hi fellow YiYers,
i’m missing y’all! i’ll probably feel differently as i get to know more folks here but this morning in practice (solo in my room at thekevinn.com) i held y’all in my mind as i practiced in this totally new environment.
i’m settling in, though. i’m blogging at divineeye.blogspot.com. you’re welcome to read up there. it won’t just be about yoga and mayn’t be PG13 but it should be easy enough to figure out what to skim or not skim depending on what you’d like to find out. if you’d rather know me via what’d organically arise in conversation, then you mayn’t want to read it. 
if you forget the URL, you can find it via the sorta-kinda secret link i put at:
http://wiseorchid.com/weblog/weblog.html
scroll down and click on the asterisk.
best,
antonia
The moon days in November will be Tuesday, November 1st and Tuesday, November 15th.
Happy Halloween,
Anne
Sutra II-26 revisited:
“The continuous practice of discrimination is the means of attaining liberation”
Various translations of this sutra contain words such as “continuous / undisturbed / unbroken / persistent” and “discrimination / judgment / true knowledge”
Through the practice of persistent discrimination, we come to see what is real and what is not; we learn to separate “the seer from the seen”; we come to know our true selves, rather than the self we have grown to identify with.
To some group members, this sutra speaks to becoming the observer: there is nothing for our intellect to figure out, there is nothing to tame, nothing to control; simply observe what is. One needn’t quiet the mind to be free from the mind: becoming an observer of the mind, however busy or tranquil it may be, frees one from the mind. One needn’t “control emotions” to be free of emotions: if one simply observes emotions as they bubble up and run their course, these emotions have no power over the true self.
As one practices persistent discrimination, false knowledge is stripped away, and false paths fall away. One then lives and acts in truth.
Sutra II-28:
“As soon as all impurities have been removed by the practice of spiritual disciplines – the limbs of yoga – one’s spiritual vision opens to the light-giving knowledge of the Atman”
The limbs of yoga mentioned in this Sutra are listed in the Sutra which follows:
Sutra II-29:
“The eight limbs of yoga are:
yama: abstention from evil-doing
niyama: the varous observances
asana: postures
pranayama: control of the breath
pratyahara: withdrawal of the mind from sense objects
dharana: concentration
dhyana: meditation
samadhi: absorption in the Atman”
These eight limbs are expanded upon in Sutras which follow.
Sutra II-30:
“Yama is abstention from (a) harming others, (b) falsehood, (c) theft, (d) incontinence, and (e) greed”
Abstention from harming others (Ahimsa): this is often translated as non-violence, but it is much more than that. A broader translation is “causing no harm to others, through actions, words and thoughts.”
This is a very complicated topic. Does “doing no harm” mean “always being nice”? Haven’t we noticed that “being nice” doesn’t always get the desired result? Bhavani talked about the “sharp point” that punctures our ego, cuts to our core, so that we may truly see. Isn’t there such a thing as “tough love”?
Does the practitioner of ahimsa never swat a mosquito? never step on an ant? never harm burrowing animals when tilling a field?
Ahimsa has been described as “cultivating love for all, and trying to see the Atman in everyone.” Living a life from this place of love, it seems that doing no harm would follow naturally.
Next Sutra discussion:
Sunday, 9:45, at Global Blends on Castro street. Perhaps we will pick up where we left off in Sutra II-30.
Hi all,
I just found out a few hours ago that a short documentary I directed, PUP (http://www.pupumentary.com), just won Best Short Documentary at CineKink 2005 in New York so will be screening locally:
The Best of CineKink
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
San Francisco, CA
Sat. 11/5 9pm
Tix: $8 regular, $5 students teachers seniors and YBCA members
For more info. and tickets: http://www.cinekink.com
I won’t be able to be there but perhaps some of y’all will be able to go!
Namaste,
Antonia
in Singapore til tonight; then off to Mysore.
Dear Mysore Yogis and Yoginis:
In case you couldn’t get to Dipita’s last night, or if you haven’t had enough well-wishing, we’re doing it again. We would like to have a good-bye breakfast party for Kirsten and Mitchell on Friday Oct. 28. Laurel has generously allowed us to migrate to her house after class:
505 Mountain View Ave
650 279 4205 phone
blue house on corner of Mercy and Mountain View Ave.
If you could email Amy Tigner (amytigner at yahoo.com) with the food item(s) that you would like to bring that would be great.
We need people to bring:
Cups, paper plates, plastic utensils, orange juice, bagels, cream cheese, baked items, chai, coffee, or any other dish you would like to bring.
Thanks, Amy