Delicate white blossoms each hold the promise of luscious fruit come summer.

Two days ago, glancing out an upstairs window at a plum tree, I noticed small green buds timidly making their first appearance. The first stirrings of life concealed in it potential moving towards life revealed in its fullness.

Today is Imbolc, a cross-quarter holy day in the wheel of the Celtic year, that heralds the stirrings of Spring. As I peered once again out the upstairs window at first light, as if from a whispered cue from Brighid, the goddess of this holy day, those timid buds have declared their presence as delicate white blossoms each holding the promise of luscious fruit come summer. That which was guarded in the dark is stirring towards the light. That which was intangible, manifested. Potency took form.

Brighid is the Fire Goddess, the keeper of the flame, and is closely associated with lengthening of days, the brilliant green tips of new grass’ first beginning, snowdrop flowers daring to bloom on the still frozen earth. She is said to hold and tend the flame of the sun during the darkest days between November 1 (Samhain) and Imbolc. Her flame is the fire of potency and creativity that awakens the earth to begin to spring forth with new life. She kindles the flame of sexual desire which will rage fully by the next cross-quarter day (Beltaine in May) when new life is planted in the womb. Her radiance tends to healing the body and alights the intellect with fresh vision. The warmth of her voice stirs the heart and poetry springs forth. She is the keeper of the hearth, and the light in the dark of despair.

On this day, it is a day to tend to the flame of your intention. The year is still new, that which your heart desires and that you have willfully set into the soil of your being, is showing the first signs of its journey from dormancy to one of action. These seeds of intention must still be kept warm and held in protection against becoming frozen, stagnant, dead. In Sanskrit, stoking the flame of your will is called Tapas. Tapas is like the smoldering fire of Brighid warming the seeds of your intention (Sankalpa) so that they begin to extend beyond the protective boundaries of their seed state and move towards the actions that will take root and sprout, blossom and fruit. Whatever intentions or New Year’s resolutions you made (whether you made them at Samhain, the Solstice, or more traditionally in the United States, on New Year’s Day), this is the critical moment to re-affirm the intention. Re-kindle the fire of the will and heat the potential beneath the surface. With an inner whisper of the Brighid, call forth buds and blossoms into their form.

May the highest intention of your heart continued to be kindled by the fire of your will. May your dreams begin to take root and sprout forth into being as we enter into the stirring of Spring. May the stirring of your dreams bring you to the balanced place of effort and grace so that the buds will blossom and the blossoms will fruit.

Happy Imbolc!

Photo by Abby Tucker.

Related posts:

1. Teaching or Transmission? Igniting the Fire of Transformation (video)

Below is an excerpt from Daniella Cotreau’s blog post, posted on her blog Body Temple Yoga on January 25, 2012, after her visit to Encinitas, California, future site of The Center for Anusara Yoga, for the start of John Friend’s 2012 World Tour: “Ignite the Center.”

John Friend, Ignite the Center - Photo by Mario Covic

When I contemplate on the phrase, “Ignite the Center”, it can mean many things and is certainly open for each individuals own interpretation as it feels right.

Ignite the Center in the case of John Friend and the growing Anusara Yoga community, the meaning is multi-fold.

Teachers and students gathered with John Friend for a 3 day practice last week in Encinitas, California to kickoff John Friend’s 2012 global tour and to “Ignite The Center” by blessing the physical space and the unified intention of the Kula.

“The Center,” set to open during the summer of 2012, will be a place where we can all come together as teachers, artists and students alike, to grow, create, inspire and share as a global yoga community.

The highest vision of The Center is to be a model of what it means to live and co-create together as a global community.

He has chosen Encinitas California as the home of “The Center” a beautiful and magical place where Paramahansa Yogananda’s Fellowship and Gardens sit a top the cliffs overlooking the ocean.

John Friend and Daniella Cotreau - Photo by Mario Covic

Myself, along with over 100 yoga practitioners and teachers practiced 100 poses a day that took us about 4 hours each session with 4 five minute meditations between sets/series of poses. We did not stop for breaks during those 4 hour practices. We just flowed. Held by the shakti (energy) of our hearts and each other and the charismatic and inspiring way John leads us through each and every moment and breath.

The theme that John brought for day one of our time together was “Reside in Your Center.” It was an invitation to draw inside. To pull your energy, your attention first to the inside. To connect with your center and rest there. Be there. Live there.

To see the rest of Daniella’s post on dharma, please visit her blog, Body Temple Yoga.

