Yoga and the Art of Springing Toward Abundance
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Yes, hidden from view are the visual delights of this lake in Central Park, but, more importantly, hiding in plain site is the abundant promise inherent in the branches that already exist.
Yoga and the Art of Loving, Again
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Separated as we may feel at times from each other, there is always a bridge that connects each of us indelibly to each other. Call that bridge yoga, call that bridge the Dharma, but by whatever name you call it, I hope you can cross it over and over again.
No matter what you think of Joe Biden, this reprieve from the previous administration has felt like a breath of fresh air. As individuals, according to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, we need first and foremost food, clothing, and shelter. Extrapolating this outward into the political world, it has felt like we’ve needed this time over the last year to catch our breath from the collective trauma we experienced for the few years of our country’s recent past. Having met our basic needs and being able to breathe again, we can move up the ladder to secure love and belonging.
And now there’s Ukraine. Everything feels disrupted again. My heart is broken. So back to my yoga and meditation practices I go, for which I am grateful.
The Dutch Priest, Henri Nouwen, wrote:
In a world so torn apart by rivalry, anger and hatred, we have the privileged vocation to be living signs of a love that can bridge all divisions and heal all wounds.
There’s so much rivalry, anger, and hatred in the world, it’s overwhelming at times. I think of my yoga and meditation practices as one small part of that bridge that can help heal some of this. In addition to all the external things I try to do to help the world, this inner work helps me connect, through my breath, with this living sign of love. What a privilege.
The Trappist Monk, Thomas Merton, wrote:
The only true joy on Earth is to escape from the prison of our own false self, and enter by love into union with the Life Who dwells within the essence of every creature and in the core our own souls.
I am grateful that yoga and meditation keep me constantly aware of all the false identities I’ve built up that I’ve come to falsely believe define me. Equally as important, they remind me over and over again of the connection that I have to every living being on this planet and elsewhere.
A core belief of the philosopher, J. Krishnamurti, was that:
Love & truth can't be found in any book, church, or temple. It comes when you know yourself.
I am so grateful that yoga and meditation help me to know myself better, and with greater compassion.
The Persian poet, Rumi, wrote:
Reason is powerless in the expression of Love.
And:
A pearl in the shell
does not touch the ocean.
Be a pearl without a shell
a mindful flooding
a spark turned to flame
bird settling nest
love lived.
I am so grateful that yoga, meditation, and dance help me to feel that spark of love deep within, and that on occasion it grows bigger and becomes a flame. Every so often, the shell around my being comes off and I am moved to take actions that will somehow benefit not only me but others as well. Every so often, I am engulfed by Love so fully that my sense of reason goes by the wayside, and I find myself saying: It may seem crazy, but I have to do this. It has led me to taking action to find and receive romantic love, pursue a life in the performing arts, and to found Keoni Movement Arts, which serves people who don’t have the opportunities I’ve had in life.
I hope that yoga and meditation can help fulfill one of your basic needs – your ability to love again … again and again – for the benefit of all beings everywhere.
I hope you’re feeling a sense of optimism as spring begins to bloom again.
May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you at times be a pearl without a shell, …
May that spark of love within you become a flame, …
May you cross that bridge between hatred and love, again and again, …
For the benefit of ALL Beings everywhere.
Aloha, Metta, Peace, and Joy,
Paul Keoni Chun
Manatees at TECO In Florida - every time I get the chance to view God's creatures up close I fall in love with Nature over and over again.
We Can Always Begin Again
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Nothing like a good snowstorm to give the city a reset -- a chance top pause, reflect, ... then begin again.
This past weekend, New York City got a huge dousing of snow. I loved it. This city moves at such a fast pace that I relish those times when I am forced to slow down and be still.
Sillness. That’s what yoga is all about.
I had a chance to teach a yoga basics class recently. I started out by asking folks what they thought the purpose of yoga was. I got various answers, such as: stretching … relaxing … bringing mind, body and spirit into closer connection … to experience enlightenment. All these answers are in fact part of yoga, but the true goal of practicing yoga is to quiet down the movements of the mind, or yogash chitta vritti nirodhah from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Patanjali goes on to state that when the mind is still, then we can realize who our True Nature (tada drashtuh svarupe avasthanam). Then, we can realize who we really are.
Unfortunately, with the commercializing and commodifying of yoga in the west, people here seem to think that the goal of yoga is to be able to touch your toes or stand on your head or be more powerful and physically stronger. Wrong.
If we are to achieve this highest state of yoga, it requires, I believe, practicing beginning again … over and over again. It requires a willingness to let go of the parts of our past that are no longer serving us well. It requires cultivating the practice of touching each moment with the least amount of judgement. In this respect, meditation practice is a wonderful vehicle for moving further in this direction.
As Maria Robinson says:
Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.
In whatever ways you like doing it, as you reset and start anew at the beginning of another new year, I hope you’ll reflect on – and perhaps implement – ways that you can begin again. And in the stillness that comes to your mind, I do sincerely hope that you hear your heart’s truest desires and wishes, and manifest them in the coming year. And most importantly, may the new ending you write for yourself benefit not only you but all beings as well.
May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you let go of the parts of your past that are no longer serving you well, …
May you begin again, …
For the benefit of ALL Beings everywhere.
Aloha, Metta, Peace, and Joy,
Paul Keoni Chun
Children always know how to Begin again … and again … and again!
Generosity Starts with Ourselves
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Central Park, December 2021. Nature so generously offers us many opportunities to pause and reflect on how lucky we are.
In order to cultivate an awakened mind, the Buddha taught that there were virtues we should try to perfect. He called them paramis, which translates to “perfections.” The first of these qualities is dana or generosity. According to Buddhist meditation teacher, Gina Sharpe: … The path begins there because of the joy and openness that arise from the generous heart. Pure unhindered delight flows freely when we practice generosity. We experience joy in forming the intention to give, in the actual act of giving, and in recollecting the fact that we’ve given. …
Recently, I watched a PBS Newshour segment about formerly incarcerated individuals trying to regain a foothold in society. It’s a difficult process, as many businesses, entities, and people will hold that they committed a crime against these people. One woman said something that made my ears perk: What if you were only known for the worst thing you would ever done?
