Longevity

It is interesting to note that the Yoga Master we studied with in India in 2003, K. Pattabhi Jois, was 88 years old at the time and is still active now.

His student B.N.S Iyengar, whom we also studied with, was 78 and he is still actively teaching today.

Another more famous Yoga Teacher B.K.S Iyengar has just passed 90 active and going strong.

Their teacher T. Krishnamcharya, and arguably the biggest single influence in Yoga, lived to over 100 years old.

While not a comprehensive study of longevity by any means, living a balanced life and sharing that with others in a supported social environment is a wonderful way to invest our time.

Here is an wonderful article about a Yoga teacher who is a living example of Yoga at 90

Letting Go

Letting go is a big concept in Yoga. It is usually termed releasing attachment, non-attachment, or non-grasping (Aparigraha in the Yoga Sutras).

Most of us have attachments to material or external things and we frequently have them removed from us against our will, resulting in a sense of loss or suffering. When our goals aren't reached. When our children no longer follow our wishes. When our job is lost. Or, the ultimate challenge, the death of a loved one.

We really and truly can never HAVE anything, so it is a misconception that attachment is even possible. It is actually impossible. We could even say that we really only borrow our body for a century or so. When we acknowledge how temporary everything is, we can really enjoy what and who we have while they are with us, and we can grieve and move on when they are taken away.

When you live fully in your intentions and let go of the results. You can live a life of passion and purpose in a way that isn't devastated by all of the eventual set-backs and obstacles.

As teachers, Saffron and I are always discussing the ways that we can make Yoga accessible without imposing our own idea of how things need to be. We all face this difficulty as we seek to bring a positive influence into the lives of others (kids, employees, co-workers, family) without imposing our personal agenda that is often cluttered with our own personal blind spots.

Non-attachment is not without passion, we can be very passionate about inspiring others. Non-attachment asks us to look at how we "expect" it to turn out.

Try letting go of how it is supposed to be. Correct your course, but also correct your map occasionally. That large boulder might not be on your map but it is there now. Why crash against it or rail against it for being there? Walk around and let it go..

Byron Selorme

Oprah, Noprah, and the Anthropic Principle

I am not going to presume much about what you think or know about this.

I would like you to just think about it

First review this video.


Now as you think about this a number of things could come up for you.
If you like or respect what Oprah has done, or you believe strongly in a faith or positive thinking this won't be much of a video to shake that.

If you don't like or respect Oprah this video may confirm the thought that I am going to ask you to entertain.

I am not judging Oprah one way or the other. She has done some great work and some not so great work. Human like the rest of us just a lot more successful at it. In fact, I commend her for the cover of her January 2009 magazine showing us how she has "Fallen off the wagon" in terms of gaining her weight back. This is something I would love to see more of on the magazine racks, we are wrestling with life's challenges, we all have set-backs and not everything works out like we have it planned.

I would like to call attention only to the implied theory behind the video. And that is the one that says if we really, really want something, really devote ourselves to it, really pray or surrender or follow any other idealistic wishful thinking available, it will happen for us.

So that is why I would like to introduce Noprah. I am being a little cute by introducing this person but it is for a purpose.

Say Noprah has also read this book "The Color Purple", loved it, is telling everyone about it and handing out copies. She has also been called to the interview (I have trouble believing that someone just called Oprah out of the blue without there being some idea in that persons mind that Oprah was seriously thinking about playing this part) and also tried out for the part.

Noprah, of course will have her own story about what happened to her, i.e. the diet camp she may have went to or maybe she felt she was too skinny for the part and has started eating more to fill out for it. When it comes down to selection time, what is the criteria that determines who is more likely to get the part.

So "The Secret", being the crappy marketing ploy that it is engaging people in deepening their materialism and consumerism with positive thought and expectancy, tells us that when we really believe something will happen, the "Law of Attraction" will bring it to us.

Who gets selected?

Well for this article it doesn't matter. Someone always does get selected. The problem is usually that we are only ever hearing from the one Oprah and not the hundreds, or thousands, or millions of Noprah's.
I'm going to link this to the Anthropic principle. To be perfectly honest it will be a very loose connection but one meant to illustrate a point. As I am using it (and this is my version), the Anthropic principle is an evaluation of the idea that we are particularly special in the universe because we exist where we are and that this is so special that it must be more than just luck.
Maybe even meant to be. Everything has come together so perfectly to support us that it is a special gift. This isn't the principle, the principle ask us to consider the vastness of the universe. There are billions upon billions of planets and galaxies that exist (like little Noprah's) all vying for the title of Earth. Who would be around to tell the story of success? Only the one whose conditions were met to allow intelligent life to propagate and rise to a level that lets it look at its position in life and think how it must have been meant to be. There would be no ability to do all this if all the needed conditions were not met.

