The trick is to ask the questions that are about what you really want in life, to awaken, to discover the truth. You know when you’re not asking the right questions when you are continuing to ask the same ones with no result or a frustrating result. It’s there you want to shift your focus and re evaluate your question. When we find ourselves lost in figuring out something, we simply get more figuring out. Now yes sometimes it is good and we do get an answer but I have found the best thing to do is analyze for a time if it’s really necessary and if the answer you are hoping for doesn’t come through after about 5 minutes, maybe 10 minutes at the most, then it’s time to really let it go and put forward an intention. Call out to the universe and say, “hey support me with the questions, I would like clarity, I would like an answer,” and then allow the universe to dance with you. Let it go fully, once youve asked, let it go FULLY. Nine times out of ten I find within the next day, sometimes just an hour later, sometimes less, the answer will come. 

Life is an active meditation. We want to refine the way we do everything so that we move with grace, every moment in grace. It’s the grace that wakes us up. I find so often that we get somewhere and then stop, we think we are getting somewhere and when we get there we will stop. We run ourselves into the ground working hoping to retire someday so we can stop. But we are too expansive by nature to stop. We are energy, we are always flowing. We want to create balance in everything. We put forth at intention to create what we dream. As we get to plateau we want to look at what is next, what can we create from here. And as we get into that flow it is nothing but joyful. It’s not a job, it’s life. It’s the essence of why we asked to come here. It is stupendous! 

As we ask, it’s about the quality of the question. The best way to gauge the quality of the question is to tap into the energy behind the question. When asking a question feel where the energy sits in the body, breathe into it. Put a hand there. If a child was looking up at you wanting to be held you would pick it up and nuture it. Our spirit communicates, our inner child communciates like that with us all the time. Pay attention. Questions (look at the word…quest of ions…ions are part of the atoms that make up the entire universe…questions to the centre of ions, atoms, the universe) hold energy. We want to read and feel and listen and communicate with the energy behind the questions. If we stopped there and went within we would understand why the questions were there. When a question is born, something has ignited inside us. And if we just jump into actions or conversations about the questions without having enquired with our spirit, we may perpetuate a path of energy that is not about what we want. You know when you ask why do I keep doing that or I thought I was doing it differently now and I keep coming up with the same result…well it’s because you are simply reacting to your questions and jumping into find an answer outside of yourself. The answer you’re looking for and the one that is waiting is inside you. It’s in the energy behind the questions. Again…Feel where the energy sits in the body, breathe into it. Put a hand there. If a child was looking up at you wanting to be held you would pick it up and nuture it. Our spirit communicates, our inner child communciates like that with us all the time. Pay attention.

When we start to work with our energy in this way the quality of our questions changes. We understand what needs to be healed within and also what purpose there is for us on the planet. We can discern what needs to be healed within and what we truly want to create in the world. If we don’t communicate with our spirit, our energy and the energy behind the questions then often we work out the energetic reaction to the question. The energy behind the question does have a chance to heal or be acknowledged and we work through that pain, anxiety or conflict in the world. Listening to your spirit can save a great deal of time and generate a deeper sense of power, you cant loose. When we start to work with our energy in this way we begin to click into true power, we are no longer giving it away. And when we operate from there…everything changes. 

It is clear that our planet and our people are going through a transformation. We are living in a time of awakening. We all made a choice to come onto this planet at this particular time to wake up and to create the world we saw was possible from the other side. YOU are a vital part of the whole waking up. Transcending your mental, physical and emotionally limiting thoughts that prevent you, as well as the planet as a whole, from allowing everything you dream is what will create dynamic change everywhere. As the energy around the globe shifts we have an opportunity to do everything in a new way.

Last year we launched the Spirathon – an event that offers a deep transformational process to participants through an integrated program of meditation, yoga and cycling. The idea is that as we focus within and heal ourselves, we heal the world. Our first Spirathon was a huge success…we were turning people away! The energy we generated was incredible, and to see people eyes sparkling with joy, expansion and empowerment was extraordinary.

We wanted to create an event that got the body temple moving and pushing past limits. When you push past the limit you thought was possible, that energy expands through your body and your spirit hears, ‘Ah you believe in what’s possible, you are willing to create possibility out what you thought was impossible…’ Through meditation, yoga and cycling we wake up that energy and keep going deeper and deeper into it.

Before you know it, you have completed the 3 hour journey and it’s not until you’re done that you realize, ‘Oh my gosh we raised a ton of money for an amazing charity.’ But were not just raising money, we are raising energy. This event is about fund raising in an inspirational way – your transformation creates transformation everywhere…you affect everyone. As we generate that energy throughout the event, we consciously send that energy to a country or a person or an organization. The level of energy we raise, not just money, is a vital part of sending our powerful thoughts, energy and heart to everyone around the world. Suddenly on one day, in one studio, we can create a ripple effect so big that the entire planet will be creating possibility out of what appeared to be impossible…Join us. Spirathon. Aug 13, 2011. West Hollywood, CA. Go to www.thespirathonevent.com to register and for more information.

The human body and its ability to heal itself continues to marvel me. It indicates to us all the time exactly what it needs. It’s not a question of whether it will or not, it’s a question of whether we are listening to it or not. Our job is to listen and create a space within which it can heal. It you don’t tend to a wound, it gets worse or infected. If you nurture it, cleanse and take care, it heals and the scar may not even show. You may say the scar that is ultimately left also shows the level of love and care given to its original injury. 

If we treat the emotional and mental wounds we experience and create a space for them to heal, often they will heal, just like the physical body, on their own. When you have an open physical wound, you treat it. Treating is different to indulging and suffering. Providing a space within which you can surrender and become quiet so the answer that comes is different to beating yourself up or demanding the answer and screaming at the universe. Now there’s nothing wrong with any of what you may be feeling; and I truly believe that we are all meant to be exactly where we are and there is a powerful reason why we are there. But I simply want to bring an awareness to the fact that the miracle of the physical body has shown us time and time again that given the right attention and environment it can heal. The emotions and thoughts are part of that same healing process and if given the right attention and environment they will heal because healing is part of the natural process. The sun rises and falls, the moon rises and falls. Just the right amount of water, air and sun allows the jungles to hold space over hundreds of years and all the tress do is reach for the light, then allow the universe to provide for them and support them. And that beautiful dance continues. They reach for the light and while there may be some sort of discomfort, over time we see the spectacular grain, age of the wood as it matures and it roots grow deeper and deeper. 