This made me stop and realize – we’ve all done things that we aren’t proud of. Sometimes my mind is filled with regret over something I did or said in the past. And sometimes I get to thinking: how could I have been so stupid! Feelings of self-hatred arise.
But truly, we are far more than the worst things we’ve ever said or done. And I have to counter those thoughts with remembering that I’ve done many things to make my and other folk’s lives better. I have to stop myself in these moments and remember – I’ve been enormously generous at times in my life, and truly I am far, far more than the worse things I’ve done in my life.
So, while dana or generosity is usually thought of as something we do for and to others, I think it’s also important to practice generosity toward our own selves too.
In this season of giving, can you remember to give to yourself along with giving to others? Can you be generously compassionate, patient, forgiving, kind, and loving towards yourself? If you do, the whole world will benefit.
May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you practice dana toward both yourself and others, …
For the benefit of ALL Beings everywhere.
Aloha, Metta, Peace, and Joy,
Paul Keoni Chun
What a generous gift Nature gave me and my husband when we happened upon this sight in Everglades National Park.
Yoga and the Art of Yes/And ...., and the Power of Gratitude
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The Highline park is the nexus between human ingenuity and nature’s brilliance. Each time I walk through it, I am filled with gratitude.
I love watching Nature shows. It’s so cool to see the diversity of living creatures inhabiting the Earth, each in their own way struggling to survive, to just get through another day. We humans appear to have an advantage, in that our days are not mostly consumed by providing food, clothing, and shelter for ourselves and our loved ones. We have time to create Art, contemplate the mysteries of the Universe, and meditate, among many other things. We are lucky to be able to experience this human birth.
I read some time ago that the Buddha taught his monks “that receiving a human birth is more rare than the chance that a blind turtle floating in the ocean would stick its head through a small hoop.” For that reason, he encouraged his monks to “gladden” their hearts by reflecting on how fortunate they were that in this lifetime they could seek freedom from suffering. The Buddha taught Four Noble Truths – the first is that indeed, there is suffering, and the fourth is that indeed, there is a way out of suffering. One of his core beliefs is that we can “learn to live joyfully amid the sorrows of the world.”
One way I thought of that might alleviate some of our suffering is to practice what I call “Yes/And …, and the Power of Gratitude.” We can acknowledge that “yes,” indeed, there are a lot of problems in the world, “and,” we can still find ways to live joyfully amid the world’s sorrows. Practicing yoga and meditation are two ways available to us. As our practices mature, we gain deeper insights into the true nature of all things, including suffering. We can also practice “flowing in gratitude.” As our ability to be consciously aware of the immense beauty all around us deepens, we will experience more joy. With each delight we witness right in front of us, we can spend more moments of this lifetime realizing how lucky we are to have this human experience.
During this holiday season, I hope you can spend many moments flowing in the powerful stream of gratitude. And, may it help to alleviate not only some of your suffering, but also some of the suffering in the world at large.
May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you remember how fortunate you are to have this human birth, …
May you live joyfully amid the suffering of the world, …
May you flow with gratitude often, …
For the benefit of ALL Beings everywhere.
Aloha, with Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun
I was flowing with gratitude as I walked along this part of The Highline park recently.
Yoga and the Art of Selfless Service
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A moment of true magic at Acadia National Park. (photo by Ed Gonzalez)
Lately I’ve been contemplating how yoga can be a pathway towards serving the world in a selfless way. When we are practicing on our own individual yoga mat or meditation cushion, how is that really serving others? Sometimes it can almost feel like a luxury, almost feel selfish to take the time to care for ourselves in this manner. But like other activities we may undertake for the purpose of self-nourishment and self-rejuvenation – like taking a warm bath or going on an Artist Date – yoga practice can help us create a buffer between ourselves and the problems of the world. It gives us the space to see things in better perspective through a wider lens. It also leads us in the direction of an awareness of a selfless self. Who we may think we are is not truly who we are.
My yoga sequence of the month was inspired by the tale of Hanuman, the Monkey God from the Hindu epic, the Ramayana. One unknown source I found many years ago states: He was devoted to the ideal of selfless service. And, says Neesha Zollinger from Yoga Today, Hanuman was devoted to a life of service ... He found his power within himself and used it for the greater good …. The lesson he teaches us, she says, is to Look within to get greater freedom outside.
Hanuman inspires us to find those talents we were given by God to manifest and develop in our lifetimes on Earth and to use them in ways that help all Beings. If we look into our own hearts, like Hanuman did, we will find what it is that inspires us towards action. And if that inspiration is truly heart-centered we will naturally find ways that our actions can benefit not just ourselves but others around us as well.
Practicing yoga can be a selfless activity just by the fact that we breathe consciously with awareness According to the master yoga teacher, B.K.S. Iyengar: When you inhale, you are taking the strength from God. When you exhale, it represents the service you are giving to the world. Truly with each conscious and deep inhalation, it does feel like we are receiving a gift. And with each conscious and deep exhalation, the calm that overcomes us is not only a gift to ourselves but also to the people around us.
Adi Amar from Yoga Today, says: When we learn not to react [to bad situations] all the time, we actually do ourselves and others a great service. In my experience, practicing yoga can help us create a buffer between ourselves and our problems. Recently, several work interactions I encountered left me feeling a little deflated. But with the passage of some time, my daily yoga and meditation practice, I was able to gain some perspective on the situations and figure out ways to handle them better in the future. Had my reactions been dictated by how I was truly feeling in the initial moments of these situations, they would have probably come out more forcefully and explosively and in the end would have served no one well.
Early on in the pandemic, I heard a front-line pandemic nurse say:
The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in service of others.
