The Process VS The Results

  Everyone wants results right? In our jobs, our bosses want to see results. As citizens we want to see and have results. Society want results. We expect results in our relationships. We want the things done in our time. Our mind is trained by generations to think and act like that. We are attached to results and we totally rush in the process.
  As yoga is my primary teacher I learned that the process is the most important phase to be lived. The results is just the consequence that we have to face without expectation. In the process we learn, we fail, our ego is little by little destroyed, because the process is a slow transformation that must be accept with patience and love.Our mind is direct to accomplish the results but not in the process. When we start to train our mind to live the present and in the process, we are living fully.
  In Ashtanga Yoga method is a very slow process of learning. There are different series of poses to learn in a formal sequence. We can not skip one to practice the other( even if we know the other ) because this method train the mind to accept the challenge of the process.  I have notice in myself and lots of students the necessity of perfecting an asana. Asana is just a vehicle to experience the inner self. While performing the asana the focus should be in the breath, gaze and Divine. Letting the ego go with the expectations for results. Experience the present moment even if brings pain, insecurity or fear. Being out of our comfort zone we start to see and feels things with equanimity. We start to train our mind to be in balance in the mat when we are felling good or not. Taking the lesson out of our mat into our everyday lives.
  One of the beauty of Ashtanga yoga methods is that you have no choice...It is what it is.... I can not choose what I like and practice. Every asana was knowledgeably put in a sequence by Sri. K. Pattabhi Jois.
  You go to a yoga studio and the boom of the class is the crow pose, headstands and handstands :)" Yes I feel in power"....and when you can not do it you feeI bad...and sad, because you see everyone doing, you see that awesome handstand picture on instagram. The asana don't make you became a big yogi or yogini...The process of learning and accepting where you are is the yoga in a pure essence.
  In the physical aspects when you focus in the process you build more awareness and strength. You are preparing you body and mind in a slow process for the result that may or may not happen...But who cares? Live the experience of the present moment.
 This lessons I take out of the mat to my personal life slowly also. We all have dreams,goals and plans to accomplish. Nothing happen in the time we want. We do our part, living fully with love, respect and devotion and God take care of the rest. Giving the fruits of our actions to God, detaching of the results is live in yoga.

Facts about full moon

 When I first started to practice Ashtanga yoga I did not understand much why we can not practice during moon (New and Full moon) days. When is a full moon day, that means the practitioners will take a rest.

 The logic behind is very interesting and go back many many years back. Like the ocean and all things of watery nature we are affected by the phases of the moon( human beings are about 70% of water). Our energy changes as the cycles of the moon. The full moon is considered a holiday in the Ashtanga tradition. It is also a fact that during the full moon we have more energy and passion, resulting a more aggressive practice where we can go more " deeper " than we are suppose to and end up hurting ourselves and or having an injury. During the new moon days we rest to retain energy. It is the day of the month that is believed we have less energy in the body.

 Its is important to remember that is the rest of  ASANA practice only ( third limb of Ashtanga Yoga ). Yoga is not asana. Asana is just a piece of the Ashtanga system. The other limbs are to be planted in our beings to be practice and to be flourished every day, all the time. Specially the Yamas and Niyamas.

Curious facts of full moon days:

  

1-In a study of 1,000 tonsillectomy operations, 82 per cent of post-operative bleeding crises occurred nearer the full moon than the new moon, according to the Journal of the Florida Medical Association.

2-The Californian grunion only spawns on the three or four nights after the highest tide associated with each full moon. The fish come ashore to lay their eggs.

3-Siri Lankan government rule bans playing sport on a full moon. 

4-Wesak, the most important of the Buddhist festivals, is celebrated on the full moon in May. It celebrates the Buddha's birthday and, for some Buddhists, marks his birth and death. 

To Be or not to Be

  "To be, or not to be" is the famous opening phrase of a soliloquy in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. Debate surrounds its meaning, and that of the speech, but most agree that it asks the fundamental question "why live?"

