A break from the mideast sun, Yoga Everywhere

Hello everyone,  We received the following lovely note from Ernessa, in Tel Aviv.

Yoga Everywhere
Yoga has permeated so many hearts and minds, beyond the physical and mental borders.
Jerusalem is a place where yoga is being practised, I had the privilege of attending a class there taught by a friend, a gentle hatha yoga practice, designed to teach yoga to anyone who is interested.  It was taught partly in English, Arabic and Hebrew. To Arab women, aside from myself.

Yoga as a form provided a few minutes away from the heat of the Middle East Sun, the chores of the washing, cleaning, cooking and other work each of us were going to continue that day, a calm space, a retreat, back into the experience of self, the simplicity of breathing and moving.

We all felt well after the practice, said hello and goodbye, and nice to meet you, perhaps we will meet again, etc.   The gentle inquisitiveness of where each of us were going now, continuing with our everyday lives, the provoking question of how much traffic there was going to be for me to return back to Tel Aviv.The stark reality that they weren’t going in that direction, and I wasn’t going in theirs.

Please do what you can to support Ernessa’s work, because one heart can change many!

https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=21397

Love!

A note from Lisa, teaching in Sur Baher

Friends, here is an update from our beloved Lisa, teaching yoga in the Middle East, talking about the day to day life there, the struggle, the small joys.  Please support her work, and those of all the people bringing yoga as a nonsectarian unifying way to connect and acknowledge peace in the self and with others

I want to express my feelings of frustration at the situation here. Yesterday there was the attack in Jerusalem of the Palestinian tractor driver who overturned buses, smashed cars and ran over people in a crazed rampage. This Palestinian tractor driver was from Sur Baher - the East Jerusalem village that I have been entering twice a week to teach Yoga to the women.

I have not yet contacted the women I teach yet. I am still searching within me how to approach the situation, knowing that the attacker yesterday could be the husband, son or brother of one of them. I will find the way to do it, though,  because I have committed myself to teaching Yoga there at least for the next two months, until Ramadan in September. And I am building trust with the women there.

This event of yesterday has brought up a lot for me. Mostly, a great sadness, at how deep the anger and hatred is. That whatever caused him to do it yesterday, is connected to this great national pain-body of hatred, anger, fear and separation between the two people. Them and us.

And just before this happened, I went to Sur Baher, and hitched a ride from where i get off the bus in Ramat Rahel, to the place where i teach in Sur Baher. The Arab man asked me if I wasn’t afraid to go into Sur Baher, and I told him, “NO”, because I go in peace and trust that I am protected.

Now, after yesterdays event, I need to check within myself how far my “conscious naivete” goes, and where does it border with stupidity? Am I supposed to feel fear at going in there? Still, something in me refuses to give it up.

So I won’t hitch rides any more, on that 25 minute walk, from Ramat Rachel into the village of Sur Baher. I will take a taxi, also to keep a lower profile, because I am a woman walking alone on that road and its obvious I am not “one of them”, because I am not clad in robes and head-coverings. And maybe there is still hope that some kind of financial support will come through for me - because if I indeed take a taxi there and back - it will almost be as if I am paying to go and teach there (the amount I am paid for the lesson is symbolic).

I know that for me it is my peacework to do this, and I can accept that for them it is the Yoga, because the Yoga itself is good enough - without needing to “preach” peace.   I know not to bring politics into this situation, and to really stay with the Yoga, and to BE the peace and love that I want to see.

And I know that even if it is drops in the ocean, from the hugs I received from some of the women this week, I felt strong open-hearted love.

Also in Jabel Mukaber, this week, the woman whose place I have been teaching in is going overseas, and I invited the women who wanted to continue, to come to Abu Tur. I asked if anyone would object if I invited Jewish women to the class, and there was objection. So I let it go immediately, because it is obviously too early to bring this in. Firstly, I have to strengthen the love to Yoga, and build trust and friendship with them and me.

When I read in your letter the declarations of Heart of Yoga Peace Project, I had my own inner peace-work to do at not losing hope and trust that my work will be recognized.

Please give what you can to support Lisa’s work.

DONATE NOW: https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=21397

May one heart change many.

Love.

What is Peace to you?

Here are some differing perspectives, from the secular and holy- Paul Hartling, Klaus Arnoldson, the Dalai Lama, Swami Kriyananda.  What is peace to you?

