A new moon teaches gradualness

And deliberation and how one gives birth

To oneself slowly.  Patience with small details

Makes perfect a large work, like the universe.

What nine months of attention does for an embryo

Forty early mornings will do

For your gradually growing

wholeness.

-Rumi

When all thoughts
 Are exhausted
 I slip into the woods
 And gather
 A pile of shepherd's purse.

 Like the little stream
 Making its way
 Through the mossy crevices
 I, too, quietly
 Turn clear and transparent.

-- Ryokan,
translated by John Stevens

 

One of my earliest Hatha Yoga teachers has written a new book coming soon. It promises to be an interesting and informative read. Ganga is a very thought provoking teacher.

 

“This book takes you into the mind of a noted renegade yogi. With humor and disarming honesty, Ganga explains the history and philosophy of yoga, and guides you with his own original and innovative approach to this ancient discipline. Yoga Beyond Belief is a unique, integrative approach to body, mind and spirit. It is practical, inspiring and full of valuable insights to enliven and inform the practice of both beginning and experienced students. I recommended it highly.”

Here's a link to the White Lotus website where you can order the book in advance or just check out articles and other happenings at White Lotus Foundation in Santa Barbara  http://www.whitelotus.org

--Andrew Weil, MD

This is an exerpt from "A Guide to Developing Life's most Importants Skill: Happiness" by Matthieu Ricard

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.

Jalaluddin Rumi

 

"The annual Leonid meteor shower could produce a strong outburst this weekend for residents of the North America and Western Europe.  A brief surge of activity is expected begin around 11:45 p.m. ET Saturday, Nov. 18. In Europe, that corresponds to early Sunday morning, Nov. 19 at 4:45 GMT. The outburst could last up to two hours.  At the peak, people in these favorable locations could see up to 150 shooting stars per hour, or more than two per minute. "We expect an outburst of more than 100 Leonids per hour," said Bill Cooke, the head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. "

The Ojai Yoga Crib works like this.  You get to pick five teachers to work with over the course of three days.  You get two and a half hours with each one.   This year I chose to work with my main man, Erich Schiffmann, Ganga White, Kira Ryder, Scott Blossom, and Dana Flynn.

 

I give this event to myself as a gift.  Its so much fun to hang out with my friend Kathy and immerse myself in yoga for the weekend.  The people who teach at the Crib are incredibly big hearted and intuitive teachers. Kira Ryder owns a studio called Lulu Bandha's in Ojai and she organizes the event.  She's also a teacher I love to be in class with because she has worked with and loves many of the same teachers I do.

 

Anyway...beautiful sunny days in the Ojai Valley.  We take a school bus from the main Crib headquarters up to Meditation Mount which over looks the valley.  Ganga White was my first teacher of the weekend.  I did teacher trainining with him at White Lotus Foundation in 1995.  http://www.whitelotus.org He has just written a new book which will be out in January called "Yoga Beyond Belief".  It was great to see him again after so many years and so much teaching under my belt since then.  We practiced of course and I enjoyed it but for me, I enjoy listening to these people talk about how they see yoga these days, how their practice and teaching continues to evolve.  As I've said a few times in class recently...in the early days of yoga in the West we were dependent on gurus from India for insight into this wonderful practice.  But now we have a treasure trove of western teachers who've been studying and practicing and teaching for 30 or 40 years themselves.  We've dropped some of the cultural references from India that don't apply in the West and, as Ganga mentioned in his talk, science has changed how we speak of yoga these days...as he said...we know that the earth is not flat.  I remembered, sitting in the room with Ganga, how good he is at prodding you into re-thinking your attitudes toward the sacred cows of yoga that you cling to sometimes uncritically.

 

In the afternoon we worked with Scott Blossom.  http://www.shunyatayoga.com/ I've know of Scott for many years but never had the opportunity to work with him.  What a beautiful soul.  He took us through an afternoon practice (after lunch, feel more like napping...you've been there) that was physically soft but energetically charged by really "sitting on the breath" as he described it.  The breath was the main focus.  We all floated out of there.  Good thing Ojai is a small town as we wandered into the street in a blissful state.  (People in cars stop for pedestrians in Ojai...so nice). 

 

Saturday morning I was in Kira Ryder's class.  I love her style so much.  It feels just right to me.   Kira gave me a big hug and told me she was so glad to see me back again.  She said that she feels like they are building a big family of yogis who return to the Crib each year.  Kira's mentor is Erich Schiffmann so she's a very intuitive teacher.  She guides you to the edge of challenge and allows you to make that leap or not as you are guided. 

 

Saturday afternoon was my main man...Erich Schiffmann.  Here is a link to his opening talk on Sunday...which is pretty much the same as the talk he gave to our group on Saturday.  http://www.movingintostillness.com/hard_disk.htm

 

What can I say.  I love this man.  He changed my practice and my teaching profoundly. After class we gave each other a big hug and I tried to pin him down on whether or not he's coming to Yellow Springs in Fall of 2007.  He said he's 90% sure.  It would be in September.  So if you aren't inclined to fly out to Ojai...watch for him in our neighborhood next year!

 

Sunday morning my last class was with Dana Flynn.  She's a bundle of energetic love.  A bit much for my introverted self but an inspiring teacher.  She encourages love and connection, spouts yoga rap poetry, plays crazy music, prances and dances around the room.  It was a wild experience...kind of yoga performance art!...or a yoga revival meeting! http://www.laughinglotus.com/mainpages/dana.html

 

In addition there was the opportunity to get up early for morning meditation with Edward Espe Brown. (Thankfully Daylight Savings Time made it much easier to get up early on Sunday).  Here's a link to his website.  Ed is so funny and he really has a great gift for teaching meditation...for getting you to let go of that inner voice that gets in your way.  "Give yourself the love you've always deserved" he says.

 

I came back renewed to the bottom of my soul.

 

 

 

I've recently returned from what I hope is my annual trip to California for the Ojai Yoga Crib.  This is my second year.  I'll be posting some musings from the trip eventuallly.  In the meantime...here's a link to some photos from the event taken by photographers there.

Enjoy!