  Now a days many of us have noticed the impact of social media in our daily life. There are good and bad things about it.Some people may call "trend", but today let's call fad. Fad is any form of behavior that develops among a large population and is collectively followed enthusiastically for a period of time, generally as a result of the behavior being perceived as popular by one's peers or being deemed "cool" by social media.A fad is said to "catch on" when the number of people adopting it begins to increase rapidly. The behavior will normally fade quickly once the perception of novelty is gone.The specific nature of the behavior associated with a fad can be of any type including language usage, apparel, financial investment, and even food. It is a never ending cycle. In this passionate madness we sacrifice out time,wisdom and essence.We recreate ourselves like in a Matrix movie, and we truly believe that what we see are ourselves, and where is our true self?

  Lots of people say they love to travel, so they can experience new cultures, new people, see life with new eyes. Its just a reflection that how deep inside we are tired of our own surroundings and society. Social media have a goal of selling ideas and if we buy them we lost our essential value. With a beautiful heart and knowledge of who you are, you no longer need to proof anything to the world. You are satisfied and in peace. I call one of the glimpses of Santosha.

What is Santosha?

Santosha means contentment. By including contentment as an active practice rather than a reaction to events around us, peace of mind can never finally rely on external circumstances, which are always changing in ways beyond our control. Santosha requires our willingness to enjoy exactly what each day brings, to be happy with whatever we have, whether that is a lot or a little. This second niyama uncovers the hollowness of achievement and acquisition; while material wealth and success aren't evil, they can never in themselves provide contentment. We can easily practice santosha in the beautiful moments and joyous experiences of our lives. But true contentment means being equally willing to embrace the difficult moments. Only when we can be content in the midst of difficulty can we be truly free. Only when we can remain open in the midst of pain do we understand what true openness is. In our relationships, when we accept those around us as they truly are, not as we want them to be, we are practicing santosha.

Your practice is your gift

What brings to you inner peace? 

 I believe that any peaceful feeling is related with the Self presence in us and around us. You can call the Self as God,The Great Consciousness,Love,The Unborn,Eternal or the way you feel in your heart. Each everyone of us find a way to connect with God through something.Usually something very simple,with no price, label or form. We just need to look with another perception what really matters to our happiness and inner peace.
  First we analyze what it is by self study. Many of us sometimes have this empty feeling that we don't know how to fulfill our lives. Giving time to think and discover simple things we can do to ourselves that will make us experience life.

What is your practice?
  You may experience God through your art,in silent or in prayer,in the nature or in the church, reading sacred texts and during your yoga practice. I believe there are many ways to approach God and no one is better than you to know what is the best path to live on. There is no way to love one another and live in harmony with the universe if you do not live in love and harmony with yourself. The point is, we must to live and practice whatever takes us to this path toward something greater than us! Practice is not easy. You have to make time, effort, renunciation, detachment and so on... Our mind trick us all the time: I'm too busy,tired,angry,hungry..It is hard to make our mind still and listen the voice of the Self in our hearts. Every time we make an excuse, we stop taking care of ourselves. As soon we realize what bring us inner peace we evolve from that point,we awake and do not regress to the past or to habits and feelings that will take us further from our main goal that is be ONE with the SELF and be fulfill by His love.
  Its is very important to be honest to yourself to know the difference of having the pure feeling coming from the Self and the momentary pleasure happiness coming from the ego. When we act from the ego, our lower self, we have expectations in everything we do that lead us to have painful experiences.

 "Be focused on action and not on the fruits of action. Do not become confused in attachment to the fruit of your actions and do not become confused in the desire for inaction" (2,47). ********************************************************************************
"Perform all thy actions with mind concentrated on the Divine, renouncing attachment and looking upon success and failure with an equal eye. Spirituality implies equanimity."
Bhagavad Gita