Blue Osa’s small, open property has an ocean-view yoga room, Moroccan lamps and tile, clever buildings made from blue-painted shipping containers, and a long, languid swimming pool; it seems perfect for groups of couple-friends, or even a wedding party, and we’d happily be part of that group.

Please click here to read the full article…

As each bird flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the bird immediately following. By flying in V formation the whole flock adds at least 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own.

People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going more quickly and easily because they are traveling on the thrust of one another.

When a goose falls out of formation it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go it alone and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird in front. If we have as much sense as a goose, we will stay in formation with those who are headed in the same way we are. When the head goose gets tired it rotates back in the wing and another goose flies the point. It is sensible to take turns doing
demanding jobs with other people or with geese flying South.

Geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.  What do we say when we honk from behind….?

Finally – and this is important – when a goose gets sick or is wounded by gunshots, and falls out of formation, two other geese fall out with that goose and follow it down to lend help and protection. They stay with the fallen goose until it is able to fly or until it dies, and only then do they launch out on their own, or with another formation, to catch up with their group.

If we have the sense of a goose, we will stand by each other like that.

~ Author Unknown

When I turned 35, I decided to make some life changes.  I got back into working out, in different ways.  I bought a bicycle and now ride my bike everywhere in New York City (and Costa Rica.)  I started to jog and dramatically increased the amount of walking I was doing.  While I was in LA I joined Barry’s Bootcamp and hiked a couple of times a week up Runyon Canyon.  I also started to swim a lot more. (My favorite activity at Blue Osa is swimming.)

Two years ago, I was up at Easton Mountain helping out with their Gay Spirit Youth Camp.  I had reached that point of acceptance saying to myself that my body would never change and I was at that age where all I could do is to keep taking care of myself physically and hopefully maintain what I had.

At the end of the week at Easton Mountain, I was driven to Albany Train station where I would catch a train back to New York City.  While waiting, I indulged myself in one of my favorite past times when traveling somewhere - shopping for magazines.  One magazine cover caught my attention.  Lose 15 lbs. in 21 days.   While my immediate reaction was skeptical, I had to pick up the magazine if only to laugh inwardly at the absurdity of such a stupid claim.  “Yeah right, lose 15 lbs. and gain back 30.”   I said chuckling to myself.  However, what I read not only made sense, but began a process of developing a new relationship with food and I immediately put the experiment to work.

I will not go into all the details of what happened.  Suffice it to say, I want to make these three points.

1.  My relationship with food has changed drastically.

2.  After 10 days of following the diet, students coming into the studio said, “Aaron you look fabulous, vibrant and so happy!”  Of course I was happy.  My body looked and felt like it was 27 again.

3.  I have fallen in love with eating and food.

On further reflection, ironically this diet is not one that is much different to the one you grew up on.  You woke up and ate a healthy breakfast, you had a fruit snack followed by a healthy lunch, and then had a vegetable snack or sandwich followed by proportionate dinner.  Well at least I did.  I have found this plan has, in many ways, taken me back to my own roots.

The diet, “Lose 15 lbs. in 21 days” comes from Dr. Philip Goglia’s book, “Turning Up The Heat.”   The premise of his book lies in turning up your metabolism by eating right and healthy.  He carefully lays out a plan that is well thought out and get you involved with your food.

I have attached in this review an article from Men’s fitness about Goglia’s work.  Before reading it, I want to make a couple of suggestions and remarks:

1.  Even if you do not need to lose any weight, this book is worth reading.  Goglia remarks a few times how many “skinny” people are actually overweight because their body fat is so high and their lean muscle mass is so low.  He helps you to find out exactly how much protein you need in the book.

2. If you decide not to buy the book and investigate further, great!  PLEASE REMEMBER the quickstart diet (see below) is only the beginning, and is NOT meant to be followed indefinitely.  Only follow it for 21 days.

3.  Stick to the plan, it works.   Do everything they say.  If you don’t, one day of wavering takes three days to course correct.

4.  Have fun with it. Enjoy the cooking and the food preparations.

5.  Drink your water.  My suggestion though is to drink your water before your meals and/or on an empty stomach.  Don’t drink ice water and don’t drink water with your meals.  This disrupts the digestion process and stops the proper digestion of fats and proteins.

FYI, Goglia says if you just follow the water instructions alone, you will begin to develop amazing results.

6.  Visualize everyday the type of health and body you want to have when you are much older.  See yourself as the person you want to be.  A very good friend of mine taught me this beautiful mantra/affirmation many, many years ago, which I say to myself every morning.

“I am younger then I was yesterday, my body is healed and in a perfect state of health.  There is love in my life and all around.”

7. Did I lose 15 lbs.?  No I did not.  When it was all said and done, I lost about 6 pounds and as I quickly discovered, I didn’t and don’t need to lose 15lbs.   But what did happen?  My body became tight.  I lost my spare tire, my lean muscle mass spiked up and my body fat content dropped.   But more than that, I had more energy and developed a new healthy relationship with food.  I was eating foods like Zucchini and squash everyday.    The other thing that happened was that my cravings for bread dissipated.

8.  READ ALL the instructions very carefully, then read it again, and then read it again.

Below is an article from Men’s Fitness and the Quickstart Diet plan for “Lose 15 lbs. in 21 days.

Blessings
Aaron

Trouble ahead. In three weeks, you’ll be on Waikiki Beach, but the shape you’re in now, your gut will arrive minutes before you do. Your Aloha shirt has been handpicked to hide the spread around your stomach.

Why the need for camouflage? Well, to start with, there were the beers you chug-a-lugged last Friday night. Then there were the beers you had the book-ending Thursday and Saturday. Oh, and the 12-inch pizza you’re prone to wolf down right before resolving to hit the cardio trail bright and early next morning, which you damn well would’ve done had you not overslept–again.

Busted vow after busted vow has left you a defeated mess, eyeing with distaste the ever-inflating Michelin around your middle. Before you considering shortcuts such as liposuction and stomach stapling, we’ve got a cheaper, safer and more option.

The 15/21 Quickstart program, designed by certified trainer and nutrition consultant Philip Goglia, help you lose up to 15 pounds in 21 days–hence the name. You don’t have to starve yourself, and you don’t have to rent a cot at your local gym, either. Goglia supplies the eating plan, but you have to apply the commitment, determination and necessary to enable the program to deliver on its promises.

YOU & YOUR GUT
So, you’ve acquired some fat and have little time to lose it. What we’re offering you is a powerful tool for losing weight quickly, but is in no way a substitute for a sound, long-term nutrition regimen. Promise yourself that once you finish the 15/21 Quickstart program, you’ll adjust your diet appropriately to maintain and improve on the fat loss you achieve over the next three weeks.

Now let’s focus on your immediate crisis. A vacation, class reunion or some other event is rapidly approaching, and your physique will certainly raise eyebrows, but not in admiration. Does your solution call for food deprivation and marathon cardio sessions? It shouldn’t.

Exercise itself doesn’t change your physique; it only creates the opportunity for change. When you work out at the gym, you tear down muscle tissue. To complete the transformation, the muscle must be rebuilt, and that happens only through getting proper rest, eating sufficient calories in correctly balanced macronutrient combinations, and drinking plenty of water.

Heedless of these scientific realities, and failing to see any change in your body from the increase in cardio, you grimly step up your workouts further and cut back even more on calories. But without enough calories on which to operate properly, your metabolism slows down and your body goes about doing the exact opposite of what you want it to do: It hoards fat to protect itself from what it perceives as a severe famine. So much for noble intentions.

THE PROGRAM
The 15/21 Quickstart plan divvies up your daily calorie intake among five or six meals to help you create a consistent calorie-burning pattern. If you’re not eating at regular but relatively brief intervals, you’re not stoking your metabolism with the steady supply of calories it needs to generate enough heat to release fat as an energy source. You’d be surprised how just the simple act of establishing a consistent caloric intake will do wonders to alter your body composition.

The Quickstart daily meal plans include protein-source foods for muscle building (and for muscle retention), carbohydrates for fuel, fats for energy and health, and vegetables to aid digestion and deliver a significant amount of micronutrients. Carbs, your energy foods, are loaded in the morning to power your day’s activities.
Conversely, your protein-heavy meals are eaten later in the afternoon and into the evening to enable your body to repair muscle tissue at night while you rest. Additionally, the increased protein intake further juices your metabolism.

THE BOTTOM-LINE COMMITMENT
Since the program is short-range, there’s little room for deviation. Following a go-ahead from your medical practitioner, you must commit to its every step without fail.

Foremost, to see results, you must eat every meal (each spaced between two and three hours apart–no more, no less), and you must eat the meals in the prescribed order. If you skip meal 3 or scarf a Snickers bar for meal 6, you upset your daily pattern, significantly disrupting the intended goal of keeping your metabolism in white-hot fat-loss turf. Not only do you lose the benefits of that single day as a result of your dietary lapse, but you’ll need the next two days to restore the pattern. So, ultimately, you’ll have lost three days. Disrupt the pattern twice in a single week and you’re toast, thick, buttered toast. So do yourself a favor and approach these next three weeks with a no-nonsense attitude: If 15/21 Quickstart says you’re eating peanut butter in the afternoon, come hell or high water, you’d better eat peanut butter in the afternoon.

HOW TO JUDGE PROGRESS
Evaluating the success of this program, or of any dietary strategy, is not all about the bathroom scale. You need to look at the whole picture. Muscle weighs a lot, but doesn’t take up much room; fat doesn’t weigh as much, but takes up 4 1/2 times more space.

