Tuesday, May 30, 2006
yOga class schedule: june 2006 (starting 1st june)
FUNdamentals (1 hour): for newbie yogis
. . .yoga basics for people who are entire new to yoga & beginners-introduction to the practices of yoga pranayama, asana, relaxation techniques
MOMentum (1hour 30 minutes): for regular yogis
. . .regular yoga classes for those who are already familiar with basic poses, techniques-development of basic skills. Introduction to variations of practice, eg. yoga flows.-help to develop basis for a home practice-introduciton to meditation
INtensity (1hour 30 minutes): for seasoned yogis
. . .to develop deeper understanding of individual and the yoga practices, pranayama, asana, etc.-emphasis on meditative approach, eg. Yin Yoga, as a foundation for meditation practice.
PRANayama/DHYANa (1 hour): for all yogis
. . .breathing techniques for engergisation and relaxation leading to meditative techniques for mental strength and health
Notes:
. . . No classes on public holidays
. . . yOga+gOngfu classes are on Sundays 10am-12pm
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
hOw tO make things happen
Until one is committed, there is always hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising to one's favour all manner of unforeseen accidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
. . . Goethe
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. . . Goethe
Monday, May 22, 2006
where is unhappiness?
Have you searched for unhappiness? Chances are, you haven't. Nobody would want that! Who wants to find Unhappiness? We spend our lives finding happiness. But the trouble is, you often observe that unhappiness is just really good at finding you. . .
Some of us have spent time trying to find just where unhappiness resides. And the revelation of where unhappiness comes from really wakes us up to how blindly we have perceived things. . . and also points to a way out of our sorry predicament. The bad news is that it's a place that's very close by. The good news is that knowing where this favourite hiding place is, we finally have the chance to root out unhappiness from our lives whenever it starts to squarter there like an illegal immigrant.
Unhappiness never exists outside of our own minds. Unhappiness likes to live in our own minds and often it does so undetected because we never thought it would be "in here" -- we always like to think it's "out there". This is because we spent our time looking at the external world outside our minds thinking that these are the sources of our unhappiness. However, unhappiness does not come from others, does not come from those "problematic people", it is not found in problematic things or events. There is nothing in the world that is inherently the cause of happiness nor unhappiness. It is the way the mind perceives these things that creates unhappiness or happiness because "the mind is the forerunner of all things". When we realise this, we stop blaming others and start to really work on ourselves. This has the side effect of transforming our relationships with others tremendously.
We need to take a step back. What causes unhappy states of mind? There is really only one thing: "grasping". Human nature likes to discriminate amongst the things we perceive. We look at all things through a filter of preconceived opinions and bias in our subconscious mind (meaning we are often not aware of this filter), and then immeditately, we discriminate amongst these things that we are looking at: we like this, we dislike that. As a consequence, we develop an aversion towards things we feel we do not like -- we want to run away from these things -- and an attraction towards things we feel we like -- we want to run towards these things. These two ways of grasping the phenomena of the world are the roots of unhappiness. Because of the existance of this process in our minds, this makes everything in the world, ultimately, unable to give us real satisfaction and peace. . . not to mention the fact that it causes us to run around a heck of a lot for nothing!
So how now? Once we know that unhappiness exists only in our minds due to its grasping nature, we can finally have a real shot at weeding unhappiness out of our lives. We need to learn how to observe how we perceive things. First, we honestly familiarise ourselves with the filters
of our perception: What are our bias? What do we hold as our values? Beliefs? What do we base our opinions and decisions on? Once we know what colours our perception, we become open to the fact that we have certain expections of how things should be and when things do not meet these expections, we are not disappointed because that is the nature of the way things are. Then there is no longer a gap between how we expect things to be and how things turn out. Because there is no gap, we do not feel there is a lack and so we dwell contented within the realm of our present experience. We relax internally and develop an open, equanimous mind and lessen it's grasping nature (it is hard, though not impossible, to totally eradicate grasping. Once you have done that, you would enjoy ULTIMATE HAPPINESS called Nirvana!)
