Bow Down Yoga with Sofi Dillof, advanced certified Jivamukti instructor

My little Dharma

So I decided to try this thing where I wake up in the morning and I lie in bed and say, "Okay Guru (which is what a usually call God) I am not going to move until you move me." In other words, I decided I would wait to get out of bed until a reason to act emerged from my heart. A reason that has nothing to do with my ego. So not "get out of bed to drink coffee",or "get out of bed to go to work and make money etc...". I would not move until a selfless, pure reason made itself know.
So I did. I said, "Guru, I am not going to move until you move me." I waited for a long time.  I waited, and waited, and waited, and waited and waited. Nothing happened so I waited some more. All of a sudden my bedroom door flew open and there was my 8 year old  daughter in her Polly Pocket nightgown looking madder than Kali Ma and yelling at me because I had let her over sleep and she was going to be late for school and today was community sing day!
I thought, "Okay universe I get it. She is my heart, my responsibility, my reason to get out of bed each morning. Thank you for reminding me."
I didn't know dharma could be so darn cute!

Try it sometime and see what your heart tells you!

Jivamukti Podcast "Ishvara Pranidhana - become a useful tool for the Divine "

This Jivamukti Yoga Podcast, 'Ishvara Pranidhana - become a useful tool of the Divine', is a full hour and a half Jivamukti class begining with chanting and an opening talk followed by an hour asana class, relaxation, and meditation.

If you would like to chant along, here are the words we will be chanting today:

Jai Bhagavan...Thy Will Be Done

Click here to play this podcast or right click (control click apple users) to save to your desktop.

You can also download and subscribe to my podcasts through iTunes!

To read my essay on Ishvara Pranidhana go to www.jivamuktiyoga.com and click on the "Focus of the Month" link.

If you have a minute after the class, leave a comment on this post and let me know how it went for you!

Jivamukti Yoga Podcast 'Ishvara Pranidhana - Becoming Love'

This Jivamukti Yoga Podcast, 'Ishvara Pranidhana - Becoming Love', is a full hour and a half Jivamukti class begining with chanting and an opening talk followed by an hour asana class, relaxation, and meditation.

If you would like to chant along, here are the words we will be chanting today:

Lokah Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu
May all beings everywhere be happy and free and may the thoughts words and actions of our lives help to contribute in some way to that happiness and freedom for all.

Click here to play this podcast or right click (control click apple users) to save to your desktop.

You can also download and subscribe to my podcasts through iTunes!

To read my essay on Ishvara Pranidhana go to www.jivamuktiyoga.com and click on the "Focus of the Month" link.

If you have a minute after the class, leave a comment on this post and let me know how it went for you!

Chapter one of the Yoga Sutras in a nut shell.

After class last week a student expressed some confusion related to the first chapter of the Yoga Sutras. As promised, here is my "chapter one in a nut shell overview" for you. I hope it is helpful. Key words have been highlighted......

In the context of the Yoga Sutras, the word Yoga means to 'yoke' or harness the senses via intense concentration. The end result of this practice is union with the Supreme Self. The Supreme Self is that unchanging energy of pure Being which is referred to as Purusha in the Sutras. It is a state of super consciousness that ultimately exists beyond thought, though during its early stages cognition is still present. In order to reach this state it is necessary to control and eventually to stop the vritti, movements of the mind, because our thoughts will always bind us to our individual sense of self, jiva.

   

Abasya, practice, and viragya, detachment or dispassion,  are the methods which enable the yogi to move beyond the modifications of the mind and the obstacles that they present. They allow the mind to become concentrated or one pointed, ekagrata parinama. When the mind become one pointed it begins to merge with its object of concentration. This leads to the first stage of samadhi called, samprajnatah samadhi. The more intensely and steadily one practices abasya and viragya the quicker one will reach this state.

 

  Samprajnatah samadhi can also be reached  quickly through surrender or devotion to God, Isvara-pranidhana. Ishvara is Purusha in form but yet is free from all attributes and afflictions that Prakriti, nature, or the energy of creation, is subject to. The vibration of Om is the same as Ishvara and by its constant repetition and meditation on its meaning, japa, one can also come to know God, Purusha.

    As the mind becomes more purified through the deepening of its efforts of concentration, or through supreme devotion and surrender, Samadhi becomes more refined until reaching the final stage called asamprajnatah samadhi, super consciousness beyond perfect knowledge, beyond even the subtle latent impression, samskaras, left by thought, complete merger with Purusha.