When the physical body heals a wound the first stage is vasoconstriction. The blood vessels leading to the wound tighten to reduce the flow of blood to the injured area. This happens the moment you pick yourself up from a fall. Within seconds of an injury your body begins to heal. Then platelets, activate through enzymes leaked from the torn blood vessel, begin their work. These sticky blood cells clump to each other and then adhere to the sides of the torn blood vessel, making a plug.Clotting proteins in the blood join forces to form a fibrin net that holds the platelet plug in place over the tear, and in just a few seconds or minutes (depending on how bad the scrape is), bleeding stops, thanks to coagulation! The fibrin plug becomes a scab that will eventually fall off or be reabsorbed into the body once healing is complete.

The body temple is an extraordinary machine of natural wonder. It is wanting to heal and reconnect you to equilibrium of all levels. Physical, mental, emotional. Just like all of nature, the body temple is wanting to indicate to us how powerful it is and if we can simply allow it to do its job it will. Our job, just like we would with a child or someone we love, is to hold a space and create a harmonious environment within which the job can be done. Think about the wonder of a tiny little seed germinating in a womb that feeds it everything it needs for nine whole months before it enters into the world and breathes the miracle of life in physical form to then grow into a spectacular fully grown human. You’re telling me with magnificent spiritual technology like that, that there’s not a natural way for us to heal on all levels? We are born perfect when the environment is harmonious. We just have to cultivate it. 

To break the pattern, we have to break the habit. To break the habit, ‘listen’ to the energy ‘beneath’ the habit…there’s gold there…

It’s so interesting to me the idea of a pattern and the fact that sometimes we within a split second, even less, are off and running on a pattern that we know deep down in some way doesn’t serve us. Even the phrase we share when we look back that says I KNEW deep down. How do we, if we know that we know, deep down, can we in the moment it triggers stop and say HA! GOT YOU! As opposed to running all the way around the track before we finally get back to the finish line exhausted and say ahhh I know the moment and I know why and I don’t need to do it anymore. 

I know sometimes it seems like it’s totally impossible, but I believe that mere knowing and remembering to remind each other that we truly do know is the beginning. How many times have you said I KNEW that would happen, or I KNOW it’s not good for me yet I still do it. Ok well right there is the starting point. You KNOW deep down. So the fact that it still continues and the pattern that doesnt serve perpetuates must be a habit. Often we look at the pattern and try to dissect it and analyze it, and as we do, that energy simply amplifies and actually keeps us in avoidance to what really needs to be looked at. Which is the habit. The pattern is the pattern. But it order to see why it’s there, the habit must be broken first. 

Now yes I hear you, the habit is the hardest part. I know I’ve done it myself a TON in my life. I probably still do it without even realizing, or choosing to avoid…but as we bring an awareness to everything we do, remember and remind each other, then you really do know. Anything else is an avoidance, and to observe what the habits are, then and only then can you shift the energy, because the study of the pattern will only ever get you partial clarity. The habit is the action that holds the energy that gives fuel to the pattern. Take the fuel away, the pattern starts to lose power, it slows down and then understanding about why it’s there may show itself. But the best part is usually by that point you don’t really care because you’ve slowed down the habitual energy that depletes you and have started to reconnect to your power. And as the energy goes there, it continues to flow in that direction. 

I notice that what happens with the habit breaking sometimes you stop and clear it and you feel good and you say oh I don’t have to do that anymore. Then you’re empty, you need to fill it with light, otherwise you feel bad and it’s uncomfortable because you may not know where you’re heading and so you get scared and go back and keep repeating that pattern. Fill up after you empty, otherwise you’ll want to go back to the habit because it makes you feel better than the unknown. But don’t kid yourself, you KNOW, the unknown, is where you came from…you know. 

Training The Yogi In Us All #1: The Search

There is a space that exists in between the mind and the body. It through true surrender that you connect to the space and you connect to who you really are. It is the moment you let the mind and body go, that this space opens up and you feel the heart begin to return you to your most authentic self. In between every fibre, every cell, every tissue in the physical body there is space. It is the same space in between the mind and the body, the quietness that allows your heart and essence to thrive. It is the same space between you and I. Between you and the person next to you. Between you and the homeless person you walk past in the street or bump into at the store. It is the same space between you and the next planet, between you and your cell phone or computer, between you and the next sunset you will see. Put your hands out and feel the space around you, wave your hands around in the energy. It is the space of the universe, eternal life, energy. We can’t see it, but we feel it.

As the world continues to awaken, now more than ever, modalities such as Yoga are incredibly powerful because they support the expansion of this space and as that expansion grows, so does our connection to all that is. Our ability to feel it within and experience it all around us. If you think about it you respond to energy all the time, you just cant see the energy, but you can feel it. I think as we learn to FEEL about life, more than THINK about it, we allow the heart to guide us. The energy of figuring out, perpetuates more of the same and at some point, that may not always serve us. Sometimes the figuring out is also a trained muscle.

For me Yoga is one of the most powerful tools available to us today. The mind focuses on supporting the body through poses. It’s like the poses force the mind to focus on the body and as the body experiences resistance of any kind, it focuses on the mind. The dance back and forth is what we do in life. So as we train the mind to surrender to the breath and give the body permission to do the same, the breath begins to open the space up and strengthen the muscle of the spirit. As the breath becomes the predominant focus then the mind and body start to fade away as the FEELING and connection to the space in between them expands. Allowing us to melt into the limitless energy that abounds. And as we connect there, we connect to limitless possibility.

