Hint: the cage is not locked

I was recently thumbing through a great yoga book, Meditations from the Mat by Rolf Gates, when I came across a quote that really resonated for me. This quote reminded me that so much of what we want in our lives is attainable... we just stop ourselves from claiming it. We put up boundaries, we forget to dream, we operate out of fear and a sense of lack. But as the quote says:

"Hint: the cage is not locked."
In other words, no one is stopping us but ourselves.

The power of meditation

Last week a friend and I attended a wonderful lecture at the University of Minnesota by Matthieu Ricard, a French born Buddhist monk, scientist, author, and the Dali Lama’s French translator. Ricard’s talk focused on his latest research and book about achieving genuine happiness. It is Ricard’s contention that happiness is not related to external circumstances; rather it is a product of our minds and perceptions. Therefore, to cultivate and improve our state of happiness we can utilize deliberate mind training techniques such as mindfulness meditation. And he has the brain scans and scientific research to prove it works!

According to Ricard, scientific studies have shown that human beings each have a baseline of happiness that they come back to throughout their lives, despite the external circumstances. One example is the fact that for people above the poverty line, studies have shown that more money actually does NOT buy more happiness. In another study, this time of paraplegics, levels of happiness one year after their accidents were actually the same as pre-injury levels even through right after their accidents many had suicidal thoughts. The pursuit of genuine happiness is therefore achieved not by changing external circumstances (bigger house, nicer car, better job, better spouse), but by training the mind to perceive those circumstances differently and ultimately raising the happiness baseline that we all come back to. Ricard shared a number of scientific studies that show that utilization of mindfulness meditation techniques (as practiced by Buddhist monks in Tibet) can actually shift our happiness baseline. This focused type of meditation can alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety, promote body healing, and ultimately raise our overall happiness levels. The trick is that you must “practice” these mind training techniques in a sustained fashion --- like learning to play the piano.

After hearing this powerful message and the seeing all the fancy graphs and MRI scans Ricard brought to prove it, I am recommending that we all read his book Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill, and we start a serious meditation practice. There are a wealth of resources in Twin Cities to get you started. I listed a few below but I am not endorsing any, just giving us all a place to start. Let me know where you learned to meditate. I would love to include it here.

Common Ground Meditation Center (3400 East 26th Street, Minneapolis): an independent center founded on the teachings of the Buddha and dedicated to the practice of mindfulness. This center follows in the spirit of the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in Massachusetts and Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Northern California. The center is hosting an introduction to mindfulness meditation on May 4 as well as many other ongoing programs.

Shambhala Center of Minneapolis (2931 Grand Street NE, Minneapolis): part of an international community of 165 meditation centers founded by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist meditation master. Shambhala Buddhism incorporates the teachings of the Kagyu and Nyingma traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, with the Shambhala vision of living an uplifted life, fully engaged with the world. The center welcomes newcomers every Monday night in addition to their regular services and programming.

Yoga Center of Minnesota (Saint Louis Park and DT Minneapolis): Tara Cindy Sherman and Tanya Boigenzahn each offer meditation classes through the Yoga Center. These classes will touch on the benefits of meditation, a variety of techniques to help calm the mind, instruction on how to breathe properly and help relax the nervous system, and discussion of how to integrate a meditation practice into your life.

And here are some other resources I found online:

• Rivers' Way
  
• University of Minnesota - Center for Spirituality and Healing
• Seeds of Mindfulness
• Compassionate Ocean Sangha (at Three Smooth Stones)

Kickin it old school

Sri Tirumala Krishnamacharya (1888-1989) is considered the grandfather of modern yoga. His students include many of today’s most influential teachers: Sri BKS Iyengar, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, the late Indra Devi and Krishnamacharya’s own sons T.K.V. Desikachar and T.K. Sribhashyam. Krishnamacharya “believed Yoga to be India’s greatest gift to the world.” It is said that his greatest strength was the ability to take “the ancient teaching of Yoga and Indian philosophy” and combine them within a modern day framework. By doing this he was able to revive the practice of yoga in a manner that is as “accurate and powerful” as it is “practical and relevant”.

Thanks to the wonders of YouTube, we are now able to see Krishnamacharya in action. It really is amazing to see all the accoutrements of modern day yoga stripped away (no fancy mats, no aesthetically pleasing studio, no cute outfits unless you are into loin cloths). You can see the asanas and pranayama techniques in their purest form. Watching this video really says something about how far we’ve come. We either need to give some serious props to the marketing skills of guys like Iyengar and Jois who brought Yoga to the West, or acknowledge that there really is a growing consciousness in the world. I like to think it is the latter! Take a few minutes today to check out where all this Yoga stuff came from. Namaste.

