Articles by Ted Czukor

EXPLANATION, DISCLAIMER, AND MANIFESTO

2009-05-08T17:42:00.008-07:00

I want to contribute to the relief of human suffering, to whatever small degree that privilege may be granted me. As long as I can do that, I’m not married to the use of any specific words to describe my contribution. For example, I’ve recently learned that I may have to discontinue my longtime use of the word, “Yoga,” and all of its associated vocabulary.

“Ted’s Gentle Yoga” was not Classical Yoga, nor did it ever pretend to be. I named my classes to accurately reflect the fact that this was my interpretation of the subject – the ways that I have evolved, over years of personal experience, to keep myself spiritually and physically healthy, sane and flexible, and to recover from illness and trauma. I had studied under many teachers from India and their direct students (as well as under various western metaphysical societies), but as a proactive American with a mind of my own, I developed my own conclusions and attitudes toward the various traditions. For that reason, I never claimed to represent anyone but myself. My approach was syncretistic.

To those who criticize these statements as egotistical, at least I’m giving you an honest disclosure. Besides, in American culture we don’t consider the ego (or the intellect) to be totally evil. We do acknowledge the problem of Ego’s getting too big; but we also see Ego as the vital mechanism for survival and self-fulfillment. And we do not consider those things to be bad.

If you question the use of my own name in my company title, I say this was the most precisely honest description of what I offered – because the approach was mine, and no one else’s. Now, it is another matter if you object to the word “Yoga” – as some have, on the grounds that Yoga is Hinduism and I am not a Hindu. A man who has my respect in this argument is Swami Param. Contrary to the teachings of those Hindus who came to America in the 1960’s, he holds that in learning Yoga we were actually taught a foreign religion – Hinduism – and that it is at the least hypocritical, and at the worst religiously insulting, for any of us to “teach” Yoga without being devout Hindus ourselves. His thesis is convincingly and intelligently presented on his website, http://www.classicalyoga.org/. I would like everyone to go there and read what he has to say.

In deference to his religious feelings, I am trying to come up with a new title for what I do. Perhaps I will call my classes, “Ted’s Organic Mind-Body Therapy” or “Ted’s Organic Passive Stretching – T.O.P.S.” I have no problem with that, as I have no desire to offend anyone.

What is offensive to me, however, is for complete strangers to send emails ordering me to desist teaching what I have taught since 1976. It is outrageous for anyone to insist that another human being stop following his life path. In fairness, though, it’s equally outrageous for westerners to teach the principles of an eastern religion without acknowledging that they are doing so. (Read the Swami’s wonderful article on “Baptism” to see what I mean. He skillfully uses humor to make a very telling point.)

Swami does go a bit overboard in his characterization of American Yogis as ignorant. He claims that we do not understand the real meanings of such words as Guru, Avatar, Swastika, etc. This is rather silly of him, since he knows that we were taught the meanings by Hindu Yogis from India - even if they were of a different sect of Hinduism than his own. We are just as disgusted by our culture’s degradation of the word “Guru,” for example, as Swami Param is. Our western culture is ignorant; our western Yogis are not. Still, you really should take a look at his writings. I recommend them highly.

The major sticking point, from our perspective, is that in the Hindu culture women are not permitted to practice Hatha Yoga! In that traditional culture, men call all the shots. Women must know their place and never seek to change it. It is considered immodest for women to display their bodies; hence the total impossibility and inappropriateness of women even considering the suggestive stretching asanas practiced on western sticky mats! (Yes, after many years of teaching – and remaining faithful to my wife - I will say what everyone already knows: many of the asanas are provocative, especially when performed by young women in tight leotards.)

And now, I think I finally understand Swami Param’s real objection. In the 1970’s, co-ed health clubs became a new way to pick up members of the opposite sex – an accurate way, too, from a physical viewpoint; What you see is what you get. In conjunction with that new opportunity we coined the expression, “meat market.” Today, our Yoga studios have become a part of that meat market. It’s obvious why a devout Hindu from India would consider this an insult to his beautiful religion – a degradation of human spirituality and family values to the level of animals.

The dillemma here is obvious if you know American history: from Swami Vivekananda on, Yoga in the west has always been encouraged, supported and patronized by powerful women! Without western women, Yoga would have never attained the popularity it enjoys today. This is America. Our women have Equal Rights (or something close to it), and their men wouldn’t have it any other way. Anything that we adopt takes on the flavor of our culture. Anything.

This may be a case of the irresistible force meeting the immovable object. Swami Param may sincerely wish for the day when no western woman will carry her sticky mat into a studio and exercise on it – but does he really expect that day to ever come?

He won’t even let us use “Yahweh Yoga” – which was, we thought, a creative way to remove all Hindu references from the subject (except, of course, for the word Yoga itself), so it could be practiced guilt-free by Christians. But it seems that Swami Param finds this even more offensive to his faith than what we were doing before!

He has us between a rock and a hard place, yet he denies us any remedy short of amputation. (Which is easy enough for him to prescribe, since the limb in question is not his own.)

I have an unreasonable wish, also: that our two sides might sit down together to discover an area of common ground. We have much to learn from one another, and I think it would be a shame not to find a path to mutual respect.

IS YOGA A RELIGION?

2009-04-28T14:10:00.007-07:00

Yoga practice, meditation, and Vedanta philosophy – all help me to experience my personal relationship to the Power that runs the universe, and to understand my just obligations as a citizen of a global community. This would hold true, in my personal opinion, regardless of whether I were a Humanist or an Agnostic, a Jew or a Catholic, a Baptist or a Mormon, or a Wiccan.

I think a spiritually mature person recognizes that different beliefs work for different people. I also think that our individual paths are of merely secondary importance, compared to the Destination to which they lead. If we are all traveling toward Enlightenment – if, as many of the above groups aver, all sincere seekers eventually find their way Home – then maybe we can afford to relax a bit and not get too disturbed by our differences.

When we finally arrive at that long-sought culmination which we all desire, all differences will be resolved in the light of Divine Knowledge, and will have no power to separate us.

So let’s try as hard as we can, please, to not let our differences separate us now.

