Tibetan Heart Yoga

We were honored to invite the beautiful Mira Shani (www.mirashani.com) into our studio to teach us Tibetan Heart Yoga Series 8: The Partner Series on Saturday, December 6th. Over 30 people spent their afternoon with us learning an authentic and unique style of yoga.

So, you might wonder, what exactly is Tibetan Heart Yoga? Tibetan Heart Yoga, otherwise called THY, is a unique and beautiful style of yoga founded upon using both inner and outer methods to bring about a blissful practice and a happier self. It continues from a lineage from Lord Naropa, a yogi who lived about 1100 AD. The founder and Principle Teacher of this lineage is Geshe Michael Roach, the first American Geshe.


Okay... so what are inner and outer methods? Inner methods are using our mind and thoughts to create a happier and healthier self. THY brings in a taste of philosophy and meditation to compliment pranayama (breathing) and asana (postures) which are considered the outer methods. When both methods are used together they create a very powerful practice for perfecting our yoga both on and off the mat.

There are a total of 10 distinct series of THY. Each series combines asana and philosophy to create a beautiful practice. Series 8 is the Partner Series which is designed for two people to practice together. The meditation is on opening up the boundaries of the body to see that there is no separation between yourself and your partner. In this series we have the privilege to see our partner as a divine being and offer them total happiness and enlightenment.


We offer Tibetan Heart Yoga at our studio every week on Tuesdays from 7:00-8:30pm with Brian! Come join us and see how bringing together two magical practices can holistically improve your life both on and off the mat!

Namaste,
Brian

If we have a hard time with family how do we effectively deal with them during the holidays?

I get this question asked a lot and often have to deal with it myself and I have two rules I follow.

FIrst: Remind yourself that your strongest motivation in life is to be happy and avoid pain. Remind yourself this motivation is the base motivation for nearly all of your actions...then remind yourself that the motivation of family members is exactly the same...to be happy and avoid pain.

Even when that annoying person says the thing you find horrible or acts in appropriately or seeks attention or one of a dozen other things, they are ultimately motivated by their desire to be happy. They think this action is going to get them closer to happiness.

Although it may not seem like it from your side of the table, that really is what they are doing.

The only way to deal with them is to look at them with eyes of compassion. It doesn’t mean you have to sit there and take abuse. Clearly you can and should set boundaries with people who are in appropriate or even remove yourself from harmful situations. Ultimately, if we are having a problem with someone, it’s our problem, and the best way to deal with it is through compassion.

The second point to remember is that every time we look in the mirror we see a new person. We are not fixed and unchanging. We have changed since the last time we saw family and friends and guess what, they have changed too:) Try, as hard as you can, to see them as a new person this year. Encourage yourself to not play the same tape in your mind of their past actions. Someone looks at that person and thinks they are the best person in the world, someone worthy of love. As a result, it’s not they who need to change...it’s we who need to change our perception of them.

Sometimes the greatest gift we can give is of our time and presence. When we can take time to listen and let others be heard we can often eliminate the problems having plagued us for years. Start by getting quiet before family and work events. Practice some yoga and meditation so you can lead by example and be the light for others to follow.

Many Hugs to you

Brian

(This was written November 25th, 2009)

Dear Friends:

I just returned from NYC and while there attended a class taught by Dharma Mitra.

He is a well known yoga teacher and to some a living saint.

His knowledge, breadth of wisdom and chosen lifestyle make him a true yogi and an example to emulate.

So, here's the problem...I go there, I meet this man, read about him, watch his dvd and discourse on yoga ethics and I am totally blown away. He is the real deal. So now I want to be more like him, I want what he seems to have, I want his calm presence, peace of mind, and happiness....

My mind starts racing, I need to do this and I need to get rid of that and if I could just be near the Guru, then all will be well...then the self defeating talk comes in and I realize I'm not moving to NYC and I can't sell my car and walk to work, I can't live in a smaller home etc...

