Mountain_3

Be On Top of Your Mountain

 

Challenge yourself to make this pose more difficult, more meaningful. Make it matter.  Think of Mountain Pose as your family and the other poses as your friends, teachers, pets, and strangers.  Honor your family by being steady. Stay still and aware. This will build your power. This will build your LIFE FORCE. This will build strength in your family.

There are many ways to lose your power. Fidget, Mountain_1fiddle, move fast, leave your mat,, talk, turn one foot out, hyperextend your knee. You get disconnected and unplugged from your source of what matters.

You will realize, it really is not so easy to be still.

So what to do?  Practice thinking of Mountain as your Family.

We tend to be casual with our family. We might chew with our mouth open, sit slumped, or ignore what they are saying. We tend to pay more attention to our friends at the expense of those closest to us. It’s the same with our poses. Poses such as Crow and Triangle get much more attention. Friends and strangers get more attention. Family is hard.  Mountain is a hard pose. It sounds weird at first.  Just standing with dignity and steadfastness is hard?

Yes.

So, Honor your home. Honor your heart.

Don’t let yourself become lax or lazy…rather make an effort to find strength. It is there, deep within. Make this easy pose challenging so your challenging poses become easier. Be still and aware of your family so you can hold that space with the challenging people in your life. Tap into that strength at any time, and use it to achieve your heart’s desire.

And tap into it again and again, with each cycle of breath – Stay steady in Mountain. Hold onto your power. Honor the Highest.

Stand with your feet parallel. Root your feet into the earth and rise up inside with your breath. Mountain_2 Connect below and above-into the earth and up toward the sky-rooted and rising as a strong mountain on the horizon.  As you exhale, gently bring your palms to touch in front of your heart. Soften between your shoulder blades.  Inhale and draw energy from your feet to your basement.  Lengthen the sides of your body.  Exhale and bring your shoulders back.   Feel the solid ground within yourself- stable and present in this moment.  Be on top of your mountain, know your brightness, and shine your light out into the world.

Yogi Bhajan taught us to Recognize that the other person is you.

Here’s to the power of recognition. Sat Nam

More to Explore

  • How to Bliss Bomb the World

    PIC-2So you finish your practice~
    You feel loving and calm.
    There is nothing you dismiss~
    You are full of BLISS bombs.

    You rejoin your family~’
    And what do you hear?
    Shouts of anxieties~
    Blames, Shames, doubts and fears!

    Does loving-kindness deflate
    As you join the contention?
    Or will your blissed state
    Transmit without tension?

    Each time you experience
    The delight of {I AM}
    Your bliss will flow forth~
    Like a hydraulic ram.

    Embody the KNOWING~
    Of your inner LOVE state.
    So you can keep it safe~
    And INTERRELATE.

    YOGA says your relationship
    between you and your SELF~
    can not be diminished,
    or put upon a shelf.

    You take your SELF
    everywhere you GO!
    Then everything is spiritual
    from Grumps to Sloppy Joes!

    Lokanandah Samadhi-Sukham
    Shiva Sutra One.Eighteen~
    PIC-1Your inner bliss continues
    Like you won the slot machines.

    So how do we GROW
    In our capacity for such LOVE?
    Without mermaids and unicorns~
    Blue moons and white doves?

    We create an INNER space
    Direct love toward KNOWERSHIP~
    Call forth our virtues,
    Our patience, our grit.

    We bridge the gap of difference
    SERVE in a profound way~
    Not cold duty or bargain~
    LOVE is the order of each day.

    Become capable with powers
    Of WILL, KNOWING, and ACTING
    By practicing {I AM}
    Without useless distracting.

    Place your hand over your HEART~
    Feel right beneath your palm~
    Towards your back body~
    Where this is endless peace and calm.

    Allow your attention
    To be with your BREATH~
    To flow in and flow out
    Softly in your chest.

    Welcome the BREATH~
    Right into your HEART.
    Feel a soft golden sun
    That is bright, warm and smart.

    With each breath IN~
    make that SUN glow.
    With Each breath OUT~
    Expand the warmth to and fro.

    As you welcome the breath in
    To the vast INNER world~
    Invite the HEART to reveal
    It’s largeness, depth, and swirl.

    Flow in with the thought {I AM}
    The mantra of the inner self~
    (Not I am Sam~
    Or I am a silly elf)

    The heart receives the breath
    With the recognition {I AM}
    The exhalation feels space,
    The experience of BLISS BAM.

