Fight Free Radicals - Wordle

Stacking Stone

Spent the other morning after yoga class, a little walk/hike around Santa Rosa's Lake Nagasawa.

There was a large pile of rocks and I took a few photos of the rocks I stacked.

Twameva Mata (Thou art my Mother)

Twameva Mata, Cha Pita twameva

Twamaya Bandus, Cha saka twameva

Twamaya Vidya, Dravenam Twameva,

Twameva Sarvum, Mama Deva Deva.

Thou art my Mother, My Father thou art,

Thou art my Brother, Like a Friend art thou,

Thou art my Wealth, My Wisdom thou art,

Thou art my own Light of Lights art thou

Jala Yoga - Autobiography of a Yogi/Chapter 7

He offered me some mangoes. With that good-humored wit that I found so delightful in his grave nature, he remarked, "People in general are more fond of JALA YOGA (union with food) than of DHYANA YOGA (union with God)."

Cooking with Swami Yogananda: Holiday Recipes

Jala Yogi: "Jala Yoga", a term taken from Autobiography of a Yogi means "union with food."

Therefore a Jala yogi is a Yogi who is on the path to union with food.

Sanskrit

अपने केंद्र मिल जाए,
अपने संतुलन,
अपने शांति मिल जाए,

तुम्हारे साथ यह महसूस कर लेते हैं,
चटाई से और दुनिया में,
शेयर कि किसी और के साथ.

नमस्ते

Upala Yoga Stone Sculpture

Upala Yoga Stone Sculpture

The art and practice of stone balancing has been cultivated around the world for thousands of years. It’s known by names such as Land Art, Awareness Art, Petromancy and Earthworks. I call it Upala Yoga (Stone Yoga). Upala and Yoga are Sanskrit words; Upala means stone and Yoga means union. Upala Yoga is temporal, hours can be spent on a sculpture and a subtle vibration or light wind can take it down in an instant. It’s a meditative art that evokes a sense of amazement, focuses our attention in the moment, and challenges us to examine our attachment to the material world.

Shane Hart

I began working with balanced stones in 1995. The seeming impossibility of it is what drew me in, and I’m still amazed when I slowly pull my hands away from a stone and it remains there defying gravity. As a child I was fascinated with magic tricks and illusions, and as I grew older my fascination with the implausible led me to explore martial arts, yoga and meditation. It’s these experiences I draw from and integrate into the art. While living in San Diego most of my stone balancing was done at Cardiff by the Sea along highway 101. In 2003 I moved with my family to Bellingham WA, occasionally constructing stone sculptures during excursions into the Mt. Baker area and along local hiking trails. In January of 2007 I was playing with my children and balancing stones at a city park, to my surprise an enthusiastic crowd formed. It was the warmth and strength of this response that’s led to installations and public works.

On the Annamaya - Natalia Natuka

For information on the artist,

check out her website.

http://www.natalianatuka.com/

Annamaya - Natalia Natuka

Natalia Natuka
Encompasing the mediums of film, photography and drawing, in Natalia Natuka's latest project she paints her charectaristic 'chakra henna art' on the bodies of men and women, creating a photo and video archive that will ultimately culminate to form part of a large scale performance piece.

Sadhus

Visit this web site for amazing photos of the sadhus, holy men of Nepal.

http://www.sadhus.org/

Photos by Lex Linghorn

http://www.lexphoto.co.uk/

Eric Fischl

Holy Man, 1989

Oil on Linen, 98 x 74 Inches

by Eric Fischl

This painting would be great hanging in the studio. I could just imagine peoples shock and horror if it was the first thing they saw when they came in. :) I saw a similar photo of a yogi and want to do this in downtown Healdsburg with my head buried in the lawn, with a big sign that says DO NOT STEP ON THE GRASS.

MC Yogi - Chakra Beatbox

MC Yogi - Chakra Beatbox from MC Yogi on Vimeo.

Hotel Healdsburg, Vinyasa Flow Yoga

Classic Sun Salutation with Mantras

Surya Namaskara--Sun Salutation
Classic Version with Sanskrit Chants

Hold both palms before your eyes, and chant the following mantra for the sun deity:

Hiranmayena Patrena Satyasapihitam Mukham
Tattvam Pushannapavrinu Satyadharmaya Drishtaye

Then, with each consecutive step of the surya namaskar, chant the corresponding mantra:

1. Om Hram Mitraya Namah
2. Om Hrim Ravaye Namah
3. Om Hrum Suryaye Namah
4. Om Hraim Bhanave Namah
5. Om Hraum Khagaya Namah
6. Om Hrah Pushane Namah
7. Om Hram Hiranyagarbhaya Namah
8. Om Hrim Marechaye Namah
9. Om Hrum Adityaya Namah
10. Om Hraim Savitre Namah
11. Om Hraum Arkaya Namah
12. Om Hrah Bhaskaraya Namah

Many people use Surya Namaskara as a warm-up before the asana practice. If there is a shortage of time, some people just do Surya Namaskar in lieu of the actual asana practice and still derive substantial benefit.

