A recommendation

by Randall Buskirk

A fantastic book, now 15 years old, I keep coming back to and gaining new insight and inspiration from is Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of Moving Into Stillness, by Erich Schiffmann. It’s written in a very warm, nontechnical, informal, voice, as if you are in a conversation with an old friend or favorite uncle. Not only is it a great guide to a practice that might at first seem foreign, ancient and irrelevent, not only does it reveal that practice to be as simple as here and now, as getting up in the morning and going to bed at night, but because it is written from inside the practice, it gives a feeling of what it is like to actually do yoga. Just reading the book somehow gives you an experience of stretching yourself, as if you are already moving into that place of stillness. Go to this link to read chapters or purchase the book:  http://www.movingintostillness.com/teachings.html

Here are some nice quotes, from near the beginning and near the end of the book. In between lies a lifetime of exploration:

“The quality of your yoga, and of your life, depends solely on how interested you are in the doing of it. Interest unleashes the energy of passion, and passion expresses itself as quality.”  p.54.

“Sense yourself deeply, pay attention to your own unique feeling-tone, and allow the inner feeling to guide, direct, and advise you about your actions, words, and thoughts. Pursue that which feels right, attracts you. Do the things you like to do. Honor your deepest feelings and live the life that fulfills you and makes you happy.

“The more you do this, the more refined your attractions will become. They will self-correct and change, and what used to attract you may no longer do so. One thing is certain, however. Your individual attractions and desires will come into alignment with those of the whole. What is best for you is best for the universe, and vice versa–and what is best for you is what makes you happy.

“Your happiness and the universe’s happiness are one and the same. This is important. It’s true because you and the universe are one. You are not a separate entity somehow disconnected from the All. Herein lies the key to the whole thing: The universe is already happy! God is already happy! Consciousness is Happiness!”  p.344.

You might want to write that quote out for yourself and feel the power that flows through you as you do so. Namaste.

Awakened Heart, Embodied Mind

Sunday April 3, 2011 from 1:00 – 4:00 PM

The Essential Practices of Freedom Style Yoga

Freedom Style Yoga is an intuitive approach to life and yoga that can be summarized as, “Do not decide in advance about what to do or not do. Instead, listen inwardly for guidance and trust into what you find yourself Knowing.”

This is not an inherently strenuous practice, but it is advanced. It requires that you be brave enough to follow your deepest impulses about what feels right and what doesn’t. This is not always easy. It involves the development of self-trust based on the growing conviction that YOU are the specific and unique self-expression of that which is ultimately trustworthy: Life, Love, Truth.

Exhale Center for Sacred Movement
245 South Main Street
(between Rose Ave and Navy Street)
Venice, CA 90291
310.450.7676

The Ojai Yoga Crib Friday Night Talk 2009

“We Are Here to Help Each Other”

Get the full talk >HERE<

Every fall in the magical Ojai Valley 250 yogis come together for a long weekend of yoga, kirtan, Indian dancing, philosophy and communion. Held in an old church, I have been the Friday Night entertainment for the past 3 years. These talks are special for me. This video is an excerpt from about halfway into the talk. I had been talking about unity being the fundamental nature of things, and that part of waking up involves, first of all, waking up to the truth of unity, the fact that we are all here together, sourced by the same Source, and then learning how to transcend tribal differences so as to live with one another in peace. Someone at the back of the room asked, “Why would there be challenges on the path to finding and reconnecting? How did we lose the connection?” This was my answer.

Here’s the video, and below it, the transcript. Enjoy! and thanks for being here.

Erich:         We took the blue pill.

It’s sort of like, my answer on that, the best I’ve come up with so far,

because for me it’s been this thing of not feeling the unity, and feeling like I’m working my way back to it.

Having insights of, “Oh ,wow, this is the truth. Yeah, Unity Consciousness,” all the stuff I’ve been saying, and then phlump, going back to previous mindsets.

So my question was the same.

“Well, if this is the way it was in the beginning,

then how did I ever get confused about it?”

The image that comes to my mind about that is,

I live in Santa Monica and there’s the pier there,

and there’s the roller coaster

and the circle thing, the ferris wheel.

And you see the rides,

and you see people on the rides,

and you see people —wheeeeeeeee—

they get on the ride, they do the ride, and they come off.

And you see that everything’s okay.

“Oh, they did it! Hey, I’d like to try that.”

So you get in the seat on the roller coaster.

You strap yourself in.

It starts going up…

slow, slow, chug, chug, chug.

You’re looking around. “Hey, look at the view! Hey, there’s so-and-so down there.”

And then you’re up there pretty high, hey the view’s good, and then it levels off…

And then it’s like zoom!