Yoga means Union. Whether it is a religion (Hinduism), or something more universal - and there are strong feelings on both sides of this issue which should be respected - Yoga offers practices that can help everyone toward that eventual goal – coming Home, or Enlightenment - with greater speed and less wasted time.

TRANQUILITY PRACTICE MAY REDUCE PAIN

2009-04-28T14:09:00.005-07:00

December 07, 2004

This is one of the “highest” teachings I have ever realized. But since it has taken me so long to get here, I know that most people will simply think I was “high” when I wrote this. They will not think it is achievable. But I assure you that it can be achieved, when your time has come.

Santosha is the Sanskrit word for contentment, or equanimity, or “seamlessness” – the ability to remain calm and undisturbed regardless of circumstances. This is incredibly hard. In fact, the first part of the word, “Sant,” indicates that it is an attribute of Saintliness. Hard work and constant attention are required. You cannot forget about it for one moment.
I have learned that Santosha may be developed by following the precepts of the revered Reiki Master, Dr. Usui:

Just for today, I will give thanks for my many blessings.
Just for today, I will not be angry.
Just for today, I will not worry.
Just for today, I will do my work honestly.
Just for today, I will be kind to my teachers, my parents, my students (I added that one), my neighbors, and all living things.

To simplify, just keep repeating this: No Anger. No Worry. Be Honest. Be Kind. It makes an excellent mantra. Turn over one bead for each. No Anger. No Worry. Be Honest. Be Kind.
I have written in the past about the art of releasing Anger. You may also read about it in Awakening the Buddha Within by Lama Surya Das.

As for giving Thanks - if you’re like me, you are already thankful as a matter of habit, for you were born into far more fortunate circumstances than most of the rest of the world. By this time in my life I have learned to appreciate that fact. I am grateful for it every day that I listen to the news.

Honesty should be self-evident. If I bring honesty to my work, I will have no cause to be defensive about it. If questioned about why I do, or don’t do, something in my classes, I can respond openly and with interest. Either I have a good reason, or it will turn out that I never thought of it before. Would the questioner be kind enough to demonstrate it for us? I am happy to learn something new every day. I do not feel threatened by it; I feel that it increases me.

And what of Kindness to all? It is so easy to be unkind. I have the utmost respect for the majority of my colleagues in the Yoga teaching field, but there are a few individuals with whom I have problems. Sometimes, when people ask what I think of such teachers, I exercise a certain level of honesty by telling them! But if my honesty is total, I must admit that my viewpoint is limited, and that these teachers have tremendous followings, equal to or larger than my own. What they offer, therefore, is obviously what a lot of people need.

Occasionally students have learned to do Yoga in a manner that I deem incorrect or unsafe – sometimes from a bad teacher, but more often through their own failure to listen properly to a good one! Whatever the case, though, all students are rational beings who believe they have a reason for what they do. I must be kind enough to give them the benefit of the doubt, to determine what that reason is. They might know something I don’t - or I may be able to clarify the process for them once I have uncovered their misunderstanding. In either case, I will have respected them. They will not go away feeling patronized or mistreated.

Do not think that Kindness to your Parents is no longer an issue if they have passed on. You can still be kind or hurtful to them in your mind. And that can make the difference between poisoning your own guts, or cleaning them out!

“What, me worry?” “Don’t worry; be happy!” I would like to point out that “not worrying” is actually very intelligent – far more so than we realized when we used to laugh at Alfred E. Neuman in MAD magazine! Because “not worrying” is different from not caring. Of course we will care about our life problems - and we will do everything we can to address them. But Worry only ties us in knots, just as Fear freezes us up. They both make it harder to act clearly and effectively. To be inventive and empowered in our lives, we must keep fear and worry as far away as possible. Neither one has any positive benefit!

The most occult discovery I have made about Santosha is that, when properly achieved and maintained, it might actually be a means of reducing physical pain. If we refuse to be angry or to worry, and if we can truly be honest and kind, internal tension will be relaxed and muscles deep inside our bodies will cease to spasm. If those muscle spasms cease, pressure on nerves and trigger-points will be released. If those nerves stop being perpetually irritated, then pain may be lessened to a remarkable extent.

But here is the hard part: You must not practice Santosha with any other motivation than Santosha itself. For if you do it while expecting release from pain, or from any other problem in your life - but that expectation is not met – then your anger, resentment and worry will return. You will be even farther from Santosha than when you began!

So do not practice Tranquility for any ulterior reward. It is sufficiently absorbing - and sufficiently difficult - to be a complete practice unto itself.

CLIMBING THE MOUNTAIN

2009-04-28T14:08:00.003-07:00

July 26, 2002

Once Upon a Time there was a group of men who decided to conquer the tallest mountain in the land. Due to other obligations, these friends agreed to give themselves a deadline of one month in which to accomplish their goal. They prepared extensively, purchasing many days’ worth of food and water, and packing oxygen tanks for the elevations where the air would be very thin.

They began their assault on the mountain with enormous energy and focus, resolved to keep pushing themselves until the summit was attained. But halfway up they found that, due to their over-zealous effort, exhaustion was beginning to set in. Every day they would break camp and fling themselves at the next elevation, only to make less and less headway. They used up more food than they had planned on, and the water began to run low. Some of them tried hunting the small animals which they occasionally saw, but the rodents and mountain goats were too fast for them. The oxygen, too, had to be used sooner than they had calculated; and they were weighed-down by the heavy tents and parkas which they had brought to protect themselves against the icy cold at the top. Finally, long before attaining the summit, they had to admit defeat and return home.

“That peak is a real bear,” they told their families when they got back. “You’d have to have a lot more equipment and supplies, and a lot more money behind you, to ever reach the top.”

The same week that these men began their climb, a lone Yogi – a traveling Sadhu, or holy hermit – came to the base of the mountain. This man had been walking for many years, meditating often and observing nature, himself, and his fellow creatures. He was used to taking his time, having no particular place to get to and being in no particular hurry to get there. His was an Inner journey, the trappings of the outside world being only a metaphor for what he was learning about his own consciousness.

He was not a particularly robust individual, having a body type reminiscent of Gandhi. He carried only a walking staff and a begging bowl. He had no extra clothes or food, and certainly did not posses any tanks of oxygen.