The key is in the regular practice, rather than extreme or radical life shifts.

All that stuff is just my ego playing a game telling me I will never get there and looking for all the obstacles in the way. There are no obstacles. Just choices. Do I need to move to NYC to be near the Guru. NO, I can watch his DVD, listen to his talks online, visit him a few times a year to study. Do I need to throw out all my stuff...NO, I can remove the excess in my life to make things more simple. Do I need to spend all my time trying to make money for the future...NO, I need to be more balanced with my time and spend some time earning money and spend time in meditation and practicing yoga.

Most of us do not need to live in a cave, give away all our possessions, meditate five hours a day and live off the good will of others.

Most of us do have excess we need to get rid of, live more modestly and meditate and do yoga/something physical daily over a long period of time with a good teacher.

True happiness will come to us all when we convince ourselves the ego desires of life are less important and more painful in the end. Ultimate happiness comes from things other than more house, more cars, more money and stuff.

Master Shanti Deva 750 A.D. "All the pain and suffering in the world, comes from trying to make ourselves happy. All the happiness in the world, comes from trying to make other people happy."

We can only see this kind of idea, realize it's power and act upon it when we have let go of many of our attachments and spent time meditating.

One great way to do this, is practice being grateful.

Every morning when you wake up and are still in bed think of three things for which you are grateful. Over time we begin to see the abundance in our lives and we start to need less, give more away and be much more content with what we have. Sometimes we are grateful for the little things, a warm bed, clothes and a roof over our head. It's more than many others have.

Namaste'

Brian

Yoga Off the Mat

Hello Everyone :)

This is my first blog and hopefully I do not make too many Blogging blunders:)

This is also your opportunity to ask me questions about what how to handle certain situations as a yogi. What direction might yoga suggest when at a cross roads or something as simple as which yoga mat is the best.

Sometimes after a class you may have a question about what I said or how we are running Red Lotus Yoga and this is our forum to answer those questions, voice your opinion and/or have a running debate about issues, ideas and more.

I hope to this blog will truly serve us all:)

A question I often get, mostly from people who don't practice yoga is, "I'm not flexible, I can't do yoga." Implying...why bother, I'm too (fill in the blank) to do yoga.

Actually, what they are saying is, "I'm too attached to my limitations to do something about changing them."

If that's the case, then yes, yoga isn't for them because it will ask them to change, grow and possibly, just possibly get happy or free from their limitations.

The first big mistake is thinking yoga is just a physical practice....like some form of East Asian jumping jacks. It's not.

Yoga is a mind/body practice where our intention is to reach our highest goals on a spiritual level. Meaning, yoga also brings in ethics, morality, meditation, poses, breath work and much more. I can't really summarize over 4,000 years of yoga in one blog, but needless to say, it's a deep well we are dipping into.

On the physical level, yes, yoga poses and practices can make you fit, trim, flexible and strong. But the poses, just by themselves, will not make us any happier. That comes from the seeds we plant in our actions, thoughts and words. Yogic text gives us extensive suggestions on how to eat, think and act in our world. These ideas have been time tested for thousands of years and guess what....they work. If they didn't they wouldn't still be around and still be so popular.

It's OK and good to get drawn into a yoga class for purely physical reasons. However, if you have a good teacher who is also a true student of yoga, you will walk away from the practice wiser, happier and healthier.

When we go to the gym, we typically walk out an hour later just being an hour older and closer to death. At the end of a yoga practice you should walk out an hour later, wiser and closer to your highest level of being.

If someone is inflexible, most often because of lack of movement, then getting some physical in might help. A lot of times that lack of movement is caused by a lack of motivation. Something we might hear in a class, by the teacher, might help motivate us to get more flexible somewhere else in our world, off the mat.

I am simply suggesting that the yoga practice can bring insight into the rest of our lives, rather than just the hour on the mat.

Please write back and feel free to post comments, questions and more.

Namaste'
Brian