Archives for October 2013

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“Yoga is a light, which once lit, will never dim. The better your practice, the brighter the flame.”
B.K.S. Iyengar

Welcome to Wednesday and our final week swimming through October’s ocean of yoga!!! We’ve explored The Yoga Sutras this month and immersed into the ancient teachings that sometimes get lost in translation. This week we take the steps to truly integrate the timeless wisdom into our daily life.

At the end of every yoga class, we lie down on our mats and practice the asana known as savasana (pronounced sha vasana), which literally means corpse pose.  After spending almost an hour with our attention on our body and our surroundings, savasana gives our mind and body the opportunity to integrate the full experience of the yoga class – allowing us to surrender – in what can be considered a mini-nap before heading back out into the world. We relax our muscles, we let go of any tension, and we drift our awareness inward and let everything around us drift away as the hour of asana settles into our body. In this state of pratyahara (sensory withdrawal), we become aware of our breath, our thoughts, our intentions and we ease into a state of restful awareness.

Yet, by the time we are rolling our mats back up and saying Namaste to our fellow class mates, the power of establishing ourselves in one-ness is a faint memory, as our mind re-engages with all the chores, lists, responsibilities, and tasks yet to come. But that’s only if we view being on the mat as separate from the rest of our life.

Imagine if rather than viewing savasana simply as the conclusion of a class, we see it as a magnificent pattern interrupt and the prelude for everything that is yet to come – a mega-metaphor for dying to the past and birthing the next moment from a still, silent, pure, and infinite womb. That stillness can flow through us as we drive home, order our morning beverage, stand next to another BEing as we wait to cross the street, type our next text or email, talk to someone, and re-engage with the world outside of the studio.

Re-connecting to the present moment before we act allows our next expression to be pure, unconditioned, less reactive, and less laden with past interpretations and emotional charge. Coming from a place of stillness and silence – or even taking one breath before we respond – allows us to bring more of our authentic self to our thoughts, our words, and our actions. Coming into the next moment from a place of mini-savasana – allows the next moment to be pure, infinite, abundant, magnificent – unbounded by anxieties, fears, grievances, and old, stale, limiting beliefs.

We all know the physiological and emotional benefits of savasana – a slowing of our heart and breath, a relaxing of our blood pressure and muscle tension, an integration of everything we’ve just practiced and learned, and a letting go of what no longer serves us. But often as we wiggle our toes to re-start the pranic flow, we are back in our bodies, back in our minds – feeling good…but ready to slide back into who we were right before the class began.

Instead, as we wiggle our toes to come out of savasana, if we breathe in some deep gratitude that the pure potential of the next moment rests in our coming to it from a place of yogastha – being established in one-ness…being established in BEing…being established in presence moment awareness, then all of our interactions OFF the mat will reflect the trajectory of those last moments in savasana.

To help my yoga and meditation students connect to yogastha throughout the day, I encourage them to wiggle their toes the moment they sense emotional turbulence, a disappointment, a frustration, or an unmet need beginning to blossom. This stealth ritual is guaranteed to make you smile and will transport you back to the magnificent feeling of savasana, its deep relaxation, its pure surrender, the integration of your body, mind, and soul, and a subtle reminder that corpse pose is actually a re-birth. If each step we take OFF the mat is filled with the same present moment awareness we shared ON the mat, then every moment that flows through us and out into the world will carry the power and the beauty of Yogastha!

I have really enjoyed this month-long immersion into The Yoga Sutras. If you’ve found value in my blog, the videos, meditations, or my Hay House Radio show, let me know by emailing me at info@davidji.com, calling me up on LIVE! from the SweetSpot, or joining me in person at one of my retreats, Immersions, or teacher trainings.

Remember, we are never really off the mat!! See you in the gap and HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Peace. -davidji

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“Sadhana is a personal process in which you bring out your best.” ~Yogi Bhajan

 Welcome to Wednesday Spiritual Warriors!!

Today we immerse into the practice of sadhana (pronounced SAAD – anah) an ego-transcending spiritual practice that literally translates into “a means of accomplishing something.”

Each morning we wake up and look at the clock, then we pee, poop, shower, shave, brush our teeth, style our hair, dress, prepare breakfast, boil water for coffee or tea, walk and feed our pets and kids, get online, check our emails, maybe watch TV or read something. These are called our morning ablution rituals.

Then there are our personal practices – the morning behaviors that we perform to develop our body, our mind, and our soul. Some of us walk, run, dance, or workout; others perform heart-opening routines, meditate, or practice Pilates or yoga. These are the vital rituals that help us prepare ourselves for the day and fuel personal growth, yet sometimes they take a backseat to rushing out into the world and doing our thing.