“What a lovely spot,” he thought. “A good place to sit and meditate.” This he did, for several hours. Then his natural curiosity drew him to pick his way up the mountain for a few feet, at which point he rested and meditated again.

In this way, he began to gradually develop a personal relationship with the mountain. He would stay for several weeks or months at one elevation, exploring the entire level and glorying in the wonderful ways in which the view changed. In this way he became acclimated to the thinner air, just like the animals who lived there.

He was a gentle soul who never ate meat. Sensing this, the animals showed him where to find vegetation among the rocks, and the places where pure water trickled down from the glacier above.

The cold temperatures at the higher levels did not bother him, due to his Yogic training. He simply used Pranayama breathing techniques to raise his body temperature.

After a time that you and I would call two years and a day but which had no significance for him, the Yogi found himself, one fine afternoon, standing at the very top of the highest mountain in the land and gazing down upon the magnificent panorama below.

“What a lovely spot,” he thought. “A good place to sit and meditate.”

The first group of men had decided that conquering the mountain would be a difficult challenge. That very decision, and the way in which they prepared themselves for it and limited their time to do it, created a self-fulfilling prophecy. The task turned out to be extraordinarily difficult indeed.

The Yogi had no concept whatsoever of having to conquer anything at all, except perhaps the wandering thoughts of his own mind. He was content to take each day at a time – in fact, each hour and minute at a time, fully enjoying the miracles that he saw around and within him. He had no concern for the morrow, because he knew that for a devotee of God, God would provide everything that was necessary.

He had also learned a long time ago that whatever was not provided, was not really needed. And whatever was not accomplished, either did not need to be or would be finished at a better time.
And yet this seemingly frail, wandering Sadhu had achieved what the well-outfitted mountain climbers could not.

The mountain climbers had believed that they had to be the doers of the work.

The Yogi knew that the only doer of everything is God.

CONSOLATION IN LOSS

2009-04-28T14:07:00.004-07:00

Enjoy the journey as much as you can, even though you must now explore the rest of the way on your own.

But be assured. Those who loved you when you first opened your eyes in this world

Still love you today, and watch your steps even now.

WHY IS THE ROAD TO HELL PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS?

2009-04-28T14:06:00.001-07:00

November 4, 2004

The name of the person who first said it, has been lost in the shadows of history. But the image has come vividly down to us – that there is a dimension of suffering and torment called hell, and that people go there if their earthly actions caused injury to others or offense to Divine law. Furthermore, the saying warns us that even the Motivation to do Good can lead us to hell - if we are not incredibly careful in the choices we make when we attempt it.

That hardly seems fair, does it? Why should the road to hell be paved with our best motivations and aspirations?

The answer is this: Right Intention, by itself, is not enough. We must also have a Right View of the situation, and Right Mindfulness of our place in relation to it; i.e., we must be sure that our intentions are not being poisoned by our egos. And then we must be very sure to exert Right Effort, because no honest goal was every reached through dishonest means. Often, this means engaging in Right Livelihood – for we cannot ethically advise people against a certain practice or product if we are promoters or users of that practice or product, ourselves. We must also use Right Concentration, to be sure that we employ only Right Speech when describing the situation to others - lest we fall into the hell-traps of slander, exaggeration, disrespect, and false accusations. If we attend to all these, we may at last perform Right Action. And if our action is right, our good intentions will bring good results. Even if we fail in our endeavor, at least we will not be on our way to perdition.

In other words, in order to ensure that our good intentions do not lead us to hell, we will be well advised to follow assiduously the Noble Eightfold Path that was laid down by Siddhartha Gautama the Buddha.

Now, don’t get your panties in a bunch. I did not say that you have to be a Buddhist. Nor did I say that only Buddhists could avoid going to hell. What I did say (if you have Right Mindfulness and Right View) was that following these precepts is a very good idea – no matter who you are or what your religious views may be! They can help you to be a much better whatever-it-is that you are.

DEATH BY VIOLENCE

2009-04-28T13:46:00.001-07:00

November 24, 2004

It is not uncommon for people who live from their highest chakras to be killed by people who live from their lowest chakras. But this does not mean that those who died should have done anything differently, or should have changed their minds about what is important.

Once you have seen the view from the mountaintop – the highest chakra – you can never forget it. And even though you may be destroyed by people who haven’t made the climb, you can never go back to their way of seeing things.

We have all committed murder, in past lives. Here and now, we all need compassion.

DIFFERENT BUT EQUAL FUNCTIONS

2009-04-28T13:45:00.001-07:00

December 27, 2004

It was Saint Paul who likened people’s varying gifts to the many organs necessary in a healthy body. Society needs each one of us, and each one of our different jobs, to enable it to function smoothly.

Thank goodness for the paramedics and EMT's who attend the victims of car crashes, and for the surgeons and nurses waiting in the hospital to put those victims back together again. Thank goodness, too, for the car manufacturers who strive each year to add more safety features to their vehicles, in an attempt to protect us against our own mistakes. And thank goodness for the insurance companies, in business to reimburse us for our financial losses. Also thank goodness for attorneys - for it is their job to help us when those other systems fail to function in a just or equitable manner.

And where would we be without our spiritual and psychological counselors, who help us to weather the cruel storms of life – such as losing someone we love in a car accident?

Some of these professions may seem to exist in contradiction to their opposites - but in fact they all depend on one another. In a society where one exists, the others arise of necessity.

So, in the same spirit, let us thank goodness for the young, super-model Yoga teachers who emphasize Tapas – discipline – and who drive their students like martial artists, to develop their bodies to perfection. And let us also thank goodness for the older, more mellow Yoga teachers who focus on gentleness, compassion, and the mature tranquility that comes from Jnana – philosophy. Our jobs are different, but they are equally important and necessary. They complement each other, in a society of many different people who have many different needs.

It is inadvisable, therefore, to criticize other teachers for not doing what you do. And it is equally pointless to denigrate yourself because you cannot match the abilities of another teacher, or live up to the disciplinary or philosophical standards of a lineage different from your own.

What each one of us represents is valuable. What each one of us teaches is important and necessary. There are people who need what each one of us has been placed here to give.

Just as with the different organs of the body, the living and growing tradition that is Yoga would be incomplete if any one of us were missing.

