Prajna Yoga

Prajna Yoga — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:05:13 +0000

“Be the change you want to see in the world.”
Mahatma Gandhi

Prajna Yoga — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:36:42 +0000

Without music, life would be a mistake.

– Nietzsche

Reality is merely an illusion,

Prajna Yoga — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:32:55 +0000

“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one”
Alberti Einstein (1879-1955)

Flowers fall when we cling to them,

Prajna Yoga — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:09:12 +0000

“Flowers fall when we cling to them, and weeds only grow when we dislike them”.

Dogen, Zen Master

Prajna Yoga — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 13:23:35 +0000

There never was a struggle or a battle which required greater valor than when a person forgets or denies oneself.

Meister Echkart

The things we really need ….

Prajna Yoga — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 12:22:11 +0000

The things we really need come to us only as gifts, and in order to receive them as gifts we have to be open. In order to be open we have to renounce ourselves, in a sense we have to die to our image of ourselves, our autonomy, our fixation upon our self-willed identity. We have to be able to relax the psychic and spiritual cramp which knots us in the painful, vulnerable, helpless “I” that is all we know as ourselves.

Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, p.204

Waiting for one voice?

Prajna Yoga — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 13:55:02 +0000

To wait for one voice to bring it all together is as pointless as waiting for no one. Bring all things together under the Equality of Heaven, allow their process of change to go on unimpeded, and learn to grow old. What do I mean by bringing everything together under the Equality of Heaven? With regard to what is right and wrong, I say not being is being and being is not being. But let us not get caught up in discussing this. Forget about life, forget about worrying about right and wrong. Plunge into the unknown and the endless and find your place there!

Chuang Tzu - The Book of Chuang Tzu

Prajna Yoga — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 06:29:05 +0000

With the sun gone, it is as if the sky is asleep.

So it is with the movement of any great light

That which it makes brilliant by its rising

Is closed away into darkness when it falls.

Kalidasa, Kumarasambhava 8.43

How shall I start teaching an active elderly student?

Prajna Yoga — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:50:10 +0000

Dear Maya,

I would start with supported standing poses paying attention to how they stand and balance with support of a wall or counter top. poses like utthita hasta padasana. Legs spread apart ….feet accurately placed and arms extended in line with the shoulders. Parsva Hastasna learning to rotate the front foot and thigh with out losing their alignment. You could also begin with virabhadrasana 2 (warrior pose ) with the hands on the wall or the waist. Do all the standing asana against a wall for support . With a continuous practice of the asana the appendicular skeletal structure will improve and one learns the sense of movement and mobility within the poses bringing greater ease inside.

Prajna Yoga — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:10:04 +0000

A poem by William Blake

Joy and woe are woven fine,
A clothing for the soul divine;
Under every grief and pine
Runs a joy with silken twine.
It is right it should be so;
Man was made for joy and woe;
Through the world we safely go.