Sadhana is that sweet morning process where we can surrender to the divine, open our hearts, become the silent witness, and listen to the whispers of the universe. And the yogic sage Patanjali laid out the roadmap more than 2000 years ago when he presented the eight limbs of yoga to the world in the Yoga Sutras. And you can select a few of those limbs each day and weave them into your morning ablution rituals.

By integrating ahimsa (non-violence: opening your heart), pranayama (spending some time breathing), asana (sun salutations or a yoga class), and dhyana (meditation) into your morning flow of activities, you will not only cultivate your spiritual practice – but now when you head out into the world…every thought, word, and action you take carries a bit more grace, stillness, creativity, intuition, balance, and expansion.

Each of these practices connect you more deeply to your soul, to source, to the silent witness that rests within. And as you continue to string together two days, then a week, then two weeks, you will see your life unfold with more divine purpose and magnificence.

Join me today on HayHouseRadio and we’ll take it deeper!

Peace. -davidji

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“The aim of life is self-development. To realize one’s nature perfectly – that is what each of us is here for.”
– Oscar Wilde

Happy Weekend Spiritual Warriors!

See you in the GAP! Peace.-davidji

PLEASE BE PATIENT WHILE THE MEDITATION LOADS

It's not too late to join in on this popular 3-part series LIVE online event! Sign up TODAY and receive a FREE copy of  Secrets of Meditation.
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davidji 2014 events

Set Your Course for 2014!
January 23-26

Masters of Wisdom and Meditation Teacher Training
March 17-23

Discovering Your Dharma
April 3-6

Secret’s of Meditation Healing Immersion
May 8-11

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”To perform every action artfully is yoga.” ~ Swami Kripalu

Hello Spiritual Warriors!

Do you ever feel like time is flying by?

Do you ever wake up in the morning and before you know it, it’s time to go to bed again?

String together a few of those and a few more and suddenly…it’s the end of another year. And before you know it, you are so far from those resolutions you made on New Year’s Eve. Yes this amazing life of ours seems to be blowing by. But that’s just an illusion that we have created.

Everyone gets the same 24 hours – and we all get to choose what we do with those 86,400 seconds and how we feel about them at the end of each day.

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Meditation can help you enjoy the moments a bit more, but only living life to its fullest can bring you the true joy we all crave. So how do we BE present AND celebrate the magnificence of the present moment?

The answer is pretty simple…we need to create touchstones throughout our day that allow us to touch the sweetness of life so that each hour – each minute – each moment – suddenly becomes a treasure.

So let’s go treasure hunting!!!!

We can start by using the eight limbs of yoga as described by Patanjali 2000 years ago. Yoga is Sanskrit for union…one-ness. And we get to interpret each limb through our lens of one-ness. I’ve written extensively about the Yoga Sutras in Secrets of Meditation and written in depth on the eight limbs in many articles (and here on this blog). But for these purposes, I’ve distilled each limb down to a phrase so that you can then take it and make it your own. Here is a quick interpretation of each limb for the purpose of this process:

1) Yamas or social codes of interacting with the outside world: non-violence, truthfulness, not stealing, conscious choice-making, and non-coveting

2) Niyamas or personal codes of interacting with our inner world: purity, contentment, personal discipline, self-study, surrender to the divine

3) Asana – the physical postures of yoga

4) Pranayama – breathing skills

5) Pratyahara – sensory awareness

6) Dharana  – attention

7) Dhyana – meditation

8) Samadhi – one-ness

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Each day, pick one limb and dedicate yourself to living, breathing, flowing the philosophy and practice of yoga. Make it your interpretation – your understanding. Live one limb each day for eight days and then start again. At the end of the month, you will BE yoga. It will flow through every thought, word, and deed.

For example: today – day 1 – pick a yama. I’ll pick non-violence. So all day long I will have the inner conversation of non-violence flowing through me. Every action I take will be performed through the lens of non-violence. Every conversation I have will be non-violent in tone, intention, articulation. I will not impose my will on others. I will not try to be right. I will not bring violence into any moment. And if I find myself trying to prove a point or needing to win, I will stop, back up, and re-set the trajectory of whatever I am doing.

I know that I can experience fulfillment AND success by being wiser rather than stronger. I know that harsh words never lead to happiness. EVER! Living it is an exciting challenge and today I commit to non-violence in every way. Now I have a clear purpose on how I will flow through the world. And in so doing, the world around me will slow; I will have the subtle intention – the sankalpa – flowing through me in every moment. This will indeed be a memorable day.

