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Taurus May 6th -- June 3rd 2008

Going For The Gold
Monday, June 2nd -- 28th Day of Taurus

I was standing in line today at the bank and on the above TV screen was a Bank of
America ad for their involvement with the upcoming Olympic Games. The ad
featured several moments in the past Olympics where people were beaming with
happiness after just coming in first place, radiating with joy as they broke a record
and crying with profound appreciation at the medal ceremony. And I too began to
get a little teary eyed. What is it about the Olympics that is so moving and powerful?
And the answer came right into my head: It's mind over matter.   Mind over matter
is our ultimate goal as human beings and it ultimately the only event that brings us joy.
In the ancient story of Moses and the Israelites parting the Red Sea in the Bible, when
Israelites had split the sea, they engaged in song and sang in joy and happiness. How
do you feel when you have accomplished the seemingly impossible? Our purpose on
earth is to bring, or to reveal rather, the spirit in the seemingly spiritless. This is what
we do in yoga every day -- conquer the limitations of the body. And this is what
brings us joy! What a conundrum! The body is the source of such wonderful
pleasures yet we find the greatest joy when we push it to its limits and conquer what it
demands of us the most! In Light on Life, B.K.S. Iyengar's last book, Mr. Iyengar
says that meditation is the Olympic final to yoga. How appropriate, and of course
so, it is for Mr. Iyengar to use the world Olympic. What is our goal in yoga and life?
-- To achieve control over the physical word and the fluctuations of the mind. The
definition of yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind.   My friends --life
truly is a war. We have the ultimate paradox. Like a knife that can be used to cut
food in order to live or to cut another in order to kill, the body too is the death of you
or the life of you. If the body is your 24 amusement park adventure, be prepared to
face what lies ahead. However, if your body acts as your perfect opponent in the
most challenging game every known to man, you will find that you will always be
bringing home the gold! Now go get em'!

Posted by Joseph at 545PPM

The Willingness To Do Work
Monday, May 26th -- 21st Day of Taurus

In our practice of yoga and spirituality, we need dedication. Many people say that
they do not have the discipline or dedication or will-power to continue their yoga
practice. What the truth is is that will-power and dedication is the willingness to do
work. Those who have will-power are not finding the job easy, they are just more
willing to do work. This is what we must remember.   We play now and pay later
or we pay now and play later. It's very simply. The longer you wait to do your
work, the harder it will be for you in the future. I wish life was a picnic, but it's not. I
wish life was a luxury cruise but it's not. Today, I was driving through Brentwood
leaving a private class, and I drove past a country club. I was a bit taken aback. The
concept of a country club is a bit foreign to me. Do people really just sit around and
smooch and drink iced teas? Do they really think that life will not eventually bite them
on the behind? At the very least, death will be waiting for them if not the disease of
apathy, loneliness, depression, lack of purpose or health problems even if and
especially if they are filthy rich. Money is a addictive novocaine. It numbs us of our
true work in life, leaving us frightened to ever wake up and feel what's really going on.
As much as we would love to think we can just coast life away at a country club, it's
not possible. Often times the poorest of them all dwell in the richest of places.
Medical intuitive Caroline Myss reminds us that: Life is a paradox. What's small is
big. What's big is small. Today, be willing to check out of the Avoiding-Life
Country Club. Embrace some work as an inoculation of even more difficult work in
the future. Hold a yoga pose longer than you want to. Call a family member you
hate. Say yes when someone asks you to do them a favor. Be willing to do work
and this is where you will find the power of dedication to your spiritual practice.

Posted by Joseph at 123AM

The Path of Yoga
Sunday May 18th -- 13th Day of Taurus

"The difficulty is that everyone in this world thinks they know what happiness
is. It seems so simple: Whoever can get what he or she wants in life is happy.
Because of this belief, we think that anyone with power or money or influence
must be happy. We are forever hearing, "They have a lot of money...they
vacation in faraway places in their private jet...what great lives they have...that
is true happiness..." But if we look closely, we see among the wealthiest people
those who are the most forlorn, the most bitter, the most problem-stricken.
They do not experience even a moment of happiness all year long, except
possibly when they are sleeping!

We now see how superficial our perspective on happiness is. If we want to find
truly happy people, each one of us must look within. We should not look to our
friends for the answer. Just because a person has certain things does not mean
he or she is happy. We are not speaking about momentary happiness but about
the happiness experienced by those people who's faces glow all the time, who do
not need physical things to bring them joy. Sure, these same people go to the
movies and buy things for themselves, but that is not what brings them
happiness. The Rav has mentioned people who go to bars on Friday nights.
They go to one bar, stay for a while, then go to another bar, and then yet
another, but all night, they must keep moving. If they aren't enjoying
themselves, why do they keep going to another bar? We are people who enjoy
things for a moment, but when the pleasure ends, we look for something else to
give us pleasure, and then another thing, and another, and so on.

