(A budding tree at White Rock Lake in Dallas)

If one is afraid of losing anything
they have not looked into the Friend’s eyes.
They have forgotten God’s promise.

The jewels you get when you meet the Beloved
go on multiplying themselves,
they take root everywhere,

they keep mating all the time
like spring-warmed creatures.

Burglars hear watchdogs
inside of His gifts
and Run. -Hafiz

So...happy Spring...almost! I hope this finds you well and enjoying this incredible time of year wherever you are. We are in the time of great rebirth and renewal and the Light of Consciousness/Love is illuminating our hearts and minds more brightly than it ever has before. Or, perhaps, we are just ever-aware of its embrace as we come to love ourselves and each other better, one breath at a time. We are the lover we are seeking and everything else...

Positive change is in the air and it's incredible to let Life flow in its own intelligently inspired way. If we let go of trying to control life, we find there is a Goodness guiding us exactly where we need to be each and every moment. It's simply a matter of surrendering our will/mind/ego to this Intelligently guided Flow. To be a Yogi means to be at ease with the moment, with this breath...no tension...no stress...simply allowing life to be and flow through us knowing each moment we are guided into the place we need to be if we align our hearts, minds and breath with that intention. When we know what the best choice is in any given moment...notice I said best...not perfect...then we align ourselves with the Universal Will. And, to align our individual will with Universal Will is Yoga. I'm learning sometimes the best choice is to have A glass of wine (or two), or A piece of chocolate, etc. Yoga is not a path of denial. It's a path of knowing joy and bliss through the acceptance of suffering and then realizing suffering is only an illusion. Does pain exist? Yes. But, if we surrender to the pain and accept the enlightening grace in it, we can know the healing that is intended for us physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. The Yoga poses guide us into our body, mind and breath (spirit) and the breath guides us into stillness and meditation where we can know the Eternal Teacher within the heart (God) who wishes the very best for us with every breath we breathe. And, guess what? God is in everyone. So, that means, everyone, ultimately, wishes the best for us because to wish anything else would be to wish something against themselves because, in reality, we are all one.

The Partner Yoga adjustments workshop Ricky and I taught last weekend was awesome. Part two is this weekend. If you are able to take it I would highly recommend you joining us. You will experience amazing healing from this workshop, as well as, incredible strengthening and opening in your Yoga practice and self.

As far as everything else? Things are Good. I feel fortunate and blessed in amazing ways through the practice and path of Yoga. As Dharma Mittra says...be receptive to the Grace of God. It's simply allowing our hearts and minds to be open to Goodness flowing into us, trusting in the essential Goodness of Life, and allowing Life to lead the way. So, that is what I'm allowing to happen and it's awesome. One of the most powerful practices I have began, more recently, is consistently meditating every morning and night for 15 minutes. In this month's issue of Yoga Journal Magazine, Sting's wife, Trudie Styler (who is on the cover and you can read the article here), talks about this very practice in her life. She attributes this regular meditation practice to be the most powerful part of her Yoga practice. In the article she says, "Yoga practice is an exercise in listening, and it teaches you to tune in to your relationships." I am finding the best way to start and end the day is with stillness...sitting and feeling the presence of Source and knowing our connection to it. Offering everything up to it to be aligned with what's in the Highest Good for ourselves and others. This is a powerful practice and a life-changing and enriching one indeed. Not to mention, healing. We release more tension in being still than in any other activity. When you are sitting still and simply breathing you can feel energy move through and release out of you if you simply allow it to be and let go of any tendency to be reactive in any way, emotionally or mentally, to the flow of Life and everything Life is offering you at this moment...the comfortable moments, uncomfortable moments and everything in between. Let go and Let God.

So, sit, be and breathe well and witness the miraculous transformations that unfold within you and all around you as you let go and let yourself flow into Spring with a greater Faith in the goodness of all people and things and Life itself. I wish you blessings in the Spring and beyond.

