Unseen Arms

Unseen arms: 

every once in a while my morning yoga aligns for the near perfect expression of vrksasana, as if gravity itself cooperated with my body and allowed for this experience. Tree pose is my bellwether posture, it's often a measure of trust  and my willingness to surrender to the present moment's grace. It's sometimes a shaky experience even after decades of practice, a single thought can cause me to sway and bring my entire foundation down. But not too often anymore, it's a reliable pose most morning, steady, firmly rooted to the ground as I reach my arms skyward. 

and sometimes there's a certain grace that's given.

a slight suspension of gravity.

everything aligns.

I love those moments, being a rare gift through decades of practice - and yet I know that they're always possible, that at any moment the weight of thoughts can drop away and I'm left with what feels like an endless reach towards heaven. It's a blissful experience, calm, as if nothing can ever sway me and cause me to lose this sense of balance. Rare moments indeed. But here's the thing, a gift is most truly appreciated through the trials of learning to trust in their arrival. It's my practice that most often brings me here. Grace itself is ever present and only waits for my acknowledgement. I'm learning this, developing trust in the eternal grace of spirit and surrendering to the daily practice of remembrance. 

and my real practice is the yoga of forgiveness.

it's seeing the softest light shine through my every sway and shift of balance, being unafraid of falling from any of life's endless postures. Forgiveness is my return point, rooted in trust and a firm knowing that this is exactly where grace will meet me. 

right here,

now.

and then even if I should  fall...

especially so,

I trust in the unseen arms of grace to catch me. 

and they always do.

~

I love you, Eric

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Aligning

Aligning: 

I love the immediacy of results in my early morning yoga practice, each pose providing feedback through breath, thoughts and balance. If anything is off by even a fraction my body shows exactly what adjustments are needed and everything aligns. Forgiveness too, for me, is an asana, a posture purposely held throughout my life, returned to as frequently possible. This also provides immediate results, a measurement of peace that's instantly revealed as a holy moment. Sometimes, just like a physical asana, it's just the briefest of alignments. Like every other yoga pose, if I'm mindful, forgiveness provides me the opportunity of trusting a wisdom far greater than the thoughts I might be holding. With this trust I'm asked to make those little adjustments needed to bring me back to God-centered presence, noting whatever led me astray and then offering myself a gentle return to peace of mind. 

so my life is really about yoga now, 

aligning myself,

returning back to God-centered presence....

just as often as it's needed.

~

I love you, Eric

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Patanjali, Jesus, and Forgiveness

Patanjali, Jesus, and forgiveness: 

"If all but loving thoughts have been forgotten, what remains is eternal" - as if spoken by Patanjali, a new yoga centered on awakening to the present moment through relationships, seeking union by healing the very symbol of our separation. Yet these were words said by Jesus in A Course in Miracles, chapter 17 giving a discourse in an entirely new language of yoga. What's given here is the last secret to enlightenment, a version of tantra that uses our every present relationship as a means of awakening to the eternal holy instant. Forgiveness is the only practice needed, being used as a continuous recognition of our holiness, an instant insight into the reality of love. We are not alone in this practice, invoking the Holy Spirit to help undo all that blocks our awareness of love's presence. Here, our "inner spark of beauty" is rediscovered, revealed through our forgiveness, and union is achieved. 

this is yoga of the highest order.

with our every relationship offering us the potential for awakening.

for the present is forgiveness, as Jesus says in the Course/

and so our practice of yoga begins,

right now.

~

I love you, Eric

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Trusting in My Yoga

Trusting in my yoga:

so for the longest time the most difficult yoga posture for me was halasana, plough pose, an asana that requires the yogi to gently bring their legs behind head, feet touching floor, while lying on their backs. It's not a complicated posture, a few nuances to master, but fairly straight forward in it's practice. And yet for me it was difficult, my feet simply could not find the floor no matter the effort I put forth. This wasn't due to lack of flexibility, nor any muscle imbalance. I've practiced yoga for decades, all through my life really, and although I'm not a master of advanced postures, I do have a steady, daily practice that has served me quite well. 

the problem, as I discovered, 

was trust. 

my faith was completely in the gravity of the moment, even moving quite slowly I was subconsciously afraid that the weight of my legs would continue in their momentum and carry me all the way backwards, placing undue pressure on my neck. And in fact, on more than one occasion, this actually occurred, only furthering my fear. So I would find myself a few precious inches away from completely finishing the pose, even with firm guidance from better yogi's than myself I was unable to close that gap. 

