Chop Wood, Carry Water

by Jamie Shane

  There is a reason for this. Modern yoga has opened itself up to the mainstream. And, in an effort to appeal to all and offend none, it has closeted off some of its deeper aspects in favor of a lighter touch. Some teachers find themselves wary of introducing such fathomless concepts in a venue where students are obviously disinterested. Is this good or bad? I can’t really say. Only you can judge the level of spiritual connection that you require from a yoga practice. And only you can seek out the classes that fearlessly address the features of a truly deep and complete yoga practice.

  I, personally, require this connection. I love the spirit of yoga and the words, sounds, and breath that take my practice beyond the realm of flexibility. I already know how to stand on my head, or touch my palms to the floor. I have achieved backbends and twists and can stand on one foot for an hour. That is not the point of my practice. I need to connect, to feel, to be one. To do this, I turn to Kundalini yoga.

  So what is Kundalini yoga? Oh, I’m so glad you asked.

  In the simplest terms, Kundalini yoga is a method of raising your spiritual energy, cleansing the organs and systems, and toning the nervous system through a series of proscribed exercises and breaths. From an outsiders view, it looks pretty silly with a lot of huffing and puffing, chanting, toning and flapping of the hands and arms. There are plenty of times I have caught myself wondering, “What (huff) am (puff) I (huff) doing (puff)?” But beyond that, the experience grounds and enlightens you. It opens you up to connect with yourself and your creative source.

  The philosophy behind Kundalini is rooted in the very act of creation. Shiva and Shakti, the masculine and feminine forces, made life. From their timeless place, Shakti descends, growing denser and more manifest as she comes down to earth, forming ether, then air, fire, water, earth. The human body becomes a road map of her descent from the crown of the head, limitless perception, to the base of the spine, earthly manifestation, with everything in between. Shakti finally rests, curled around the base of the spine like a slumbering serpent. It is your task, as a seeker of spiritual enlightenment, to raise this energy up the spine to join Shakti with Shiva and thereby make communion with the boundless bounty of God. This is to what the practice of Kundalini yoga aspires.

  It is a fantastic experience, but not one for the meek. This energy is powerful stuff, and, if raised without awareness, can leave you quite exposed and adrift. But, if practiced with reverence and attentiveness, it will make you feel more connected and alive than anything I have ever experienced. It is my favourite yoga style, bar none. But that’s me. Kundalini isn’t for everyone, and you’ll either love it completely, or hate it with equal passion.

  But anyone who looks to yoga for a spiritual experience owes it to themselves to at least give it a try once. Aren’t you (huff) even a little (puff) bit curious?

  45

  I love my job. Because, really, what other profession requires you to sit still, thoughtful and relaxed during business hours? And then pays you for it?

  Teaching and talking about yoga is just about the best job I have ever had. You cannot imagine the depths of my gratitude that I am able to do it. But it is not always comfortable.

  The science of yoga deals with subject matters that are not always visible to the eye. It deals with energies, of the heavens and earth and body. They are real. They exist. And if you practice yoga—any yoga—eventually you will discover what we talk about when we use these words. But when you start talking about these things to the average Joe, the reaction is disheartening. One can find one’s self at the other end of a doubtful and slightly pitying gaze as if you had decided to take off your pants and run up and down Fifth Avenue proclaiming the existence of extraterrestrials.

  Just because you cannot see something with your eyes does not mean that it does not exist. The human eyes can’t even discern the entire colour spectrum, so how can someone be so sure that ‘seeing is believing’? So, here I go. No. I am not ‘out there’. I still have my pants and my wits. These things are real and valuable and you need to know about them.

  Lets talk a bit about the Human Chakra System. You can’t see it and you can go your entire life without realizing it is there. But it affects you nonetheless. It dictates to the state of your physical and mental health. When the Chakra system is out of whack, so are you.

  Chakras are wheels of transformational energy that exist within the body, stacked up along the length of the spine. There are seven of them, although some disciplines add an eighth. Running from the very root of your body up to the crown of your head, these energy centers are powerful places within that express the nature of god. They help you tap into the great connection, providing strength, support and balance.

  When all chakras are open and vibrating with health you are better able to experience your emotions without letting them bind you, see the truth in personal situations and make clearer decisions. You are in tune with the natures of life and the full possibilitiy of the human experience.

  Study of the chakras is an extensive task. It is far to deep for the space I have here. Most simply, it is an energy continuum traveling from the root of the spine—earth—to the crown of the head—divinity. Not unlike a tree trunk, the chakra system takes you up, providing earthly stability at the base and heavenly connection at the top. Each chakra has an element that helps you make relevant associations. As you travel up, the elements become less dense, so that by the time you reach the top you are physically unburdened and free to connect with higher vibrations.

  Maps of the system are universally available. I recommend that everybody take the time to find one and to explore these places within the body. A block anywhere can cause untold, indescribable problems in either the physical body or the emotional one. Finding a way to release them will open you up, allowing the free flow of energy up and down the spine. This energy is as important to life as healthy foods. Without it, we are merely upright apes. I can’t prove that to you with empirical evidence, but you’ll just have to take my word on it.