Furthermore, if we become really observant, between "looking" and "grasping", we have a space for "choosing". No matter what external factors happen to disrupt our lives, you have always got a choice in how you want to react to these factors. Before we succumb to the automatic emotional response caused by our own biased pattern of thinking, if we have a sharp mind, we can choose how we want to respond. So even when unhappy things happen, we can choose not to be unhappy.
Are things starting to sound farfetched or too hypothetical or cheem by now? Hahaha. You need to practise it to believe it. Often, all this facts can become apparent to us in an instant's experience. We can create an conducive conditions for this revelation to happen to us if we practice yoga or meditation or any practice which helps us to
[1] slow down - mental phenomena happens quickly and so go by undetected if we live a harried life - when we slow down, slippery mental processes are easy to observe,
[2] develop strength, sharpness and alertness of mind to be able to observe clearly what is happening,
[3] develop a peaceful place within ourselves where we can start to observe how our minds work in a clear and non-judgemental way.
In stuff like this, a little guidance goes a long way. Take comfort in the fact that others have already done this work successfully and they are at hand to show you the way. But you need to be open to this and initiate the search. As the zen saying goes:"When the student is ready, the master appears."
Sounds like a lot of hard work? Here's the motivation:
Once you have found the source of unhappiness, you can choose to be happy always. . . So if you want to be happy in this life, make this your life's work.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Some of us have spent time trying to find just where unhappiness resides. And the revelation of where unhappiness comes from really wakes us up to how blindly we have perceived things. . . and also points to a way out of our sorry predicament. The bad news is that it's a place that's very close by. The good news is that knowing where this favourite hiding place is, we finally have the chance to root out unhappiness from our lives whenever it starts to squarter there like an illegal immigrant.
Unhappiness never exists outside of our own minds. Unhappiness likes to live in our own minds and often it does so undetected because we never thought it would be "in here" -- we always like to think it's "out there". This is because we spent our time looking at the external world outside our minds thinking that these are the sources of our unhappiness. However, unhappiness does not come from others, does not come from those "problematic people", it is not found in problematic things or events. There is nothing in the world that is inherently the cause of happiness nor unhappiness. It is the way the mind perceives these things that creates unhappiness or happiness because "the mind is the forerunner of all things". When we realise this, we stop blaming others and start to really work on ourselves. This has the side effect of transforming our relationships with others tremendously.
We need to take a step back. What causes unhappy states of mind? There is really only one thing: "grasping". Human nature likes to discriminate amongst the things we perceive. We look at all things through a filter of preconceived opinions and bias in our subconscious mind (meaning we are often not aware of this filter), and then immeditately, we discriminate amongst these things that we are looking at: we like this, we dislike that. As a consequence, we develop an aversion towards things we feel we do not like -- we want to run away from these things -- and an attraction towards things we feel we like -- we want to run towards these things. These two ways of grasping the phenomena of the world are the roots of unhappiness. Because of the existance of this process in our minds, this makes everything in the world, ultimately, unable to give us real satisfaction and peace. . . not to mention the fact that it causes us to run around a heck of a lot for nothing!
So how now? Once we know that unhappiness exists only in our minds due to its grasping nature, we can finally have a real shot at weeding unhappiness out of our lives. We need to learn how to observe how we perceive things. First, we honestly familiarise ourselves with the filters
of our perception: What are our bias? What do we hold as our values? Beliefs? What do we base our opinions and decisions on? Once we know what colours our perception, we become open to the fact that we have certain expections of how things should be and when things do not meet these expections, we are not disappointed because that is the nature of the way things are. Then there is no longer a gap between how we expect things to be and how things turn out. Because there is no gap, we do not feel there is a lack and so we dwell contented within the realm of our present experience. We relax internally and develop an open, equanimous mind and lessen it's grasping nature (it is hard, though not impossible, to totally eradicate grasping. Once you have done that, you would enjoy ULTIMATE HAPPINESS called Nirvana!)