Certainly, many frontline workers served the world selflessly. And many even lost their lives. What was undoubtedly gained in all situations was that each found a calling. Each found moments when they heard God’s voice within to serve the world according to the ways that they were uniquely qualified to do. And hopefully, each of them found meaning and purpose in their lives, which is what each of us are all seeking in the end. Perhaps as you continue to “lose yourself” in your yoga practice – meaning as yoga melts deeper into the fabric of your being – you will continue to find meaning and purpose in your life, adding to what you’ve discovered already at whatever stage of life you are in.
I leave with you a hopeful thought:
“At the beginning, mankind and obligation of selfless service were created together. Through selfless service, you will always be fruitful and find the fulfillment of your desires": This is the promise of the Creator.
~Bhagavad Gita 3.10
I can imagine that this is true, as I’ve seen evidence of it in my own 62 years of living on this island planet Earth. Ultimately, I think what we all desire – beyond the material – is a sense of peace, joy, and contentment. I hope that your yoga practice can lead you to a life of selfless service, accompanied by a life filled with feelings of fulfillment.
May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May yoga and meditation help you create buffers, …
May you always be fruitful and fulfilled, …
May you lose yourself in selfless service, …
May you find yourself, …
For the benefit of ALL beings everywhere.
Aloha, with Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun
Life and Death happening simultaneously in Acadia National Park. (photo by Ed Gonzalez)
Yoga and the Art of Touching Hatred
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Our collective lights may start out separated, but ultimately they seem to merge.
This past month we commemorated the events of 9/11. I found it interesting to learn that 25% of Americans have been born after 9/11/2001. For the other 75% of us, it’s so vital that we do our best not to forget the experience of that day. For me, it’s practically seared into my DNA, as I recall witnessing the horror out my 27th floor window, 4 miles south of me. I won’t ever forget when I woke up that morning of first seeing the profound beauty of that beautiful fall-like NYC day, and then soon realizing that something wasn’t quite right.
The Buddha taught:
"Hatred is never ended by hatred - but by love [this is an eternal rule]"
I know we all know this. But to practice healing hatred with love is, in fact, not easy to do. Just try sending love to that person who refuses to wear a mask on the subway and you’ll know what I mean! All kidding aside, though, I think the trick is to first try to touch your hatred – allow for the feeling of hatred to arise within and to touch every fiber of your body – and then being still and noticing the breath.
The Buddhist meditation teacher Thich Nhat Hanh taught:
“Even when you see a lot of violence, discrimination, hatred and craving, if you are equipped with understanding and compassion, you don’t suffer.”
We are certainly seeing a lot of violence, discrimination, hatred and craving in the outer world. Witness Afghanistan, the anti-maskers, and domestic white nationalism, to name three current situations. Most of us are likely challenged to have compassion and understanding for the perpetrators of the harm. But the starting point lies within. If we’re honest with ourselves, we can bear witness to the violence and hatred we aim towards our own selves at times, and the cravings within that sometimes gets the better of us. Yoga and meditation can help us to bear witness to the arising of these feelings. Transforming these feelings into understanding and compassion for ourselves is our goal. Yoga postures like savasana and sukhasana can be very helpful in this regard.
I know that managing our hatred is not an easy thing to do. As your yoga and meditation practices mature, I hope that they can give you the courage to touch the feelings more often and over time – perhaps lifetimes – turn them into something useful for all of us.
May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you touch your hatred within, …
May you sit still long enough for it to be transformed it into understanding and compassion, …
May you NEVER forget, …
For the benefit of ALL beings everywhere.
Aloha, with Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun
Nature healing.
Yoga and the Art of Being Simone Biles
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Simone Biles and Lord Hanuman both serving higher causes.
This past month we witnessed Olympians demonstrate super-human, “Hanuman-like” abilities. But in some ways, their amazing physical feats were the least of their accomplishments. Yes, being able to do a split-leap, like both Simone Biles and Hanuman can, is beyond the ability of most of us “mere mortals.” But what is not beyond our ability is the example that both Ms. Biles and Hanuman set out to show: when the cause is great enough and serves the many and not the few, we somehow find the ability and the resolve to complete the mission that we were put on this Earth to accomplish. It is our life’s work to figure out what that purpose is and to fulfill it to the best of our abilities.
Before the Olympics, one might have thought that Simone Bile’s mission was to rack up gold medals for the U.S.A. Little did we know that ultimately her mission became doing something that we yogis and yoginis aspire to accomplishing each time we come to practice: to overcome our own minds and all the false identities it has accumulated, like “Olympic Gold Medalist” in her case, or perhaps in ours, “slaves to our jobs.” In the narrower picture, she had to overcome the “twisties.” In the bigger picture, though, her mission became highlighting the mental health needs of high-level, high-profile athletes. Given the vast amounts of money the media pays to showcase Olympic stars who could potentially bring home a lot of gold to the U.S.A. and the networks, it is no small feat to turn one’s back on all of that in service to a higher and more important cause. Bravo, Simone!
In the story of Hanuman, a God who appears in the Hindu epic, the Ramayana, he does the most amazing thing – he does a giant split-leap over the ocean to rescue Sita, the wife of Lord Rama, the master he was serving. Imagine that! Now Hanuman had some amazing abilities, but he had forgotten he had these. However, they were awakened when he was presented with a mission, a cause that was great enough. Simone Bile’s quest to overcome her own mind is no less difficult and perhaps a more arduous journey than was her quest to win multiple golds. (Similarly, by the way, a yogi/ni should always remember that being able to do “super-human” yoga postures pales in comparison to being able to keep one’s mind steady and calm on a consistent basis throughout life’s turbulent waters.) But the quest was awakened by the situation she found herself in and out of sheer self-preservation, she somehow found the strength to pushback against the critics and pursue this path anyway.