  So now I think I’ll go wrap a turban around my head and cluck like a chicken on the front porch. We esoteric loonies like to do that, you know. (Kidding, y’all. I’m kidding…)

  46

  Aparigraha—(n.)the practice of greedlessness or non-grasping.

  I have spoken loudly and often about wanting what you have and living moderately. So much so that some of you are already groaning, “Oh, no, not again.”. But these are more than just ideas to me, they are the way of my life. Keep it simple whenever possible and let the rest go by.

  Now, I respect that we all need some stuff and I don’t suggest that you abandon the quest for it completely. It is foolish to believe that we can go about life without gathering a few necessary things. (Which begs the question, what is necessary?) I mean, nobody wants to go wandering around town in a loincloth, or live in a cave. But, on the other hand, you certainly don’t need two walk-in closets full of clothes to protect yourself from the elements. Or a house large enough to accommodate a circus to keep you out of the rain. This is just common sense and good old-fashioned simplicity. But the practice of greedlessness is just a shade different. It refers not so much to simple moderation, but to our awareness of how one goes about acquiring the things that we truly need.

  This natural process of acquisition is inherent to us all and encompasses everything from food, to clothes to shelter—even to opportunities. It is simply who we are. In our culture, we are taught the virtue of aggressively pursuing acquisitions. You don’t get what you want by sitting around and waiting for it to happen, right? You have to just get out there and grab the bull by the horns, wrestle it to the ground and take what you want like a warrior of old. This is how empires are built. This is how you achieve the American dream. This is how you get ahead. The message is everywhere. Be aggressive. B-E- aggressive. Ugh. This is very unhealthy thinking.

  Really. Do you truly want to run an empire? Or is the small nation of your happy hearth and home enough? Is your go
al worth the effort of wrestling said bull to the ground? You know what they say…you mess with the bull, you get the horns. Who needs steak everyday, anyway? And what does it mean to ‘get ahead’? Can anybody explain that satisfactorily? Get ahead of who? And why?

  It is far healthier to be discerning and considerate in your quest for attainment. Take what is necessary with gratitude and no more. You can very easily become the person who allows good things to come to you without chasing them like a junkyard dog. Change your thinking. Change your intentions from, “I will hunt down my desires,” to “I will allow my desires to find me”. This simple transition of thought will adjust your frequency, alter your electro-magnetic field. You can become attractive to your desires and bring them to you. Aparigraha plays a huge part in this. If you give up greedy acquisition, you are already more than halfway there.

  You might be surprised at how much this attitude will provide for you. The practice of aparigraha is tough, but not unforgiving. If you share, manage the size of your footprints, and realize that not everything that you want is what you need, aparigraha will sort itself out and bring you to harmony.

  And a wealth of possibility to you.

  47

  When my father was a little boy he was taught this: If you are ever in any trouble, go and find an adult. Any adult. When I was a little girl, I was taught this: Don’t ever, ever talk to strangers. If you are ever in any trouble go and find a policeman or a fireman. (This was obviously in the days when the police actually used their feet and not just their cars.) What a difference only thirty years can make. I wonder, what are they going to teach my daughter? Don’t ever go outside because any number of horrible people might find you, so best just to trust no one?

  Sad. Seriously scary sad.

  On the other side of the equation lie abundant personal accounts that detail the incredible kindness of strangers. Stories of people who have reached out to offer comfort or aid to someone they didn’t know. Stories of people who have sacrificed for others without the benefit of family ties or friendship. These kinds of truths abound, and yet we still exist in a state of perpetual red alert, waiting for the sky to fall. Why is that? Why are we choosing fear over faith? Why can’t a distressed child run to the nearest adult and ask for help? I’d help and not harm.

  Wouldn’t you?

  But then I am a yogi and my perspective is that of a yogi. I live in a state of belief. I have a good heart, therefore I believe that you, too, have a good heart. I think most of us would rather solve a problem than leave it for someone else. I believe that most of us accept some form of god and live in a way that respects that. I try to be true to these beliefs and live in a state of aware trust, understanding that my animal intuition will tell me when to believe otherwise. It is a constant effort. But my yoga practice has taught me that beneath all of our differences, we are all made of the same god essence. Our source is exactly the same. You and I are one. Harm you, and harm myself.

  But I also believe that without my yoga practice, without this constant effort, I could easily fall prey to the cynical fear that exists like a virus in our cultural collective. It is this fear that keeps us intently focused on the worst of what might happen as opposed to that which is likely to happen. It is this fear which isolates us in the sad bubble of “what if…”. Smart odds are if your car breaks down that stranger would loan you a cell phone as opposed to hitting you over the head with a tire iron and stuffing you in their trunk. Life is not always an episode of CSI. And we cannot live as if it is.

  Now think about it. More than half our fears will never manifest. Yes, there are boogey men in the night. But there are far, far more regular good old folks who mean you absolutely no harm whatsoever. Develop your intuition to differentiate between the two rather than automatically assuming the worst. If you do this, you can better discover the common thread which binds us all. You can exist in a state of unity with mankind and with godkind. The two are not so very far apart. As a matter of fact, they are precisely the same thing.