"If you constantly think of illness, you eventually become ill; if you believe yourself to be beautiful, you become so." - Shakti Gawain

"By learning to contact, listen to, and act on our intuition, we can directly connect to the higher power of the universe and allow it to become our guiding force." - Shakti Gawain

"We will discover the nature of our particular genius when we stop trying to conform to our own or to other people's models, learn to be ourselves, and allow our natural channel to open." - Shakti Gawain

"As your faith is strengthened, you will find that there is no longer the need to have a sense of control, that things will flow as they will, and that you will flow with them, to your great delight and benefit." - Emmanuel

"Eventually I lost interest in trying to control my life, to make things happen in a way that I thought I wanted them to be. I began to practice surrendering to the universe and finding out what "it" wanted me to do." -Shakti Gawain

Also...I'm teaching at an awesome new Yoga studio in the Cross Roads near Denton. It's called Get Yogafied. I love this space and the community that is growing there. Check out their site and come join us for a class sometime...even if you live in the city. It's good to get out of the Dallas city limits once in a while. One of the founders of this Yoga studio wrote this poem and just sent it to me the the other day. I thought I would share it with you here.

Free Flowing

What do you think you’re made of anyways
Mostly water, or so they say

Water ain’t bound by balls and chains
Breaks free, flows, like falling rain

Solidity mere transient illusion
Melt your ice, withdraw confusion

How happy you’ll be
As you swim down your sea

Flowing in your current
Knowing nothing’s more urgent

Expectation not on the line
Never disappointed you now find

Love with intention crystal clear
Lacking now you’ll never fear

Get moving, find your tide, ride your wave
Grateful for all the paths you cross along the way - Shana Stein


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It's hard to believe there was another earthquake. And, supposedly it shifted the earth's axis shortening the length of an earth day by 1.26 milliseconds. I had been feeling like the days are growing shorter...so maybe this was some sort of self-fulfilling prophecy on my part in my own reality. My heart goes out to the people of Chile. But, also, my heart goes out to the people of the world, our global family. All of us. May we realize the Truth of who we are and go deeper into our Being to know our connection to the Source of all that is. May we not waste time, but may we keep finding the answers to the questions we are seeking and may our intelligence be guided by Divine Light and wisdom. The time to turn inward is now. Now is the time to know our connection to Source and to let go of the distraction of worldly affairs. Yogananda says this:

The greatest love you can experience is in communion with God in meditation. The love between the soul and Spirit is the perfect love, the love you are all seeking. When you meditate, love grows. Millions of thrills pass through your heart....If you meditate deeply, a love will come over you such as no human tongue can describe; you will know His divine love, and you will be able to give that pure love to others...

And, also:

Never forget that God is the answer to all the questions life places before your soul. God is love, and love is the panacea for human suffering. There is nothing greater than love − God's quality of attraction and unity that is manifested in the soul of every being. This love, when expressed under all circumstances − in family, social, and national life − expands to embrace the whole world. Such universal love is the pure love of God. When you have achieved that love, then and then alone are you a citizen of the kingdom of God. Always be proud that you are a child of God; for just a little while you have been an alien in the kingdom of matter. Develop God's divine love inherent in you, and you will reclaim your citizenship in His kingdom of omnipresence.

When you learn to go within in meditation, you will find His kingdom. It is within you; God is within you. It is His power that is behind your ability to talk, move, and feel. Without Him you can do nothing. Though He is transcendent, beyond all things, He is also immanent; you can commune with Him right within you. If you remove the dust of restlessness from the mirror of inner silence, you will see Him reflected there.

Never miss your daily engagement with God in meditation. Those who are wise make it their business to contact Him. If you are sincere, you shall know God in this life; and to know Him is to be free.

And, he offers us this affirmation:

As I radiate love and goodwill to others, I will open the channel for God's love to come to me. Divine love is the magnet that draws to me all good.

Last week I was playing Pink Floyd's, On the Turning Away in Yoga class. I need to post these lyrics because they are so good and, also, timely.

