Namaste Shiva Rea

I've just moved into the Hilton hotel downtown on George St. I moved out yesterday from the apartment because soon I'll be heading to Malaysia for work before going onto India and then onto Singapore for work again. In other words, I don't see myself returning to Sydney until December; therefore, this is a small cost saving measure of the company I work for.

I have been enjoying various guided yoga CDs, they are convenient for my current lifestyle as I am frequently on the move. Shiva Rea, Ateeka and Ana Forrest are the 3 that I use most of the time. Sometimes instead of a guided practice I'll just light candles and incense, put on music and pull out my yoga book which I find very enlightening and work on poses from it.

I enjoy practicing these disparate Eastern physical paths of self-realization, Taichi and yoga, at the same period in my life. I am not an expert in either and I have just begun to experience this phenomenon of internal energy movement directed by the breath and mind. For most of my life I dismissed such notions of chi or prana as either mere novelty or figments of our physiology, but now as I delve deeper into this topic I feel somewhat shamed by my gross ignorance of such a fundamental aspect of our nature or rather ALL of nature. This clearing of energy lines or cultivation of life force has such a big impact our well being, it is a crime that it is not engendered in us from our youth.

Nevertheless, what the mind knows is not necessarily what the body is aligned with. Today's practice was difficult... I think I understand why; I'd not been practicing regularly the past week and when that happens, inertia and sloth set in. If it were not for the nagging pains from a slipped disc sustained many years ago I wonder if I'd have the discipline to persist with this practice. When I practice yoga correctly, I clear the imbalances that had contributed this injury and it also brings healing energy to it, along with many other added benefits. And so out of this long term suffering a key lesson towards realizing one's full potential is derived, a pearl of wisdom has resulted. It is said that the oyster produces the beautiful pearl in response to a persistent irritant such as a grain of sand. Referring to my back injury an irritant is an understatement but the metaphor of the pearl of wisdom is apt to convey that I understand now the important of circulating chi/prana completely throughout our body. The spot of the injury is the convenient target used repeatedly to refine the ability of my mind to move healing energy. When I do this properly, there is a sense of aliveness in the lower back by the end of the yoga session.

Today I turn to Shiva Rea to neutralize my indolence. Her CDs tend to have the best flow and her voice soothes me. Especially during Shavasana at the end of my practice when she recites a moving poem to "guide me downstream on my raft". With my mind resting in my heart, I hear these words from her that compliment the context of my life:

As the bee seeks nectar from all kinds of flowers,

seek teachings everywhere.

Like a deer that finds a quiet place to graze,

seek seclusion to digest all that you have gathered.

Like a mad one beyond all limits,

Go where you please and LIVE like a lion,

completely free from all fear.

Namaste.