Kathy O'Rourke Tapestry Yoga

08/11/2023

Maybe the best summary, ever. I totally believe strength training is key to a yoga practice..

05/31/2023

Are you an AGT fan? This is just beautiful.

The choir from South Africa was so inspired by Nightbirde's story, and her song "It's Ok" that they chose to cover it. The beautiful tribute left everyone em...

04/22/2023

01/17/2023

Great summary of Prana.

01/15/2023

Best summary of spiritual history, ever.

REMEMBERING SWAMI VIVEKANANDA
Swami Vivekananda brought Yoga, Vedanta and Hinduism to the world, as part of a global spiritual transformation from outer religious beliefs to inner spiritual practices, allowing each individual to discover the highest truth within his or her own nature. Swami Vivekananda has been one of my greatest inspirations and I have carefully read all of his collected works.
To understand the monumental impact of Swami Vivekananda, we must first remember the world situation during his time.
The late 19th century was the height of the colonial era. Extensive regions of the world, including India, were under an oppressive foreign rule.
Swami Vivekananda stepped out into a colonially dominated world where a Hindu point of view was afforded no credibility. The United States was a colonial power and American Christian missionaries were active in India. He had to face hostility wherever he went in the West.
Yet this young Hindu sadhu changed the civilizational narrative and brought a new yogic vision into the world. This Vivekananda did by the power of his character, the grace of his guru Paramahansa Ramakrishna, and his inner Self-realization.
He shared Vedic and Hindu Dharma through its Yoga and Vedanta teachings with a new receptive audience worldwide.

FROM RELIGIOUS BELIEF TO INDIVIDUAL SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE
Swami Vivekananda rejected mere religious beliefs and taught an experiential spirituality to experience the Divine within. He shared the spiritual wealth of India of the paths of yoga, pranayama, mantra, meditation and samadhi, to a world hungry for a deeper knowledge.
Since Vivekananda this movement of experiential spirituality has expanded in many directions and has influenced science, art and medicine, as Swamiji foresaw.

FROM GOD TO SELF-REALIZATION
Swamiji emphasized the Vedantic view that the goal of life is Self-realization, which means realizing that in our core essence that we are one with the Self of all beings. This idea of Self or Atman is very different than the missionary idea of a God who saves us from on high. For this we must know ourselves, which requires that we look and live within. Experiential spirituality aims at Self-realization more than any faith, theology, or idea of God. If God is apart from ourselves, such a God cannot help us. If God or the Divine is our true Self, it is inner meditation that we need.

A NEW COSMIC VISION
The turn of the twentieth century marked a major shift in scientific vision through the work of Albert Einstein, who taught the relativity of time and space and shared a new vision of the unbounded universe. Swamiji similarly recast religion and spirituality as an inner science of consciousness for understanding the universe as a whole.
That one young sadhu could accomplish so much in a short time remains an inspiration for everyone today. Science has created a powerful new information technology but has yet to unfold the deeper science of consciousness that has been suggested from Einstein to Quantum Physics.
The vision of Swami Vivekananda can guide us to another transformation in civilization from outer technology to an age of higher awareness.

08/22/2022

I am coming to believe this more and more.

In India, Four Laws of Spirituality are taught:

The first law says:

“The person who arrives is the right person.”

No one comes to our life by chance, all the people who surround us, who interact with us, who we encounter, are there for a reason.

The second law says:

“What happens is exactly what’s supposed to happen.”

Nothing, absolutely nothing that happens in our lives could have happened in any other way. Not even the most insignificant detail.

There is no: “If I had done such a thing… this other thing would have happened…“ No. What happened was exactly what’s supposed to happen, and it had to be that way so we could learn the necessary lessons and move forward.

The third law says:

“Any time you start, is the right time.”

It all starts at the right time, not before, not after. When we are ready for something new to begin in our lives, it begins.

And the fourth and last law says:

“When something ends, it ends.”

Just like that. If something ended in our lives, it was for our own good, so it’s better to leave it there and move on, already enriched with that experience.

I think it’s not a coincidence that you are reading this, if this text reaches your life today; It is because you are prepared to understand that no snowflake ever falls into the wrong place!

~ Ishwar C. Puri

https://ishanews.org/media/transcripts/eng/four_principles_of_indian_spirituality.pdf

image | Omkar Chitnis

08/02/2022

This is the truth.

02/02/2022

Begins Tomorrow >> Mark it

Tomorrow begins Magha Navaratri, 9 Days to Invoke The Devi/ The Goddess-(Feb 2-Feb 10)

Navaratri, literally means nine nights to worship, invoke, honor, realize, pray to, awaken the 9 forms of the Goddess Durga and the 10 forms of Wisdom Goddess!

There are four celebrations of Navaratri in a year. Out of these, two celebrations are considered secretive or “gupt”. One of them being Magha Navaratri, which begins tomorrow.

If you feel drawn towards the idea of Goddess, Feminine Energy , Lunar Energy, Shakti, Divine Mother or Prakrti, these nine days/nights is the auspicious and conducive time to amplify your connection to it, to know it more, to seek it within and to awaken it in your practice.

Any practice, ritual, worship, sadhana done in these nine days is kept strictly secret and not shared with anyone. This sadhana is purely personal in nature.

The Shakti is invoked to clear the obstacles, defy enemy (both external and internal), invite auspiciousness , prosperity and victory.

Three ways to invoke the Goddess:

1) Chant/Listen to the Durga Navarna Mantra “Om Aim Hreem Klim Chamundaye Vichche” or Gayatri Mantra

2) Read about/know more about the Devi through a book, lecture, workshop. Highly recommend my dear friend and fellow Devi Upasaka ’s book “Shakti Rising” or one of her online courses

3) Simply contemplate upon/read about the idea of Goddess/ Devi/ Divine Mother from the text “Devi Mahatmayam”, Prakriti in “Samkhya Karika” or Sri from “Yogini Hridaya”

The Study of Devi Mahatmayam- Awaken the Voice of Divine Feminine” is a 3 Day online Training (hosted by ) that begins on Feb 18th. Link in Bio
📸: Para Devi in center, Maha Lakshmi on the left and Maha Saraswati on the Yoga Shri Mala Shri Yantra adorned with my favorite Yoga Shri Mala 📿

09/08/2021

Best summary of studying with Rod Stryker... “To be honest, I have known since I first met him that he has unresolved issues with women that play out in his teaching. I’ve also known for several years that he was exhausting himself with suffering, and that he was unfortunately spreading his suffering around instead of facing and working on it.” Great advice on being established in your own wisdom.

Information is only useful to us if we can access it. That’s true if it’s stored in a book or in our mind. We need a way in, and we benefit from a guide to the place where what we need is stored/resides. Ultimately that guide is our Self, but along the way to that relationship being fully establ...

11/20/2020

Help your eyes and mind relax with these grounding yoga poses.

10/26/2020

Great insight on the current sky.

What is true independence? This is the lesson that Sun in Swati Nakshatra in Libra helps us understand. Moon in Dhanishtha Aquarius also helps us share these...