PAUSE

25/04/2019

A Walk in the Shadow, A Walk in the Dark

Come Walk with Me
Step into the Shadow, step into the Dark.
What lies before our eyes is darkness.
In the darkness our steps weighs heavy and tread lightly.
In the darkness our hands move awkwardly to feel what lies ahead.
In the darkness we will trip and fall and will be hurt.
In the darkness a steady step, a light sweep of the hand in front, we move as a more Unified Whole.

Come Walk with Me
In the darkness, the eyes catches the light from the Moon and begin to notice the familiar silhouette in the background.
In the darkness, what lies before us as the unknown becomes ‘Known’.
In the darkness, the Known becomes our Wisdom and Guide.

We Practice in our Darkness to find our Light. We can ONLY Walk into the Light from Darkness.
To Practice ONLY in the Light is to cast our unconscious Shadow.

Between the Two, wherein lies Our Practice?? 🙏🏼

24/02/2019

Moments

Life is nothing more than that constant thread of Moments unfolding onto Moments.
Some are Big Moments (Birth, Marriage)
Some are Significant Moments (Graduation, Promotion)
Some are Insignificant Moments (a bus ride home from school, a drink with friends)
At the end of the Journey, when the Body Rest, when the Mind Recalls, when the Heart Yearns...
What arises are the Insignificant Moments that stirs the Heart the most.
A word of thanks for the ride back home
A reminder to eat more as I seemed to have lost weight
If there is ONLY ONE MOMENT, how will you Practice
If there is ONLY ONE MOMENT, how will you Live Your Life.

Ah Por...一路好走。🙏🏼

19/01/2019

“It’s OK to let your phone DIE” - AQ

Take a moment to take in the ‘sound’ of the words...let the sound of the words sink in and feel the ‘effect’ of the words...
Take a moment to truly feel the ‘weight’ of the words.
Does the sentence above stirs up a feeling of unease? And if so, which part of the physical body ‘feels’ the unease? Does it invoke a sense of loss and dread?

For most of us, we pretty much ‘Live’ via our phone. We ‘interact’ via social media to indicate our likes/dislikes. We ‘transact’ with the world via our online payment platform. We ‘hold’ memories via pictures taken and stored on the phone.
When the phone ‘died’, will a part of us die with it, as we no longer ‘exist’ in virtual sense ?

The above sentence was casually passed as a remark by a new friend and at that moment, it hits me right in the face!!

The theme of ‘Return’ was a constant running thread at the start of 2019. It felt like a call, a return to something yet nothing reasonates that strongly, unlike the start of 2018.
But in that moment, everything gels!! It is a Return to the theme of 2018! To Live with Death...🙏🏼
A theme that got lost in the excitment of the year end festive period and the start of the new year.

Last week deep and intense discussion with Y on afterlife and suffering. The intimate and personal sharing by A on the fear of Death and how this connects to One own’s fulfillment of Dharma.

What got stirred up is my own acknowledgement of this deep subconsicious clinging to ‘exist’ even after One’s own passing. I have this ‘mantra’ with D on addressing her own emotional challenges that any young kids may face. A touch of the right palm over the heart and say ‘It’s OK’. An action/word to acknowledge and address the emotional challenges that she faces and to find within her, the emotional resilence to be at ‘ease’.

May I also find my ‘ease’ when that day come....
“It’s OK to .... DIE” - ED

24/12/2018

‘What is the Meaning of Life?’
Often such questions when posed to students tends to be received with a look of bewilderment!! Such topics seems incomprehensible and more suited for the arena of philosopher and sages

‘What makes Life Meaningful?’
Yet when we change the nuance of the sentence, at once a topic which seems too ‘vast’ suddenly becomes one that is intimately personal.

And what makes Life Meaningful are meaningful moments of intimate and authentic connection.
Such moments are fleeting and it requires one to be mindful and present to fully connnect to the Present Moment.
A moment where we are with our own most intimate thoughts and insight. Moments where we are fully absorbed in the flow of conversations among like-minded friends.
Moments where the day to day life takes on a certain vividness and clarity.

At the end of the day, when we look back at our Life..it may not be one of Wow-Ness,or ever reaching the height of a Crescendo!
But if we have nurtured the space for small pocket of meaningful connections to truly blossom, which by itself is mundane and speaks of no grandiosity, would our Life be any less Meaningful?

‘How we spend our Days, is of course, how we spend our Lives’ - Annie Dillard

DEAR FRIENDS,
It is the time of the year for festive celebration and joyous gathering.
There is alot of BUZZ in the air, where we are rushing to gather (presents) and gather (with friends).
Let us not forget to be present and make honest connections with our dear families and friends. To be fully engaged in the Here and Now! 🙏🏼
Wishing All a Merry Christmas 🌲and a great year ahead!!!

p.s A very pleasant and unexpected guest - M at P.A.U.S.E today. 🙏🏼☺️

23/11/2018

A nice sharing from a friend..🙏🏼

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A student of mine was in Kenya and was fascinated by the behaviour of the Masai warriors – those tall, thin, regal tribes people.

