Month: May 2015

Categories
Beautiful Rituals

Yoginis at “Matangi” Yantra Drawing

Vignette from last month … A workshop drawing the symbol “Matangi”, creating your own portal of creative Shakti, taught by Chanti Tacoronte-Perez.

Matangi is considered to be the Tantric form of Sarasvati, the goddess of music and learning. Like Sarasvati, Matangi governs speech, music, knowledge and the arts. Her worship is prescribed to acquire supernatural powers, especially gaining control over enemies, attracting people to oneself, acquiring mastery over the arts and gaining supreme knowledge. (Don’t we all need her help? lol)

Yes, Matangi is Wisdom Goddess of creativity and speech. Matangi’s power is to access our authentic voice and to speak from the “deepest expression of our hearts” (Frawley).
Chanti shows the way through the process that “creativity is a balancing act of complete surrender coupled with discipline. Matangi being an “outcast” is free to play in the waters of the unconscious, where the bounty of creativity can be accessed.” Her workshop allows us “to identify our own creative power or explore the possibility of introducing creativity to our practice and life.” (excerpt from her workshop flyer:)

We began (really with hot cup of chai …then) with meditation and contemplation of Matangi and our own creative shakti. In constructing the Matangi yantra, we slow down our minds, shift the mood and perspectives where you can see your inner-Self a little better. Taking time out – Chanting and focusing … in meditation and contemplation of “Matangi and our own creative Shakti(power/energy)”.
Yoginis in a beautiful private yoga room.
SO peaceful.

sm_IMG_6818

sm_IMG_6823

sm_IMG_6812A lovely yogina brought over a plate of homemade raw cacao/dark chocolate covered coconut balls to share …sweetened only with maple syrup, she says. Thank you for where to find the recipe – found it!

sm_IMG_6822

sm_IMG_6828

sm_IMG_6830

sm_IMG_6834

sm_IMG_6833Look, I picked out this card out of this stack of cards!

sm_IMG_6835Buddha card … You draw to yourself what you find inspirational in his teachings.

yantraLines not straight and not as symmetrical as I’d like it to be but … for first timer, it’s okay? It’s the process that was most special …Used the wrong paint brush – next time, shall use a thinner brush for more control… Drishti focal point to the center of the geometrical shapes until you start seeing … the vision.

Thank you Friend for hosting Chanti’s Yantra session. Love Chanti – she’s so down to earth and so skilled – Usually, anyone sharing the same set of teachers is a kindred soul. Kind of felt this sisterhood and feeling of serenity sweeping over the room as we used the ruler, compass, pencil and erasers like kids back in school … all yoginis, all certified yoga instructors maybe?, drawing and sipping chai. Felt soooo much at home:)

Here’s Chanti’s homepage www.yantrawisdom.com.

She’s in Hawaii most of the time so for the yoga classes … when you are in the islands – Aloha:)

About Chanti:

Chanti’s passion is to inspire everyone to find their creative Self though movement, effortlessness and sadhana. She has been studying and teaching yoga in the Tantric Hatha Linage since 2005 initiated by her teacher Yogarupa Rod Stryker, founder of ParaYoga. Chanti has studied the art of Restorative Yoga & the practical applications of yoga therapy with Judith Lasater and she travels to India yearly, where she studies Sacred Art with Mavis Gewant and Pieter Weltevrede. Currently Chanti is attending Pacifica Graduate Institute pursuing her masters in Humanities with and emphasis on Depth Psychology deepening her exploration of healing through creative practice.

A soothing art therapy for the yogini needing an escape, some self-care. To me any place of yoga practice is a … sanctuary. Dear Yogini Friend, thank you again and again for holding the space, to me a sanctuary, so lovely.

Categories
Uncategorized

Break the habit …

stopbusy

The word busy in Japanese character looks like this:

忙

It’s a combination of two characters “leaning in” side by side.
The character on the left is 人　meaning a person and the character on the left is…
亡　… meaning “dying” … so it does not take a rocket scientist to decode this any further. The sign of losing one’s essence is when you are just busy busy busy.

That’s when I take a deep breath, stop – then turn inward to find (not lose, lol) myself.
There seems to be a general conditioning among us that unless you are busy, you are not a valuable important human being
based on a notion that doing lots of stuff and more you do lots of stuff is equated to your self-worth.
It’s a mindset ingrained in us… it would be nice to strike a balance.