Related posts:

1. Interview with John Friend: Igniting the Center, 2012 World Tour (video)
2. The Center for Anusara Yoga: Coming Soon!
3. 2012 Eye of the Tiger Practices Foster Deeper Community Connection in the Greater Bay Area

Yoga Room, Terminal 2!

I had breezed through it last year en route to D.C., but this time I was really stuck. My flight to Los Angeles involved a plane held captive by Seattle’s recent ice storm, leaving me a chunk of time (ok, like 7 hours) to become better-acquainted with San Francisco International Airport’s new Terminal 2, which houses Virgin America and American Airlines.

When I swept through the terminal shortly after its opening in 2011, I appreciated the aesthetic imparted by design giant Gensler, but last week I had plenty of time to make use of Terminal 2′s many thoughtful and humane features. I convinced myself to see this extended stay as a positive experience; after all, the terminal has LEED™ Gold Certification, and is a model of sustainability. I began documenting some of the terminal’s impressive amenities, including its spacious concrete workspaces. When I uploaded the workspace photo to Facebook, it prompted an unexpected discovery.

“Evidently there’s also a new yoga room there,” Emily Betts, my friend and fellow yogi, commented on the workspace photo. She prompted me to visit the Facebook wall of our teacher, Stacey Rosenberg, for more details. Sure enough, during a recent trip, Stacey had not only commented about the room, but had also left directions: “The yoga room is right after security on the right. I spied it from the security line!”

SFO's Terminal Two

A brief history of my “airport yoga” experience: I am from the east coast, and I fly back often. To keep myself sane, I generally do some low-key poses at the gate (and also on the plane, during long flights). In my experience, nobody blinks an eye at SFO. In other airports, I sometimes get a few strange looks until folks realize I’m flying to or from California. Though I have never felt too self-conscious about doing some pre-boarding lunges and thigh stretches at the gate, I had never considered the possibility of a space within an airport that is entirely dedicated to yoga. I was compelled to investigate the Yoga Room.

Yoga Room Interior

I beelined to the ladies’ room with my luggage, swapped the skinny jeans for yoga pants, and traveled the path to my salvation: from inside the terminal, I walked back toward security, past the array of eco-friendly shops and restaurants—all the way to the end, past the bookstore—and veered to the left. To my surprise, there was official airport signage for the Yoga Room, which I hadn’t noticed on my way into the terminal. I had to stop myself from sprinting to the door (well, actually my luggage stopped me).

There’s a short list of Yoga Room Etiquette posted both outside the frosted glass door and inside the room, with commonsensical directives such as shoe removal and the silencing of mobile devices. I quickly removed my boots and ushered my luggage inside.

The room is the color Krishna’s skin would be after a beach vacation: a deep, soothing cobalt. The dark hardwood floor and soft lighting create a soothing space. There’s also a full wall of mirrors, but there are three mirror-free walls, too, so you can choose whether or not you want to watch yourself practice. On the afternoon of Thursday, January 19, I was the only visitor. I grabbed one of the three complimentary mats and settled into a sweet SFO practice, grateful to reconnect with my breath in a place that usually stifles it.

Considering that the Yoga Room is just a few yards from the security screening area, it is surprisingly quiet in there. The aforementioned frosted glass door is hung in a comparably frosted glass wall, which adds extra light to the space and keeps it from feeling like a dark blue cave. The glass entryway also allows for one-way vision: while gazing forward in ardha uttanasana, it is a surreal experience to watch fellow passengers stumbling out of security and sprinting to their gates.

Pre-Flight Practice

One word of warning: there is no clock in SFO’s Yoga Room. Unless you’re saddled with a long delay, as I was, you may want to keep your silenced phone handy so you can periodically check the time while you indulge in an airport practice. Afterward, you might enjoy refilling your water bottle at the automatic refill station near Pinkberry. Adjacent to Pinkberry is the SFO outpost of The Plant Cafe Organic. I have enjoyed The Plant’s locations in San Francisco, and the Terminal 2 location has a similarly delicious menu to satisfy post-practice hunger. If still stranded following your meal, take advantage of the free wi-fi, go shopping, or settle down in one of the many truly comfy chairs distributed throughout the terminal.

During my delay, I learned some good lessons. First of all, there are far worse places to be stranded than Terminal 2 at SFO. Secondly, this experience was a great illustration of how the yoga community can uplift and guide us, even when they’re not physically present—and how the practice itself can be powerful, even (or perhaps especially) in the most unlikely places. Also, I truly appreciate living in a time and place that has the foresight and consideration to formally incorporate yoga into the air travel experience, allowing passengers to transcend their worries of liquids, gels and creams, interminable layovers, and so-called “random selection.”