THE WORST THING

2009-04-28T13:44:00.001-07:00

November 8, 2004

The worst thing for a teacher is to have no students.
The worst thing for a writer is to have no readers.
The worst thing for an actor is to have no audience.
The worst thing for a sage is to have nobody interested in his advice.
Believe me – I know whereof I speak!

The more ego-oriented we are, or the more concerned about our livelihood, the worse it is. The more we believe that WE were meant to serve others, the deeper our feeling of futility when nobody wants our service. Our lives seem purposeless and wasted.

The solution is to be ego-less and unconcerned. If we could realize that we were ALL placed here to serve EACH OTHER, we might be more amused by the way events have of stubbornly taking their own course.

Sometimes we are meant to play the role of the receiver of charity. Being humbled in this manner is the only way we can truly appreciate how to extend charity to someone else, when the roles are finally reversed.

UNDERSTANDING “TED’S GENTLE YOGA”

2009-04-28T13:42:00.002-07:00

January, 2007

I’ve been practicing Yoga for 31 years and teaching it for 26 – and it’s the gentle sort of Yoga that has made the greatest difference in my life. Whenever I’ve injured myself doing other exercise forms, Gentle Yoga has come to the rescue to rehabilitate me and get me back on my feet again. After I pulled all my lumbar muscles on a Nautilus machine, it took 15 years to regain the full flexibility that I’d had before the injury; but Gentle Yoga got me there. When I went through 7 years of multiple surgeries on both eyes for detached retinas (due to genetics or karma – take your pick, and does it really make any difference?), breathing techniques, palming, meditation and prayer did more for my recovery than any amount of muscular work could have done.

Naturally, the gifts and secrets that I have gleaned from the gentle approach are what I wish to communicate to others. A college student of mine once approached me halfway through a semester to inquire about getting into “more advanced” postures. He said he was sure that I, myself, must do much harder work than the things I was teaching my beginners.

He hadn’t been listening! Why would I teach anything different than what I practice myself?
The greatest secret of all, is that the power of true healing is released through small movements and calm, laser-like concentration on the breath. It’s not in the whirlwind that I find Yoga - it’s in the still, small voice.

I feel very blessed that the first style of Yoga I was taught, ‘way back in 1971, was Integral Hatha as promoted by Sri Swami Satchidananda. The reasonable and compassionate way in which the body is treated in that system made perfect sense to me then, and still does today.
My philosophy of Yoga instruction is this: Aren’t we already experts at pushing ourselves too hard? Don’t we do this in every area of life, and haven’t we been practicing it for many years? What we’re not so good at, is knowing how to relax and release – how to “Let go and let God.”

That’s where Ted’s Gentle Yoga comes in. I’m not interested in teaching people what they already know how to do; I want to introduce them to another way, a way of naturalness and “going with the flow.”

Over the years I have added techniques and insights from many different instructors of many different schools. I owe a little of everything to colleagues representing Kundalini, Kripalu, Kriya, Iyengar, Bikram, Astanga, Sivananda, Desikachar and Integral. I have learned something of value from each. But my original instinct has not changed – that Yoga is a naturally-evolving dialogue between mind, body, emotions and spirit, which makes us more understanding and accepting of ourselves and others. I work with the body, but I recognize that mind and spirit are more important. After all, they are the parts that we are going to take with us when we depart this world and go to the next. The Bhagavad Gita says that “Yoga is union with God,” and a yogi is “a harmonized soul.”

With this in mind, I begin each new teaching assignment by giving the class a thorough initiation into diaphragmatic breathing. I believe that this element is “key” to the whole Yoga experience. I cannot understand how true Yoga can be taught without it.

90% of my class is done on the floor, on a cushioned mat. Overly-competitive people who have taken a few classes and think they are ready for “advanced” asanas (postures), need to be shown that they probably don’t understand the simple ones as thoroughly as they think they do; and also that a few simple postures, thoroughly concentrated on, can provide more stress relief than a lot of hard postures done too fast without enough attention. And, of course, folks who are completely new to Yoga need to be taught what those simple postures are, and the safest way to do them.

After a grounding in the basic floor sequences, we may eventually get up onto sticky mats and explore more strengthening, standing routines. But only after we’ve slowly warmed-up to them. This is contrary to the more common practice of starting out on your feet, which has never made internal sense to my own body. And I teach people to honor what their bodies are trying to tell them. We lie down and rest at the end.

I always tell beginners this rule of thumb: Whatever style of Yoga you wind-up practicing, make sure that you are doing something FOR yourself – not something TO yourself!

If you make friends with your body, it will happily serve you well for many years. And it will gradually get better and better at doing it! But if you insist on punishing it and criticizing it because it’s not as good as somebody else’s body (or the body you had years ago), you will create a psychic rift in your own nature. And, as we know, a house divided against itself cannot stand.
People coming to my class to get flexible, are perplexed when I tell them to stop working at it – to learn how to breathe, relax, and release, instead. They’ve been taught all their lives that you have to push yourself hard to accomplish anything - which is unarguably true in Weight-lifting, Karate, Dance, and Climbing the corporate ladder - but is not true in every area of existence. Sometimes all you have to do, is let go! What we seek is Peace – not only emotional and mental, but also the peace that comes from the release of tight, over-tensed body parts. As Swami Satchidananda says, Peace is our birthright, something that has always been within us. You don’t have to create peace, or even find it – all you have to do is Stop disturbing it!!!

My students are blown-away to discover that as their muscles relax and loosen into a stretch, not only does it not hurt – but the muscles actually get stronger as they become more flexible!
There are two major Hindu concepts that must be present in order for a practice to be any style of Yoga. The first is Ahimsa – Non-injury to, and respect for, one’s own body (like the doctor who takes the Hippocratic oath, “First, do no harm”). The second is Tapas – Discipline. This may be the heating discipline of hard-working muscles; but it can also be the far more difficult discipline of mental focus - Mind control.

