Dealing with a Poisonous Situation

There are 3 ways of dealing with a poisonous situation when it occurs. All three are valuable in varying degrees of skill and elegance.

Say you find a tree with poisonous fruit in your back yard. What will you do?

• You can cut the tree down and be assured that nobody will die as a result of eating the fruit
• You can put a fence around the tree and put up a warning sign
• You respect and utilize the tree and fruit and make a medicinal potion that cures certain illnesses

The first strategy can be appropriate when we try to let go of an unwanted addiction or behavior. To cut it down and conquer it may be a necessary step on our evolving path to living wisely.

It is also how cancer and other illnesses are frequently treated, especially if they defy our understanding. We simply try to eradicate them out of existence. While this approach may work sometimes, it often does not.

In some ways, it is a rather blunt way to dealing with the problem.

Also, the problem may persist, meaning that out of the seeds of that tree, a new poisonous tree might grow.

The second level is considered more refined and more compassionate. Instead of killing the problem, we acknowledge the danger, and will warn anyone approaching the tree that there is danger - including to remind ourselves. We approach with respect, what we do not understand.

The third way is the way of the shaman or the yogi. Not only do we respect the poisonous tree and seek to understand it, but furthermore we will be able to transform the poison into medicine.

It takes a courageous heart to transform the poison - thus the need for spiritual practices.

I encourage you to look at your experiences - what would you need, to move towards the yogi's way?

Living in the wild

As a child, I wanted to be an American Indian child, because of Karl May and his novels on Winnetou, a series of books written about the Wild West that were insanely popular when I grew up. Those books, although written by an author who had never left Germany and literally created all the stories out of imagination, created a deeply compassionate and interesting portrait about American Indian Values. Peoples in the German speaking world actually knew about the genocide that happened in America, long before the United States admitted to it.

Now we are moving to the Wild West. Literally. Both Joshua and I are drawn to this life-style that involves living in wild, spacious territory, with horses and dogs. I can’t help but thinking that I trained for this life very early on. I spent most of my childhood, after recovering finally from my illness that plagued me the first 7 years of my life, outside, in trees, stalking, observing, hunting, playing. I was obsessed with knifes, wanted a tomahawk for my 9th birthday and drove my mother crazy with elaborate but rickety chair/table constructions that I used as a pretend horse.

I can’t help but thinking that this was all in preparation for the life I’m yet to lead. For the first time I’m having dreams that are outside of yoga – or perhaps they are the culmination of my practices so far. I’m dreaming about a life that is simpler, more sane, more in rhythm with nature. That involves horses and dogs. But mostly a life that is based on sanity.

Bad habits

I believe that most of our bad habits begin in the mind. This is how we limit ourselves and stop ourselves from reaching our full potential. Like the bear that was left out of it’s cage after 20 years, but it couldn’t even appreciate its freedom but could only do the exact 20 paces it had done inside the cage for so long. This is how our mind limits itself.

Just to imagine that we had a mind so free, that it actually became our friend and ally in order to reach our potential. The training we do in yoga is really ultimately not for the body, but its for the mind. To free the mind from the limitation it has created.

What exactly is a bad habit? I don’t think, drinking, smoking consuming sugar or coffee are necessarily a bad habit. Some of us do quite well on a cup of coffee, a yummy desert can be very good for your soul, a smoke can be sacred experience as the American Indians have practiced for centuries. A glass of red wine can even lower your blood pressure and is good for your heart.

So what exactly is a bad habit anyway? It’s something that we do but feel insanely guilty about. It throws the mind into a loop of shame, guilt and then the compulsion of doing it all over again. That is when a bad habit becomes bad and limiting for your entire organism. It’s when we think we can no longer be happy without the substance of choice, that it becomes a problem and it is time to intervene. We should be exited when we find such a loop in the mind! Because it’s a great opportunity to practice and find the vast unlimited potential of our mind. Everytime we manage to adjust a bad habit and replace it with something that we feel good about, (or adjust our attitude about it) it shows us a way of being free.

Fast-track englightenment is dangerous

This article appeared on the San Francisco Chronicle website in 2009.

I have been following the story of the Arizona sweat-lodge deaths with shock. As part of a Spiritual Warrior retreat, for which participants paid $9,000 apiece, three people died and 19 people ended up in the hospital.

The victims were part of a group of about 60 people who – after nearly two days in the desert with little food or water – spent more than two hours crowded in a sauna-like sweat lodge that was covered not with breathable blankets but with plastic tarps.

