WEEK FOUR
ZOOM Class Schedule
Monday, Jan 20th 7:15-8 ONLINE LINK HERE RECORDING HERE
Tuesday, Jan 21st 7:15-8. ONLINE LINK HERE RECORDING HERE
Wednesday, Jan 22nd 7:15-8 ONLINE LINK HERE RECORDING HERE
Thursday, Jan 23rd 7:15-8 ONLINE LINK HERE RECORDING HERE
Friday, Jan 24th 7:15-8 ONLINE LINK HERE RECORDING HERE
Saturday, Jan 25th 9-10 ONLINE LINK HERE RECORDING HERE
Sunday, Jan 26th 9-10:15am ONLINE LINK HERE RECORDING HERE
Day 20
“The primary aim of yoga is to restore the mind to simplicity, peace and poise, to free it from confusion and distress.” - BKS Iyengar
Day 21
WHAT HAS BECOME OF THE OLD MASTERS
One day Kaku said to his master Tokusan, "I suppose all the old masters who have passed away have gone somewhere. Tell me, Master, what has become of them?"
"I don't have the slightest idea," replied Tokusan.
Disappointed, Kaku bitterly observed, "I was expecting the answer of a galloping horse and I receive that of a turtle."
He went away in contempt. Tokusan, seeing him leave, shrugged his shoulders and lifted his eyes helplessly toward the sky. The next morning, after his bath, Tokusan saw that Kaku abosed having tea together. He asked him, "Have you had proposed having tea together. He asked him, "Have you resolved the koan you formulated to me yesterday?"
Kaku smiled and replied with a satisfied tone, "Master, today your Zen is much better."
Tokusan shrugged his shoulders again and lifted his eyes helplessly toward the sky.
It is important for a disciple not to doubt his master, because it is he who is the master…
This notion of the master reminds me of a Buddhist phrase that says, "Every event is an opportunity" Everything that happens to us offers the opportunity to transform and develop ourselves, and to grow. It is up to us to take advantage of that opportunity. Each moment reveals itself as a master from the moment we recognize it as such and decide to learn from it.
The fact that Kaku doubts Tokusan indicates from the beginning that he is an imperfect disciple…. - Alejandro Jodo
Day 22
"We Indians know about silence. We are not afraid of it. In fact, for us, silence is more powerful than words. Our elders were trained in the ways of silence, and they handed over this knowledge to us. Observe, listen, and then act, they would tell us. That was the manner of living.
With you, it is just the opposite. You learn by talking. You reward the children that talk the most at school. In your parties, you all try to talk at the same time. In your work, you are always having meetings in which everybody interrupts everybody and all talk five, ten or a hundred times. And you call that ‘solving a problem’. When you are in a room and there is silence, you get nervous. You must fill the space with sounds. So you talk compulsorily, even before you know what you are going to say.
White people love to discuss. They don’t even allow the other person to finish a sentence. They always interrupt. For us Indians, this looks like bad manners or even stupidity. If you start talking, I’m not going to interrupt you. I will listen. Maybe I’ll stop listening if I don’t like what you are saying, but I won’t interrupt you.
When you finish speaking, I’ll make up my mind about what you said, but I will not tell you I don’t agree unless it is important. Otherwise, I’ll just keep quiet and I’ll go away. You have told me all I need to know. There is no more to be said. But this is not enough for the majority of white people.
People should regard their words as seeds. They should sow them, and then allow them to grow in silence. Our elders taught us that the earth is always talking to us, but we should keep silent in order to hear her.
There are many voices besides ours. Many voices…”
-Ella Deloria
Day 23
PRANAYAMA:
Indian treatises on Yoga state that man's life is preordained and is laid down as a certain number of breaths and not in terms of the number of years, months and days. Thus it lies within the freewill efforts of man to increase his span of life by the practice of pranayama.
Normally man breaths at the rate of 21,600 per day. The total number of preordained breaths divided by this number gives the normal span of life of the individual in years, months and days. If however by one's effort the number of breaths is reduced below 21,600
per day the years of life are automatically increased. On the other hand if by fast living and unnecessary strenuous exertions the number of breaths is more than 21,600, to that extent
life span is shortened. Giving free vent to the passions also increases the breath rate, while mental poise and control decreases the breath rate.
PRANA, is something which each individual is born with. It is capable of being exercised and strengthened just as our limbs, intellect and mind can. During the exercising of prana external air comes into play, but prana should not be identified or mistaken with the air we breathe. Prana is attached to the body, and so long as it is thus attached man is alive. Yoga treatises say that this prana forms a sheath round our body extending for about twelve inches round it. The more gently we breathe, we conserve it, the more violently we breathe we waste it. The proper ways of exercising and conserving prana have been laid down by the ancient seers in their experience.
1. As Adi Sesa, the Lord of the serpents, is the supporter of Yoga (Hatha Yoga Pradipika, III 1), so Pranayama is the heart of Yoga. Yoga is lifeless without Pranayama.
2. The normal rate of breathing is fifteen times a minute and 21,600 times in every twenty-four hours. However, the number varies according to one's way of life, health and emotional state. Since pranayama lengthens the time taken by each in and out breath, thereby slowing down the process of ageing, its practice leads to a longer life.
Day 24
Ram Dass on hatha yoga asana
“Yoga means union. Yoga is a systematic method for cutting through the game, for cutting through the illusions. I mean, if you’re doing Hatha yoga, you’re not just getting your body beautiful what you’re doing is turning your body into a vehicle for prayer for transcendence of ego.
Every asana is a perfect mudra, is a perfect statement of form. Just like a beautiful work of art. And you put your body in that place and you centre and you go outside of your ego and the body becomes a statement of a higher thing. That’s what hatha yoga is at it’s highest. Hatha means the conjunction of the moon and the sun, a very high form of yoga.”