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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
 Posted - Feb 06 2016 : 1:01:11 PM
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This beauty, unfolding in ribbons of light and shadow. This California sun, shining upon all parts equally. This divine love, free for the giving and receiving.
There's a little pug on my cousin's patio. His tongue hangs out perpetually. He has gray hair freckling his face. He looks at me with curious, old eyes.
From the balcony, the San Francisco Bay ripples in calm swells. A giant tanker is on its way to some port. A pigeon flys by, swooping through the canyons of condominiums, landing on the ledge of another tenant's balcony. Sounds of construction, horns, diesel engines, and constant commute echo from the streets below. Mopeds, cars, buses, pedestrians walking, and cyclists riding their bikes move across the dark pavement.
The blue dome of sky above is ancient. How many structures have risen and fallen underneath its atmospheric cloak? How will the urban landscape change with the passage of time? What organic processes of shelter and sustenance are yet to be rolled out?
I don't know. But we just meditated (it's the first time introducing my cousin to Deep Meditation), and now we're going to eat French toast.
I will write a blog soon about my adventures in Los Angeles, among both the homeless and the high society. Full scope stuff. |
Edited by - Bodhi Tree on Feb 06 2016 2:34:59 PM |
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lalow33
USA
966 Posts |
Posted - Feb 06 2016 : 5:05:47 PM
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| Ha! The homeless flock to me. The crazy vibe ones I give the evil eye.lol. I have my kids with me. Not very spiritual, but what's a mom to do? |
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - Feb 06 2016 : 5:47:38 PM
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Sounds like you've got good motherly instincts of protection. All hail the evil eye! None shall pass! Tough love (also part of the AYP baseline).   |
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Charliedog
1625 Posts |
Posted - Feb 07 2016 : 06:25:27 AM
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It was before my yoga path that I went for several years to San Diego in Januari for work.
Here it is mostly grey and cloudy that time of year. Very nice memories of the beauty of the Californian sky, the crispy air in the mornings, the prana, so fresh.I had the feeling that I could breath so deeply there. Probably my first yogic breaths. Enjoy!  |
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - Feb 07 2016 : 07:08:24 AM
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No kidding, Charlie-D! It's a small world after all.
Here's to deep breathing and clean air. |
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - Feb 12 2016 : 3:12:11 PM
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Tuesday night:
chasing the magic inside the sound
drawn back into precious memories
the childhood bubble of innocence was glazed with shimmering tones of clarity
before the damaging of senses occurred
before there was much to fight about
before the violence took hold
now, don't you see, it's all one, and no matter how distorted the picture becomes
it will still all be one, just the same
and the flickering of flutes and deep swells of brass demand more description and vocabulary than I currently possess
and the cadence of the orchestra is probably complex, but simple because it's merely vibration in space
and I wonder...how does God diversify herself into so many unique imprints and self-similar patterns?
there is crazy-precise truth in music, especially the longer it lasts,
stretching far back into wooden canyons carved by diligent hands,
melting into metallic alloys and alleyways of acoustic curvature,
piping through the windpipes of lung-compressed air
Peter and the Wolf, I'm home.
Wednesday night:
I was walking in the parking lot of my apartment complex a little past midnight, and I saw a young man seated in a lawn chair peering through a big telescope. The telescope was about 4 feet long and 1 foot in diameter. I walked up to him and asked: "Is this a telescope?!" He replied: "Yes. Do you want to see Jupiter?" "Hell yes!" I said enthusiastically. He made some small adjustments, and I looked into the eyepiece. Sure enough, there was Jupiter, moving slowly across the visual frame, from right to left. I asked him what the two promiment horizontal bands on the surface of the planet were, and he said they were weather patterns. He also helped me identity a couple moons orbiting the gaseous giant.
I asked some more questions about the telescope and astronomy, and he told me he was still very much a newbie. We ended up bouncing back and forth and having an hour-long conversation. He was an attentive listener and asked plenty of questions of his own, showing genuine interest in my life experience and knowledge. Of course, I eventually brought up AYP, and he said that he had a friend that was really into meditation, and wanted to connect me with him. I happily encouraged the opportunity and passed my number along.