  It is this state of unity to which all faiths aspire. But you have to put it into practice in order to achieve it. Be smart, be aware and have a little hope.

  Life is much sweeter when you do.

  48

  At this moment, I think it is fairly safe to claim that thoughts of family are high up on your list. Be they positive ones, “I can’t wait to see Uncle Julien at Christmas dinner; It’s been too many years!” Be they negative ones, “Dear Lord, please don’t stick me with Great-Aunt Tilly for the menorah lighting tonight; She smells of cabbage!” Whatever your thoughts may be, it is almost a guarantee that for this short season, they revolve around family.

  I think it is also fairly safe to wager that, while you are busy thinking about your family, you are not at all thinking about the nature of family. You don’t have any choice in the matter, right? Your family is your family for better or worse. You just get what you get by virtue or accident of your birth. The idea of family is simply—if you’ll forgive the pun—written in blood.

  Or is it?

  For the longest time I remember being just a family of two. Me and mom. C’est tout. But, for as lonely as that sounds, I also remember being continually surrounded by an urban army of family. Thanksgivings and Easters were often boisterous celebrations of love and merriment with many, many ‘aunts’ and ‘uncles’ who bore me no blood relation at all. And I loved them no less for it. For without the obligation of relation, our relationships were pure. They were given freely from the heart. This, to me, has always been the true nature of family.

  Because of this awakening, and despite being an only child, my family today is enormous. I have one mother, but two more mother figures, two fathers, seven sisters, three brothers, four brothers-in-law, three grandmothers, four aunts, seven uncles, five nephews (and a sixth on the way), one daughter and three furry children. (I used to have a tree, but we moved and he couldn’t—sad.) That doesn’t include those folks that I simply consider friends. This is my family. And it is my family because I accepted it as one.

  The nature of family is unity, love and support. Freely given and freely taken without the slightest thought to reciprocation. Whether or not you share blood is wholly and completely irrelevant. Whether or not you even share a common genus is also irrelevant. If we want peace in the world, we need to start by redefining our conception of what it means to be family. Everything around you is part of your family.

  If you don’t believe me, stop for a moment and think of this: Trace life back over a long enough timeline, and we are all related. We all evolved from exactly the same place. Humans, animals, insects, plant life, bacteria, single celled organisms, we all emerged from the same puddle of primordial ooze. Take it back further and realize this: our planet, our solar system, our galaxy, our universe all emerged from a highly motivated atom of hydrogen. You can go back further if you want, into the reaches of cosmic consciousness. If you just stop for a moment and remove yourselves from the separatist concept of family as mine and theirs, you might discover that there is only One. We are a family of existence.

  Let yourself be a part of it and take as much solace from Mother Nature’s arms as from mother’s. Let a cat provide sympathy when your heart hurts. Allow a blade of grass to educate you on the nature of truth. Offer up your own love and support to all things known and unknown, animal, vegetable and mineral. We will save the world by loving all of it as family—not just the pieces that are like you.

  Blessed be, one and all. Namaste.

  49

  What kind of columnist would I be if I had a column on Thanksgiving and did not speak about gratitude? (An original one, I assume. But, hey, who am I to buck convention?)

  Once a year we all gather together under the pretext of being "thankful." We eat an obscenely large dinner with family and friends and tell each other how grateful we are for one another. And then we go home, thankful again, when it is all over. I wonder, how true this gratitude is?

  Pe
rsonally, I have never cared for this holiday. Its not my favorite kind of meal, and my family is so far flung that we just gather when we can.

  In addition, I have some lingering reservations about the truth of Thanksgiving. Enough that I don't feel comfortable sitting in a tableaux of Pilgrims and Indians knowing the sordid outcome of what happened after.

  Despite this, I think it is fantastic that the idea of gratitude at least makes a guest appearance in the American diet. We tend to think of ourselves as naturally deserving and take things as they come to us without a second thought to our good fortune. This kind of thinking is a slippery slope towards disconnecting from each other and from the bounty of our generous earth. So I am willing to set my personal grievances aside and celebrate this holiday if for no other reason than it brings the word gratitude to the front of our minds if even for one small day.

  But what would life be like if the practice of gratitude stepped away from the turkey and shouted out loud every day of the year? It is fairly easy to feel grateful when you are surrounding a bounteous feast with loved ones by your side. Can this kind of thanks live in the daily grind?

  It can. And it must.

  It is on the days when your significant has said something particularly foul as you are rushing out the door 10 minutes late, and every stoplight catches you because some land yacht in the passing lane chooses to travel at a crisp 25 miles an hour in a 55 zone that you need to find gratitude. It is the day when your cell phone dies as your tire blows on the way to a critical, life-altering meeting and no one will stop to help you that you need to practice gratitude. It is when life sucks the most that you need to think of five things that you are grateful for. Right there. In the car. On the side of the road. In a nasty person's face.