One more thing: never leave home without yoga pants.

All photos by Kelly Murdoch-Kitt.

No related posts.

"Dragons are shape shifters... showing us how to become the most potent versions of ourselves."

Happy Chinese New Year! Late Sunday night, January 22 at 11:39pm, the new moon in Aquarius ushered in the year of the Water Dragon. 2012 is an invitation to wake up once and for all. There is no time to waste feeling useless or hopeless, and staying in a sleepy stupor is no longer an option, particularly for yogis. Water Dragon will assist us in this awakening.

The water element of this year changes the way in which Dragon affects us (Fire Dragon, for example, would feel different), giving this year a more Neptunian, Piscean, underwater, mysterious feel. We must trust deeply our intuition, follow the song of our hearts, trust the flow even in the midst of big change. Change is unavoidable, and this is the year to get comfortable with change and make friends with chaos, always expecting the unexpected. Big changes in life will continue to be churned out of the Sea of Consciousness, especially with the specific astrology unfolding this year. The big changes we are going through are not over, but really only getting started. What we see unfolding globally and socially is taking place inside each one of us personally; it is that same disturbance in frequency, restlessness, a sense that we are growing and transforming. And we know that we can make art and offer beauty even in the face of adversity and hardship.

Remember that Dragons are majestic, magical creatures, shape shifters, showing us how we can be anything we want to be, shift out of old ways of being and thinking, and become the most potent versions of ourselves. The possibilities are boundless. This is the year you become YourSelf if you’ve been holding back. Water Dragon embodies mystery and magic, and brings good luck and blessings. Dragon asks us to believe in the magic of life, to dream big, and to remember the ancient secret embedded in our souls, the reason we have chosen to be here right now, to remember our power. The fiery breath of the Dragon may transform and purify us, but also entice us into the depths of our own hearts where we create our own magnificent reality. It will be a dynamic and fascinating year.

Dragon Blessings ~ KK

Related posts:

1. KK’s WildMOONwisdom AstroAlignment
2. Happy New Year and Reflections on 2010

Ginger Coy, John Friend, and Brad Coy

For 3 years, since the beginning of this blog, I’ve interviewed John Friend, Founder of Anusara Yoga, at the launch of his world tour. The last 2 years, the tour began in San Francisco. This year, the tour, named Igniting the Center, began in Encinitas, CA with a 3 day workshop from January 18-20th. Encinitas is a beautiful coastal town, which is located 25 miles (about a half hour ride) north of the San Diego airport in Southern California. The town is known as an epicenter of yoga, and ground zero for Autobiography of a Yogi author Paramahansa Yogananda and Ashtanga Yogi, Tim Miller. In addition to having a strong history and presence in yoga, Encinitas also has a strong surfer scene and prevalence of natural foods. Encinitas will soon be the site for the forthcoming Center for Anusara Yoga, called simply, “The Center”. All of us there for the workshop were invited to come tour the Center after class on Thursday. We were able to see a sneak peak of the Center during renovations. The Center is quite big, has good energy and is located about a block from Yogananda’s Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) and a short walk to a staircase, which leads down to Swami’s beach. The beach features nightly epic sunsets. Since the Center is being renovated, and is slated to open in the Spring or Summer, about 175 of us Anusarans practiced yoga at the Seaside Center for Spiritual Living.

John Friend gives a tour of the Center

Each day of the 3 day workshop, we steadily practiced 100 poses for 4 hours. Our practices were steady in that there were no formal breaks and very little demos. We worked on strengthening our nadis with particular emphasis on the nadis in our arms during hand balancing poses. John defined nadis as energy channels much like guitar strings that vibrate at different frequencies. He spoke about how lots of people get on the treadmill and take in music through their headphones and watch TV while they run and that’s what they become more of, whatever they are taking in. The cardio will get gym-goers’ heart rate up, but there is no internal shift in consciousness. Yoga, by contrast, offers transformation of your whole body, and in particular your energy body through the nadis. He noted that yoga is unique in that a practitioner’s heart rate will go up and down during the practice, which helps to strengthen the energy body or subtle body by toning the nadis. He encouraged us to move not from our outer body but from our energy body inside.

