Bhakti Challenge: Day 15

Children can easily open the drawer

that lets the Spirit rise up and wear

its favorite costume of

mirth and laughter.

When the mind is consumed with

remembrance of Spirit

Something divine happens to the Heart

That shapes the hand and tongue and eye

into the word

Love.

~Hafiz

What a joyous way to end the Bhakt Yoga Challenge~ with a poem by Hafiz the famous poet who writes profusely of Divine Love.  These sweet words seem to summarize our 15-day journey together.  To playful and mindfully let Spirit rise up within us, to turn our minds toward remembering the true nature of our Hearts and to express this eternal Love in the world.

Day 15: Bhakti Yoga Challenge 

Meditate on this poem.  Allow it to come alive in your heart and see how these words, and the intention behind them, dance in your Heart.  

Awaken to any degree to the Love within, and we can then reflect the nature of Love to a similar degree in our lives says William Mahony in Exquisite Love.  In doing so we can enter into the joy and delight that Love offers. By expressing our gratitude to the source for this Love and offering our Hearts in service to others then Love becomes an action word. And, through this action we can be a healing presence for ourselves and the world.

I am grateful for your presence in this Sangha.  I believe everyone participated in their own perfection and to that I honor and bow to you.

Namaste~
Sienna 

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Bhakti Challenge: Day 14

This Bhakti Challenge is almost over; however, I encourage you to find 15 minutes a day to stay touch with the Love inside for yourself, for your loved ones and for all beings.  “Internal lives are like ashes of fire-- without wind the ashes will die”  Zen saying. The wind is your personal practice and it is the mindful breath directed to the heart that keeps the flame alive.  There are 3 simple steps to remember~ Practice, Penetrate, Express... repeat! 

1. Bhakti Yoga Practice 15 minutes a day
2. Penetrate the eternal Heart and the Love within
3. Express this Love in daily life

Let's come back to the question and our song about looking for Love.  I relate this great search to a story of the Buddha. “As he took his final breaths of air moments before his death, an old sage asked his students, "Where is the Buddha?" Seconds later he was dead.”  Adyashanti says this question is Buddha’s final and most direct teaching. For this Challenge we could also translate this to Where is the Love? The Buddha is a representation of our true Self and our true Self is in a constant state of Ananda or bliss, joy and Love.

Now that you have done some or all of the Bhakti practices in the Challenge you will be able to use your own personal experience to answer the question~ Where is the Love?  Where did you find it?  Day 14 is all about remembering.

It is essential to take time in your practice to reflect and journal about your experiences because it is a thread that will connect and inspire you back to your practice. You may read your journal and say “Ah-ha I remember!  And, remembering is the first step back home to your heart.  As John Friend, Anusara Yoga founded says “ We practice to remember”. In my own experience having a daily practice is the most challenging and rewarding things I have ever done.  

Bhakti Challenge: Day 14 

1. Do a simple Yoga practice of meditative movement to release tension and to connected to body, mind and breath.
2. Sit tall and claim your seat.  Sit on a firm cushion or chair to ensure there is no strain in your low back or hips. Move your shoulders and ears back so they rest square over your hips. Now feel your breath flowing easily and gracefully in and out without effort. Allow the breath to deliver you to your heart again and again.  After a few minutes begin to reflect on the practices and experiences that helped to reveal your Heart.  Revisit the sensations and feelings that came with this revelation-- maybe it was a feeling of warmth, flow, melting, opening, expansion, relaxing and joy.  Stay here and bask in the glow of remembering.  The pathway to your heart is always there, any time and any place.  Trust in this pathway you have forged to your Heart.

See you tomorrow.

In Love, Sienna

Bhakti Challenge: Day 12 & 13

You are on the home stretch.  If you have missed a day (like most people)-- don’t berate yourself. Remember this is a Bhakti challenge-- and it is about Loving yourself.  Kindly ask the story teller inside your head (the ego) to sit back with a cup of tea and let your heart jump back into practice.  

One of my favorite Yogic chants is translated into english below:

Lead us from the unreal to the real

Lead us from darkness to light

Lead us from death to immortality.

The first line is a potent reminder-- may our practice lead us from what is unreal what is Real.  In one of my favorite books Yoga and the Quest for True Self by Stephen Cope he quotes Amrit Desai as saying  "Acceptance of reality is what we really mean by the word Love.  Love is accepting reality. It is not necessarily an emotional experience; it is impersonal and universal. Reality is God or Spirit in disguise."  In essence, to deepen real and lasting Love in your life--  become friends with Reality.  Become aware of what IS, just as it is, without the need to change it.  Because what IS happening in the moment is Real, everything else is a story. Of course, that does not mean sitting on the couch with a pint of Coconut Bliss and watching reality go by. With presence we move in the world, and we respond and act from a place of Love. 

