Peel Away the Layers – Modern Life and the 5 Koshas

As the holiday season rapidly approaches, it’s easy to see how hectic our lives are.

Even without the chaos of preparing for the perfect day, modern life tends to have a frenetic layer of haste.  We find ourselves multi-tasking throughout the day.  Add to that the layer of noise – from our children, friends, families, the news, your podcast, your playlist, the classic rock station playing while you shop.

With all of this hustle and bustle, it’s difficult to find the time to tune in to yourself.  Each layer of distraction pulls you away from the present moment, from that constant serenity and peace, the infinite space and possibility imbued with Isha, the divine presence, that dwells within each of us.

It is with that in mind that my friend Paty and I set about creating a Retreat to Reconnect.  We want to help you peel away the layers that are stopping you from connecting to your sacred self, so that when you step back into the beautiful whirr of your life, you step from a space of power and truth.

When we lose our connection to self, we might find ourselves reacting to small things with annoyance or frustration.  Perhaps you’ve gone all day today without taking a full breath, or had a full conversation with somebody without really hearing a word.

If we spend weeks, months, or years in this state, it’s easy to lose track of your Dharma, the goal that is your life’s destiny.

Modern life is a constant distraction, and we all get sucked into the mundaneContinue reading “Peel Away the Layers – Modern Life and the 5 Koshas”

Barriers to Practice

Creating any healthy new habit is not easy.  It’s heartening to me that Patanjali acknowledges this in the Yoga Sutras.  As he’s espousing the many benefits you’ll gain from your new yoga practice, he stops to mention the barriers you will encounter.

As with other truths discussed in the Yoga Sutras, these obstacles are as relevant for people today as they were for yogis committing to the practice thousands of years ago.

All nine obstacles are disruptions to the heart-mind field of consciousness (citta) and can be debilitating to a practice, because distracting thoughts and emotions (vrtti-s) arise when antarāya-s are present.  These nine obstacles are:

Disease

Apathy

Self-doubt

Carelessness

Fatigue

Regression

Sexual preoccupation

Erroneous views

Ungroundedness

~Nicolai Bachman, The Path of the Yoga Sutras

It’s great to know that these obstacles are out there, because, with planning, you can anticipate them and stop them from disrupting your practice.

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Una Muerte

The last three days of my life were spent in mourning.  Mourning for a young soul I never met, but in mourning nonetheless.  The phone rang early Monday morning to inform us that my boyfriend’s nephew had passed away.  He had been living in Costa Rica for the last several years, so I never had an opportunity to meet him.

Families are sprawling in Nicaragua.  I’m sure this is partially thanks to the Catholic church’s strong influence on the country.  Thus, as we set off early Monday morning for the home of the grieving mother, I was under-prepared for the scene in store.  At first, there were just a few people gathered outside under the shade of a tree, silently sitting while mom and abuela wept.  Throughout the day the crowd grew.  Neighbors came toting their own chairs, as the family didn’t have enough to seat all of the supporters.  Coffee was made in small Styrofoam cups and passed around.  Then pan, white bread served on plastic platters carried around by nieces and neighbors to keep all the mourners comfortable.  The story of what happened was repeated time and again by momma.

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Una Oportunidad para el Silencio

When we want to dive into a deeper, more meditative practice of yoga and listening to the mind, our modern lives require that we consciously create that space.  That might mean creating an area for meditation in your home – a room or corner dedicated to deep thought or introspection.  It might mean that you find a group of people meeting regularly at your local yoga studio, zen buddha center, or something similar, and show up for class.  Or, it might mean that you take a length of time to retreat, to an organized event like a 10 Vipassana Meditation Center, or simply to the wilderness.  In my life, I have always, always, always found a deep heart connection simply by surrounding myself with trees.  I have sweet memories from my childhood when I would trek off to the small woods behind my elementary school and spend hours taking in the loamy scent of decaying leaves and swampy mud and stare up at the tree tops and the sky beyond, feeling connected to all those trees growing tall over my head with roots intertwining under the earth beneath me.  One of my favorite hiding spots as a young girl was a tremendous pine tree with boughs that spread out wide but a quiet, clear space in the center.  I would soften enter that tree and stay under it’s cool, green protection for hours, and would seek it out specifically when I was upset about something.  I always found that quiet space with the scent of time cooling and calming.  That said, I find myself ready now to move on from Granada and towards the wilderness.  As I prepare to make this change, I”m also finding my practice move away from a strongly physical practice and more towards a yin yoga, Kundalini yoga, pranayama, and meditative practice.

Granada has been the perfect place to transition to life in Central America.  Being the wealthiest city in Nicaragua, it offers many niceties to extranjeros such as opportunities for western food, a lively and active Calzada where the cerveza flows and the conversation raps all night, and opportunities to escape the oppressive heat in cool blue pools.  Continue reading “Una Oportunidad para el Silencio”