I am upset and saddened by this tragedy and I have been wondering how it could have happened. As a teacher focused on spiritual as well as physical development myself, I believe this is a wake-up call.

In many ways, Arizona is a vivid example of what has gone wrong in the spiritual movement in recent years.

It would be easy to dismiss James Arthur Ray as a cult leader who got out of hand, but it is not that simple. I don’t think James Ray is crazy or evil, but I do think he is a deluded human being. This retreat was about creating abundance and a more fulfilled life through pushing one’s boundaries. In his eagerness to reach this goal, Ray was willing to overlook the well-being of his followers.

As a spiritual seeker, I’m very aware of the “edge,” the place where we push ourselves past our comfort zone, to let go of old patterns and explore a bigger potential. In a culture that is focused on comfort, that’s often an important exercise. But how far should we push ourselves or encourage our students to push?

As a young yoga student, I more than once let an over-eager yoga teacher push me in a yoga pose past my limits – and I got injured. I so wanted to reach a new level that I discounted my safety in the pursuit of my goals. With time, I learned to take responsibility for my own safety, and now I teach my students to listen to their bodies and respect their limits. Ray’s followers – tragically, perhaps criminally – apparently were not encouraged to do the same.

In most serious spiritual traditions, every teacher has a relationship to a teacher and a community that provides a check on the teacher’s ambition and ego. The practice has developed over many years and can help the practitioner find an inner sense of a balance that allows for growth with integrity. It’s a process that requires time, patience and mindful attention.

Today, spiritual teachings are taken out of context and can become downright dangerous. We are looking for the quick fix, the fast rush – even in our search for enlightenment. Some will use old and powerful teachings in an attempt to get there.

In the Anusara yoga I teach and practice, the principle is to say “yes” to life, to our goals and aspirations and dreams. But coupled with that “yes” is an immediate “no,” expressed by creating boundaries, for the safety of our physical bodies and our psyches. We literally contract our muscles to protect and stabilize the joints and the core. Then out of that “no,” that stability, can come another “yes,” a physical (and perhaps spiritual) expansion, one that is more grounded, more realistic and has been tested by life’s challenges.

It is too late for the people who suffered and died in that sweat lodge. But it’s time for all of us to insist that anyone who presumes to take on the mantle of “spiritual teacher” must honor the importance of “no” – as much as the aspiration of “yes.”

Winter 2008 Newsletter

Dearest Community,

I am writing this message to you from the most beautiful, pristine place, deep in the tropics of Brazil. My first visit here was 20 years ago and, amazingly, some things are still the same. Of course, many things have changed as well.

Going down memory lane has been a sweet experience colored with a tinge of melancholy. I have reconnected with a side of me that I had almost forgotten. Brazil is in my blood and my soul. Easily, I slipped back into the rhythm of this country.

The timing of this trip has been blessed by the order of the cosmos, including my encounter with old friends and dear teachers, Sharon and David from Jivamukti, who just happened to visit for a few days. We spent an afternoon together that never could have been planned in advance. But there we were, in the same place at the same time. Go figure!

Being in a place that is both familiar, but also, strange to the life I now live in the Bay Area has taught me much, particularly through interactions with the people, the animals and the land. Most strikingly and consistently, I have been faced with the pairs of opposites that the universe constantly presents to us, in order that we may glean whatever lessons we can !om these moments of precious time.

I would like to share with you some highlights from this trip:

I spent one week in Canoa Quebrada, a little village on the beach near Fortaleza. In Canoa Quebrada, a timeless and stark place of the north, the warm wind rules and the sand is as white as the snow in Switzerland. At a certain time of day, the surrounds are bathed in the warmest of golden hues and, generally, the colors all around are so deep and beautiful, it almost hurts!

The warm sea stretches endlessly, with bright turquoise waves that meld into dark grey. At a point in the distance, it seems as though the sea merges into the stunning blue of the sky.

Most everyone who lives here ends up walking a few miles a day just to get back and forth. You really can’t go anywhere in a hurry this way. Time is measured by the rustling of the palm trees instead of by the clock.

There is an interesting greeting custom here, initially amusing but perfectly sensible. In Switzerland, the customary greeting is three kisses on the cheek. In the States, it is a hug. But here, you literally take a sniff of the person you are meeting! The people who live here say hello and then proceed to take a little sniff off the side of your neck. It is hilarious, but also makes perfect sense, as you can verify with your nose how a person is really doing.

