Blog Spice

Svādhyāya is the concept of self-study. Studying the Infinite that dwells within the finiteness of the individual self. [1]

As I studied this week, not so much for myself as to share information with others in the form of teaching, the study found me reading this passage which, in turn, generated curiosity about my approach in this blog:

“[I]t is in fact dishonest to reduce yoga to some sort of physical training . . .; it is a “world view,” a Weltanschauung [2] that comprehends reality in its totality --- material as well as spiritual --- and provides the foundation for certain practices” intended to enable the individual who commits to the practices of Yoga to assimilate and integrate totally into the reality of the world we live in, and to possibly transcend it. “As for the gymnastic part of it, that is just one prescribed practice among many; the most picturesque, admittedly, but not the most important.” [3]

And so, my studies turned back to the self. It’s been a very safe practice, with this blog, staying with the physical āsanas and using them, from time to time, to flirt with the possibilities that can happen beyond the physical pose. Today the path leads me back to my training and the training of all teachers in the lineage of Yoga tradition: The best teaching comes from your own experience and your own practice. We are all reminded of this through the living breathing words of yoga master and guru, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois that have echoed in our ears since his death last year: "Practice, practice, and all is coming."

The blog will begin to have a peppering of notes and reflections from my own practices. Less safe. More real. The notes will not propose to tell you what you should do with your life or with your Yoga practice because it is enough for me to find my own answers; and, I have great confidence in the teachings of Yoga that encourage each of us to take the practices and make them our own by using our individual life as the great experiment, finding how the practices fit and work uniquely for each of us, and how they assimilate for us into the larger world community. If my notes and reflections affirm, support, aid in your own svādhyāya, or otherwise give you fodder for your life experiment, then Namasté!!

So, these new pepperings, a little bit of blog spice, makes the blog, as a whole, more participatory in the cybersatsanga. Satsanga can be loosely interpreted as our “hanging out together” and sharing conversation and insights to support each other as we travel along this fascinating, interesting, and seemingly endless path called Yoga.

It really is all practice. Your comments are welcome.
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Because "no man is an island, entire of itself": [4]

Thank you to my newfound co-practitioner, colleague, student, teacher, and friend, Dr. Mark Richard McClish, who turned me on to new texts that have me steeped in svādhyāya; and, whose company and conversations during our satsanga lunches are a beautiful gift that spur my mind and my practice.

Thank you to my life partner, guru, and friend, Dr. John David Tatter, who loves watching me grow and has nurtured that growth in so many ways, too many to name. And, thanks for all the literal spices in all the beautiful food you lovingly prepare in our home because you love the art and process of food coming to the table and you love preparing it for our table; and, thank you for doing it because I'm too busy growing to cook. I love you; I love your love; and, I love your food!

[1] As defined within the Himalayan Institute Teacher Association’s training program: Self-study is the study of the Self, the Infinite dwelling in the finite. Through mantra repetition, a teacher’s words, and reading, Self-study inspires us to the Self.

[2] A worldview describes a consistent (to a varying degree) and integral sense of existence and provides a framework for generating, sustaining, and applying knowledge. . . . One of the most important concepts in cognitive philosophy and cognitive sciences is the German concept of Weltanschauung. This expression refers to the "wide worldview" or "wide world perception" of a people, family, or person. The Weltanschauung of a people originates from the unique world experience of a people, which they experience over several millennia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_view

[3] Yoga and the Hindu Tradition, Preface, Jean Varenne.

[4] John Donne's Devotions, 1624.