Commit this nutritional proverb to memory: It’s all about taking up less room in the room. Ultimately, your goal is to weigh as much as you can per square inch, and for there to be fewer square inches of you. Think of it this way and your new mantra makes absolute sense. You might consider repeating it periodically to keep you on track.

Other factors beyond the scale deserve your attention. Monitor your energy levels and your overall strength, as well as how you feel and how you look in and out of your clothes. If you aren’t losing any weight, yet you sense a difference in the fit of your clothes and you’re demonstrating more power in your gym workouts, it’s because you’re gaining muscle tissue and your body composition is changing.

Though a healthy program, 15/21 Quickstart is still very restrictive–once you’ve completed your three weeks, you probably won’t want to follow it ever again. Instead, begin a long-term program, one that’s tailored for your level of activity and energy needs. As your physique improves, it’s a safe bet that you’ve become metabolically efficient, and you should learn as much as possible about keeping it that way.

Now it’s time to get started. Waikiki is calling, and trust us: Wearing an Aloha shirt at the beach doesn’t fool anybody.

THE QUICKSTART THREE-WEEK PROGRAM

The plan is designed for a 180-pound male. For every increase of 20 pounds of body weight, boost daily protein intake by four ounces, the equivalent of one chicken breast. Regardless of your starting weight, take a multivitamin daily.

WEEK 1

FOOD                                    PORTION SIZE

Meal 1:    Oatmeal, plain, cooked (not instant)     1 1/2 cups
Orange (or a banana)                         1
Meal 2:    Apple                                        1
Meal 3:    White rice, cooked                         1 cup
Chicken breast, no skin                    4 oz.
Squash, steamed                            1 cup
Meal 4:    Raw celery                                 2 cups
Peanut butter (natural)                    1 tbsp
Meal 5:    Whitefish, cooked
(not battered or fried)                  8 oz.
Zucchini, steamed                          1 cup
Asparagus, steamed                         1 cup
Tossed salad, no dressing                  3 cups
Meal 6:    Mixed berries                             1-2 cups

WEEK 2

FOOD                                    PORTION SIZE

Meal 1:    Oatmeal, plain, cooked (not instant)     1 1/2 cups
Orange (or a banana)                         1
Meal 2:    Raw celery                                 2 cups
Peanut butter (natural)                    1 tbsp
Meal 3:    Baked potato                             1/2 potato
Chicken breast, no skin                    4 oz.
or
Whitefish (not battered or fried)          4 oz.
Spinach, steamed                           2 cups
Meal 4:    Raw celery                                 2 cups
Peanut butter (natural)                    1 tbsp
Meal 5:    Whitefish (not battered or fried)          8 oz.
Zucchini, steamed                          1 cup
Asparagus, steamed                         1 cup
Tossed salad, no dressing                  3 cups
Meal 6:    Nothing

WEEK 3

FOOD                                    PORTION SIZE

Meal 1:    Oatmeal, plain, cooked (not instant)     1 1/2 cups
Meal 2:    Raw celery                                 2 cups
Meal 3:    Chicken breast, no skin                    4 oz.
or
Whitefish (not battered or fried)          4 oz.
Squash, steamed                            1 cup
Asparagus, steamed                         1 cup
Tossed salad                               3 cups
with low-calorie dressing                1 tbsp
Meal 4:    Raw celery                                 2 cups
Peanut butter (natural)                    1 tbsp
Meal 5:    Hard-boiled egg                           1 whole
Meal 6:    Whitefish (not battered or fried)          8 oz.
Zucchini, steamed                          1 cup
Tomato, steamed                            1 cup
Tossed salad, no dressing                  3 cups

GROUND RULES FOR MAXIMAL FAT LOSS

1 Eat the meals in order. No, you can’t eat one meal right before another, you can’t mix and match foods, and you can’t substitute a
banana split for a banana. Be very clear with yourself: You made the decision to follow this program, and you must be accountable for your progress, or lack of progress. Pick specific times to eat, and then stick to the timetable.

2 Don’t let moods and events dictate your food choices. If you think a brownie in the afternoon is going to fix your car or brighten a bad day, think again. Focus on feeling good about choosing this diet, confident that you’ll see improvement in your physique if you follow the plan consistently.

3 Eat all the food prescribed. Your day’s been manic. It’s 10 p.m. and you haven’t eaten meals 4, 5 or 6. You’d better get busy with your
knife and fork. Skipping meals altogether is far worse than not eating them at consistent two- to three-hour intervals. The 15/21 Quickstart plan is so tuned for caloric and appetite response, if you skip a meal you’re going to be hungry–and that aforementioned brownie will wrestle you to the floor.

4 Drink one ounce of water for every pound of body weight every day. If you adhere to only this part of the program and nothing else, you’ll drop five pounds–guaranteed. Water allows your body to rid itself of toxins, mobilize nutrients, and maintain a consistent temperature. If your water intake is low, your body is going to find another way to maintain homeostasis–like storing fat underneath your skin for insulation. Most people have trouble drinking a lot of water at first, but the more you drink, the more you’ll thirst for it. In the beginning, you’ll become intimate with the restroom, but as you consume more water, the more of it your body will accommodate, ff you’re not active, you can lower fluid intake to one half-ounce per pound of body weight.

5 Tote a large(r) water bottle. Trade in your 16- or 33-ounce bottle for a bigger one. It’s easier to keep track of your intake with a 50-ouncer (1.5 liters), plus a bigger bottle encourages you to drink more. Also, when you exercise–weight training or cardio–you should consume at least 50 ounces of water in an hour.

6 Don’t cheat. Your friends may be chowing down on fried calamari, but don’t lose your cool. Remember, you made the choice to follow this plan. Drink your water, stick to your programmed menus, and tell yourself that three weeks goes by fast.

7 If you weigh more than 200 pounds, add more protein. The heavier you are, the more protein you require. For every 20 pounds you are above 180, add four ounces of protein (a chicken breast, for instance) per day, either in one meal or spread over two. If you weigh less but are tormented by cravings, you can add this amount of protein as well.

8 Don’t be afraid of condiments. Jazz up the prescribed meals without loading on the calories or larding them with “bad” fat. You’re not aiming to create an adversarial relationship with food, but to use food to spur a physique change. Condiments you can consume without abandon include ketchup, mustard, barbecue sauce, nonfat mayo, nonfat sour cream, butter substitutes, salsa, spices, horseradish, extracts (vanilla, orange, almond), and lemon or lime juice.

TIPS TO MAKE THE COMMITMENT EASIER
Follow these suggestions to make the three weeks go by more smoothly.
* Prepare enough food (chicken, fish, steamed vegetables) at one time to make approximately two days’ worth of meals.
* Shop every few days to ensure that your fish and vegetables remain fresh.
* Pack each meal individually the night before in plastic food containers.
* Do not increase the intensity of your cardio during the three weeks.
* Note all the times you eat each meal and drink each glass of water. This will keep you motivated to stay with the plan.
* Don’t expect to see any weight change during the first week of the plan. Avoid stepping on a scale until the third week.
* Even if you don’t sense hunger, eat on schedule.

Phil Goglia holds certifications from A.C.S.M., M.A.S.M., A.F.F.A., A.C.E. and I.P.F.A. He serves on the Board of Governors for the City of Hope and Cedars-Sinai Medical Centers in the Los Angeles area. The complete Quickstart program, along with a long-term diet and workout plan, are detailed in Goglia’s new book, Turn Up the Heat. For more information, visit www.pfcnutrition.com.

So enjoy this piece on Spiritual Fitness.

The Importance of Spiritual Fitness
By Rudra

Me

Let me tell you about Orion. He’s a big, muscular guy. An ex-football player, and an ex-marine. He’s a body builder now. He looks like an Arnold Schwarzenegger type. He manages a lumber yard in Virginia. He’s pretty fit.

Last weekend was Orion’s 30th birthday. He was celebrating it by going on a yoga vacation.  We both attended a retreat for yoga teachers and advanced practitioners.

The first session was an intense warm up routine. Lots of stretching, in many different ways, to get the muscles warm and limber. With a deep focus on breathing, and bio-feedback. Yoga is meditation in postures.

Orion knocked his back out. It hurt him the rest of the weekend. He dropped out of the program, eventually taking vicadin. His back was so stiff, and hurt so much.

I felt sorry for him.

I asked him how he prepared for the yoga retreat.

He didn’t. He hadn’t practiced yoga in 3 years. He thought he could just pick it up again. I think that was the foot ball player or the body builder talking. The retreat had very clear preparation steps. We were to detoxify our bodies for two weeks. And we were to practice as much yoga as possible.  Daily.  At home, with DVDs, or in yoga classes.  Orion did none of this. And he suffered the consequences for it.

You

You’re probably thinking something like, “I’ld never do something like that!” A whole weekend yoga boot camp. Forget it.

OK, I’m the yoga freak here.

But I know you’ve been through similar situations.

Think back to your college days, or high school.

You’ve got your final exam tomorrow. How do you study for it?

Well, best practices say study a few hours each day, over several weeks.

But how do you study for the exam?

You pull an all nighter, craming for the test. You fall asleep around 3 or 4 am. The next morning you wake up, drink a pot of coffee, and hope for the best.

That is, if you wake up in time for the test. I once had a student sleep through his final because he pulled an all nighter studying.

Some of you are triathletes or marathon runners. How to you prepare? Do you wake up the morning of the Chicago marathon, and decide over breakfast at McDonald’s, I think I’ll run the marathon today.

NO.

You plan ahead and start practicing months in advance. You need to get ready.

