from the Devi Gita and other Inspirations

Excerpt from:
Belonging: Remembering ourselves Home By Toko-Pa Turner

“Embodied living is to involve ourselves not only with goodness, but with the ache of longing and absence, including them in our way of going. Can I be with my longing? Can I allow the emptiness of what is missing from me remain without trying to fill it with stand-ins and facsimiles? Can I be longing without expectation that it be soothed?
Can I, in living with absence, become the presence it is so hungry for?”

Excerpt from:
SHAKTI: REALM OF THE DIVINE MOTHER By VANAMALI

In every puja or ritual here is a particular set called Sankalpa or intention, in which the gods are invoked. This intention is the reason the priest undertakes the ritual. It may be for some physical purpose like the curing of a disease or passing an exam, or anything else. The intention is said to be so important that it can actually change the chain of events and make manifest the desire of the one who performs the ritual. Such reasoning is now backed by modern science; the quantum age has shown that the intention of the experimenter has a lot to do with the final result to be achieved from the experiment!

The individual is not an isolated phenomenon, a piece of flotsam floating aimlessly in the sea of the world, totally unconnected with everything else, with freedom to pursue his own selfish ends. He is part of an interconnected whole in which all of us are deeply involved. Human consciousness is

absolutely essential to the making of some objective sense out of the constant flux of subatomic particles. This is the amazing discovery of quantum physics that many scientists are still unable to accept.

In the Gita Devi, Devi says:

I am the intelligence from which the universe emanates and in which it abides. The ignorant believe me to be nothing more than Nature or Prakriti, but the wise experience me as the true self within. They glimpse me in their own hearts when their minds become as still and clear as an ocean without waves. The supreme wisdom is that which ends the delusion that anything exists apart from me. The fruit of this realization is a total lack of fear and the end of sorrow. When one understands that all the limitless universes are but a fraction of an atom in the unity of my being, that all the numberless lives in the universes are the wisps of vapor in one of my breaths, that all triumphs and tragedies, the good and the evil in all the worlds, are merely games I play for my own amusement, then life and death stand still - and the drama of individual life evaporates like a shallow pond on a warm day.

This world that you are experiencing now is nothing but my power. The only remedy for your ignorance is to worship me as your innermost self. Surrender yourself to me with one-pointed devotion and I will help you discover your true being. Abide in me as I abide in you. Know that even now at this very moment there is absolutely no difference between us. Realize and be fulfilled this instant.

living your practice.

Dear Yogis,

Over the next several months we will be adding a little more structure to the work we do on the mat and throughout our lives. We will do this by exploring the underpinnings and philosophical foundations of yoga practice, through both the Classical Hatha lens, the tantric or Kashmir Shaivite lens – and the intersection of both. It’s not necessary that you know what these words mean right now. By coming to class and joining us in the exploration you will become familiar from within yourself with these philosophies – and more importantly, what they mean to you.

At the heart of the matter is the question of Yoga itself. The word Yoga translates to Union – therefore the practices of yoga are aimed at bringing us to a state of profound union with our true, divine nature.

How does yoga bring us to union with our True, divine nature? It does this in a two-fold manner: through both purification and cultivation:

The practice of yoga first purifies us on a physical level: clearing toxicity and stagnation in the body, as well as the more subtle system of chakras and energy channels (nadis and meridians). Through this process, yoga will inevitably clears toxicity, confusion and false beliefs from our minds, hearts, spirits, speech and deed – as body, heart, mind and action are all part of ONE thing (mainly you!), and not a collection separate unrelated things.

At the same time, yoga gives us tools to cultivate that which is True, authentic, “divine” – and ultimately full Light. Purification and Cultivation therefore go hand in hand and are in fact two sides of the same coin.

One of the texts that influences classical hatha yoga as we know it today is called Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. This text is a collection of 196 sutras (aphorisms or one-liners) that describe the practice of classical yoga.

The Yoga Sutras outline what Patanjali calls Ashtanga: “the 8 limbs of yoga” (I think of it as 8 arm:).

These 8 “arms” of yoga are the following:

• Yamas (personal disciplines pertaining to our interactions with others and the world at large)

• Niyamas (personal practices that relate to honoring our divine nature)

• Asana (the practice of physical yoga postures)

• Pranayama (breath and energy practices)

• Pratyahara (drawing the senses and awareness inward)

• Dharana (concentration)

• Dhyana (meditation, focus)

• Samadhi (absorption, bliss)

An effective physical practice should naturally lead to greater self-awareness and capacity for concentration. This naturally allows the yogi to make better choices for himself/herself, in his work, and his community – as well as lay the groundwork for meditative practice.

