Aparigraha -"non-hoarding" or "non-attachment"

One of the laws of yoga is Aparigraha. Most people describe this as non-hoarding or being non-materialistic and they throw out all their stuff. But it is easy to lean on the superficial behavior of being possession-less ( you can even get your ego involved in this -- I have less stuff than you do... etc ) , it is the intention behind it that is important.

The point of the law is to be non attached to "stuff" -- relinquishing the idea that something outside of you will make you happy -- that car, that dress, that relationship. Which cant happen because things change, the car will rust, the dress will go out of fashion, the relationship will morph into something else.

So, nobody is saying you cant have nice stuff, it's just that you have to observe your attachment to it. Giving up the idea that you "own" something is another thing --- that if you can just hold onto something for long enough it is truly yours and you have it under control.

Now go beyond material things -- what else do you think you "own" (control) ? your relationship? your kids ? your job or status? your good looks? your time ? your beliefs?

Can you let go of these things ? Can they let go of you ?

Aparigraha or non-attachment can maybe be better defined as non-clinging. Loss is inevitable because nothing stays the same. It is resistance to change that causes pain. Clinging onto something sure doesnt help. Clinging onto that tattered, old pair of jeans, clinging onto old relationships.... I'm not saying this is easy. People dont like change -- especially if the change is perceived as a loss.

Spring Cleaning time is coming soon... start thinking about what old stuff you can clear out of your life and your closets.

I dont have so much to report today --- I really just wanted to post this photo of the ashram deer... they are sooooo satvic !

Photo kindly provided by the lovely Biljana again.

We are all back from our weekend yoga retreat at Ananda Ashram..... we had a wonderful time and I am soooo grateful to all our students who came and participated with us. Yoga is such an internal process that we are all lucky to have had the opportunity to practice together surrounded by the beauty and power of Mother Nature. During yoga class with Rikard and Kristina, I positioned myself by the window so I could watch the squirrels running around the branches of the big fir tree during our asanas ! (and Kristina thought I was listening to her)

I would love to hear from our students to hear how they felt after having spent the weekend with us. Send me an email !

As you can see from the photo, the lake at the ashram was quite frozen -- some people

were brave enough to go walking on the ice!! : 0 Not me !!!

A huge thank you to Biljana who was kind enough to send me lots of photos of the ashram !

Hari OM

I saw this article today on the internet MSN Health and Fitness :

"Yoga: Not Just an Exercise

Yoga can help you beat depression.
By PsychologyToday.com

In 1990, Jenny Smith was 41 years old. That year, her mental illness became so severe that she could barely walk or speak. After days of feeling wonderful one moment and hallucinating that spiders and bugs were crawling on her skin the next, she landed in the hospital for the second time that year.

Smith is a victim of bipolar disorder, a possibly hereditary illness characterized by oscillating feelings of elation and utter depression. And though she had tried 11 different medications for relief, some in combination, nothing seemed to work. Upon leaving the hospital, Smith was told that she could expect to be in and out of psychiatric hospitals for the rest of her life. Soon after her release, Smith decided to learn hatha yoga, which incorporates specific postures, meditation and pranayamas, deep abdominal breathing techniques that relax the body. As she practiced daily, Smith noticed that her panic attacks—a symptom of panic disorder, a disease that approximately 20% of bipolar disorder sufferers also contend with—were subsiding. She has since become a certified hatha yoga instructor, and with the help of only Paxil, an antidepressant that she'd taken before without effect, Smith's pattern of severe mood swings seems to have ended. She even taught her 11-year-old daughter—who had experienced panic attacks since age 7—the simple breathing technique of inhaling to the count of four and exhaling to the count of eight; as a result, her daughter's panic attacks subsided.

Key to reaping hatha yoga's mental benefits is reducing stress and anxiety. To that end, Jon Cabot-Zinn, Ph.D., of the University of Massachusetts, developed the Stress Reduction and Relaxation Program (SRRP), a system that emphasizes mindfulness, a meditation technique where practitioners observe their own mental process. SRRP has been the focus of several scientific studies in the last 20 years, and has been shown to significantly reduce anxiety and depression, and thus alleviate mental illness.