God

Our religious traditions are filled with stories like this.

Spirituality does not happen over night. It requires practice.

We heard the Taoist tale of Khing the woodcutter. And how he prepared for his sacred task of carving a bell stand. It was no ordinary bell stand, but an elaborate one for a temple.

In the Jewish tradition, Miriam is the sister of Moses. She is the only woman in the Tanakh, Hebrew Scriptures, named a prophet or a prophetess. When the Hebrews escape from Egypt, she leads the people in celebration. She sings and dances in victory. It’s “The Song of Miriam.” She inspires the Hebrews, and they rejoice with her. These are her spiritual practices. Our choirs still do this today.

In Christianity, we have John the Baptist. He eats locusts and honey, and lives in the desert with his renegade band of followers. He wanders from town to town, preaching the coming of the Messiah. And he baptizes people, that is, washes away their sins. That’s his spiritual practice.

Let’s face it. As Unitarian Universalists, this guy would probably not appeal to our religious sensibilities.

Islam has Mohammed. He learns Judaism and Christianity from his fellow merchants. He rejects the idolatry of his people. He begins to worship the one God. He goes to the caves outside Mecca to meditate in solitude and silence. There, his revelations begin. That’s his spiritual practice.

India gives the world Gandhi.

He’s a corporate lawyer. A graduate of British education in India and England. A very proper gentleman. But he believes in human rights, and he fights for equality. He organizes all kinds of boycotts, and protests, and marches in South Africa and in India. He breaks unjust laws. He opposes segregation, Apartheid, discrimination, excessive taxation, mistreatment of the poor and underprivileged, and especially the British occupation of India. But he also realizes that he needs to prepare himself. He needs to become a different person, so he could effectively transform the world. From this realization, comes his teaching, “to be the change we want to see in the world.”

“To be the change we want to see in the world.” That is the essence of spiritual fitness. As a child, he grows in up a religious family with Hindu devotionals. As an adult, he examines the religion of his youth. And explores other ones as well. Sound familiar?

Gandhi develops his deep spiritual practices gradually, over his life time. He experiments a lot. And he sticks with the practices that work for him. It’s trial and error.

He mediates every morning. He prays. He studies scriptures: Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Jain, and Jewish, all the religions. He even translates the Bhagavad Gita. He eats a vegetarian diet, and even tries a Fruitarian one. He controls his sexuality, sometimes to the chagrin of his wife. He keeps a day of silence once a week. Silence.

He weaves his own clothing out of Indian homespun cotton. And wears very simple Indian peasant clothes: a dhoti and a shawl. He journals, daily. And he writes articles, letters, and edits a newspaper. He takes long fasts. To purify himself, and to protest social ills. And when factions would argue at a meeting, he’ld do one of two things. He’ld suddenly declare that it was time for prayer. Or, he would serve tea to everyone. He would break class barriers and take on the role of a servant. Jesus washes feed. Gandhi serves tea. Seekers would come to Gandhi’s ashram. They have great plans, and huge ideas. They want to organize all sorts of protests, and marches, and actions. Gandhi tells them to spin and weave their own clothing first. BUT, BUT, BUT they try to respond. And then clean the toilets, Gandhi says. That blows their bubbles. He’s teaching them patience and humility.

Gandhi’s spiritual work empowers him. His gumption for social justice comes from his inner spiritual work. His struggles for human rights and equality is effective only because of his spiritual preparation. His spiritual fitness. He calls himself a spiritual warrior.

Gandhi is an example for us. We need to “be the change we want to see in the world.”

You

You know as well as I do that spiritual practice is a challenge. It takes time to find the right one. And then things get in the way, and you forget about it. But with repetition, it becomes easier. It becomes your second nature. The practice sustains you. It kicks in, when you need it most. Like when you find yourself stressed out, worried, spinning out of control. Bills, shopping, work, guests, you name it. And suddenly you remember the practice. And it calms you down.

A mother once told me her teen son had locked himself in the bathroom. Teens sometimes need their privacy, you know. After a while, mom knocked on the door. She got a gruff answer, “Ma, I’m all right. Leave me alone.” After a long while, she knocked again. There was no answer. She could not open the door. She panicked. She forgot how to unlock a bathroom door. She could not get to her son, to see what was going on with him. And she worried: how could she lift him? He was bigger than her. Her mind raced. Was it drugs? Or alcohol? Or, heaven forbid, suicide? Did he drown in the bathtub? Or electrocute himself? Or something else? She was going crazy.

She called 911. The paramedics took care of everything.

In the ambulance she realized, she needed to let go. Her son was in capable hands. She could do nothing to help. And she remembered the meditative breath, her meditative breath. The breath that clamed her down. Breathing, she could care for him without obsessing, without driving herself crazy.

As it turned out, he had gone into insulin shock. All-knowing and all-powerful teen that he was, he had not taken his insulin that day. Or maybe for a few days. He felt fine, so he felt did not need his meds.

As religious seekers, the challenge for you is finding a spiritual practice that works for you. And sticking with it.

What is your spiritual practice?

What do you do to center and ground yourself?

What inner work gives you inspiration and energy to do your outer work?

Is it meditation? Knitting? Gardening? Biking, or jogging? Walking along the lake front?

Take moment to think about this, and jot down notes on the slip of paper provided.

We

As a congregation, we are here to help each other. One of our goals is spirituality. Let’s read the words on the cover of our OOS together: 2U “is a vibrant community that inspires you to develop your own spiritual path and live our your values in the world.”

We share spiritual practices together in worship. Worship is the core life of a congregation. We pray, we sing, and we seek inspiration together. That is a spiritual practice. We have small group ministries, with check-in, a spiritual reading, and personal reflection about the reading. That is a spiritual practice.

We have children’s and adult faith development programs. We learn spiritual practices, grapple with life’s tough questions, and find ways to serve the world for the common good. That is a spiritual practice.

We nurture ourselves, then we serve the world.

Like Gandhi said, we need to “be the change we want to see in the world.”

The aim of life is Self-realization. The saying, “Know thyself,” was written on the temple of the oracle at Delphi in ancient Greece. This is where East and West meet. Both East and West agree on this goal, though they might hold different ways of attaining it.

The one important part of life is ignored by the educational systems at home, in society, and in the colleges and universities: “Know thyself.” You need to understand yourself on all levels.  You don’t need much external information; you already have true knowledge within. You need to learn how to apply the knowledge that you have.

All the practices, therapies, remedies, and all the exercises whatsoever, are not really meant for the body or the soul. The soul is perfect; it doesn’t need any exercise or meditation. The soul needs no improvement. If you meditate, there will be no change in the Spirit. You need to meditate and you need help, not for the soul, but for your mind. As the great Upanishads say, “The mind is the instrument that can become either a means of liberation or a means of bondage.” Thus, you should understand the nature of your mind. It’s easy to say that, but it’s not so easy to actually know it. When you want to study the mind, how do you actually do it? You don’t have any external device or instrument to use to study the mind, so you have to train one of the aspects of your mind to study the totality of the mind. You have to train a part of the mind, so that all the functions of the mind can be studied through the use of that one part.

The first real step of development in life is to know yourself, not to talk about knowing God. This is a journey within; you are trying to explore who you are, so that you can function well in your life, understand your habit patterns, and learn to live happily in the world. To learn that, you need to study your own self of three levels: action, speech, and mind.

Studying the sayings of the great sages does inspire and support a student. But studying one’s own thoughts, emotions, deeds, and actions is the real study. We intellectually know many things, yet our ignorance is not dispelled. By self-study we experience directly that which dispels the darkness of ignorance. Only when one has carefully learned the study of his own internal states will the true knowledge of the Self begin to dawn.

The human endeavor and purpose is not actually to attain God. You already have God; God is omnipresent. What you don’t have, what you have not attained, is yourself. So your endeavor should really be to attain yourself. When you truly know yourself, when you realize yourself, then you will understand that you have also realized God. That which you call God today, you will understand fully when you know yourself on the deepest level.  Do not disturb your practice of religion, but also learn to know yourself on all levels.

You do not become or attain God, and even if you could become God, you’d be sorry, because if that happened, you would no longer be understood by anybody. Strive instead for one goal, and that is to understand your Self; know how to know the Self. If you do not know yourself and you are trying to know God, it is not possible to do so.  Don’t hanker after God; know about yourself first. You are fully equipped to know yourself; you have all the means and tools to do so.  You are not searching for something outside yourself that is difficult to find. You are searching for someone who is already within you, so it is actually easy to find. The day that you see the Source face to face, you have accomplished your work as a human being—that is your human endeavor.

The external world is like a wheel. The spokes are like the various faculties of mind. Reality is your center hub, but to know that inner cause of all your movements, you first have to know the nature of these faculties of mind which make you move. There are three aspects of yourself to understand: that which moves, that through which it moves, and that which is the cause of movement. You have to clearly understand these three aspects to fully understand yourself. The nature of the hub within cannot be imagined with the mind, because your mind is conditioned by time, space, and causation. Your human effort is to know your entire Self, all three aspects—the self that moves, the subtler self that motivates us to move, and the subtler Self that is the cause of movement. This is why you should distinguish between the mere self and the real Self.

You have to know yourself by first understanding your internal states; you cannot know the center hub unless you know the wheel. This wheel of the mind rotates because of its spokes, and these spokes rotate because of the hub. If you want to know the hub of your own nature, it’s a very simple principle to understand. These spokes are the four functions of mind, and inside, at the deepest level, there is the hub. These functions operate and these spokes rotate because of the hub, the Center of Consciousness. All power comes from the Center. The world only inspires or motivates the mind. Everyone should learn to understand their own mind. Whenever you perform any action, ask your buddhi to tell you whether it is right or wrong.