Furthermore, if we become really observant, between "looking" and "grasping", we have a space for "choosing". No matter what external factors happen to disrupt our lives, you have always got a choice in how you want to react to these factors. Before we succumb to the automatic emotional response caused by our own biased pattern of thinking, if we have a sharp mind, we can choose how we want to respond. So even when unhappy things happen, we can choose not to be unhappy.
Are things starting to sound farfetched or too hypothetical or cheem by now? Hahaha. You need to practise it to believe it. Often, all this facts can become apparent to us in an instant's experience. We can create an conducive conditions for this revelation to happen to us if we practice yoga or meditation or any practice which helps us to
[1] slow down - mental phenomena happens quickly and so go by undetected if we live a harried life - when we slow down, slippery mental processes are easy to observe,
[2] develop strength, sharpness and alertness of mind to be able to observe clearly what is happening,
[3] develop a peaceful place within ourselves where we can start to observe how our minds work in a clear and non-judgemental way.
In stuff like this, a little guidance goes a long way. Take comfort in the fact that others have already done this work successfully and they are at hand to show you the way. But you need to be open to this and initiate the search. As the zen saying goes:"When the student is ready, the master appears."
Sounds like a lot of hard work? Here's the motivation:
Once you have found the source of unhappiness, you can choose to be happy always. . . So if you want to be happy in this life, make this your life's work.
Thursday, May 18, 2006
this wOrld is nOt for cOwards
Do we avoid doing something because it is difficult? Do we avoid doing a yoga asana (pose) because we wobble so much or we feel it knocks the wind out of us? Do we think the teacher sadistic in repeating the pose again and again, while watching us struggle with it? If we avoid the asanas that challenges us, it is likely then, we also find ourselves sidestepping challenges in our daily lives. We are supposed to be steady and comfy what? I would like to say here that in the very positions (asanas and in life) that push us to the edge of our abilities and courage, are the greatest opportunities for us to be who we really are meant to be.
As far as possible, I purposely try to do the very thing I find difficult to do. This is not masochism. It is something I have learnt from the teachers and heros I admire about how to grow yourself. A challenge is a call to arms, not a call to abandon arms. I see a challenge as a neon sign post which reads "Here be skills and potentials you have yet to develop!" The very skills and courage you need to face a challenge IS FOUND DOING the challenge.
When we put it that way, it sounds as though we "lack" some qualities in the beginning which need to be "found" later. At this point, we need to understand that we cannot ever realise any qualities that is not already existing within us. It is not because of any lack in us that we fail to be strong in the face of life's challenges, but the potential to be strong is simply at the moment underdeveloped, not fully realised. Think about this: these potentials will NEVER be developed if we do not strive beyond what we think we can comfortably do.
Something initially perceived as "challenging" or "beyond me" indicates the very thing I need to allow me to grow. That is the very pose I need, that is the task I need to handle. I need to face it if I want to live freely. . .
. . . Have you any idea how many doors this kind of thinking opens in your life?!?
I have.
Sometimes, we do not want to face a challenge because it simply feels bad. We don't want to recognise that we are underdeveloped in any way. We want to be in our comfort zone. Safe. We don't want to work so hard, to struggle. We want to do things we are good at. What can I say? It is up to you. Chances are, you find that the comfort zone becomes a very tiny, restricted and uncertain space - and you start to wonder how "other people" always have it so good. For the rest of us who want to live freely in the world, we have to know, "this world is not for cowards" - it has a knack for throwing THE VERY things at you that are beyond you to do - again and again. We need to wake up to the nature of things and rise to the challenges as they come. The strength is already in you, you need to give yourself the chance to exercise it - we only strengthen through practice. In the end, through practice, we will find steadiness in mind, ease and comfort in the body, happiness in the heart come what may. . . and we will come to a point where we start going about HUNTING out the really important but challenging things which need to be done. . . and then do them. Then I congratulate and thank you on becoming an active participant in your life and a good citizen of our world.