When you understand this, you have the key to understanding all the hundred different styles of Hatha (physical movement) Yoga. How much Ahimsa is in your teacher’s approach? How much Tapas? Some people need more or less of each. You could say that “Gentle” Yoga is any Hatha class in which Ahimsa is given precedence over Tapas – Peacefulness over Performance
True Yoga (meaning inner union, harmony or integration) should take a type-A person and calm her down, so she can live longer….so a balancing of the Doshas (an Ayurvedic term for the multiple Qualities, or Energies, within you) can take place, and the mind can think more calmly, sanely, and rationally. And Yoga should take an overly sluggish or depressed Type-B person and rev him up – light a bit of a fire under him. Yoga is not about taking your main personality trait and aggravating it. Yoga is about Equilibrium.

In Ted’s Gentle Yoga, Ahimsa reigns. I refer the folks who need revving-up to one of my wonderful colleagues in Astanga, Iyengar, Bikram or Kundalini. I specialize in the calming-down.
In Ted’s Gentle Yoga, we are more concerned with how a posture feels, than with how it looks. My style is easy-going and uses a lot of humor. I like Judith Lasater’s statement that “Yoga is playtime for grownups”. I want students to relax, accept themselves as they are, and have a good time while they are learning something valuable.

Because of my own medical problems, I have also made a study of which Yoga postures are good for certain conditions, and in which cases they may actually be dangerous. Headstands, to take one popular example, are great for some folks, but contraindicated if you’ve had detached retinas, glaucoma or hiatus hernia. It’s also important for the ladies to note that headstands should not be done while you’re having your period, because the inversion of gravity can disrupt the rhythm of your natural cycle.

If you are experienced in Yoga, and if you like what I’ve said here, you can introduce my attitude suggestions into your own practice. But neophytes need to take classes with a teacher to learn Yoga properly. You can pick-up quite a bit from watching videos or DVD’s - but there is no substitute for having a teacher there to watch you!

If you don’t live in my area, log onto http://www.azyoga.com/ and use the Teachers Directory to interview other instructors. It’s very possible that you may find one with a similar approach to mine.

Socrates said, “Know Thyself.” The proper practice of Yoga will help you to achieve this, more completely than anything else I know.

DON'T BE IN SUCH A HURRY!

2009-04-28T12:09:00.002-07:00

January 17, 2005

We always want tedious or troublesome times to be over quickly, don’t we? We want to get to the good, exciting stuff! Of course, the good times seem to go by too fast – we can’t hold onto them or make them last as long as we’d like. And then we’re back to the tedium again.

A word to the wise: Don’t be in such a hurry. Without getting hysterical about it, there are good reasons to slow down and smell whatever roses you may be able to find here and now.
For one thing, the people and animals you love will not be with you forever. It is not melodramatic to say that some day they are going to die. So, while they are here, you should appreciate them as completely as you can. Don’t take your present blessings for granted!
Even the most painful moments may contain some blessings. Embrace life with full awareness, and find out what they are.

For another thing, if you are constantly rushing to get stuff over and done with, the day will come, sooner than you think, when your entire life is over and done with! If you’ve been rushing too much, you won’t be ready.

Savor the time you have been given. Observe and learn something from it. Do not expect it to last forever.

This “being in the moment” is a key teaching of many philosophies. It was developed by people who realized the things I have just been telling you. The present moment is the only time in which we can act - whether positively or negatively.

I do not advocate living in fear of death, our own or our loved ones’. But I do advocate a calm, clear-eyed honesty about it. Many people have spent their entire lives stressing-out in reaction to this ultimate fear. Ironically, they could have eliminated that stress by learning to accept the fact that death is going to come for all of us. Fear doesn’t help; it only makes it worse. Death is a fact that we can do nothing about.

We are not alone in this. In the fullness of time, the whole earth is going to change. Present continents will be submerged and new ones will arise. Our weather patterns and our ancient nations will drop out of all memory. Everything that was discovered, developed, and then lost will have to be rediscovered and developed again. For the planet itself has a life cycle, as does the entire universe.

The point is not to worry about things we can’t control, but rather to do - right here and now - as much as we can for each other. Love, support, and protect your loved ones while you can. But don’t expect to protect them forever. Don’t take on the impossible stress of thinking that you’re supposed to be God.

You’re not. Remain mindful and compassionate, and God/Goddess will work through you for as long as He/She needs you as an instrument. You will be given what you are able to do.

When you are needed somewhere else, your circumstances will change.

And that, too, will be a part of the cycle.

HOW I’VE PRACTICED YOGA – THEN AND NOW

2009-04-28T12:04:00.003-07:00

October 23, 2005

In the thirty-five years I have spent studying Yoga and meditation, I have witnessed this phenomenon over and over again: every devotee believes that his or her guru had a special mandate from God that makes his the best and most authentic lineage in the world. But while it is true that each organization has its own explanation of reality, the greater truth is that we are all much more similar than we are different. That is what Yoga means, after all - Union or Oneness.

I used to attend Yoga seminars, workshops and classes on a regular basis. In 1971 I took my first Yoga class from Trish Arnold, the movement coach at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada. The actors would do Yoga asanas to limber their bodies before performing on stage. I took to it immediately, and immersed myself in one of the only books available at that time, Swami Vishnudevananda’s Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga.

In the middle of that decade I participated in a couple of sessions at Swami Satchidananda’s Integral Yoga Institute in Manhattan, and attended many of my Integral-trained colleagues’ classes at the New York Health Club, where we exchanged techniques and learned a great deal from each other. The most mature and insightful of those teachers, and the most helpful to me, was Harriet All.

During that same period I was initiated into Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s Transcendental Meditation, which I practiced every day.

I was also a Home Sanctum member of the Rosicrucian Order AMORC. The Rosicrucian teachings are based largely on the metaphysical principles of Yoga; so from 1977 until 1983 I studied the secrets of creation and the movement of life energy as taught in the ancient yogic tradition.

In the 1980s and 90s I took classes at Mary Beth Markus’ studio, A Desert Song, in Phoenix – all three locations! I also enjoyed the classes I took from Aleta Arnold, Joy Lee Erik and Deb Sherman, and the great intro to Level One Astanga that Dave Oliver presented at Paradise Valley Community College. PVCC also hosted a wonderful workshop in Zen Meditation by Lu Bellamak.