The opposites are alive and well here. On a drive from Fortaleza my friend Maciria and I saw five men, completely inebriated, swaggering along the side of the road, occasionally stumbling into it — a road upon which Maciria drove a staggering 160 kilometers an hour. Evidently, driving at a reasonable speed is not the custom in this part of Brazil.

Along these same roads, I saw donkeys behaving more like dogs, foraging through garbage and crossing the road whenever they felt inclined to do so.

I met Antoine, a retired fashion photographer from Paris who has been living here for the last 15 years. He shared with me the following joke based in Ceara, a poor state in the north of Brazil:

An old couple came into a restaurant and sat down. The waiter came over and asked the man what they wanted and the man ordered a cold guarana antartica (a popular and common drink in Brazil). Then he asked the waiter to bring another cup, claiming that he shares everything with his wife. So the waiter did. A moment later, the man ordered a sandwich and again asked for an extra plate because he shares everything with his wife. Then he began to eat. Soon he finished and the waiter noticed that the wife had not touched a thing, so he went over to comment to the man. But before he got very far, the wife showed her toothless grin and said, “Please, everything is okay, I’m just waiting for him to finish so he can give me the dentures!”

There are a few “nightclubs” in town. They are right next to each other and at night there appears to be a competition to see which venue can play the loudest music.

There is a reggae club, a lambada club, and, to my astonishment, there is a Swiss club, whatever that means!

Remarkably, there is no cover charge and there is no pressure to drink. Dancing and having a good time are the focus of these places and the people who are their patrons. This scene is an example of the thriving local culture, the people who participate in it, and how they actively work to keep things as they are. Apparently, a few years ago a foreigner had the audacity to open an expensive nightclub with a cover charge. He closed six months later because EVERYONE boycotted him. I laughed when I heard this story – in some ways the power of the people is strong in Brazil.

While spending time in this village, pretty much outside of the “real world,” there was much less need for structure. Everything flowed in a natural way, eliminating the tendency to create an imposing framework to manage the time.

There is a continuous harmony in Canoa Quebrada that everyone taps into pretty quickly. People move according to the water, the moon, the wind and the sun. Even the restaurants are affected by this natural order. They open their doors in accordance with the ebb and flow of the tides. Being held in this universal harmony creates peace in the system. The need or inclination to control, which most of us know so well, dissipates.

Rio de Janeiro and Petropolis
Petropolis is a little city up in the mountains and serves as a popular weekend escape for the cariocas, Rio’s locals.
On the way out of Rio we came across miles and miles of favelas. The stench emanating from these slums was unbearable. Throughout this journey, however, I intentionally chose to witness the misery, keeping awareness that the human mind tends to tune out pretty quickly when confronted with that much discomfort.

In Petropolis, I was introduced to a community-based educational facility for children and adolescents from the slums. Being careful not to affiliate with any political groups, which would mean closure as soon as the next party takes over, they have been successfully operating for three years. Although Fundacao Educandario Princesa Isabel do Juizado da Infancia e da Juventude da Comarca de Petropolis is a well-funded project, the dedicated coordinators are overworked. I was able to contribute to the community by teaching a yoga class for the staff and a couple of the children.

In addition to the usual magic that happens in leading a group through yoga practice, including the gift of immense gratitude that I receive in return, I discovered that, indeed, I could teach a class in Portuguese!

Apparently, I hit the nerve while talking about the potential burnout of social workers and change makers. This is exactly where these dedicated souls were at that very moment. Introducing a method of self-care vis-à-vis a spiritual practice made a lot of sense to them. Jorge, the leader of this foundation and his cousin Flavio, a student in San Francisco, said that nobody who he had encountered taught yoga as a simple and spiritual practice. Yoga seems to be perceived as a pastime for the Brazilian elite, similar to what is happening in the States. There was great satisfaction for me to provide a practice that showed these people the simplicity and profundity of opening one’s heart through yoga, in all of its accessibility.

Paraty and Sao Paulo – Hometown of Mauricio’s family
Another excursion brought us to Trinidade, a hippie village resting on some of the most extraordinary beaches I have ever seen, including a pristine shoreline with lagoons nestled against the remaining seven percent of coastal rainforest. One adventure took us to a natural pool with enormous stones, seemingly cast randomly by a playful giant.

To reach this wonderland, we trekked through treacherous rainforest paths before finally arriving at our Edenesque destination. The water was crystal clear, revealing an abundance of sea creatures. Several hours were spent snorkeling and exploring, watching sea stars and turtles swim below me in the beautiful waters. It was truly exceptional.