It is typically performed in the open air, facing the sun, at sunrise.

Surya Namaskar is not just a physical exercise. For each of the postures, there is a particular breathing pattern to be followed inhalation for the backward bends and exhalation for the forward bends. Further the concentration has to be focussed on a particular chakra for each posture and a particular mantra- name of the sun has to be chanted for each pose, as per details below:

1. Pranamasan - (Namaste Pose)

Normal Breath -

Om Mitraaya Namaha (Salutations to the Friend of All)

Anahata Chakra

2. Hasta Uttanasana (Arch your back)

Inhale-

Om Ravaye Namaha (Salutations to the Shining One)

Vishuddhi Chakra

3. Pada Hastasana (Toe touch)

Exhale

Om Suryaaya Namaha (Salutations to he who induces activity )
Swadishtana Chakra

4. Ashwa-sanchalan-asan (Horse pose--Lunge)

Inhale

Om Bhaanve Namaha (Salutations to he who illumines)

Ajna Chakra

5. Parvatasana- (Downward facing dog pose or Mountain pose)

Exhale

Om khagaaya Namaha - Salutations to one who moves through the sky

Vishuddhi Chakra

6. Ashtanga Namaskar (Push-up pose)

Hold breath as you lower to Bhujangasana

Om Pooshney Namaha - Salutations to the giver of strength and nourishment

Manipura Chakra

7. Bhujangasana (Cobra pose)

Inhale

Om Hiranayagarbhaaya Namah - Salutations to the Golden Cosmic Self

Swadishtana Chakra

8. Parvatasana

Exhale

Om Mareechibhyoh Namaha - Salutations to the Rays of the Sun

Vishuddhi Chakra

9. Ashwa-sanchalan-asan (Horse pose--Lunge)

Inhale-

Om Adityaaya Namaha - Salutations to Sun of Aditi (the Cosmic Mother)

Ajna Chakra

10. Pada Hastana

Exhale

Om Savitre Namaha - Salutations to the Stimulating power of the Sun

Swadishtana Chakra

11. Hasta Uttanasana

Inhale

Om Arkaaya Namaha - Salutations to he who is fit to be praised (arka= energy)

Vishuddhi Chakra

12. Pranamasana

Exhale

Om Bhaaskaraaya Namah - Salutations to the one who leads to enlightenment

Anahata Chakra

Surya Namaskar can be done slowly for spiritual benefits and quickly for physical benefits. If doing it quickly, you might find it easier to chant these "bija" or seed mantras for the first six poses

1. Om Hram

2. Om Hrim

3. Om Hroom

4. Om Hraim

5. Om Hraum

6. Om Hrah

And then repeat the six mantras again for the next six poses.

The full cycle of 12 poses leading with the left foot and 12 with the right foot, make one round. You can start with as many rounds as you can do, without getting out of breath. Try to work your way upto twelve rounds

Some persons chant one mantra per round, and then, at the end of twelve rounds, chant

Shree Chhaya Suvaryalaamba samet Shree Surya narayan Swaminey namah. Om namoh Narayanaay

There are at least three variations of Surya Namaskar. Here we will cover the basic version. Intermediate and advanced versions are also available.

Stoppa and Nobby

Global Chillin Dub a must for my next class

Iyengar Video

That Thou Art

Sourced from wikipedia:

Tat tvam asi is the Mahāvākya (Grand Pronouncement) from Chandogya Upanishad. The Advaita school of Shankara assigns a fundamental importance to this Mahāvākya and three others of the same kind from three other Upanishads. This is actually a statement meted out by Sage Āruni to Shvetaketu, his son. It says literally 'That thou art'. In other words that Brahman which is the common Reality behind everything in the cosmos is the same as the essential Divinity, namely the Atman, within you. It is this identity which is the grand finale of Upanishadic teaching, according to Advaita. The realisation of this arises only by an intuitive experience and is totally different from any objective experience. It cannot be inferred from some other bit of knowledge. To comprehend the meaning an analysis of the three words in the pronouncement is needed.

Class Schedule

From Collages

I need to confirm dates and times, but it looks like it is going to happen.

Sun Yantra

A sun Yantra, to read more about Yantras and their meaning,
check out Sanatan Society

Yoga with Les

Check out yoga with Les, on of my instructors from Yoga Tree.
His yoga Podcast.

Always moving, flowing his classes can be challenging but always rewarding.

Tantric Art

Images of Tantra

Artist Unknown, interesting images, primal worth checking out.

Excerpted from "Tantra," with text by Franck Andre Jamme, published by Galerie du Jour in 1995.

The thought has often occurred to me that perhaps never in the universal history of painting, have works at once so mysterious and simple, yet so powerful and pure ever been produced - a bit as if, here, man’s genius had been able to assemble almost everything in almost nothing.

Energy is indicated here in the form of a spiral travelling through and regulating the colours of the world. One can also read into it the representation of the cosmic form of the god Vishnu (tantrism having been propagated throughout all Hinduism, its titular gods, Shakti and Shiva, are not the sole divinities concerned in the ritual).