This world is not for cowards
. . . Swami Vivekananda
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As far as possible, I purposely try to do the very thing I find difficult to do. This is not masochism. It is something I have learnt from the teachers and heros I admire about how to grow yourself. A challenge is a call to arms, not a call to abandon arms. I see a challenge as a neon sign post which reads "Here be skills and potentials you have yet to develop!" The very skills and courage you need to face a challenge IS FOUND DOING the challenge.
When we put it that way, it sounds as though we "lack" some qualities in the beginning which need to be "found" later. At this point, we need to understand that we cannot ever realise any qualities that is not already existing within us. It is not because of any lack in us that we fail to be strong in the face of life's challenges, but the potential to be strong is simply at the moment underdeveloped, not fully realised. Think about this: these potentials will NEVER be developed if we do not strive beyond what we think we can comfortably do.
Something initially perceived as "challenging" or "beyond me" indicates the very thing I need to allow me to grow. That is the very pose I need, that is the task I need to handle. I need to face it if I want to live freely. . .
. . . Have you any idea how many doors this kind of thinking opens in your life?!?
I have.
Sometimes, we do not want to face a challenge because it simply feels bad. We don't want to recognise that we are underdeveloped in any way. We want to be in our comfort zone. Safe. We don't want to work so hard, to struggle. We want to do things we are good at. What can I say? It is up to you. Chances are, you find that the comfort zone becomes a very tiny, restricted and uncertain space - and you start to wonder how "other people" always have it so good. For the rest of us who want to live freely in the world, we have to know, "this world is not for cowards" - it has a knack for throwing THE VERY things at you that are beyond you to do - again and again. We need to wake up to the nature of things and rise to the challenges as they come. The strength is already in you, you need to give yourself the chance to exercise it - we only strengthen through practice. In the end, through practice, we will find steadiness in mind, ease and comfort in the body, happiness in the heart come what may. . . and we will come to a point where we start going about HUNTING out the really important but challenging things which need to be done. . . and then do them. Then I congratulate and thank you on becoming an active participant in your life and a good citizen of our world.
This world is not for cowards
Do not fly. Look not for success or failure. Join yourself to the perfectly unselfish will and work on. Know that the mind which is born to succeed joins itself to a determined will and perseveres. Live in the midst of the battle of life. Anyone can keep calm in a cave or when asleep. Stand in the whirl and madness of action and reach the center. If you have found the center, you can not be moved.
. . . Swami Vivekananda
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
18 & 25 may
Sau Fen will be taking the 7:15pm FUNdamentals classes on these 2 Thursdays 18 & 25 May 2006 while Michele is away.
. . .
Our apologies to the yogis who turned up for Thursday classes in the past two weeks. We had to cancel these in the last minute due to unforeseen circumstances and we try to inform the regular yogis who attend this class of the cancellation.
Please let us know if you had come on those days and left when you saw the class cancellation notice on the studio door. We will extend your yoga class package validity period for 2 additional weeks from its expiry date.
We try to post the latest class schedule information on this website as far as possible but if you are not certain if a particular class is on or not, please call us at 63344100 (do leave a message if there is no answer, I could be teaching).
Thank you all yogis, for your patience and understanding. Namaste.
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. . .
Our apologies to the yogis who turned up for Thursday classes in the past two weeks. We had to cancel these in the last minute due to unforeseen circumstances and we try to inform the regular yogis who attend this class of the cancellation.
Please let us know if you had come on those days and left when you saw the class cancellation notice on the studio door. We will extend your yoga class package validity period for 2 additional weeks from its expiry date.
We try to post the latest class schedule information on this website as far as possible but if you are not certain if a particular class is on or not, please call us at 63344100 (do leave a message if there is no answer, I could be teaching).
Thank you all yogis, for your patience and understanding. Namaste.
Monday, May 15, 2006
yOga mat bags
A new supplier has provided our studio with some new yoga mat bag samples.
Check them out on our shelves when you next come down to the studio.
Each piece is lovingly crafted from brocade cloth from India and retails at $28 each.
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Check them out on our shelves when you next come down to the studio.
Each piece is lovingly crafted from brocade cloth from India and retails at $28 each.
Saturday, May 13, 2006
what's yOur real age?