Though she turned inward to heal, the outward effects were widely felt. She inspired many to take a pause from the rat-race and spend time caring for oneself – one’s “little self” in this case, as opposed to one’s “Higher Self” – in the face of all the forces saying, “you can’t do this!” Well, personally, I did! I’ve spent the last month nurturing, preserving, and prioritizing my own health and well-being. So, Simone Bile’s cause/mission ended up being much bigger than just the needs of only her individual self.
Like Hanuman and Simone Biles, we are all tasked to do something important with our lives. Yes, there are times when we think we can’t accomplish our mission. And sometimes, like Ms. Biles, we stumble (literally and figuratively) onto that mission. But like both, we can pause, remember what is in our Heart, and reinvigorate our devotion to that cause. In so doing, we can all be Olympians – super heroes accomplishing amazing things – in our own way.
And remember this: we’ve all done something super-human – we got through the pandemic! We’re stronger than we ever thought we were. Yay!
May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you remember what you were put on this Earth to do, …
May you accomplish your Mission, …
For the benefit of ALL beings everywhere.
Aloha, with Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun
Finding Love in Central Park on a late August Sunday afternoon. Nothing like an “Artist Date” to promote self-healing!
Yoga and the Art of Surrendering to God
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On my morning runs, I constantly receive reminders that God’s presence is always close at hand.
As we continue to come out of the pandemic, we continue to experience much uncertainty. That can be unsettling. What can we do?
In yoga, the 5th niyama (observance), is Isvarah Pranidhana. According to Swami Jnaneshvara, Isvarah translates to mean “creative source, Supreme Guru, or God” and Pranidhana means “surrendering of fruits of practice, practicing the presence of.” In short, it means “surrendering to God.”
At this time of so much that is unknown, what we can do to steady ourselves is the practice of surrendering to God’s Plan. We’ll never know why there has been a pandemic, nor why we escaped relatively unscathed. However, we can experience a feeling of calmness if we add to our daily practice an awareness of God in things we do, and surrendering what we do to that Divine Force.
Judith Lasater says:
Isvara pranidanah is the surrender of all the fruits of practice to one’s chosen deity. This deity can be whatever it is that one conceives to be a greater power beyond one’s self. The choice of deity is not important; what is important is that one learns to let go of all the benefits and failures alike that are related to practice. This letting go focuses the practitioner on the process of practice rather than on the goals of practice.
And Ramesh Balsekar said:
The surest sign of spiritual progress is a total lack of concern about progress.
Coupling the two together, when we let go of our concerns about making progress and yet still show up to and put our heart into whatever we’re practicing at and focus on the process rather than the outcome, then for sure we will make progress toward our goals. So perhaps, rather than “working” on your current life project, consider “practicing the presence of God” as you engage with your project. Your mind will calm down, and as a result you will move forward, rather than stagnate, or worse, move backward.
For me, practicing the presence of God as I write this yoga wisdom means delighting in the moment-by-moment thoughts and inspirations that come into my mind with each sentence. Practicing the presence of God in my various work projects means showing up to the work, breaking things down into smaller parts that my mind can grasp, and making enough space in my mind for the answers to show up from God. And it sometimes means not setting a hard deadline on some of the projects and not worrying if the end product is perfect or not. And outside of work and yoga, practicing the presence of God means delighting in all the amazing artistic creations in this amazing city of New York. From the restaurants, to the art creations, to the natural beauty of the sacred spaces in our parks large and small, there is something to remind us always of God’s existence.
I hope for you at this challenging time that you can delight in all the beauty that exists around you and surrender to whatever force you identify as God, and in so doing, experience the calm radiance that is at the heart of yoga, even if for only a moment.
May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you practice the presence of God, …
May you practice surrendering to God, …
May you surrender to God’s Plan for You,
May you experience calm radiance, …
For the benefit of ALL beings everywhere.
Aloha, with Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun
I think they’re onto something at Citrovia. You've heard the saying: when life gives you lemons, make lemonade! Truly, perhaps life is really better with lemons, as this sign says. Maybe all the lemons we encounter are really part of God's plan for us. Those life encounters with lemons might make us wince, but they do make us more resilient.
Yoga and the Art of Being “Comfortable with Uncertainty”
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The brave men and women who stood up to the police on this night and the days following stared uncertainty in the eyes and chose to take action anyway. Who knew what a revolution their standing up for what is right would lead to?
Things are quickly changing for many of us in the U.S. at this time of the nearing-the-end-of-the-pandemic period. We have all experienced so much uncertainty over the past 16 months. And for those of us who have survived, we can undoubtedly say that we’ve been battered, yet are stronger and more resilient than we were before.
Uncertainty is a theme I’ve touched on often in my past yoga e-Letters – probably because it’s an enduring theme for our entire lifetime – but I felt it to be especially relevant at this particular period in time.
Pema Chodron encourages us to be “Comfortable with Uncertainty” in her bookand chapter with the same title. She writes:
Those who train wholeheartedly in awakening bodhichitta – noble or awakened heart -- are called bodhisattvas or warriors—not warriors who kill but warriors of nonaggression who hear the cries of the world. … A warrior accepts the we can never know what will happen to us next. We can try to control the uncontrollable by looking for security and predictability, always hoping to be comfortable and safe. But the truth is that we can never avoid uncertainty. This not-knowing is part of the adventure. It’s also what makes us afraid.
Likely, most of us didn’t willingly sign up for “warrior training” at the beginning of the pandemic, but we’ve all been forced, in one way or another, to become warriors during the past 16 months, whether we liked it or not. For me, it meant keeping my bubble very small and relying on daily yoga and meditation in my (small-ish) Manhattan studio apartment to keep me sane. For me, meditation has been a way to embrace life as it is, with all of its beautiful moments and with its pock-marks too. Pema writes:
If we find ourselves in doubt that we’re up to being a warrior-in-training, we can contemplate this question: “Do I prefer to grow up and relate to life directly [and therefore embrace uncertainty], or do I choose to live and die in fear [running away from uncertainty]?
