with fresh waves coming from the vastness of the ocean
Let the breath wipe away yesterday’s words this morning’s thoughts
and the tightness that remains of them
until there is only this moment’s freshness…
– Dharma teacher in Thich Nhat Hanh’s tradition
Always a pleasure to see smiling faces as we exchange good night… May this evening be a tender one. May your dreams be sweet. Let tomorrow’s beginning be FRESH.
“To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.”
– Thich Nhat Hanh
“The most important point is to accept yourself and stand on your two feet.”
February 21st, Friday night… and Saturday, the 22nd, Yoga Festivals with yoga classes at the museum. This museum houses some of the greatest arts from the East. Don’t miss it: the exhibit ends May 25th!
Note: It’s said that Yoga dates back over 5000 years and so this exhibit only dates back 2000 years – the modern history – I think that’s forgiven (I am saying this with a note of mirth:)
Here’s part of their press release – It’s one of my favorite local museums and no wonder:
All over the world, millions of people practice yoga to find spiritual insight and improved health. Many people are aware of yoga’s origins in India, but few outside of advanced practitioner circles recognize yoga’s profound philosophical underpinnings, its presence within Jain, Buddhist, Hindu and Sufi religious traditions, or the surprisingly various social roles played by male and female yogic practitioners over centuries. This exhibition shows yoga’s rich diversity and rising appeal from its early days to its emergence on the global stage. Borrowing from 25 museums and private collections in India, Europe and the U.S., the artworks on view date from the 2nd to the 20th centuries. Stunning examples of sculpture and painting illuminate yoga’s key concepts as well as its obscured histories. Early photographs, books and films show yogis not only as peaceful practitioners, but also as warriors, showing yoga’s transformation in 20th-century India as an inclusive practice open to all. The show’s highlights include an installation that reunites three stone yoga goddesses from a 10th-century South Indian temple; 10 pages from the first illustrated book of yogic postures (asanas); and a Thomas Edison film, Hindoo Fakir (1902), widely regarded as the first movie ever produced about India.
“We are proud to be the only West Coast venue for this groundbreaking exhibition on yoga’s history,” said museum director Jay Xu. “Yoga’s history has transformed across places, cultures and religions, and today we step inside its ongoing transformation.”
The Asian Art Museum’s presentation of Yoga: The Art of Transformationwill be on view Feb. 21–May 25, 2014. Following the Asian Art Museum’s presentation, the exhibition will travel to the Cleveland Museum of Art (June 22–Sept. 7, 2014). The exhibition premiered at the Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery on Oct. 19, 2013 and will be on view there through Jan. 26, 2014.
EXHIBITION ORGANIZATION Yoga: The Art of Transformation was organized by the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution with support from the Friends of the Freer and Sackler Galleries, the Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne and the Ebrahimi Family Foundation. Presentation at the Asian Art Museum is made possible with the generous support of The Bernard Osher Foundation, Helen and Rajnikant Desai, Kumar and Vijaya Malavalli, and Walter & Elise Haas Fund.
ABOUT THE ASIAN ART MUSEUM The Asian Art Museum–Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture is one of San Francisco’s premier arts institutions and home to a world-renowned collection of more than 18,000 Asian art treasures spanning 6,000 years of history. Through rich art experiences centered on historic and contemporary artworks, the Asian Art Museum unlocks the past for visitors, bringing it to life while serving as a catalyst for new art, new creativity and new thinking.
Location: 200 Larkin Street, San Francisco, CA 94102
Hours: The museum is open Tuesdays through Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. From February through September, hours are extended on Thursdays until 9 p.m. Closed Mondays, as well as New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.
General Admission: FREE for museum members, $12 for adults, $8 for seniors (65+), college students with ID, and youths (13–17). FREE for children under 12 and SFUSD students with ID. Admission on Thursdays after 5 p.m. is $5 for all visitors (except those under 12, SFUSD students, and museum members, who are always admitted FREE). Admission is FREE to all on Target First Free Sundays (the first Sunday of every month). A surcharge may apply for admission to special exhibitions.
***
Last visit was to see Ellison’s beautiful Japanese Collection and now this… How I love this place! With incense burning and udon at the Cafe, lovely for our 5-senses.
Thanks to Mari Kato sensei, my aromatherapy teacher (the BEST), I have grown to appreciate how this alternative healing modality can be used to enhance my yoga practice. While lying down under someone’s expert hands on a massage table certainly is an irreplaceable treat – lucky! – when that service is not available to you – then what? Suffer?
What if you can relive the experience of relief and renewal with your very own movements, postures and positioning – rather than be dependent – rather be at the mercy of someone else to provide relief. What if you could care for yourself routinely and bring that luminous self to the group class ? Such positive energy to be harnessed for the whole is bound to have a multiplier effect to benefit all. I term Aroma Yoga as my own new style – )practiced at night, Aroma Lunar Yoga ! Forms are calibrated to meet you where you are, mindful of this reality, that in this life, there is no such thing as security – if there ever was one, it’s a temporary illusion – and that’s okay as you know how to care for self and others in such state of entropy. Yoga students know how to take care of self and others:
“Security does not exist. The more we try to build security, the greater our fear becomes–and the stronger our barrier to intimacy. And self-protection is an illusion. The more we bolster self-protection, the thicker our armor grows–and the more it hardens like a shell to enclose the true and vulnerable self which turtles inward.
In the desert of the heart, there is no safety. We can search, instead, for nourishment in the compassion that dwells just beyond it. And in the wilderness of the body, there is no insurance against injury and decay. We can seek, instead, the moment-to-moment tumult of sensation, investigation, and change that we often mistake for the body’s betrayal. And in the dimly-lit environs of the mind, there is little true reassurance. We can listen inward, instead, for alternatives to the default mental patterns that define us. What might this searching, seeking, and listening look like? ” – Bo Forbes
With that acceptance I practice my Aroma Yoga…Benefits are so numerous, you will be in 7th Heaven as your head hits the pillow at night:
“Aromatherapy is the treatment or prevention of disease by use of essential oils. Other stated uses include pain and anxiety reduction, enhancement of energy and short-term memory, relaxation, hair loss prevention, and reduction of eczema-induced itching.
Two basic mechanisms are offered to explain the purported effects. One is the influence of aroma on the brain, especially the limbic system through the olfactory system.The other is the direct pharmacological effects of the essential oils.While precise knowledge of the synergy between the body and aromatic oils is often claimed by aromatherapists, the efficacy of aromatherapy remains unproven. However, some preliminary clinical studies of aromatherapy in combination with other techniques show positive effects. Aromatherapy does not cure conditions, but helps the body to find a natural way to cure itself and improve immune response.”(excerpt quoted from Wikipedia)
We can uncover the trapped radiance within while allowing your
muscles to switch off to seal in this practice of mindfulness.
Bring your mental chatters to quiet stillness with some natural aides.