As a member of the Namate Book Club I’ve been reading a wonderful little book entitled Downward Dogs & Warriors: Wisdom Tales for Modern Yogisby Zo Newell . The premise of the book is to educate the reader about the powerful stories from which Indian culture and yoga has come. It is “about using asana and related images for reflection, self-examination, and healing” in order to deepen “your yoga practice through observation of your body, your mind, and your emotions.”

The first story in the book is that of Shiva as Destroyer: Warrior Poses. In a nutshell, Shiva’s wife, Sati, threw herself into a fire becoming the sacrifice her father refused to provide during a ritual party where he was simply flaunting his power and prestige. Upon hearing of his wife’s demise, Shiva, overcome with grief and fury, ripped his hair from his head and threw it on the ground where it became a Warrior, the  embodiment of his emotions.“This is Virabhadra, the personification of righteous anger and the noble impulse to defend the innocent.”

This pose and its story took on very personal meaning over the past week as an innocent child became the victim of molestation. Suddenly each time I do Warrior pose, I am Virabhadra filled with anger and anguish at the injustices of life. What was once a sometimes demanding physical pose now encompasses an entire range of strong emotions.

Newell encourages yogis to:

Reflect and journal on a time when you came to the defence of a righteous cause or an innocent person. Invite the emotional qualities of that experience into your practice of the warrior poses. Keep the experience in mind while practicing with softness in the eyes and openness in the heart.

It may be a too soon for me to practice “with softness in the eyes and openness in the heart” as I am still in protect and safety mode. However, knowing the story behind the pose has given me hope to work through the pain to the point where my heart is open and calm as I move into action.

There are far too many children who are victims of abuse. Please do everything within your power to protect and fight for their innocence. Be the Warriors for those who cannot protect themselves.

Getting kids and teens to set goals is part of teaching them how to achieve success in school and life. I know whenever we attend Parent Teacher Interviews the teacher always encourages our child to set some goals for the coming term. We then review the goals at the following Parent Teacher Interview to see how the child is progressing.

Students are also sometimes asked to consider who they want to be by the end of the year, in five years, by the end of high school, etc. This is pretty heavy stuff and involves teaching them the concept of putting their best effort forward starting today. Or as Stephen Covey puts it, “Begin with the end in mind.”

For yogis this means accepting where, what and who you are today, while working to improve yourself one breath, one pose, one meditation at a time.

To help teach this idea to children there is a fun and interactive website www.futureme.org. It’s an e-mail service called FutureMe which allows individuals to send themselves a future e-mail. E-mails can be sent anywhere from one month to 30 years in the future.

The site is very easy to use. In order to send an e-mail simply:

1. Type in your e-mail address
2. Write a subject, such as, “Congratulations Graduate”
3. Write a message to your future self
4. Choose to make your message private or public
5. Choose a date on which to receive the e-mail
6. Enter the verification code
7. Click the ‘Send this to the future’ button
8. Check your inbox to verify your e-mail address

Then forget about it until you receive it in your e-mail sometime in the future.

How cool is that!

Applications I can see for this include:

• writing an e-mail at the beginning of the year to receive just before final report cards
• setting a goal for the term, such as, “I will contribute more in class.”
• Grade 1 students writing a message to be received prior to leaving Elementary School
• sending yourself an e-mail at the beginning of a major project detailing how you accomplished this goal and the things you hoped to learn
• Teens writing advice to themselves

The possibilities are limited only by your creativity. Have fun and get motivated to put your best into living today.

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“With Valentine’s Day around the corner I’ve been attempting to soften my heart, to open it to the richness and wonder of the world, to increase my ability to connect in a meaningful way to those with whom I come in contact. And so I’ve been contemplating my heart…

As one diagnosed with a heart murmur as a child, I learned early on the mechanics of the heart. Scientifically, it is a muscular organ with four chambers which pumps blood throughout the body by means of rhythmic contractions. However, it is also symbolically the center of our emotional and spiritual life.”

Read the rest of the article on Elephant Journal.

The article also inspired a poem, Yoga of the Heart by Bob Weisenberg of Yoga Demystified, who encourages us to contemplate the infinite wonder of the heart. I am deeply honored, Bob.

Arriving in Montreal in the middle of a blizzard was not the way I anticipated meeting ‘la belle ville.’  Then, having the wrong directions (thank you Google Maps) from the airport to the hotel didn’t help matters. However, it did teach me an eternal truth which has helped to ground me in reality while encouraging me on my life long yoga journey.  The truth is “that you must know where you are coming from, in order to get where you want to go.”

Our map you see, for some reason, which shall forever remain a mystery,  located the airport, in Vieux Montreal, the old historic section of the city close to downtown. However, if you’ve ever been to Montreal you know that Pierre Elliot Trudeau Airport is definitely NOT anywhere near Vieux Montreal. So as we set out from the airport we took the wrong freeway through a white out. Only after getting out the old fashioned AMA map and figuring out the exit numbering system were we able to turn ourselves around and make it slowly and carefully, top speeds of 60 km/h (35 mph) on the horrendous roads, back in the correct direction to find our hotel.

As I thought about how important it was to know where we were coming from, I related it to the debate on how old is yoga that has been raging. See YogaDork, elephant journal and Lynda’s Yoga Journey. True in some ways it is inconsequential to know the exact historical advent of the practice. However, a knowledge and understanding of the history and teachings  of yoga is essential to moving forward with a personal practice and being able to comprehend the direction yoga is moving in as it gains popularity.