A bunch of us gathered at Swami's Beach after the tour of the Center for sunset

In addition to nadis, he spoke of watching Iyengar on video with the sound off to study his backbends, and he noted that Iyengar moved as though each pose was a prayer packed with meaningfulness throughout every breath and movement. Watching this video, John originated the phrase, “melt your heart.” It was as though Iyengar was softening so much, making such a strong prayer in this way that it necessitated a melting of the heart.

Interview Topics

-Inspiration for the name of this year’s world tour, Igniting the Center
-New York Times article, “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body” by William J. Broad
-A discussion on injuries sustained through yoga

-Yoga in relationship with Hinduism and Anusara’s philosophy, Shiva-Shakti Tantra
-Critical Times we live in, the role of technology and China

-Sacred Geometry
-Grace in relationship with Control, Non-dualism
-Vision for Anusara Yoga and the world in 2012

If you can’t see the video, click here.
To find out where John is headed next on his tour, please click here.

Related posts:

1. Interview with John Friend-Dancing with the Divine, 2011 World Tour
2. Part 2: Interview with John Friend-Dancing with the Divine, 2011 World Tour
3. John Friend: Finding Grace in times of Disaster (video)

Tigers in Warrior 2

The 2012 Eye of the Tiger Practices, being hosted this year in an all Bay format with rotating teachers and at locations across the area, was off to a great start this past Saturday. Thirty-nine Anusarans joined Stacey Rosenberg in San Francisco for the inaugural practice.  I was there, and it’d been a while since I’d practiced for four hours.  It was a lot of fun, and incredibly challenging.  Definitely a great way to build one’s practice.

I want to make sure and acknowledge the number of South Bay yogis who trekked up to San Francisco for this practice.  One of the things that excites me about this year’s format for the Eye of the Tiger practices is the opportunity to build and renew the ties of kula with people with whom we don’t get to practice regularly.  My hope is that these will grow as people take the time to get out of their geography and travel to practices that are not in their backyards.  See y’all on February 11 in Los Altos with Samantha Shakti?

Sun Salutations

After the practice, about a quarter of us went on to dinner.  Post-Eye of the Tiger practice dinners seem to be as much a part of the tradition as the practice itself, and for good reason:  sharing a meal after a long practice is one of the best ways we can foster the sense of community that is so integral to Anusara.  And it is fostering this sense of community, this sense of kula, that will be a major editorial theme for me in 2012.  I’m looking forward to exploring ways that the kula across the Bay Area is fostering community at all levels – around specific classes, at specific studios, around specific teachers, and across the Bay.  We are so blessed to have a phenomenal group of teachers and students here in the San Francisco Bay Area, and I am hopeful that in 2012 we will see greater cohesiveness, greater richness, and more opportunities for community-building, including opportunities that are not necessarily centered around asana classes.  Be sure to check back for posts on this topic, soon!

Have an idea about how to help deepen the experience of kula for Bay Area Anusarans?  Then I want to hear from you!  E-mail me at fredo @ bayshakti . com.

Want to keep up with information on the Eye of the Tiger Practices?  Join the Facebook page.

Related posts:

1. Tigers to Roar All Across the Bay Area in 2012
2. Old School “Eye of the Tiger” Practice Roars in the East Bay
3. Rooting into the Heart of Community

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali say, in sutra 1.33: “In relationships, the mind becomes purified by cultivating feelings of friendliness towards those who are happy, compassion for those who are suffering, goodwill towards those who are virtuous, and indifference or neutrality towards those we perceive as wicked or evil.”

Yes, that's me in the plaid!

I learned this at an early age from someone who lived this by example and, to this day, she is still the highest example of this teaching in my life. Her name is not Sri Swami Somethingorother. Her name is Paulina Seekoei (Seekoei is Afrikaans for “hippo”, which was surely an unfortunate Western name that her ancestors must have gotten from one of their white masters). South Africa in the ‘80s in the depths of apartheid – is certainly a surprising setting for my first yoga teacher to find me.

Paulina was my family’s live in maid. Most white families with at least lower middle class means had maids. Paulina was our maid for about thirty years, from when I was born until well after I had left the home she kept for us. When she started working for us, my mom asked her when her birthday was; she said February 25, but she did not know how old she was. Later, my mom saw her birth certificate, which said August 25, 1949, a year after the government formally started enforcing apartheid.

Paulina is very heavy set, and I remember her visibly struggling to walk and move around, especially as she got older. Yet, she kept the house clean and prepared delicious meals. I am not sure when she slept, because she was always there, working. She brought me coffee in bed each morning as I woke up to the smell of bacon and sautéed chicken livers with onions and chutney. How ironic that I have not had coffee since then. And though she fed me meat three times a day, I have been vegetarian for many years now.

