Greetings Everyone,
This blog is replacing "Home Page Reflections" from the previous website. The new website format will have a page for this blog. You can access the blog alone if you would like to see what is new for the month by going directly to http://lynneminton.blogspot.com/
Beyond keeping you updated on yoga offerings, the intention for this monthly installment is to share some wisdom from the two yoga masters who have been my inspiration for over 3 decades: BKS Iyengar and Swami Paramahansa Yoganada. Their influence is a daily presence, and when my attunement is strong, remarkably poignant to the needs of the moment.
This is a big transition time in my life as Jim and I contemplate moving out of Alaska, after several decades of living here. Our critical plan had us on a very manageable timeline that culminated in selling the house in Anchorage by September 1. We would drive out of state to Northern Arizona where we would be all settled in and looking for a new home by mid-October. But, one the contrary, there has been no house sale yet, and our forward momentum has come to a whining halt (that would be us doing the whining).
A quote from a reading by Yogananda this week stated, "There are two times in life that strong will power to calm the mind is required, when everything is happening at once, and when nothing is happening." Iyengar is renowned for saying, "when you are happy, practice, when you are sad, practice, when you are excited, practice, when you are bored, practice." This is perhaps the first time in my life that I have not had a sense of when and how the next step will unfold. I credit the wisdom of yoga and the anchoring in the practice for keeping me grounded in the moment and not frustrated by the lack of momentum.
Yogananda stresses the importance of being "calmly active and actively calm". There are those who have found as much inspiration by practicing the art of being "calmly inactive". Ekhardt Tolle is renowned for having written The Power of Now after spending one year doing nothing but sitting on a park bench. I just happen to know where the nearest one is.
