Sunday, again. . .

So it seems Sundays work out as the best day for me to write, often anyway. Its a day I normally get up with no alarm clock, still fairly early for the average human though, but I've been getting up at 4am for 12 years, so now sleeping in til 5am is a treat and about the latest I can wake up, even though I slept til 6am this morning (tell you about that in a minute). So, I normally get up leisurely and practice, then breakfast, shower and head to Starbucks to read and drink a chai, then Forest Park for a walk, to meditate or to just sit in my car and read some more. Then teach at 11:15am, so a leisurely morning for me, I very often teach much earlier. Then I lunch after, very often head home for a nap, or if its nice to the park for a nap, then wake up refreshed and ready to share some ideas on this page. Not always, but a lot of the times this is how my Sundays work. I may regret telling you people that, but we'll see lol. So hence why I have the time to write, its a no pressure kind of day. This morning however was different, I was only able to barely drag my ass out of bed at 6am ( I just can't sleep past dawn, suns up, I am) because Terry Sobon, a good friend of mine, and I went to see Poison and Def Leppard last night, not my usual Saturday evening, but an entertaining one none the less. After seeing the movie Rock of Ages I had a kind of revival of love for the 80s rock music that I grew up with and much of the music last night was in the movie. Terry loved the movie too and so when this tour was coming to town and we noticed it, we bought tickets. Poison was not good, well if I'm honest it was Bret Michaels that was not good, his voice cracked a lot and he would stop to yell every other word ST Louis, oh yeah St Louis! Dude, sing the fucking song, we all know where we are! lol But C.C. Deville was amazing, he did a little guitar solo that blew me away, so I hope that means that his drug troubles are behind him and he's finally flying clean and clear. Now Def Leppard was amazing, I had forgotten how many songs of theirs I knew and loved, even knew the words too. But they all also look good and still sound good, play very good and are entertaining. So all in all, even though I was out way later than I would've preferred, it was a fun evening with a lady I love very much and some great entertainment. THis morning however, my head, which is not necessarily ringing like I thought it would be, feels pressured, as if its in a vice. And so my practice was shortened and I added in a lot of pranayama, which seemed to help. I think I taught okay, but am not sure lol! Oh well, its just interesting how changing it up can be and what occurs. I'm glad I'm not uptight like I used to be and would not go to something like this, especially since its only once in a while, and to spend time with a friend is the most important part. So I hope we all can be relaxed, enjoy ourselves and not get so caught up in the yogic stuff that we can't apply it to our lives in many varying ways, not just to practice on the mat in the morning, but also in our interactions with others and in our goings on around town in our day to day lives. Enjoy your day!

wtf?!?

I just relaized this blog network, which is under a new format, does not separate everything into paragraphs the way I'm typing it, but lumps it all together. Which is ridiculous, because it looks like I'm a spazoid lol. Just know that the proper separation of topics and thoughts is there, but for some reason they take it away from me, or think I'm a spazoid, I guess it doesn't really matter.