As a co-founder of the Arizona Yoga Association I enjoyed numerous workshops at our annual “Yogathons,” where I experienced the teaching styles of Anthony Carlisi, Mary Bruce, Paul Friedeman, Jap Singh Khalsa, Hari Jap Khalsa, Julie Crutchfield, Carol Mitchell, Ginny Spaven, Desiree Rumbaugh and many others. With my wife Nora I attended a couple of meetings at Swami Muktananda’s Siddha Yoga Meditation Center.

All this while I was also teaching my own classes, which steadily increased in number. In 1991 I made the switch to full-time teaching of Yoga and meditation, and my students always benefited directly from every workshop or class that I attended. I joined the International Association of Yoga Therapists and read Georg Feuerstein’s newsletters, as well as the seminal books of Eknath Easwaran, David Frawley and T.K.V. Desikachar. I also read books by our first western masters, Indra Devi and Richard Hittleman.

I did not limit my learning to Yoga teachers. I consulted with Chiropractors, Physical Therapists and Massage Therapists, and derived important information and helpful insights from all of them.

After reading Autobiography of a Yogi twice, I began the home study course of Paramhansa Yogananda’s Self-Realization Fellowship. Their energization exercises reflected very closely the techniques of the Rosicrucians that I had studied over a decade earlier. Also the same was their teaching that all manifestations of matter in the universe, and all dimensions of seeming reality, are made of the same indivisible “stuff” – the only difference being the rate at which it vibrates.

In 1993 the American master Rama Jyoti Vernon graced me with some very pivotal workshops in the Yoga Sutras and Bhagavad Gita, and introduced me to one of her main teachers, Satguru Sant Keshavadas, at Unity in Yoga’s 100-Year Celebration of Yoga in America. For me, a highlight of that seminar was sitting in the presence of Swami Satchidananda, who had been for years one of my spiritual heroes. I had read books about him and articles by him, and had watched videos of him. Now I was able to bask in his actual company and hear his words from his own mouth. It was magical.

Sandra Summerfield Kozak was also there, and I later took some excellent classes and workshops from her in Phoenix, through her business International Yoga Studies. Sant Keshavadas was one of her teachers, too; and he became a pivotal influence for a couple of years – Nora and I attended his 60th birthday party in Oakland, California – until he passed away unexpectedly at the age of 63. But his books continue to inform and inspire. You can hear recordings of his voice On-line at http://www.templeofcosmicreligion.org/ . His long-time follower and initiate, Swami Vandana Jyoti, who generously shared with me many precious gems of insight into the spiritual path, provides these recordings for our benefit.

“Santji” continued my meditation training by giving me a personal mantra. In those years I also took two different forms of Babaji’s Kriya Yoga – that offered by Roy Eugene Davis and the more complicated Level One initiation by Marshall Govindan. I also took Hatha Kriya Yoga from Desiree Lewis and Candace Rose.

At Phoenix College I subbed for, and took a class with, Kat Puralewski. At Glendale Community College I took a semester with Jennifer Marshall and a workshop with Carlyn Sikes. I took an Iyengar class with Heidi Lichte, and taught for over a year at the Forest House Yoga Studio. Nora and I spent one magical evening at the local Sikh ashram, in the presence of Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati.

A month after 9/11/2001 Nora and I were brave enough to attend The Southwest Yoga Conference in Palm Springs, California. We were glad we did; the atmosphere was wonderfully soothing and centering. At the conference we took classes from Judith Lasater, Lakshmi Voelker, Sandra Anderson and Naomi Judith Offner, and from Gyandev McCord of the Ananda Sangha. We also listened to lectures by Lama Surya Das, and by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait of The Himalayan Institute. I was a regular subscriber to Yoga International magazine.

With the 21st century upon us, I learned more about Yogi Bhajan’s Kundalini Yoga from my friends Sangeet Kaur and Hari Jap Khalsa, as well as from Dr. Dharma Singh Khalsa’s book, Meditation as Medicine. I met some lovely folks who were devotees of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living Foundation, and attended some of their meetings and took their Levels One and Two initiations. Being an experienced yogi, I could see that their energy-moving techniques were almost identical to those that Yogi Bhajan had brought to this country in the 1960s and taught to his American Sikhs; so the Art of Living claim that this was the first time such things had been revealed to westerners was a bit of an exaggeration. But they were very nice people, and their worldwide organization does some really important work, so I just chose to withdraw quietly without making a fuss over details or offering offense to anyone.

Nora and I attended two annual “Yogavision” conferences held on the campus of Arizona State University, where we experienced the teaching styles of such notables as Dr. Dan Hart, Patricia Hansen, Amrit Desai and Dharma Mittra. We met such local Yoga artisans as Susan Nichols of Yogastyles.com and Cindy Lee of Mantra Metals.

Around this same time I became aware of Mataji Nirmala Devi’s Sahaja Yoga, and was instructed in her technique of meditation. I found it very similar – though not as exact or scientific – as the Simplified Kundalini Yoga meditation techniques of Yogiraj Swami Vethathiri. I received initiation into SKY by Tony Pagliante, who became a friend.

Nowadays I no longer attend seminars, workshops or classes on a regular basis. I teach ten to twelve classes a week, and every morning I practice those Yoga asanas that are necessary to keep my back in alignment. I continue to read books.

I’d be happy to sign up for another conference - those are always fun - if the time and location were convenient and the cost affordable; but those criteria are hard to fulfill.

To my mind, the most important branch of Yoga is Meditation. But while I enjoy doing it as the spirit moves me, I no longer sit down to meditate at regular times every day. I basically meditate all the time – that is, I tend to go through my daily activities in a yogic state of mind. When I make a mistake, I am mindful of the fact and attempt to correct it in that very moment. On days when I am tired and unable to keep up this interior discipline, my mind still continues to analyze every thought in the light of Yoga philosophy. There is a constant Observer now - my Buddhi Mind watching over my ego mind. They fight for dominance sometimes, but I am always aware that I have a choice.

As Sangeet Kaur Khalsa says, every breath of every day can be a mantra. Your life is your class, and after years of training under earthly masters your higher Self becomes your guru.

There is an oft-quoted piece of advice for beginning students these days - that you should only take classes from a teacher who is himself continuing his practice under his teacher.

