MyLifeYoga

Nine hours in a tiny seat to a cold European airport, two hours in a layover where you stumble from coffee to cakes, another fourteen hours on an airplane bound for Bangalore, and finally a four hour taxi ride through cows, honking, Indian traffic, rickshaws and pollution lead you to a small South Indian city called Mysore. A city famous for the Mysore Palace, Sandalwood, silks, masala dosas, the best coconuts on Earth and, the reason I have returned there twelve times over the last fourteen years, yoga.

Mysore is the home of my teacher Sri K. Pattabhi Jois who spent his life sharing the message of Ashtanga Yoga with every student willing to put in the hard work of the practice. In the three years since he has passed away his grandson R. Sharath Jois has taken over the directorship of the K. Pattabhi Jois Institute in Mysore. I have been back in the U.S. for just over two weeks and I already miss the Mysore coconuts and the endless chai. I am still integrating the lessons of this trip to the motherland of yoga. Continue reading →

Once Buddha was walking from one town to another town with a few of his followers.. This was in the initial days. While they were traveling, they happened to pass a lake. They stopped there and Buddha told one of his disciples, “I am thirsty. Do get me some water from that lake there.”

The disciple walked up to the lake. When he reached it, he noticed that right at that moment, a bullock cart started crossing through the lake. As a result, the water became very muddy, very turbid. The disciple thought, “How can I give this muddy water to Buddha to drink!”

So he came back and told Buddha, “The water in there is very muddy. I don’t think it is fit to drink.” After about half an hour, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back to the lake and get him some water to drink. The disciple obediently went back to the lake.

This time too he found that the lake was muddy. He returned and informed Buddha about the same. After sometime, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back. The disciple reached the lake to find the lake absolutely clean and clear with pure water in it. The mud had settled down and the water above it looked fit to be had. So he collected some water in a pot and brought it to Buddha.

Buddha looked at the water, and then he looked up at the disciple and said,” See what you did to make the water clean. You let it be…. and the mud settled down on its own – and you got clear water. Your mind is also like that! When it is disturbed, just let it be. Give it a little time. It will settle down on its own. You don’t have to put in any effort to calm it down. It will happen. It is effortless.”

We found this story here. If you have a story or parable that you would like to share please send it to us: info [at] mylifeyoga [dot] com

You may also like: Not Far From Buddhahood

Today on an average, most of us will live 34 years longer than what the generation of our great grandparents did. This is equivalent to adding a whole adult life time to our life-span. Jane Fonda calls it the “Life’s Third Act”. This third act used to be available only to a lucky few, but now it is a norm. In a wonderful speech she talks about what does this mean. What should we be doing in our third act? How should we now look at the aging process? What are the new tools and metaphors we need to better understand life in the third act? What does the proper utilization of the third act mean for society? A talk worth watching and sharing.

In her talk she mentions that though our genes will play a significant role in how our third act plays out, we do have a lot of say in what we can do to make our third act worthwhile. Though she does not mention it directly, it should be apparent to the readers of this forum how significant the role of yoga is when it comes to the third act. If we commit to a life long practice of yoga, it can be said with confidence, that our mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health would be so enhanced that those who do get a shot at the third act, would not live to regret it.

There was a poor man who wanted some money; and somehow he had heard that if he could get hold of a ghost, he might command him to bring money or anything else he liked; so he was very anxious to get hold of a ghost.

He went about searching for a man who would give him a ghost, and at last he found a sage with great powers, and sought his help. The sage asked him what he would do with a ghost. “I want a ghost to work for me; teach me how to get hold of one, sir; I desire it very much,” replied the man.

But the sage said, “Don’t disturb yourself, go home.”

The next day the man went again to the sage and began to weep and pray, “Give me a ghost; I must have a ghost, sir, to help me.”

At last the sage was disgusted, and said, “Take this charm, repeat this magic word, and a ghost will come, and whatever you say to him he will do. But beware; they are terrible beings, and must be kept continually busy. If you fail to give him work, he will take your life.”

The man replied, “That is easy; I can give him work for all his life.”

Then he went to a forest, and after long repetition of the magic word, a huge ghost appeared before him, and said, “I am a ghost. I have been conquered by your magic; but you must keep me constantly employed. The moment you fail to give me work I will kill you.” Continue reading →