One of the big influencers of modern hatha yoga was a man named Pattabi Jois, and he was famous for answering almost any question his students would ask him with the same response: “Practice and all is coming”. Through practicing one or a few of these “arms” of yoga, with sincerity, diligence and humility, the rest will naturally follow.

If you are interested in continuing your study of the yoga sutras at home, my favorite translation by TKV Desikachar in the back of his book The Heart of Yoga: Developing a Personal Practice

So, we are launched!! Our exploration of yoga continues.

See you next week ❤︎
Natasha.

I'll tell you a secret...

"i’ll tell you a secret...
your light
is your darkness
all of your pain,
it crystallizes.

Cracks and holes:
they let the light in,
before you can shine
you are plunged in darkness
helping you to birth
a solar consciousness...

it’s up to you to awaken
it’s you who’s gonna die
when it’s your time to die
so why waste time living a lie?
step out of the illusion created in your mind
this reality is a hallucination to which we all have complied at some point in time
but now it’s time to decide..
to take back your power
give your insides a shower
rid your self from the filth of your habits negative relationships and desires
blast up through the deep dark dirt
recognize your worth
it is you who made it out after being cast deep into the dark earth
don’t let it keep you from becoming a flower
god is with you every moment every hour:
behind every loving glance
behind every glower
it is he who animates the space that you have become so comfortable in your ways

to diminish his creation to insignificant and minuscule labels such as “birds” “humans” “plants” “animals” “flowers” and “crustaceans”
these words separate and create a reality that i can no longer allow us to perpetuate. 

something has to be done. 
all is one. 
i’m speaking up. 
mother earth is the space holder.
the creatress through which our father the light the sun the energy of love may pass
and live actively through all in a sacred dance. 
so that she may behold his face
she transforms in to a lake
and in her reflection,
he sees his face. 
many forms she takes
a small human girl wanders down to the lake
captivated by her beauty she falls in and drowns
next day reborn
on his head a golden crown. 
to dance among the hidden
to play with things forbidden
forever shall we dance in and out of the illusion. 
until it becomes an unnecessary confusion
and god summons his spiritual warriors to awaken all children. 

free yourself from the illusion of separation. 
this body is the earthly instrument though which your true self revels in the beauty of your conscious Self realization. 
do you realize that you haven’t been living in your body?
but living in your mind, consumed by greed, fame, games, carelessness, guilt and running out of time? 
take responsibility for your vacancy
return to real reality
you are here to experience the life of a human be-ing. 
you are here to be. 
and that isn’t always pretty. 
sometimes it’s fucking ugly. 
and that’s okay too because like hot and cold exist as one on a spectrum of extremes, so too do ALL THINGS. 

relax in to your being and stop denying the parts of yourself you aren’t use to seeing!
it is all a part of the unfoldment of your being. 
honor it. honor your Self. 
it takes courage to see things. 
and i mean TRULY see things. 
remember you are immortal
life is eternal
energy can’t die, 
it can only transform..
this body of yours serves to in-form. 
and in-form we must serve
serve by informing and awakening each other from the dream of lack and limitation to which we have conformed…
that is a lie
earth is a full of abundance
limitation was never meant to last..
let it go. or you shall drag. 
if you aren’t constantly honestly observing, changing, forgiving and evolving..
then you aren’t moving and you are choosing to remain a slave to the illusion of YOUR MIND. 

no one traps you in suffering
your perspective… its smothering. 
if you shift your attitude in to one of gratitude
the magic of life will reveal itself to you. 
you don’t need to strive to be alive. 
this is just the gift LIFE gives to YOU.
the illusion you are in says you need to do what life, GOD ENERGY LOVE>>> UNCONDITIONAL LOVE, already does effortlessly for you!
life says I AM YOU AND YOU ARE ME, ACCEPT ME.
your mind says, fuck no, it CANT be that easy!
but it IS. 
EVERYTHING IIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSS.
The same way your lungs breathe in the prana
the life force energy in and of air everywhere and nowhere
effortlessly
keeping your fire alight
you, my brother, my sister are meant to be alllllllllllllll right!
all right is filled with wrongs and rights..
darknesses and lights placed in right places and at right times. 
for you are this life force. 
you are not the body that fills itself with YOUR light. 
and you are not the mind that traps it’s body in fight or flight. 
release. 
recognize this fact. 
you ARE the air you breathe
and this air is a life force that permeates ALL things. 
infinite truths. 
infinite me’s and infinite you’s. 
i am just another you. 
and this is the reason i always say,
UBUNTU. 
i am because we are. 
i am you. 
from my heart,
to yours. "

• words by  @gaialogue