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Getting Even

The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you. ~John E. Southard

I'd like to get even with this man.

 

I could stop right there. The title, photo, and quote say enough.The man is my yoga teacher, Jehangir Palkhivala, from Mumbai, India. He makes the trip to the U.S. once a year, to teach his sequences of yoga postures. He enthralls his audience with mythic tales of gods and goddesses, remarkable healing experiences, and equanimity. I see and experience him just once a year, I appreciate and learn from him, every day.

 

How would I get even? How could I get even? I guess if I'm going to announce to the world that he is my teacher, it would be proper and respectful of me to be a good example of his teachings. That would take a lot of doing, and time.

 

Maybe I should stop right here.

 

 

Related post: Reverb 10 - Appreciate

Photo courtesy of Aadil Palkhivala

Originally published in Lessons in Balance,1/14/11.

 

The Gift of Support

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.

-John F. Kennedy

When asked a few days ago, "What's the most memorable gift, tangible or emotional, you received this year?" my response was:

My most memorable gift this year was Support, I truly felt the helping hands of others this year. Whether they sent kind words, generous monetary gifts, smiles, airline tickets, mouthed "thank you" or  "I love you", treated me to breakfast, lunch and dinner, or sat expectantly in front of me for a yoga class. I felt so cared for and appreciated.

 

I've been so blessed in years past, but this year I felt as though everyone was bracing me, telling me that I was doing the right thing. In the coming year, I'd like to continue to notice and appreciate Support, as well as to spread it around to others.

 

Pleasure is spread through the earth
In stray gifts to be claimed by whoever shall find.
~William Wordsworth

 

Art: Gifts by Julie Paschkis, 2003

Posted on Lessons In Balance, December 30, 2010.

Five Minutes to Choose Your Memories

To look backward for a while is to refresh the eye, to restore it, and to render it the more fit for its prime function of looking forward.  ~Margaret Fairless Barber, The Roadmender

"Imagine you will completely lose your memory of 2010 in five minutes. Set an alarm for five minutes and capture the things you most want to remember about 2010."

That was one of the writing prompts that appeared last week through Reverb 10, an online project that has me responding to a daily topic for the entire month of December.

When you have five minutes, try it. It's not a personality test or a contest to see how many things you can remember in 5 minutes. What you will realize is something  meaningful, for you alone. Of course, if you'd care to share it, please do. :D

My list at Lessons in Balance.

Beautifully Different

For lack of attention a thousand forms of loveliness elude us every day. -Evelyn Underhill

This month, I'm responding to prompts offered daily by the authors of Reverb 10. I chose to do it, in hopes that it would inspire me to write daily for my blog, Lessons in Balance. So far, I've learned something new about myself, everyday. For instance, on December 8 the Prompt was, Beautifully Different:

Think about what makes you different and what you do that lights people up. Reflect on all the things that make you different - you'll find they're what make you beautiful. (Author: Karen Walrond)

My response dealt with what I consider to be the quirkiness of my brain/mind and how I manage to present myself to the world. In writing that post, I realized that the one thing no one will ever be able to see in me, is what I consider to be most beautiful. It's a good thing I have a dimple on my right cheek. :D

For more prompts and responses, see Lessons in Balance.

Moving to the State of Balance

Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony.- Thomas Merton

This is what balance actually feels like to me: all of my physical, mental and emotional pieces are vying for order and stability.  After years of teaching and practicing the most fundamental pose in yoga, Tadasana, I can accept the dynamic physical actions that are necessary to simply stand upright and balance. In other areas, I for one, spend more time moving toward the state of balance than residing in any particular territory. But with practice, it gets easier.

Lessons just seem to present themselves, like this past Saturday.  I declined an invitation to spend the entire day lounging at the beautiful Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, where I'd be with friends, develop a darker shade of tan, read a book, laugh, eat and be merry. But, I also wanted to go to the Farmers Market in Keauhou, I had a class to teach and blog posts I wanted to write before my upcoming family vacation this week. So I leaned a little to the left.