Paulina was raising someone else's kids, while she was never able to see her own

My mom was always around and is an amazing mother; I feel so blessed that I have two great mothers. My parents treated Paulina relatively well, given the apartheid environment and the tremendous peer pressure on them that continuously reinforced the message that whites are superior, and to maintain certain norms. She worked for us for more than two decades before she could sit at our dinner table or use the bathroom in the house. My mom loves her like a sister and I am convinced she was and is my mom’s best friend. Years after my grandma (on my mom’s side) left her body, Paulina was the main support to help mom deal with the pain of this loss.

Paulina’s words of wisdom included nuggets like:

• “Dis maar hoe dit is,” meaning, “that is how it is.” Whether I was faced with something I perceived as bad or something I perceived as good, it helped me accept it for what it was.
• “Onthou hulle het ‘n ander paadtjie geloop,” meaning, “remember, they have been on a different path,” which was her version of Plato’s “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”
• “Dit sal ook verbygaan,” meaning, “this too shall pass,” mostly in response to something negative in my life, but sometimes in response to something positive. It helped me appreciate the impermanence of everything.

Paulina knew the dynamics I had with my friends and girlfriends and gave me a lot of insightful life advice. As I got older and had parties with friends at home, I fondly remember sneaking some beers to her through the back door. She vetted my girlfriends and friends as I really trusted her opinion. She was my first guru and helped me daily to get through my teenage years, not only with her words of wisdom, but especially through her example of how to find joy in the little things and how, without any knowledge of Patanjali’s teachings, she embodied so many of the qualities Patanjali holds up as exemplary.

Ishvarapranidhana

Paulina is completely illiterate, having never gone to any school. However, she does speak several languages. I still regret that I never taught her to read and write. It saddens me to think about how many times she must have been ripped off paying for something, not knowing the difference between the various denomination notes. She says she knows it by the different colors, but if she cannot read prices, or do basic math, she is totally dependent on the honesty of others.

One of Patanjali’s five Niyamas is Ishvarapranidhana— the basic meaning of which is to surrender yourself and lay all your actions at the feet of God. Yoga teaches us to accept the fact that we will not always get what we want. We should only be concerned with putting all our efforts into the current task, without being attached to the end result. Paulina’s embodiment of self surrender was probably more of a last-resort, emergency response due to her situation, living in apartheid South Africa, than an intentional practice. Yet I am still able to use it as the primary example to my own essential, ongoing practice of yoga.

She was well acquainted with the maids from next door, but I cannot help think that she went through life never truly having ever had real friends, as she lived with us 24/7 and only had vacation when we went on vacation. Even when we went on vacation, she sometimes accompanied us. My dad took us to the beach once or twice a year and I remember how she had to stay in the maid’s quarters of the Marine Sands Hotel in Durban. The hotel was certainly not posh by any standards, but I guess it must have been standard in those days to have a big dorm style room where maids would stay.

It was on one of these trips that I first remember seeing separate bathrooms for “blankes” (whites) and “nie-blankes” (non-whites). I must have been around 10 and remember that day vividly – big black letters on the white walls indicated which door to take depending on the pigmentation of your skin. When you got to the beach, there was a really crowded “coloured” beach and the much nicer white beach.

Durban Beach, South Africa

I remember asking my parents how “coloured” someone has to be before they cannot use the white facilities. If one of your grandparents were black, does that disqualify you from using the white facilities? On a side note, interracial marriages were illegal in those days.

Paulina has a son and daughter. We do not have contact with the son or his father. When my dad retired, my parents could no longer afford Paulina’s services. She currently lives in a shanty town with her daughter, Letia, and shares a bed with her ten year old grand-daughter, Lydia. Letia found a job at the school where Lydia goes. It does not sound like a good job, but at least Letia is close to Lydia, which is critical in an area where rape and violent crime are rampant. South Africa consistently tops the list of countries with the worst rape (including child rape), murder and assault rates. It is estimated that a woman born in South Africa has a greater chance of being raped than learning how to read. I often wonder whether Lydia was the result of a rape, especially given Letia’s reaction when I ask about the father. Whenever I visit South Africa, Paulina always tells me it is too dangerous for me to go visit her, so she takes the bus and walks to come to us.

I literally cannot even imagine how her life must have been growing up in those circumstances. Not only was Paulina able to survive, she was able to find beauty in seemingly insignificant things all around her and lovingly share that beauty.