    Practice with eyes open
    Practice with eyes closed
    Practice often
    And LOVE will be exposed.

    As you greet those outside~
    Amongst the chaotic and mundane~
    Stay tuned into your heart
    And send LOVE to their pain.

    You’ll get glimpses of KNOWING
    Your yoga is working~
    When outer frustrations
    Are shirking, not lurking.

  • Sweeping Breath- Dr. Seuss Style (Siva Sutra 1.2 jnānam bandhaḥ)

    sweep-the-spineBondage and ignorance and limitation!
    Oh my!
    We contract like a sneeze~
    You want to know why?
    These are the roots of our issues,
    You see~
    Unworthiness, insecurity, feeling un-free.

    These deep darkened roots,
    known as Anava Mala,
    cloak our awareness
    like pollen all upon ‘ya.

    This pollen of unworthiness
    Helps us forget~
    How miraculous we are~
    We recoil ~we regret.

    We regret and we doubt.
    We feel separate and small.
    Our pimples and frizzes
    Keep us enthralled.

    How, do we, how do we
    How DO we re-remember?
    Our goodness, our freedom
    From here to September?

    Good question, my dear!
    So at your request~
    I’ll teach you the tools
    To elevate your quest!

    Your breath is the broom
    that sweeps away pollen,
    Shines light on the ignorance
    Which is hidden and smallen.

    Sit tall, close your eyes,
    Tune into your spine.
    Inhale your breath
    Down the left side line

    Sweep your breath out~
    On the same side,
    From bottom to top~
    Deep inside.

    Sweep your breath in,
    Down the right side this time.
    Get real close and real low~
    To release dust and grime.

    Sweep your breath out~
    From bottom to top.
    Keep sweeping your spine~
    No reason to stop!

    No reason to stop~
    Till you feel lighter and free!
    Relieved of unworthy
    Pollen and debris.

    The pollen of ignorance~
    And debris of limitation~
    Can be swept to the surface
    For expansive illumination.

    Each time we remember,
    We grow and expand~
    We become more real!
    And that is quite grand!.

  • Lasagna Savasana

    red-pepper-chevre-lasagnaSedef Dion who teaches a Pre-Grounded class at Springs Yoga shared with me the story of a four year old girl who in the cutest way mistakenly called Savasana….Lasagna.  This inspired me to write a Savasana visualization with a Lasagna theme that Amy and I recently used to connect with our Fernbank Elementary Yoga Club students.  After we did our practice complete with the Lasagna Savasana, one of our students..the Principal’s  seven year old daughter said…”that was so relaxing…this could help me fall asleep at night”.  Since it was her birthday that day, we wanted to put together a recording that her parents could play for her as she lays her head down for a good night rest after a long day.

  • The Royal Mind

    Monkey Mind

    Hmmm, Our Monkey Mind
    Our Mind Monkey~
    Is restless, and random,
    Rebellious, and junky?

    Silly, and scattered
    Like a toddler in its movement~
    Won’t settle down,
    And needs vast improvement?

    The mind is a problem,
    That we need to control.
    It’s random, and restless
    And a bit of a troll?

    That’s nonsense, we say!
    And quite derogatory!
    The nature of the mind
    Is going for glory!

    The mind is evolutionary,
    progressive, dynamic.
    Always seeking and moving
    toward that which is magic.

    holographic-mind-300x225

    So, think NOT monkey mind
    More like, mind is royalty~
    A King to Serve
    With Love and Loyalty.

    But, how can we Serve,
    The Great Intelligence of our minds?
    By meditation and mantras
    And movement refined.

    IMG 7136

    By exceptional quality
    Of the company we keep,
    What we see, what we hear,
    How well we do sleep.

    By lavish feasts of sutras,
    Of songs, and of silence,
    Of settling, and stillness
    And speech for your Highness.

    Much of your activity
    Will settle in bliss~
    Yet portions of Royal Mind
    Will continue to hiss.

    And that, my dear friend~
    Is the Great Intelligence~
    It wants more and more
    Of higher elegance.

    The Discipline of yoga,
    Now, you see,
    Is in permitting and inviting
    This process~ to BE.

  • Zip the Lip…Potato Chip!

    Often people tend to pull us into their drama. Our awareness can get overwhelmed. What if we allow them time for self-correction? What if we don’t always comment about what we are critical of? What if we focus in a positive way and offer love with enthusiasm?

    I invite you to practice the zip mantra (influenced by the brilliant Paul Muller-Ortega ) on your mat space as well as in your life space. Do tell us how it goes!