Offerings

Back to Arizona! Only for a weekend. There's one thing I really miss about it, driving through the desert. Beautiful! How much I really love driving in the openness of space. No cares or worries, complete surrendering to your journey on the open rode. I was going  back for the opportunity to study for the first time of many with John Friend but also to see the kula, my friends. How much I miss them. How much they are a part of my practice, my life, my teachings, even though we all are  in different paths and destinations. We still come back to the center were it all begins. We return here again once we fully understand that we are always here.

I was humbled and honored to have practiced with people that were my mentors, to be a student, just "Watch" what is. Surrender to my awareness allowing it to flow like wind and water. Yes, the practice was intense. Intensity doesn't always mean a challenging practice which tends to be the case for a lot of people. For me, intensity is transformation that breaks your heart wide open to shed light where its dark, the mind remaining flexible in any circumstances ,  to live authentically by having character and integrity, to face ourselves at the deepest levels of our being both the good and the bad without holding anything back and seeing the goodness in our actions, as well as others with love. This is the essence of a yoga practice.

Driving back home, a long drive, I contemplated What do I offer? The Maha Vakyam, which means in Sanskrit a Great Statement. What do I offer to my students, to life, the people who remain presently in my life and the new ones that enter, my practice,  most importantly to myself as a teacher? Through humility the answer was simple,  To be of service to others, to expand my devotional awareness so I can transform my students and the people in my life be filled  with peace, love and joy, accept and offer my whole heart, both good and bad, with out hiding my authenticity, and no matter where I am look for the good with wonder even in the mystery of it. This is my highest practice. Practicing regularly with clarity and intensity.

Tonight I randomly came upon a quote. I believe it wasn't so random but a reminder to remember:

"Just as a flower gives out its fragrance to whomever approaches or use it, so love from within us radiates toward everybody and manifests as spontaneous service"...Swami Ramdas