Saturday, December 12, 2009

Today I Tasted Truth.... mmmm...like honey~~


I find a lot through Yoga.... for those with a consistent practice.... we know there is an abundance to discover. We learn so much and explore so often... We come in contact with our elements... Our earth in grounding, our fire in commitment, our water in adaptation and our air with intuition. For those of us that teach... whether Yoga or pre-school... We begin to realize whether or not we subscribe to your own teachings. As a Yoga teachers we learn our Yamas and my Niyamas. And almost instantly we bring some of them into play... The first Yama (Yogic 5 Restraints), Ahmisa (non-violence), tends to take hold first. Many of us become Vegetarian, Vegan or Pescetarian. We find a little more care for our own bodies. We even find ourselves questioning our violent thoughts and feelings.

As Yogis we are always told about the truth... One of my favourite questions to ask my students is "Why are you here...? What brings you to your mat?? No matter what that reason... Just know it to be true." When we grow as meditators, we begin to get small glimpses of how our experience in practice becomes relevant in the world off of our Zafus. If we practice watching our breath or using Matra meditations, we start to notice how hard, but necessary, it is to cultivate concentration and awareness. If we practice Metta (loving kindness) meditations, we notice how much we can see others as fellow children of this Universe... and we realize when we're not!! We can not only treat others with more compassion but also ourselves. I used to be a very judgmental teenager.

Right now I am really exploring the 2nd Yama, Satya (truth). I personally have a hard time getting to the truth of my finances. Or you could say that I have an easy time running away from things that I'm scared of. I know there are times when I'm not sure how much money is in my bank account. And in these particular moments, I know that there could be money directly leaving my account for certain expenses (car insurance, car payment, OSAP...on and on and on)... but rather than going onto the internet and checking my account I will run!! I will stay away until I know that I have more money. Which then leads to me not know if there is an NSF on my record.

So today I'm surfin' the interweb just a few moments ago... I'm looking at really inspiring videos of Yogis doing Intermediate and Third Ashtanga series... being truly moved by the movements and grace of the practice... and then as I go to navigate away from the site I see the website for my bank. And deep inside my mind I know that I should look and see how my finances are doing. But as always my says... "If you check and there's an NSF you're going to be upset with yourself. And then you're going to stress and worry about your stability and survival .... just ignore it." (P.S. I have first chakra issues... that's Vata for ya..:)

And then I realized that's me running away again... So I stopped myself from my fear of knowing that my survival (in financial terms) is not so stable. and so I checked my bank account. With the intention that no matter what was on that page it would be exactly as it's supposed to be. I was going in with no expectations either way. wwwhhhheeewww~~~
Turns out that all my payments have come out and I'm doing ok.... Not saying that I'm a rich man but we might be getting take out!!!!:)


Truth is a tricky situation. There has to be a willingness to look at what ever circumstance we might be facing and look at it as a witness and remain detached. The truth is scary most of the times. There might be aspects of our lives that we dodn't look at because we're afraid of the truth we've been denying. But in all truth...(ha)... Unless you live truthfully this life is empty. Unless we can look at ourselves with an objective eye we're just acting.

It is said that in all the fables about Buddha in his past lives, whether as a mountain goat, or a rabbit, Buddha did things that were not virtuos (as we all do). But the one thing that Buddha would not do is lie about it. He spoke the truth about what was so. that one virtue among all others. And truth can be the most powerful. when we live in truth we see things as they are... Life is wonderous and magical and scary and difficult.

And to quote the Buddha on truth...
"It's the quality of seeing what is true and responding with mercy, to rest in the truthful heart with compassion as well,'

Namaste...shanti...shanti...shanti and merry christmas, happy Hanukkah, etc. etc.