Free Facials and Yoga

Join us for a yoga demo this Saturday in conjunction with the Origins counter at Macy’s in Towson Town Center!

Heather Keller will teach a gentle yoga sequence 10:15 – 11:15 AM at the mall entrance of Macy’s.  There’s no need to bring your yoga gear; just stop by to breath, stretch and relax.

Youthtopia will give facials/makeovers and sensory therapy 11:30 AM – 2 PM at the Origins Counter of Macy’s.  Welcome Spring with a fresh start! 

Winter Weather Advisory

Due to inclement weather, Charm City Yoga is canceling our Friday evening classes, except for 4:30 pm Hot Vinyasa at Midtown and 7 pm Community Hot Yoga at Fells Point.  

All Classes will be cancelled on Saturday.  We hope you have a safe weekend, and invite you to get your yoga on in the snow!!  Send us pictures of you or your friends doing yoga in the snow, and we’ll post them here!  Have fun!  

The web of all things

Patanjali then goes on to describe the web of all things.  You all know it — the place where everything is ok.  The part that is even when you are sad, the part that is steady when you are happy. There is a consistent you that transcends the rise and fall of emotions.  So many of our choices are colored by the ripples in existence, choices that are a result of past actions.  These habits and views are blind to what really is, and we see things only through the illusion of the past.  Patanjali reminds us that our true self is free from the bonds of our small views and is our ultimate teacher and friend.

After a month of living in the ashram of the artist I can see the highs of new discoveries and the hopelessness of trying to offer up creation.  I can also see the importance of taking up a worthy endeavor like making art, or teaching yoga, as a means to know myself.  When I am able to recognize the waves of my mind as familiar, they become like the rhythm of the surf.  Sometimes they are beautiful, awe-inspiring, frightening, boring or comforting; but I am on the beach, I am watching the waves.  I make art to live a creative life, I make art to live in a way that is aware and caring, I make art to know myself.  With this knowledge I can help others to know themselves.  Helping others to know themselves is good for the planet.

Know yourself and find a way to help others know the Self.

The end of spiritual practice is only attained by placing oneself in the web of all things

Here we reach a culmination.  What does Patanjali mean by placing ourself in the web of all things?  What does he mean by the end of spiritual practice?

I think he is talking about the importance of living a radically alive life; and through this, and only this, can we become One with that which we have always been.  I think he is referring to our quest to live in equanimity, without aversion, without attachment,  and thereby free.  Classically this union is not attained through a warrior path but a Bhakti path.  A Bhakti path is one  filled with love and surrender for whatever arises.  (Whatever arises is part of the cosmic play of all things Holy).  The skills of concentration developed in your yoga practice are necessary to succeed in this devotional path.  As your divinity is revealed, the mind will do its best to distract you — to create obstacles and road blocks that keep your eye off the ball of Oneness.  Awareness and a gentle returning to the point of focus is required.

For example, I am in Vermont on an artists’ residency.  I can see all the participants and their different abilities to maintain concentration.  I can see those who show up each day in their studio, no matter how they feel or what they think of their work.  They show up when they are tired or when the work is difficult.  They show up when they feel great and it is a sunny day and the work is going just right.  Both of these circumstances can be reasons not to enter the studio.  I feel great, my work is going well, I think I will take a day and go to this event or that event.  I don’t feel well and I am not getting anywhere in my work, I will just take a day and go here or there.  We all came here with very limited time and an intention to grow in our artwork.  Culmination of the practice only occurs when we fall into the practice recognizing it as ourselves, when it becomes all that we are.

Go to your mat, see what kinds of separations you still believe in and let your love wash over them.  Let the aversions or the attachments arise and surrender your will to the Lord of all things, the Web thats is you and me and everyone.

Sutras 10 and 11

Patanjali goes on to describe sleep and memory as fluctuating states of mind. Anytime the mind is characterized as being in a state of flux, perception is not considered eternal or real.  This is not to say that sleep and memory are not important — they are– but as a student of the mind it is important to realize that the stuff of dreams and memory are colored by various lenses of perception.