There may be a little Nearth somewhere out there, the famous Drake Equation seeks to discover the probability of it, that is only a few billion years away from sharing a success story. But we are here and now and cognizant of the fact that we are here and now.

Oprah likes to believe that it was her wanting it that made it happen, but if Oprah had been Hispanic would that have been a problem? If Oprah lived in Tokyo would that have hindered her chances of being called? Malcolm Gladwell's new book "Outliers" discusses the need for conditions to be met before we are going to hear the success stories, answering questions like why are so many NHL hockey players born between January and March? Many of the conditions are well beyond any hoping, wishing, praying, or wanting we could ever do.

This has been a particularly long article so I'll finish with this. If you were to give up this wanting and just be You. If the rewards came and went, or didn't come at all. Can you live a life that is whole and complete?

What would that look like?

Byron

Yoga During Uncertainty

Maybe you know this already.

Saffron (Sandy) used to own, with her brother and sister-in-law Steve and Virginia Selemidis, the "Coach and Lantern" Pub in Ancaster. It was their creation during an economically challenging time period in the early 90's. There was a rental space in the building they owned that had to be filled, no one was making offers.

Saffron had the idea, suddenly as usual, to open a British Pub during this hard time. To say this was a risk is not to understand business very well. Most businesses fail within 5 years. Restaurants rarely make it 2 years. This was an incredible risk that the banks wouldn't even make direct eye contact with.

The restaurant was a smashing success. There were lines up and down the sidewalk.

Why?

Well, the three of them were a talented business team, able to work very well together. They learned how to use each of their strengths and minimize each of the weaknesses.

They also had made a move that proved to be very beneficial from a business standpoint that they hadn't realized.
What do people like to do when times get really tough, and when the future looks dicey? If you guessed drink beer, wine, or liquor in excess you win the prize.

During times of uncertainty it is much easier to sell people alcohol as a quick fix that dulls the senses and makes it easy to forget the worries of the day, if only for a few hours.

After years in this business, Saffron saw some of the lowest sides of people. It really shook her trust of the goodness of people. She saw the dark side all to often.

She didn't want it anymore. There had to be a better way to be a part of the community. It was successful, there was money and respect from people but the dark side left such a mark. She wanted to leave a mark of beauty, respect, and love. This is where she turned to Yoga.

Yoga comes at uncertainty from a different angle.

As things start to get uncertain many of us will be tempted to dull the senses. To close up from the pain. Yoga does not teach us to ignore or hide from fear or pain. It teaches us to be sensitive to it and look at the best ways to work with it, around it or through it if we have to. Maybe there isn't even anything there at all, or at least not the monster we thought it was.

As uncertainty sneaks in to your life how do you choose to respond?

Do you take care of the things that matter most? Yourself, your family, and your community?
The Daily Practice of 7 minutes of Yoga brings you back to yourself where the heart of Yoga really resides.

Take this time to reclaim your life, even in uncertainty.

America's Next Top Model

I used to be a TV junky.

I would watch whatever was on TV when I was home. Most often it was reruns of the Simpsons or other such Sitcoms, lots of nature programs, movies, and a few PBS shows (my particular favourite being Leo Buscaglia's lecture series).

Since getting married I have become unplugged. I thoroughly enjoy this fact. The freedom in time alone for other more worthy pursuits has been well worth it.

Every once in awhile, I do watch it when I am out visiting family. It sucks me right back in like a vortex. At least now I can reflect on things afterward instead of being hit by program after program.

A couple weeks ago I had a chance to watch America's Next Top Model with Tyra Banks. I try to keep an open mind about these things. If you haven't seen the show, a bunch of hopeful models go through the gauntlet to prove that they are worth bringing into the modeling world. I guess it would be like a sport tournament to decide the winner etc.

There is one major problem I have with the mentality, let's set aside the drastic things the women do to stay looking like that (eating cotton balls soaked in lemon juice, no calories feel full, brilliant), and that is the way that the winners are to be determined.