Then as it happens once every three hundred and forty-five days or so, no one showed up for my 10am yoga class. I took it as an invitation to get a two hour head start on my writing so I leaned the other way and felt as though more time poured back into my side of the hourglass. At least, that was until I realized that my blogging service was not fully functioning. I couldn't write any blog posts.  My ankles quivered as I abruptly stopped moving forward.

Thank goodness I have things to fall back on. I've got a hard head and a chest full of wants and wishes. I stubbornly refer to roadblocks as simple detours and when refused one menu, pull out a cookbook. Those are not the traits of a more intelligent or developed soul, no. Just the reflexes of someone who insists on moving to the state of balance.

I ended up learning how to create and install widgets on my blogs and at the end of the day, I was grateful for all of the detours. You know, I don't think I'm ready to live in the State of Balance, yet. At least not full-time. I'm beginning to enjoy the challenge of leaning from side to side, going forward and falling back because I can create my own landing space. As one of my yoga teachers used to say whenever we struggled to stand on our hands or heads, "Don't worry, the floor is always there!"

Original Photo: Heidi Vickery-Uechi

When the way you feel is controlled by a condition, you can never influence a change in the condition; but when you are able to control the way you feel within a condition, then you have the power to influence change in the condition. -Esther and Jerry Hicks.

If I gave you a day-by-day accounting of the past ten days, it would surely sound like a Rube Goldberg contraption. Disparate and unusual scenes and actions were all connected. Even while appearing to be roadblocks, things fell into place and led to the next step to accomplish one seemingly simple act: get to Day 21.

I learned, from the computer infection that plagued my system for over a week, <continue reading>

Cartoon via www.cs.cmu.edu

21 Graceful Days

What we hope ever to do with ease, we must learn first to do with diligence. -Samuel Johnson

I've got seventeen more days to go on my 21 Day Grace Period. From March 5 to March 25, I'm following Jehangir Palkhivala's Mother Sequence of yoga poses as my practice. I've done it before with glowing results, but this time my interest is on the efficacy of a 21 Day focus.

What is so magical about repeating an action or a prescribed regimen for 21 Days? It hasn't been scientifically proven although you'll find many articles and books claiming "Research shows that it takes 21 Days to develop a new habit". I can't find evidence of any such study being done, but it still seems to work.

Jehangir has had a lot of success, helping people to heal physical ailments by prescribing the sequence for 21 Days, along with a diet of unprocessed and basically raw foods. If 21 Days works like a miracle for stubborn health problems, why not use it to improve other areas of life?

So far, I have written:

• Day 1. Why 21 Days?


• Day 2. The End is Near: 21 days seems doable.


• Day 3. Focus: You can't help but succeed with that amount of focus toward one goal.


• Day 4. Look the Other Way. When things don't go as planned., look again.

Your comments, questions or suggestions are always welcome. Mahalo.

Photo: ThePretenda

Happiness in a Recession

What I'm looking for is a blessing that's not in disguise. ~Kitty O'Neill Collins




A few days ago I came across an article that basically echoed the sentiments of many previous articles here on Kona Yoga:

• Take care of Yourself
• Become more charitable
• Spend more time and money on enjoyable activities
• Invest in relationships
• Focus on what you're grateful for

The title of the article? "5 Ways To Be Happy in a Recession".

I'm going to add a few more:

• Declutter. As all Feng Shui experts will tell you, it allows room for more to come into your life.
• Learn something new: a new language, skill or hobby.
• Foster your creativity.
• Regroup and recoup.
• Re-examine your beliefs.

All of these suggestions can lift you out of the "doom and gloom" mood and kick-start you toward something new and improved. If you'd like to follow this train of thought, I'll be posting more links and suggestions at Lessons in Balance, my latest blog.

Photo:Travel Aficionado. The tall tree is a cell phone tower in disguise.

