Month: December 2014

Categories
Yoga

Silly Goofy Face? Part 2…
Now what’s quite a bit scarier than a lion’s pose (not) is Japanese ladies’ facial yoga practice…
facialyoga1

I don’t know … I guess practicing at a studio with no mirror has been a good thing – I really don’t know what in the world I look like. And that’s a good thing as otherwise, people tend to get too self-conscious, always pulling down their shirt or fixing a lock of hair, adjusting this or that, self-analyzing with those critical eyes of ours – so much judgement. It’s less about vanity and how you look but more about what’s inside… and yet, I guess it’s women’s eternal desire to look better and that desire knows no borders… Still, each student pulling out a mirror like this and gazing at their own face in a yoga studio and calling it “facial yoga” seems a bit … scary to me. Almost sacrilegious … Maybe I will get used to it once I’m there…since there are enough little shrines all over, maybe studios are not treated as a sanctuary the way I treat the place…

facialyoga2

For now, I think I will just go do a down dog with a cat smile – and ponder on this matter…lol.

Categories
Beautiful People

Silly Goofy Face

キャー！
lioniyengar

MAKE A GOOFY FACE

Fear likes a moving target.
If a tiger were chasing you,
your only chance of survival might be to stop, turn around,
and look into its eyes;
then stick your thumbs in your ears and wiggle your fingers.

You might as well try anything in a desperate situation, and that seems perilous
indeed – a wild beast’s drooling jaws in your vicinity.

Yes, as a last option, make a goofy face.
This could be befitting to situations in life in general.

And fear, if it thinks it can’t take root in you, will go somewhere else for easier pickings.

Most roots like something still and undisturbed to grow in.
There are always various aspects of
nature at play that parallel their parent – metaphysical laws.

Sit down with a name of God on your tongue, or let your spirit arms reach within and embrace

something sacred there; you might begin to shine.

All that lives in shadows, all names and forms, will then run from –

or bow to – the king of the

jungle … your soul, your soul.

– Hafiz (Persian poet 1320 -1389c.)
lionposeIf a tiger were indeed chasing me, I may try a Lion’s pose … only trouble might be that …
Lion pose always makes me laugh … especially done in front of a mirror or a partner… it’s not scary – it’s funny:) Bursting into laughter, I might even forget to roar.

Categories
Beautiful Rituals Healthy Activities Healthy Living Yoga

In case you were wondering…

chakra

The chakras do not exist in the physical body. They exist in the psychic body, which cannot be experienced by the senses. This requires an altered state to be perceived through the mind. In yoga nidra we induce this state of perception by gradually withdrawing the senses during the rotation of consciousness throughout the body and by practicing breath awareness. This induces both pratyahara and deep relaxation. In fact, deep relaxation has been shown to be an altered state of perception…

– Swami Satyananda
ringonokiaomoriThen he goes on to say:

Many, if not all, of the truly creative discoveries in life, such as those of science, art, music and religion, were made during creative “flashes” of intuition which we understand as occurring when the inherent knowledge of the unconscious surfaces into consciousness. There are many documented examples. Newton’s revelations about gravity occurred while he was relaxing under an apple tree. Van Gough said that “pictures come to be as in a dream”. Mozart once composed an entirely new musical composition while dozing in the back of a carriage. Einstein increased his perception of relatively while visualizing himself walking along a sunbeam.

All these people allowed themselves to relax deeply enough, for the images and forms of their unconscious mind to manifest as solutions to their particular problems or quest. It has even been reported that through the use of deep relaxation and visualization, people have been able to diagnose their own particular disease before confirmation by medial examination. These deeper layers of the mind contain the solutions to all our problems, but we have to be able to allow them to manifest while maintaining complete detachment. One of the hallmarks of a genius is the ability to produce imagery in great abundance. Children also possess this ability, which usually becomes repressed as they are conditioned by worldly experience.

… fascinating.