On the turning away
From the pale and downtrodden
And the words they say
Which we won't understand
"Don't accept that what's happening
Is just a case of others' suffering
Or you'll find that you're joining in
The turning away"
It's a sin that somehow
Light is changing to shadow
And casting it's shroud
Over all we have known
Unaware how the ranks have grown
Driven on by a heart of stone
We could find that we're all alone
In the dream of the proud
On the wings of the night
As the daytime is stirring
Where the speechless unite
In a silent accord
Using words you will find are strange
And mesmerised as they light the flame
Feel the new wind of change
On the wings of the night
No more turning away
From the weak and the weary
No more turning away
From the coldness inside
Just a world that we all must share
It's not enough just to stand and stare
Is it only a dream that there'll be
No more turning away?

I love that song...except for when it gets to the part at the end where it's a little too much with all the hard core guitar and stuff...then I usually have to turn it off. Yoga teacher, Dharma Mittra, says...the real Yogi wants the light to go out so s/he turns toward the real Light...the Light of Consciousness, the Light of God, the Truth. Are you afraid? Sometimes I feel flickers of fear...but, ultimately, I'm not afraid. My meditation teacher says the acronym for fear is false evidence appearing real. Afraid of what? Loss? Death? I have faced both of these and I've learned...the infamous saying is true...that there is nothing to fear but fear itself, and, to have health is to have everything. In Yoga, they say our greatest fear is the fear of death. Yogananda says we must obliterate the thought that we are frail human beings. We must completely remove that idea from our minds. We are not frail. We are beings of Light, pure energy, cosmically connected to the Source of all of Creation, the Light of Intelligence, the Light of Consciousness itself. Om

And, yet, it is still surreal to realize how fragile we are in our planetary existence. We know we are not this body and not this mind, and yet, here we are. Is it all a dream? Perhaps so...and yet, nonetheless, there is the reality of death, and yet, in that apparent reality is the dissolution of the illusion that death is real. Life and death are one...the beginning and the end are the same. Through Yoga, the pairs of opposites cease to have impact. Duality dissolves. We realize we are the eternal Self...we are unbounded Consciousness...or as Jesus said...I am That I am. Hum sa. Birth and death are one. We are changeless...it is only the body which changes...but the Consciousness remains the same. Oh my gosh...I could go one forever. But, I'll leave it at that for now.

It's also surreal we can have moments of forgetfulness that we are spinning rapidly, moving through space at millions of miles per hour, as we rotate around a blazing ball of liquid gas in an apparently infinite universe with billions of stars and galaxies. Hmmmm...so...how's it going? What did you have for breakfast today? I'm joking around because sometimes I feel like I'm from outer space or something...well, I used to feel like I was the crazy one when I was a kid...feeling confused about why so many people seemed uninterested in this mind-blowing experience we call life. I would talk about thoughts and concepts and my family would often look at me like I was the crazy one. Well, guess what family...I wasn't so crazy after all, was I? I was always wondering why no one else was talking about the unbelievable reality we're all living in...I didn't understand why this wasn't the conversation at the dinner table at night. Not that there aren't other things to talk about, as well, other than flying through space at million of miles per hour, but, I never quite understood why we didn't spend more time questioning who and what we are and asking the great questions to the mysteries of life. My family was very introspective, but, I guess they needed to be a bit more traditional so I would develop the thirst, the longing for the answers and be willing to seek them from within myself...to really go on a soul journey. If it had just been spoon fed to me, I probably would have been disinterested or something. Can we just talk about TV? etc. Why do we always have to talk about Cosmic Consciousness Mom and Dad...I'm bored...can I please be excused? Don't get me wrong...I loved our dinner table conversations...but there became a time, as I matured through high school, that I became increasingly interested in the deeper nature of things. And, I was no longer able to find the answers I was looking for at the dinner table. My parents simply didn't have the answers to those questions. I would have to say I really didn't find fulfilling answers to those questions until I began reading and studying the teachings of Yogananda about 5 years ago. That was when it really all began to change and life began to lead me, rather than me thinking I could lead it. Over the past couple of years I have been studying the SRF home study lessons. If you haven't started studying these yet...I would encourage you to start now. I do believe we are supposed to be conscious of who and what we are and seek to ever-understand this better...and the great Yogis and saints who have walked the planet have taught is it's all about loving others as we love ourselves...and also about going inward to find the Truth. Yogananda says, through meditation, we can know the Truth of Jesus' words when he said, The kingdom of God is within you. And, so it is, Jesus...thank you.

