows the context and evolution of Eastern spirituality into the West. Intelligently presented, this also allows for discernment. After all, man's interpretation of all things sacred is often the cause for confusion, whether deliberate or unintentional.

American Veda allows us to look at scopes for further study, reading, practice and more unraveling. It is a well told story for seekers and practitioners alike, and bears rereading and retelling.

Highly recommended.

* * *

Some glimpses from the first few pages with photos taken from the wiki...

"Here is what our sages discovered, and here are some practices that make you a better, deeper, more fulfilled Christian, Jew, Muslim, secular humanist. In fact as we'll see, exposure to Eastern spirituality is more likely to strengthen a person's relationship to his or her native religion than to destroy it."
(page 25)


Ralph Waldo Emerson, Transcendental Superstar (page 36)
"...the individual soul and the universal spirit (which he later named the Over-Soul) were one - a direct echo of Vedanta's "Atman is Brahman"

photo from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Waldo_Emerson

Henry David Thoreau, The Karma Yogi (page 39)
"In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita, since whose composition years of the gods have elapsed, and in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seems puny and trivial"

photo from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoreau

Walt Whitman, The Bhakti Bard (page 41)
"...in 1857 he wrote that India "represents meditation, oriental rhapsody, passiveness, a curious schoolmaster-teaching of wise precepts." In his poem "Passage to India" he exalts the ancient land's "myths and fables," "far -darting beams of the spirit, "unloos'd dreams," and "deep diving bibles and legends."

photo from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Whitman

India on My Mind

I am trying not to feel heavy from my own storms, and cleaning pockets of the house to make room for light has always been one of my favorite solutions. I set my book reading aside first and cleaned out spaces, finding items I have been looking for (one of them for years already).

A few hours into the day, it became clearer.  India, like a comforting presence, is with me now, quietly haunting me.

And of course, incidentally, it is her Independence Day today.

Note: Credits on the top left photo go to an LV catalog that featured beautiful photos of India

Preparing for the End

"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you someone else is the greatest accomplishment." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I am preparing for the end of August. At the same time last year, I left my corporate job, at a very good place and time in my career, to teach yoga full time. Much to the varying reactions of happiness, dismay, uncertainty of family, true friends, mentors and other well meaning individuals, I took the leap. It has been almost a year since and it's time to reassess...  

Admittedly, it has been a beautiful time - more time for motherhood and friendships, more time to study and explore the other dimensions of practice, more opportunities for sharing my advocacies.  In these days of introspection and realization, I am hoping for the next sign to take me through the coming year. It is a fluid time, and more so, an honest time. I am recapping the year's journey in my heart, and allowing some space so I do not lose myself in the thought process. While we may fool ourselves into believing the world is turning us into someone else, it will be hard to prove if we do not know ourselves.

Ultimately, we make the conscious choice, and throughout the years, I still believe we just become more of who we truly are. So I ask again (and again), who am I? 

Happy Janmashtami! (August 9 / 10, 2012)

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya.

Beautiful photos here: http://world.time.com/2012/08/11/hindu-devotees-celebrate-krishnas-birth/#aptopix-india-hindu-festival-3

Gumamela Bloom!

Beautiful gift for the family to wake up to this after the week of rain...

Gumamela. Hibiscus. 

From the wiki...

The red hibiscus is the flower of the Hindu goddess Kali, and appears frequently in depictions of her in the art of Bengal, India, often with the goddess and the flower merging in form. The hibiscus is used as an offering to goddess Kali and Lord Ganesha in Hindu worship.

In the Philippines, the gumamela (local name for hibiscus) is used by children as part of a bubble-making pastime. The flowers and leaves are crushed until the sticky juices come out. Hollow papaya stalks are then dipped into this and used as straws for blowing bubbles.

---
From my bookshelf...

"To the Yogi, Kali is God manifest in Mother Nature...Kali in all her gore represents the fleeting and liberating experience of being reborn into spirit, and consequently, is not to be feared, but to be welcomed. She may look terrifying, but the yogi understands this to be a blessing. Consequently, the great goddess blesses him." 
~ Kala Trobe, Invoke the Goddess
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Um Klim Kalika-yei Namaha
"Om and salutations. I attract she who is dark and powerful."

Om Hrim Shreem Klim Adya Kalika Param Eshwari Swaha"Om and salutations to She who is the first one, dark within her own reality, the supreme primordial feminine, who cuts through illusion to the unabridged truth of existence."

Kreem Kreem Kreem Hreem Hreem Hoom Hoom Dakshine Kalike Kreem Kreem Kreem Hreem Hreem Hoom Hoom Swaha (very powerful and needs proper guidance / instruction...)

Kali is the consort of Shiva - Shiva who danced on us for a week. And now, we are blessed by this gift of a Hibiscus to be offered back to his goddess. 


Read more about Kali's mantras : http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Hinduism/2003/11/Kali-The-Power-Of-Destruction-Of-Negative-Ego.aspx#ixzz23KPs1trW

Shiva Dancing

Random thoughts and the rain...

I hear the mad drumming, roaring and cheering
from above. You dance again,
And we are drowning
In Your splendid show.
Are those serpents uncoiling by your arm and around you?
We almost do not notice the moon upon your crest.

Is the fire above You,
too high for us to see
with our sight drenched in rain
and washed away with these currents?

You dance upon demons, upon us, upon demons,
waterways of ignorance you dissolve into oceans.

We can only wait for this rain to end
while some wait on Your many names, and many forms
Because of hope.

For what Scripture does not say - After the destruction, love is reborn...

Belly Blessed Fest 2012

I had the blessing of covering for lovely prenatal yoga teacher friends - Monica Eleazar-Manzano and Tracy Locsin-Que. Despite the rain, there were many lovely belly blessed families. 

I truly love sharing this practice and am grateful for the joy of teaching three pre & postnatal yoga classes each week. 

What a blessing indeed!

Here are some photos of my little presentation introducing yoga and the beginning of the session, before it rained and my photographer on duty sister took cover. :)

For those interested in prenatal and postnatal yoga, 

here are our contact details (teacher friends and I) :)

Here are some slides from my presentation (that's Michelle Reyes-Navarro doing asana during her pregnancy with beautiful Maxine...)