february2003

february 9th marks the one year anniversary of VIRAYOGA.
G R A T I T U D E
* to our teachers, John and Douglas.
* to our friends who started with us and helped make it home.
* and to you, the students.
VIRAYOGA is full of warmth, magic,
strength and well-being because of you.

in february we offer two more evenings of lectures with Dr. Douglas Brooks, a scholar of Tantric philosophy and our beloved teacher and friend.

recently he gave a talk discussing what we consider SACRED.

the description of what makes anything sacred is actually twofold,
and, in usual Tantric fashion, is comprised of two seemingly opposing ideas.

for one, we find that a QUALITY OF CONSTANCY AND RELIABILITY is sacred.
clear example: the poses, the asanas. 
always the same poses, perhaps presented slightly differently but still the poses. we can always rely on our experience to be similar to what it's always been.  any tradition that you value because you can return to it and find it familiar (and special to you in its familiarity)... sacred. 

think of one example in your life and hold that in your mind for a moment.

yet, we also find that TRANSFORMATION is incredibly sacred as well. think of the moments when you have real presence in your practice, or in any situation, and a precious shift occurs, in your awareness, your power. change is tangible, and [positive or seemingly negative] is very sacred indeed. it sets us up for movement, growth. 

the one example you thought of as reliable, ever the same...
has it evolved, changed over time as well? 

the Tantric teachings themselves are based on growth and evolution.
the teachings also say that the Self [your deepest presence, the one asking the questions] is BOTH kinds of sacred... it is always the same and yet constantly evolving.

the most sacred thing about ourselves is our SELVES, ever the same, ever evolving.  if we are to truly comprehend that, we must value what we see in ourselves. so again, we ask the hard question. HOW ARE WE VALUING OURSELVES?

as douglas said, the value with which we endow ourselves is what determines our experience. 

as always, we must consider where to begin this work of valuing ourselves.  if we are to value ourselves we must be able to truly see ourselves without judgment. we must first start to watch ourselves, how we truly operate- our habits, thoughts, words, judgments- this requires merciless attention and will eventually lead to an unshakable understanding. 

as we begin to watch, we learn about ourselves, how we are being led around by our emotions, our memories, our associations, our assumptions.  this is serious, challenging work. 

practicing watching ourselves without jumping to judge ourselves [for doing or saying or thinking that-- again(!)] is the first step towards seeing the value in who we are, toward asking ourselves WHY we are here and what might be our service to this world.

[a nice place to start the 'watching' is during our practice- our habitual thoughts of "oh, that i can do, that i cannot, this i can do well, that she does better, look at him, oh this pose i love, this one i dislike with a passion..." we can go on and on for hours like this! so we watch - eventually the silence comes.]

we learned last month about the seat we take in our hearts, how we approach ourselves... this is perhaps a similar and yet slightly different way of saying the same thing. watching ourselves, truly seeing ourselves, and then sensing the value of who we are, the inherent sacredness within ourselves. 

sacred is the familiarity, the core of who we are. sacred is also the transformation, the evolution that eventually happens when we are honestly paying attention. 

this could take quite some time, but we begin with this wonderful practice of yoga and learn to apply it in our lives. 

happy one year anniversary, VIRAYOGA.
with respect and love
elena