Peace, tolerance, love . . . presence

I started to write yesterday but it didn't work, I saved it and went back to look at it and was like, yuck, no thats not gettings posted! lol So this morning I woke up sluggishly, instead of going to the studio to practice before my Mysore class I ate a Pro Bar with Coconut Water at home and then went to Starbucks to try and wake up. Read a bit, then went to the studio for the official 7:30am start time and no one showed up. No big deal, so I went to park and wasted time until two friends were able to join me and we practiced at the park, I did second series, first three postures of the third series, and then full set of pranayama. It sent me into a weird place, I ate, which grounded me again, then came home and fell asleep for an hour. Now I feel as if I'm human again. Good lord, not sure what that was about, but I felt a mess lol. If you've been following my blog, then you know that when I changed my name to Sat Inder back in 2010 officially ( but I began using it in 2009) it was because I became a Sikh. Sikhi is a religion from India that wears turbans, has a peaceful manifesto, but also carries swords so that you know they are willing to stand up for their beliefs, and won't sit idly by as you pick on another for their beliefs either. When it came to this country it was mostly because of Yogi Bhajan, who came to teach us Kundalini Yoga, which transformed many people, so they began asking about his turban and his bana (clothing) and his beard, etc. When asked he gave them answers from a yogic perspective, not necessarily from a traditional Sikh perspective, but it was those answers that caused many, myself included, to convert from our western upbringing to the ways of the East and join that faith (I hate the word religion). Sikhs embrace all faiths and are willing to fight for everyones system of belief, not just their own, and have been persecuted in India since the time the faith was founded, in 1699 officially. The name Sikh (prounounced sick) means seeker of truth, or student, so all that stands to reason why they chose that as their name. I have not been wearing my turban lately, I have even cut my beard and my hair. I still wear my kara and still follow many of the traditions within the faith, even though I have broken a few of their rules by doing the latter. To me faith is an inner experience, and sometimes those external things, like hair, turban, wearing white (which is only an American Sikh thing, in India only the old an infirm Sikhs wear white), carrying a sword, etc, serve as a way to find that inner space for the true light of the faith to begin to shine out, and then the outer is no longer needed. Part of the external trappings of the faith are so that one stands out in a crowd and you know they are different. I agree with that too, but also believe if you're living the inner experience, you will shine like a light from heaven and all will know there is something different about you, with or without wearing the garb. I stand out, always have, and imagine I always will. When I wore the turban I did get more attention, not always good, but not always bad. But I still have long hair and a beard, wear large jewelry and bright colors and live in Fundamentalist Central, so I say again, I will always stand out. But not just for those reasons, also because I live the life. I do the work, I practice asana daily, which gives my body a definitive glow, pranayama most days, which takes the glow and shines it into a bright light, I walk the talk, I don't just say the shit I say, I live by it and am committed to it. Some Sikhs may say that without that external garb it doesn't matter, but most in the know, the American Sikhs who practice the Kundalini Yoga, and many Indian Sikhs who know the power of spirit, still accept me into the fold as a Sikh. And I say that I am one, knowing the word to mean seeker of truth, especially strengthens the knowledge that I am one in my heart. Ok, all that said, I want to say something about the shootings in Wisconsin. Its sad anytime anyone is killed for no reason at all, or for no valid reason. I believe the man thought he was killing Muslims, which after 11 years you'd think educated beings would understand all Muslims do not want to kill Americans, hell I live in a neighbor which is mostly Muslim and they are peaceful with those of us who are not. Also, Muslims don't wear turbans. Not in this city anyway, or in most cities in this country. 90% of turban wearing people in this country are Sikhs, but many don't know that. In the middle east everyone wears turbans because it keeps you cool, but for the most part they just wear kufis or hand woven little beanies resembling yarmulkes. So turbans, no, not a Muslim. But even mistaking the turban for Muslim headwear does not excuse the fact that you fucking killed them! Dude, when in the hell are we going to chill out and learn to love, instead of all of this hatred that is coming out so fully lately. The night of the Sikh shootings the Muslim Mosque in Joplin, MO, was burned down. So its all just intolerance. And I must say I was raised in a fundamentalist religion, who preached that all except our faith were going to hell. But still, that doesn't mean we were to send them there, they were already going! lol Sorry, I don't believe in hell so always take the humorous side with it. Hell, or heaven for that matter, to me are both incarnations of our mind. Meaning that we can create it in our present, and if we live there strongly enough it goes with us after we leave these bodies. But I'm not going to get into my whole afterlife philosophy right now. When are going to learn to love? When? I began a yoga practice back in late 1999, early 2000, for physical reasons, but quickly realized that there was much more to it than that and began digging into books to study the philosophy and the energetic body and much, much more. I FELT something, for maybe the first time in my life, and was willing to allow myself to FEEL it. Before I drank, smoked, or whatever it took to shut off those sensations and be unfeeling, so that I could function. But now I feel when my heart expands and love pours out. I feel when my energy flows and when its blocked and notice what emotion I'm feeling when I come up against a block. And just for the record, it usually isn't love... So lets start a campaign, get people feeling things, using asana, using meditation, using Qi Gong or T'ai Chi, using Body Electric techniques. Using any goddamn thing that starts to make people feel, and encourage them to stay with the feeling, to embrace it and go further into it. I believe that once more and more start feeling, and being okay with it, not taking things or using substances to block the sensation, then they will also realize that other beings, maybe every other being on the planet, also feels. Not just human animals, but other animals as well, and even plants, etc. So when you know how you feel when something happens to you, you're less likely to cause it to happen to others, and may even be compassionate towards them when they feel it from some other source, because you've felt it too. We're all in this together, and we really are all one, in many senses of the word, not just physical, but again, thats another blog entry. So today feel. And when you do, go deeper into it if its a sensation, now if its an acute pain, thats the biggest sign saying turn around, go back. But if its a subtle sensation, go into it, feel it out, see where its coming from, what its cause was. It may lead you back to a childhood issue, or something that happened last week, or last year. Something that you buried and didn't deal with, emotionally, physically, energetically. And that thing got caught in your body, or in your mind and created its own space, just to say, he'll come back to me one day, or I'll keep poking him until he does. Then once dealt with, that thing goes away. Yes, it does! So starting right now, lets also not allow things to get buried, so we have to deal with them in the future, lets have the proper emotional, physical or energetic response now! Deal with while its here, thats being present, living in the now. Lets be present!!!