Sleep accesses the subconscious and memory is a distortion affected by attachment and aversion.

What is occurring in this moment is the only path to separating from the waves of the mind and recognizing the calm sea that lies beneath.  This sea is who you really are.

Midnight Yoga Seva for Haiti Relief Efforts

Please join Charm City Yoga for a special Midnight Yoga Seva to help raise funds for victims in Haiti. Ask friends, colleagues and relatives who can’t join us to give generously by sponsoring your involvement with a donation of their own. Sarah Cook and Erin Bowers will be leading this 2 hour class. Open for all-levels of experience.

Date:  Friday, January 22
Time:  10 pm- midnight
Studio:  Midtown Yoga Center

This class is donation only.  100% of proceeds will go directly to the relief efforts being conducted by the International Medical Corps. This Charity is one of the highest rated organizations (grade of A+ given by the American Institute of Philanthropy) working in Haiti. The IMC were very quickly on the ground to provide medical help and training to the injured.

Imagination is a fluid understanding created by the small self and not necessarily truth

Imagination empty of objective truth???

As an artist, I was put off by this sutra.  I value my imagination.  I am happy to have an active, creative imagination; it fuels my art.  As a yoga teacher, imagination allows me to create a variety of classes.  My imagination allows me to  visualize the things I want to achieve in life.  What could Patanjali mean?

I think what he is offering is not a judgement of imagination, but a pretty accurate definition of what it is.

The exact translation of the thread from Sanskrit to English contains the following words:  sound word, language, knowledge, relying upon, empty of substance, and imagination.

 How many times have you imagined a scenario that has caused great distraction and suffering, only to find out it was simply not true?  So much time can be wasted imagining the worst has happened, and  when worry sets in there can even be physical suffering.  So although the imagination can be a fertile field for creativity, I think it is smart to realize that it is a figment of the mind and not based on a grounded reality. This knowledge will allow you to use imagination and also recognize it as the distraction and illusion it can also be.

 I like how Patanjali starts the aphorism with sound word; it is like poetry or a song the mind can meander through.  With your imaginings,  the journey can be pleasant or painful, but in beginning to understand the workings of the mind, it is fair to say the imagination is without real meaning.

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

I am so happy Charm City Yoga is tweeting Patanjali’s Sutras. Be sure to retweet your favorite threads to your friends or post a link on your Facebook page. We want to know if the content is of interest to you or your community.

 The Sutras are the first written teachings on yoga; some say they were written in 200 AD . The short aphorisms are meant to be mysterious in nature. They are crib notes for teachers who had heard the commentaries in person,  but they are also potent verses available for students to use as a daily focus for the mind. There are countless commentaries on the sutras available for you to read; I recommend those of Swami Satchinanda  or Iyengar.

The first chapter is made up of 51 threads. This chapter tells the student the goal of the yoga practice, Samadhi ( absorption) . The ultimate aim is described in the first three threads:  that yoga occurs in this moment , that yoga occurs when the mind is free from distraction, and the result allows the yogi to realize his or her true nature.  Knowing your true nature is enlightenment, is bliss, is all that ever was, and all that ever will be. Patanjalis goes on for the duration of Samadhi Pada to describe the process of separating your thoughts from your identity.

Today Patanjali defines misconception. Misconception is one of the nine obstacles on the yogic path. When we perceive something incorrectly, we cannot see the truth.  Remember those optical illusions when you can see a tree, but if you stare at the image long enough it becomes an old woman?  Which image is true, which image is right?  The tree, the old woman, or both?  Taking time to step back and observe can help to remove illusory knowledge.  Checking in on your attachments or your aversions, and striving for equanimity. Like a mirage in the desert, the perception of misperception seems real but there is no water to drink.

I will do my best to check in regularly and give a bit of commentary on the sutra of the day. My hope is that my comments encourage you to contemplate these poetic aphorisms and use them to make a better life for yourself.

 

Love

Kim 

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