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Yoga
and Mexican Cooking Retreat ~
April 15 to 19, 2013
Come join me next Spring in a Yogic
exploration of delights in Sayulita, Mexico.
Staying right on the beach we will weave a practice of
play, learning to cook delights from a wonderful Mexican chef,
and enjoy opening into a yoga practice of poses, meditation and
breath work, all bathed in the temperate tropical heat.
More information will be forthcoming as I
update my website at www.TheYogaCoach.com.
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Yoga Off
the Mat: Bringing
Divine Play (lila)
Into Your Life
The yogic concept of lila
holds that creation is a play of the Divine, existing for no
other reason than the mere joy of it (as defined in A
Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy,” by John Grimes).
This is the golden answer to “why are things the way
they are?” And yet, to make sense of this we must first
achieve a level of maturity in our practice—what my teacher
Paul Muller-Ortega calls “adult spirituality.”
To say the least, looking at life’s challenges as
“play” requires a depth of understanding of the structure of
reality in order to transform our perceptions of the forces at
play, and ourselves as the players.
The benefit of such a perceptional shift is nothing short
of life altering.
First,
we must develop an understanding that we are both the author of
the play and the actors on stage: the all-encompassing Supreme
Consciousness chose to amp-down the vibration of a part of its
sublime unified field into what we experience as the material
world. This act of
divine play was taken to create diversity and individual
consciousness for the delight of seeing what free will can
create when occulted knowledge of union with all things (maya)
hides its own supremacy from the individual players.
In short, the Divine hides itself for the delight of the
discovery that comes from skillful refinement of our own
true-self identity, the discovery of our intrinsic goodness that
is the blissful essence of God.
This process requires tireless discipline and an opening
to Divine Grace.
To move
from concealment to revelation—the proverbial journey
home—we must take responsibility for who we are, independent
of all the circumstances of our life.
This level of mature discipline shifts us from victim
mode into co-creators and voyagers on the path of discovery of
new and exciting lands. It
cultivates a perspective that, on a deep level, there are no
mistakes, only the accumulation of experience and data that
empowers us to reshape and refine our thoughts, words and
actions. The skilled
spiritual traveler does this over and over so as to gain mastery
over their life, from the mundane acts to the sublime.
In time, and with the shifts that come from assuming
responsibility, we can cultivate this role of being a spiritual
aspirant and make profound changes, ultimately moving from
ignorance—the cause of suffering—into
the masterful play of self-definition. I find that one of
the more powerful teachings that comes from this perception is
the sense that we are okay as we are, even as we experience the
shadow side of life; we are God unfolding awareness of itself
through us in our unique expression of Self.
I
experienced a profound understanding of this shift of attitude
and its positive results in a moment of bliss while on vacation
in Mexico some years ago. I
love to swim and took a special delight in a moment of play in
the crashing waves flowing in and out of the rocky bay of Yelapa.
The water was deep and flowed with a force that could
have pummeled me, yet I turned the situation into a moment of
delightful play as I used the force to push me forward into the
crevices that served as sanctuary for a myriad of
brightly-colored fish. I’d
then let the same forces pull me out to surface for a new breath
and a whoop of delight. This
surfing the waves struck home the lesson that forces out of my
control can be more than just a threat, they can also be the
very forces that can help me center into the moment and refine
my ability to flow and play.
I learned that shifting my perspectives around riding the
wave of human experience can be transformational and empowering.
From situations that can cause chaos and fear one can
skillfully maneuver, wait and watch for optimal forces to move
you forward, and in the doing, have fun.
Practicing
adult spirituality requires a level of bravery and openness to
the unseen hand of Grace, the benevolent force that moves us
into opportunities for both growth and delight.
This expands our ability to ride the waves of life with a
kinder attitude towards ourselves and others.
What defines this as adult play is the cultivation of
discernment and embodied wisdom, skills that only come from
jumping into the water and observing the results time after
time. With a keen
eye we can refine our way of being accordingly and cultivate a
high quality of life force essence, or prana.
Mindful of where we gain vibrancy and where we lose it we
can make choices that further our unfolding awareness, or
deplete it, if not yet wise enough to act appropriately.
Our conscious choices move us closer to the experience of
Consciousness moving around us,
through us, and from us, understanding that it is our
action in this field of unlimited potentiality that makes all
the difference between seeing ourselves as out-of-control
victims of life or as empowered beings learning the steps of the
Divine Dance.
The
payoff of our effort is the “spill-over” effect that touches
every aspect of our life. As
we become more aware of the forces at play in our life we can
direct our individual flow within each experience and turn the
challenges into teachers, the unfolding learning into delight.
Just like exploring the yoga pose that requires
steadfastness and focused alignment we can, with practiced
willingness to dive deep into the waves of self discovery, turn
challenge into an expression of beauty and play.
Re-patterning our responses we can cultivate an awareness
that we are not dancing alone.
We can observe that Spirit benevolently move us into
situations that help us to observe and see more clearly the
interconnectivity of all things.
We may one day come to see that we are unique expressions
of the One, dancing the dance of Self revelation.
We can learn to perceive that it is all an expression of lila,
divine play for the simple delight of it.
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Class
Schedule and Services
Sunday:
11:15 am – 12:30 pm
at Olympic
Athletic Club in Ballard
6:30 pm
– 7: 45 pm at Olympic
Athletic Club in Ballard
Monday:
12:00 noon to 1:15 pm at Olympic
Athletic Club in Ballard
Thursday:
7:30 pm to 8:45 pm in my home yoga studio, or join
us on sunny days on
my lawn as we practice
out of doors in the
beauty of nature. $12 drop-in fee,
mats and blocks provided.
Friday:
12:00 noon to 1:15 pm at Olympic
Athletic Club
Saturday:
10 am to 11:15 morning class at the Phinney Neighborhood Center.
$10 drop-in class fee.
Mats and blocks provided
Inquire
about these other services I provide:
~ Private Yoga Instruction and/or therapy
~ Special group classes at your location
~ Wedding ceremony officiating
·
Life
Coaching / Personalized Support
I am certified as a Personal Life Coach and offer these skills in
teaching practices for the refinement of your life.
I work on a deeply personal individual level to help you
achieve goals, make profound changes and cultivate the wisdom to
carry you into a delightful unfolding of your greatest and
highest good. Give
me a call (206 861-2775) or check out the details at www.TheYogaCoach.com.
·
Suggested
Resources
Books:
Tantra
Illuminated, The Philosophy, History, and Practice of a Timeless
Tradition,
by Christopher Wallis. To
date, this is the best book I have read on the subject of yoga
and its philosophical roots and history of Tantra.
It is written by a young scholar who intentionally, and
skillfully, wrote in a non-academic tone so as to keep it
approachable and comprehendible for us lay readers.
Highly recommended for anyone wanting to understand the
layers of unfolding consciousness that is the backbone of our
yogic practice.
Miracle
of Love, Stories about Neem Karoli Baba, by Ram Dass.
This moving compilation of stories and anecdotes about
his teacher (and also that of Krishna Das, the musical kirtan
master) and thousands of others,
is full of delights and amazements. Very inspirational.
For inspirational emails try the free subscription
to Notes from the Universe
at www.tut.com. I love these 2-3 times a week short messages of
love and support.
May your heart be filled with peace, joy and light.
Namaste,
Will
PS. Please
feel free to pass this newsletter on to your friends.
A link to archived issues can be found at http://www.theyogacoach.com/.
You can reach me at wjddoran@comcast.net
or call me on my cell phone at 206 861-2775.
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