I've just now enjoyed reading your recent blog ent...

2008-01-28T12:52:00.000-05:00

I've just now enjoyed reading your recent blog entries. I'd love to hear more about the landscape metaphor. It's interesting to contrast landscape and path orientations. Off the top of my head: each is important, but one can not be had w/o the other if there is to be balance. While an orientation to the path requires focus and commitment, a landscape orientation requires consideration of the bigger picture - that which has come before us, conditioning, external influences and forces beyond our control, sights we bear witness to and choose to be affected by or not. Hmmmmm......This is
strangely consonant w/the thoughts I'd already written out on my Challenge challenge below (not to be too cryptic or clever but to extend the metaphor The Challenge (5 days a week of asana practice) would be my path and the challenge (to LIVE it, of course...) is my landscape). A work in progress......

Things I've learned from 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off The Challenge:
1) Practicing 5 x a week feels really, really good;
2) All those felt-more-than-known reasons-why-I-love-yoga were always
there, just beneath the surface, waiting to be tapped into;
3) Practicing often means I can live easily in my body;
4) Practicing a lot allows the practice to become personal again (vs.
when it feels more like part of the job - to brush up on my cueing,
get pointers from other teachers, feel the poses so that I can teach
from my body);
5) # 4 notwithstanding, practicing often buoys my confidence as a
teacher;
6) A regular and frequent asana practice makes me want to live
deliberately;
7) Practicing often gives me a secret sense of virtue (this could be
dangerous - there's only a hair's breadth between virtue and smugness);
8) The asana practice must be part of a larger picture: if it does
not help to shed light on my life, if it does not help me to live
truer to my intentions - whether I'm in class 5x a week or 1 - it is
not serving its purpose;
9) W/o the catalyst of hot, sweaty, invigorating classes, finding the
bliss - hell even just finding my breath sometimes - is less about
endorphins and more about consciously being present;
10) When I am less often in class, I want more to sit (in meditation);
11) For me, the greater challenge is not necessarily to practice 5
times a week (that is a worthy, valuable goal and often a logistical,
familial challenge) but to maintain a sense of the practice when I
can not get to class.

For future consideration - what tools do I have that will help me w/this challenge (meditation, journalling, rolling out my mat on the kitchen floor, being kind.....)? I've been listening to Jack
Kornfield's Beginner's Guide to Buddhism. I wrote this down: "Be where you are... and [your] radiant true nature will manifest itself." "At some point if it moves you bow to it."

Welcome back from C.R., Johnny!! See you soon. - Jen

John: Costa Rica with you and Rolf was an inspira...

2008-01-27T09:00:00.000-05:00

John: Costa Rica with you and Rolf was an inspirational, beautiful and challenging experience that truly enriched my yoga practice, a.k.a. my life.

Re the power of thought and intention I offer reinforcement that detaching from the outcome is the key to serenity. For me, aligning myself first with my Higher Power, whom I choose to call God, is essential - that can happen through prayer or medititation and sometimes by checking in with a couple of good friends. My intention then seems to resonate at better frequency. Does that make sense?

Again, many thanks for making this unforgettable week so special. I will recommend it to as many people as possible. Blessings and victory to our spirits. Janice

Comments on Empowered Yoga Challenge '08: Johnny's Thoughts: The Power of Thought and Intention

I've just now enjoyed reading your recent blog ent...

John: Costa Rica with you and Rolf was an inspira...