fear, of course, is a powerful thing.

and it keeps us from trusting in the grace found every moment. 

one day, and not so long ago, my feet still a few precious inches above the floor, a customary position for my halfhearted effort - my feet touched the floor. Just like that. Simple. There was no rush of joy, no elation, or even satisfaction. It felt normal, natural, as if fear just didn't belong there any longer. Here's the thing though, early morning practice, hours away from sunrise and my house is still, quite, my feet hovering above the floor - and a soft whisper arrived urging me to trust. I knew the floor was there readying to greet me, not a shred of doubt present. 

I knew I was supported.

and I was.

this is an easy asana for me now, a continuation from shoulder stand to plough in a complete and lovely display of trust, and grace.. There is no fear. The floor is always present and willing to meet me in the trust of my surrender. I just wasn't ready to let go. Until I was. And now my practice is completely different, a beautiful flow of faith and ease. 

it's early morning now, hours away from sunrise, my house very still, quiet...

a soft whisper arriving, 

trust.

and I find myself smiling, ready for the day. 

all of life is yoga.

~

I love you, Eric

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Ksama

Ksama: 

it's a mind asana, ksama, which is a Sanskrit word for forgiveness, and with every word of that ancient language, so much more is layered in its meaning. Sanskrit words are often meant to convey qualities of virtue, not just a single action of label but an actual way of living. Ksama too is such a word and it is deep in the gifts that it offers. Here' we're not asked to forgive in any traditional sense, but to hold it deep as a posture of the mind an asana that is returned to throughout the day and lived as an expression of divine grace. There's an implied strength within the word, forbearance, that we are meant to return to this as a practice, building a stamina of forgiveness that carries us through life. This is also the forgiveness of surrender, releasing others of long held resentments, refusing to judge or hold a grievance, and knowing that this is our own true path of salvation. 

it's the yoga of forgiveness. 

and so for me, 

A Course in Miracles has become my yoga - it's my forgiveness path, ksama in its purest sense of grace and purpose. I've been led to this point, countless asanas, endless repetition of mantra, and cultivating prana though my breathwork. All valuable practices, preparing for me for a final letting go...in the end, moksha, liberation, is freedom from the heaviness of grievances. 

forgiveness is enlightenment. 

it's the path that takes us home...directly so.

~

I love you, Eric

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Lean

Lean: 

I love the balancing postures, two in particular each morning, vrikshasana, or tree pose, and natarajasana, also called the dancer's pose. Both of these poses require trust, being mindful of just the right shift of balance to continue the posture a little while longer. What I'm trusting is not only the body, but ground beneath my feet and the very air that seems to support be when I reach the point of feeling perfectly poised and stead. It sometimes feels like I could hold each of these asanas forever, an eternal yogi trusting that a greater force will hold him. And fairly often too I stumble from the pose, as if the air defeated me and gravity frowned upon my effort to defy it. Lately though, my trust has grown, deepened into something nearly describable - 

I'm being held. 

not propped to support the the pose, and not always with a sense of ease, but with a grace that whispers to me that every fall and tug of gravity is in perfect order for the lesson of the moment. I'm not asked to trust that each asana will be perfect, no, it's that they will be perfectly expressed in such a way that I learn to remember to smile through every shift of balance. Trust is dynamic, requiring deep listening and keen inner sight that takes us beyond the appearance of what the moment offers. I know that each fall doesn't remove me from the hold of grace, but only furthers my commitment to smile and lean even deeper into the unseen arms that always hold me. 

it's trust.

and every morning...

I lean just a littler further.

~

I love you, Eric

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With The Holy Spirit

With the Holy Spirit: 

turning even my morning yoga asana practice over to the Holy Aspect, guided into each posture as to what is absolutely right for me to perform. This wasn't something that I willfully did, it wasn't a conscious surrender, and I unaware that I was being guided until I compared my practice from over a year ago to what I do now. My yoga has become a fine art of listening to this holy voice, shifting sequence without notice, holding a pose for just the right amount of time before letting go. There's a greater rhythm here and it's far beyond my own. The softest nudge and intuitive sense causes me to move in just the right way for the healing of my body to occur. My mornings have a peaceful reverence now, beyond mere ritual and routine, there's a guidance in every move that carries on throughout the day. More so than ever I'm beginning to trust the Holy Spirit, not an outside source, but the very voice for God that speaks through every cell of my body, informs just the right thought, and urges me to continue in this subtle art of listening...even as it guides me through my yoga practice. 

not a whisper to be left unheard.