Near the end, after we were pretty comfortable, I told him about cosmic samyama, and how the mind could be used as a telescope when tuned into the seed consciousness of the universe. He smiled and said that it made sense. We shook hands, and I helped him by carrying his lawn chair back to his apartment, while he carried the telescope. Then I returned to my own place to go to bed, and write this entry. |
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Charliedog
1625 Posts |
Posted - Feb 13 2016 : 03:30:50 AM
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 Nice, such unexpected meetings with strangers and planets  |
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - Feb 13 2016 : 04:08:36 AM
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Speaking of unexpected meetings, it would be wonderful to see you in France next year for AYP teacher certification! Just a thought!  |
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Charliedog
1625 Posts |
Posted - Feb 13 2016 : 05:56:25 AM
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Yes that would be wonderful! In fact I am going to my first AYP retreat from Christi in England in may, I am looking forward to it.
Of course France crossed my mind, but I did a 500hrs TT and this was very much in line with AYP, with some variations in terminology. (and no samyama  )
In two weeks I have a full week of TT here, Naada Yoga. This is yoga of sound, purification by sound and silence. I did already some shorter 3 day teachings with the teacher. The first time I met that teacher I know I could learn so much of him, and that I would take every opportunity. My wishes are forfilled, he is coming for TT now and again next year for part two.
He is already 80 years, from India, but living for a long time in the USA. He is special to me, first time I worked with him, it was as if he lifted 30 kg of my shoulders
But It would be very nice to meet you (unexpected) and also other names and internet strangers with who I am talking here.....
I really hope that you are going to do the AYP TT in France, next to the massage therapist. I strongly recommend this. I see in you a big potential, but most important is to stay humble and enjoy. I really mean this Cody.
Love&Light  |
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - Feb 13 2016 : 10:16:42 AM
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Purification by sound...I would be very curious to hear about that. Please post about that experience if you are so inclined. I guess we could say that Deep Meditation is purification by the sound of the mantra, so I wonder if the Naada yoga incorporates mantras?
Glad to hear you are moving forward with your already completed, full-scope training, and thank you for your encouragement, Charliedog. |
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Charliedog
1625 Posts |
Posted - Feb 13 2016 : 2:59:49 PM
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 Sorry if I am to enthusiastic, I am just happy to have found yoga, it really changed my life. I will post my experiences with Shyamji after, it's about chanting mantra's and more, love that. AYP answered many questions for me and completed training it will never be.I will stay open and practice and move forward, and do whatever Guru inside tells me to do.
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - Feb 13 2016 : 7:15:05 PM
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I'm just as enthusiastic as you! We're on the same page!  |
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - Feb 23 2016 : 08:43:48 AM
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Waking up, I recall last night's dream. Fishing in South America, I reeled in a species reminiscent of a snook. I could feel the line drag as the fish peeled away in protest of capture. My Hispanic companion on the boat said the species was rare, and the fish would go for a high price at the market.
Jesus said he would make his disciples the fisher of men, or so the Gospels say. Who knows if anything written in the Bible is actually what Jesus said, and who knows if Jesus is even real? Mason Jennings sings: "Jesus, are you real? Did we make you up?" Self-inquiry, or speculative contemplation. Imagination, or transdimensional verification. Choose your own adventure.
I have a friend who is going in the transgender direction. I emailed him, saying I was gay-friendly and even cool with cross-dressing, but that permanent surgery didn't sit well with me. I wished him the best, and he replied: "$%# off."
I start massage school in a month. My uncle said I will have a fiduciary responsibility to the public, and that I better conduct myself at the highest level of decorum.
My gay cousin is moving to Tampa and wants to live with me. My uncle advised me to be weary of his buried and shadowy issues.
Words and language reflect physicality, shape physicality, are physicality. Vibrations off the tongue travel through the air. Movements of the fingers carve signatures into space. Stories told and untold resonate across stillness.
