Warm Oil is Nectar for the Body

If you are stiff or have pain in your body there is a simple and easy method to improve your condition. It also has the benefit of grounding you, and helps you feel more centered. (There is an earlier post on this blog from Kimberly Flynn that is the more traditional approach to this treatment.) But it is a rather simple thing to warm coconut, almond or sesame oil up, stand on a towel and oil your whole body. When it is time to wash your hair, maybe twice a week, oil that too. Start with your hair and go all the way down to your feet. Do it before you bathe. I like to then lay down and take a restorative pose for 20 minutes and let the oil penetrate my pores and sink in. It actually lubricates the ligaments of the knee for example, according to Manju Jois. Try it and see if it does not make you feel softer, warmer, calmer and more focused and flexible. Also, the most amazing feeling of grounding comes from taking the Ayurvedic Hot Oil Therapy. One of the most amazing healing practices.

Sri Ram Orphanage

Spent New's Eve with the Hanuman Fellowship. They have a newish Hanuman Temple that is soo inspiring. With Arthi every am and pm during the retreat. Sitting under the canapy at 6a the first day of 2011, is an auspicious way to start the new year! On New Year's Eve we watched a brand new release of a documentary called "Lifting Dreams". Baba Hari Dass dreamed of helping the destitute children of India have decent, adequate food, housing, clothing, education, celebration and community. And they created a family for these children. A way of life for them that I think we can all learn from. I think he is changing the demographics of a nation, and showing us how Lift our own Dreams by living a certain way. http://sriramfoundation.org/ Some of the excerpts from the film are: "Don't bother dreaming, unless you are willing to work hard." and "There is always fear in everything. We have to face the fear, fight it and finish it." It gave me, personally, hope and faith in service. That I can be serviceful (something I often resisted) and still dream, be creative, and live a balanced life. It is the spirit of giving back that moves our mountains, and gives us wings to fly.

The Reluctant Yoga Teacher

One of the things the East has to offer us westerners is their acceptance of death. It is a part of life. Everything that takes birth dies. Here we avoid aging, and the natural cycles of life. And I think this avoidance is connected to our avoidance of the realities of life. I like the quote from Buddha that says, when we see someone suffering, do we ever stop and see our connection to that suffering too. Or when we see or hear of someone dying, do we stop and say "One day my time will come too." That practice brings us healing and compassion.

One of the greatest healing modalities I heard was on KCRW. It is O' Pono Pono. (I am spelling it phonetically). It is the practice of looking within when something disturbing happens. It is along the lines of what Bill Wilson (A.A. Founder) had written: whenever I have a problem with someone else, it is a spiritual axiom that there is a problem with me. The practice of O' Pono Pono, is a tool we can use to look within. With the upset in mind we say to our innermost selves, "I am so sorry this happened to you." We bring compassion to bear on ourselves and the situation. That simple practice brings about a profound shift. It brings us back to a state of love, acceptance and equality. It brings healing to our world.

It reminds me of what my yoga eskimo told me years ago, "That which you resist persists, and that which you love (accept, forgive) you gain mastery over."