I'm listening now.

finally. 

~

I love you, Eric 

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Yoga of Forgiveness

Yoga of forgiveness: 

my yoga is forgiveness, a practice from first waking with breathwork and meditation to the asanas that follow - all of done with gentle intent, a kindness extended to the present condition of my body, whatever state that might be. I am mindful of every ache that comes with 60 years of living, relaxed with a mind that still sometimes wanders after decades of meditation. Forgiveness brings sharp focus to what's present in each moment, releasing me from the need to push my body harder, or straining to catch my mantra as it slips my concentration. I am asked to be gentle to myself, easing into the morning with the grace of acceptance, grateful that I can still move so easily even with some inevitable aches and pains. Forgiveness tells me that this is the body that's present, working within the perimeters it offers, and not holding onto whatever demands the ego makes for me. 

this is the yoga of true forgiveness.

a fresh beginning each day.

a joyful practice.

~

I love you, Eric

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Now, Yoga Begins

Now, yoga begins:

really, it's about watching the mind - my yoga has arrived at the central focus of ego and the Holy Spirit, mindful of my choice between the two, and then a gentle shift back whenever I find that I have strayed from a place of loving kindness. For me, this is the yoga of forgiveness. Even on the yoga mat I bring my mind to the posture at hand, releasing all judgement of the body that's performing the pose now, being aware of the nuances of mobility that every practice period offers. A yoga teacher recently gave me a marvelous translation of the first of Patanjali's yoga sutras:

atha yoga -anushasanam...

now, the teaching of yoga begins.

and indeed, as this teacher pointed out to me, this moment,  right now, is the beginning of yoga, an entrance into the same timeless realm that forgiveness leads us to, the gateway of eternity. Releasing myself from ego's judgement, relaxing into every posture that life delivers, yoga heals me, asking me to forgive all that preceded this moment, and focus only on what's present.

and this is where love ifs found.

now, 

the teaching of yoga truly begins.

~

I love you, Eric

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Step Off the Battlefield

Step off the battlefield: 

I like to imagine that while still on the battlefield, post fighting and with a quiet peace beginning to settle, Krishna offers one more path of yoga to his pupil Arjuna, a fifth, and for now, still secret path shared just between them. With a whisper it's revealed that forgiveness transcends the actual battle that was only imagined, frightfully so, but still taking place in the collective mind shared by all. This is the yoga of forgiveness, an escape from maya, and even more direct than all the other paths. The truth is -that ancient battle was brief in its pause, we have continued to war against ourselves...

and it's still imagined,

only maya,

just waiting to be forgiven.

this moment, right now, is the age of true yoga. 

we step off the battlefield.

once and for all.

forgiving the dream...and returning home.

together.

~

I love you, Eric 

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My Yoga is Forgiveness

My yoga is forgiveness: 

for me, A Course in Miracles is a path of yoga, a natural extension of the four traditional paths and concluding with complete liberation through the practice of forgiveness. This is a personal view, based solely on my own experience and not offered as an issue of debate. My life has just flowed in this direction, happily so, and my practice now seems so vibrant and alive. In the Bhagavad Gita Krishna offers us four paths of yoga, each one a viable means of transcending karma and leading to awakening, an enlightened life. A Course in Miracle contains all of the aspects of each and takes us one step further through the grace of true forgiveness. Yes, I value and live the ethics of yoga, committed fully to the Yamas and Niyamas. I wake each morning to a daily practice of pranayama, meditation, and asanas - I'm a yogi, not as a title but a lifestyle. Yet most importantly, and continuously so, my yoga is forgiveness. And it's this path that leads me ever closer to home. 

every forgiven moment is my awakening. 