Just like at the movies, the moment the entertainment is over, the pleasure is
gone. The happiness does not stay with us, so tomorrow we'll need to see
another movie. But we are really looking for true happiness, not the happiness
that is here today and gone tomorrow. Almost every pleasure in this world is
momentary and temporary. And the truth is, the entire world is too fast-paced
-- everything is in the here and now and even our coffee is instant. Its seems
impossible to find lasting happiness in such a world. Whenever something new
comes up, everyone runs after it. When it's gone, something else takes its
place...and we're off again running after it. New computers, new programs,
new games -- everyone wants to be the first to get it, see it, use it, and then a
week later, the craze is over. People think that these things will bring them
happiness. But we know that's not true. Why would we have to turn after
something else if we got something out of the first thing we ran after?
Obviously, we're getting nothing out of either thing.

Take food, for example. The taste disappears almost immediately, and just as
quickly, the body starts the elimination process. Only the sewage system really
enjoys the food that we eat. Ever notice how we eat sunflower seeds: Before
we've finished chewing what's in our mouths, we're breaking open the next
shell. Is this true pleasure or true happiness? Definitely not. So what is it
then? And what person is truly happy? If we ask the rich, those who can throw
money into the street and not feel a thing, what would they say? "We are not
happy and we have not yet found what we are looking for in life." This is one's
son is on drugs, and that one has health problems, Heaven forbid. Thankfully,
it's not this way for everyone. But most of the individuals in this world
experience problems whether they have money or not.

If we ask the people in the middle of the road, those who don't have all the
money they want but do not lack for anything either, we will find very
hard-working people who have what they need but want more. Usually, these
people are so busy trying to make money that at the end of the day, they don't
even have time to enjoy the money they have made. What kind of happiness
can that be? And if we ask the working poor, those who can barely make ends
meet and who hardly have enough to eat, what would they say if we asked them
if they were happy? They work hard all day, sometimes all night, and
nonetheless find that they are at the bottom of the ladder even though they
work the hardest. They are certain that their rich employers are happy while
they, the workers, are the least happy of all the people in the world.

It looks as if no one in this world can find happiness. So we must ask ourselves
how it can be that God created the world so that no one would be happy and
everyone would suffer. We know that this is impossible, for the Creator created
this world only so that His creations would take pleasure in it. How can we
correct all of this wrong so that we will be happy and not sad? We must look
for and know what this correction is and what the source of all happiness is --
the Creator. The Creator is the source of all goodness in this world. He is the
One Who created the path for us to achieve happiness, but in order to try
understand this correction, we must understand [the ego's] curse -- the curse
that puts limitations to our happiness and pleasure in this life. Where does the
problem lie? It must like within, for the Creator has no flaws, and He created
the world perfectly. We are the ones who destroy it."

Excerpt from The Kabbalistic Bible: Leviticus edited by Yehuda Berg

Posted by Joseph at 416PM

RING!
Thursday May 15th -- 10th Day of Taurus

Posted by Joseph at 1239PM

Empathy
Wednesday May 14th -- 9th Day of Taurus

I have always remembered Elie Weisel's enlightening quote: "The opposite of love
is not hate, it's indifference."

I believe this is a huge spiritual statement. The importance of feeling another person's
pain is not important but imperative to spiritual growth. There an old story I'd like to
share with you that illustrates this spiritual lesson.

