#atmanandayoga

[veganvitalitywellness-blog]

Cooling Down with Candle Light Yin Yoga was Awesome tonight @atmanandayoganyc #yoga #zen #namaste #nyc #yogainspiration #summertime #atmanandayoga #yogaeverydamnday (at New York, New York)

[veganvitalitywellness-blog]

Who wants to go to this Awesome Kids Yoga Training with Me ?@Atmananda #atmanandayoga #kids #kidsyogatraining #kidyoga #kids❤️ #yoga #namaste #mindfulness #yogaforall #yogateachertraining #yogateacher #yogacertification (at New York, New York)

[atmanandayoga]

Why Do We Practice Yoga?

By Tim Moriarty, 200hr certified yoga instructor

“Why do you practice yoga?” If one asked this question to 10 different yoga practitioners in New York City you’re bound to get different answers. “I do yoga because I’m trying to lose weight.” “I do yoga because I have a hectic job and I need a way to de-stress.” “I do yoga because I suffer from chronic back pain and I’m seeking a natural remedy.” There is nothing wrong with any of these reasons! Indeed, many people join the Atmananda community with precisely these goals in mind. However, as one practices the Atmananda Sequence more and more, one slowly begins to realize that while exercise, relaxation and pain management are great byproducts of yoga, the practice is fundamentally about so much more. At Atmananda, we practice yoga to practice yoga. Wait…huh?

Living “For the Sake of”

Have you ever noticed how nearly everything we do in the course of a day is for the sake of something else? A current job is a stepping stone to a better job. This morning’s trip to the gym is for the sake of bigger biceps. Afternoon Happy Hour is for the sake of posting a picture of Happy Hour on Instagram. The evening’s subway ride is for the sake of getting home. Now I’ll admit, it’s difficult to view a subway ride as anything but a means to an end. But is the rest of our life that much different?

The future obsessed mindset was drilled into us at a very young age. The spontaneous joy of children is cut short as we began preparing them for the future. The purpose of grade school is to get into high school. The purpose of high school is to get a good GPA. The purpose of the high GPA is so that we could get into a good college. College is all about getting into Law School or Med School or securing a high paying internship. The purpose of these pursuits is to make a lot of money. The purpose of making money is so that we have money with which to invest and thus make more money. So it goes until we retire and can finally enjoy ourselves. The only problem with this situation however, is that once we “get there,” we’re old and senile. We have a few good years of golf and then into the grave.

The great 17th century scientist and philosopher Blaise Pascal said it best:

“Let each one examine his thoughts, and he will find them all occupied with the past and the future. We scarcely ever think of the present; and if we think of it, it is only to take light from it to arrange the future. The present is never our end. The past and the present are our means; the future alone is our end. So we never live, but we hope to live; and, as we are always preparing to be happy, it is inevitable we should never be so.” 

Practice Yoga For the Sake of Practicing Yoga

When one practices Yoga at Atmananda, one enters into a radically different way of being. As we flow through the carefully designed series of postures arranged by Jhon T, we awaken to the fact that the only life we have to live is now. There is only this moment. There is only this breath, these sensations, and this deep Stillness which watches it all. The illusionary phantoms from which we flee day after day, and the idyllic life towards which we endlessly strive, disappear into a vast ocean of nothingness. As our practice deepens, we awaken to the further realization that this emptiness is nothing else but ourselves - our true nature.

When we live within this realization, we become aware that our perfect life does not exist “out there” in some place, or "eventually" in some future time. When we practice yoga at Atmananda, we give ourselves permission to enter into the still sanctuary that resides at the center of our being. And once there, there is no more "for the sake of." We’re free to practice yoga for the sake of simple joy of practicing yoga. In a word, we're home!

[atmanandayoga]

"THE PERFECT POSE"

By Tim Moriarty, 200hr certified yoga teacher 

The trademark at Atmananda is proper alignment. At first glance, alignment and freedom seem to have very little to do with one another. When I learned about Jhon T’s approach, the first image that popped into my head was of my mother telling me to sit up straight while at the dining room table. I didn’t like being told to sit up back then! Why would I like it now? I had tried Iyengar a few years ago and although I appreciated what it did for old people, I was young and athletic. Give me the fire of Ashtanga over “Nursing Home Yoga” any day!