One of the things she noticed is that after running or walking for a distance, the Masai come to a place of rest. They stand in still centeredness in their natural environment for a period of time – seemingly doing nothing.

After observing this behaviour many times she managed to converse with one of the Masai and asked him why they do this. The answer…

“At times we need to stand still to allow our souls to catch-up with us.”

What a beautiful and magnificent lesson for us all in this frenetic, crazy, busy world that we find ourselves in.
Donna McCallum
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09/11/2018

First ‘Impromptu’ Satsang

In the words of a Dear Friend and Practitioner (lets call her L), today’s sharing can be considered P.A.U.S.E first satsang 🙏🏼
Topics of musing range from Moksha to Chaos to Present Moment.

MOKSHA:
What is REAL liberation?
To be liberated FROM, as a means of transcendence (away from our suffering) OR;
To be liberated BY, as a form of acknowledging and ‘owning’ the cause of our suffering.
A big part of the PRACTICE is about accountability and maybe to see our suffering as it is, that itself is a liberation. What we eventually do with the ownership is what the Practice hopes to guide.

CHAOS:
“The second law of thermodynamics says that the entropy of any isolated system always increases. Isolated systems spontaneously evolve towards thermal equilibrium—the state of maximum entropy of the system. ”
By extension of the above, if CHAOS is a natural end state of being (i.e one can never un-break a dropped egg), then are we all unnecessarily carrying the burden of ORDER? In the words of “L”, to have FAITH in the ‘orderly chaos’ and go with the flow, to see the unfolding without the burden.

PRESENT MOMENT:
The ‘tangibility’ of the PRESENT MOMENT. For those of us who have a seated Practice, I would like to think it is fair to say that moment of pure awareness ‘anchored’ in the Present Moment are fleeting. Regardless of the method, be it breath awareness or body scanning or external awareness, all of them serves as a mean for us to ‘anchor’.
Without a reference point (such as an ‘anchor’), how would we know we have drifted?
In the practice of yoga asana, “L” shared about the complexity of asana as a means of ‘anchor’ in the PRESENT MOMENT.
But does this mean that we are replacing the fishing line hook embedded in the ocean floor of our sea of thoughts with a 1-ton iron ball just for the sake to be PRESENT?
Would the practice be any less fruitful to know we have ‘drifted’ countless time in Tadasana as compared to the ‘anchoring’ that Urdhva Dhanurasana require from us?

The above are just simply musing/contemplation from today’s nourishing discussion and are by no means ABSOLUTE.
As with all such sharing and discussion, Happy to be wrong and Sad to be right.

To All Friends, have a good weekend ahead. ☺️

30/10/2018

HOLDING SPACE....Intent and Purpose

P.A.U.S.E class schedule for ‘Holding Space’ is an invitation to practitioners and non-practitioners (office folks) to use the studio for their own nourishment. The use of the studio (mats/props/amenities) is free and is open during the timing per class schedule.

The idea for Holding Space get its inspiration from the Mysore practice where there isn’t a set timing for the beginning of the Practice. The Practice begins when the practitioner arrived on the mat...with the first mantra/first breath/first surya namaskar.

The intent of Holding Space arises out of the fundamental question of ‘What Nourishes Us’.

We are the manifestation of the Physical, the Energetic, the Emotional and the Intellect and hence nourishment encompasses not solely on one aspect of Ourselves. And the hope is that with Holding Space, each one of us begins to take ownership of our own self-nourishment. 🙏🏼

Physical:
- A mat for a Practice or to rest the weary body

Energetic:
- A Pranayama/Meditation practice to calm the mind

Emotional/Intellectual:
- A book to engage the mind and nourish the soul. (P.A.U.S.E provide books for free borrowing)
- A piece of paper and pen to journal our inner most thoughts, at our quietest moment. (P.A.U.S.E provide pen and paper for journaling)

One note of caution is to be mindful that each of us have different needs. One needs to look deep within oneself to know what truly nourishes us and other people’s way of nourishment may not be the right one for us.
Holding Space, Respecting Space

25/10/2018

“Life wasn’t about avoiding Suffering”.
To have truely lived and loved and to carry the burden. Would we want it any other way?
What is a Life worth Living? How often have we found ourselves ‘living’ but in reality dying moment by moment.
Instead of being nourished by LIFE and its offering, we become depleted by trying to have a Life.

24/10/2018

Dear Friends,

Class schedule updated with Noon time "Holding Space" for Tue and Thurs.

23/10/2018