~

I love you, Eric

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Fifth Path

Fifth path: 

in the Bhagavad Gita Krishna outlines the four paths of yoga for Prince Arjuna, and of these Bhakti yoga, the path of devotion, was said to be the most direct means of realizing God. In the text, forgiveness is mentioned at least twice, stating that it's a virtue, a divine quality that's naturally displayed as a benefit of a yogi's practice. In a step further, or so it's been with me, Jesus, in A Course in Miracles, presents the fifth and surest path to our reunion with God...

forgiveness, as a complete practice, 

taking us all the way home. 

this is a more radical forgiveness than mentioned in other spiritual text, it's the continuous challenge of recognizing our own innocence, our Christ identity, through the presence of others. This is a grace extended by the sincerity of our practice, containing the very essence of the salutation Namaste, that I wish only to see the light within you so that I may recognize my own. Forgiveness is the remembrance of God even as our forgetfulness challenges us, defying the powerful pull of fear, and falling time after time into the presence of God's love. It's the greatest of all devotion.

forgiveness is the yoga of returning home,

directly so,

and we're all yogi's...

through the sincerity of our practice. 

namaste.

~

I love you, Eric 

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It's All Yoga

It's all Yoga: 

what I most love about yoga is that it shows me how distracted I might be at any given moment of my practice, if my posture wavers in a particular asana, or my mind wanders from breath and mantra, every little detail matters to my successful focus. Yet these distractions can serve as well, but only when noticed, brought to my attention by an unsuccessful pose, or far wandering mind. The importance has been in bringing my yoga off the mat, allowing life to point out my distractions, and then being able to bring my focus back to the most important task at hand. 

I am here only to be truly helpful.

those are words from a beautiful prayer in A Course in Miracles, they're my off the mat yoga, a vital reminder that I am here to serve others, to be helpful and kind, forgiving. Anything else is a distraction  and doesn't serve my purpose here. What's important to remember is that even my helpfulness is meant to be a means of awakening, reminding me that I am representing a more powerful force, and that ultimately my only true role is to awaken from the dream of all distractions. 

so it's all yoga, every point and part of life. 

reminding me why I'm truly here.

~

I love you, Eric

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Carried Over

Carried over: 

my early morning yoga has just one goal now, it's a soft effort of beauty, more of a surrender, really, and each asana is approached with kindness, a forgiveness of any expectations. This plants me firmly in my present body. I want my day to be a carryover from the yoga mat, as well, each asana is expressed with the same tender care as my every relationship -

in short,

my yoga is a pursuit  of beauty, an art form of kindness, forgiveness...

 carried over from mat to life. 

~

I love you, Eric 

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Succinct Yoga

Succinct yoga: 

I love the succinct yoga of A Course in Miracles, how the cause of  all suffering stems from the misperception of who we are and that awakening from this illusion is as simple as seeing the world through forgiving eyes. The psychology of traditional yoga offers the five kleshas to our awareness, These too address mistaken beliefs of our identity, and once noted, we begin to awaken through breath and posture, mindfulness of certain ethical concerns, and finally concluding with samadhi, the bliss consciousness of our awakening.

 it's a beautiful path that I've long loved and practiced. 

as is A Course in Miracles, 

and yet....

I find that the immediacy of forgiveness is all that's truly needed, the entirety of yoga here, samadhi in the very moment of my surrender. 

it's succinct...beautifully so.

~

I love you, Eric

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Grace of Yoga

Grace of yoga: 

forgiveness is the real yoga, healing a mind that seems split between fear and love, restorative, and finally offering me a complete awakening to the reality of God. It's really the only path I need. Yet what I find now is that my long cherished practice of yoga is now, and has always been, a means of forgiveness. From surrendering the strain of my most challenging asanas to one of acceptance of an occasional fall in the length of a posture held - forgiveness is the grace of my return.

and with this,

my entire life becomes the grace of yoga.

everything is easily forgiven....

should I seem to fall.

~

Love, Eric 

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Halasana

Halasana: 

more than a year has past since injuring my back, better now, but still a careful issue, and my feet have touched the floor in halasana pose. This is a bit of a celebration for me, a healing on many levels as it was a fearful asana for me, stretching my legs behind me in reach of faith that the floor would meet me in support, holding the posture for the length of several breaths, and then slowly return to savasana. Even before injuring my back it was never an easy pose for me. 

so it's a benchmark now.

a release of fear.

and for me, it's a sign of forgiveness.

releasing fear, working through issues that tightly bind us in its grip, is never an easy process. Yoga offers me this healing opportunity, breath and body being a proving ground for my release. It's from here, this point of finally letting go, that I step off the mat and most truly begin to forgive and heal the world. What I've discovered is that fear is projected through the body, knots formed, making itself known through pain and often injury. To truly heal requires trust, patience, and infinite care. Fear isn't really overcome, it's simply seen through and then released without effort.

it's an illusion. 

and forgiveness sees right through it.

so as my body frees itself from those fearsome knots, my trust begins to extend outwards, that sense of patience and infinite care is now given to others in a completely loving way. When my feet touched the floor in halasana there was a great release that reverberated through my world.