Meditation is one of the main tools of the bodhisattvas or warriors in Buddhist tradition. It can help us to embrace uncertainty and live with less fear. For sure, whether we signed up for warrior-training or not, during these past 16 months we’ve all been forced to find ways to cope and discover the resilience we didn’t know existed with us. And whether or not you actually embraced formal meditation practices over these months, undoubtedly life created opportunities for you to pause, embrace stillness, and feel your breath more often than before. Perhaps most importantly, we’ve all been forced, whether we liked it or not, to choose to relate to life directly.
For those of you who have embraced a formal meditation practice, know that it has had benefits for the whole planet, as this passage from whenonepercent.org states:
When just one percent of a community spends time in prayer and meditation, the whole community moves toward peace. Scientific studies record as much as an 80% decrease in violence within that community. With so much uncertainty in the world, One % of us committing to a daily meditation practice can make a significant difference.
With statistics showing that violent crime is rising across our country right now, please know that any kind of meditation practice you can undertake can make a difference and help alleviate the situation. For sure, the world could very much benefit from the bodhisattvas or warriors Pema speaks of above: not warriors who kill but warriors of nonaggression who hear the cries of the world.
Pema reminds us that whatever we are feeling right now, we are not alone:
This anxiety or queasiness in the face of impermanence isn’t something that afflicts just a few of us; it’s an all-pervasive state that human beings share. But rather than being disheartened by the ambiguity, the uncertainty of life, what if we accepted it and relaxed into it? What if we said, “Yes, this is the way it is; this is what it means to be human,” and decided to sit down and enjoy the ride?
I don’t know if you necessarily enjoyed the ride of these past 16 months, but for sure it has brought you to a greater understanding of what it means to be human. As alone as we’ve all felt, we can take comfort in knowing that we have not been alone in our feelings. It helps to remember in our moments of anxiety, that all humans across the planet experience these same feelings at some point or another.
In the end, we can always be encouraged by this quote from Rumi:
What strikes the oyster, does not damage the pearl.
We’ve all been struck in so many unknown and untold ways these past 16 months. Hopefully, we can exit with our individual and collective pearls shining brighter. Your yoga and meditation practices can be armors you can use to help build a more resilient shell, and not only keep your pearl from getting damaged but also making it shine so brilliantly that you help light the whole world and all its magnificent beings.
May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you be comfortable with uncertainty, …
May you be part of the 1%, …
May you train as a warrior, …
May your pearl light up the world, …
For the benefit of ALL beings everywhere.
Aloha, with Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun
My husband and I had a visitor in our front yard. For all creatures who live out in the wild, each days is filled with the uncertainty that comes with constantly having to forage for their next meal. Hopefully we didn't upset Nature's delicate balance too much by giving this little one a helping hand.
Yoga and the Art of Balancing
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The Tree of Life at Disney's Animal Kingdom -- what better symbol to remind us humans that we have to do a better job of balancing our consumption with more respect for all of life on the planet. If we don't, we are doomed.
Balancing is so important in the practice of yoga. And it’s not just about being able to balance on one leg, or on your arms or head. It’s more about balancing your energies and your expectations. By doing so, you will experience more joy and ease in your life.
Every May for more years than I can remember now, I share one particular quote from the Bhagavad Gita in my yoga classes. In chapter 2, Krishna says to Arjuna:
You have control over actions alone,
never over its fruits.
Live not for the fruits of action,
nor attach yourself to inaction.
Established in Yoga, O Arjuna, perform actions
having abandoned attachment
and having become balanced in success and failure,
for balance of mind is called Yoga.
As a creative person who aspires to do my part in helping to create a better world – whether it’s through my yoga teaching, or the nonprofit I founded, Keoni Movement Arts, or my work as a performing artist – often I find myself working in the space of the unknown. While it can be scary, it can be exhilarating when all the elements seem to come together at the right time to create something praise-worthy and beautiful. I remember going on countless musical theatre auditions in the early aughts of the 2000s, never of course knowing whether I was going to book the job. This quote helped me immensely, as it gave me the mindset: just go in and show them what you got, then walk out and let it go. And in the beginning, when I was starting Keoni Movement Arts, I really didn’t know what I was doing, so I just did what I thought I had to do. And fortunately, 13 years later after many failures and successes, enough answers have been revealed to me that the organization is viable and its work is being recognized as important for our community. And lastly, I’ve been writing these yoga blogs for more years than I can remember now, and I never know if the messages will be of use to anyone. Then I’ll run into a former yoga student who thanks me for writing these emails and letting me know how much the messages have resonated with them and helped them in their lives. (Thanks, Andy P.!) Throughout it all, I’ve tried to listen to that inner voice that says to me: You must do this! And at the same time, this yoga philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita has helped put my actions into perspective and kept me in balance. Actions alone are not going to bring results – there has to be some Divine intervention at play too. But since my actions are the only thing I can control, that’s all I have to be concerned with. And when I include the ingredient of “Faith in Something Bigger than My self”, it allows me to relax and feel calm.
Pema Chödrön has also helped me to stay balanced through her many teachings. This one, called Room for Not Knowing, has helped me to retain my equanimity in those moments when my mind has become fixated on outcomes:
When we think that something is going to bring us pleasure, we don’t know what’s really going to happen. When we think something is going to give us misery, we don’t know. Letting there be room for not knowing is the most important thing of all. We try to do what we think is going to help. But we don’t know. We never know if we’re going to fall flat or sit up tall. When there’s a big disappointment, we don’t know if that’s the end of the story. It may be just the beginning of a great adventure.
Letting there be room for not knowing is like the secret ingredient that should be included in all our recipes for success. It’s the one ingredient that can help keep our mind balanced and strengthen our connection to the Divine. In my life, I have found on quite a few occasions that when something happened that didn’t go the way I was hoping it would, it was only later that I became glad things worked out that way because a better outcome eventually was in store. I am sure your life has been full of many such occurrences. The stream of life has many unexpected twists and turns, and practicing yoga and meditation regularly can help us pull out more to try to see the stream from the 30,000-foot level so our minds don’t get entangled in each twist and turn and become unbalanced.