Yoga is about alignment AND flowing with breath. For Jhon T, yoga is about integration. Everything is intimately interconnected. The aim of yoga is to dissolve the dissonance between the mind and the body so that whatever I do, I do with my entire being.

Subject/Object Split

According to all of the great wisdom traditions, the greatest human disease is the "dis-ease" we continually feel as we go about our daily lives. According to Pantanjali, this dis-ease is the result of our dualistic worldview. We mistakenly think that our true self resides in the mind. We believe that "I" exists inside this body and that everything else is "Other." Our experience of life is split between a subjective experience of consciousness and an objective experience of consciousness.

It follows that I must protect my "I" from all the dangers that exist out there in the world - i.e. "Otherness." My self-worth is dependent upon my being somehow better, more important, more special than everyone else. The world is something to conquer. Other human beings are my competitors. We ceaselessly seek to advance ourselves further and further and whenever we do attain something, we must fight to preserve it. This anxiety ridden existence is what Buddha called dukkha or suffering.

Where is the “I”?

Now, the problem with believing in the existence of this split between "I" and "Other" is that when we attempt to find the "I," we can't. It is as difficult for the self to locate itself as it is for the same tooth to bite itself. When we ask the question: "where did that thought come from?" we are thrown back into a mysterious void.

Most of us don't tread down this path of inquiry and instead, choose to identify with our thoughts. For us: "I am what I think." We cling to our thoughts even when the sensations and feelings of the body alert us to the fact that there may be more to reality. Rather than listening to the wisdom of the body however, we either force it into compliance or we ignore it through unhealthy eating, injury provoking exercise, the use of toxic substances, etc.

Uniting the Mind and the Body

Yoga means union. The purpose of taking the yogic path is to overcome the various divisions and attachments that create suffering. At Atmananda, Jhon T often says that the goal of practice is to arrive at “the perfect pose.” The “perfect pose” is the moment when a yogi experiences stillness and silence in an asana, fully realizing without judgement the simultaneous forces of groundedness and lightness within his/her self. While experiencing “the perfect pose,” the yogi’s mind and body become one. The idea of separation between the body that take the pose and the mind that judges vanish and in its place is simply the pose.

In learning about “the perfect pose,” I have realized that my previous approach to yoga was overwhelmingly idealistic. When I practiced in the past, I would continually seek an ideal (i.e. the external mechanics of a pose), or a feeling (i.e. the endorphin rush from a strenuous workout). In other words, my yoga practice was driven by my ego. My “task master” mind would often push my body beyond its limits resulting in injury and frustration.

Becoming the Pose

In Jhon T’s approach at Atmananda, the mind must respect the body. The mind likes to live in the past and the future. It loves to compare "my body" with "other bodies." It loves to doubt, scoff, praise, evaluate, analyze, etc. The body, however, just is. It always exists in the present. When I focus my attention entirely on the sensations of the body as I take a particular pose, my mind becomes quiet. I no longer need to force myself into a injury provoking posture in order to feel good about myself. I no longer need to compare myself with other practitioners.  I no longer need to take short cuts into the poses. My only task is to be present to what actually is. As Jhon T says, I become empty and thereby enter into the space of pure potentiality.

In striving to achieve the "perfect pose," I perform the postures in a way that honors my anatomical structure. In doing so I avoid the injuries that plague so many practitioners of yoga. It is important to note, however, that the perfection of the “perfect pose” is not simply found in “me” doing the pose “perfectly.” This is just the beginning. The true perfection of the "perfect pose" is in dissolving the difference between “me” and “the pose.”  Once a practitioner achieves (or non-achieves) the perfect pose, he/she become one with Creative Energy, the expression of which is this pose.

While this may take years to fully realize, I take heart in the realization that there is a kind of perfection that one experiences in surrendering to one's lack of perfection. In doing so I awake to the reality of the moment. From this perspective, perfection is possible at every step along the way.

[atmanandayoga]

"you are nothing but a thought..." Jhon Tamayo #tbt #meditation #jhont #atmanandayoga #wisdom #yoga #selfbliss (at Atmananda Yoga)