Metta

A Buddhist principle often used in yoga is metta (loving kindness) – one of the ten paramitas (perfections of the heart). I always sensed true loving kindness from Paulina, even towards people who treated her worse than they treated their dogs. That Paulina always maintained this loving kindness, despite not even having basic human rights, is truly inspiring.

I once remember her slaughtering a chicken out back and teaching me how best to do this so as not to let the chicken suffer too much. Yes, you can twist a chicken’s head off with your bear hands, and still do it with loving-kindness! In fact, I can remember only one instance of some less than loving-kindness behavior on Paulina’s part: the father of her two kids once showed up at the house drunk, and I remember seeing her beat him with a shovel over the head. Years later, as a 13 year old, I was telling the story to friends and demonstrated how he dropped to the ground. I hit my head on a windowsill, resulting in a gash to my skull. The ensuing scar will forever remind me of Paulina’s lesson’s to me: that life is not always hummingbirds, flowers and butterflies, and it is how we perceive and handle life’s ups and downs that matters, how we understand the moments and situations in which to surrender and which to take up a shovel, and how to always treat others with loving kindness.

Related posts:

1. Kula as Guru?

Teaching or Transmission?  It Makes All the Difference When You Want to Ignite the Fire of Transformation.

Every yoga teacher wants to powerfully impact her students and improve their quality of life – and she usually imagines that she will do so by being a good teacher. I want to propose that in the field of yoga, this is not correct. Those who strive to be “good teachers” usually do so by emulating their own teachers or otherwise attempting to fit a mental picture of what being a good teacher looks like. As my root-guru once said, if you think you know what being a good teacher looks like, you can only act from your own limited understanding. But if you admit that you don’t really know the most effective way to convey knowledge, you will instead have to open and let the power of grace flow through you.

Fire of Transformation

“Teaching” denotes the more-or-less creative regurgitation of information you have more-or-less successfully recorded in your brain, whether that be alignment instructions or spiritual ideas. The Tantrik tradition contrasts teaching with the concept of “transmission.” Transmission is what happens when a teacher (or anyone, for that matter) is centered in her heart-space and shares something that has been powerful, meaningful, and effective in her own life – and does so in language that is not clichéd but rather spontaneous, heart-felt, and sensitive to the audience in front of her. You don’t have to be a master or an expert to give transmission. Anyone with even a single scrap of wisdom can do it, so long as that wisdom is well-contemplated and well-practiced. It must be true for you, and expressed in your own language.

Giving transmission often happens spontaneously, when you don’t plan or expect it. The effect is unfailing and often incredible: if the listener is open, the wisdom you are transmitting goes straight into their heart and plants a seed that is sure to bear beautiful fruit, whether the next day or ten years later. Now, as a teacher, if you want to give transmission regularly as opposed to “accidentally,” it can be a tricky business – for it involves learning how to get out of the way of the power that wants to come through you, that will come through you again and again if you learn how to surrender to it. Such surrender entails an ability to give up the desire to be praised or successful or well-thought-of, and replace it with a deep longing to serve, to connect with the hearts of your students. It entails the realization that you are most effective as a teacher when you realize it is not about you at all – it’s about feeling what the students need and then inviting grace to come through you in whatever form will meet that need most effectively. Grace will then use the knowledge that is in your brain as its tool of expression – but the result is far more powerful than anything you could possibly come up with when you are trying to be smart or trying to be a “good teacher.”

Seeking to be a vehicle for transmission puts you outside your comfort zone, because it requires you to trust in the power of Grace. It requires you to trust that what can come through when you open and soften and let yourself be transparent is far more effective and meaningful than anything you can generate out of your brain-knowledge. It requires you to get in touch with your inner experience. It’s scary to not have your script, to go inside and share spontaneously from the deepest place you can:  but the impact on students—and on you— is incomparable.

Real change, spiritual transformation, is always catalyzed by transmission, never by teaching. We have seen that transmission necessitates a) being centered in the heart, in your core (as much as you can be at that moment); b) having a longing to serve; c) being willing to surrender and open (especially surrendering your self-image of needing to be an authority). From the traditional perspective, one more ingredient is necessary for it to be called true transmission: the teaching or practice you are sharing is one that comes from lineage. That is, it’s not something made up last week, but has been tried and tested and proven effective over centuries, and is infused with the Grace and sankalpa (intention to benefit all beings) of the masters who have passed it on.