Secretly, I pupate in a cocoon of happiness, dismissing bouts of worry. Now, I practice, and tickle my spine, and chase the mantra, and repeat the formula for miracles. |
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Dogboy
USA
2192 Posts |
Posted - Feb 23 2016 : 09:19:16 AM
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| Your life is a dream, Bodhi, a series of scattered scenes playing out for you to witness and participate in on the surface. But in the sub terrain of your being these "scenic" roots are intertwined and their interconnectiveness accessed through the fruits of your practice. Keep sharing your tales and I promise I will keep reading them |
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Charliedog
1625 Posts |
Posted - Feb 23 2016 : 09:43:00 AM
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| Life is a miracle, as long as we stay open and enjoy, thanks Bodhi |
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - Feb 23 2016 : 4:47:28 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Dogboy
Your life is a dream, Bodhi, a series of scattered scenes playing out for you to witness and participate in on the surface. But in the sub terrain of your being these "scenic" roots are intertwined and their interconnectiveness accessed through the fruits of your practice. Keep sharing your tales and I promise I will keep reading them
Well, I'm glad you enjoy reading them. That's what fuels my writing most. Merrily down the stream...
quote:
Originally posted by Charliedog
Life is a miracle, as long as we stay open and enjoy, thanks Bodhi
Purified and opened...the only way to fly. |
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - Feb 28 2016 : 10:55:49 AM
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My new theory is that everyone has at least a little witness established in them at any given point. When I reflect upon my own 34 years of existence on Earth, this seems to be the case for me. It's just that in the pre-yoga days, there was not much context to understand the native state. I only knew that it was the most natural and normal thing to be at peace. But, a little philosophy, vision, desire, and of course, practice is needed to sustain the naturalness and normalcy of peace.
If the mind is believing that everything to be gained is on the outside, therein lies the problem. Similarly, if the mind is believing that everything to be gained is on the inside, that is also a problem, and an imbalance. If the mind is trying to merge the inside and outside, there is the solution.
Focusing solely on the outside will keep the witness diminished and nearly forgotten. Focusing solely on the inside will result in a passive witness that never quite merges with the outside. To oscillate between inside and outside is the optimal condition.
Smooth oscillation is the way of AYP. Yogani calls it stillness in action. While Yogani hides behind the curtain of anonymity, some of us must prove these truths and realities in more visible ways. The hidden inside must be reflected on the observable outside. Otherwise, we will doodle and regress in stagnation and incompleteness.
To progress is to become God. To regress is to return to the violence of creation's beginnings. If everyone is becoming God together, no one can claim dominance or sole ownership. All that can be claimed is collective ownership of the entirety of existence. The government of the cosmos is Self.
...
Last night I saw a virtuoso organist play at the performing arts center downtown. His name is Cameron Carpenter, and he went to school with my ex-wife (actually, she once showed me a letter in which he tried to court her, but she never bit the hook). We saw him in San Francisco six years ago. He hung out with us after the concert. We drank wine together, but he didn't smoke pot because he said it negatively affected his memory (he plays very long pieces with no sheet music in front of him). Now, he has a full-blown mohawk atop his head, and wears glittery shoes that sparkle as his feet dance across the huge, pipe-shaped pedals of his cutting-edge, digital organ. Last night he gave short lectures in between the music pieces. Much like his outfit and general aesthetic, he speaks ostentatiously, but crisply and with meaning. He's a true character.
He played several encores, punctuated by standing ovations. He signed autographs after the show, and I said hello. |
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sunyata
USA
1505 Posts |
Posted - Feb 28 2016 : 12:55:50 PM
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Hi Bodhi,
Agree with you regarding the witness. My experience was going from unity to witness to ignorance and now it's going back to witness and then unity.Like you said, now I have the context to the experience. I can see this in my kids. The 2 year old goes through life just having the experience. The 4 year old now has a concept of mine, I.
Some of us just stay in ignorance till death and some manage to make the full circle. Perhaps the ones who died in ignorance will probably have several/million chances to make that circle.
Keep writing Bodhi. It's fun reading them.
