I See It Everywhere

{Tada drastuh svarupe vasthanam}
Patanjali’s Sutra Chapter 1, verse 3
Then the SEER abides in it own NATURE
Surely, it’s meant to BE~

To ABIDE in our own SPLENDOR~
The mind must get real quiet;
it needs to uncover the truth
and go on a Cloud free Diet.

No need to grasp for light
For it is already here and there.
Let’s thin out the distorted clouds
Of ignorance and despair.

Let’s work with the muddled mind,
Accept that clouds are blocking,
Train to be more observant
Of thoughts that keep on talking.

Just like the sun up above
Our LIGHT never dims to slur.
It does get covered up.
And distortion may occur.

Dwarfs mine for diamonds
In the classic tale SNOW WHITE.
We mine for JOY
It’s our undivided RIGHT.

SNOW WHITE sings joyfully,
As she tidies up the cottage.
Birds and animals dance along
And MiIRROR her BLISSFUL wattage.

SNOW WHITE glistens KINDNESS,
and undisturbed PURENESS,
That exists at the core of her being
Her true SELF, that’s for sureness.

In yoga, we use our practice
To support the removal of clouds~
To ground into our inner brilliance
And shine out free from the shrouds.

“Just whistle while you work
And cheerfully together we can tidy up the place
So hum a merry tune
It won’t take long when there’s a song to help you set the pace “

Keep your ankles in line with your knees
And your knees in line with your hips.
Clasp your elbows behind your back
And rise up high on your toe-tips.

Bend steady your knees.
Stay high up on tiptoes.
Whistle or hum a tune
While you work to hold this pose!

“And as you sweep the room
Imagine that the broom is someone that you love
And soon you’ll find you’re dancing to the tune

When hearts are high the time will fly
So whistle while you work”

Clean the sand trap of cluttered thoughts
With camel pose in a chair.
Sit on the edge of your seat
Place your hands behind you with care.

Lift the sides of your heart up
And the back of your heart high.
Pull your head of the arm bones back.
Soften both sides of your throat and sigh.

Sigh your throat back,
And LIFT YOUR HEART HIGH.
WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK
And allow time to fly.

Place hands on your lap
Lift your head back over your heart
Ground your thighs and feet,
And Feel the clouds depart.

May we whistle while we work.
May we notice our inner states.
May our inner states be bright.
And lighten our outer updates.

May the sound that whistles tunes
from within our deep heart’s abyss
Ring loud and ring clear~
OUR OWN TRUE NATURE IS BLISS!

We chant OM in order to ground our energy in the present moment. When teaching kids who are brand new to yoga, I am determined to invite them into the wondrous world of all that is yoga without pushing them into a place of spooky sounds, weird ways and stuff completely unrelated to anything they’ve ever known. This mantra is a mode of transportation from where we were in our individual lives moments ago to where we are now – together in yoga

The Skin Horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others. He was so old that his brown coat was bald in patches and showed the seams underneath, and most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead necklaces. He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by-and-by break their mainsprings and pass away, and he knew that they were only toys, and would never turn into anything else. For nursery magic is very strange and wonderful, and only those playthings that are old and wise and experienced like the Skin Horse understand all about it.

“What is REAL?” asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. “Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?”

“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”

“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit.

“Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. “When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.”

“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or bit by bit?”

“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”

“I suppose you are real?” said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive.

But the Skin Horse only smiled

–  From the Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams  –

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.

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.

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.

We all have a limited, contracted, outer surface.  Yoga teaches us to dig deep into our center to know our true, authentic selves. Yoga Teacher Barbie was gifted to me on my birthday and I have chosen to Ground her and help her to expand her consciousness. All of my students are gifts; yet this is my first one who was born in Indonesia and had a non-existent childhood,. No wonder she has restricted knowledge.

Perhaps Barbie’s obvious patterns of limitations can teach us how to observe our own stuff.
Bring It On!  Barbie has offered her letters to her beloved, Ken for you all to witness her progress.