OK, I would like to post the lyrics to a couple of other songs I hope you will download. One of the them is The World Keeps Turnin' by Trevor Hall. These are the lyrics to that song which you can find on itunes.

Seek and hide
Come along for the ride
There'll be many many ups and downs
Like the waves of the ocean
Return me to that sea again
First you're born then you die
Then you smile as you cry
But the song is lovely
The melody is filled with fire
Listen closely
Lifted higher

But all things
They must pass
I say all things
They won't last

We can go a thousand miles in the blink of an eye
When our loved ones leave us we often cry
We don't know where we're going
But we know where we've been
With this love in our hearts
There can be no sin
Give it all to the sky
And rest your mind

The world keeps turnin'

It gets merry like a merry go 'round
It gets cold like a frozen winter
Well I change like summer fall
But I know love is all in all
Seeds we're always sowing
The grace is always blowing
We've just got to lift the sail
And we're bound to hit the shore
We'll finally calm this storm

The other song is called Waiting for My Real Life to Begin by Colin Hay.

Any minute now, my ship is coming in
I'll keep checking the horizon
I'll stand on the bow, feel the waves come crashing
Come crashing down down down, on me

And you say, be still my love
Open up your heart
Let the light shine in
But don't you understand
I already have a plan
I'm waiting for my real life to begin

When I awoke today, suddenly nothing happened
But in my dreams, I slew the dragon
And down this beaten path, and up this cobbled lane
I'm walking in my old footsteps, once again
And you say, just be here now
Forget about the past, your mask is wearing thin
Let me throw one more dice
I know that I can win
I'm waiting for my real life to begin

Any minute now, my ship is coming in
I'll keep checking the horizon
And I'll check my machine, there's sure to be that call
It's gonna happen soon, soon, soon
It's just that times are lean

And you say, be still my love
Open up your heart, let the light shine in
Don't you understand
I already have a plan
I'm waiting for my real life to begin

One last thing...Dharma Mittra also says this:

"Always apologize to those you may have hurt in the past, pay it mentally or with mantras. Do not accept too many favors from others unless they are pure of heart. Do not hurt anyone by thoughts or physically. Love everything, surrender to the Lord for help, and automatically, you get peace. Doing Pranayama and reading the scriptures are techniques to keep you on the path to a clear and peaceful self."

Peace, Love, Health and healing to all of us with each individual and collective breath of Life we breathe. God bless us all.

Om Namah Shivaya Om

Oh, and I've gotta share this Hafiz poem I stumbled upon tonight in class:

The Mule Got Drunk and Lost in Heaven

The
Mind is ever a tourist
Wanting to touch and buy new things
Then toss them into an already
Filled closet.

So I craft my words into those guides
That will offer you something fresh
From the Hidden's Tavern.

Few things are stronger than
The mind's need for diverse
Experience.

I am glad
Not many men or women can remain
Faithful lovers to the unreal.

There is a kind of adultery
That God encourages:

Your spirit needs to leave the bed
Of fear.

The gross, the subtle, the mental worlds
Become as a worthless husband.

Women need
To utilize their superior intelligence
About love

So that their hour's legacy
Can make us all stronger and more clement.

Sometimes a poem happens like this one:

The mule I sit on while I recite
Starts off in one direction
But then gets drunk

And lost in
Heaven.-Hafiz

Thank you for reading the True Yoga Blog. :)

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