Surrender

Still the theme of my life these days, more so of my practice. Just go through the sequence, allow the mind to tell you stories about how much you need to stop, and keep going. Breath more deeply, draw from that inner source and go. Its working, today second series practice, at the studio, was much easier to get through and wasn't just getting through it, it was enjoyable and I even got to do the full pranayama sequence after, it was great. Then I taught Seabrook through the second series, which is interesting to see where someone else's issues pop up. Adam was there and he barely made it through half of primary series because he's not surrendering, but fighting it, all the way. And not practicing daily, which is a key component of this practice. Its hard, but if you go through it daily, it slowly opens up your physical body, which opens up your mind, which opens up your energy channels and once that energy starts flowing, its amazing and you feel as if you can accomplish anything! Of course, today I feel as if I can accomplish anything, but just after I take a nap lol. So let go. Using the practice as a microcosm to the macrocosm of your life, surrender, let go on the mat. Allow the difficulties to come up, to be there, and still make your way through it. Then as your day unfolds, allow whatever comes up to simply be what it is, and still go through your day, find thoughts that make you feel better and things that make you feel better will pop up. Don't let things become issues, and they only can become issues when you're resisting them, whatever they may be. Allow, as Abraham likes to say. Allow, allow you life to unfold and make your work paying attention to what makes you feel good, or even great, and distracting yourself by finding better feeling things to think about when in the midst of something that may not make you feel so great. It sounds easy, and it can be, once you've practiced it a while. Just like an asana practice, when you've done it for years, certain things should become easier. So like body, like mind. When you've trained yourself to think better things and to allow good feelings to abound, then it becomes easier to take yourself away from thoughts that don't make you feel so good. Yoga really is about getting the mind under control anyway: Yoga Sutra 1.2, Yogas chitta vrtti nirodhah; Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind. So make your yoga all day long, what are you thinking right now?!?

Hmmm,

So I tried to post a video that Kino made about Mysore, that is awesome and inspiring to me, and then I tried to post a link to my chipin.com account for those who want to donate to help get me to India. Neither of these worked, not sure why, but if you want to see them you can friend me on Facebook, Sat Inder S Khalsa, or like my Yoga with Sat Inder page, both of which have operable links for both of these. Thanks!!!

India

So, I keep finding myself reading accounts of folks who've gone to Mysore, India to study with Guruji and Sharath at the source of the Ashtanga Yoga movement. I've read Kino's book multiple times, not in order, but picked it back up and just opened it and read whatever passage comes up. I'm rereading the different interviews in Guruji, a book put together at the time of K. Pattabhi Jois' passing, which is full of interviews of people who've travelled to the Motherland to study with him from the 70's on up until now, and each is more rich and vibrant with that persons experience of practicing with Guruji at the old shala and the new shala, but my favorite is Rolf Naujokat, he has the most non-dualistic view of yoga and all experiences really, and he just inspires me. Check him out at www.yogabones.org. One quote from the book really stands out to me, and exemplifies my experience of studying with Pattabhi the two times that I did. It is in the interview with Peter Sansone, a New Zealander who went to Mysore in 1989 with no knowledge of the system, other than that his teachers were heading there to study and asked him to go. His interview was in Mysore and recorded in 2009 (which, inadvertently is the year Pattabhi left his body). The last paragraph of his section is as follows: There is one thing Guruji said that has really stuck with me over the years. He point to his heart and said, "There is a small box sitting here. In that box is sitting Atman. Turn your attention here. That is yoga." I will never forget that. I always felt he was a very heart centered man, loving toward his students and doing all he could to support us on our journey. I love that. Such a strong practice to simply make you aware of the love in your heart chakra, just wonderful. Sometimes, in my case for sure, it takes such an intense experience to bring us back home, to our emotional body, to our energetic body. Its amazing. So anyway, I can't quit reading these things, they keep inspiring me, they keep making me want more. More what? More yoga postures? Possibly. More experiences coming from within? For sure. More heart opening? For sure. More, more, more, but more what? I'm not quite getting something here. Then it dawns on me, I need to go to India. Then I will get more of all of it for sure, but not just that, when I thought of going to India, I immediately felt the relief I've been searching for. My body sighed, and I was like, ah, is that really what I've been waiting to figure out? Hell yes it is apparently, because now I'm motivated and inspired and excited about taking this trip. I haven't even worried about where the money is going to come from to get there, I just know it is. So, I've put aside a bit each week from my park donations, and someone suggested a couple of websites that I could use to take donations, and I've set up an account with one of them, here is the link, www.sendsatindertomysoreindia.chipin.com, so if you want to donate, please do, and it will be appreciated and I will bring back all that I learn to my classes and teacher trainings that I assist in, it won't be money you'll regret spending. So, I don't intend to push you all for money every time I write from now on, but its out there. So, ideally February, March and April of next year, I'm going to India!!!