As all of this deepened through life and my practice, I decided it was time to amplify what I offer as a teacher. With over a decade of meditation, holistic healing and sacred breath-work modalities, Yoga felt like a natural progression. I researched for about a year, feeling for the best school. The one that would support my commitment to opening the space in between the mind and the body, therefore allowing my heart and essence to thrive, to feeling, seeing and understanding in totality, connection to the limitless power that surrounds us all in every moment. In January 2011, I had the privilege of traveling to Nicaragua, Central America with The YogaSchool Institute. Everyone at the Institute is fully engaged with my experience being all that it can be, I feel so much heart and connection, it feels very family like. I am one of the young brothers being taken under a wing, fully supported within a safe and nourishing environment. I am deeply inspired.

YogaSchool Institute is an extended family of yoga teachers and practitioners who have deeply experienced the wisdom of yoga and who feel inspired to share that wisdom with others. YogaSchool Institute Trainings provide comprehensive work philosophy anatomy, chanting, business, wisdom, sutras, kriyas, meditation, pranayama, adjustments and the art of teaching. They offer certification in two sequenced flows; Sadhana Vinyasa and Sadhana Hatha. And I truly feel their offerings to be of great integrity. They are committed to creating a new way of living and Yoga supports that new way and their words. Their commitment has been beyond my expectation and allows my own experience, through such beautiful support, to travel deeper…and that is worth everything!

It is clear the way we have been doing things on the planet just doesn’t work anymore. We are all looking for new ways, sometimes we don’t even know what that way is. But simply being open to that new way, is enough for it to reveal itself. I believe there is something wondrous happening at this time of evolution and awakening. So I believe as that reveals itself, the most powerful thing we can do is surrender. Surrender to the power that brought us here, to our connection to all that is, to the breath and the space, to the art of sacred movement in Yoga and Ancient wisdom. And slowly, we reconnect to the Earth and human race, as a whole. As we heal ourselves, we heal the entire planet. It is the way of the sacred that connects us to all that is, both within our hearts and throughout the universe. There it is again, that space in between the mind and the body. Listen to it.

Training the Yogi in us all #2 – Duality:

As I sat on the runway, after a teary good bye to my gorgeous partner of over four years, I started to feel an incredible sense of duality, opposing energies. One that said oh my god what the hell am I getting myself into and why I am I leaving my beautiful dog, lover and home in Los Angeles to move to another country. While we have already set up a plan to see each other, at least a week or two out of every month, and that is reassuring, I feel an incredible loss and pain, this feeling of a limb, part of me is missing.

Then I have another voice saying, I’m going to write, teach, immerse myself with the YogaSchool Institute and become a Yoga instructor in a new country, eating well, truly being ‘wellness’ through all I’ll be doing. How perfect for me, for anyone of course, but also for this perfect alignment with my company intruessence.com, everything I do and my vision for this life and planet. I feel my lovers hand touch me and then realize he’s not there physically, yet so beautifully supporting my journey and empowering its manifestation. On either side of my heart I feel this duality, moving out of excitement into sadness and back again, I feel stretched from the inside out. I wonder for a moment if it may be possible to merge these opposing energies that right now seem like forces unto themselves.

That was five days ago and I have begun my 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training Immersion. It has been quite a journey. Truly remarkable. I was not expecting this type of experience. I honestly thought we would be practicing a lot of forms every day and learning the art of teaching, much theory, and that is absolutely happening…but what I was not anticipating was the inner transformational process that this program ignites deep within you. It took me a day or two to figure out that’s what was actually happening. I have done transformational trainings before and knew that’s what I was doing so was therefore prepared. This I thought was going to be pure learning how to teach yoga in terms of form and again it is that, but the school has a whole other perspective on how they want to prepare their teachers, that I was not prepared for. Then again, I do wonder, if you are teaching someone to teach transformation by using the body, then perhaps they need to experience deep transformation themselves and in order to go deep the knowing of what’s coming may prevent the very depth that makes a teacher in the long run, superb.

This program presents the duality in the mind and how refinement of the mind determines refinement of the emotions. As we refine the mind to create more positive thoughts, the emotional body does the same. As we manifest the negative in the mind and therefore the emotions, the physical body holds that polluting energy. And as you melt your body into this particular practice of Siddhanha Yoga, the Yoga of spiritual practice, holding poses for much longer than the average style, then your body has a chance to move the energy of the negative that has manifested and been produced by the negative mind. As one refines the mind, creating positive thought more and more, mastering the ability to still the body and therefore the mind, because the brain is just a muscle, then the physical body actually becomes a portal to the entire universe – the mind becomes a receiver of information from the other side. This is when it works to our advantage and we connect to our most authentic power.

Now the journey, to be clear on this internal technology, is significant because it demands that you let go of every single construct that does not serve. It requires you to look deep within yourself and understand that your thoughts are created by you. Nothing else, nobody else is responsible.You have chosen every single experience in order to learn the lessons you asked for, so you connect to your true power and awaken in this life time, remembering who you truly are.

As I settle into my new home and schooling through this training and I shift my identity into a deeper, whole way of being – I remember the duality I felt for the first few days, still do in some way but it is moving through. Sadness versus inspiration. I realize that is how I feel within my relationship most of the time. I have the most incredible partner and I love him dearly and when I’m really honest about it, I question it, I doubt it, I doubt myself and doubt him all the time. I take his projections on and I project my own fear, my insecurity, my fustration onto him all the time. At then there are times when my heart feels so open, vulnerable, vibrant, alive and I want to melt into him and am inspired, truly inspired by the connection we have and the love I feel for him, the energy we create together.

I wonder for a moment, again, if it may be possible to merge these opposing energies that consistently seem like opposing forces unto themselves. What am I creating in my thoughts, what lesson am I wanting to learn? I have been in this relationship for a considerable time and no longer want to be in it with this duality. What am I missing? I want to be owning my happiness, my joy and liberation on all levels within my relationship and all areas of life. I feel it is happening that way but when I fall into questioning it doesn’t honor the beauty I’ve created. What fear is not letting me melt into this experience? What layers have I yet to shed in order for me to wake up?

