I had the opportunity to slow down this past weekend and enjoy a wonderful Restorative Yoga retreat in Asheville, NC. I was feeling ready to immerse myself into a weekend of restful yoga. I could feel my body had begun storing up tension and my mind was full of anxious chatter. I noticed I wasn't able to really take a full breath in. When I arrived at the studio and placed my mat down and laid back on two bolsters and a blanket, I exhaled completely. Ahhhh...perfect. This word kept resonating within. We had a break between workshop hours and I decided to take an Anusara yoga class. Guess what the theme was? Purnatva. I told myself, "this I must share with the group." :)

Purnatva is a sanskrit word that means "perfect fullness." It is the experience of feeling perfectly contented with existence, of receiving what is exactly needed, no more or less, in any given moment.

Purnatva describes the perfection that is the essence of all things. Because Spirit is so full and completely perfect. The yoga philosophy teaches us that since we are all an expression of the Spirit, then we are an extension of the perfection that is Grace.

I'm looking forward to our next gathering. During our next weekend, we will be exploring the final limb of Patanjali's Eight Limbs of Yoga: Samadhi, which means a feeling beyond the senses and in that moment there is no desire to be someone else or to be anywhere else on your path.

Perfect.


See you soon. Om Shanti.
Vicki

Integrating the Koshas

The Annamaya Kosha: Physical body.
1. Yamas: Code of ethics relating to aspects outside of oneself
2. Niyamas: Codes for personal behavior, attitudes toward the inner life
3. Asana: Physical postures

The Pranamaya Kosha, first layer of the subtle body: Breath/Energy
4. Pranayama: Breathing exercises, channeling and expanding prana,
(life force), bridge between external and internal realms

The Manomaya Kosha: Mental/Emotional
5. Pratyahara: Beginning stages of meditation, controlling the senses,
not being buffeted by external stimuli, bodymind grows calmer

The vijanamaya Kosha: Wisdom/Intuition
6. Dharana: Concentration, focus, attention
7. Dhyana: Reflection, observation, contemplation

The Anandamaya Kosha: Bliss
8. Samadhi: Integration, living to the full human potential

FAITH

The Intention Experiment is aimed at discovering how human intention can affect the world.

"What if I told you that a thought, any tiny idea that forms in your mind actually has mass? What if I told you that thought is an actual thing, a measurable entity with a measurable mass, a minuscule mass of course, but mass nonetheless.

So, if a thought has mass, then a thought exerts energy and it can pull things toward it.

One step further...What happens if many people start focusing on the same thought, all occurrences of that same thought begin to merge into one, and the cumulative mass of this thought begins to grow, therefore, it's gravity grows.

Meaning, if enough people create a powerful thought that becomes tangible, it can pull people back to it!"
The Intention Experiment

My morning mindfulness on the mat:
Would you like to join me?


FAITH AND FEARLESSNESS -" When you have faith in the supreme power, you are not afraid of anything" Bhagavad Gita 16.1

May I have faith in the supreme power.

May you - a specific person in your life - have faith in the supreme power.

May we - all those we know and all those we do not know - have faith in the supreme power.


Om Shanti.
Vicki