Next stop was Sao Paulo. There, I led a workshop for a group of wonderful people, speaking in Portuguese the entire time!

On the last day, Francesca, a student and friend from San Francisco and I were invited to dinner by Fabio. Fabio happened to be a friend and partner of Rogerio Fasano, restaurateur, hotel owner and, perhaps, the wealthiest man in Brazil. Had I known we were going to be regally wined and dined, I would have dressed accordingly! Again, the paradox caught up with us – from the poorest to the wealthiest in an instant!

This is what yoga is all about – living the paradox.

I have so much gratitude for having had the opportunity to connect with this part of the world again and to be able to bring yoga to all kinds of Brazilians, the wealthy, the poor and everyone in between. This is the work that needs to be done, regardless of class, gender, race, or economic status. I am also grateful for the remembrance that I thrive in teaching yoga to the peoples of the world.

Fall 2008 Newsletter - Grist for the Mill

Grist for the Mill

According to the Buddha, we can evaluate the quality of a society by observing the way in which its most vulnerable citizens are treated. If this is indeed an accurate determinant of our society’s well being, we are in trouble! So, how exactly do we treat those who are most vulnerable? Say — women, the elderly, children and those who have made mistakes and are serving time in prisons? How is it that most yoga practitioners in this country are women, yet the most successful, renowned yoga icons are mostly men? How about all the unpaid work that women do raising children and keeping house? And how are our children doing? Children in middle class and poor families are getting less and less of a chance at having a decent education these days. Children whose parents are forced to hold down three jobs in order to make ends meet (a fact that President Bush seemed quite proud of in one of his speeches), are suffering from inadequate care at home. Other vulnerable populations in our society include: the elderly, who are conveniently tucked away in old-folks’ homes; and today’s enormous prisoner population – who, once released, end up all too often back in prison. In part, this is due to the lack of opportunities for rehabilitation that would enable them to lead a normal life.

Perhaps looking at how we deal with our personal vulnerability and weaknesses can shed light on how our society got itself into such a mess. Mainstream society teaches us to hide our weaknesses and our vulnerability. Consequently, we have learned to spend our time and energy hiding, fighting or fixing these aspects of ourselves. When faced with our personal weaknesses, we find that, as in society, we are unprepared to manage what we have inside of us. We judge and treat our vulnerability viciously.

The Dalai Lama noticed this trend when he first began teaching how to cultivate loving kindness in the West. A practice that traditionally begins with feeling loving kindness for ourselves first, His Holiness was shocked by how many of us Westerners are judgmental and loathsome of ourselves.

Thankfully, there is a remedy to this! Yoga and related practices promote a different approach to managing these universally shared aspects of being human. Through Yoga, we can realize that our weaknesses are in fact a means to a deeper connection to ourselves and also to each other. Once we find ourselves walking on this path, we learn to recognize our vulnerability and weaknesses as grist for the mill. I propose embarking upon an exploration of the tendency to deal with ourselves so harshly. We begin by asking questions of ourselves, and answering them honestly. What is our habitual way of dealing with our weaknesses? Is our main strategy to hide them? Fight them? Fix them?

In our yoga or meditation practice, we can start to pay attention to what happens when we encounter our weaknesses. When we sit the body down in meditation, or start to mindfully breath into our body while moving, those weaknesses will show themselves quite quickly. Instantaneously, the body will respond based on how we have conditioned ourselves to hide, fight or fix.

Instead of expending so much of our energy in this way, we could just make space for their presence. In doing so, what becomes apparent is that in each weakness is also a hidden gem, waiting to be uncovered.

As an example, I would like to use myself. When I was younger, I was somewhat of an arrogant yoga teacher. Coming from a background in dance, the advanced yoga poses came relatively easy to me and because of this, I had little compassion for stiff and slow students.

Later, I suffered a number of injuries. Initially I viewed these as a bother and an obstacle to “true yoga,” a weakness of which I was ashamed. Finally, I accepted them, and listened to the message these injuries were bringing to me. The hidden gem was revealed: Humility, compassion and a deep connection with all those who suffer.

I also became somewhat of an expert in all kinds of physical injuries, since I had journeyed through most myself. Often our weaknesses are blessings in disguise, ideally leading us to tenderness, wisdom and compassion.

Another insight into this occurred for me many years ago during a weeklong activist camp with Julia Butterfly Hill. She gave a talk. As she came to a particular place in her story, she started to cry.

