Dear Ones,
The message for the spring newsletter is about renewal and reawakening - not only the seasonal rebirth of the planet, but also the necessary steps we must take to renew and restore ourselves as well.
We are living in tough times, barraged by distressing news, battered by strange weather patterns, beaten down generally by stressors of every kind and burned out by the persistent urgency of life's challenges in today's world.
We can only be truly effective when we keep ourselves strong, flexible and faithful. We cannot escape the world but by reuniting with the realms of life within us, with nature and with spirit, we can renew and sustain ourselves quite successfully... a walk in the woods; meandering on a beach listening to the lap of a wave as it breaks on the shore; inhaling the smell of turned earth in a garden or wild flowers in a meadow; hearing the sounds of nature in every place of peace and shelter; the sound of the birds and the bees and the fish and the fowl; seeing the first greening of blooms and visualizing the gorgeous riot of color that follows.
A reunion with Mother Earth serves as a potent antidote for what ails us. Every season offers us a remedy and a respite from that which strips us of exuberance and vitality. We also have the aesthetic beauty of artistic expressions of all kinds on which to focus to increase our joy and stir our imaginations and creativity.
A good yoga practice is another way to heal ourselves; a way that encourages us to be conscious and aware of our very own essential makeup. It is a way to do the deep personal work that increases our confidence and sense of safety because we are constantly being reinforced by he internal discoveries that will delight use while they define us.
The physical practice of yoga helps us to reclaim those parts of ourselves that we lost touch with or hurt through disuse, overuse and/or abuse. We bring balance back to our being.
The practice of meditation aligns us to our spiritual core and gives us the opportunity to recharge internally. The greatest hurdle to overcome is to truly believe that we deserve the sacred time and special space necessary to establish or meditation practice. Question strongly the old assumptions and mind sets that have us believe that time spent away from obligations is wasted and that what feels good to us is detrimental to others. The opposite is true! In fact great inspiration, beautiful art and profound love arise from the experience of unstructured time. In quiet we can hear our muses and feel our passions. We can dream again and drink fro the deep well of our source. The peace we find carries into all our actions and relationships. What better gift can we give to those we love and to the world!
Our ten week meditation program is progressing wonderfully. This was designed primarily for those students working towards teacher certification and Barbara Nicol is doing a grand job wit this program. I am thinking of putting together, with Barbara, a modified program for those who would like to begin a meditation practice or at least experience and understand more about it. Let me know if you have an interest in this direction.
My teacher training and certification program was accepted by the Yoga Alliances for the 200 hour status and I feel so honored by and grateful for this acceptance. My work now begins to gain the 500 hour status.
In closing, I wish you all a renewal that is rich and nourishing in every way you personally value. May the power that be cherish you and yours and know how much it means to me to touch your life and to be a part of your transformation.
Jai!
Namaste
Paula (Renuka) RYT 500
December 4, 2003
Dear Paula,
Many weeks ago you asked the class to write down some thoughts about our healing experience with George. I have not forgotten that request. The problem is whenever I sat openly and honestly with my thoughts, and truly listened to where they were taking me, they too me not to George, but to you. So I have chosen to listen to them and share them with you at this time when we reflect back on the year of our practice together and look forward to the next.
Paula, you are the healer. My every class with you has healed both body and spirit - and not the two separately like most medicines, but the two irrevocably intertwined together - I find myself these brief years later so sincerely and actively on a path toward living in good health - and not because I took pills, or did an exercise, or chose to believe. You have made me an active participant in my own well being. You have made me take responsibility for my health and not place the hope, or the blame, on in someone else's hands. Your teachings, your practice, your motivational words have made me stand taller and broader, have willed my lungs to seize more of this giving life; and you have centered me and given me the foundation from which I might grow. You have made me stand in front of my own reflection and say, yes, this is mine. You have given me the tools and the hands on labor to meaningfully work. My one afternoon with George cannot begin to measure up to the ongoing time I have spent with you.
And yet, you are not the only healer. Working with high school students I am continuously trying to figure out just what it means to be a teacher. I tell you sincerely, of all the talented men and women with whom I've studied, you are the best teacher I have ever known. You might say that it's now you; all of this is what yoga has to offer. And yes, yoga has many gifts for its practitioners. But I've taken other yoga classes. It's not the lesson, it's the teacher. it is the spirit in the room created and maintained by your and built upon by these wonderful people that have been drawn to your invigorating presence over the years. You are your own best lesson. You are textbook and lecture, workshop and instructor. Your words, your force of will, your compassion, your clarity, your strength, your convictions, and your generosity are the standard that I hold myself to each day. You are still a student yourself. And your practice grows daily. There isn't a night that I leave your company and don't want to go immediately to my classroom and be a better teacher.
Your practice is also very seriously an art. You have given me lessons that I take daily back to my writing and directing. You have taught me to bear witness to every moment of life - not just with my eyes, but with all five senses. You have taught me how to listen and to find those places in myself where ideas are born and nurtured and challenged. You have given me the courage to take them and stand them on their heads, to open them up to the ceiling, to fill them with light. You have tried to get me to embrace my left and my right and shown me the possibilities to be found in that harmony. The more I have come to know my own humanity through your class, the more meaningful my creative life has become.
When I first started coming to yoga I had given up organized religion. I had given up on my church. I was dating someone who did not even have a common vocabulary with me for spirituality. I had become complacent and convinced that this was the adult and modern world. You and your class have challenged all that. This room, this teacher, these people on these Monday and Thursday nights were "the church" I had always wanted to attend. People coming together our of choice, bringing into the room their fully committed beings, and trying to live a deeper, more meaningful and loving life. This was something that connected the body to the spiritual world. These were teaching that could be applied in daily life. This was not routinely reciting dead languages. This was alive and active and present. This was a time and place when we all joined together equally, under the leadership of a true spiritual guide, to cerate light and join our voices in song. You never preached - but you did show me that I was a part of something greater. And you showed me that if I was attentive, I might find all questions and answers that I sought from organized religion in that light that joins me to the people of the world.
After all these words, and all these flowery passages, what is most important to me is what I have learned from Paula, the woman. Your many gifts are inseparable from you and your life. You laugh and breath and fight with your feet. You dance and climb and force yourself up the stairs on dark winter nights. You live your life and raise your children and dream of better kitchen cabinets. You live consciously. The most profound revelation I have taken from you is just that: To live consciously. It is this humanity that so meaningfully grounds your practice. It is this humanity that is the true inspiration. And it is this woman that I am so grateful to know and have in my life.
I cannot sufficiently thank you. And as a writer, I am humbled by the task of trying to put all of this into words. But I want you to know how fully you have transformed my life. And I want you to know how much you are a part of who I am and who I hope to be.
With love and gratitude,
John