In November of 2010, I decided I was done with teaching. I was done with conveying “interesting information.” I wanted to offer transmission in a regular, sustained way — the kind of transmission that changes lives for the better. So upon my return from Asia, I started planning a new immersion program in classical Tantrik philosophy and practice, called The Fire of Transformation. The curriculum for this 100-hour immersive spiritual process came to me all at once, as an inspiration (though it was partially inspired by the month-long Mind of Shiva retreat I had just completed at the Adi-yoga ashram in Thailand). Amazingly, with only a month’s publicity, the immersion filled up and I had 25 wonderful students. I consciously applied the principles outlined above, giving my whole heart while simultaneously getting out of my own way and letting lineage transmission come through. Grace flowed abundantly, and I was, quite frankly, astonished by the results. They were well beyond my expectations—almost every single person in The Fire of Transformation immersion testified that it was a life-changing experience. Nothing could possibly exemplify the significance of transmission vs. teaching better than the 25 glowing faces I had the blessing to witness at our closing retreat. I felt almost no personal pride in the tremendous impact of the teachings and practices on this group; rather I felt awed, humbled, and grateful to be able to serve in this way. This is what happens when we are a vehicle for transmission.

I am grateful to be offering The Fire of Transformation again this year. Rather than try to describe this astonishing process, which is truly a gift of the Goddess, I will let one of last year’s students (and Managing Editor of this site, Fredo Guastella) testify to its power more effectively than I could:

“It is a curious thing to consider that one can change the trajectory of one’s life in six months. And yet, as I reflect upon my time in The Fire of Transformation, that would appear to be one very accurate way to describe my experience. As I look back to a year ago, when I was contemplating enrolling in the Immersion, I admit to being incredulous about one of its central tenets:  that all worry is created by the mind, and can be stilled. And yet, even given my skepticism, I find myself on the other side of that fire a very different person than who I was when I began.

The Fire of Transformation is exactly as soul-wrackingly hard as confronting your most basic understandings about reality, about your mind, and about your identity. It is the challenge of walking into the all consuming fire, and takes the courage to cast off everything. And yet, at the same time, it is as easy as remembering who you really are, who you really always were. It is as easy as being breathed, or as sighing.”

And that testament to the power of transmission expresses why I believe that dedicating myself to the process of transmission was the most important decision I’ve ever made as a teacher. I invite you, the reader, to become aware of how you can be a vehicle for transmission in your own life: by sharing teachings and practices that have worked for you, in your own natural language, from a heart-felt desire to uplift others, and in so doing, uplift yourself. If you don’t have a rich treasure-chest of such teachings and practices, well, I’ve got an immersion for you. . . .

_________________

You can find out more about The Fire of Transformation Immersion program here.

(If you’re reading via email or rss, please visit the blog for the video.)

Related posts:

1. Interview with John Friend: Igniting the Center, 2012 World Tour (video)
2. A Path of Total Transformation: the Bay’s first Immersion into the teachings and practices of Classical Shiva-Shakti Tantra
3. Imbolc: Tending the Fire of Intention

After an absence of a few years, the Eye of the Tiger practice saw a resurgence in 2011 in the Bay Area: first, with Abby Tucker’s “Old School” Eye of the Tiger Practice in the East Bay, and then by Stacey Rosenberg in San Francisco. The “Eye of the Tiger” practice, first offered by John Friend to Desiree Rumbaugh prior to the official founding of the Anusara method, is a beloved and important part of many Anusarans’ practices, with its focus on playfully building strength, stamina, and exploring more complex poses sometimes not offered in regular classes. For 2012, four Certified Anusara Yoga Teachers across the Bay Area have teamed up to offer the Eye of the Tiger practice on a rotating basis. In addition to Abby Tucker and Stacey Rosenberg, Darcy Lyon and Samantha Shakti have come together to one Eye of the Tiger practice a month, rotating locations and teachers.

Eye of the Tiger 2012*

For me, what is extraordinary about this new offering is not just the opportunity to attend Eye of the Tiger, but also the opportunity to build and strengthen the ties of kula across the Bay Area. One of my favorite aspects to John Friend’s weekend workshops is getting to see Anusarans from outside of San Francisco – friends I’ve made over the years at various Immersions and workshops – that I don’t often get to see. It’s also a treat to watch people light up as they see someone they’ve not seen since the previous year. And although Bay Shakti and Facebook are providing a forum for community and connection virtually for the kula, we rarely have the opportunity to come together in person from all parts of the Bay Area.

The forthcoming Eye of the Tiger series changes that, as we now have a series of regular, rotating practices across the Bay Area at which we can come together, delight in the practice mat to mat, and take our yoga deeper collectively.