I immediately felt uncomfortable. There she was, exposing her vulnerability in public. I expected her to be embarrassed, maybe even pull away or stop talking. None of this happened — in fact, quite the opposite. Her message became clearer and stronger. She remarked that she always had to cry when coming to this point in her story, leaving me with the impression that this was a powerful person with a message who was unafraid to share everything, including her tears, to communicate that she really CARED!

This experience changed me. I realized that caring, which often causes our emotional vulnerability to arise, is a form of strength and not weakness. I also learned that when we reveal our caring, vulnerable selves to each other, we fuel our message. Imagine that as a society, we translated our vulnerability and weaknesses as strength and power, and used these new definitions to protect what is good, and, to step up, making even more good in our lives and therefore in our communities.

In the upcoming immersion that I will co-teach with my dear friend, Madhuri Martin, at Yoga Kula in Berkeley, it is my intention to create a safe environment in which my students can explore these very things. It is such a delight to watch people transform vis-à-vis access to the ancient teachings of Yoga and the Dharma, in tandem with receiving the loving support of a community that is learning together to use the incredible tools offered by the Yogic tradition.

I am excited to co-facilitate and witness another powerful group get in touch with who they really want to be! If you are interested in joining, please read the information below. There is one non-negotiable requirement — that is, I am asking for each individual’s full commitment!

Summer 2008 Newsletter

Dear Sangha,

I hope you are all well and happy. The conscious cultivation of happiness is perhaps the most radical practice that we can do in such a troubled world. I am engaged in just that, as I have recently moved into a beautiful house located in a sweet neighborhood in Berkeley. For the first time in many years I am living in a neighborhood where I can bike everywhere and go for a stroll whenever I have the desire. What a pleasure it is to not have to drive — to decrease my carbon footprint on this earth. Not to mention, the welcomed absence of nightly gunshots we heard from inside our previous home in West Oakland, some of which were literally outside our door, and, the occasional driver who tried to run me over when I went outside! I don’t think I have slept so well since I left Switzerland at the age of 20.

I don’t know why it took me so long to move out of West Oakland. Perhaps it was some underlying guilt about the privileges I enjoy, along with the belief that, “I can get by and make anything work,” which my beloved friend Julia Butterfly pointed out to me.

So lately, the theme appearing in my classes has been recognizing where in our lives we hold ourselves back, where we keep from moving into something greater which we have created for ourselves, and, how when we do allow ourselves to exist in our fullest form at any moment, we expand into a new level of being, and, finally, how to maintain this new space. It is so easy to come up with reasons for why we don’t deserve something we have achieved, even when it is a goal for which we have been striving for ages. As a result, we may sabotage good things that happen to us!

Yoga gives us the tools to shed light on these unconscious patterns, in which we all engage, and offers to us a way of breaking these habits. Yoga is like the proverbial wrench thrown into the wheel of Samsara, translated as the never-ending cycle of suffering. I am learning to enjoy the benefits of my own hard work, welcoming success into my life instead of shying away from it. However, I do not forget another facet of the practice that is so vital to my every day life – the social, or spiritual activism that yoga inspires within me.

When I reflect on my life, I see that engaging with my community in the form of volunteering has been a constant for me. For example, when I was living on the outskirts of the Morro de Santa Marta Favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, I was deeply involved with the people and the environment around me. Daisy, the woman who lived downstairs from us, often cared for kids from the slum while their mom or dad went to work. We cooked for, and fed those children.

Today, I continue to acknowledge and serve the varied communities around me. While Berkeley is a beautiful haven supporting and nourishing me tremendously, in the surrounding environs, there is much work to be done. This commitment to living with my eyes wide open to my community has led me to the most inspiring Karma Yoga practice at San Quentin Prison. Besides having a green card, which means I’m a “legal alien” of the United States, I am now also the proud carrier of a brown card, which gives me access to San Quentin without supervision! Every other week I teach yoga to Trust participants — 15 to 20 men in San Quentin serving life sentences — to help them with physical discomfort, health issues and, of course, to offer spiritual counsel.

My incredibly talented friend and filmmaker, Tamara Perkins, is shooting a documentary about the Trust, a program at San Quentin that focuses on rehabilitation and re-integration of the men in prison. The trailer is quite moving. Please take the opportunity to see the group of men (outside, I call them affectionately “my guys”) to whom I have been teaching yoga:

http://www.trustcommunity.org/TrustCommunity/trailer.html.

