Yoga for Cannonau Lovers!

To find inner peace...

"To find inner peace, have full attention and interest in everything you do ...

To find inner peace, live fully in the present, the past and the future are dissolved in cycles of eternity ...

To find inner peace, be inwardly relaxed: in the body, emotions, mind and spirit ...

To find inner peace, practice non attachment: be aware that nothing and nobody really belongs to you ...

To find inner peace, consciously cultivate joyful thoughts...

To find inner peace, have no desires; realize that happiness is inside you, not in external conditions or things ...

To find inner peace, realise that you can't change the world, but you can change yourself ...

To find inner peace, project peace externally, in the environment that surrounds you ...

To find inner peace, live simply, reduce what you "must have" ...

To find inner peace, lead a healthy life: exercise regularly, eat healthily, breathe deeply ...

To find inner peace, act freely from your inner Centre, without being a slave to what the world asks of you ...

To find inner peace, accept the truth as your guide in all circumstances...

To find inner peace, do not covet what have others, but know that what it is yours will find ways to reach you ...

To find inner peace, don't complain, but acknowledge that what life gives you depends on what you, first, give yourself ...

To find inner peace, accept the responsibility of your failures and realise that only you can turn them into accomplishments ...

To find inner peace, conquer yourself, don't just cease hostilities ...

To find inner peace, smile in the heart even when others are looking at you wrongly ...

To find inner peace, give joy rather than taking from others ...

To find inner peace, work with others, never against them ...

To find inner peace, meditate and draw from the sources of peace from the soul ...

To find inner peace, accept yourself: do not be blind to your faults, but do not hate yourself for them ...

To find inner peace, love others selflessly, without selfish motives."

(Swami Kriyananda)

Salamba Sirsasana

"Put the attention into the luminous connections
between each of the centers throughout the body.

The base of the spine and the top of the skull,
The genitals and the heart!
The heart and the throat,
the throat and the forehead,
the forehead to the top of the head . . .

Attend to the current of relationship
electrifying, ever-pulsating, richly textured,
between each of these and every other.

Then attend simultaneously to resonance of all with all.

Enter that glowing net of light
with the focus born of awe
and even your bones will know enlightenment."

Infinity dancing everywhere..

"Experience the substance of the body and the world

as made up of vibrating particles,
and these particles made up of
even finer energy particles.

Drifting more deeply,
feel into each particle
as it condenses from infinity
and dissolves back into it
continuously.


Noticing this, breathe easily
with infinity dancing everywhere."

The Radiance Sutras

The Radiance Sutras

A beautiful yoga text; a must read....

Click here to read the Radiance Sutras

Perfection?

This is not an advanced. perfect or difficult yoga posture, this is not a fit, perfect body, but this IS yoga and it does feel perfectly blissful!

Cobra posture, Cea Beach, Ogliastra

There are so many photos and videos out there of perfect bodies doing perfect (and advanced) poses. They feel wrong to me for 2 reasons; the first: they are just another example of modern society's obsession with sex, perfection and beauty which places pressure on everyone to reach these unrealistic goals and promotes, self loathing, inadequacy and a desire to be something other than what we are. The second: I worry that it puts many people off trying yoga, because the postures we see are advanced postures and are not achievable for many, even after years of practice, not every body is the same and not every body is capable of some of these advanced postures. So many people who are curious about yoga have said to me "I can't do yoga, I am not flexible enough"; these pictures and videos do nothing to encourage these people and it is a shame because so many could benefit from a yoga practice. 

I understand that for some these pictures are incentive and goals and I am not saying there is no place for them at all, but I do feel the balance with videos and photos showing more subtle and gentle practice is totally off.

I long for the day when we will be encouraged to embrace and love ourselves for who we are and where we are on our journey and when we can learn to see and accept others for who they are, with all their imperfections!

It starts with you.....

It starts with you.....

Governments cannot change the world, neither can churches, society nor any other authority.  Nobody can be forced to show compassion, tolerance, respect and nobody can be forced to change.

Gandhi said “be the change you want to see in the world”.

The world will only be more peaceful, compassionate, tolerant and safe if we each individually commit, every day, to being the best we can be; to show respect, to be compassionate, to help others, to choose how we react to challenges and differences, to show by example that there is a better way.

Can you imagine the revolution that would occur across the whole planet if each and every person on the planet, on this very day chose compassion instead of selfishness, chose generosity instead of greed, chose to think of us all being interconnected and sharing resources and knowledge in a fair way instead of the protecting the needs and greed of individual countries, religions & cultures, chose to give without thought of receiving, chose to be tolerant and respectful of others' differences in ideas, beliefs, colour and culture instead of prejudiced and intolerant, chose forgiveness over anger and hate?

Peace in a bubble by John Taylor 

(http://fineartamerica.com/featured/peace-in-a-bubble-john-davis.html)

It can happen, but we must stop expecting someone else to do it for us, we have to do this ourselves. So why are we waiting for something or someone else to save the human race, to save our world?

Begin today; be the best you can be; allow your tranquility, compassion and generosity to be the example to everyone you meet. Choose to react and think differently today, see the change it brings about within your own heart, your own well-being; allow the change to spread from you like a bubble, show others how things can be different; if your change in attitude makes just one person feel a bit more positive or a bit happier, wouldn’t it have been worth it??

And if you slip up and make a mistake, don’t beat yourself up, we all make mistakes and we all have bad days; show yourself compassion and forgiveness and begin again…never give up…always “be the change you want to see in the world.”

Let’s start the revolution together….