Love, is then found in the present moment and you are a manifestation of this Love in the physical form, as many ancient Yogis and Sages through time and across spiritual traditions have recognized. And, at any moment you can choose Love by bringing your awareness to the present.  

Desai says “ If you want to experience the joyous ecstasy that life offers, there is one commitment that is absolutely fundamental: the commitment to live in the moment.”There is so much more to this than I can write, it is complex and yet simple.  

Thich Nhat Hahn, a living zen master and author of over 100 books on spiritual practice has created simple ways to cultivate awareness of the present moment.  Today we will do one of these practices-- one that I did with him over 10 years ago called Walking Meditation.

Day 12 & 13:  Bhakti Challenge

1.  First, let's warm up.  Asana or yoga postures were designed to prepare our body and minds for meditation.  Practicing Yoga is one of the best ways I have found to release tension, drop-in to my breath and slow my thinking mind.  Then I am more receptive to meditation. Do 5 minutes of simple yoga postures with breath and movement to warm up today.

2. Walking Meditation

“Let us walk as a free person and feel our steps get lighter. Let us enjoy every step we make. Each step is nourishing and healing. As we walk, imprint our gratitude and our love on the earth.” Thich Naht Hahn.

The weather is beautiful lets go outside and walk. Find a scenic and quiet setting in nature or your neighborhood. Walk without a destination.  Feel your breath moving in and out. Walk with a soft gaze, focus upon nothing but aware of everything. Smile softly with your eyes and allow it to spread to your face. Imagine every cell of your body smiling softly. Let the stress and worry of your day fall away with each step.

Walk in silence, both internal and external. Make each step a gesture, move in a state of grace, and each footprint is an impression of the peace and love you feel for yourself and the universe. Walk mindfully for 10 minutes. 

Come back to your seat and close your eyes to integrate and reflect on your experiences.  Write in your journal and let me know how you are doing.   

Many blessings on your walking path to awareness,

Sienna

Day 10 & 11: Bhakti Yoga Challenge

The last Bhakti Challenge plunged right into the depths of Yoga philosophy.  Do not let  those fancy Sanskrit words prevent your from dropping in-- Sanskrit words reveal themselves over time just as the 5000 year old tradition of Yoga does. Yoga is experiential in nature and doing the practice is the only way to feel what it does for you.  I cannot tell you-- you can only feel the truth in your own body, heart and mind. (Photo: Mt. Tam Sunset I took after a beautiful meditative walk on the ridge)

Bhakti Challenge: Day 10 & 11

Today’s practice is similar to yesterdays but with a different warm-up.  See how this warm-up changes your experience of the Clarity Meditation from Day 8 & 9.

Sun Salutation- Mountain pose, forward bend, plank, cobra, down dog, then back to mountain pose.  Or make up your own-- get creative-- just get on your mat!  Or, do the on-line video called Sun Salutation warm-up on the Yoga Mountain homepage.  Breathe slowly and mindfully with all movements.

Shoulder Opener- Stand tall and strong in mountain pose. Clasp your hands behind your buttocks.  Breathe high into your collar bones and across your upper back.  Stretch the arms straight and move the shoulders and head back.  Feel the chest opening with each breath. Soften your face and throat.   Stay 8 breaths.

Supine Twist- lay on your back, bend your knees and lift your feet off the floor. Engage your belly and twist to the right bringing the stacked knees to the floor. Soften your chest and breath your opposite shoulder down.  Enjoy this restorative twist as it opens your hips and your shoulders. Stay 10 breaths and the repeat on the other side.  

Clarity Meditation- with the legs up the wall. (See Day 8 & 9 for a refresher) This is so perfect for a HOT day!  When your ankles and feet get puffy and achy from the heat-- its time to go upside down.  I cannot tell you how GOOD this feels and how AMAZING it is for relaxing the thinking mind and dropping into your HEART.  You’ve got to feel it for yourself.  Then journal about your experiences.

If you having trouble posting your comments to the Blog please email them to me and I will gladly post them for you.