For three out of four days in Shavansana I would experience complete bliss, inspired energy with the conflicting duality of sadness. Something would happen in me and I would find myself lost in it. Really sad. In it, wanting to figure it out and disconnecting from the bliss. I am seeing more and more how the figuring out truly does manifest more figuring out and where your energy goes, your energy flows. I have known this before, taught it even. But now I am understanding through yoga, as you focus your mind, you can allow your body and the asanas to do the work as you focus and train the muscle of your mind to simply watch the thoughts. I keep hearing the teachers talk about becoming the watcher and I know fundamentally what they speak of but I’ve yet to experience it on a deep level where I FEEL it and say ahhhh there we are. Ok got it.

Well…on day five I met the watcher (which was remarkably quick I thought and testimony to the way school constructs their program) and met him while in a state of presence I had not experienced in quite some time and finally surrendered to the power and art form of yoga. I lay in total bliss and noticed the sadness come up again but this time saw the sadness outside of me. It was almost like it had taken its own form, an energy outside of me. Watching the sadness and knowing it was part of me but now separate, I experienced myself simply watching it and remained in my bliss. I realized I had become the watcher. I felt deeply present yet out of my body in some way, another interesting state of duality, it was amazing. I felt a gentle rumble in my heart and my eyes filled with tears of joy. Was this nirvana? I was connected to deep presence, separate from pain yet still observing it and allowing it. Perhaps merging the duality is possible. If this is where I am on day five, where will I be by the end of this training? I’ll keep you updated on my journey through this sacred art and the states of bliss, surrender and perfection in duality I experience.

Training the Yogi in us all #3 – Going Deeper:

As I sat on the beach today after Asana practice this morning I noticed my feet or legs didn’t hurt at all during meditation which was ordinarily my experience. I am starting to notice but importantly feel and experience shifts happening in me mentally, physically and emotionally and seeing how they all tie together. My focus on the body hurting was a product of my body just getting used to it but also my mind being less interested in it. As I make this space in my mind I free myself up to simply be and as my emotions follow that energy all I experience is bliss. It really is as simple as unplugging from what I don’t want and into what I do. That is the practice.

As I sat swaying in the wind in a hamock overlooking the Pacific blue I felt a gentle ease in my heart. The one that allowed pure contentment, ease, just being in the moment. It is the deepening of the meditation, my Asana practise within, that is allowing this connection. I am becoming more focused and as a result relinquishing control of figuring out, needing to know everything and trying to get everything right. As I lay in Shavansana (corpse pose, relaxation time to completely free yourself) at the end of my yoga practise this morning I noticed my mind go through several layers of conversation (or perhaps control is a better term, that has kept me, or I should say; I’ve made a choice, to stay in resistance) regarding my relationship. I have this incredible partner who I love yet I don’t experience all the joy it brings. There is so much beauty and I spend most of my time in question about him, the relationship and of course myself. I feel my free spirit wanting to fly and do all these different things around the world, different cultures, people, food, experiences out of the norm like being in silence in an Ashram in India for a moment. Part of what brings us together is this duality that we have. He is the rock and home and I am the hummingbird flying around. Both balance each other and both oppose each other at different times.

And of course the world of ‘what if’ begins to turn. What if it gets to much for him and we end? What if he finds someone else because I’m away so much? I am young and want to have sex and express myself sexually as much as I want and need but that doesn’t work for him. What if I lose some of the best years of my life by trying to fit into a mold that isn’t truly me? What if I’m not ready to get married? And what if I make the choice to leave and it ends up being the biggest regret of my life yet it is the only way for me to discover who I truly am? All the layers that have seem so valid and so real flicked though my mind like a rolodex. I lay there in corpse pose watching the rolodex, this freak show of questions while I lay in peaceful stillness. The rolodex finally slowed down until everything became still and my last thought said to me; ‘And what if you are ready?’

What if I am ready? Everything went quiet. What if I am ready to relinquish control, to get married, to jump in and allow all the fears that seem real sometimes just be there and find something deeper, sweeter and actually more real as I connect to who I TRULY am and not the fear of what MIGHT be. In the quiet, in the serenity, in the TRUTH…finally…I felt my heart open once again and cleansing tears of the soul and its joy, flow. There is a surrender happening. I am growing. I am grateful.

Training the Yogi in us all #4 – Honoring Body Temple:

I guess I have always thought of Yoga as a spiritual practice for one to connect within, break through physical, emotional and mental boundaries, aligning ones self with ones truest energy, but I didn’t really understand the form of yoga as a healing modality.

I mean I think I knew it was healing, yet never really understood that as a Yoga Teacher you are a healer holding space for your students to have their own healing experience. As you hold space you gently adjust their body taking them just past the point they only thought they were capable of, reminding them to breath through the pose, find a meditation within that pose and allow a new part of themselves to bloom.

I began processing this as I taught for the first time in the training and suddenly felt such deep joy, honor and love for my student, who I enjoyed very much but really didn’t know very well at all. Then I realized; this being is totally vulnerable to me and trusting me to take care of her. Here she is lying on a Yoga mat, surrendering to the intention she created for this class and totally trusting that I will listen to her body, breathe with her body and create a space for her to experience expansion such that her intention manifests.

But the most delicate part of this is that she doesn’t truly know if I know what I’m doing. It is my responsibility to really watch, listen and feel with every cell in my body without distraction and understand what an honor it is to teach this ancient art form and what an honor it is for someone to trust me with their most precious tool, their body temple. It is a collective effort. Communication. Feeling more than thinking. Listening to the body and the ancient wisdom of this art form. Trusting. These create the foundation of teaching that creates accelerated transformation for your trusting students.