It’s interesting to observe that someone who is very very busy is the one who gets asked to do even more – whereas there’s someone who is doing very little. The theory is that if you want to get something done, you ask the one who appears to be overloaded not someone who is not busy because? The one who is overloaded is the hard-working most capable one and the other one is just lazy and slow… REALLY? Our perceptions are sometimes so askew.

Categories
Healthy Activities Healthy Living

CPR Certification

I hope I never ran into such a situation requiring me to do this but …it’s good to know just in case.

Prom_IMG_6993

Prom_IMG_6996

Prom_IMG_7001

Prom_IMG_7002

Prom_IMG_7003

Prom_IMG_7004

Certified as of last Monday – a crash course so wonder if I would remember anything under pressure when every second counts – SO seems like the most important thing is to just stay cool – so yoga breathing techniques would definitely be an asset:) but really – just take few deep breaths to center yourself before you dive in. To bring someone back to life would be such a pressure, but according to this teacher, there’s nothing to fear as there’s nothing to lose other than to help as the person is actually already “dead” and whatever we do can only be a plus. If we are unable to revive the heart, we are not to blame and there’s what’s called “good Samaritan” law which protects us from any liability allowing anyone to come to aid. This law reduces our fear of “what if I screw up and get blamed for this death?” that could prevent anyone from stepping in.

We were so in awe of this captain of fire fighters and a paramedic – so brave facing such trauma on regular basis as we listened to him retell some white knuckles heart palpitating stories. How does one do it? So thankful for these brave souls, warriors among us …He doesn’t know he’s a yogi but he is… He’s a Karma Yogi. (another key point shared by him – to not have to suffer from PTDS, it’s best to seek help, to talk it out rather than suppress the symptoms. To always seek support and company of others is the key to keep PTDS at bay … there’s yoga to serve – Click HERE.

*********
Taking it sllooooowwww
turtlepose (from “Yoga Anatomy” by Leslie Kaminoff)

or hop over like a rabbit
rabbitpose(from yogabycandace.com)

While I am doing my 500 hrs.(very slow pace of a turtle… umm, is there a pose called ‘turtle’? yes, yes, there is, your back is the “shell”:) and bunny like the ‘rabbit’ pose …) and continuing education with yoga, I am studying Ayurveda for self-care… to complement the Japanese medicine box:) In a way, I am a bit discouraged that yoga seems to be treated as no different from say, pilates or some other form of exercise/fitness – it’s the best designed method for mind-body wholesome wellness is how I see it. At the same time, to deepen my understanding, debating if I should formally pursue Physical Therapy or Oriental Medicine (acupuncture/herbs) as my second, okay, third, career… I wish I had the time, energy and resource to do all three but… to go deeper, one must choose.

This is fascinating !

Not all acupuncture is the same as with yoga …

I do recall that in the old days in Japan, this was a profession mostly reserved for the blind – even just couple of decades ago, it would have been unthinkable for the seeing and well educated population to pursue such studies … as it was mostly thought to be a profession reserved for the vision impaired- in which it was felt that the vision impaired had a compensatory superior sensitivity to touch – thus, the use of touch was an integral part. How times changed and it’s no longer a profession for the vision impaired – and more regular people are re-evaluating and returning to the traditional alternative medicine as an effective compliment and supplement to Western medicine. The good thing about these traditional non-invasive healing models is that there’s no side effects – which is a huge plus. It is thought in some circles that Reiki also seems to draw from that tradition – relying on touch … soft light touch is so soothing compared to the heavy handed and more aggressive approach. Your aura remains intact … undisturbed as the touch is not an aggressive invasion of your personal space and the aura you emit.

Let’s take good care of our heart so that need for CPR diminish and … our aura brightens. Each of us emit an unique aura because such energy field envelopes each human being, just like this veil, this sheath, a connective tissue called the pericardium envelopes our hearts. (Did not know that ” the heart is enclosed within a protective triple walled bag of connective tissue”?- Yes, indeed, physically it’s wrapped in 3-fold sheaths like an amazing present that’s so well gift-wrapped!) It’s layer upon layer that we peel to get to the heart of the matter.

Prom_IMG_6848