At the end of the show Tyra said something that bothers me still today. They had selected 14 of the 30 (my numbers may be off) that the show started with. She turned to the ones who had not been picked and said to them "Look at these women, they just wanted it more than you did".

This is the most idiotic thing I have heard come out of anybodies mouth.

Why?

No matter how hard they all try. No matter how beautiful, how poised, how unique, how much they sacrafice, how much they "want" it. There will always 14 on one side and 16 on the other side of the selection process. Even two complete equals in all respects will have some difference between them, and an arbitrary unimportant, impersonal, and ridiculous method will be used to select the "one".

If she had said. "I think, in my experience, that these women will sell more products" there would be no viewer ratings though would there but surely there is a ratings grabbing way of saying that? Am I that out of touch?

These are impressionable young women who have already, most likely, taken more than a slightly skewed approach to personal development.

This is the kind of thinking that truly bothers me. There is far too many things out there tearing people down for not being good enough. Hard work is good, absolutely. But Dylan Armstrong, the Canadian Olympic Athlete who came 4th by 1 cm, shows that hard work and discipline and everything associated with it must be the reward, if there is one. This is what needs reinforcing, the experience.

Find joy in what you do, regardless of the outcome.

Honesty as a policy?

In Yoga, there are the Yamas, or social ethics. The first being Ahimsa (non harming) the second being Satya (truthfullness).

One of the hardest things I can think of is the act of being totally honest with yourself.

I have to admit, I like to delude myself quite often.

It works both ways. Thinking I am better, smarter, or cooler than I really am. In other words forgetting that my sole purpose on the earth is to serve others.

But that is already written about regularly.

Strangely, it is much harder sometimes to be honest about where I are limiting myself. Where I believe I am incapable of something or bound to a label of myself.

Take for instance the label of procrastinator. It had become such a belief at times that I truly was that person, until I started to learn who I really was.

We create who we are each day. When we truly live in the present moment, now, this breath, we can't be a label. This moment hasn't happened yet. We have never been here before.

Take for instance the approach to an arm balance or deep thigh bending posture where we "know" we have weak arms or weak legs or something else like that (even believing we are strong because we always have been). When we approach a pose as we were and not as we are, we rob ourselves. We enter the posture with a predetermined outcome and we will work to satisfy that belief. Neither stretching ourselves to grow nor being compassionate with ourselves when we need nurturing.

What this means is that to get the most out of life we have to engage in what we are doing at that moment. See what is possible. Who are we really? If nothing had ever happened before in our life, what would be possible this moment?

It is called a Yoga practice because we get a chance to fracture these beliefs every time we come to the mat.

I practice as often as I can and reap the benefits in all other areas of my life.

Practice yourself and see.

Mark Whitwell

This past weekend we had an excellent opportunity to study with Mark Whitwell at the Yoga Festival of Toronto.

We have had the good fortune of being able to study the ideas and concepts of Yoga with a variety of teachers from all walks of life and, quite literally, from all corners of the globe.

Some experiences are very informative, some bland, some completely distasteful.
The trick is to evaluate what is relevant to us and what is not.

This is a tricky situation. Sometimes the very work we need to do is the work we least want to do. Or for some of us, we are stern task masters that keep taking the joy out of learning and focus on the strict discipline.

Our workshop with Mark was a breath of fresh air. It felt as though we were given the gift of Yoga all over again.

Mark has some simple but profound concepts and principles that he put forth in his classes.

Things like " Do your Yoga, not just any popular American brand of Yoga, but your Yoga"

Or "Yoga is Strength / Receiving, the union of Masculine and Feminine"

Or "Yoga is your direct participation in life as Life"

He reminded us that Yoga is not about attaining some pose or some distant point or goal. It is about receiving the experience we have right now.

What we have been practicing and studying over the years, and what we have taught for that matter, continues to evolve. The time that we spent connecting with the beautiful power of our breath, while peeling away all the rest of the unnecessary baggage, has been one of the most joyful experiences.

What is absolutely fascinating is that we can never know exactly how this will affect or change our future. It makes life magical and wondrous.

Don't be afraid to experiment with your own experience of personal practice. Not one of us will ever fit into a system. The joy comes our of that direct experience.

"Do Your Yoga"

Thank you Mark!

Non Violence

We are taught in Yoga to observe Ahimsa or nonviolence. Great leaders of humanity from all times have also taught these things. Gandhi and Nonviolence are synonymous. So just what is it that they are talking about?