I know this will disappoint you, but it is the truth: no one outside you can give you salvation. Don’t trust or depend on anyone to do that…. the truth is, we have to enlighten ourselves. You have to light your own lamp; nobody else will give you salvation. The simple method to enlightenment is to first know yourself. Learn to work with yourself; don’t give up in that. Give up on anything else, but don’t give up that goal.

When you understand the functions of the mind, you can establish inner coordination. But if you are not coordinated, you stumble, and inner stumbling creates a serious conflict for human beings. Inner conflict is the mother of all problems, because if there is conflict within, there will always be conflict without. How to be free from conflicts within and without is the only question in life. On the inner path, you will always get help from the center of truth, for the quest of truth is always helpful. We are all children of truth and immortality and eternity. But before you can understand and realize this, you must learn to analyze yourself.  It is your mind and personality which prevent you from experiencing that finest level of yourself—the Center of Consciousness within.

Slowly you should prepare yourself for the advanced level of teaching. Knowledge will come of itself, but all knowledge really comes from within. It is already within you. The world outside only gives you facts to relate to that particular knowledge that is already within you. Never forget that the source of knowledge is within you. Learn to depend only on inner knowledge.

This is a system of commitment, not commandment. You are committing to yourself, to your path, and to the goal that you will know yourself. This is your commit¬ment; it is not a commandment from outside you, that you must know yourself. If you don’t want to know yourself or don’t care to know yourself, then no one can force you. But as you grow you will come to a point where you will want to know your deeper Self, and then you become committed to the idea that you will know yourself in this lifetime. You want to know yourself on all levels.

Learn to know yourself; you have sufficient time to accomplish that. Don’t use the excuse that you don’t have enough time. You may say you not attained anything. Are you sure that you have been doing meditation? Did you sit and sleep or dream or think? Maybe you have been thinking about many things in the name of meditation. Maybe you have sat for years in meditation but did not really meditate, and then have complained that nothing has happened to you. Do not give your mind space to wander when you meditate, but go step by step in the process.

Examine yourself sincerely and ask yourself if you want to meditate, to explore, to know yourself, and to choose your habits. Presently you are a stranger to yourself. How can you live in the world and tolerate such agony? Many traditions say to the student, “Know thyself,” as the first step. To know yourself, there are only three schools or methods: prayer, meditation, and contemplation. In the process of meditation there is expansion in the waking state. You are facing yourself in that waking state, and your thought patterns are coming. You have stored them in the unconscious, and when you relax your conscious mind, the thoughts come forward. Learn to allow your thought patterns to let go, and then develop introspection.

The waking state is actually only a small part of the mind. The waking state can be expanded. It can become a means for us. Any state of mind—waking, dreaming, or sleeping—can be used as a means to attain the goal. The waking state can be expanded, but even if you do not want to expand it, then you should still learn how to make your mind one-pointed through meditation on a focal point. This requires only a small part of the totality of the mind to bring your waking state into balance.  However, the yogis say to expand your consciousness during the waking state. When you expand yourself, what will happen? Through expansion of the waking state you can attain turiya, the fourth state, beyond waking, dreaming, and sleep.

If anyone wants to be a student of the interior world, of the path of light, if he wants to do inner research, he will have to understand this point: one must have a purified, free, and one-pointed mind to know and examine the interior Self. For conducting research within, one should be truthful, sincere, and free from prejudices. Research should not be shaded by social and cultural norms or religious fanaticism. It requires a totally independent and unbiased mind. In doing research within, we have to completely forget our prejudices from the past, and we have to remain true to ourselves; otherwise our research will be incomplete.

Also, we must start training the mind to be inward. We must train the mind to go inside to our personal world, so that we can understand those needs, motivations, desires, those strong powers within us that move us to do something in the external world. We want to know their nature. We want to know why we act and feel the way we do. We ourselves have created our miseries, and if we want to understand this truthfully, we will have to turn the mind inward. The mind must be trained to go inward and examine itself because it is not accustomed to practicing a technique of inwardness.

One can discover a great deal about the inner life by studying body language. So when we start turning within, we do not have to ignore the external world, nor do we have to make any radical change in our external life. We simply have to be ourselves and create a strong desire to know ourselves from within. That desire is the first requirement. If one doesn’t understand the importance of spirituality and meditation, then he should not waste his time and energy with it. If one is not convinced that meditation is a technique that is helpful, if one is not prepared, then he should not apply that technique. So first, to research the inner world, one needs a burning desire to know his inner potentials and states.

The yogis say that you can analyze the whole universe and know everything about it by understanding yourself and your mind. You want to know about the universe, and to know about it, you will have to know the miniature universe that is yourself. You are becoming a scientist, and you want to know about the universe, yourself, your relationship with the universe, and all the mysteries of the universe. You want to learn everything, but to do this you need to understand yourself and your mind first.

On this path, you yourself are a laboratory for research. Your internal states contain many instruments for research. Your internal states contain many instruments within you; you have to learn to use those instruments to understand the Consciousness that flows from its Center, which is already within you.  Nothing external is going to help you in your quest.

The meditator really becomes an internal explorer and investigator, who is studying the internal reactions and processes of the mind, on both the conscious and unconscious levels. The meditator is an interior researcher, and what is brought out is creative intelligence that can be used in the external world. Meditation helps you to fully know and understand all the capacities of the mind—memory, concentration, emotion, reasoning, and intuition. Those who meditate begin to understand how to coordinate, balance, and enhance all these capabilities, using them to their fullest potential. Then they go beyond the usual states of mind and consciousness.

Many people think the mind can be controlled. That is not a useful idea. Like the monkey, the mind can never actually be controlled; it can only be directed. If you want to try to control your mind, you will regret the results. Forget the word “control” and learn to direct your mind and energy on all levels.

There have been many scholarly commentaries on the Yoga Sutras but all the commentaries miss something very practical. Such commentaries can only satisfy the intellect, but do not actually help you beyond that: “yogash chitta vritti nirodah”—yoga is the control of the “modifications” of the mind. Nirodah means control; there is no other English word for it. Control does not mean suppression, but channeling or regulating. You use this word “control” everyday, without knowing why you are using it, resulting in confusion.  The mind can be understood in many ways, but even if you know exactly what the mind is, you still don’t have control over your mind. Mere knowledge will not give you control over your mind. Control means knowing the way in which to direct your mind. Control does not mean preventing the mind from functioning, but being aware of the mind and having a choice about the way it is directed.

That which separates you from your real Self—the whole and real—is your ego. You may wonder how you can cut down that ego or may try to tear it down or forget it, but that is not possible. Instead, you have to learn to polish or train your ego. When the ego becomes aware of the Reality, it is trained, and then the ego is useful. If the ego does not remain aware of the Reality, then the ego becomes unhelpful; it is then harmful or an obstacle. The mind is a great tool that you can learn to use when you know about the various faculties of mind.  As long as there are conflicts in your mind, it means that you have not resolved certain things. Such conflict creates misery and then you experience the misery. You can resolve your conflicts yourself. No one else is going to resolve them for you.

You first need to be de-hypnotized, to understand free thinking. Free thinking will come when you fully understand all the faculties of mind and the modifications of your mind, when you understand each part of the whole wheel of the mind separately….I know I am telling you something that is hard to understand, but I have to, because otherwise you will not make any progress on the path.

The purpose of fear is to lead you to question and understand why you have that fear in the first place. As you examine your fears, you will learn that all your fears are somehow false and based on misunderstandings. There is no truth or reality to your fears. Many fears remain buried within you, and you never really examine them, so you remain at their mercy. In fact, you are afraid to examine your fears, but you should learn to examine each fear, one by one, and to encounter them and then be free of their control. This process is very important.  To fear and try to escape from examining one’s thought process is a serious mistake for a student to make.

All your fears should be examined so that you can remain fearless as long as you live. There is no charm in a life full of fear. You should not accept this fearful sort of living. Fearless living is possible when you have understood the way to do your actions in the external world and when you have learned about your internal states.

All your actions leave some impression in your unconscious mind, and those impressions then become your samskaras and control your life. To make progress, your samskaras need to be purified. You can do that in meditation if you ask all the impressions in your mind to come forward, so that you can examine and burn them. You can consciously bring forward all the latent, buried impressions during meditation, telling your mind that you are ready to face them, and if you have built that kind of determination and willpower, you can allow those samskaras to be burnt mentally. They are all mental impressions, there is nothing solid or material there. All these past impressions can be burnt, and then you can be free from them. The goal is to expand the conscious aspect of mind so that there is no unconscious.

If you want to understand intuition and the path to inner wisdom, you must first understand the avenues through which you receive knowledge. This includes the processes of perception and conception, instinct, as well as intuition.  Deep within you, within the recesses of your being, lies the library of intuition, but you do not know how to reach it, and you don’t have access to its wealth. We are all rich, deep within. Great people receive a small fountain from that knowledge, and that’s why they become great. The knowledge of the mind, the senses, and instinctual knowledge do not help in this. All those kinds of knowledge, all those resources, are important and we need them and can use them, but the highest of all knowledge is intuition.

Intuition does not require any evidence at all; it does not need to ask if something is right. When you have intuition, you don’t have to ask about it, because you know it’s right. That knowledge helps you see things and know things as they are, and then you no longer see things incompletely and partially.

