Courage, Kleshas, and the Willingness to Be Our Real Selves. Teaching 'At Home In Your Own Heart" session 2 or 3 at Yoga Loka: Reno, Nevada: August 26. 2018
When the Arjuna realizes Krishna is LOVE he says, "my heart is happy but my mind is afraid". Great courage is required to step into our already radiant hearts, and its harder than it sounds because it means we are going to change. Yoga isn't interested in living with small minds and small hearts.
Our working definition of the heart space, Anahata, as unbeaten, unbroken doesn't mean there isn't work to do. It doesn't mean we can just hang out all day eating dark chocolate McVitties, channel surf Hulu, stalk friends on Facebook. Acting small and playing small is the second of the five kleshas (PYS 2.3), the veils that color the heart mind and keep us hidden from living with our whole hearts.
We all do it in our funny little ways, which doesn't feel humorous until you bring them into consciousness. Some of my best laughing ever has been with my friends sharing stories of small- hearted living. Some of my darkest moments and deepest sadness has been from running headstrong into my own experience of the kleshas. The point is the practices of yoga are here to show us our own tight spots (PYS 2.2) and let us learn love, kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity (PYS 1.33), We are all here to help each other live in our whole hearts.
One of the definitions of yoga is to connect. Connecting with other yogis is especially sweet for my heart because it helps me practice "telling the story of who I am with my whole heart", which, according to Brene Brown is the original definition of courage. "Let the beauty of what you love be what you do", says Rumi. When I'm with other yogis its the easiest time for me to be in my whole heart, and since wholehearted living is where I want to be all the time, learning to do it is a valuable skill. I shared practices today I don't usually share for fear of being unloved and thought weird, especially being the new kid on the block around Yoga Loka. But if I don't talk about courage and practice it, I'll never get better at it. If I don't practice showing up and sharing from my heart I'll never get better at it.
I'm so grateful for the room full of yogis who themselves showed up tonight, and allowed this sacred opportunity for me to authentically share fresh new wisdom gracefully landing in my own heart, out my arms, and into the practice of teaching.
Here's our sequence:
Heart opener over bricks
Savasana
Easy supine twist
Sukasana side bend
Sit
Cat and cow
Toe Torture
Barrel roll
DD
Uttanasansa
Tadasana
Easy standing twist with kidney and heart tapping
Heart tapping
YAM
Easy low lunge salutes
Child's pose with gratitude meditation
Yogi Scientist Breath exercises and sharing
Easy supine twist
Namaste
Sit
YAM
Namaste
Health, Love, and Rock N Roll