When practicing Ahimsa we first need to remember that this is a universal principle. Meaning that we must consider ourselves in our nonviolent behavior. We also must realize that absolutely perfect Ahimsa is not possible. Even a vegetarian must eat living food of some kind or may inadvertently cause another life form to expire. We can also be extremely hard on ourselves and others, expecting everything to change for the better in a moment. This will put us into a conflict at sometime or another. With our self, with someone we are close to, or even a stranger.

Gandhi said "We must be the change we want to see in the world". However he also didn't say that this had to happen overnight.

Every time I have had an insight surrounding my actions on the Yoga mat or in life there is a period right after where reflection is necessary. Take for example our training as teachers. When something was given to us, whether it was an adjustment or a change in thought pattern, it threw everything we had been investing in out the window. When I had Triangle Posture down, holding my toe and extending fully, I felt accomplished. When I was told that I was doing it wrong and that I was hurting my hip I was taken back. Disillusioned, not wanting to change something that I considered myself good at. At first I wanted to stop practicing it altogether. After all it would be embarrassing if I couldn't demonstrate the full postures to students when I am the teacher and a supposedly advanced practitioner. I wouldn't look perfect.

This internal conflict affects my outer world too. If I have these expectations of myself, what do others feel in my presence. The words that aren't spoken. Is it compassion for yourself?

Ultimately, we all can choose two ways to process this kind of input. I have learned to take the harder road that creates the growth rather than the easier road to decay. Sometimes I do complain and delay that choice though. I am, however, getting more graceful at it.

Finding the way to face myself and the world with more and more Ahimsa.

Commitment

I don't know why we have to be committed to something for it to really make a difference in our life, I do know that until we make that leap of faith we cannot participate in the world as a complete human being.

How do we commit to something that will make our lives better?

Why is it so easy not to do the things that are good for us?

I have come to believe that we are a meaning making creature. It has to mean something for us to do it. It has to pull for us to make it through the inertia of inactivity. Frankly, the "because it's good for you" line doesn't have much pull. We need to dig deeper than that.

It is the "what for?" in our lives that really drives us. Money doesn't drive us. What we can use the money for is what drives us. In the same vane, good health doesn't drive us powerfully to commit. Why do we want to achieve good health? Most of us know or believe that to feel and be healthy is a great place to be. Unfortunately that still isn't enough.

Our suggestion to help step up your ability to commit is to consider making the beneficiary someone other than yourself. We all know of parents that will go to great lengths to create the good life for their kids only to fall ill in their later years from neglecting there own health.

We must start to realize that the better health we have, the better it will be for our kids because we will be active and vital in their life for a long time. The better it will be for our parents and siblings. The more we will be able to volunteer when we reach that point in our life. Having good health doesn't just affect us. It saves the earth and all the inhabitants because we will have the wherewithal to make a difference.

A famous business philosopher Jim Rohn says it well. "Take good care of the body, we need it to carry out the wishes of the mind and spirit"

Consider what you could do if you had the energy and stamina to make that difference you want to make.

Yoga and Money

What does Yoga have to do with money?

Yoga isn't a single event that happens once or twice a week. It isn't even your daily practice. Yoga pervades every area of your life, you just aren't aware of it yet.

The most powerful moment I experienced in my personal practice was when I realized that it didn't end once I left the mat. In fact, the hardest part of Yoga happens the moment I leave the mat.

Money is a real world issue. No matter how much positive thinking you do, no matter how many poses you accomplish, you will still have to make the car payment or rent or phone bill. How can we possibly be happy and fully functioning people if this area is out of balance. Every class offers us a chance to make this relationship.

Worrying about money does nothing. You can worry all day and it doesn't change a thing. Believe me, I have tried to worry a bill paid but it hasn't happened yet.

Worry is an apprehension of things to come. Yoga teaches us to pay attention to the present moment. When I worry about money I no longer am living in the moment which is all that I truly have.

This can be a hard connection. Which is why we need to practice so much. I set aside some time each day where I will practice being in the moment, practice not looking into what benefit I will get or who I may impress. Coming to the mat is a chance to give up worry. We can always use perspective when we start to worry. In Yoga we come to the breathe. In money we come to the breathe?

You won't believe how much that can change your life once you really start to live it. Don't worry just breathe.

If we're breathing, we are alive.

Byron