I realized today that the art of teaching is special. Those that choose to take it seriously, such that their students receive the energy that is in integrity with this art form and grow spiritually as a result, beginning to and awaken the yogi within, are precious and if in integrity themselves, will receive all the universal support they need to teach from the heart and transform their own lives. And as they do they will begin to understand where honor lies in every area of their life. How the energy is exactly the same, the circumstances may differ and look different, but the energy is the same. Look at relationships. Someone gives themselves to you, vulnerable, open and you have the honor of holding space for them. How delicately will you hold their body and honor the gift that has been brought to you. How are you honoring your body temple, the temple of your students, your lover, your brothers and sisters, the one you walk past on the way to work, your dog? There are temples all around you. How do you honor them? Each living thing is an alter holding sacred space. Yoga connects you to the temple that you are, the sacred space that you and only you can hold and allows you to see this beauty in everyone and all that is.

Training the Yogi in us all #5 – Intricacies of the Mind:

I always thought (perhaps thinking was the problem) that you needed to learn how to control the mind. But all you really need to do is lose interest in it. Truly that’s it. As we work through the ancient text of the Yoga Sutras I am beginning to understand the mechanics of the mind and how it truly is more of a receiver than anything. When you focus the mind upon something you don’t want, that energy grows. Simple. When you focus the mind upon what you want, that energy grows, also simple.

When you focus your mind on what you want, the emotional response feels good. The more you do that it grows and gains strength – you are essentially training a muscle, it’s like you’re lifting spiritual weights – the energy that is in alignment with what you want and most importantly who you really are. Now as you focus it is important not to attach, to the negative or the positive. Allow the positive in and have your experience and then let it go. As we find the middle ground, the line in the yin and yang symbol as I like to say, neither the black or white, we begin to find equilibrium. The more you focus on all the many things that make you feel good and lead to the direction of your dreams the bigger the energy gets and the more energy that connects you to who you really are comes through you.

As you activate this process and the ease to actually see and experience this through yoga you understand that the mind is not there to figure out and analyze and immerse too much, but rather that it is the receiver that spirit uses to send you information. When you’re focusing, not attaching and being present you’re an open vessel…information comes in and your job is to take that inspiration and act on it…just take the first step, inspired action. From there you will continue to be the receiver and allow inspiration and act on it and so on and so on and suddenly…you are co-creating…the most powerful purpose for a human because its the same energy as love.

Again I had no idea that the simple practice of yoga and holding poses (which are essentially a metaphor for life, as you have physical breakthroughs you do so in your life) could provide a training ground for the mind to focus in a way that gets what has been blocking you all the time OUT of the way. And then experience in the body the feeling associated with that. It’s there that the bliss starts to move through, that life force starts to expand in your and who you really are starts to shine into the world.

Training the Yogi in us all #6 – Ceremony and Tribe:

We sat under a full moon as Vedantin, our Yogi Leader, blessed the circle and called in the four directions of the spirit world to be with us, protect us and hold space for transformation. We were shedding the layers and now asking for something specific we wanted to let go of. It was the letting go ceremony. The moon illuminated the semi-circle private beach of Redondo Bay and revealed the ocean gentle meeting the white sand, breathing in and out. The shape of the white sand looked like a giant smile sparkling back up to the stars.

As we sang and chanted this deep sense of community, even through those that thought this was kind of weird, through the simple joy of connection and supporting each other in a common dream, we shed the layers that aren’t really who we are and the intention to let go, to reveal our true selves. It occurred to me it seems that much of the sacred ceremony – steeped in tradition and tribal energy, created by our ancestors and honor the mother earth, father sky, all that is and each other – has drifted out of most of our society today. We have forgotten how to connect in a way that serves the greater good and how to do that with intention, with harmony and with respect, therefore connecting us all to one family. It seems that if we are in a new age we must bring that back and ask the ancient ones for support so we can receive transmissions from spirit that truly serve us and allow the new world to emerge.

As we sat in ceremony with our fellow yoga teachers in training the energy began to grow. Some people dancing around the fire and releasing their writings or objects that represented their letting go into the fire with anger, rage, sadness and some with ease, joy or relief. Here there was no judgement, there was only holding space and wanting for each and every person to fully let go of that which does not serve them. There was such deep comradery in the circle, to know that we all were doing it together, supporting and loving each other. That we had seen each other, truly seen, who each other really was and so birthed in every heart this deep desire for each soul to let go so that each soul could see what beauty everyone else saw. Simply beauty, truth and grace.

This is the energy of sacred ceremony, the energy of tribe that has ignited in me again. I have been blessed to be a part of it because it’s part of the new way and as teachers we have the honor of sharing with our students. To allow the pure intention of the sacred, of ancient ways to stream through our classes such that we provide a space for transformation to go just a little deeper with each teaching we are blessed to share.

Training the Yogi in us all #7 – Abundance:

When you say you want to be rich someday, in today’s society it generally implies that you want to posses a lot of money. As we move through the training the feeling I get, behind the ‘conversation’ of money is like rich soil waiting for its seed to germinate into a field of luscious organic food. I feel the rich colors of a sunset, I feel the rich and bountiful layers of natural paint that grace the vast canvas of the sky. I feel the rich words printed on a piece of paper that changes someones perspective of life that they go forth and make a difference in the world. I feel a large family harmonious, loving, joyful – the matriarch looking at her little ones feeling like she is the richest woman on the planet. Then I feel that delicious rich energy of how one persons experience is shared with the next person they see, and the next and the next, and then they share it with the next and the next and suddenly what seems to be one small experience here, affects that whole freakin planet – because someone felt rich.

I am finding new ways of thinking become alive in me. I wonder – when it comes to the idea of money and riches and how the present world attaches self value to it, what if we looked at the energy behind these things. Money is just a reflection of energy but often we look at what it buys. There is a special energy behind diamonds, money, gold, riches and its pure. Its about allowing energy that is source. We have twisted it to mean something completely different. The heart is the biggest checking account you’ll ever have, make deposits everyday because it changes the world.