To those who give such advice I reply, “Yes, indeed - but your teacher’s Yoga doesn’t have to be physical – and his teacher doesn’t have to be in the flesh!”

THE NEGATIVITY BOOMERANG

2009-04-28T12:03:00.001-07:00

January 22, 2005

In the last few years – especially since September 2001, when our jovial and generous American psyche experienced a profound shift toward cynicism and fear – I have been learning some hard lessons about the workings of negativity. I have been forced to study my own negativity, as well as the negativity of others. I have been forced to see how they are the same thing.

I have seen words that I considered a valid criticism of others come boomeranging back at me, years later, in the exact same phrasing, and sounding just as insightful and plausible, even though they were completely mistaken and unfair.

I see now that if you don’t know people intimately, their behaviors can lead you to make judgments about them that are false. But we all make such judgments, because what we see is filtered through the frustrations, pains and indignities that we are suffering at the time. Students jump to conclusions about teachers, and teachers jump to conclusions about students. But, no matter how deeply justified we feel when we do it, we are wrong! Sooner or later, our karma will make that very clear.

I am not sorry that I had such thoughts about other people at the time, even if I was wrong – because that was who I was then, and it would have been dishonest of me not to admit it to myself. But I am sorry that I ever expressed those thoughts on paper, or through my mouth – because it is simply not right to hurt people.

It is the hurt that comes back to bite us. If I could have only kept my judgments to myself until I had gained a better understanding of those people, my mistaken perceptions wouldn’t have hurt anyone but me. And the wheel of karma would not have begun to turn.

A WARM WELCOME TO CHRISTIAN YOGA

2009-04-28T12:02:00.002-07:00

July 12, 2007

Arizona is in the Bible belt, and this has been in the news recently. Since Christian fundamentalists are convinced that teaching Yoga to their children will convert them to Hinduism - or that Meditation is a way of giving one's mind over to the Devil or of egotistically trying to make oneself equal to God – all of which are misinterpretations, by the way - there has arisen a movement to Christianize this popular thing called Yoga, which draws more and more followers every year.

Interestingly, the folks who are advertising Christian Yoga training are Yoga Alliance certified. They incorporate Christian spiritual practices - scripture reading and prayer - into their Yoga. This contradicts the misperception that they’re only teaching the physical aspects of Yoga without spirituality. So, good for them!

From my point of view, it's just a matter of my saying tomato and your saying tomato; the words don't really make any difference, because Spirit is the same all over the world. The only differences lie in the mind of the individual person. The Ten Commandments and the Yamas and Niyamas are basically the same in their rules for treating other people. (There is the major difference that the Commandments begin with the love of the One God. The Yamas and Niyamas make no such reference.)

But to Christian Yogis it is vitally important that they say Jesus and Holy Spirit, rather than Siva and Shakti. They probably end class with something like "God Be With You" instead of "Namaste." I think that’s fine; it’s actually what many of us westerners have been doing in our secret hearts anyway, ever since we began making Yoga a part of our lives years ago. In our belief, Jesus is the greatest Yogi and the greatest Guru. So, in a sense, there is nothing new at all about Christian Yoga. Everyone has to start someplace at their own comfort level. Besides, it makes Yoga acceptable to thousands who would otherwise never walk in the door.

So I say, good for them! And more power to everyone who has the opportunity to benefit from this wonderful, ancient tradition. There are many paths and many names, but we’re all climbing the same mountain.

WHO IS MY AUDIENCE?

2009-04-28T11:58:00.003-07:00

May 27, 2006

I think the best thing about my writing is that it prompts you to develop your own thoughts on whatever the subject may be.

I don't, however, care very much what the Establishment makes of it. I address my comments to those who tend to support my views. I see my mission as reinforcing the courage of those who are of like-mind with me, rather than of attempting to change the minds of those who are not. Why should I disturb or upset people who believe differently? I'd rather leave them alone. How will my essays serve you? Each reader must decide that for himself.

As for expressing my views in a personal way, that is how my whole book (Notes from the Greenroom: Taking Cues from the Promptbook of Life) is written. I do not feel myself qualified to dictate to others in a "you should do thus-and-so" manner. I offer my own personal responses to situations in order to encourage thought - so that people can decide for themselves where they stand. My message is Self-reliance, not slavishly following somebody else - myself included. My writing is not "this is how you should be" - it is "this is the way I have worked it out. What do you think of it?"

I understand the academic concern of writers with trying to determine their target audience - that is the monetary side of book sales. But I've come to the point where I feel that it may be sufficient to simply concentrate on doing what I do (following my call, if you will); the cosmos will determine who is supposed to read it. Perhaps somebody will pass it on to a venue I don't know about, and it will see the public light of day by means that I had not foreseen. This is not to say that the “target audience” concern isn't a valid one, just that I've rather gone past it at this stage.

We all have people in our lives who annoy us. I describe how I have come to deal with mine; you need to figure out how you will deal with yours, and if my example helps you at all with your inner dialogue, I am glad. If it doesn't, at least you have seen what some of the other options are.

As for feedback, constructive and thoughtful comments and insights are always welcome. If it is my mission to encourage others in their search, their positive feedback encourages me to continue! It is a mutual exchange, a two-way street. So I thank you for any responses that you feel prompted to make.

A FRANK DISCUSSION OF YOGA AND RELIGION

2009-04-28T11:52:00.003-07:00

I was raised in the Methodist Church, but was a child of the ‘60s and took my first Yoga class in 1971. I began teaching the subject five years later, and have grown in wisdom and understanding as each year brings more experience. Today I am also a minister of the Universal Life Church, available to conduct interfaith weddings.

If you are new to Yoga, you may be unaware of the growing controversy between those who insist that Yoga is Hinduism (and should only be taught, therefore, by Hindus, Buddhists or Sikhs) and those who believe that Yoga is a universal philosophy designed for the betterment of everyone regardless of religion, because over the last 5,000 years it has spread to every continent in the world and been adapted by every faith and culture.

This is not a tempest in a teacup; it actually has the potential for developing into a Hurricane Katrina. It was a non-issue in the 1970’s when Yoga was merely a fad practiced by the few in America – but today it has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry, and most (not all) of the faces controlling these fortunes are white. To an Indian Hindu, a white face means a Christian face.

