Spirituality yin to Survival yang

In the US and increasingly around the world we have not understood what our role is in a world that is needing our physical labor less and less to produce a level of comfort that is unprecedented.  Survival used to take a lot of work, especially in colder climates and in the farming life.  As mechanization has increased we have become more and more sedentary with more discretionary time.  But now that our survival has been well organized and taken care of in many ways, we do not seem to be able to move on to explore what else life has to offer.  Our accomplishments have made us physically comfortable but uncomfortable within ourselves.  We have not achieved a comfort that is based on balance so that we feel at ease, content.  We are easily upset by inconsequential incidents in our lives that should not phase us.  Many are on a hair trigger and will go off at the least provocation.  Is this success?  Where do we go from here.  Do we just go on consuming more and more and use up all the resources our planet has to offer?

Instead of being satisfied with our prodigious achievements, we want more and more and more.  It is not sustainable and it is a glorification of a survival process that should be simply a given which allows us to pursue higher dimensions of consciousness.  We have become so unbalanced that turning inward does not look attractive to us because our mind is a scary process of runaway thoughts and emotions that does not seem to be able to be calm.

This excessive survival process is a result of the excess yang building up in our bodies.  It is expressed by excess action, the need to do:  work, exercise, consume, build, "improve", raise the bar, increase the standard of living.  This is compulsive in nature and threatens our very mother earth.

Spiritual process is the yin side of this equation and right now it needs to be brought into balance.  Turning inward is the only way to explore higher dimensions of life, that which is beyond the physical.  As we turn inward, we find that our lives are capable of being filled with bliss and that we are fantastical creatures of unlimited capacity to expand our consciousness.  Bringing balance to the physical allows us to access our spiritual possibilities and to grow on a path towards our ultimate enlightenment.

This does not require more stuff, just more attention.

Blessings and thanks for reading.

Steve

Temperate zone transition

If you live above the 30th parallel in the northern hemisphere, we are beginning the southern run of the sun.  This means that the days grow shorter and the sun beams become less intense.  We transition from a yang dominated environment to a yin dominated environment.  Thus we must adjust our diet accordingly if we wish to stay balanced.  We need to restrict our use of tropical fruits and vegetables and depend more on the vegetables that can winter over in storage.  These are the squashes, pumpkins, root vegetables, and ground vegetables.  Now is the time to pickle those cucumbers and cabbages so that you have sauerkraut all winter long.  If you eat fruit in the winter, we recommend that you eat fruit that grows in your area, smaller, more compact fruit like blueberries and raspberries, cranberries, etc.

In winter we eat more of these foods lightly cooked, especially fruit.  Since the winter is a yin dominated environment, we limit our intake of extreme yin foods such as ice cream, alcohol, iced drinks, and refined sugar in general, substituting northern sugars like maple syrup and rice syrup.  One can also use apple butter as a sweetener in many recipes.

In addition, we eat less of the yin grains and beans (larger, more expanded like corn and large beans) and transition to small compact beans like adzuki beans and black beans, and grains like oats and millet and in northern regions, short grain brown rice.  These grains and beans are very warming in the winter and help to keep us balanced.

Too much liquid can also be unbalancing in the winter and although we eat more sodium in the winter, it is best to watch the sodium level so as not to over react.  An umeboshi plum taken in warm water once per week can keep you energized and your vitality strong.

Given these strategies, you should be able to balance the yin dominated winter and emerge in spring without the need to discharge through the winter season.

Have a beautiful transition.

Thanks for reading.

Yoga teacher

At the end of last year I completed six months of intense preparation and practice of hata yoga at the Isha Yoga Center in South India.  Since that time I have been establishing a teaching practice and have had the honour to teach many friends and fellow meditators new practices from hata yoga.  Many of these practices have a profound balancing effect on the human system and bring stability to the body and stillness to the mind.

In my travels this past year I have encountered many people who dispite practicing extensive yoga, are still struggling with issues of imbalance on a daily basis.  They have blood sugar issues or have difficulty sleeping.  They carry too much weight or they suffer from anxiety.  They are stressed or angry often.  Many of these issues can be significantly helped by proper yoga.  But proper yoga with the support of a lifestyle that brings balance is much more effective at bringing about transformation.  

So I remain committed to contribute in both ways to the evolving balance of my community by continuing to share the technology of balance both thru diet and lifestyle and through the practice of yoga.  I deliver yoga through my company Spiritual Yoga of Southwest Ohio.  Our website is spiritualyoga-swohio.org. Please contact us if we can be of service to you.

Thanks for reading

Blessings