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Edited by - sunyata on Feb 29 2016 09:40:23 AM |
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - Feb 28 2016 : 1:26:03 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by sunyata
My experience was going from unity to witness to ignorance and now it's going back to witness and then unity.Like you said, now I have the context to the experience. I can see this in my kids. The 2 year old goes through life just having the experience. The 4 year old now has a context of mine, I.
Such a beautiful snapshot. Reading vignettes like yours makes me want to have kids. Thank you for the inspiration.
quote:
Originally posted by sunyata
Some of us just stay in ignorance till death and some manage to make the full circle. Perhaps the ones who died in ignorance will probably have several/million chances to make that circle.
Yes, good point. I actually have a pretty positive outlook on rebirth. I kind of see it like having endless passes to go down a water slide. After enough plummets down the water slide, we become satisfied, and rest for a while. But maybe the cycle doesn't ever end, which is beautiful to me, because that implies infinite chances and infinite expressions. Some of the Buddhist/Hindu ideology portrays rebirth in a more negative light, like it's a cycle of debt and imprisonment, but I don't really buy into that. I just see it more as the flow and spiral of eternal life.
quote:
Originally posted by sunyata
Keep writing Bodhi. It's fun reading them.
I can't stop. The pain of repression is too great, and the pleasure of articulation is too sublime to resist. Thank God that the AYP forum allows me to spill my guts, and thank you for reading, and most importantly, for enriching the narrative with your own point of view. |
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sunyata
USA
1505 Posts |
Posted - Feb 29 2016 : 09:50:45 AM
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quote:
Reading vignettes like yours makes me want to have kids
They are beautiful gifts.
quote:
Yes, good point. I actually have a pretty positive outlook on rebirth. I kind of see it like having endless passes to go down a water slide. After enough plummets down the water slide, we become satisfied, and rest for a while. But maybe the cycle doesn't ever end, which is beautiful to me, because that implies infinite chances and infinite expressions. Some of the Buddhist/Hindu ideology portrays rebirth in a more negative light, like it's a cycle of debt and imprisonment, but I don't really buy into that. I just see it more as the flow and spiral of eternal life.
Agree with this. But Suffering was not fun here. If there was a choice to be born as an ignorant- I would decline it. But if there was a choice of being fully awake and not lose it through all Life times them I'm up for it.
quote:
I can't stop. The pain of repression is too great, and the pleasure of articulation is too sublime to resist. Thank God that the AYP forum allows me to spill my guts, and thank you for reading, and most importantly, for enriching the narrative with your own point of view.
. Please feel free to let me know if "I" talk about my experience too much.. "I" have a tendency to do that. I enjoy reading others experiences as well, rather than quotes from books. So I do the same. It probably gets annoying at times.
Sunyata |
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - Feb 29 2016 : 12:59:09 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by sunyata
Please feel free to let me know if "I" talk about my experience too much.
You don't talk enough. More, please. Seriously, that's what I think is going to help the AYP community grow—the journalistic, authentic sharing of our personal stories. AYP will not make it in the long run unless there are visible faces surrounding the faceless knowledge base. The reality is: life thrives on stories and tangible details. I can regurgitate all the practices and principles until I'm blue in the face, but that is of little consequence or meaning unless there are concrete examples of progress and ecstatic bliss in my personal life.
This is a results-driven platform, and I hope we see more results bubbling up from the practitioners. Obviously, it's still a very fledgling sprout of a satsang, but things like journalistic writing, blogs, retreats, informal gatherings, and now the certification program, will be necessary to turn this sapling group into a full-grown organism.
So, please, feel free to let these vignettes and anecdotes pour out in the spirit of stillness in action. |
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sunyata
USA
1505 Posts |
Posted - Mar 02 2016 : 1:50:47 PM
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Beehive
USA
117 Posts |
Posted - Mar 02 2016 : 3:26:18 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Bodhi Tree
quote:
Originally posted by sunyata
Please feel free to let me know if "I" talk about my experience too much.
