Another year of Life… how blessed and grateful I am, for all the beauty, tears, joy, wonder and community this year has brought. I have friends that scoff at the ‘New Year’, they say it’s just another day, no big deal. I used to think so too… but since entering the shamanic practitioner’s path, which is so vast and endless, I have come to appreciate rituals and rites of passage more than ever. Some of us have become cynical to the old ways, others romanticize them. In both cases, we are still living in the past. I see the new year, whether we celebrate it at the winter solstice –…
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Hacking Your Incessant Brain Loops
Για να διαβάσετε στα Ελληνικά πατήστε εδώ. Before class the other day, one of our beautiful students was telling me he was having a hard time keeping his mind quiet, even during his ashtanga practice. There is a lot going on in his life, and it keeps getting churned up, uncontrollably. I suggested he follow his breath in the practice, paying attention to the sound and quality, and trying to keep the same sound for the inhale and exhale. This is a simple and profound way of keeping the mind occupied with something that doesn’t create emotions and distraction. After class, we had a great conversation, and I suggested he…
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Χακάροντας τους Ατελείωτους Νοητικούς Κύκλους της Καθημερινότητας
To read this in English please press here. Πριν από το μάθημα τις προάλλες, ένας από τους αγαπημένους μας μαθητές μού έλεγε ότι δυσκολευόταν να κρατήσει το μυαλό του ήσυχο, ακόμη και κατά τη διάρκεια της πρακτικής του στην ashtanga. Υπάρχουν πολλά που συμβαίνουν στη ζωή του, έλεγε, και ο νους ανακατευόταν, ανεξέλεγκτα. Του πρότεινα να ακολουθήσει την αναπνοή του στην πρακτική, δίνοντας προσοχή στον ήχο και στην ποιότητα της, προσπαθώντας να διατηρήσει τον ίδιο ήχο για την εισπνοή και την εκπνοή. Αυτός είναι ένας απλός και πολύ αποτελεσματικός τρόπος να κρατάμε το μυαλό απασχολημένο με κάτι που δεν δημιουργεί συναισθήματα και που αποσπά την προσοχή. Μετά το μάθημα, είχαμε…
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Throwing Away the World?
I love this poem. Especially the lines, “Is the world throwing me away? Am I throwing away the world?” It reflects so powerfully, the way walking a spiritual path with dedication often feels to me and to others with similar lives. It was written by Zen Master Seung Sahn, around the time when my soul was becoming bound in this flesh (I was born a month early, 8 months later). I’m a weirdo to so many of my friends: I wake up early every day to practice, which I never feel is enough. I read texts, I drop into silence, I have an existential view of the world, I have…
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Μindfulness is a Superpower (και στα Ελληνικά)!
Mindfulness is the ability to know what’s happening in your head at any given moment without getting carried away by it. (Look below for Greek) This is a short and sweet video on why we all need to practice mindfulness. It’s really a form of awareness, of being conscious of our present experience. Emotions are felt in the body, and thoughts are always linked to emotions. Whichever we are more easily aware of, the thought or the bodily sensations, we are able to choose out of this awareness. Αυτό είναι ένα σύντομο βίντεο για το γιατί όλοι πρέπει να εξασκηθούμε στην ενσυνειδητότητα. Είναι μια μορφή επίγνωσης της τωρινής μας εμπειρίας…
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Seize your mind! Or it will seize your body.
There is ample evidence that when we imagine something happening to our body – especially if it concerns the senses – the body actually reacts. How awake are you to what you’re thinking? How awake are you to what you’re imagining? This is so simple, and yet each time, so surprising!
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Addiction,Trauma and Leadership
Russel Brand and Gabor Mate have an intriguing conversation about how “Damaged Leaders Rule The World”. This is a great video, as would be expected, for those who know these two men. It’s packed with truth and wit, and it’s worth watching the whole thing, it is included at the end of my babbling. Please take the time to watch in through, but in case you don’t/can’t, here are some of the highlights that I found most compelling. The basic premise is that trauma is what lies behind addiction, and that both are inseparable parts of personal and social experiences. A society that is composed of traumatized individuals will itself…
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APPLY WITHIN
You once told meYou wanted to findYourself in the world –And I told you toFirst apply within,To discover the worldwithin you. You once told meYou wanted to saveThe world from all its wars –And I told you toFirst save yourselfFrom the world,And all the warsYou put yourselfThrough. – by Suzy Kassem
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Aware each moment…
“If, then, I were asked for the most important advice I could give, that which I considered to be the most useful to the men of our century, I should simply say: in the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you.”― Leo Tolstoy, Essays, Letters and Miscellanies (and I would add, “and just breathe a few breaths… notice your seat, your thoughts, this is the base for action, not your mechanistic thinking…”)
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Η Παύση ως εφαλτήριο τη δράσης: δίνω χώρο στις ανάγκες και στις επιλογές μου;
Η παύση μας είναι πολύτιμη: λίγο πριν μιλήσουμε, όταν θέλουμε ξεκούραση, κάθε φορά που παίρνουμε μια αναπνοή. Η παύση μας δίνει τη δυνατότητα να παραμείνουμε στην παρούσα στιγμή, να σταματήσουμε για λίγο τις σκέψεις, να γυρίσουμε προς τον εαυτό, ή να δούμε καλύτερα γύρω μας. Όπως στη μουσική η παύση μας προκαλεί να προσέξουμε και να αναμείνουμε τι θα ακολουθήσει, έτσι η δική μας παύση μας προκαλεί να δώσουμε χώρο σε αυτό που μπορεί να αναδυθεί. Από αυτό το σημείο επιλέγουμε τη δράση ως αποτέλεσμα αναδυόμενης ανάγκης, αντί στερεότυπης και συνηθισμένης σκέψης. Αφήνουμε χώρο στις ανάγκες και στις επιλογές μας; Μπορούμε να φέρουμε τη δημιουργική αυτή παύση στη ζωή μας…