Jonas lived in a small town in eastern Europe about 300 years ago. He had a
wife and a daughter. The day came when his daughter developed scarlet fever
and was on the verge of sure death. Jonas and his family were devastated.
After seeking help from every medicine man and woman in town, he decided his
last hope to save his child was to visit the wise teacher in town named Aaron.
Jonas went to Aaron asking him if there was anything he could do to heal his
daughter -- if he had any ideas at all. Aaron was a wise mystic and knew many
secrets of the world. Aaron told Jonas he will pray all day and night to open the
gates of heaven and reveal healing for his daughter. Aaron said for Jonas to
return the next day and he will surely have some solution. Jonas seemed to be
filled with new hope and left the teachers home. All night long Aaron prayed.
He sought guidance with his sacred books and spoke to his non physical
teachers. All night he begged for the gates of heaven to open for Jonas and his
family. After all night of praying, Aaron soon heard the knock on his door
come morning.   An excited Jonas was surely behind that door and he eagerly
asked Aaron for the solution on how to save his daughters life. Aaron looked
pale and told Jonas that although he had done everything in his power, he had
no solution for Jonas' daughter and ultimately could not help. Jonas' eyes
began to water. He thanked Aaron for his efforts and went on his way back
home feeling utterly drained and hopeless. The walk home was long for Jonas.
The thought of loosing his daughter overtook him, for now he had no more
options for solutions left. He stumbled to a spot under a tree and he began to
weep. His were not tears from the ego, but tears from the soul. Jonas cried not
only for his daughter but for all the pain of all the fathers' through time who
had sick children at death's door. Suddenly a voiced was heard. It was Aaron
screaming, "Wait! There is one thing I can do!"   Aaron had found Jonas under
the tree crying. Jonas with lite eyes asked what this new idea was and Aaron
told Jonas that although he had tried every thing he knew to help, there was
one thing he hadn't tried. Aaron told Jonas that he could sit down under the
tree with him and they could cry together. And this is exactly what they did and
what happened next neither Jonas or Aaron will ever forget. As Aaron and
Jonas sat and cried together that day under the shade of a large tree, the gates
of heaven became opened! When Jonas arrived home, he found his daughter in
perfect health and he and his family rejoiced for many years to come.

The law of affinity states that we cannot cleave to the light force of God until we are
more like its energy. The opposite of love isn't hate but apathy. Apathy therefore is
something to diligently run from. Until we feel the pain of others, we will never see the
gates of heaven opening in our lives. Today, as we have seen thousands and
thousands of lives literally crushed in China, around the world and here in the United
States from earthquakes, cyclones and tornadoes, try to at least --if not shed a tear
--at least be willing to leave your comfort zone of morning coffees, text messaging,
smoking, cocktails, spin classes, massages and gossip for a moment and be willing to
feel the pain for others and you too will surely see the gates of heaven open in your
life.

Posted at 439PM by Joseph

Sacrificing Your Comfort
Tuesday May 6th -- 1st Day of Taurus

Welcome to the new month of Taurus. How can we use this month to help improve
the quality of our lives and the world? That is the only reason we should study
anything -- so we can improve the quality of life around our world. I am not speaking
of physical quality but spiritual quality. As the saying goes, many people cry at night
on their silk pillows. A spiritual truth is that we will never ever receive genuine
happiness from anything physical. Physicality can not ever give us what we need.
We need to remember this truth during the month of Taurus. A teacher of mine once
said that a true test of spirituality is if when a friend calls us in the middle of the night
for help, are we willing to leave our beds and help him? Are we willing to sacrifice
our comfort for the need of another. Which brings me to an important point. What I
am about to say needs great attention. Read this next highlighted section three times
so it is really understood: 99% of our sharing as humans isn't real sharing.
Real sharing is only when we share to the point of leaving our person comfort
zone. Most sharing is done in our comfort zones, and consequently isn't
sharing -- it is really selfish receiving.

This is our work this month.   This month reveals to us our comfort. This month
contains a lot of light and blessings and will show us our addiction to feeling good.
Why do we have to share though? And why do we have to sharing authentically by
leaving our comfort zones? This is why: Have you ever felt guilty or depressed after
eating foods you know you shouldn't eat when your own a diet? We all have
experienced this. In this scenario we experienced comfort (eating the fattening food)
first, then second we experienced the discomfort (the guilt and weight gain). This is
the paradox of life.   Now, take the reverse. Have you ever looked in the mirror after
months of a dieting and felt really good about the health and weight loss you've
achieved? Yes, we all have experienced this as well. In this scenario, we
experienced the discomfort first, followed by the comfort, second. This explains an
additional spiritual truth: The more comfort we seek, the less comfort we will
eventually have. This is why we practice sharing out of our comfort zones -- it
actually helps us more than the recipient of the sharing! This is why we work this
month -- for us to receive the blessings. Look at every opportunity this month to help
others as another step towards your own happiness. Fight the comfort of Taurus!
Look for ways to sacrifice your comfort. Do more yoga. Practice Sirsana
(HeadBalance) in the center of the room and see what happens!   Resist the urge to
yell at the driver who cuts you off. Say yes to anyone who asks for your help! Run
away from your comfort with the same passion and speed you run towards it. If we
all did this, truly it would be heaven on earth for us all.

Posted by Joseph at 331PM

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