Training the Yogi in us all #8 – Humans:

Since animals everywhere are simply being, moving with their intuition and contributing to the whole, allowing the planet to work as a perfect eco system, perhaps we should question the purpose of humans. Not whether we should be here or not, simply; are we ‘being’ here in a way that is truly purposely and serving the whole. Are we really contributing to the whole effectively if we are not allowing our senses to guide us, the way animals all around create harmony in their animal kingdom? How many of us are truly ‘being’, allowing intuition to guide us, truly contributing to the whole – harmony for all beings and the planet. We have not done this. What are we missing?

When weather patterns change animals feel, for example, a tsunami coming and they flee in the other direction and find safety in the canopies of the jungles. Humans stand on the beach and wonder what’s coming. We are totally disconnected and have much to learn from the animals who do not talk. We are the only species that can talk but we have two ears and only one mouth for a reason. Isn’t it time we listened more than we talk?

When we look at the energy of negativity, in all its forms, we can actually use it as ammunition to refocus to what we want, to where we want to be and what we truly dream. And as we do so the senses come alive, as does our intuition and before you know it we are part of the animal kingdom. Being driven by the heart, trained in our spiritual muscles and able to drive the brain, not the other way around. Surely its time for us to look at the planet, see what hasn’t worked and shift our energies into what does. Some are, some are not. But if we want the world, this precious beautiful earth, to support us the way we have supported it for so long then it is time for us to become a part of it again. We are animals, we are part of nature, not separate from it.

We need everyone on board, coming together and learning, understanding, discovering together, how to be in harmony with the our global ecosystem. It’s time for us to learn from nature and the animals of the planet. They were put here as guides for us, we asked for them. We’re supposed to be the most intelligent species but based on results, we’re not. Maybe it’s the animals who have it right. It’s time we watched and learned. That’s where our highest level of intelligence will evolve from.

Training the Yogi in us all #9 – Acceptance:

So as I explore the dualities of my relationship, or should I say, my mind, and as I explore my body, allowing the opening and release of it on so many levels and therefore allowing the same of the mind and emotions, I am finding thoughts that have held me tight for what feels like eons now. I am experiencing more and more space within me to receive and allow what is real and discern what is not. I have been setting powerful intentions before asana practice, every day, asking big questions, no matter how big, and creating the possibility for big answers. I think in the past sometimes I’ve been scared to ask big questions because then I may have to deal with a big answer. Not anymore…yet another breakthrough to take note of.

Often in my relationship and the question of sex has come up for me. I have always wondered if I could really be monogamous and stay committed to just one person. I realize now that the very idea of being with one person forever actually brings an element of non presence to the present moment. By projecting into the future and saying it will be forever, while it’s a beautiful sentiment, it’s inauthentic on some level because no one can truly ever promise anything to anyone because nobody ultimately knows what the future holds.

To be present and say with all your heart, this is what I want for this present moment allows the moment to be full. It allows all that can be with total gratitude and love for the blessings that come without projection into the future and attachment to it. We need to let each other evolve and be present to that evolution, no matter what it looks like, otherwise we aren’t truly loving. This creates a deeper sense of love. Rather than being angry about the fact that someone is not fulfilling your expectations, you fall deeper in love because you’re understanding that another’s evolution isn’t about you, you can then be a true partner in and of life, being there for them as they grow. You have an opportunity and choice to grow with them each day if it continues to be in line with what you want and where you’re going.

I see in the area of sex while I’ve projected into the future I’ve disconnected from my love, Jeff and then made him wrong. It’s really just my own projection, attaching to a fear of the future and then disconnecting from the present. My big realization today was this; I am always thinking about how I love him and I don’t want to be with anyone else, I want a life with him, but I do think about having sex or playing in some way with other guys. I am very sexual, I like sex, and I like to express myself through it. I’m at a time in my life where I can distinguish if I’m being healthy about it or not. I used to be very promiscuous to simply validate myself. That did not serve me, but now I can experience sex because I’m choosing rather than needing to out of insecurity. But as a young man I’m living in the best years of my life and I want to enjoy sex in every way that feels good and nurtures who I am, this is a gift of being alive…to experience all of you such that you grow as a being who shares that expansion with all.

So these thoughts are running through my head after a very intense Vinyasa practice. Sometimes I was just watching the thoughts and sometimes I was lost in them. I was kind of going in and out. I want Jeff but I also want to grow, to try other things. And there it was…a moment, where again I felt myself outside myself…allowing, giving permission to simply see what was real for me, what was authentic. Everything went quiet.

I do that with EVERYTHING though. I ALWAYS want to create, experience enjoy in one thing and secure some type of solid, core experience so that I am then able to explore lots of other things, to stretch further and discover more. This point is, I’ve always made that a bad thing when its actually really beautiful. It is who I am, it is the free spirit within me, within all of us, that wants to fly and see everything from above and feel nurtured on a soul level because nothing is left out. I don’t know if that means I need to explore outside my relationship, but what I know right now is that all this energy around my relationship with Jeff about questioning, being unsure, using sex as the culprit – more often than not is a sticking point where my mind is convincing myself to believe Im wrong. Wanting to expand on a soul level is NOT wrong. Wanting to explore is not wrong. Making myself wrong and then finding a reason that makes us both wrong start to eat away at my spirit, and that’s wrong. It’s just another reflection of what I do everywhere. I want to be free and explore and experience and enjoy.

So now I can at least be real with myself about a way of being and freedom that is natural to me. I can take the energy off making someone who I love so much, myself and the best relationship I’ve ever had, wrong. Oh yes…my intention for today? How do I clear the heavy energy I experience in my mind around my relationship…thank god I found the answer. How could I truly honor the person I love with that shit in the way!

And so I have begun to dance. To dance in the energy inside my physical body and therefore all that is. The space around us, between you and I, between the next planet and us, its all just universal, life force, chi, essence, energy and beauty. And when you allow the practice of yoga to create SPACE in your body, and therefore emotions and therefore mind, all the stuff that stood in the way – that you thought was you…suddenly isn’t, and who you really are begins to emerge. Its the reason why we are here.