And you’re on the ride and it’s like…

We’re mid-ride, having fun, flipping out, scared.

And it’s just a choice that you could be in the Magical Kingdom thinking that it’s something else.

But you started in the Magical Kingdom,

you knew you were safe.

You started from safety, you are safe, but at the moment you’re mid-ride.

And when you’re scared mid-ride, the tendency is to then contract and become fearful and protect yourself against the scary world,

and if that’s what you do, then that will continue the ride, actually.

You started from safety. You’ll end up in safety.

Something like that.

You knew you were okay, and so you tried it.

You knew you’d be okay, and so you tried it.

The drug will wear off any second.

And it’s something you can do.

But it’s something that’s happening in the middle of the Magical Kingdom.

And the growing realization is that, “Wow, yes, I am in the Magical Kingdom.  I am with Brothers and Sisters. I’m not on a scary ride. I’m not with scary people. I’m not in an environment where I need to shield myself, not really.

There is no enemy, really.”

And the more you start sensing that, then that’s what will begin to be your experience.

Get the full talk >HERE<

I was working at my desk when I looked out the window and saw this floating flower. I did a double take because it kept being where it was, and it was floating, dancing! So I quickly grabbed my camera and started filming. I was certain the flower was dangling on a spider thread, but I never saw it. Even now as I watch the footage, there is no evidence of anything other than pure flotation/levitation. After a few minutes I went outside to get a better look, but still no obvious thread from which it was dangling. I zoom in close to get a better look, and then zoom out again to get the overview. After about 10 minutes the phone rang. I went inside to get the phone and when I came back out the flower was gone. I totally love this clip. It’s like that scene in American Beauty with the paper bag. Spider thread or no, I love the magical feeling this dancing flower evoked in me.

Erich Schiffmann at the LA JOLLA YOGA CENTER

THE ESSENTIALS OF FREEDOM STYLE YOGA

FRIDAY NIGHT TALK ~ “THE BIG PICTURE”

Here’s the video, and below it, the transcript. Enjoy! and thanks for being here.

THE BIG PICTURE

Erich: So, what we’ll be doing is Freedom Style Yoga. But, the thing is, no matter what style of yoga you practice, and as a student, you should be clear on this, but, especially if you are a teacher, be clear on this.

No matter what style you are doing, the big point of any of the practices, the reason for doing for yoga, it’s simple, and it will almost sound too simpleton‑ish, but, let this soak in.

The reason for doing yoga is to have the experience of yoga.

You know, it’s like, “What were these guys talking about? What is yoga really?” It’s not just PE. It’s not just a really good PE class. It’s a spiritual discipline. It’s an inquiry into [whispers] “What the fuk is going on?”

You know, into the Truth, into the truth of Reality, into the truth of the predicament we find ourselves in.

The reason for doing yoga is to have the experience of yoga.

OK, well, then what does yoga mean?

And this is interesting. And again, especially if you’re a teacher, just keep coming back to this.

Yoga, Sanskrit word, comes from the root word, yuj, Y-U-J. It’s similar to the English word yoke.

Yoga is the practice of yoking.

Yoke means to join. We’re engaged in the practice of joining.

Now when things join or come together, they form a union, a unity. And if you read in a book, “Yoga means joining and union.” It always sort of confused me because joining doesn’t mean union, what do you mean? But then it’s like, oh! the technique is joining. When you join, you begin to experience the unity, the union‑ness, of things.

And  what they’re talking about is small mind yoking with Big Mind.

Personal self merging with, joining with transpersonal Self.

It’s your consciousness beginning to merge with the Supreme. . .

and then living your life with the perspective you find yourself having when you do that.

And so, essentially, yoga is the art of living. And that’s the thing that needs to be refreshed, remembered. Oh yeah! It’s how you live your life. It’s a lifestyle, based on the realization of Unity.

Now what the early yogis discovered was that it’s not like your mind joins with Big Mind and then forms the Unity.

It’s more like what they discovered is that the Infinite Unity is already the what is.

You’re not joining with it, though it’ll feel like that. It’s more like you’re finally copping to the fact of, “Wow, there is a Unity, already.”

You’re not establishing it. You don’t have to do anything to create it or sustain it. You don’t have to attain it. It’s just the realization of Unity. Wow. And then living your life. . .

Get the full talk >HERE<

Heavy-Handed Dog Pose Vinyasa

Here’s a very nice video of Carie Garrett doing the Heavy-Handed Dog Pose Vinyasa. Carie teaches yoga in College Station, Texas, and leads workshops around the country. She has been my assistant in many teacher trainings and workshops the last 10 years. You can see her doing another variation of this pattern in my Freedom Style Yoga DVD. You can find out more about her at Yoga with Carie Garrett.