mantra

The Dangerous Truth

sat nam, meditationSat Nam is a mantra that invokes the true self. It’s often used as a mantra for those on the path to enlightenment – to call into one’s life the supreme reality, the truth of the self and the universe.

I had a teacher once who said, if you’re not ready for transformation, if you don’t want to change jobs, or life partners, maybe it’s best not to chant Sat Nam. Because if you go looking for truth, you’ll lift the veil of disillusionment, and you’ll find it. And the truth isn’t always beautiful women on cliffsides meditating towards the sunset. The truth is not a beautiful fantasy. So be prepared for transformation.

Image here.

Recommend: Magician, Heal Thyself

[image from GOOD magazine]

Sometimes, I think that reading about how someone else improved their life will help me improve mine. More often than not, it’s an escape fantasy. I can achieve inner peace, too, if only I started gardening or went to Tuscany or India or … did almost anything but immerse myself in my own life.

Scrambling down an internet rabbit hole while doing some research for a work project, I found this article by Starlee Kine called, “Magician, Heal Thyself!” She doesn’t offer advice or tell anyone how to do it. She hasn’t fixed herself, but she’s exploring. And her honesty is awesome.

Anna is from Olympia, Washington. This means if she were given a crystal for her birthday, she would say, “Oh my god, I love it!” and this would be the truth. Still we manage to get along because she’s good at trash-talking.

Leela and Chakra Game Play

Have you heard about Deepak Chopra’s latest venture, Leela? Launching today, it’s a meditation based video game where players work through the seven chakras focusing on movement and pranayama. The Leela website calls it:

a groundbreaking game concept that combines ancient relation and meditation techniques with technology to bring focus, energy and balance to your life.

The whole thing seems to be predicated on biofeedback, which makes sense to me. Yoga Dork is right, the demo makes the whole thing look pretty “trippy” (YD saw a live demo and reviewed the game. The demo I saw was on the Leela site.) but I have to say I’m intrigued.

I don’t think I’ll be going out to buy an Xbox anytime soon, so I’ll probably miss the opportunity to play. But who knows, maybe my niece and nephew will stop playing Lego Starwars long enough for me to sidle up to the Wii.

Integrity Daily

I’ve been thinking about intention and integrity a lot lately. When I read anything from Gwen Bell, I feel a mix of admiration and envy. In this case, I am admiring her daily routine and taking inspiration from it. Intention and integrity from dawn to dusk. It sounds like hard work, and delicious.

This is an image of Gwen Bell from her site, linked above.

Sunday Worship in the Studio

This morning during our Sun Salutation flow, as we came from Uttanasa (forward fold) to Ardha Uttanasa (flat back) our teacher reminded us to lead with the sternum. He said, “Lift your heart.”

He did this every time we went through the vinyasa. Lift your hearts. And my brain called back, “We lift them up to the Lord.” It was an automatic call and response drilled into my brain from years of childhood Sundays at church.

I didn’t grow up in a particularly religious family, and I came to yoga and spirituality only into adulthood. There’s some chatter about whether yoga is a practice, a philosophy or religion. Some worry that you can’t cross the streams.

But as this call and response came back to me, it struck me that it’s all the same. The dressing is different, the ambiance, some of the rules and regulations have their distinctive cultural flavors. But worship is worship. We lift up our hearts.