The Yoga Sutras also teach us an important lesson about balancing our energies. SwamiJ.com offers this translation of Sutra 2.46 – sthira sukham asanam:
The posture (asana) for Yoga meditation should be steady, stable, and motionless, as well as comfortable, and this is the third of the eight rungs of Yoga.
sthira = steady, stable, motionless
sukham = comfortable, ease filled
asanam = meditation posture (from the root ~as, which means "to sit")
While this specifically is referring to seated meditation posture, we can extrapolate its meaning to any posture/position we find ourselves in, whether it’s on our yoga mat or off. If we don’t balance comfort with steadiness, we will find our mind and body losing its balance and our ability to see clearly diminished. When you feel yourself losing your sense of balance in life, try seeing if you can maneuver your position so that you can feel more stable and comfortable.
I hope that your ongoing yoga and meditation practice can help you off the mat in every posture life will throw at you. May you be as steady and comfortable in each life situation as you can possibly be.
May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you balance success and failure, …
May you leave room for not knowing, …
May you balance not knowing with knowing and stay balanced doing so, …
May you balance steadiness and comfort in every posture in your life, …
May your life have meaning, …
For the benefit of ALL beings everywhere.
Aloha, with Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun
Yoga and the Practice of Saucha, Cleaning
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This Emu has something to teach us.
Ready for some spring cleaning, the yoga way? Saucha literally means purity, cleanliness and clearness. It is one of the five ‘niyamas’ or observances according to the Yoga Sutras. Practicing it, along with the other stepping-stornes of yoga, will help us reach the ultimate yoga goal of Self-realization.
According to the Chopra Center,
… The Niyamas are personal practices, rituals and daily activities for wellbeing and spiritual growth. …
… Soucha, … the practice of cleanliness … not only refers to the cleanliness in personal hygiene, but it also addresses the cleanliness of our internal environment (our bodies) and our living environment.
For example, one way to practice Soucha is by committing to the wellbeing of our environment and taking active measures to care for the Earth.
Actively engaging in the internal practice of Soucha includes eating nourishing meals that keep the body running efficiently, and replacing toxic thoughts with those that are more positive, creative and productive. We can also keep our bodies and minds clean by avoiding drugs and alcohol, which only prompt us to lose control of our actions and the choices we make when we live drug and alcohol-free lives.
During this past month, I took some of this advice to heart and implemented what I reasonably could. (My advice – change can be hard, so we should only do what we can.) For e.g., usually I like to have a glass or two of wine at dinner time. I decided to give this up for the month, and I’ve noticed a qualitative difference in my thinking, that my mind is clearer and I am waking up in the mornings feeling more rested than before. I can’t commit to never drinking wine again, but I do like the feelings of mental clarity the practice has led me to experience. It’s a nice feeling.
Here during this month when we celebrate Earth Day, each of us has to do our part in keeping the planet clean. For me, I recycle as much as I can (perhaps too fanatically at times) and I make sure to dispose of my trash when I am out and about in the city. I feel so dispirited seeing the people discard their trash on our streets, so I try to make sure I do my part by not engaging in that kind of behavior.
From a yoga perspective, why would we want to practice Saucha? Well, T.K.V. Desikachar, a noted yoga teacher and son of the 20th Century master Krishnamacharya, commented on Yoga Sutra II.40 this way:
When cleanliness is developed, it reveals what needs to be constantly maintained, and what is eternally clean. What decays is the external. What does not is deep within us.
So practicing Saucha helps us to remember that this body of ours and all the things we put on it, will one day decay. Kind of scary to think in those terms for sure, but keeping that awareness fresh in our minds helps us to move towards full Self-realization. We become more fully aware more often of the part of ourselves that will never die. That can be liberating.
Practicing Saucha can also help us experience more joy. As George Bernard Shaw said:
Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world.
When we can see the external world through a clean lens, a clean window, we’ll have more capacity for seeing goodness all around us that we might have otherwise missed if our perspective were clouded over by mental trash and debris. According to Yoga Sutra 2:41, if you practice saucha, you will experience: pleasantness, goodness, gladness, high-mindedness, cheerfulness. And, as Thomas Merton, an American monk, writer and activist, said:
The greatest need of our time is to clean out the enormous mass of mental and emotional rubbish that clutters our minds.
The various purification processes of yoga, including the physical postures, the breath work, meditation, and the observance we should practice in our daily lives, can truly help us to clean out our minds and lead to clearer thinking. With clearer thinking, you will experience more joy.
The Earth needs people with clear visions and awareness of the destruction we’re doing to it. Will you help it out by clearing out the rubbish both in your immediate surroundings as well as in your body and mind? If you practice Saucha, believe me, not only will you benefit by experiencing more joy and cheerfulness, but you will also help the planet in subtle, yet powerful and profound ways. And you will experience the satisfaction of knowing that you are doing your part.
Oh ye, you Yoga Warrior you, know that I salute your courage!
May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May your thoughts be positive, productive, and creative, …
May you clean out the clutter in your mind so that your window to the outer world can be clear, …
May you know the eternal part of yourself, …
May you do your part to help clean up the Earth, …
For the benefit of ALL beings everywhere.
Aloha, with Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun
View of Earth as Michael Collins, 3rd astronaut on Apollo 11's mission to the moon, saw it. His message to all of us likely would have been: we only have one Earth to save, so please do your part in keeping it clean and healthy.
Yoga and the Art of Accomplishing Something
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If you can dream it, you can accomplish it.
(Can you guess which iconic NYC building this is?)
Sitting in front of my computer here in this moment, I feel some fear. Will I be able to write something meaningful that will help anyone who reads this? Will I finish all the work and personal projects I’ve set out to do this month? Will I have the courage to act on manifesting my 2021 New Year’s Resolutions and Goals and see them to fruition? Are there any yogic ideas that can help me here?