Practice, practice, practice...

A famous quote from K. Pattabhi Jois, "practice, practice, practice . . . and all is coming." This week I feel like that is the truth. My physical practice has been great, but I notcie that the better it is the more conscious I am of my state of mind, and therefore the more work it seems like I have to do to keep my mind heading in the right direction. I just opened Kino's book, Sacred Fire, and randomly picked a passage to read, here it is: "Yoga teaches you how to be humble and willing to put in the work required to achieve the results that you want. When you unroll your mat and commit to the total journey of yoga you unlock the mind's power to transform physical substance with the power of spirit. With practice, this is exactly what I learned to do." I'm like, ok universe, I get you! I was just irritated with my friend whom I asked to take over my Thursday evening Ashtanga class in the park, because he cancelled the class today. When I texted him asking why, he just said the weather, I'm like the weather?!? Its fucking nice out today and the wind is blowing and blah, blah, blah. I went to the dark side. Not observing the philosophy of Ashtanga Yoga which begins with Ahimsa, non-harming. Were my thoughts that? No. Were my actions that? No. Etc, etc, etc, and then you get to the next Yama and then the Niyamas. So, I obviously failed this test today lol. But coming to the quote from Kino's book, and then I sat down to blog, not intentially, I intended to check facebook, but had this stuff in me that needed out. So I'm trying to think of what to title the entry, Kino's passage brought up that old saying from Pattabhi. Duh, again, universe, I'm getting you. Its a practice. Are we ever meant to be perfect? No, I don't necessarily think so. Are we meant to get it right every time? No, probably not. If we did, would life be any fun? And where would our growth come from? So yes, life is a practice. Make your play, learn from it, move forward, expand and grow from the experience. Also, our yoga practice can serve as a microcosm for the macrocosm of our life. Notice while you're on your mat how it goes, is it hard to go to the next asana, or through the vinyasa or transition to the next asana? Does your mind keep coming in saying, sit there, don't worry about it, just don't forget to buy bananas later, oh and coconut water! lol. The asana practice, is just that as well, a practice. So use that time on the mat to train yourself to feel your way through, not to jump at every distraction your mind tries to come up with and move your way through the practice, maybe some pranayama, and meditation. Just be present with it, notice how it goes, notice what comes up mentally, physically, energetically... and be in observance of it, move through the block. Yogi Bhajan was famous for many quotes, the one that is appropriate here is "There is a way through every block." And he offered many kriyas, meditations, mantras and pranayamas so we would have a variety of things to try to get through that block. Not around it so that it may still be there, but through it, so that it could dissipate and the energy of said block could be freed up and used in other, more beneficial ways. Ashtanga yoga also moves through blocks, many physical, but all energetic as well. Mostly because of its intensity. Kundalini yoga and Ashtanga yoga, both very traditional practices, some say age old, but both practices very intense. I guess since I'm drawn to them both, maybe that means I'm an intense guy?!? LOL, God, I know I am, but I'm working on softening the edges, slowly, slowly, like water moving over stones, they slowly smooth out and allow the flow again. Check back in a few years, see how smooth they've gotten! (that doesn't mean not to read my blog for that long, just a saying you know) Talk to you soon,take time this week to find enjoyment in your practices, notice where your edges are smoothing out. Namaste and Sat Nam my friends...