All things happen in the inner world long before they happen outside. If you concentrate and watch silently, you can know what is going to happen to you in the future, but usually your mind remains busy in the material world. Everything happens in the subtle world long before it takes place externally. If you know how to, you can take precautions.

When your mind becomes aware that the Spirit is everywhere, then the mind surrenders. The mind learns that although it thought it knew all things, Spirit is everywhere and the mind is nothing. Mind learns that all the power it has is due only to the Spirit, the Source of life, the Source of Consciousness. Then the mind surrenders. That is the meaning of true surrender; such self-surrender is the highest of all yogas. Your mind surrenders when you reach such a height that the mind doesn’t function any longer. Mind is still there, but as it becomes aware of the Reality, its ego vanishes. When you fully understand the functions of mind, you will know how to work with yourself.

We need to inspect our thinking process. We must recall that what is going on in our minds is produced by us. We should inspect it and always recognize it as our own product. Each person’s thinking is his own creation. We begin by learning to inspect and analyze our own minds. First we find that we do indeed have minds because we think. We come to realize that we are not the same as our thinking process and our minds. Through analysis, through introspection we learn to discriminate between the thinker and the thinking process. The first step to control and liberation is self-observation.

One can easily understand that the center of consciousness, Atman, is overlaid by many coverings. The aspirant should apply the exact scientific methods taught by the ancient scriptures and teachers to attain an understanding of each covering. These methods enable the student to comprehend both the mere self—body, breath, senses, and all the dimensions of mind—and to help him go to the source of consciousness. Before one reaches the fountainhead of life and light from which consciousness flows spontaneously, he has to understand the various realities that exist. He can then conceive of the idea that the human beings have many subtle bodies within the physical body.

In the path of sadhana no effort is in vain; all sincere efforts bear their fruits in the unconscious mind according to the inevitable law of karma. Even a little sadhana practiced with sincere effort leaves deep imprints in the unconscious mind. Those impressions help and guide the sadhaka whenever he goes off the path. The conscious part of the mind is but a small part of the whole. It is helpful in communicating with the external world but has very little use on the inward journey. If the conscious part of the mind is trained not to create further barriers, then sadhana is useful.

Yoga sadhana alone has explored all the unknown levels of life and is thus useful for knowing the levels of the unconscious and for training the totality of the mind. Sadhana alone is the way of knowing, understanding, and analyzing the internal states and one’s relationship to the external world. While treading the path of the inner world, the sadhaka comes in touch with those potentialities that guide him unconsciously, or sometimes through dreams, and at other times consciously. Fearlessness thus increases, and self-reliance is strengthened. He is fully protected by the finer forces that exist, although he is not aware of them because of his extroverted nature. No danger can ever befall the sincere sadhaka in his exploration of the inner realms. The sadhaka is completely protected if he is fully dedicated to the goal of Self-realization.

Attention is the first step on the ladder to develop one-pointedness of mind. One must pay wholehearted attention to all of the things he does from morning until evening. If one forms the habit of attending fully to whatever he is doing, the mind will become trained, and eventually concentration will become effortless. Thousands of thoughts remain awaiting to be entertained. The purpose of sadhana is to attend to those thoughts in a systematic manner so that they do not create unrest in the inner world.

You need to examine honestly what is in your mind. Be honest with yourself. Do not meditate if you are being hypocritical and are just sitting and punishing yourself. There should be only one desire, the desire for meditation, the desire to go deep inside. At first, you will fail to achieve it, but that does not matter; you should not give up.

Start to work with yourself: when you work with yourself, do not waste energy observing what others are doing. Appreciate what they are doing, and do not condemn or criticize what they are not doing. Otherwise, you spend your whole life in celebrating or in mourning. What is important is that you constantly work with yourself, no matter who you are. The thought, “I am going to enlighten myself,” should not make you egotistical. You should not isolate yourself; this thought should make you more creative, because withdrawing yourself from the world is not your real motive; it is not life’s purpose. Your life’s purpose is to live in the world and yet remain above it.

Above all else, remember this one thing: it is easy to meet that Infinity within.

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley

Blue Osa is quite clearly beautiful and comfortable but the magic is from the people.  Every single person had a smile and a greeting, every request was met with grace and enthusiasm - and this place is just getting going!  It was really great to have so many excursions and luxuries from which to choose and to have them so artfully arranged by Stephen.  Vanessa’s spa treatment was wonderful, and everyone who came back from a massage with Jesus looked “melty”!

And let’s not forget the food - fresh, amazing, abundant, creative and cheerfully prepared.  If I could have boxed that up and brought it home, I would have.

The yoga program Lynn and Barbara put together was instructional, enlightening, and healing.  Again, the individual attention made each one of us feel special on our own, yet a strong part of the larger group.

Several of us have remarked that this experience was such that it felt like leaving home when we left.  It’s interesting to feel that I miss my friends that I knew for a week as much as if we had shared our lives for years.  I so look forward to returning and I am grateful for all who made it possible.

Namaste,
Laura

By Richard Rosen

In many cultures, light has long been a symbol of consciousness and self-illumination. “The world begins with the coming of light,” wrote Jungian analyst Erich Neumann in The Origins and History of Consciousness (Princeton University Press, 1995). “Opposition between light and darkness has informed the spiritual world of all peoples and molded it into shape.”

Our primary source of light is, of course, the sun. When we look at our closest star, we may see nothing more than a big yellow ball. But for thousands of years, the Hindus have revered the sun, which they call Surya, as both the physical and spiritual heart of our world and the creator of all life itself. That’s why one of Surya’s many other appellations is Savitri (the Vivifier), who, according to the Rig Veda, “begets and feeds mankind in various manners” (III.55.19). Moreover, since everything that exists originates from the sun, as Alain DaniŽlou wrote in The Myths and Gods of India (Inner Traditions, 1991), it “must contain the potentiality of all that is to be known.” For the Hindus, the sun is the “eye of the world” (loka chakshus), seeing and uniting all selves in itself, an image of and a pathway to the divine.

One of the means of honoring the sun is through the dynamic asana sequence Surya Namaskar (better known as Sun Salutation). The Sanskrit word namaskar stems from namas, which means “to bow to” or “to adore.” (The familiar phrase we use to close our yoga classes, namaste—te means “you”—also comes from this root.) Each Sun Salutation begins and ends with the joined-hands mudra (gesture) touched to the heart. This placement is no accident; only the heart can know the truth.

The ancient yogis taught that each of us replicates the world at large, embodying “rivers, seas, mountains, fields…stars and planets…the sun and moon” (Shiva Samhita, II.1-3). The outer sun, they asserted, is in reality a token of our own “inner sun,” which corresponds to our subtle, or spiritual, heart. Here is the seat of consciousness and higher wisdom (jnana) and, in some traditions, the domicile of the embodied self (jivatman).

It might seem strange to us that the yogis place the seat of wisdom in the heart, which we typically associate with our emotions, and not the brain. But in yoga, the brain is actually symbolized by the moon, which reflects the sun’s light but generates none of its own. This kind of knowledge is worthwhile for dealing with mundane affairs, and is even necessary to a certain extent for the lower stages of spiritual practice. But in the end, the brain is inherently limited in what it can know and is prone to what Patanjali calls misconception (viparyaya) or false knowledge of the self.

History and Practice
There’s some disagreement among authorities over the origins of Sun Salutation. Traditionalists contend that the sequence is at least 2,500 years old (perhaps even several hundred years older), that it originated during Vedic times as a ritual prostration to the dawn, replete with mantras, offerings of flowers and rice, and libations of water. Skeptics of this dating maintain that Sun Salutation was invented by the raja of Aundh (a former state in India, now part of Maharashtra state) in the early 20th century, then disseminated to the West in the 1920s or 1930s.

However old Sun Salutation is, and whatever it may originally have looked like, many variations have evolved over the years. Janita Stenhouse, in Sun Yoga: The Book of Surya Namaskar (Innerspace Map Studio, 2001), illustrates two dozen or so adaptations (though several are quite similar). Our sequence here consists of 12 “stations” composed of eight different postures, the last four being the same as the first four but performed in reverse order. In this sequence, we’ll start and end in Tadasana. (Station 12, not pictured, is the same as station 1 on p. 91).

The eight basic postures, in order of performance, are Tadasana (Mountain Pose), Urdhva Hastasana (Upward Salute), Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend), Lunge, Plank Pose, Chaturanga Dandasana (Four-Limbed Staff Pose), Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (Upward-Facing Dog Pose), and Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog Pose).

The transition from posture to posture is facilitated by either an inhalation or an exhalation. As you move through the sequence, watch your breath closely. Slow your pace or stop and rest entirely if your breathing becomes labored or shuts down altogether. Always breathe through your nose, not your mouth: Nasal breathing filters and warms incoming air and slows your breathing down, thereby lending the sequence a meditative quality and reducing the risk of hyperventilation.

To perform the sequence, start in Tadasana, with your hands together at your heart. Inhale and lift your arms overhead to Urdhva Hastasana, then exhale while lowering the arms down and fold your torso into Uttanasana. Then inhale, arch your torso into a slight backbend with the fingertips or palms pressed to the floor or blocks, and exhale while bringing your left foot back into a lunge. Inhale forward to Plank, then exhale and lower yourself into Chaturanga Dandasana. On an inhalation, arch your torso up as you straighten your arms into Upward Dog. Exhale back to Downward Dog; step the left foot forward on an inhalation into Lunge. Swing the right leg forward to Uttanasana on an exhalation, then lift your torso and reach your arms overhead on an inhalation to Urdhva Hastasana. Finally, lower your arms on an exhalation and return to your starting point, Tadasana.