This concludes Training the Yogi Within, but by no means concludes my quest for continued expansion, speaking to spirit and co-creating with this universe that is so eager and ready to help us. Thank god we have this special art called yoga to keep us connected to this knowing that wakes up in every Asana, every day. And thank you to YogaSchool Institute for creating a training with heart, that will open the mind, bodies and souls everywhere. Namaste.

Training the Yogi in us all #9 – Acceptance:

So as I explore the dualities of my relationship, or should I say, my mind, and as I explore my body, allowing the opening and release of it on so many levels and therefore allowing the same of the mind and emotions, I am finding thoughts that have held me tight for what feels like eons now. I am experiencing more and more space within me to receive and allow what is real and discern what is not. I have been setting powerful intentions before asana practice, every day, asking big questions, no matter how big, and creating the possibility for big answers. I think in the past sometimes I’ve been scared to ask big questions because then I may have to deal with a big answer. Not anymore…yet another breakthrough to take note of.

Often in my relationship and the question of sex has come up for me. I have always wondered if I could really be monogamous and stay committed to just one person. I realize now that the very idea of being with one person forever actually brings an element of non presence to the present moment. By projecting into the future and saying it will be forever, while it’s a beautiful sentiment, it’s inauthentic on some level because no one can truly ever promise anything to anyone because nobody ultimately knows what the future holds.

To be present and say with all your heart, this is what I want for this present moment allows the moment to be full. It allows all that can be with total gratitude and love for the blessings that come without projection into the future and attachment to it. We need to let each other evolve and be present to that evolution, no matter what it looks like, otherwise we aren’t truly loving. This creates a deeper sense of love. Rather than being angry about the fact that someone is not fulfilling your expectations, you fall deeper in love because you’re understanding that another’s evolution isn’t about you, you can then be a true partner in and of life, being there for them as they grow. You have an opportunity and choice to grow with them each day if it continues to be in line with what you want and where you’re going.

I see in the area of sex while I’ve projected into the future I’ve disconnected from my love, Jeff and then made him wrong. It’s really just my own projection, attaching to a fear of the future and then disconnecting from the present. My big realization today was this; I am always thinking about how I love him and I don’t want to be with anyone else, I want a life with him, but I do think about having sex or playing in some way with other guys. I am very sexual, I like sex, and I like to express myself through it. I’m at a time in my life where I can distinguish if I’m being healthy about it or not. I used to be very promiscuous to simply validate myself. That did not serve me, but now I can experience sex because I’m choosing rather than needing to out of insecurity. But as a young man I’m living in the best years of my life and I want to enjoy sex in every way that feels good and nurtures who I am, this is a gift of being alive…to experience all of you such that you grow as a being who shares that expansion with all.

So these thoughts are running through my head after a very intense Vinyasa practice. Sometimes I was just watching the thoughts and sometimes I was lost in them. I was kind of going in and out. I want Jeff but I also want to grow, to try other things. And there it was…a moment, where again I felt myself outside myself…allowing, giving permission to simply see what was real for me, what was authentic. Everything went quiet.

I do that with EVERYTHING though. I ALWAYS want to create, experience enjoy in one thing and secure some type of solid, core experience so that I am then able to explore lots of other things, to stretch further and discover more. This point is, I’ve always made that a bad thing when its actually really beautiful. It is who I am, it is the free spirit within me, within all of us, that wants to fly and see everything from above and feel nurtured on a soul level because nothing is left out. I don’t know if that means I need to explore outside my relationship, but what I know right now is that all this energy around my relationship with Jeff about questioning, being unsure, using sex as the culprit – more often than not is a sticking point where my mind is convincing myself to believe Im wrong. Wanting to expand on a soul level is NOT wrong. Wanting to explore is not wrong. Making myself wrong and then finding a reason that makes us both wrong start to eat away at my spirit, and that’s wrong. It’s just another reflection of what I do everywhere. I want to be free and explore and experience and enjoy.

So now I can at least be real with myself about a way of being and freedom that is natural to me. I can take the energy off making someone who I love so much, myself and the best relationship I’ve ever had, wrong. Oh yes…my intention for today? How do I clear the heavy energy I experience in my mind around my relationship…thank god I found the answer. How could I truly honor the person I love with that shit in the way!

And so I have begun to dance. To dance in the energy inside my physical body and therefore all that is. The space around us, between you and I, between the next planet and us, its all just universal, life force, chi, essence, energy and beauty. And when you allow the practice of yoga to create SPACE in your body, and therefore emotions and therefore mind, all the stuff that stood in the way – that you thought was you…suddenly isn’t, and who you really are begins to emerge. Its the reason why we are here.

This concludes Training the Yogi Within, but by no means concludes my quest for continued expansion, speaking to spirit and co-creating with this universe that is so eager and ready to help us. Thank god we have this special art called yoga to keep us connected to this knowing that wakes up in every Asana, every day. And thank you to YogaSchool Institute for creating a training with heart, that will open the mind, bodies and souls everywhere. Namaste.

Training the Yogi in us all #8 – Humans:

Since animals everywhere are simply being, moving with their intuition and contributing to the whole, allowing the planet to work as a perfect eco system, perhaps we should question the purpose of humans. Not whether we should be here or not, simply; are we ‘being’ here in a way that is truly purposely and serving the whole. Are we really contributing to the whole effectively if we are not allowing our senses to guide us, the way animals all around create harmony in their animal kingdom? How many of us are truly ‘being’, allowing intuition to guide us, truly contributing to the whole – harmony for all beings and the planet. We have not done this. What are we missing?

When weather patterns change animals feel, for example, a tsunami coming and they flee in the other direction and find safety in the canopies of the jungles. Humans stand on the beach and wonder what’s coming. We are totally disconnected and have much to learn from the animals who do not talk. We are the only species that can talk but we have two ears and only one mouth for a reason. Isn’t it time we listened more than we talk?