What it's all about...

I wrote the following post about a year ago on my MySpace page and found it interesting to revisit today. Matthew Sanford is a Minnesota resident who founded the yoga studio and nonprofit, Mind-Body Solutions. Hearing him speak last spring was truly the moment that all of this yoga stuff came together for me. He helped me "get it."
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May 31, 2007

As I grow older and more cynical, it gets harder and harder to impress me. Despite this attitude I've developed, I have to say that I was recently blown away by a certain individual: Matthew Sanford. Mr. Sanford was the keynote speaker at the yoga conference I recently attended. I went to his session just to fill some time during a three hour lull in the programming. I left with goose bumps a new appreciation for life, yoga, and the power of the human spirit.

Mr. Sanford, who happens to be from Minnesota, was thirteen when he was in a tragic car accident in Iowa. His sister and father were killed in the crash and he woke to find himself paralyzed from the chest down. He spent the next dozen years learning to cope with his disability and to essentially forget the rest of his body. The traditional medical establishment told him that his body was dead --- the only reason he should keep his body intact (and not amputate his now "useless" legs) was to provide balance when he sat in a wheel chair. Quite a load to bear, wouldn't you say?

At some point in his early twenties, Mr. Sanford attended a yoga class. Seems silly right? How can someone do yoga postures (asanas) with just their head, neck, and arms? It doesn't work that way. But his partnership with an open-minded and dedicated yoga teacher allowed him to develop a powerful practice. He is now a yoga teacher himself at the Courage Center.

What do we learn from his story? For one, we learn to challenge the status quo. We learn to recreate what is possible. We learn tenacity. We learn hope.

But even bigger than all of that, we learn about the power of the life force that is in all of us and binds us all together. All of our bodies are limited in some way. We practice yoga postures (and the rest of what yoga means) to open up and align our bodies, minds, and spirits so that the energy can flow and we can be present. Sure, Mr. Sanford got a raw deal when it comes to his earthly body. But his life force is still there and yoga opened up the possibility for it to flow again. That is powerful. Mr. Sanford's story finally brought together for me what this journey I'm on is all about.

You ought to check out his book, Waking: A Memoir of Trauma and Transcendence. It is definitely on my summer reading list. Peace.

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Fighting the “Shepna Syndrome”

Walking down the road towards enlightenment / contentedness / Oneness with the Divine is an ever evolving experience. Sometimes it is a breeze and fits like a glove. A lot of the time it feels hard and unpleasant and the last thing in the world you want to do. Sometimes you conveniently forget you are even on the path. But at the end of the day, once you start, you just can’t stop. Once you’ve glimpsed the light that really does exist in and among us, you can’t turn back.

As I walk this path, I struggle daily with the negative chatter in my head telling me I’m not good enough or that those around me aren’t either. But these negative thoughts and words are my way of blocking myself from reaching something deeper. They are what Pema Chodron, an ordained Buddhist nun in the Tibetan vajrayana tradition, calls my “shepnas.” They are my bad habits, my addictions that I do to over and over again for some type of short term relief. It is Chodron’s contention that first and foremost we must recognize our own shepnas. It is only when we SEE these attachments and feel how they are limiting out potential that we can choose to refrain from going there, relax into our true selves again, and resolve to keep working at it. I think there are some great lessons here about the practice of asana, meditation, and life in general. Take 15 minutes today to read Chodron's talk on this topic: The Shepna Syndrome - Learning to Stay ( Berkeley Shambhala Center, September 2002). Namaste.

Required reading: JOY

Please take a minute today to read this beautiful article written by Sally Kempton about finding one's true joy. Kempton, also known as Durgananda, is a meditation guide and spiritual teacher. In the article she talks about the journey to recognize that "Joy Is Inside You". She uses the yogic concepts of Sukha (fleeting pleasure), Santosha (contentment), Mudita (spiritual happiness), and Ananda (the bliss that passeth understanding) to teach us that happiness is always available to us, no matter what our circumstances. The point is to move away from grasping at fleeting pleasures and really tap into what is inside. She urges us to make the practice of attracting and cultivating joy our life's work. What else is there?

A little yoga laugh

"It's amazing - I hear some of them can endure the same boring, pointless, positions for years on end."

Just remember...

"No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow. "

~Proverb

Wisdom for this cold winter weekend

Drink your tea slowly and reverently,

as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves - slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future;
Live the actual moment.
Only this moment is life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thich Nhat Hanh(expatriate Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, teacher, author, and peace activist)