Remember, this is only a half-round; you’ll need to repeat the sequence, switching left to right and right to left to complete a full round. If you’re just starting out, it might help to work on the poses individually before you put them together. (Visit www.YogaJournal.com for more how-to information.)

Many of the variations of Sun Salutation begin in Tadasana with the sacred hand gesture mentioned earlier. Most students know it as Anjali Mudra (Reverence Seal), but—in honor of the ancient yogis—I like to call it by one of its other names, Hridaya Mudra (Heart Seal). Touch your palms and fingers together in front of your chest and rest your thumbs lightly on your sternum, with the sides of the thumbs pressing lightly on the bone about two-thirds of the way down. Be sure to broaden your palms and press them against each other evenly, so your dominant hand doesn’t overpower its nondominant mate. The pressing and spreading of the palms helps to firm the scapulas against, and spread them across, your back torso.

Since the sequence is, in essence, a humble adoration of the light and insight of the self, it’s essential to practice Sun Salutation in a spirit of devotion and with your awareness turned always inward toward the heart. Make each movement as mindful and precise as possible, especially as you near the end of your rounds, when fatigue can lead to sloppiness.

Deepening the Practice
The sequence itself is fairly straightforward, but beginning students often stumble in two parts of it. The first of these is Chaturanga Dandasana: Lowering from Plank, students who lack sufficient strength in the arms, legs, and lower belly commonly wind up in a heap on the floor. The short-term solution is simply to bend the knees to the floor just after Plank, then lower the torso down so that the chest and chin (but not the belly) lightly rest on the floor.

The second sticky part is in stepping the foot forward from Downward-Facing Dog back into Lunge. Many beginners are unable to take the full step smoothly and lightly; typically, they thump their foot heavily on the floor about halfway to the hands, then struggle to wriggle it the rest of the way forward. This is a consequence both of tight groins and a weak belly. The short-term solution is to bend the knees to the floor right after Downward Dog, step the foot forward between the hands, then straighten the back knee into Lunge.

Success with Sun Salutation, as with all aspects of yoga practice, depends on commitment and regularity. An everyday practice would be best, but you might at first aim for four times a week. If possible, don’t skip more than a couple of days in a row, or you might end up back at square one.

Traditionally, Sun Salutation is best performed outdoors, facing east-the location of the rising sun, a symbol of the dawn of consciousness and jnana. This might be a perfect wake-up routine in India, where it’s usually warm outside, but it’s probably not feasible in Michigan in late December. Nowadays, Sun Salutation is used mostly as a preliminary warm-up for an asana session. I do 10 to 12 rounds at the start of every practice—or after a few hip and groin openers—and a few more on each equinox and solstice to acknowledge the change in the light. On days when only a quickie practice is possible, an intense 10-minute Sun Salutation and five minutes spent in Savasana (Corpse Pose) will do you just fine.

Launch your practice slowly with three to five rounds, gradually building up to 10 or 15. If this seems like a lot, remember that the traditional number of rounds is 108, which may take you more than a few weeks to work up to. You can pace the sequence briskly to generate heat and cleanse the body-mind, or more moderately to create a moving meditation.

If you’re looking for a more vigorous Sun Salutation, consider the approach of the vinyasa traditions such as K. Pattabhi Jois-style Ashtanga Yoga, which uses a jumping version of Sun Salutation to link the individual poses in their fixed series.

Variations of Sun Salutation are legion, and because of the sequence’s malleability, it’s easy enough to cook up a few of your own. For instance, you can make things more challenging by adding one or more poses: Insert Utkatasana (Chair Pose) after Urdhva Hastasana, or from Lunge, keeping your hands on the floor, straighten the forward leg to a modified Parsvottanasana (Side Stretch Pose). Let your imagination run wild and have fun.

Richard Rosen is a YJ contributing editor.

Return to http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/928

The “bhakta” usually practices meditation by visualizing, thinking and feeling that the Lord is sitting or standing before him. The bhakta pours out his heart’s love, adoration, and shares his deepest thoughts and concerns with the Lord until a continual flow of awareness moves between devotee and his or her beloved Lord.

This continuous flow of love and life force brings about a superconscious state of awareness which is generally called a mood, or bhava.
Generally, in this form of meditation — bhakti meditation — there is awareness of relationship, or twoness. The devotee is aware of the Lord and of his own being, and of the relationship between the Lord and the devotee. Sometimes, however, the devotee loses self-consciousness and is aware only of the Lord. Also, at times the bhakta experiences that the Lord’s spirit, or consciousness, moves into the devotee, infilling and indwelling him.
Both in the mood of twoness and in the experience of oneness you are transformed: your character is improved. And, periods of higher consciousness come more frequently. With even greater development, the aspirant who does bhakti meditation lives in a sense of permanent relationship with his divine Beloved!

This permanent relationship is not a static thing. It develops into one exciting dimension of love after another. These relationships are ever-new and ever-refreshing and continue to delight the bhakti yogi throughout life.

The bhakta, also, because of the ease of the mood relationship, is given special ability to experience the deep samadhis and other high states of awareness which other yogis focus upon.

Chanting (Kirtan) is a part of the path of Devotional Yoga.

When we see the beauty of our own being we are seeing the beauty of the Being that is the One of which we are all a part. And when we turn towards that One, love is the natural reaction of the heart.

God or Guru is an endless ocean of love truth and presence. First we may hear the distant roar of the crashing waves of the ocean and we’re drawn to that sound. As we get closer, we can smell the ocean air and taste the sweet moisture. When we reach the beach and see the ocean for the first time, we’re transfixed by the vastness and Beauty. We run and we dive in and enjoy the freedom that comes from this ecstasy. Finally we merge with that ocean of love and somehow find ourselves back on the shore, returning to ourselves so that we can share the experience with others.

Those that have returned have given us these Names of God. These Names are the sound of the surf of that Ocean of Love. They hold the power to help us find our way back to that ocean. We don’t have to create anything; we don’t have to manufacture any emotions or feelings. We can’t make it happen. It already is. All we have to do is Remember. Everyone has their own path to this beach, to the Ocean, but we all wind up in the same place. There is only one…One.

The following is an excerpt from ‘Pilgrim of the Heart’ audio series by Krishna Das:
“The words of these chants are called the divine names and they come from a place that’s deeper than our hearts and our thoughts, deeper than the mind. And so as we sing them they turn us towards ourselves, into ourselves. They bring us in, and as we offer ourselves into the experience, the experience changes us. These chants have no meaning other than the experience that we have by doing them. They come from the Hindu tradition, but it’s not about being a Hindu, or believing anything in advance. It’s just about doing it, and experiencing. Nothing to join, you just sit down and sing.”
Satsang is where people gather together to remember, to turn within and find their own inner path to the One. When we gather together to sing like this we are helping each other find our own paths. We all must travel this path by ourselves because each of us is our own path. All these paths wander on in their own way, but in truth we are all travelling together and until the last of us arrives we will all keep travelling. So let’s sing!

‘And when he sees me in all and sees all in me,
Then I never leave him and he never leaves me.
And he, who in this oneness of love
Loves me in whatever he sees,
Wherever this man may live,
In truth, he lives in me…’

Bhagavad Gita, VI:30,31

The Iyengar method of Yoga is initially learnt through the in-depth study of asanas (posture) and pranayama (breath control).

Mr Iyengar has systematized over 200 classical yoga Asanas and 14 different types of Pranayamas (with variations of many of them) from the simple to the incredibly difficult. These have been structured and categorized so as to allow a beginner to progress surely and safely from basic postures to the most advanced as they gain flexibility, strength and sensitivity in mind, body and spirit.

Asana:
In practice Iyengar yoga focuses particularly on three aspects. Correct body alignment allows the body to develop harmoniously in an anatomically correct way so that the student suffers no injury or pain when practicing correctly. As all bodies are different and people have different weaknesses and strengths. Mr Iyengar has also developed the use of props to help the body into the correct positions required. Props are objects like wooden blocks, chairs, blankets and belts that help one adjust or support oneself in the different postures so that one can work in a range of motion that is safe and effective.

An added benefit is that although the therapeutic aspects of asanas and pranayama have been known for centuries, Mr Iyengar’s unrelenting emphasis on correct anatomical alignment and methods of working have refined the therapeutic aspects of Yoga. Thus practice of Iyengar yoga will often result in eliminating aches and pains, improve posture etc. but Iyengar Yoga can also be used to treat many ailments, including extremely serious medical conditions, under the supervision of a suitably experienced teacher. The other two key aspects of asana practice in the Iyengar system are correct sequencing in which there is a powerful cumulative effect achieved by practicing asanas in particular sequences. The concept of timings means postures are held for considerable lengths of time to let the effects of the poses penetrate deeper within the individual

Pranayama:
Pranayama is started once a firm foundation in asana has been established as physically the student requires the alignment, flexibility, lung capacity and training necessary to sit and breathe correctly while practicing. Pranayama gives numerous physical benefits including toning the circulatory, digestive, nervous and respiratory systems, activating the internal organs and creating a feeling of energy and calmness. Equally importantly it also brings the mind and senses under control and make the individual fit for the experience of meditation.
Astanga Yoga

One may, from the above, gain the impression that Iyengar yoga is therefore just gymnastics and deep breathing or only Asana and Pranayama. This is incorrect.

Asanas and Pranayama are merely used as the tools with which to master all 8 aspects of Patanjali’s Astanga yoga. Mastery of the body is the gateway to mastery of the mind. Consider the following: The whole human being from the outermost skin to the innermost being (or soul) is interconnected. For example, if the body is ill, the mind also becomes depressed, lethargic and bad tempered and if the mind is stressed the body becomes tense. The intensity and depth to which Iyengar yoga is practiced on the physical level does affect and change the mind and spirit.