I remember posting a newspaper article on Dr. Roizen's concept of Real Age on the notice board at our old yoga studio. When I took the Real Age test then, I turned out to be 25. . .
If I remember the story correctly, Dr Roizen was at a point tired of seeing the same patients again and again coming to see him over the same health problems which could have been prevented by simply being more health conscious and developing healthy living habits. He thus developed the concept of Real Age to work out the biological age of your body, based on how well you maintain it. His Real Age test shows the aging or anti-aging impact of factors like what kind of exercise you do and how frequently you do it. Dr Roizen's test (essentially an online questionaire which you can take for free = the cool thing is that not just works out your real age but also generates a list of healthy living recommendations to further lower your Real Age.) includes all kinds of factors from diet to exercise to less intuitive factors like how many hours you spend a year in a car (opening yourself to the effects of pollution, stress, risk of accidents. . . )
Here's the link to find out how "old" you really are and how "young" you can become: http://realage.com/
YThanks to Wasana & Cheng Hock for reminding me about this. May your spines be young and nimble for years to come.
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If I remember the story correctly, Dr Roizen was at a point tired of seeing the same patients again and again coming to see him over the same health problems which could have been prevented by simply being more health conscious and developing healthy living habits. He thus developed the concept of Real Age to work out the biological age of your body, based on how well you maintain it. His Real Age test shows the aging or anti-aging impact of factors like what kind of exercise you do and how frequently you do it. Dr Roizen's test (essentially an online questionaire which you can take for free = the cool thing is that not just works out your real age but also generates a list of healthy living recommendations to further lower your Real Age.) includes all kinds of factors from diet to exercise to less intuitive factors like how many hours you spend a year in a car (opening yourself to the effects of pollution, stress, risk of accidents. . . )
Here's the link to find out how "old" you really are and how "young" you can become: http://realage.com/
YThanks to Wasana & Cheng Hock for reminding me about this. May your spines be young and nimble for years to come.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
water workshops
Yogis are flexible. This is another way of saying, yogis are creative.
We need to adapt, create, express our originality to live freely, to reunite with our true Self.
mOmentOm yOga. . . is happy to present our new Water Workshops:
http://watergallery.blogspot.com/
Workshops start this Saturday at 1pm.
Email us today to reserve your place!
mOmentOmyOga@gmail.com
Come and explore the brilliance of your true self!
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
thursday 11 may 7:15pm class cancelled
Michele's 7:15pm class this week is cancelled. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Do call us if you have any questions on the schedule or to check on the status of any yoga class.
Tel: 63344100
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Do call us if you have any questions on the schedule or to check on the status of any yoga class.
Tel: 63344100
vesak day
This Friday 12 May is a public holiday, Vesak Day. There will be no yoga classes on that day.
This Friday's 12noon-1pm class will be held on Thursday 11 May.
So how would you be spending this one day?. . .
Better than a hundred years of mischief
Is one day spent in contemplation.
Better than a hundred years of ignorance
Is one day spent in reflection.
Better than a hundred years of idleness
Is one day spent in determination.
Better to live one day
Wondering
How all things arise and pass away.
Better to live one hour
Seeing
The one life beyond the way.
Better to live one moment
In the moment
Of the way beyond the way.
from Dhammapada: The Sayings of the Buddha, translated by Thomas Byrom
mOmentOm yOga wishes all health & happiness and an enlightening Vesak Day.
Pictures of Lumbhini Garden, Birthplace of Buddha, from our recent trip to Nepal:
Could this be where the tree and pond where Price Siddhartha (who became Buddha, "Enlightened One") was born? No one knows for sure. The white building protects the original Maya Devi (Mother of Prince Siddhartha) Temple which was built to commerate the birth of one of history's greatest thinkers. In front of the temple are the bases of former stupas. Inside the Maya Devi Temple, crowds still form lines to view the stone slab which was laid by King Ashoka to mark the place of Birth.
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This Friday's 12noon-1pm class will be held on Thursday 11 May.
So how would you be spending this one day?. . .
Better than a hundred years of mischief
Is one day spent in contemplation.
