Dali drips of Maitri with Molly at Yoga Sol: Carson City, NV: March 31, 2016

The main alignment instructions in Molly's class today was metta, or loving kindness. It is one of the Four Immeasurables from the Buddhist tradition. In the yogic tradition these for immeasurables are found it Patanjali's yoga sutra 1.33, one of my all time go-to's for self soothing. It feels like metta is what Patanjali describes at maitri, and is often translated at friendliness.

Metta or maitri, or how you pronounce potatoe, is secondary to the the main point that its been a while since I've sat in loving kindness, or more specifically loving kindness pointed towards myself. Being out on tour and in contact with thousands of people, my practice has been more to turn maitri out there. But as sages in all traditions remind us, out there and in there are ultimately the same. The relationship I'm having with others is the same relationship I'm having with myself.

And it was super hard to point it towards myself.

Molly was over to our house the other day and we share a common love for Dali, which was extra fun because we have a lot of Dali art hanging on our walls. In class today as I was struggling so hard to let loving kindness flow freely, Molly instructed us to allow ourselves to sink in "like big drips of Dali paint".

Molly's style feels like a slowly moving yin class and maitri and Dali mixed to help me find new alignment and awareness in an old studied lesson that needs refreshing.

Here is Patanjali's sutra (trans. SwamiJ.com)

1.33 In relationships, the mind becomes purified by cultivating feelings of friendliness towards those who are happy, compassion for those who are suffering, goodwill towards those who are virtuous, and indifference or neutrality towards those we perceive as wicked or evil.
(maitri karuna mudita upekshanam sukha duhka punya apunya vishayanam bhavanatah chitta prasadanam) 

• maitri = friendliness, pleasantness, lovingness
• karuna = compassion, mercy
• mudita = gladness, goodwill
• upekshanam = acceptance, equanimity, indifference, disregard, neutrality
• sukha = happy, comfortable, joyous
• duhka = pain, misery, suffering, sorrow
• punya = virtuous, meritorious, benevolent 
• apunya = non-virtuous, vice, bad, wicked, evil, bad, demerit, non-meritorious, 
• vishayanam = regarding those subjects, in relation to those objects
• bhavanatah = by cultivating habits, by constant reflection, developing attitude, cultivating, impressing on oneself
• chitta = mind field, consciousness
• prasadanam = purified, clear, serene, pleasant, pacified, undisturbed, peaceful, calm

More about sutra 1.33 here.

Its a lot of juice in this. So I'm taking it one step at a time, one day at a time, one breath at a time. Maitri towards myself.

Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.

Namaste