To date, the most persuasive evidence of the benefits of hatha yoga, and in particular pranayama, stems from research conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience in India. New studies have shown a high success rate—up to 73%—for treating depression with sudharshan kriya, a pranayama technique taught in the U.S. as "The Healing Breath Technique." It involves breathing naturally through the nose, mouth closed, in three distinct rhythms.

According to Stephen Cope, MSW, LICSW, a psychotherapist and author of Yoga and the Quest for the True Self (Bantam, 1999), hatha yoga's postures improve mood by moving energy through places in the body where feelings of grief or anger are stored. "Hatha yoga is an accessible form of learning self-soothing," he says. "These blocked feelings can be released very quickly, [creating a] regular, systemic experience of well-being." Yoga students may also benefit from their relationship with the yoga instructor, Cope said, which can provide a "container" or a safe place for investigating, expressing and resolving emotional issues. The instructor's encouraging and accepting words may also help students defeat self-limiting notions.
Not all mental health practitioners are convinced of yoga's healing powers, but many agree it can be helpful when combined with more traditional treatments. Zindel Segal, Ph.D., a University of Toronto psychiatry professor, recently studied SRRP when used in conjunction with cognitive therapy. He asked 145 people who were at risk for depression to undergo cognitive therapy either alone or with the SRRP. Segal found that after eight weeks of treatment, those participants who received both types of therapy were much less likely to relapse into depression. "This means that people can learn about their emotions not just by writing down their thoughts, which is what cognitive therapy is all about, but also by paying attention to the way their emotions are expressed in their bodies," he says. "Both approaches allow people to observe their experience without judgment, an important first step in stepping out of depression."

While yoga's therapeutic capabilities are still under scientific scrutiny, Smith isn't waiting for more proof. Having lost her grandmother to depression—she was one of many bipolar sufferers who take their own life due to the disease—Smith is determined not to let the disorder get the best of her. Since 1994, she has practiced and taught hatha yoga to depression sufferers—passing on what she believes has literally saved her life. "

I like knowing about people who come up with wonderful ideas of how to re-distribute wealth. It's not a matter of stealing from the rich to feed the poor, its a matter of re-channeling money and ideas to help set people up on their feet.

There is an article in FORTUNE magazine now about Mohammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize Winner, who is talking to major international companies about changing their traditional notions about performance and revenue -- what if a company could report on their financial statements how many lives were saved or improved by their product ? What if investors could make their decisions to buy stock based not just on yield and growth, but on the "social capital" of a company ? a social dividend for shareholders?

Danone is building a yoghurt factory in Bangladesh (at Mr. Yunus' suggestion). This provides local construction jobs, yoghurt making jobs, sales jobs, dairy cow sales, delivery service jobs.... etc etc... the idea is that it will eventually be a sustainable business run by the local people and that Danone will eventually see the return of its initial investment -- so it actually wont cost Danone anything in the end. This one small factory will provide income for 1600 people.

In addition, the yoghurt is fortified to fight malnutrition in children.

Well, we are back from our yoga weekend retreat (and we had a great time !!) and today, Valentine's Day has coincided with New York's first real snow fall this winter ! It's a snow-mixed-with-hail kind of precipitation, and quite painful when it hits you in the face. So we are all slushing around in our boots, trying to stay upright and navigating the puddles and the flower delivery guys.

I walked by a sidewalk florist I like on 8th Avenue and he has a multitude of dressy bouquets on display -- and all the flowers have a special sprinkling of sparkly snow on them. It looks soooo nice on a grey day!

Happy Valentine's Day !!!

Hey, feel free to leave comments -- I love hearing from you. Or if there is anything in particular you have a question about....

Tree Greetings

A new idea for gift buying ...

This is kind of like an e-card for birthdays etc.... you pay them $9 or $10 and a tree of your choice gets planted somewhere to support the ecosystem. Thinking Green here.

www.treegreetings.com

The Spiritual Cinema Circle

All you have to do is subscribe to this and they will send you DVDs of movies with a spiritual bent. They make it easy for you to find movies you might not have known about that open your heart.

www.spiritualcinemacircle.com


There is also another verison of the same idea but for books :

www.transformationalbookcircle.com