Then I remember a line from a Taoist poem that suggests I “shoot for nothing” and voilà, the actions are set in motion.
The full poem goes like this:
When an archer is shooting for nothing
He has his skill.
If he shoots for a brass buckle
He is already nervous.
If he shoots for a prize of gold
He goes blind
Or sees two targets –
He is out of his mind!
His skill has not changed. But the prize
Divides him. He cares.
He thinks more of winning
Than of shooting –
And the need to win
Drains him of his power.
[Taoist poem]
This poem encourages me to have the attitude of shooting for nothing in order to accomplish something. I just remind myself as I write this: just speak from your heart and the words and thoughts will be of use to someone. Whatever it is I accomplish will really be an expression of God emanating through the vessel of my heart and out to the hearts of others.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced me to become more self-sufficient and self-reliant. I am sure this has been the same for you this past year. I learned and taught myself a bunch of new things. (Can you say ‘do-it-yourself-tax-returns’?!!) I always feel a little fear in the beginning of each new endeavor. But somehow each time I muster up enough courage to take the first step, and eventually the project is done. I have a feeling that I am not alone in my fears, or else none other than Shakespeare – someone who understood human nature extremely well – would have penned these words:
Our doubts are traitors,
And make us lose the good
We oft might win
By fearing to attempt.
– William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, Act 1 scene 4
Reading this, I don’t feel so alone. But I’ve coupled that with this statement by Mahatma Gandhi:
If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely
acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not
have it at the beginning.
In my opinion, there is no joy in life greater than overcoming one’s fears and doubts by plunging ahead and doing some small action that leads us closer to our desired outcomes. To me, “Yoga and the Art of Accomplishing Something” means:
Starting with the belief that I can do it – and perhaps even deluding myself in the beginning into believing I can do it until I actually do believe it; every time we step onto our yoga mats, we take that leap of faith that the practice will lead us closer to enlightenment
Transforming the fear into action by staying with the fear and continuing forward – in this respect staying with the feelings that meditation practice trains us to do is very helpful
Having an explorer’s attitude about the journey
I like the notion of having an explorer’s attitude. It can really help us to accomplish much, over time. And it frees us from the burden of having to get it right at the start or be perfect. I think the journey of yoga and meditation as a practice involves just trying to maintain this attitude. In this day and age of keeping track of metrics and hitting targets, it’s refreshing to have some things in our life which don’t have to be subject to outward measures of success.
Some years ago, I watched the spiritual teacher Wayne Dyer (now deceased) on a PBS pledge drive. On the show, he interpreted the teachings of the Tao Te Ching, written by the 4th Century Chinese Philosopher, Lao Tzu. Tao means “the Way.” Here some of the ideas from this ancient text:
There is no way to happiness; Happiness is the Way.
Accomplish much by trying less.
See yourself in Everyone.
Be flexible, soft, and allowing.
Live without attachment -- be generous.
Practice radical humility.
What stood out to me here was the notion of stop trying so hard to accomplish things. Work less. Take breaks. Refresh. And this is really what we’re trying to train ourselves to do in yoga practice. The moments of effort are always balanced out with the moments of rest and surrender. In every moment, your body will instinctively tell you just how much effort to give to some task. You can trust that instinct will be correct, and ultimately lead you to accomplishing much – whether it be a new yoga pose or a life-long goal.
Here’s another little gem of a thought that guides me:
The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play.
– Arnold Toynbee
Whether you are one of those who are lucky enough to really love their job or are the exact opposite, there will always be moments when all our jobs will feel like a grind. In those moments, we can play mental tricks on our mind and have a playful approach. How would a child approach such moments? Perhaps with curiosity. How would a trained yogi handle it? Probably by lightening up and making it child’s play by adopting an explorer’s attitude. If you can accomplish just that, I agree that would be a supreme state of being, a God-like state of mind.
Pema Chödrön says it best here:
We can stop struggling with what occurs and see its true face without calling it the enemy. It helps to remember that our practice is not about accomplishing anything —not about winning or losing—but about ceasing to struggle and relaxing as it is. That is what we are doing when we sit down to meditate. That attitude spreads into the rest of our lives.
This, I think, sums up why we are practicing yoga and meditation. We do so in order to loosen the ambition, and to be able to meet moments for what they are – just moments – and meet life where it is with a bit of levity.
I truly hope that by shooting for nothing and in not trying so hard to accomplish anything that you ultimately accomplish something that can be of benefit to all beings. May your sustained yoga and meditation practice guide you there.
May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you shoot for nothing, …
May you overcome your doubts and start with the belief that you can do it, …
May you have an ‘explorer’s attitude’, …
May you try less, …
May you blur work and play, …
May you shift the focus away from accomplishing anything, …
May you, over time, accomplish something huge, …
For the benefit of ALL beings everywhere.
Aloha, with Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun
If you can dream it, you can accomplish it.
Yoga and The Art of Working with Love
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Hatred never ceases by hatred but by love alone is hatred healed.
This is an ancient truth.
Many forget that we here must die.
For those who remember, hatred ends.
-- The Buddha, from the Dhammapada
During this month of February when we celebrate (perhaps in some cases, endure) Valentine’s Day, I’ve always returned to the theme of using love as a guiding force for our yoga practice. I’ve always found the above teaching from the Buddha to be a powerful and guiding force in my life, particularly the reminder that one day I too will die. Though I am just shy of turning 62 and my life has been full and wonderful in so many ways, I also realize that relative to the vastness of the Universe, my life is but a molecule. I hope it’s been a useful molecule though.
I know we all know inside our hearts that it’s true – hatred can only be healed by love. The difficult part is that it’s easy for us to forget. And so, I hope that any little reminders you can receive along the way will help you to come back to that realization from time to time.
As far as our own lives (and yoga practices) are concerned, we can try to discipline ourselves with hatred, but the more difficult and more fruitful path is to discipline ourselves towards enlightenment by using the power of love. Practically speaking, when I falter in my life, I try to “love myself” back onto the Path. Hopefully, you can try doing the same. And don’t think that because you can’t do a particular yoga pose that you are “less than.” You are already whole, and just practicing to stitch together remembrances of that.