May you be well and full of happiness, and may you find the fulfillment you deserve, Katchie Ananda

Winter 2007 Newsletter - The Ancient Link Between Prana and Citta

The Ancient Link Between Prana and Citta

I have just recently returned from a month in Europe, teaching workshops in Amsterdam and Zürich as well as visiting family and friends and doing some skiing in the Alps. Truth be told, I almost didn’t want to come home! But here I am and delighted to be back.

While it was a hard decision to let go of Yoga Sangha, I love the freedom that has come from it. Yoga Sangha was my main project for the last 4 years, and allowing it to transition into the capable hands of Sarasawati Clere and Yoga Kula was really the most joyful and strategic decision I could make at this time in my life and career.

While I treasure the experience of running a business enormously, having learned so much in the process, I have also learned, thanks to guidance of some dear wise friends, that to maximize my impact in the world, I should focus on “doing only that which only I can do.” I constantly had to balance the ease and joy of being a yoga and spiritual teacher, with the challenges of running a studio.

Saraswati is one of the most gifted studio owners around, so it made perfect sense to turn the studio over to her, freeing me to do “that which only I can do,” to be a yoga teacher, a spiritual guide, an activist and sangha builder.

Moving out of the role of studio owner has led me right back into the dreamy, sweet space of the yogini that I am. Now, I’m catching elusive threads of complex yoga philosophy and finding new ways to share it with my students, instead of my old life which was filled with finding subs for sick yoga teachers and administrative tasks!

As I am starting this brand new chapter, I’m finding life to be uncertain and exhilarating all at the same time. Actually, we are always at the threshold of the new, having to let go of the old.

I am spending my time making vision boards (visual collage of goals and intentions), doing increased Metta practices (loving kindness) and exploring purpose, picturing on how I would like to feel and “be” going into the future. I am sinking into the state of pure feeling and “being.”.In Yoga philosophy we would refer to this as the state of Prana, or life energy, where we get to simply be, breathe and observe sensations that allow us to immediately get in touch with Prana.

Especially in our world, it is a relief to leave the world of Citta or Mind and enter into a simple state of being. Lucky are those who discover how to approach life through Prana rather then just Citta.

The link between Citta and Prana has been documented well. For example in scriptures such as the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, it is said that Citta and Prana swim together like two fish in complete harmony. Where one goes, the other follows.

Most of us here in the Western Hemisphere try to understand, control and manipulate our mind in order to reach freedom and happiness. While that strategy can sometimes produce results, generally this approach is slow and tedious. The mind can only understand itself through its past patterns, concepts and understandings and so it is very limited.

This is true especially if we don’t expose our brain to frequent paradox, challenges and new viewpoints (like reading an intellectual book or talking to someone from a completely different cultural background). By following the same patterns and habits, Citta will get smaller and more narrow, traveling down the same old paths. Buddhists call this narrowing “the small sense of Self”. Because our life energy is linked to Citta, it too will become smaller and smaller.

As yogi(ni)s, we soon discover this phenomena and we do our best to explore the possibility of reversing and expanding our approach. If we can do our practice in a non-competitive, non-judging and non-aggressive way (all Citta related concepts), we discover Prana and learn to follow it. The magic happens in the process of following Prana through its winding path; Citta can’t help but be transformed and opened and thus returns to it’s empty, spacious state, also called “the original mind.”

Prana doesn’t discern between pleasant and unpleasant sensations or experience, because all becomes grist for the mill. Prana does not judge. It simply leads us where it must, to energetic or physical blockages as well as to places of strength and talent. Prana has its own direct and powerful intelligence and when we learn to follow its flow, we will encounter both the dark and the bright in us. It allows us to address life’s problems from a new and fresh perspective.

One of the strengths of a Yoga practice lies in its ability to literally reverse how we see the world. We do it in down dog or headstand – any time we turn ourselves upside down. But the true magic comes from following Prana rather then the all-consuming Citta, which is exactly what happens when we practice yoga, contemplate art, surrender to dancing and chanting or travel in a different culture.

Even just a few moments of sinking into Prana each day, letting ourselves breathe, observe sensations, feelings and thoughts will turn Prana into the leader and help expand the mind. An extra benefit from practicing in this way comes by recognizing that Prana intuitively knows things that Citta doesn’t.

For example, Prana will guide my hands to someone’s injured body part during a yoga class even though my mind didn’t know about the injury. Prana will create those special, synchronized moments where the person you just thought about suddenly calls. Prana will lead you to the right place at the right time to the right person.

What is your way of finding Prana? My invitation this winter is to take some time to reflect on the activities that allow us to cultivate Prana and then make a commitment to practice them often.