Better than a hundred years of ignorance
Is one day spent in reflection.
Better than a hundred years of idleness
Is one day spent in determination.
Better to live one day
Wondering
How all things arise and pass away.
Better to live one hour
Seeing
The one life beyond the way.
Better to live one moment
In the moment
Of the way beyond the way.
from Dhammapada: The Sayings of the Buddha, translated by Thomas Byrom
mOmentOm yOga wishes all health & happiness and an enlightening Vesak Day.
Pictures of Lumbhini Garden, Birthplace of Buddha, from our recent trip to Nepal:
Could this be where the tree and pond where Price Siddhartha (who became Buddha, "Enlightened One") was born? No one knows for sure. The white building protects the original Maya Devi (Mother of Prince Siddhartha) Temple which was built to commerate the birth of one of history's greatest thinkers. In front of the temple are the bases of former stupas. Inside the Maya Devi Temple, crowds still form lines to view the stone slab which was laid by King Ashoka to mark the place of Birth.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
the lamp Of wisdOm
To all who long and strive to realize the Self,
Illumination comes to them in this very life.
This divine awareness never leaves them,
And they work unceasingly for the good of all.
When the lamp of wisdom is lit within,
Their face shines, whether life brings weal or woe.
Even in deep sleep they are aware of the Self,
For their mind is freed from all conditioning.
Inwardly they are pure like the cloudless sky,
But they act as if they too were like us all.
Free from self-will, with detached intellect,
They are aware of the Self even with their hands at work.
Neither afraid of the world, nor making the world afraid,
They are free from greed, anger, and fear.
When the waves of self-will subside
Into the sea of peace that is the Self,
The mind becomes still, the heart pure,
And illumination comes to us in this very life.
When this supreme state is attained,
They neither rise nor fall, change nor die.
Words cannot describe the supreme state
For it is fuller than fullness can be.
from Yoga Vasishtha, translated by Eknath Easwaran, exerpt from his book God Makes the Rivers to Flow.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Illumination comes to them in this very life.
This divine awareness never leaves them,
And they work unceasingly for the good of all.
When the lamp of wisdom is lit within,
Their face shines, whether life brings weal or woe.
Even in deep sleep they are aware of the Self,
For their mind is freed from all conditioning.
Inwardly they are pure like the cloudless sky,
But they act as if they too were like us all.
Free from self-will, with detached intellect,
They are aware of the Self even with their hands at work.
Neither afraid of the world, nor making the world afraid,
They are free from greed, anger, and fear.
When the waves of self-will subside
Into the sea of peace that is the Self,
The mind becomes still, the heart pure,
And illumination comes to us in this very life.
When this supreme state is attained,
They neither rise nor fall, change nor die.
Words cannot describe the supreme state
For it is fuller than fullness can be.
from Yoga Vasishtha, translated by Eknath Easwaran, exerpt from his book God Makes the Rivers to Flow.
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
pOlling day classes
Our Saturday yogis have voted to have the 6pm-730pm class moved to an earlier timeslot at 11am-12.30pm on this Saturday, which is polling day.
Meditation class remains at 10-11am on that day.
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Meditation class remains at 10-11am on that day.
yOga unlimited
Goodness gracious mudita! Happiness is a continuing yoga student!
Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!
Mudita means "appreciative joy". I think the greatest joy I have over the years that I've been teaching is to see our yogis growing and coming again and again for yoga class. I know how easy it is to give in to the feeling now and then of wanting to just go home early and watch TV or go out for some shopping therapy than coming to yoga and sweating it out to win your all too short time in shavasana (corpse pose). I've been through that. I know how it is our minds would rather do a thousand and one things rather than come and sit on a meditation cushion and face the difficult task of understanding our own minds. I've been through that too.
Ah. Then isn't it great that the divine spark in you and I would not allow us to sink into the mundane and waste this precious human life by making us climb up the 3 levels of stairs into that familiar space for contemplation? It urges: "If you can't climb up just 3 floors of stairs to gain momentary peace tonight? How can you hope to gain Ultimate Peace and Liberation?! Duh!?"