In doing yoga asanas the whole body and mind must learn to become involved. One has to spread one’s awareness to the smallest parts of the body simultaneously so the mind becomes alert, attentive and sharp. One learns to breathe smoothly deeply and evenly so one’s energy (prana) can flow without obstruction and one learns to make the mind quiet, passive and receptive thus promoting a meditative state of mind. This makes the body fit for Pranayama.

To read more, please click here to visit the Iyengar Website. >>

Ashtanga yoga is a system of yoga recorded by the sage Vamana Rishi in the Yoga Korunta, an ancient manuscript “said to contain lists of many different groupings of asanas, as well as highly original teachings on vinyasa, drishti, bandhas, mudras, and philosophy” (Jois 2002 xv). The text of the Yoga Korunta “was imparted to Sri T. Krishnamacharya in the early 1900’s by his Guru Rama Mohan Brahmachari, and was later passed down to Pattabhi Jois during the duration of his studies with Krishnamacharya, beginning in 1927″ (”Ashtanga Yoga”). Since 1948, Pattabhi Jois has been teaching Ashtanga yoga from his yoga shala, the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute (Jois 2002 xvi), according to the sacred tradition of Guru Parampara [disciplic succession] (Jois 2003 12).

Ashtanga yoga literally means “eight-limbed yoga,” as outlined by the sage Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras. According to Patanjali, the path of internal purification for revealing the Universal Self consists of the following eight spiritual practices:

Yama [moral codes]
Niyama [self-purification and study]
Asana [posture]
Pranayama [breath control]
Pratyahara [sense control]
Dharana [concentration]
Dhyana [meditation]
Samadhi [absorption into the Universal] (Scott 14-17)

The first four limbs—yama, niyama, asana, pranayama—are considered external cleansing practices. According to Pattabhi Jois, defects in the external practices are correctable. However, defects in the internal cleansing practices—pratyahara, dharana, dhyana—are not correctable and can be dangerous to the mind unless the correct Ashtanga yoga method is followed (Stern and Summerbell 35). For this reason, Pattabhi Jois emphasizes that the “Ashtanga Yoga method is Patanjali Yoga” (Flynn).

The definition of yoga is “the controlling of the mind” [citta vrtti nirodhah] (Jois 2003 10). The first two steps toward controlling the mind are the perfection of yama and niyama (Jois 2003 10). However, it is “not possible to practice the limbs and sub-limbs of yama and niyama when the body and sense organs are weak and haunted by obstacles” (Jois 2002 17). A person must first take up daily asana practice to make the body strong and healthy (Jois 2003 10). With the body and sense organs thus stabilized, the mind can be steady and controlled (Jois 2002 16). With mind control, one is able to pursue and grasp these first two limbs (Flynn).

To perform asana correctly in Ashtanga yoga, one must incorporate the use of vinyasa and tristhana. “Vinyasa means breathing and movement system. For each movement, there is one breath. For example, in Surya Namskar there are nine vinyasas. The first vinyasa is inhaling while raising your arms over your head, and putting your hands together; the second is exhaling while bending forward, placing your hands next to your feet, etc. In this way all asanas are assigned a certain number of vinyasas” (”Ashtanga Yoga”).

“The purpose of vinyasa is for internal cleansing” (”Ashtanga Yoga”). Synchronizing breathing and movement in the asanas heats the blood, cleaning and thinning it so that it may circulate more freely. Improved blood circulation relieves joint pain and removes toxins and disease from the internal organs. The sweat generated from the heat of vinyasa then carries the impurities out of the body. Through the use of vinyasa, the body becomes healthy, light and strong (”Ashtanga Yoga”).

Tristhana refers to the union of “three places of attention or action: posture, breathing system and looking place. These three are very important for yoga practice, and cover three levels of purification: the body, nervous system and mind. They are always performed in conjunction with each other” (”Ashtanga Yoga”).

Posture: “The method for purifying and strengthening the body is called asana” (Jois 2002 22). In Ashtanga yoga, asana is grouped into six series. “The Primary Series [Yoga Chikitsa] detoxifies and aligns the body. The Intermediate Series [Nadi Shodhana] purifies the nervous system by opening and clearing the energy channels. The Advanced Series A, B, C, and D [Sthira Bhaga] integrate the strength and grace of the practice, requiring higher levels of flexibility and humility. Each level is to be fully developed before proceeding to the next, and the sequential order of asanas is to be meticulously followed. Each posture is a preparation for the next, developing the strength and balance required to move further” (Pace). Without an earnest effort and reverence towards the practice of yama and niyama, however, the practice of asana is of little benefit (Flynn).

Breathing: The breathing technique performed with vinyasa is called ujjayi [victorious breath] (Scott 20), which consists of puraka [inhalation] and rechaka [exhalation] (”Ashtanga Yoga”). “Both the inhale and exhale should be steady and even, the length of the inhale should be the same length as the exhale” (”Ashtanga Yoga”). Over time, the length and intensity of the inhalation and exhalation should increase, such that the increased stretching of the breath initiates the increased stretching of the body (Scott 21). Long, even breathing also increases the internal fire and strengthens and purifies the nervous system (”Ashtanga Yoga”).

Bandhas are essential components of the ujjayi breathing technique. Bandha means “lock” or “seal” (Scott 21). The purpose of bandha is to unlock pranic energy and direct it into the 72,000 nadi [energy channels] of the subtle body (Scott 21). Mula bandha is the anal lock, and uddiyana bandha is the lower abdominal lock (”Ashtanga Yoga”). Both bandhas “seal in energy, give lightness, strength and health to the body, and help to build a strong internal fire” (”Ashtanga Yoga”). Mula bandha operates at the root of the body to seal in prana internally for uddiyana bandha to direct the prana upwards through the nadis (Scott 21). Jalandhara bandha is the “throat lock” (Jois 2002 23, n.27), which “occurs spontaneously in a subtle form in many asanas due to the dristi (”gaze point”), or head position” (Scott 23). “This lock prevents pranic energy [from] escaping and stops any build-up of pressure in the head when holding the breath” (Scott 23). Without bandha control, “breathing will not be correct, and the asanas will give no benefit” (”Ashtanga Yoga”).

Looking Place: Dristhi is the gazing point on which one focuses while performing the asana (”Ashtanga Yoga”). “There are nine dristhis: the nose, between the eyebrows, navel, thumb, hands, feet, up, right side and left side. Dristhi purifies and stabilizes the functioning of the mind” (”Ashtanga Yoga”). In the practice of asana, when the mind focuses purely on inhalation, exhalation, and the drishti, the resulting deep state of concentration paves the way for the practices of dharana and dhyana, the six and seventh limbs of Ashtanga yoga (Scott 23).

Instruction in pranayama can begin after one has learned the asanas well and can practice them with ease (Jois 2002 23). “Pranayama means taking in the subtle power of the vital wind through rechaka [exhalation], puraka [inhalation], and kumbhaka [breath retention]. Only these kriyas, practiced in conjunction with the three bandhas [muscle contractions, or locks] and in accordance with the rules, can be called pranayama” (Jois 2002 23). The three bandhas are “mula bandha, uddiyana bandha, and jalandhara bandha, and they should be performed while practicing asana and the like” (Jois 2002 23). “When mula bandha is perfect, mind control is automatic” (”Ashtanga Yoga”). “In this way did Patanjali start Yoga. By using mulabandha and by controlling the mind, he gradually gained knowledge of Yoga” (Jois 2003 11).

Practicing asana for many years with correct vinyasa and tristhana gives the student the clarity of mind, steadiness of body, and purification of the nervous system to begin the prescribed pranayama practice (Flynn). “Through the practice of pranayama, the mind becomes arrested in a single direction and follows the movement of the breath” (Jois 2002 23). Pranayama forms the foundation for the internal cleansing practices of Ashtanga yoga (Flynn).

The four internal cleansing practices—pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, and samadhi—bring the mind under control (Stern and Summerbell 35). When purification is complete and mind control occurs, the Six Poisons surrounding the spiritual heart [kama (desire), krodha (anger), moha (delusion), lobha (greed), matsarya (sloth), and mada (envy)]—”will, one by one, go completely” (Stern and Summerbell 35), revealing the Universal Self. In this way, the correct, diligent practice of Ashtanga Yoga under the direction of a Guru “with a subdued mind unshackled from the external and internal sense organs” (Jois 2002 22) eventually leads one to the full realization of Patanjali’s eight-limbed yoga.

The most famous aspect of hatha yoga is probably the postures or asanas which are used to strengthen, stretch, and tone the body as part of yogic practice. During a hatha yoga session, the practitioner will move through a number of these poses, holding them for varying amounts of time and working in a set order to ensure that muscle groups are slowly warmed up and evenly worked. Many hatha yoga poses are quite demanding, requiring focus, strength, and agility.

Another important aspect of hatha yoga is pranayama, or breathwork. During a yoga session, yogis and yoginis are very mindful of their breath, and they may take breaks during the session to focus specifically on breathing. Control of the breath is said to be vital to the control of the body, and it also encourages an inward focus which can help to develop one’s spirituality.

The practice of meditation is also deemed to be an important part of hatha yoga, although not all people engage in meditation. The practice of yoga tends to promote a calm, still state which can be conducive to meditation, and this is part of the goal of yogic practice. In India, hatha yoga also includes a number of moral precepts which people are expected to follow, including principles of nonviolence and truthfulness. These precepts are not always integrated into Western practice of hatha yoga.