The Buddha also taught:
If you truly loved yourself, you would never harm another.
So, the by-product of using love as our ‘weapon-of-choice’ is that the beings outside of ourselves will not be harmed, if what the Buddha is saying here is true.
The teachings of the Indian Mystic and Spiritual Master, Meher Baba, also ring loudly in my mind. He said:
Love has to spring spontaneously from within... it cannot be forced on anyone, it can only be awakened in him through love itself. Love is essentially self-communicative; those who do not have it catch it from those who have it. True love is unconquerable and irresistible, and it goes on gathering power and spreading itself, until eventually it transforms everyone whom it touches.
I know we all have tendencies to want to control other folks. Meher Baba is suggesting here that that the best way for us to help others change is to control our own capabilities for being love, and letting that spill out. It will affect those around us in profound ways, if we let go of any desires that they must change in order to receive our love. They will change automatically if we drop our expectations that they change. For what J. Krishnamurti taught here is undoubtedly true:
What brings understanding is love. When your heart is full, then you will listen to the teacher, to the beggar, to the laughter of children, to the rainbow, and to the sorrow of man. Under every stone and leaf, that which is eternal exists.
It’s so easy to forget the love that exists under every stone and leaf around us. And our job, as yogis, is to keep finding love in the most unexpected places. And in finding love in hidden spaces, our hearts can remain open and become fuller. And In such places, we can find it in our hearts to forgive others, even if we don’t fully understand their karmic baggage and the suffering they evoke with it.
Life can beat us down to the point where we are so emotionally closed off that we literally cave in physically around our chest area. So as yogis, let the heart-opening yoga postures help you to keep your chest open, and may the result be that your heart can be restored to its natural fullness. Even if it’s just a short while, it will have an inward and outward effect.
If we practice faithfully, we may one day reach this ecstatic state that Rumi describes this way:
This is love: to fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment. First to let go of life. Finally, to take a step without feet.
You know in your heart what that sacred dream of yours is. When you’ve been touched by it, you come to see it is your life’s mission. And when you are moving in that space, you will experience true and divine love.
Stay open, and as someone famously said: “dance like no one is looking.” If you can do that, truly, love will spring forth naturally and easily from within you, and truly, it will help heal the world.
May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May your heart remain open, …
May your heart be full, …
May you take steps without feet, …
May love spring forth gracefully from within your being, …
May you dance like no one is looking, …
For the benefit of ALL beings everywhere.
Aloha, with Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun
The wedding cake-topper on my husband, Ed, and my wedding cake. As Lin Manuel-Miranda said in his 2016 Tony Award acceptance speech:
...
We live through times when hate and fear seem stronger
We rise and fall, and light from dying embers
Remembrances that hope and love last longer
And love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love
Cannot be killed or swept aside
...
Yoga and the Wisdom of Beginning Again, … and again, … and again
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Brisk, cold, wintry January sky in NYC. A clean slate, so pregnant with possibilities for the new year. The eternal movement from dark to light. The perfect slate upon which to begin again.
It’s time for new beginnings, both within ourselves and externally in the larger world. So much has changed in the past month. It’s as if the Earth and all its inhabitants are purging itself – volcanically – of the old, and moving forcefully toward a renewal. Boy do we need one – a major one.
But the cool thing about new beginnings is that endless possibilities abound. Shunryu Suzuki-Roshi encourages us to have a Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. He writes:
If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything. In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few.
How can we empty our mind in order to cultivate a “beginners mind?” Well practice yoga, of course. Remember what the main goal of yoga practice is, as stated in these beginning verses of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali:
yogash chitta vritti nirodhah (verse 2)
tada drashtuh svarupe avasthanam (verse 3)
Essentially, these verses mean that yoga practice’s aim is to help us to quiet down the movements of our own minds, so that we can realize who we really are – the Big Self, not the little self. In fact, a sign that you are progressing on the path of yoga is when you observe that you are less obsessed about your own little needs and more concerned about the needs and well-being of the people all around you, and indeed those of the very planet itself.
I have always found comfort in this meditation teaching from Sharon Salzberg:
[When we put our attention on the feeling of our breath] almost immediately we feel the healing power of being able to begin again. No matter where our attention has gone, or for how long, nothing’s ruined, nothing’s lost, we can always, always begin again. Everyone who meditates – both complete beginners and long-time meditators – gets high-jacked by thoughts and feelings. It’s just impossible not to. But it’s completely possible to start over. Wherever we’ve gone, we can begin again. It’s not a sign of failure. It’s not remedial practice. This is the practice. This ability to let go and begin again is the kind of fruit that we take into our ordinary life. We might stray from our chosen course, but realize we can begin again. We might lose sight of our aspiration, but realize we can begin again. We might make a mistake, but realize we can begin again.
I hope you too can take comfort in these words, especially each time you perceive you’ve failed. I fail to live up to my highest aspirations often. But each time I do, more and more now I find them to be moments to begin again to not berate myself yet again, and to begin again to cultivate a personal understanding of what it means to be a human who, like everyone else, has both flaws and unlimited possibilities.
And what about those aspirations? If you’re like me, you’ve probably set some New Year’s resolutions and SMART goals for 2021. Another favorite quote of mine – from Goethe – might be a helpful reminder of your innate power:
Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness concerning all acts of initiative and creation. There is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves to. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never have otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.
Whatever are your highest aspirations for the new year, I invite you to join me in ‘beginning again’ and ‘beginning it now’ to achieve them!
Know that I salute your courage!
May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May your mind be clear, …
May your mind be a beginner, again, …
May you begin again, … and again, … and again, …
May you begin again, NOW, …
For the benefit of ALL beings everywhere.
Aloha, with Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun
May your yoga and meditation practice lead you to new heights!