Remember this Public Service Announcement from the 70’s? I cry when I watch it. View it for yourself.
There is trash and oil in the blue waters where dolphin swim. What can we do? Make sure we reduce, reuse and recycle and think about trading our cars in for electric and hybrids. Switching to green products and finally and most importantly care more about our Earth. These are the only ideas I have. I am filled with so much sadness as tons of oil empties into our blue sea.
Fact: Most of the trash that makes up the Texas size pile in the Pacific is composed of trash from the gutters that lead to the oceans. How? Trash cans like this one. Once they over fill, they spill out on the streets and run into the gutters. If we all care a little more and pick up trash when we see it we can change this. Twelve billions eyes are plenty. Just more heart is needed. People first, then money, then things. Thanks Suze Orman.
Today in class, I spoke briefly about a lesson from the great spiritual book Bhagavad-Gita. Here is a an illustrative metaphor for the spirit, mind and body. “The self is thus the enjoyer or sufferer in the association of the mind and senses”. What this means is that we have a choice to have the body work for the soul or the soul work for the body. Without restraint, the senses will lead us into a self imposed slavery and addiction. With restraint, we can follow the mission of the soul without fruitless distration of the senses.
I’m not myself when you’re around
I’m not myself standing in a crowd
I’m not myself and I don’t know how
I’m not myself, myself right now
Jesus Christ will you look at me
Don’t know who I’m supposed to be
Don’t really know if I should give a damn
When you’re around, I don’t know who I am
I’m not myself when you go quiet
I’m not myself alone at night
I’m not myself, don’t know who to call
I’m not myself at all
Jesus Christ will you look at me
Don’t know who I’m supposed to be
Don’t really know if I should give a damn
When you’re around, I don’t know who I am
I always wished that I could find someone as beautiful as you
But in the process I forgot that I was special too
I’m not myself when you’re around
I’m not myself when you go quiet
I’m not myself all alone at night
I’m not myself standing in a crowd
I’m not myself and I don’t know how
I’m not myself, myself right now
Don’t know what I believe
Jesus Christ will you look at me
Don’t know who I’m supposed to be
Someone say if I should give a damn
When you’re around, I don’t know who I am
I always wished that I could find someone as beautiful as you
But in the process I forgot that I was special too
I always wished that I could find someone as talented as you
But in the process I forgot that I was just as good as you
“X-Static Process” by Madonna — Raise the Christ Within
CBS is airing the bigot Focus on Family advertisement. Why can’t Focus on Family leave women’s vaginas alone and mind their business about who wants to get married? CBS and NFL wants the middle class sit on a couch for three hours, drink and eat more sugar that causes us more health problems, be brained washed by a bigot fundalmentalist group that hates the America and the Constitution, WATCH MILLIONAIRE PLAYERS AND BILLIONAIRE TEAM OWNERS AND NETWORK EXECUTIVES PLAY A GAME, and give them more money! Ha ha ha! Pure comedy! All the while we are losing jobs, our businesses, and our healthcare reform! This is pure insanity! Go for a walk! Volunteer! Come to yoga! Read a book! Say no to this new sign of the fall of America! Remember there always signs. First comes a pebble, then a stone. Then a brick. Then a rock. Then a boulder. Being alarmed means you are awake. It doesn’t mean you have an anger problem. It doesn’t mean if you are a women that you are premenstrual! It means you are awake! It means we are awake and it means the yoga is working!!!!!!!
People’s action are the truth of what they believe. Don’t be fooled by their words. Cover your ears to what they say and hear with your eyes at what they DO.
“Students in Adho Mukha Vrksasana (Downward Facing Tree)”
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The following passage from “The Kabbalistic Bible” edited by Yehuda Berg inspired this post:
—”But what is real peace? It is something much more than physical rest and comfort. A person who desires to rest only in the physical sense is like a man who wants to put out a fire by pouring gas onto it. For an instant, it appears he has put out the fire, but then we see that he has only made it bigger.”
I truly beleive this above quote is the secret to all the mysteries of life. It explains the deep paradox that runs through the veins of life. I recommend you read the above passage over and over until you fully understand what it is saying. Here are some questions to help us “stand under” this wisdom and grasp it fully:
*What would happen if we stayed in bed all day and never move and allow the body be comfortable?
*What are the major differences between a parent and a child?
*Why is it we can’t remedy an absense with another absense? Why is darkness not remedied with more darkness?
These questions are hinting to us what the heart of the above quote is. Life is a paradox. We must remember this. Many people resist yoga because of it’s difficulty, but this is precisely why it saves our lives! We are at war with the body. Don’t for one second think we aren’t. The body wants to go into the ground. If it weren’t for the lightness of the soul the body would go into the ground and we know this because of our knowledge of the dying process. The only way to stay alive is to seek discomfort! As soon as we seek comfort we head toward the path of death. Yoga postures keep our bodies from comfort and that is how it paradoxically helps us. Uncomfortable sharing with other people has the power to empower our soul and save the body from heaviness as well. We must practice this paradox if we want to live life to the fullest. How can you be more uncomfortable today?
*The title of this post are lyrics from a song called “Tell Me” by Madonna. The word “bed” in hebrew has the same numerical value as sick.
In life I know for sure that one of the secrets is about “desire”. I know that the more you desire the more you can bring into your life. We have to think big — personally and globally! We cannot settle for less. If we think big we will be given big blessings. After all don’t we believe that repeated practiced thought creates reality??? A Kabbalah teacher once told me the story of the Skinny Cow and I thought it was a perfect way to begin 2010:
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Long ago there was poor farmer who lived in a small town on a small farm. He had a humble family and very little money. The farmer also had an old skinny cow in the back yard that they used for milk. During the winter this cow’s milk was all they had to eat. The family lived poor and suffered for years and years with their small bit of milk from their skinny cow. One day a very important town leader came to the farmer’s home and out of respect they fed him dinner. Their guest ate the few crops they had and kept asking for more until he had finally eaten everything the farmer had. After he had eaten all of the farmer’s food, the man asked for even more food. The farmer told the man he had nothing left. But the man didn’t seem to believe the farmer. He stood up and saw the skinny cow in the back yard and told the farmer to slaughter it because he wanted to eat that too! The farmer, knowing that the cow was their only food source for winter, slaughtered the cow with great sadness and dispair. The man ate the cow and left. There sat the family devastated. All the fears came pouring in. What will they eat? What will they do? How can they survive winter? The farmer left the house to take a walk and to think about a solution. He walked deep in the woods and sat down and prayed and cried. Just then a voice came from the sky and told him that he had finally after all these years let go of that skinny cow and now he can have real major blessings in his life! He looked down and saw a box burried in the ground. He dug it up and it was filled with rare diamonds! He and his family were never poor again and lived happily ever after!
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What is your skinny cow? What small desire is keeping your from a bigger ones? What small ego attachment are keeping you from major soul longings?
In 2010 let’s go for it! Let’s let go of small comforts! Small inflexibilities! Small control issues! Small places, people, attitudes and dreams! The Creator is ready to send you diamonds if only you stop clutching stones!
Call 1800 Kabbalah to get in touch with a kabbalah teacher or in the LA area visit 1062 S Robertson on Tuesday or Thursday nights at 7pm for a free introductory class!