When we look at the energy of negativity, in all its forms, we can actually use it as ammunition to refocus to what we want, to where we want to be and what we truly dream. And as we do so the senses come alive, as does our intuition and before you know it we are part of the animal kingdom. Being driven by the heart, trained in our spiritual muscles and able to drive the brain, not the other way around. Surely its time for us to look at the planet, see what hasn’t worked and shift our energies into what does. Some are, some are not. But if we want the world, this precious beautiful earth, to support us the way we have supported it for so long then it is time for us to become a part of it again. We are animals, we are part of nature, not separate from it.

We need everyone on board, coming together and learning, understanding, discovering together, how to be in harmony with the our global ecosystem. It’s time for us to learn from nature and the animals of the planet. They were put here as guides for us, we asked for them. We’re supposed to be the most intelligent species but based on results, we’re not. Maybe it’s the animals who have it right. It’s time we watched and learned. That’s where our highest level of intelligence will evolve from.

Training the Yogi in us all #7 – Abundance:

When you say you want to be rich someday, in today’s society it generally implies that you want to posses a lot of money. As we move through the training the feeling I get, behind the ‘conversation’ of money is like rich soil waiting for its seed to germinate into a field of luscious organic food. I feel the rich colors of a sunset, I feel the rich and bountiful layers of natural paint that grace the vast canvas of the sky. I feel the rich words printed on a piece of paper that changes someones perspective of life that they go forth and make a difference in the world. I feel a large family harmonious, loving, joyful – the matriarch looking at her little ones feeling like she is the richest woman on the planet. Then I feel that delicious rich energy of how one persons experience is shared with the next person they see, and the next and the next, and then they share it with the next and the next and suddenly what seems to be one small experience here, affects that whole freakin planet – because someone felt rich.

I am finding new ways of thinking become alive in me. I wonder – when it comes to the idea of money and riches and how the present world attaches self value to it, what if we looked at the energy behind these things. Money is just a reflection of energy but often we look at what it buys. There is a special energy behind diamonds, money, gold, riches and its pure. Its about allowing energy that is source. We have twisted it to mean something completely different. The heart is the biggest checking account you’ll ever have, make deposits everyday because it changes the world.

Training the Yogi in us all #6 – Ceremony and Tribe:

We sat under a full moon as Vedantin, our Yogi Leader, blessed the circle and called in the four directions of the spirit world to be with us, protect us and hold space for transformation. We were shedding the layers and now asking for something specific we wanted to let go of. It was the letting go ceremony. The moon illuminated the semi-circle private beach of Redondo Bay and revealed the ocean gentle meeting the white sand, breathing in and out. The shape of the white sand looked like a giant smile sparkling back up to the stars.

As we sang and chanted this deep sense of community, even through those that thought this was kind of weird, through the simple joy of connection and supporting each other in a common dream, we shed the layers that aren’t really who we are and the intention to let go, to reveal our true selves. It occurred to me it seems that much of the sacred ceremony – steeped in tradition and tribal energy, created by our ancestors and honor the mother earth, father sky, all that is and each other – has drifted out of most of our society today. We have forgotten how to connect in a way that serves the greater good and how to do that with intention, with harmony and with respect, therefore connecting us all to one family. It seems that if we are in a new age we must bring that back and ask the ancient ones for support so we can receive transmissions from spirit that truly serve us and allow the new world to emerge.

As we sat in ceremony with our fellow yoga teachers in training the energy began to grow. Some people dancing around the fire and releasing their writings or objects that represented their letting go into the fire with anger, rage, sadness and some with ease, joy or relief. Here there was no judgement, there was only holding space and wanting for each and every person to fully let go of that which does not serve them. There was such deep comradery in the circle, to know that we all were doing it together, supporting and loving each other. That we had seen each other, truly seen, who each other really was and so birthed in every heart this deep desire for each soul to let go so that each soul could see what beauty everyone else saw. Simply beauty, truth and grace.

This is the energy of sacred ceremony, the energy of tribe that has ignited in me again. I have been blessed to be a part of it because it’s part of the new way and as teachers we have the honor of sharing with our students. To allow the pure intention of the sacred, of ancient ways to stream through our classes such that we provide a space for transformation to go just a little deeper with each teaching we are blessed to share.

Training the Yogi in us all #5 – Intricacies of the Mind:

I always thought (perhaps thinking was the problem) that you needed to learn how to control the mind. But all you really need to do is lose interest in it. Truly that’s it. As we work through the ancient text of the Yoga Sutras I am beginning to understand the mechanics of the mind and how it truly is more of a receiver than anything. When you focus the mind upon something you don’t want, that energy grows. Simple. When you focus the mind upon what you want, that energy grows, also simple.

When you focus your mind on what you want, the emotional response feels good. The more you do that it grows and gains strength – you are essentially training a muscle, it’s like you’re lifting spiritual weights – the energy that is in alignment with what you want and most importantly who you really are. Now as you focus it is important not to attach, to the negative or the positive. Allow the positive in and have your experience and then let it go. As we find the middle ground, the line in the yin and yang symbol as I like to say, neither the black or white, we begin to find equilibrium. The more you focus on all the many things that make you feel good and lead to the direction of your dreams the bigger the energy gets and the more energy that connects you to who you really are comes through you.

As you activate this process and the ease to actually see and experience this through yoga you understand that the mind is not there to figure out and analyze and immerse too much, but rather that it is the receiver that spirit uses to send you information. When you’re focusing, not attaching and being present you’re an open vessel…information comes in and your job is to take that inspiration and act on it…just take the first step, inspired action. From there you will continue to be the receiver and allow inspiration and act on it and so on and so on and suddenly…you are co-creating…the most powerful purpose for a human because its the same energy as love.

Again I had no idea that the simple practice of yoga and holding poses (which are essentially a metaphor for life, as you have physical breakthroughs you do so in your life) could provide a training ground for the mind to focus in a way that gets what has been blocking you all the time OUT of the way. And then experience in the body the feeling associated with that. It’s there that the bliss starts to move through, that life force starts to expand in your and who you really are starts to shine into the world.