With Heart ~

Sienna

Day 8 & 9: Bhakti Challenge

How was the body scanning from the previous day?  I have heard some interesting feedback-- most of you are having mixed experiences.  Sometimes the heart feels open and alive while other times the chest is contracted or there is discomfort in your body.  We are a pulsation of life and awakening to our hearts is a wild ride. That is why we have a Sangha of support here!  Thank you to those who have taken the time to write on the Blog and to share with me about your experience.  You inspire me!

We all know that when we feel hurt or pain that sometimes our hearts become closed, hardened, blocked and protected.  Over time we may even create thick, stone-like walls around the heart and say  “Ok, now I am safe-- my heart is protected!”. Yes that is true, but no one can get in-- not even you.  We become locked out of our own hearts and cut off from the joy inside for decades or even an entire lifetime.  

“The things that darken the heart” heads a chapter TKV Desikachar’s book called The Heart of Yoga.  He is the son of Shri Krishnamacharya, the late modern day Yoga master, and a highly revered healer and scholar.   Why does the heart dim? We cover our hearts when we feel hurt or wronged by someone else; and we defend or harden our hearts when we notice our actions or words may have hurt someone else.  But, somewhere deep inside we know that life would be better and more fulfilling if we could release the clamps on our heart and express the Love that we know is inside. 

The truth is, we do not always see a situation clearly and thus may act in ways that create pain.  Imagine driving your car on a clear sunny day-- you stay in your lane easily because you can see clearly.  Now imagine driving in a snow storm-- the lanes disappear and it is difficult to stay on track.  Simplistically, that is what happens when we lack clarity-- we can no longer see where we are going and veer off our path.

The Yoga Surtras, an ancient Yogic text by Patanjali, states that this lack of clarity is due to avidya or incorrect knowledge.  We think we are perceiving something correct in the moment only to realize later that we did not see the situation correctly.  In the meantime, may have done something we regretted later. The Sutras say avidya leads to dukha or suffering and this is why we protect and close our hearts.  

To decrease avidya (misapprehension) and therefore decrease dukha (suffering) we need to see clearly.  To perceive correctly in the moment we need to be mindful, present and in touch with our hearts.  We will use the practice today to bring more awareness to the present moment and notice what is happening in our body, hearts and minds. To do that we will use one of our most powerful tools in our Yoga toolbox--  the BREATH!  Truly, it is the most potent tool to deliver us into the moment and connect us directly to the truth. Over time this practice helps develop sensitivity to witnessing the body, mind and heart without judging. 

Day 8 & 9: Bhakti Challenge

* Lay on your back and hug your knees into your chest. Curl into a ball and breath here for 10 breaths. 

* Lay on your back with knees bent and twist both knees to the Right.  Stay here for 10 breaths.  Watch the breath fan your ribcage in all directions.  Soften your skin and become receptive.  Repeat on the other side.

* Hug your knees into your chest again. If you have time feel free to do other Yoga postures that support opening the body.

* Clarity Meditation~

Lay on your back with your legs up the wall, palms face up. If this is not comfortable you can lay on your back with your legs resting on the seat of the chair.  You want your legs above your heart.  

Feel the wonderful waterfall of energy from your legs moving down to nourish your heart.  Stay focused on the rise and fall of your chest, and feel your heart soften with each exhale.  Mindfully watch thoughts arise and simply name them as they arise. Thinking, thinking... and come back to the breath.  Bathe in the healing waters of the breath.  I suggest taking about 6-8  minutes total for this meditation- that includes both Parts 1 and 2.

Part 1:  Now, recall a time when you felt hurt or when you may have said something that hurt someone else.  Notice the energy arising.  Move the energy into your heart and keep breathing-- long slow exhale.  Notice the energy (even emotions) rise and fall just like your breath does.  Energy comes and goes,, and so does your breath.  Cultivate the witness-- a powerful inner seer that has no judgment, to watch with support and Love. Surround this memory with the warmth from your own heart and see if it changes. Take time and be gentle with yourself. 

Part 2. Now spend some time reflecting on a time when you  supported someone with your thoughts, words and actions.  Remember the smile or soft look they gave you when they could feel feeling your sincere caring and Love.  Bathe in the beauty of that moment and appreciate how your generosity allowed for a deeper connection to their heart and to your own.  Resting in the Loving energy that you created.  You are a powerful, healing force in the world.

After your complete this meditation bend your knees, roll to your Right side and rest a few breaths.  Sit up slowly. Well done! Write in your journal and Blog. 