 I'm not healed - but healing.  

and forgiving all along the way. 

~

Love, Eric 

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Smallest Act of Kindness

Smallest act of Kindness: 

I like the thought of being truly harmless, it resonates with me in a deeply meaningful way, and it's why I'm drawn to practice yoga and A Course in Miracles - both bring to the point of absolute trust in my own protection, and from here I seek to only offer kindness to the world. 

yoga literally begins with harmlessness, the foundation of it's practice are the ethical guidelines called Yamas and the very first is Ahimsa, non-harming, and if taken as a life path this alone can lead one to the deepest revelations. For me, even with decades of application, I feel that I've only skimmed the surface and there's so much more to be revealed. Each insight gained has only asked me to be kinder still and to keep exploring the unfolding gifts that kindness offers. 

and then, 

there's A Course in Miracles, it's here that my truest nature has been shown to me, that my very essence is harmlessness itself and is invulnerable to the illusion of attack. Only the ego can be harmed in any way and safety lies in the reality of who I truly am and the role I am here to perform - my mission, my dharma if you will...is the praise of God through my smallest act of kindness, it's to be helpful, and to extend this joy to others. 

trusting in this...I am directed to wherever it is I need to be,

to whoever needs the smallest act of kindness.

and here,

there's only love given and returned.

~

Love, Eric 

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Return

Return: 

for the past few days I've allowed myself to sleep in just a bit, only an hour or so as I recover from a virus that's been particularly stubborn in it's stay. With this I've made a few adjustments, dropping a few asanas from my earliest yoga routine, shortening my pre-dawn walks - little things that might not seem important but have a noticeable affect through the rest of the day. 

I feel like I'm behind, in need of catching up. 

yet there's nothing that I'm chasing.

my most recent days, over the course of the last few years, have become monk-like in their structure. With little room for negotiating those extra few minutes in bed. It's not so much a matter of discipline, no, being more so a spontaneous plan that guides me through the day. 

I just go where I'm told.

and live my life this way.

these past few days though, it feels like I've compromised that plan, listening to demands that aren't really for my best interest right now. And the reason is that I don't feel better from that extra time in bed, I'm playing catch up with the thing I've most enjoyed. An hour doesn't seem like a lot of time, bit it's enough to cause me to consider how my day is served. My most cherished moments are the morning hours, quiet, contemplative, and completely my own. 

it's my time with God.

Brahma Muhurta.

holy hours.

and they now ask for my return.

~

Love, Eric 

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The Yoga of A Course in Miracles

The yoga of A Course in Miracles: 

one doesn't have to confirm the other, Patanjali's Yoga Sutras are an entirely different school of thought than presented by A Course in Miracles -and yet they both promise an awakening, and show me the direct means of this possibility. More so, they simply my life through the joy of their practice, that I live the virtues of yoga's ethics, with breathwork, asanas, and meditation being fundamental to my day, while my forgiveness as offered by the Course keeps me centered in both my heart and peace of mind. I find no conflict between the two. 

what I truly love though, is when I catch a glimpse of an eternal truth shared between them. Both are systems that retrain the mind to remember who we really are. To practice both is to look beyond illusions to a reality that resides just beneath perceptions. Patanjali says that "a person and his mind generate the world ' and this could be an exact quite from the Course. The goal of yoga is to still the mind so that I can, at the very least, get a sense of this underlying reality. A Course in Miracles simply says - 

forgive the world of its illusions...

and be at home.

that's it, the yoga of A Course in Miracles, forgiveness offered to the the entity of the world. It's with this that I see through illusion, maya, and realize the deep heart connect that exists as my reality. Both yoga and the Course continuously point me towards the very moment of awakening. 

it's right now.

and everything's forgiven/ 

~

Peace, Eric

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