“Peace is more than just an absence of war.  It is rather, a state in which no people of any country, in fact no group of people of any kind live in fear or in need…on our road towards a better future for mankind we cannot ignore those millions for whom peace does not exist….whenever we solve one single problem we have contributed to peace for the individual we are making our world a slightly better place in which to live”- Paul Hartling, UNHC for refugees

“No interests, however great, are higher than those common to the whole of mankind.  Among them, the foremost is the old commandment: Thou Shalt not Kill!  You are all of one blood.  Love one another.  People can.  Nations can.  All this is eminently possible because love is as natural as national hatred is the most unnatural of all human feelings.” Klaus Arnoldson, 1908 (Nobel Peace Prize winer)

“Peace, in the sense of the absence of war, is of little value to someone who is dying of hunger or cold.  It will not remove the pain of torture inflicted on a prisoner of conscience.  It does not comfort those who have lost their loved ones in floods caused by senseless deforestation in a neighboring country.  Lasting peace comes only when human rights are respected, the people are fed, and individuals and nations are free.” -The Dalai Lama

 

“To the extent we draw the world to us by an attitude of willingness, appreciation, kindness, joy…. We express the positive current.  When by unwillingness, a critical attitude, selfishness, unkindness, greed, we push the world away from us, excluding it from our circle of awareness, we express the negative current.  It is a choice:  to rejoice in our existence or to wallow in it.” Swami Kriyananda

 XO,

 

Christine

World Against War: Global Action from March 15 to 22nd

Even as yoga is internal work, we must stand up in the seen world for peace, non-violence, and compassion.  Whether your voice lends itself to bullhorn protests, holding a sign, or holding hands- be seen and heard.

World Against War is coordinating actions on all habited continents.  Within the US, from Bimidju, MN to Baltimore, San Franscisco to Sarasota.  Stand up for a new way to evolve this planet beyond.

Links and dates for local action:   http://www.worldagainstwar.org/

Love,

Christine

February 18th Class for Peace in DC

Please join Carol Collins for a midday class for Peace- her 2nd effort- beautiful karmic practice-

12:00-1:00pm

2/18/08

tranquil space dupont
2024 p street, nw
washington, dc 20036
phone: (202) 223.yoga (9642)
info@tranquilspace.com
e-fax: (413) 431.7854

Satya: Truth Telling as a Practice for Peace

What does the yogic practice of Satya have to do with Peace?  First, speaking truth has to start with knowing truth  (your own inner truths-what you really believe under all cultural conditioning- as well as the ultimate, universal truths that strip the false divisions between people).  And knowing truth just ain’t so easy.  Here are some thoughts on Satya- the yogic practice of truth telling. 

The Practice of coming into truth- of Truth Telling- isn’t as simple as it sounds. There are layers to this- from Outer Truth, to Inner truth, to the Ultimate Truth- all of which play a role in creating a life of ease and freedom and connectedness- and Peace between people.

Outer Truth- This is the old fashioned “honesty” kind of truth- stating that which is factual, intending not to lie. However, we all have lenses and viewpoints that color perceptions- so how do you actually know what is true- not “spun” or positioned? This is the kind of honesty you were likely taught as a kid. But we’re also taught throughout our lives in subtle and not so subtle ways that speaking truth can beget punishments of all forms: the withdrawal of love, or of favor- maybe just for holding a belief or acting in a way that others don’t approve of.  Sometimes we lie (nations do it, political parties do it, ahem, even religious leaders do it)  solely for ego reasons- to get what we want,  to not miss out on coveted prizes. It may even come from a desire for freedom- to not to be accountable to anyone else. So over time, we may begin to lie, or color, or withhold, not of malice, but from self-protection or pure self-interest- and these untruths build up, they layer on and become blocks to our own evolution, and blocks to connection or intimacy with ourselves and others.   This happens on a cultural level as well- “my company is so fair”, “my country is so generous”, “my war is so holy”- even in the face of much evidence to the contrary.   The conscious practice of Satya- of knowing and then telling the truth- can play a role in becoming free.

Inner Truth- This is the truth we call in our house “taking your seat”: before you speak, or when you are feeling confused, you find your center, go inward, and come into a deep knowing of who you are, what you feel, think, and hold true- and then you act from that place- even when it is not condoned by society (the small society, like your own family, or the larger society).  This can be risky- Speaking Truth to Power almost always is.  But whether your knowing makes you a Gandhi-like person, with the strength of character and conviction to lead in changing the world, or whether your truth-knowledge solely changes the way you personally react to circumstance, at the very least, you will cease to act and speak from the conditioned falsehood- to move from “dis-integration”- to integration, to words and actions that come from  a strong center.  

The Ultimate Truth- Oh, the suffering that would be relieved if we all walked in the awareness everyday of ultimate truth- where each step is taken with the conscious awareness of impermanence and permanence, perfection and imperfection- all things in one. If you faced the world with this level of Satya and truth telling- the present knowledge of life and death, of everyone being made of the same stuff, the same breath and sun nourishing the each of us- how would this color your “truth”- would the false divisions we erect still be true?

The great metaphysical philosopher Alan Watts wrote about “scale” or “field of vision” as a determinant in what we perceive to be true. The same scene viewed with the Naked Eye, a microscope or a telescope are all True, but what you see through those lenses will be vastly different.

If you have a yoga practice: 

Telling the Truth on the Mat: Satya in Asana

A teacher once told me that how you react on the mat is how you will react off the mat. So, in our belief that the world changes as each person wakes up, here are some personal questions to consider on the mat.