I think yoga is approached by most people in the western world as a physical practice when they are first introduced to the art. Making some major assumptions here so bear with me. They want a longer, stronger, more flexible body. Heck, its why I first started doing yoga. I was pregnant and my doctor forbade me from continuing with running. Well, fine, I’d find something else. Luckily there was a yoga studio down the street from my flat in Cape Town, South Africa. After one class I was hooked! I remember always coming out of class with more energy than when I walked in, removed my shoes, and grabbed my blocks, blankets and mats (definitely an Iyengar class). I had no idea what Iyengar even meant, but my teacher was fantastic! She challenged, taught, modified poses for my ever increasing girth, and introduced me to yoga in ways which I still strive to pass on to my students almost 14 years later.

During the intervening years I’ve delved a lot deeper into what yoga is and what it means. And luckily for me my yoga practice has changed over time: opening like a precious flower, to bloom in my life and make it more beautiful and wondrous. I know some of the history and continue to learn more. That has helped me to find my way and figure out what yoga means to me on any given day. Sometimes it is a vigorous Ashtanga Primary Series workout, others it is mindfully meditating and practicing pranayama each evening as I walk my dog. Yes, I am a YogaDork and admit it freely and openly.

Regardless of why we first begin our yoga journey, knowing where we are coming from will only help each one of us actually make it to our final destination. So don’t let the blizzard and terrible roads get to you. Break out the map, get going in the ‘right’ direction (one only you can decide upon), and enjoy your lifelong yoga adventure.

Guest post written by Amy Bevan, a journalist and freelance non-fiction writer based in Southern Maine.  She contributes regularly to The Portsmouth Herald, and is the creator of The PranaMama, an online resource for mothers focusing on wellness topics, such as yoga, nutrition and fitness.   She has written for the ChildLight Yoga newsletter, and her work has also appeared on The Kids Yoga Resource.com, Raising Maine.com and A Balancing Act, a webzine for writers. 

The PranaMama loves sharing the wisdom of the yamas and niyamas.  What Mom couldn’t love a list of “dos and don’ts”? 

Todd Parr, children’s author of the very silly book of the same title, offers excellent advice to toddlers, such as “Do change your socks every day, but don’t make anyone smell them.”  Brilliant! 

For a mom whose brain occasionally resembles that of a two-year-old’s, a Todd Parr book is an excellent guide to daily living.  The rest of the time, when we struggle with life’s dilemmas (only a handful of which are more daunting than the task of changing one’s socks), we have the first two limbs of classical yoga to turn to.  The yamas and niyamas serve as an excellent guide to PranaMamas worldwide!  

Yoga has changed my perspective on parenting.  It is for this reason I enjoy sharing yoga philosophy with moms who are not familiar with the yamas and niyamas.

Although I’m far from perfect, here are ten ways in which yoga makes me a better mom:

1. I accept my children for who they are.  I do not try to make them into a version of myself, or anyone else. (SANTOSHA: contentment)

2.  I do not beat myself up for failure, or let stress levels escalate when things don’t go as planned (AHIMSA: non-violence).

3. I am not afraid of saying no to others when my time and energy are being drained.  (SATYA: truthfulness)  My kids benefit from a mom who is not overscheduled and burnt out.

4. I try not to discuss my anger or annoyance with someone when my children are present.    By projecting negativity towards someone they may care deeply about, I would be creating confusion or disappointment on their behalf.  (BRAHMACARYA: Self-restraint)

5. I do not spoil my children with objects they don’t need.  I practice saying no, even when it leads to emotional outbursts in public.  My hope is they will learn to appreciate all that life has to offer on a non-commercial scale.  (APARIGRAHA: Absence of Greed)

6. I care about nutrition and balanced, healthy diets for myself and my family.  I allow treats, but not all the time, and usually when accompanied by something nutritious and wholesome.  (SAUCHA: Cleanliness, moderation)  I want my children to have a healthy relationship with food and know limits of consumption.

7. By seeking professional help when parenting overwhelmed me, I became a more patient mom by virtue of understanding myself and my triggers to emotional overload.  I have a far greater ability to accept challenging circumstances without letting them take over.  (SVADHYAYA: Self-study)

8. I am committed to my yoga practice, even if that commitment is through study, writing and sharing wisdom with others.  It makes me a stronger, more balanced and happier mom.  (TAPAS: Discipline and dedication)

9. I’m honest with myself about my intentions, abilities and objectives, as a mom and as a person. (ASTEYA: honesty, non-stealing)

10. I don’t try to control everything, (although I used to!)  I recognize my feelings when something isn’t right, and I accept life’s gifts as only welcome when one makes room with an open heart.  I hope my children will also learn to “roll with the punches” as they relate to a spiritual being guiding them on their way. (ISHVARAPRANIDHANA: Spiritual Attunement).

Today’s post is a reflection on the life of Ruth Ius, a wonderful woman I knew growing up. It came about as I pondered upon Chapter #6 Joy, from the book The Wisdom of No Escape, by Pema Chödrön, this month’s Namaste Book Club book selection. You can find the complete article on YogaBear.

These reminiscences came about thanks to the Navajo teaching that each day when the sun comes up, it is a new sun. “As soon as the children are old enough to understand, the adults take them out at dawn and they say, “The sun has only one day. You must live this day in a good way, so that the sun won’t have wasted precious time.”

I encourage you to live today as if it were “precious time,” to find the joy in the moment and to share that joy with those around you. Live well, live today.