The goal of hatha yoga is to achieve a balance between mind and body. Yoga practitioners tend to be in good shape, because their bodies are repeatedly put through a series of demanding exercises, and their minds are also said to be clearer than those of people who do not practice yoga. The practice of hatha yoga can help people focus on self-improvement, and it encourages people to take the experiences and emotions of their yoga sessions and classes with them into the outside world.

Where does Hatha come from?

The earliest classical work on yoga is unanimously considered as “Yoga sutra of Patanjali.” This treatise laid the foundation for all the manifestations of Yoga formed thereafter. Hatha has developed following this very groundwork.

Owing to the fact that Indian studies have been really ancient, the lack of accurate chronological evidence leads to vagueness concerning dates. Even if we happen to decide on the exact date the treatise was written on, the fact remains that the knowledge has been passed from centuries before in oral form.The conclusion remains that the ideas themselves could derive from the intangible time of pre-history.

Many scholars locate hatha-yoga`s formative years somewhere between the ninth and tenth centuries C.E. It is in this time period that the estimated flourishing of the great siddhas (adepts) Matsyendra and Goraksa, and other researchers and practitioners of yoga took place simultaneously.

It is believed that Matsyendra lived at the beginning of the tenth century A.D. Goraksa`s existence is traced much farther back in time. Some expert view the existence of hatha-yoga to be a tradition whose roots extend back at least several thousand years, with its earliest known authentic text being the Yoga-Karunta. This work took its shape in Varanasi. “Krishnamacharya” claims to have come across a 1,500-year-old manuscript of this text. `The style of language [being] derived from an oral tradition predating classical Sanskrit, and possibly going back as far as 5,000 years back.

To put it factually, Hatha yoga known today has originated and evolved through generations to generations with no fixed measure of time. Its best-known treatises such as the Hatha-Yoga-Pradipika, Gheranda-Samhita and Siva-Samhita fall within a particular Indian literary category known as Tantra. It is for this reason that hatha-yoga is sometimes referred to as a variety of `Tantrism`. However,Tantras constitute a very broad category indeed, and thus being designated as Tantric tells us little about the content of a work.

The verbal root of tantra is “Tan” which literally means `to extend, spread, to put forth, manifest, display or augment`. The word Tantra itself has various meanings; mainly referring to that of web or warp. Finally “Tantra” came gradually to stand for an uninterrupted series, orderly rituals, the doctrinal theory or system itself.

Many doctrines of tantra still incorporate philosophies in which the Absolute is personified as the deity Siva. Tantra or `Tantrism` has come to be most closely connected with the Saiva (Ardent followers of Shiva) traditions. Nevertheless, it would be wrong to assume that hatha-yoga is exclusively Saiva, for the ardent follower ship of Vishnu, Ram and Krishna also exist. Still, one of the most fervent yogis of this branch have been non-sectarian, and believers in supreme self within themselves.

Hatha-yoga has been frowned upon by supposedly `orthodox` Brahmins and even by practitioners of more predominantly `mental` forms of yoga. The reason being that Hatha is significantly a body-affirmative approach. However, its basic metaphysical tenets are continuous with those the Vedas and Upanisads. Although, the underlying doctrine of the identity of “Jivatman” (living self) and “Paramatman” (supreme Self) is the same, difference lies in the greater emphasis given to postural and breathing techniques therein. Such techniques did not receive systematic literary attention until the tantrika period. Still enough references to similar methods appear in certain of the early major Upanishads to suggest that hatha practice, as well as its theoretical basis, is Vedic in origin.

However, as every branch of ancient Indian knowledge is said to be inspired by a deity and weaved in mythology, so is the case with Hath yoga. This form of Yoga has following myth behind it:

Origin of Hath YogaOne day Parvati, the consort of Siva, looked down on her children, human beings, and seeing them in such a bad way, asked her divine husband: ” My Lord isn`t there anything that can be done to ease the suffering of our children? ” Siva closed his eyes, entered into a state of deep meditation and started to teach the science of Hatha Yoga. Divine knowledge was pouring out of his lips as naturally and effortlessly as the Ganges flows to the sea.

When he had finished, he opened his eyes and discovered that Parvati had fallen asleep. As he had been teaching from this deep state of meditation, he could not remember what he had said. “What a waste!” said Siva to himself. Fortunately, in a pond nearby, there was a very special fish who had listened with great attention to the whole discourse. He said to Siva: “Please, do not worry my Lord, I remember everything!” Siva was so happy that he instantly liberated this great soul who had been the first recipient of this knowledge. He became Matsyendranath. Matsyendranath handed it over to his disciple Goraknath, and this started a lineage of siddhas, perfected beings.

This story underlines the fact that Hatha Yoga is a divine gift traditionally transmitted from Guru to disciple. In this lineage, the first Guru was Shiva himself. Far from being frozen knowledge and codified instructions, it is a science kept alive by the yogis who have mastered it and who in turn transmit their knowledge to their deserving students. Sampoorna Hatha Yoga is a continuing expression of this tradition. That is why it is so effective for evolution of Ardent practitioners.

There are a few forms of yoga which are part of the lineage of Yoga.  Hatha, Bhakti, Tantra, Kundalini, Janu, Kriya, Patanjali, Karma, Laya, Mudra, Mantra, and a few more.  These styles of yoga are part of a long lineage past down from teacher to student.  What is taught today in all yoga studios are a variation of Hatha.   Each teacher has taken an aspect of Hatha Yoga, and carefully created their own brand from it.  To name a few: Ashtanga Yoga (by Pattabi Jois), Iyengar Yoga, Vini Yoga, Power Yoga, Anusara, Sonic Yoga, Jivamuhkti Yoga, Om Yoga, Happy Yoga, Laughter Yoga, Pure Yoga, Para Yoga, Kripalu Yoga, City Yoga, and so on.  These styles of Yoga are called name brands, and while valuable, usually only offer a piece of the kernel of wisdom that belongs to the Yoga Tradition.

Namaste
Aaron

The staff cooks up a storm. A menu that for us, was a combination of different cultures (sort of a not to strict daily geographic theme), lots of vegetables (local ones, fresh) and often chicken or freshly caught fish. But the preparation was the key. A mixture of seasonings/spices went into this that was amazing. I have never eaten so many astounding meals, ever. And amazingly enough, despite the quantity and frequency of the meals, I actually weighed 2 pounds less after. So, this food is good, healthy stuff, for sure. They really need to publish a cookbook. If you have any dietary restrictions, they are accommodated, and so subtly that you don’t realize they’ve done it. The eating area is outside, in kind of a very fancy garden cafe environment. There are no flying insects competing for your food. It is very well done.

There are activity ‘tours’ for which Blue Osa has made prearrangements with the locals who do them, and they will call for you, transport you, and put the fee on a tab for the week, which you pay when you leave. There are numerous kinds, personally, I kayaked, and went on a waterfall hike, others went ziplining over the forest canopy, surfing, horseback riding. As you are in a remote part of Costa Rica, the activities are low keyed, and very personal. No huge crowds to fight, no lines to stand in, just peacefulness.

There is a spa area, where different treatments can be provided. The practitioners are local, and excellent. The spa wraps of all kinds, massage, acupuncture, manicures, etc are on the menu. And it is the request it, put it on the tab system, too.

I was on a Yoga retreat, so we did a yoga practice every morning. This is not a requirement for staying here, but if yoga is your thing, you can’t find a better setting in which to practice than the second floor studio, with windows all around, overlooking the bay. It is beautifully done. And note, ‘windows’ are really openings, no glass, no screens. You get the breeze, the natural nature sounds — it is amazing.

The location, in the jungle, and right on the coast of Golfo Dulce (a bay off the pacific ocean), is the best part. You hear the waves all the time. You just must go for a walk on the beach, which is basically deserted (a couple of local fishermen, and nobody in the evening), so you can walk the coastline in the morning or evening in peace. If you want company, the local ‘canine-crew’ will tag along. If you want solitude, you can tell them to go back, and they amazingly do…

In my mind, I see the sunrise, and a walk on the beach in peace. It is a lasting image, still useful for busting life’s stressful moments.

It’s simple. Go.

Food service is included, and features fresh, local produce - Marie, Angus and the rest of the kitchen staff do an outstanding job.

The resort staff will set up spa treatments, nature hikes, zip lining, horseback riding - and will consolidate all activities on a single bill (including taxi service and any gratuities) that you can pay at the end of your stay. Best of all, you’re just steps from the beach, and can hear the sounds of the waves as you lay in bed at night…

I’ll be back!

Come to Blue Osa for a week of bliss, rejuvenation and in depth quality yoga instruction with Iynegar Teacher Genny Kapuler. Who is Genny? >>

Price for each 7-day retreat $1599 or
Save with the early sign up discount - $1299 if you register and pay by July 31, 2010.
To register, a FULL non-refundable and non-transferable payment is required for any RSVP. Click here to Pay Now! >>

When: January 29 – February 5, 2011. We officially begin the retreat at dinner on January 29, and end the retreat with breakfast on Feb 5.

Please CONTACT US for more information. Click here to download the full information package on this retreat.

If you let Stephen, the ever-upbeat and positive office manager, know your desires, he will arrange for whatever adventure or excursion you want to participate in, including transportation.

One of the best parts of the week was simply walking barefoot on the beach, watching the fishermen competing with the pelicans, and always the waves were rolling in, the tide rising and falling.  Home seemed so quiet after a week of listening to the waves.