The Lotus Quarterly Newsletter – March 2012 Promoting the Benefits of Yoga, Meditation, Massage & Health Since 1971 Natural Therapies 1975 & Taichi Qigong 1991
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The Lotus Quarterly Newsletter – March 2012 Promoting the benefits of Yoga, Meditation, Massage & Health since 1971 Natural Therapies 1975 & Taichi Qigong 1991 Editorial by Cathryn Doornekamp Contributions to The Lotus newsletter are more than welcome. If you'd like to submit an article Namaste. Welcome to the on the benefits of yoga or another yoga topic of Autumn edition of The Lotus your choice, please let me know in advance of quarterly newsletter. As I sit the following submission deadlines: here to write, it is hard to believe that already two 14 May 2012 June 2012 newsletter months of 2012 have slipped 14 August 2012 Sept 2012 newsletter by. It just seems like yesterday that Christmas was Please note that the contents of The Lotus do not upon us. Why is it, that the necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or The older we get, the faster time seems to go by? Lotus Yoga Centre. Even our eleven year old son, Ananda has made this observation! There are all sorts of theories in response to why Table of Contents time appears to be speeding up, ranging from Editorial by Cathryn Doornekamp.............1 scientific explanations to Mayan Calendar Tapas..........................................................2 predictions. A Personal Evaluation on Tapas.................4 It has even been suggested that this awareness The Five Bodies of Man.............................4 has to do with the concept of relativity. For News from the Centre................................6 example, when a year goes by for a three year Helping Hands............................................6 old child, it is one-fourth of the time lived in Back by Popular Demand..........................7 comparison to the length of it's lifetime, Upcoming Courses and Events..................7 whereas when a year goes by for a 60 year old Available from the Centre..........................7 person, it is 1/60th of the time lived. Organic Produce....................................7 Reiki Healing.........................................8 Therefore, as we age and grow older, a year Massage.................................................8 seems to pass more quickly in comparison to the Back/Neck/Shoulder Therapy...............8 length of our lifetime. It appears to go faster be- Naturopathy/Iridology...........................9 cause we are comparing it to something that is a Supplements..........................................9 basic part of our existence. Books.....................................................9 Whatever the reason, the reality is that we only Vouchers................................................9 have the current moment. So let's make the most Membership Renewal..............................10 of the now and forget about trying to explain Building Fund..........................................10 why time seems to speed up, the older we get. To the enlightened Yogi time is irrelevant! The Lotus Yoga Centre And Retreat Incorporated 91 Ruapehu Street, Paraparaumu 5032 PH: 04 298 8258 FAX: 04 298 2306 Email: [email protected] Website www.lotusyogacentre.org.nz The Lotus Newsletter March 2012 Tapas The Bhagavad Gita lists tapas as being of three types: “Through austerity, on account of Tapas of the body ( kayika ) the dwindling of impurity, “Purity (cleanliness), honesty, simplicity, con- perfection of the body and the sense- tinence and non-violence are considered the organs is gained.” austerity of the body.” 17:14 Tapas of speech ( vachika ) Yoga Sutra 2.43 “To speak words that are truthful, kind and helpful, that cause no resentment, and to Editor's Note – Tapas is the third of the five regularly study the scriptures, are called the niyamas or personal observances. austerity of speech.” 17:15 The niyamas form the second limb of the eight Tapas of the mind ( manasika ) limbs of yoga, as codified by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras. “Calmness, kindness, silence, self-control and purity of thought are called austerity of mind.” An overview of the niyamas and the eight limbs 17:16 of yoga can be found in the article entitled 'The Yamas and Niyamas' published in the March 2010 edition of The Lotus newsletter. “Without tapas, yoga is not possible” Tapas is often translated as “Na atapasvino yogah” Discipline or Austerity It stems from the verb root tap, meaning to “burn, blaze or consume by heat”. Tapas Tapas advocate “The Middle Way”, literally means to “purify through heating”, “just nothing to extreme. as intense heat is used to burn away dross in a nugget of gold”. Sri Krishna reveals in the Bhagavad Gita that we must find a balance between indulgence and abstinence. He says: “Arjuna, those who eat too much or eat too little, who sleep too much or too little do not find success in yoga.” 6:16 Dr. Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani says in his “Those that are regulated and balanced in book Understanding the Yoga Darshan that eating, sleeping, work and recreation find an “The heat of tapa, intense disciplined self-effort, end to sorrow through yoga.” 6:17 destroys all impurities resulting in the mastery We can work on tapas of the body by including as well as the perfection of the physical body a regular practice of asanas and pranayama in (kaya) and the sensory apparatus ensconced our daily routine. Asanas and pranayama burn within. Indiscipline makes us a slave to the body away toxins and strengthen the body for higher and senses, whereas self-discipline enables us to practices. The action of rising from bed in the become their master.” morning to practise, even when the body and Page 2 of 10 The Lotus Newsletter March 2012 mind are unwilling is tapas. One must cultivate Meenakshi concludes the article with these self-control and willpower to get up, no matter reflections: what. Exerting tapas requires effort and in the “Tapasya is living our daily life with cheer- beginning some resistance can be expected, but fulness and skill, constantly aware of our own pursue we must if we are to evolve and make thoughts, words and actions (Swadhyaya) and progress on the spiritual path. accepting all events and people and situations It is human nature to procrastinate and we are as coming to us from the will of the Divine, very good at finding 'every excuse in the book' (Ishwara Pranidhana).” as to why not to do something, especially if it is “Daily life is nothing but Patanjali's Kriya difficult or unpleasant. We would rather appease Yoga (Tapasya, Swadhyaya and Ishwara the senses with that, that is pleasurable. Pranidhana) and the great Rishi 2500 years As Dr. Ananda says “Tapa is the discipline of ago promised, “Perfection in Kriya Yoga one's own self, developing the capability to do produces Samadhi. We do not need to go to a the most difficult things, to push beyond one's cave. We live in a cave. That cave is in the limits. We must set and reset the limits on a middle of our own forehead, the field of continuous basis. This is tapa manifested as an conscious awareness. It is there Moksha is to external discipline”. Ref: Understanding the be found and no place other!” Yoga Darshan Wynni Nguyen, student of the Yoga Sadhana and Teacher Training Course at ICYER 2009- 2010 says in her assignment on Tapas that she likes to “believe discipline is related to what Ammaji (Meenakshi Devi Bhavanani) has said many times in Satsangha - it is “choosing to do what is right, whether it is difficult or whether one feels like it or not.” For no other reason than it’s the right thing to do, it is our Dharma (duty)”. Meenakshi speaks of tapas in the editorial she wrote for the Yoga Life monthly journal, Vol 38, October 2007 entitled “When Daily Life Becomes Sadhana and Tapasya”. She quotes Editor's Note – Tapas is the third article in a Dr. Swami Gitananda Giri: series of five articles on each of the niyamas. “Your daily life is your Tapasya.” Articles published to date are: “Working out our Karma according to our Shaucha Cleanliness Sept 2011 Dharma is the greatest Tapasya, purifier and strengthener. Santosha Contentment Dec 2011 One can never attain Santhosam, contentment, The schedule for publication of the remaining if one does not fulfill Dharma niyamas is: and burn out Karma. Without Santhosam, how can there be Swadhyaya Self-study June 2012 “Yoga Chitta Vritti” or the Ishwara-pranidhana Devotion Sept 2012 “stilling of the whirlpools of the mind”. Page 3 of 10 The Lotus Newsletter March 2012 A Personal Evaluation on Tapas Whether I feel like it or not, I know I must front up each morning, day in and day out to practice. Editor's Note – Most Lotus readers will be aware that the Centre's resident yoga teacher, The 3 R's, Repetition, Regularity and Rhythm Cathryn Doornekamp is currently participating (known as abhyasa) form the 'Bedrock of Yoga'. in the Yoga: Step-by-Step Correspondence Repetition over a long period of time is course with Ananda Ashram, Pondicherry, necessary to ingrain something into one's South India. character, until it becomes 'second nature'. Cathryn had the good fortune of attending a Regularity implies carrying out an action on a ten-day intensive course in yoga sadhana at regular basis whether it be 'everyday', 'every Ananda Ashram in August, 2011 and plans to go week', 'every full moon', 'every sunrise' or 'every back for further yoga studies. sunset'. Doing so consistently without fail, The following article is the response Cathryn brings about transformation and change. gave to lesson 7 of the Yoga: Step-by-Step Rhythm creates the momentum to carry one course when evaluating herself on Tapas. forward with little effort. I have come to recognise tapas as being the 'fiery' will that propels us forward with our Yoga The Five Bodies of Man practices and Sadhana. Abhyasa is an essential component of tapas. Some days I find it is In Yoga, man is recognised as being not one, but easier to restrain the animal instinct that is so five distinct bodies – the Pancha Kosha.