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If we can live each day purposefully, then we have so many moments throughout the day worth celebrating and it is from here that we seize the magnificence of life – squeeze the nectar out of each moment and have something worthy – something of meaning that each day delivers. You will notice very quickly that you will slow down the swirl and find the magnificence of day 1. And then tomorrow, day 2…I’ll pick a niyama and live it. Day 3, I will hold myself in a yoga pose in every moment whether I am standing on a train, sitting at my desk, driving in my car, or walking on the beach. And so on…

You know you have another gear…a gear that you can shift into to take you to the next level of whatever you may be doing at the time. And it’s all about living with purpose. So let’s use the teachings of Patanjali to take us into the next moment!!! Email me at info@davidji.com with your choice and let me know how your life is unfolding with grace & ease.

Peace. -davidji

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“Yoga is the settling of the mind into silence. When the mind has settled, we are established in our essential nature, which is unbounded Consciousness. Our essential nature is usually overshadowed by the activity of the mind.” -Patanjali

Welcome to Wednesday spiritual warrior!

This month we’ve been swimming through the timeless wisdom of YOGA and today we take it further by integrating this ancient body of knowledge into our daily life. So let’s begin with the code you live by. Maybe it’s the Ten Commandments or the Four Agreements or the Seven Spiritual Laws. Or perhaps you live by the Golden Rule or the Three Gates. We’ve explored these codes over the past few months and here’s another one – The Eight Limbs! These are the paths to merging with the divine that the yogic sage Patanjali outlined 2000 years ago. They are:
• Yama
• Niyama
• Asana
• Pranayama
• Pratyahara
• Dharana
• Dhyana
• Samadhi

If this sounds like a lot of gibberish to you – do not despair – it’s all Sanskrit and each week we’ll explain them and discuss them in greater detail. Biut this week, let’s just look at the first two limbs of YOGA – the yamas and the niyamas.

The yamas are the social codes of behavior that an enlightened BEing would live by. The niyamas are the personal codes an enlightened BEing lives by.

The original definitions of the 5 Yamas are:

1. Ahimsa – non-violence
2. Satya – truth and absence of falsehood
3. Asteya non-stealing
4. Brahmacharya – conscious choice making in our relationships
5. Aparigraha – non-hoarding – abundance consciousness

The modern day guidance based on my translation is to walk through the world with a silent intention to be peaceful; truthful; non-coveting; mindful with our relationships; and filled with abundance consciousness. If we do this, we will float through each day with grace and ease.

The original definitions of the 5 Niyamas are:

1. Shaucha – physically and emotionally clean
2. Santosha – contentment
3. Tapas – austerity
4. Svādhyāya – self study
5. Ishvarapranidhana – surrender to god

The modern day guidance based on my interpretation is to conduct yourself in each moment with purity of thought, word, and deed; seeing the miracles around you; being authentic in how you express yourself; being open to the teachers and the lessons in our interactions with others; and trusting in the divine plan.

These are ten beautiful principles originally designed to describe how enlightened ones see life. But here we are in 2013 with a reality that didn’t exist when Patanjali first wrote The Yoga Sutras. Our life is filled with many more moving parts – a swirl that seems to build up steam with each year we spend on this planet. Car payments, home payments, kids, pets, technology, travel, staying healthy, keeping appointments, showing up at work, living our dharma…and so much more.

So here’s how we integrate: each week, pick a yama or niyama and see if you can weave it into every word, thought, and action throughout the day. Dont beat yourself up when you find yourself in conflict. That’s the moment to congratulate yourself that you have the awareness that you drifted from your intention. That’s true enlightenment – pure present moment awareness. And that’s how we change… by slowly flowing our intentions into our behaviors – our inner dialog into our outer dialog…our thoughts into our actions.

“Healthy plants and trees yield abundant flowers and fruits. Similarly, from a healthy person, smiles and happiness shine forth like the rays of the sun.” ~ B.K. S Iyengar

This week, I’m going to pick bramacharya – originally described by Patanjali as celibacy – but that was 2,000 years ago. My modern interpretation is to be fully present when you are with someone. To not take our human or personal or intimate interactions with others casually or for granted. To be more conscious in my communications and my exchanges with everyone I encounter. What will you pick? Forward this to your friends and loved ones and let them choose a Yama or Niyama. And feel free to email me at info@davidji.com and call me during my Hay House Radio show. US (866) 254-1579 INT’L dial the country code +(760) 918-4300

See you in the gap!! Peace. -davidji

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“Yoga is the practice of quieting the mind.” Patanjali.

Happy Weekend Spiritual Warriors!!

Any practice that brings stillness of the mind is a form of meditation. The moment when you are completely focused, when time has no meaning and there is no past or future, this is practicing the eight limbs of yoga. The state of pure present moment awareness is essentially the definition of yoga. Yoga is finding oneness with the universe through progressively calming and quieting the mind. In this meditation, allow yourself to feel the vibration of the universe and step away from your most conditioned self.