Namaste,

Sienna

Day 6 & 7: Bhakti Challenge

During the Body Scan Meditation from the previous day did you notice that some areas of your body were more relaxed and alive than others?  For example, you may have noticed your legs were relaxed but that your low back was holding tension. Many spiritual practices include body scanning as a way to increase awareness to unconscious holding patterns or tension in the body.  Awareness or “chit” as it is called in sanskrit, refers to a state of resting in pure consciousness.  At our essence we are all wildly alive, pulsating energy bodies where life-force or prana is moving without any blocks to its flow.  Areas of tension are like dams in the river or flow of the prana in the body and are often linked to times when have been triggered to defend or protect ourself from perceived danger. To protect we shut down, tense, cringe, recede or contact our body.   Awareness acts like a laser beam that can dissolve chronically tense areas by bringing the healing attention and Love that these tense areas are craving for.  Loving attention heals and restores our connection to our true nature.

Day 6 & 7:  Bhakti Challenge 

For the weekend, practice the warm-up movements and the Body Scan Meditation (see Day 5 for instructions) on Saturday and Sunday.  Focus on the flow of the breath moving in and out of the body while directing your attention to each body part. Notice changes in your breathing. If you loose touch with your breath or your breath becomes shallow or constricted this may be a place of increased charge or tension.  Stay here and breathe. Maintain loving awareness and notice what arises. Welcome your experience as a way to release the blocks that hold your back from the pure light of your heart. 

Journal and share about your experience-- be your own loving witness.  And, this weekend hold yourself in a heighten state of loving kindness by doing something special for yourself. May the loving action you choose nourish and renew you on a deep level.

Namaste,

Sienna

Day 5: Bhakti Challenge

So the chocolate is all gone.. now what?  There is always your Bhakti practice.  Like the old Buddhist saying, life is simple-- chop wood, carry water. By now you have probably felt some resistance to doing a daily practice.  Can’t we get a day off?  This is normal and even expected. There will be excuses, bartering, negotiations with the self.. and the Yoga masters know the pull into old habits is strong so they ceaselessly refer to a daily practice to stay connected to the Higher Self. The important thing is that you come back, connect to your longing for real Love and forge on without judgment.  No effort is ever lost. Each time you come back to your practice the neuro-pathways become more established and new life-enhancing habits of connecting to your heart get stronger. You practice is your refuge and the Divine Self is waiting within.

What is Bhakti anyway?  “Bhakti is an offering of Love and the state of Love from which the offering comes from. It is being immersed in the Divine hearts abiding presence”  William Mahony. Put this on the top of your to-do list today!

Day 5: Bhakti Challenge

Repeat practice from Day 4. 

And, continue to explore where your feel warmth, flow, light, aliveness and the pulsation of energy inside your body.  There are numerous physiological & neurological pathways, energy channels, meridians, nadis, chakras through out the body.  Refine your attention to feel the subtle energy circuits and centers in your body.  What do you notice?

Yogis would say that  the pulsation, life-force, that is inside of us is the same that is in everyone and everything.  This is the principle of inter-connection and ultimately of union.  Union is the state of Yoga and it is the highest state of Love.  Today lets focus on this Divine pulsation inside.

Namaste,

Sienna

Day 4: Bhakti Challenge

Yesterday I talked about the song “Looking for love in all the wrong places” and the story of Krishna and Pariksit-- its a must read!  Where you able to recall moments in your life that you were looking for love outside of yourself?  Sometimes when I need a warm fuzzy love-like feeling I find myself at Good Earth buying an Endangered Species black panther extra dark chocolate bar-- you know what I am talking about? !!   Ok, there is nothing wrong with that... and that is why I love the Tantric yoga tradition-- I no longer have to feel guilty or “BAD” for indulging a bit here and there.  However, I acknowledge that continuing to refine my thoughts and actions to be life-affirming and aligned with the Highest is my practice.  

That being said back to the chocolate-- in Exquisite Love, Bill Mahony says there are higher and lower forms of love.  The lower forms of love are more impermanent and related to the physical... like chocolate.   I am sad to say that after I eat my chocolate it is gone.. poof!  So, then the thrill is over and I am back where I started. The higher forms of love are deeper, ever-lasting and connected to essence of being. The Love of the Self is ever-present and thus when activated creates a steady and high level of love in our hearts.  When you gaze into a loved ones eyes and see beyond the temporary form and into the sparkle of their eyes you touch into the Divine Self within them.  And, the Love we see in them is a recognition and affirmation of the Love we see inside of ourselves.  Try this next Bhakti Yoga practice~

Day 4: Bhakti Yoga Challenge

Eat chocolate-- just kidding! Truly you can and notice what happens.  