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• Alternative Health: Feng Shui (laist.com)

I Write, Therefore I am

The best way to become acquainted with a subject is to write a book about it.
-Benjamin Disraeli

I'm offering a journal writing workshop entitled KEEPING TABS on August 2nd and this illustration by one of my favorite artists, Julie Paschkis, is on the brochure. It depicts my enchantment with scribbling and the light hearted, super-powered life I've scripted. I have written for and to myself for most of my life and have a collection of journal books, black and white composition tablets and spiral notebooks to support a bookworm colony.

Writing on a computer, much less publishing what I write on-line, is a very recent practice. My left hand has led hundreds of pens over thousands of blank pages, in long-hand, for a long time.

My mother has kept diaries and journals for as long as I can remember and I have memories of visiting with her father, his journal written in Japanese, resting on his lap as he greeted us from his bed. My maternal grandmother, Haru Matsuda, also kept a journal and wrote poems that have found their way into books by Buddhist authors. So I may quite well have a journal gene spiraling within me.

Psychologist James Pennebaker's research has revealed that people who write about their issues and concerns experience higher levels of immunity and life functions. Professionals who had been laid off from work and instructed to write their deepest thoughts and feelings about unemployment, were much more likely to find employment than those in the study who were told to simply write about their day and those who did no writing at all.

More than just a spot to pour out gripes and grievances, my journals were the crumbs that I followed my way into the future. Twenty-two years ago I wrote: "To sit and spend time moaning & groaning about the negatives is a waste! I need to concentrate on affirmations and things positive." When my writing voice changed, my speech changed. It has made all the difference in the world.

I recently responded to a friend's questions: "How similar is your life now to how you imagined it ten years ago? Twenty years ago?" I commented on her blog: I thought I would have a whole lot more. But never did I dream that I would be this happy! The "whole lot more" that I refer to are just peripheral visions. My focus has always been to seek balance and joy and it thrills me to see that my wishes of old are here today and spilling over into my future, as it is written.

Illustration: Julie Paschkis

Lessons in Balance

 

True stability results when presumed order and presumed disorder are balanced. A truly stable system expects the unexpected, is prepared to be disrupted, waits to be transformed. -Tom Robbins

I give lessons in balance. I ask people to stand on one leg while they take their arms and other leg into heights of fancy. If they wobble and weave, I might suggest that they set their gaze on an inanimate object or brace themselves against a wall. Balance requires an active presence and offers a steady focus for the future.

I credit the teaching of yoga for much that I have learned about the practice and myself. I also credit Aadil Palkhivala for teaching me how to develop that art through his consistent message of "teaching with joy":

Our work is not merely to discover the expansiveness of hamstrings, but also to discover the expansiveness of heart. It is not merely to do a handstand without support, but also to do work such that, when the time comes, we are strong enough to stand up for ourselves, even when unsupported. It is not to hold a headstand alone in the center of the room, but to joyously uphold what we believe, even when we stand alone.(1)

And so, I seek balance of heart and mind just as I seek balance within my physical form. I envision a fulcrum serving as my inner, higher power. I might flail off to one end and without judgement or reprimand, it will guide me back toward the center. In some aspects of my life, I've stayed very close to the core, but in others it has been an active see-saw ride. The logo I created for Kona Yoga represents that fulcrum, that center, and my reminder.

Many of my lessons in balance were learned because, and in spite of, the fear of falling. Until one day, when I was quietly enjoying a stable moment, my "fulcrum" asked, "Have you ever noticed that your see-saw is less than a foot off the ground and have you ever considered taking me wherever you go?"

I give lessons in balance* and I take lessons in balance. Life is much more stable now, with less fear and less effort.

"Forever", oil on canvas, by Eric Zener.

(1) from Fire of Love, Teaching the Essence of Yoga by Aadil Palkhivala, The Innerworks Co., (2006).

*Lessons in Balance include private yoga sessions, bodywork treatments, and wholistic health guidance. A page with information will appear soon at konayoga.com and a separate site, LessonsInBalance.com is now being developed. Aloha!