Here’s to L-I-V-I-N-G yoga ON & OFF the mat!!!

Peace.-davidji


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“For those who have an intense urge for Spirit and wisdom, it sits near them, waiting.”
― Patanjali, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

Hello Spiritual Warriors!!!! Do you have a minute?

Time is the watchword of our day. From the moment we open our eyes in the morning, we are aware of the weight of activities we feel we must squeeze into each moment. Getting in the shower. Checking our phone. Getting online. Hustling out of our house. Getting to work on time. In every moment jostling for position. Sending an email without taking the time to proof it. Greeting people with nods, code, and shorthand. Dumbing our communication down to 140 characters. Substituting in-person meetings with phone calls. Replacing phone calls with texts. Racing to get on a line that inches along once we race to get there. Rushing through our day. Rushing through our life. We live in a world where we hurry up to wait.

Yet when we arrive at our desired location – even as we stand in WAIT mode, we are breathing harder than before, our heart is beating faster, our mind is swirling with greater over-whelm, our fingers are quickly texting out a message, and our attention is on what comes next. We are rarely fully present. So often, we step into the next moment from a place of activity, reactivity, or conditioned response. But by interweaving stillness and silence into our being through a daily practice, we can become less reactive, less knee-jerk, and more UN-conditioned as we take each step in life. We can actually take steps filled with pure present moment awareness…steps filled with fresh, new, and infinite possibilities.

In the ancient Indian text, the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna instructs Arjuna to walk through the world…from a place of one-ness or presence. And these three simple words – yogastha kuru karmani – can be our guideposts for how we should take each step in life – from a place of stillness. As the world revs at light speed around us, we will merge into the blur always being its victim if we do not center ourselves. And we can opt to STOP before we speak or act, which takes practice, discipline, and the ability to consciously step out of the moment. Or we can integrate the stillness into us through a daily meditation practice so that this one-ness or present moment awareness ripples through us unconsciously.

My experience of the past decade as the dean of Chopra Center University has taught me that if we are willing to take the time and integrate a dedicated ritual of meditation into our daily routine, we will have a higher likelihood of being in a state of present moment awareness before we step into the next moment.

The timeless wisdom of the ancient teachings rings as true today as it did thousands of years ago. In my journey beyond Chopra Center University, where I travel the world, create my own workshops, teach at my own Teacher Trainings, and develop my own programs, being present is the key to my dharma, my happiness, my gratitude, and my deepest fulfillment.

We have a choice in each moment on how we can unfold the next moment. Nothing is imposed on us. No external force governs our behaviors. And no one can dictate how we feel. Yet, two of the most common phrases in our lexicon are, “I don’t have time for…” and “I don’t have time to…”.

And although there are many excuses for not starting each day with meditation, the physical, emotional, and spiritual benefits of a daily meditation practice have now been scientifically proven. The key is to integrate the practice into our daily routine right alongside the pantheon of our morning ablution rituals – brushing our teeth, showering, peeing. We dedicate time to these autopilot practices never seeing them as wasting our time – yet we often can look at sitting “doing nothing” as highly inefficient.

In the practice of Raja Yoga – where we take the time each morning to rise with the sun, sit for a period of time in stillness and silence following our breathing or repeating a mantra – most likely we are doing our most important work for the day…planting the seeds for what will unfold in each moment.

We physically and emotionally settle down. We slow our pulse and breathing. We ease our thoughts. We surrender for the moment. And we give ourselves permission to take a nourishing few minutes for ourselves. We take a critical “time in.” Whether you take 10, 20, or 30 minutes to give yourself a pattern interrupt into the daily swirl of mental and physical activity, the powerful benefits begin to take hold very quickly as you become more creative, more intuitive, more forgiving, more compassionate, a better listener, a better partner, a better problem solver, and a more fulfilled individual.

We become what we do…we are the behaviors we practice. And if we dedicate a small chunk of time to a stillness and silence practice, we ultimately become that. The present moment begins to weave through every thought, every word, and every action…and then we are indeed living yogastha kuru karmani – we are moving through life coming from a place of present moment awareness. And as we cultivate our meditation practice each day, we become more responsive and less reactive, we are more purposeful and less knee-jerk and, we are more unconditioned and less conditioned.

In the stillness of Yoga, we find the seeds for our next moment and so we can approach it with greater grace and greater ease. And even when we don’t believe we have enough time in our life to dedicate a chink of time to sit and “do nothing”, we will very quickly find that through a daily practice of meditation, we can actually have more time – and richer experiences in each moment – allowing our actions to carry greater purpose and ultimately more fulfillment.

Keep connecting to the stillness & keep it real!!!! Peace. -davidji

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