1. Cat/Cow pose- on your hands and knees. Move with the breath. Long, slow breaths. Do 5 Repetitions.
2. Downward facing dog- 5 breaths
3. Child’s pose- 5 breaths
4. Repeat that sequence once more.
5. Body Scan.  This exercise will bring awareness to the place that you feel natural aliveness and warmth in your body, and help you connect into your the natural wellspring of Love inside. Lay on your back, palms up. Notice the rise and fall of your chest with each breath. Watch the flow of your breath for a minute. Then move your awareness to your feet to begin scanning the body for sensations.  Over the next 3 minutes make your way UP the body-- feet, shins, knees, thighs, pelvis, navel, solar plexus, heart/chest, shoulders, arms, hands and neck and head.  Notice where you feel warmth, flow, pulsation, opening, softening.  When you find a place like that stay rest there and breathe in and out from that source. Notice what happens.  Then spend another 3 minutes going back down the body starting with your head and going to your toes. 
6. Take your time.  Write down your experiences in your journal and in the Blog.  

Please sign-up for the Blog so you can be an active part of the group process to activate more Love in yourself and in the world.

Namaste-

Sienna

Day 3: Bhakti Challenge

Looking for Love in all the wrong places?  You know the Waylon Jennings song I mentioned in the newsletter...

I was looking for love in all the wrong places

Looking for love in too many faces

Searching your eyes, looking for traces

Of what.. I'm dreaming of...

Here is a great story from ancient India that William Mahony tells about the search for love that also relates to this modern day song~  Pariksit had a vision of God or the Divine as Krishna (an Indian deity) who stood by and gave unconditional love and protection to him while he was a baby in his mothers womb. The moment he was born the feeling went away. He spent the rest of his days combing the streets, stopping people as they walked by and staring at their faces while asking them  “Are you Krishna?.... are you Krishna?” He searched far lands to find the vision of Krishna he had before. His life was lived in constant longing to find Krishna again... to find that unconditional Love-- yet he was looking outside of himself.

You may identify with this search for Love.  And part of why we are searching at all is because somewhere inside of us there is a memory of this infinite Love-- otherwise we would not have the yearning to search for it!    

Love is an inside job and, I would add,  JOY!  We turn toward our practice and our Sangha to support us in diving INSIDE again-- taking a heart-centered journey.   (Image is Krishna)

DAY 3: Bhakti Challenge 

The basic practice is the same for Days 1-3 we a slightly different focus so you can get to know each practice and what it does for you.

 5 Minutes of breath and movement

10 Minutes of Radiant Heart Meditation  

(Scroll down to Day 1 if you need the instructions)

Take time to notice where you have been looking for love.  Without judgment or story just be honest.  Did you find what you were looking for?  In the Radiant Heart meditation imagine absorbing the glowing sun energy and visualize your own heart as a reflection of the sun.  The Light is generated from inside of you-- allow the Light to bathe your entire chest and torso.  Bask in your own Light. 

Enjoy your day,

Sienna

Day 2: Bhakti Challenge

Let's welcome a few more Bhakti Yogis who just signing up today!  Breathe them into our Sangha, feel their intention to create more Love and lets support each other by doing the work!  Here we go.

Poetry is a beautiful way to exit the thinking mind and enter the heart-mind. From the great yogi Sri Yogananda

What is Love?

Love is the scent with the lotus born.

It is the silent choirs of petals

Singing the winter’s harmony of uniform beauty.

Love is the song of the soul, singing to God.

It is the balanced rhythmic dance of planets-

   sun and moon lit.

In the skyey hall festooned with fleecy clouds-

Around the sovereign Silent Will.

It is the thirst of the rose to drink the sun rays

And blush red with life.

DAY 2: Bhakti Challenge 

Repeat the practice from Day 1. 

 5 Minutes of breath and movement

10 Minutes of Radiant Heart Meditation 

(Day 1 is available on this Blog)

During the meditation, As Yogananda suggests in his poem, imagine the sun rays blush red with life inside of you. Notice the sensations in the body and let go of stories or judgements that arise.  Come back to the breath again and again. To stay attentive-- become curious.  Notice where you feel the warmth or blush of radiance.. and where you feel less.  Breath from the open areas into the less open areas. Breathing in and out--  welcome your experience.

Make a note in your journal. It will help bring context to the story I will offer tomorrow.

Many blessings~  

Sienna