You don't talk enough. More, please. Seriously, that's what I think is going to help the AYP community grow—the journalistic, authentic sharing of our personal stories. AYP will not make it in the long run unless there are visible faces surrounding the faceless knowledge base. The reality is: life thrives on stories and tangible details. I can regurgitate all the practices and principles until I'm blue in the face, but that is of little consequence or meaning unless there are concrete examples of progress and ecstatic bliss in my personal life.
This is a results-driven platform, and I hope we see more results bubbling up from the practitioners. Obviously, it's still a very fledgling sprout of a satsang, but things like journalistic writing, blogs, retreats, informal gatherings, and now the certification program, will be necessary to turn this sapling group into a full-grown organism.
So, please, feel free to let these vignettes and anecdotes pour out in the spirit of stillness in action.
This is a really interesting point from my perspective. I totally agree - I LOVE all the things I read here and it has helped me, educated me, given me both patience and incredible amounts of joy. But I don't like to write on the forums myself. I try to now and then - sometimes out of felling obligated to contribute because I've received so much. Most often I spend way too much time after I've hit "POST" worrying that I've written it wrong or not described an experience the way it actually felt to me. It's not a pleasant feeling!
I love your journal - and the others who have written in journal fashion - because there is no disagreement. It is simply enjoying someone's experience as is.
This is definitely a dilemma for me and while I figure it out for myself I hope all of you who enjoy writing keep doing so - I think you are right Bodhi that is is an important contribution to AYP and of course AYP is an incredible gift to the world. |
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - Mar 02 2016 : 7:37:13 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Beehive
Most often I spend way too much time after I've hit "POST" worrying that I've written it wrong or not described an experience the way it actually felt to me. It's not a pleasant feeling!
I think that's perfectly natural, and it's happened to me quite a few times.
For me, it's worth the risk of sounding a little absurd, or silly, or even obnoxious, because the process of sharing is also one of self-inquiry. When self-inquiry is bounced off another person, or group, I think it becomes realer, especially in conversation and intimate settings. On that note, this forum will never replace personal interaction and physical closeness, but that doesn't mean that the forum can't be a nice supplement to, and enabler of, the real deal. I've been fortunate enough to meet several people who have posted on the forum, and I have found that a single day of face-to-face time is worth 100 days of virtual chat or exchanges.
While I think Yogani's position of anonymity is a brilliant move that I support 100%, it also leaves a lot of room for practitioners to pick up the slack. Time will tell if the glue of desire and stillness in action will bring us together in a more coherent, lasting way. As it is now, it's quite tenuous, displaced, and fragile. But that is also very natural due to AYP being very young in its development, so I'm very optimistic about our chances to rise as a formidable, influential presence in the world.
Of course, there are probably thousands of AYP practitioners that never touch the forum, and are still benefiting from the practices, so this is just a fraction of what's going on. Nevertheless, if the scattered devotees can congeal and collaborate, based on independent inclinations, connections, and localities, then it will get better and better. And that's the great part of Yogani's hands-off approach—no one needs permission or supervision to join together and practice AYP. It's open-source.
Sorry, that was a long tangent, but going back to your inner process of sharing, I would just encourage you to follow your inner guru, and if that means doing more reading than writing, so be it! In any case, I really do appreciate your feedback to my writing, and your unique perspective really boosts my bandwidth of ecstatic bliss, so I won't ever be trying to repress or suppress you, for what it's worth. I'll just be asking for more of your lovely words, as well as others (Charliedog, Sunyata, Dogboy, Lalow, Sey, BlueRC, Kumar, Maheswari, Omsat, Blanche, etc.)
One more thing about writing on the forum. Though I said face-to-face interaction is much preferred, there is still an advantage to writing and reading each other across long distances, because it gives plenty of room for solitude and reflection, without the pressure of having to respond in a knee-jerk fashion. There is great joy in taking one's time and crafting these little messages, as well as absorbing the ones that are received. So, I see it as a win-win situation, really. The best of both worlds.
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Edited by - Bodhi Tree on Mar 02 2016 7:40:33 PM |
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Dogboy
USA
2192 Posts |
Posted - Mar 02 2016 : 8:33:29 PM
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| you made me blush |
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Journal of a Disgruntled Mystic