We often give ourselves a lot less credit than we deserve. It is good to remember that we bow at the end of the class not so much to the external teacher who conducted the 1.5 hour class but to our internal teacher who conducts our entire life. We bow to that which is already wise and accomplished within us. That part which is already enlightened.
I remembered that when I first started learning yoga. In the beginning I wanted to give up before each class. But I kept on telling myself, "just one more class, then see how" and at the end of the class, I would say to myself "Another class down the belt! I've survived another one! Whoohoo!" Whatever that means. . . anyway, I congratulated myself HEARTILY for SIMPLY BEING PRESENT and doing something really good for myself although it was difficult for me. . . Then I slowly began to learn that there is no limit to what we can do with this kind of attitude.
So please each time you come to class, congratulate yourselves heartily for simply being present.
. . .
And to encourage those who want to come to class more frequently, mOmentOm yOga is happy to introduce our new yOga unlimited packages:
6 months unlimited yoga package: $1,200
12 months unlimited yoga package: $2,100
We have classes 7 days a week now. . . and we will soon be introducing more classes by other instructors, so these packages are very timely to take advantage of these new developments. See you in class!
For easy reference, here are our existing yoga packages (subject to changes):
Trial class (for first-timers): $15
Single drop-in class: $25
10-class package(classes valid for 3 months): $200 = $20 per class
20-class package(classes valid for 6 months): $300 = $15 per class
40-class package(classes valid for 7 months): $400 = $10 per class
*Students 20-class package(classes valid for 6 months): $200 = $10 per class
[*Students of tertiary institutions holding student passes.]
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Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!
Mudita means "appreciative joy". I think the greatest joy I have over the years that I've been teaching is to see our yogis growing and coming again and again for yoga class. I know how easy it is to give in to the feeling now and then of wanting to just go home early and watch TV or go out for some shopping therapy than coming to yoga and sweating it out to win your all too short time in shavasana (corpse pose). I've been through that. I know how it is our minds would rather do a thousand and one things rather than come and sit on a meditation cushion and face the difficult task of understanding our own minds. I've been through that too.
Ah. Then isn't it great that the divine spark in you and I would not allow us to sink into the mundane and waste this precious human life by making us climb up the 3 levels of stairs into that familiar space for contemplation? It urges: "If you can't climb up just 3 floors of stairs to gain momentary peace tonight? How can you hope to gain Ultimate Peace and Liberation?! Duh!?"
We often give ourselves a lot less credit than we deserve. It is good to remember that we bow at the end of the class not so much to the external teacher who conducted the 1.5 hour class but to our internal teacher who conducts our entire life. We bow to that which is already wise and accomplished within us. That part which is already enlightened.
I remembered that when I first started learning yoga. In the beginning I wanted to give up before each class. But I kept on telling myself, "just one more class, then see how" and at the end of the class, I would say to myself "Another class down the belt! I've survived another one! Whoohoo!" Whatever that means. . . anyway, I congratulated myself HEARTILY for SIMPLY BEING PRESENT and doing something really good for myself although it was difficult for me. . . Then I slowly began to learn that there is no limit to what we can do with this kind of attitude.
So please each time you come to class, congratulate yourselves heartily for simply being present.
. . .
And to encourage those who want to come to class more frequently, mOmentOm yOga is happy to introduce our new yOga unlimited packages:
6 months unlimited yoga package: $1,200
12 months unlimited yoga package: $2,100
We have classes 7 days a week now. . . and we will soon be introducing more classes by other instructors, so these packages are very timely to take advantage of these new developments. See you in class!
For easy reference, here are our existing yoga packages (subject to changes):
Trial class (for first-timers): $15
Single drop-in class: $25
10-class package(classes valid for 3 months): $200 = $20 per class
20-class package(classes valid for 6 months): $300 = $15 per class
40-class package(classes valid for 7 months): $400 = $10 per class
*Students 20-class package(classes valid for 6 months): $200 = $10 per class
[*Students of tertiary institutions holding student passes.]