So fierce and adamant has the Hindu faction grown recently, that there has been a counter-movement to design a form of Yoga that can be claimed 100% by Christianity! The Hindus, unfortunately, take this to be an even greater insult than what we were doing before.

A representative website for the Hindu perspective is http://www.classicalyoga.org/.

The official website for Christian Yoga is http://www.yahwehyoga.net/.

The underlying reason why Hindus are so vocal on this subject is that they see – with some justification – our Western appropriation of Yoga as a lack of respect for their ancient culture and traditions. Although no Yoga teacher of my acquaintance feels such disrespect (rather, we are grateful to our Hindu Gurus for their wonderful gifts of teaching and inspiration), I still say that the Hindus have some justification for their paranoia. It goes all the way back to the Muslim invasion of India, and extends through the indignities of the Christian British Raj, and up to the present day when Muslim violence against Hindus includes setting trainloads of men, women and children on fire. (Americans hardly ever hear of these things; you have to subscribe to Hinduism Today to read of daily atrocities on the sub-continent.) Given these acts, and the tendency of conquering nations to appropriate for themselves the riches and wisdom of the conquered, one cannot blame certain Hindus for crying foul. If you are Jewish, you will understand this even better. How do you feel when someone tries to tell you that the Holocaust never happened?

I was trained in the Yoga Sutras by Rama Jyoti Vernon, founder of the International Yoga College. This fabulous teacher – herself a product of many great Gurus – taught me, with much authority, that Yoga is not a religion; it is one of the six original philosophical systems of ancient India. And yet, it would be a little disingenuous for either of us to insist that Yoga bears no trappings of Hinduism whatsoever. After all, the main Guru who influenced us both gave us Sanskrit (i.e., Hindu) names, which we proudly displayed!

Like so many new devotees, I confess that I spent money purchasing Indian clothes to wear and acquiring murtis (devotional statues) of the major Hindu gods. I wore malas, or prayer beads. I recited mantras and prayers to Ganesha, Lakshmi, Siva and Krishna.

Much of this was prompted by my disappointment with Christianity (at least the dry, doctrinaire Christianity that I had found in most churches). So it is true that I actively pursued Hinduism, for a time, as an alternate faith……until the day came when an irate Hindu sent me a series of emails telling me to leave his faith alone and stop teaching Yoga. On that day I woke up to the fact that all religions have their bigots, who will separate themselves from you and exclude you from their midst. I know Western women who married Indian Hindu men and converted, body and soul, to their husbands’ faith - only to be banned from entering his childhood temple when they went back to India to visit his family, because some Hindu sects hold that no one can be a pure Hindu unless they were born one.

But it’s not only Hindus who believe that Yoga is Hinduism. About fifteen years ago I tried to get Grand Canyon University, here in Phoenix, to hire me as a Yoga teacher. I only knew where the school was located – not that it was an institution of the Southern Baptist Church. I was told, very politely but very clearly, that no subject would ever be allowed there which might encourage people to convert to Hinduism. No argument I gave could change their minds (like, for example, the fact that Hindus are not evangelical and don't even want Western converts). When I expressed my opinion that I, too, was a Christian, I was given to understand – again in the most courteous of terms – that, on the contrary, I was only a Methodist.

The Gurus who came to the west were more inclusive than either the fundamentalist Hindus or the fundamentalist Christians; Sant Keshavadas used to include Moses and Jesus in his invocations. Though a Hindu himself, he – like Swami Satchidananda – preached the universality of God, and therefore the interconnectedness and universality of all faiths that believe in God. It didn't matter to these Gurus what form the devotee chose to worship. The message was not the form, but the love; regardless of our personal preferences or conceptions, we should learn to love God more and more. (In 2009 I was contacted by the scholarly Swami Param, who holds that our Vaishnava Gurus were a little less than honest with us - that, in fact, Hinduism does not believe in one "Creator God" and Hindus don't even use the word "God." But they sure did with us - so I am explaining, in this essay, what our beloved teachers taught.)

If Sant Keshavadas and Swami Satchidananda were telling the truth, then why should a Christian construe Yoga as an attempt to dissuade him from his faith? And why should a Hindu think that Yoga can only be taught by Hindus? It is true that our Gurus never dissuaded us from wearing Indian clothes and decorating our homes with Hindu gods - but they never ordered us to do any of those things, and frankly I think it disturbed them a bit. They lovingly and patiently allowed each follower to follow the path in his own way, gradually developing his understanding through different stages of maturation.

But the questions still remain: Is Yoga a religion? If it is, that religion would be Hinduism.

In his letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul wrote: "There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all."

Christians are supposed to interpret “one faith” to mean that only Christianity – usually their version – was ordained by God, and that all other religions are at the very least errors, and at the worst Satan-inspired blasphemies. But the residents in the house of this world look out upon reality from many different windows; and there are those of us who take “one faith” to mean that every religion brings us to God, and that as long as you love the “Lord” (either God Himself – the “Father of us all” - or whichever of His representatives you admire in human form, such as Jesus, Rama or Krishna) then you are on the right path and blessed by His grace. After all, if there really is just “one faith, one body and one Spirit,” then how could any human concept of the Divine lie outside that all-encompassing majesty? How could there be any real difference between Saint Francis and Ramakrishna? “There is nothing else besides me, Arjuna. Everything you see is strung on me, like pearls upon a thread.” – Bhagavad Gita. (Please note that not all Hindus subscribe to this piece of text. Swami Param in particular believes that the various divine beings - Mahadevas - are different and separate from one another. There are as many sects of Hinduism as there are denominations of Christianity; so it is misleading to say that all followers of any faith believe exactly the same things.)

My purpose in writing this essay was to inform and explain – to let you know what’s being fought over out there, and to suggest what the motivations might be. If you continue in Yoga, you are bound to encounter some reference to this argument at some point.

Now that you have the outline of the conflict, and two websites to explore in more detail (also see my recent essay, "Explanation, Disclaimer and Manifesto"), you’ll need to decide for yourself where you stand on the subject. As another inspired teacher - Gautama Buddha - said, “Be your own master in whatever you do, say and think. Be free.”