Dreaming the World

I just got back from my tour in Europe. It was fun to bring the Dharma to all these different communities; sometimes I feel like a hummingbird, collecting nectar and spreading it around. As I have always loved hummingbirds, this feels like a good use of my inherent potential!

I love being back home in Santa Fe. I don’t know what it is about this enchanted place, but it makes my heart sing and my soul breathe like no other place I’ve ever been to.

Some thoughts for your contemplation:

Just like the tiniest grain of sand has a particular mass, a mass that remains attached to the big mass called Earth, every thought has a mass too. Some science, like quantum physics, verifies this and confirms that even random thoughts may have consequences because of the mass they possess. When many people focus their thoughts on the same thing, the mass increases and so does the outcome.

As we grow up, we often forget our dreams. This is an unfortunate outcome of “growing up”, as it is our very dreams that help us realize our full potential. When we forget to dream, we may get stuck in habits – good or bad. In order to change habits, we need to be fully aware of them to see how best to proceed.

It is said, while the Buddha made every mistake possible on his path to freedom he never lied to himself about it. Making mistakes, consciously, allows us to actually learn from them. I often invite my students to make new mistakes! Making the same mistakes over and over again seems very depressing to me. To go and make a new mistake is one of my missions in life.

Yogic practices, such as chanting, invite certain archetypes and possibilities into being. For example, Ganesh, the elephant-headed son of Shiva, is not just the master of obstacles. He also represents an invitation to accept our life just as it is, to get grounded in the here and now. It is said, when Ganesh appears we stop wanting to be somewhere else. When this happens we actually show up, fully, to who and where we are in this moment.

One description of enlightenment is exactly that – the moment we stop wanting to be somewhere or someone else. We realize that we are in the right body at the right time, with the right people, on the right planet. We wake up to things as they are, as well as learn to hold a vision about where we are going. From this vantage point we get to work intelligently with the obstacles in the way. Holding this paradox is exactly what yoga is about.

There is an ancient teaching from the Hatha Yoga Pradipika that talks about a link between our mind and our life energy, called Prana (or chi, dao and many other references to describe this life-force in different cultures). The relationship between these two vital forces, although invisible, is one of deep connection. It is often described with the image of two fish swimming in tandem.

The work at hand is to be fully awake to where we are, and to see ourselves and others clearly. We must also cultivate the ability to cast our mind forward, say two years, to get a sense of how we want to feel in a relationship, at our job, or any other place in our life. Our life energy focuses and reorganizes around this possibility, eventually manifesting it into being. At the same time, the honest view of where we are, at the moment, and what might stand in the way, helps us to deal wisely with the obstacles.

On the yoga mat, investigating this link can take a very tangible form. We can focus our mind on the simple reality of sensations in the body while we are moving through the asanas. Instead of practicing to achieve some perfect idea of our body or the pose, we connect with the wholeness of who we are in that moment and simply accept. In that liberating instance of just being with what is, it is possible to perceive everything as sacred. Usually, once we leave the mat after one of those experiences of wholeness we feel supremely, and maybe even sublimely, okay with the way we are, including the fact that there is room for improvement. In essence, our body becomes an ally in the quest for full realization instead of an obstacle to overcome. This is good news!

How do you value yourself?

How different my worlds are now – a good thing for gaining perspective. Santa Fe, my primary home, filled with space and light, and Europe, where I am at the moment, coated in blankets of fog and permeated by the rich smell of water and fallen leaves. It teaches me not to take everything quite so seriously. It reminds me that nothing is permanent, to keep welcoming and making changes, and to allow life to flow through me.

What is foremost on my mind these days is the question of value. How do we value ourselves? How does that value translate to others? What are we willing to do in order to feel valued? How much is my input, versus the rewards I get back?

I guess for me, being almost 50, these are legitimate questions. The times where I had unlimited energy and would just charge ahead, are truly over. At this point, investments versus outcome have to be balanced. For example, it’s clear to me that my primary reward – and that continues to be way more important to me than the monetary return, has to do with actually making a difference in people’s lives. I have worked very hard for a very long time to have the insights I do – and it’s important for me to share them. It’s important that they be received. For this reception, a certain framework has to be laid.

I am keenly aware, these days, between the different types of attention in a public class where people come mostly expecting a good workout, and say, a workshop, where students are more inclined to be open and go on a journey.

Under the right circumstances, I can take people on such a journey of transformation and it is increasingly important to me to set those parameters in a way that allows this to happen.

I have earned my livelihood from public classes for 20 years and in some ways it is truly scary to contemplate to let that format of my teaching go. Yet it is clear that this particular format no longer serves my primary objective – which is to help students remember who they really are and what matters most in their lives.

News from the Wild West

Dear Community,

It’s been a wild and nonstop ride since my tour through Europe and my recent move to Santa Fe, New Mexico. But here we are, Joshua and I, slowly getting settled in.

A friend of mine mentioned a parable when both Joshua and I were a bit overwhelmed: “Do you know how the monkey eats the elephant? One bite at a time.” As usual, I got my metaphors mixed up and said to my husband: “Let’s just deal with one elephant at a time.” And that pretty much sums it up.

Life is harsher out here compared to the Bay Area, but also more beautiful and real, and that matters to me at this point in my life. I can’t keep talking about sustainability without actually walking my talk. So here it goes!

There was a rattlesnake on the porch the other day, there are water issues because of the dryness, and I have to keep an eye on the dog at all time so she (or I for that matter) doesn’t end up as a snack to a large predator. I talk to all the beings on the land when I walk by, but also carry a large handmade knife Joshua gave me for my birthday! For me, it is a deep inquiry away from the hustle and bustle, to find out what really matters to me, what fulfills me and what happiness actually looks like, to me.

I love Santa Fe and when I am in town, I get the sense of deep roots and a long history of peoples living in harmony with the land. I am loving the seasons again, the fact that there is a hot summer followed by fall and winter, bringing such rich diversity and perspective to life. I love practicing in the heat, as it feels as though I can go deeper into my practice. The insights come as I move my body according to the breath and nature.

Yesterday I realized that I am removed from all the teachers I have ever had: my time with Anusara and John Friend has come to an end, and I am also very far away now from my primary teacher, Jack Kornfield. And I realized that I no longer require my teachers to be close by at this time. I have been showered with teachings and blessings for the last 3 decades, I have all the tools I need and now is the time to just let it all sink in as I do my practices in solitude. For the time being, I am no longer a seeker but instead have been found!

Tahira, a gifted visionary from Germany, predicted that I will pick up some purely feminine wisdom during my time here. And I realized, with surprise, that I haven’t had a female teacher for a very long time. It’s time.

I will start teaching two classes at Spandarama Yoga in Santa Fe in the beginning of August. I received an incredibly warm and generous welcoming by the community here and I am just so grateful for that. One of those classes will be recorded and offered on my website, so that anyone who so desires can listen in. There will be a donation system set up – similarly to the Dharma offerings at Spirit Rock for folks who wish to contribute. It’s all a big adventure, but as my wise husband said: “It was time to shake it up!”

My teacher training, starting in the fall in San Francisco, is already full. But there is a waiting list as people may still be drop out before it starts. You can contact aud@yogakula.com if you are interested in participating.

In October and November, I will be once again in Europe for workshops and classes – mostly in Zurich and Amsterdam. I will keep you posted as we get closer.

May you all be blessed with the time to inquire what really matters for you in this lifetime.

Wishing you a beautiful summer,

Katchie Ananda