This is not to be missed.

I reached out to each of the four teachers (I feel very luck to have spent significant time practicing with three of them) to get their thoughts on why this was so important.

Samantha Shakti wrote,

Samantha Shakti

“For me, community is why I choose to join the Anusara movement. In 2001, I met Hanneli Francis. Hanneli, who has now passed away from this world due to a brain tumor, embodied the community of Anusara fully. Hanneli was one of the first Certified Anusara Instructors. She and I shared a private student in Williams, OR. She was so sweet and welcoming to me when we first met with our student. I knew that what she was a part of was what I was looking for in my deepest heart’s truth. At that point, I had been practicing for 15 years and teaching for 12 years. Until then I had met and studied with amazing teachers that I am extremely grateful towards, but did not feel the community connection that my heart longed to experience. Hanneli and I started practicing together and I was hooked! The genius of the practice, to me, shines through when we make a conscious effort to connect and remember our interconnectedness. Below are words written by Hanneli that illustrate that very idea.  I am super thrilled to be asked to share in leading the Eye of the Tiger Practices with Abby, Darcy and Stacey. When we come together to celebrate and shine we make the world a much brighter place…from the inside out!”

“I am a part of You,
And You are a part of Me.
So when I want to listen to You,
I must simply listen to Me.”

by Hanneli Francis

From Stacey Rosenberg:

Stacey Rosenberg

“I am excited for the Anusara community to come together from all the peripheral parts of the Bay Area to each of the core hubs. Practicing in an interconnected kula, we are able to unlock so much potential for living vibrantly. Together we will set powerful intentions, elevate our personal practices, and weave our hearts into a deeply connected tapestry.”

Abby Tucker

From Abby Tucker:

Darcy Lyon

Related posts:

1. 2012 Eye of the Tiger Practices Foster Deeper Community Connection in the Greater Bay Area

How will you grow your practice - and your heart - in 2012?

Your yoga practice is a seed. What kind of seed it is, you get to decide. Maybe it’s a fragile orchid, or a wild arugula sprout, or maybe it’s a hardy, rampant squash that takes over the garden. Whatever you imagine the seed of your practice to be, how do you plan to support its growth and let it flourish this year?

When I started my yoga practice many years ago, my back hurt all the time, my body felt weak and inflexible, and “unpromising” seemed a bit optimistic for the tiny seed I found myself caring for. But years later, with much tending, pruning, and weathering of storms, my yoga has grown into a flourishing tree in whose shade I find peace and whose fruit nourishes me and many others.

The tastiest fruit of my yoga practice isn’t any of the outer things you’d think (a healthy body, playful arm balances, clothes you can sleep in), but something subtle and infinitely more worthwhile: a small decrease in my reactivity and increase in my resilience.

What does this really mean? That when things don’t go my way, I’m less likely to point the finger of blame at someone nearby or at myself in the mirror. When I get knocked over, I can pick myself up, laugh a bit at the tumble I took, smile with love remembering everyone ends up on their bum sometimes, and get back to watering my seeds.

We learn early on that seeds need soil, water, and sunlight. Fortunately, there are many ways to nourish the seed of your yoga practice that don’t involve burying yourself in mud and waiting for the sun to come out. (Though if you’ve ever been to the mud baths in Calistoga, you know that option is not necessarily a bad one.) Here are some ideas:

1. Commit to your regular yoga practice
Write it into your calendar every week, maybe more than once! Schedule with a friend to meet them at class, then go out for tea afterwards.

2. Start a home practice
Watch videos or get a practice sequence from a book or teacher, get out your mat, and let your dog teach you how a downward facing dog is really done.

3. Take your yoga off the mat
Remind yourself daily of the inspiration you’ve received from your yoga practice. Make little post-it notes to inspire your heart and mind even when you can’t get to class.

4. Join an Immersion
If you’re ready to make a significant leap in your practice, commit to an Anusara Immersion and put your practice on the front burner. Or going with the seed metaphor, give it a big helping of delicious organic compost! An Immersion is a great way to give your practice the attention it deserves and grow your yoga community at the same time.

There are lots of ways to grow and deepen your practice… let me know what others you’ve found. May your practice become the garden of your dreams in 2012, blessings,

                                                                                                    Kimber

Kimber Simpkins is a Certified Anusara Yoga Teacher.  She will begin teaching an Anusara Immersion January 27, 2012.  For further information, please contact her at kimber @ kimberyoga.com.

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