• What stories are you telling yourself while you are practicing?  When things get hard?  When things are a snap?  What is your internal mantra or language? What’s your perceptual filter?
• How does your asana help you settle into awareness to become conscious of your inner truth? Have you ever had a moment on the mat where a realization of a deep truth has met you head on?
• Where in your practice are you pretending, holding on, struggling, competing? What holds you back from being 100% truthful, going to your edge when you need it, backing off when you need it?
• Where does your yoga live off the mat, and where do you lose that compassionate awareness you are cultivating in your practice? How do the postures serve your meditation, and how does that fit into Satya?

I like the practice of internal inventory as a gateway to Satya- you have to know first. The practice may be just looking at where I wear masks, where I get tight, pretend- and where I am at ease and free- I find that just noticing is almost the entire answer in itself.

From this place, we can also inventory the beliefs held in the culture around us, and move from that place. 

Love,

Christine

 

 

New sister studios:

Welcome new sister studio participants and partners!

• Yoga Moves, Utrecht, Holland
• Yoga One in San Diego
Inspiration in Brussels, Belgium
Tranquil Space in Washington DC 

Thank you, thank you, thank you!  Keep it flowing!

Peace from the Inside.

Uneven distribution of wealth. Differing values. Conflicting goals. Vastly imbalanced workloads. These conditions, among others- spark everyday conflicts (within families, at work)- even when there’s adequate food, and heat and light- and the bombs aren’t dropping overhead- when all is, to the naked eye, just fine. Now, imagine adding “want of the basics” to the stressors, or socio-political conflict seemingly outside of your control. How do you not react, how do you keep your head, and come from a place of love? How do you find center? Can yoga really make a difference?

There are two things that are always available to you when you incorporate a yoga practice into your life:

The Breath- the deep calming force of life in you- and The Empty Mind.

The breath and the empty mind can be called on to provide a buffer between external stressors, situations, circumstances and the way we react to those circumstances. In that free, open space one discovers “witness consciousness”- the part of the mind that watches the self in action- the part of awareness that has a higher vantage point, a broader perspective on the goings on below, as it were- the machinations of the reactive self.

Witness consciousness and awareness in turn can help you see situations as they really are- not through the filter of emotion and reactivity, but with a compassionate, kind and very clear eye- and from this viewpoint make choices about how you will speak, act and be in the world.

It is simply, and direclty stated in the sutras:  Yoga citti vritti nirodinah.   Yoga calms the fluctuations of the mind.

So, begin, again.  World peace, one person at a time (but maybe simultaneously)- from the inside.

Love, always love.

Christine

Carol Collins on awakening, and her class for Peace on MLK day

Last week, Carol Collins held a class for Peace.  Here’s her account of how karma yoga is happening for her…. and how she’s moving off the mat.   We all found it inspiring.

“i saw a documentary this fall called “angels in the dust” about a woman who almost single handedly has fostered over a 100 children in south africa and creates a community to help children deal with death and sickness from AIDS - their own and their loved ones. this touched me deeply.

i began thinking more seriously about my role in the world and questioned how significant my work is. i began asking some of our students at tranquil space yoga studio in dc before and after class about what it is they do for a living  i was surprised to find out we have many global relief workers, environmental consultants, and other professionals whom i feel really are making an intentional difference in our world.  some travel quite a bit. some of my students shared with me that i really help them to relax, rejuvenate, and re-focus on what is important to them - in part the work they do!  so the connection was there: i’m helping others to help others.  still a step away, i received an e-mail from heart of yoga peace project and jumped on the opportunity to support an effort to bring yoga to active conflict zones around the world. i’ve always admired dr.martin luther king and his activism, so i thought initiating some activism in my life on his birthday was a perfect opportunity to donate a class to the peace project,

i’m not done.  i’m reading activist books such as “end of america” by naomi wolf, “getting a grip” by frances moore lappe and now “freedom next time” by john pilger all about united states politics and the veil of democracy we proport to hold so dear.  with the presidential elections coming up, i feel more informed and involved just by my increased interest.  so this president’s day i will invite more of the tranquil space community to support the peace project once again, as a way to say yoga in the world helps all kinds of people.  here we are in a country so full of wealth -let’s attempt to tap into more of our abundant inner power and be an active participant in the world!  this is a small step of which i intend to take more of.”

  Carol Collins, teacher team leader, tranquil space yoga

2024 p street, nw

washington, dc 20036

202.223.yoga

www.tranquilspace.com

carol@tranquilspace.com

 Love to all,

 Christine

Tranquil Space in Washington DC to host class for Peace: January 21st, 2008

Are you in the DC area? Know anyone who is?

Please join Carol at Tranquil Space (”a vinyasa yoga playground offering 45 creative classes in 2 sunny studios every week”!) to Practice for Peace the evening of January 21st!

www.tranquilspace.com
202.223.yoga (9642)

Proceeds from the evening will go to support Peace Project teacher training efforts and regional dialogues.

If you are interested in hosting a Practice for Peace, or an event, please email Christine@hoypeaceproject.org