MahaMondo

Parampara : Knowledge , Dharma & Surrender

As a traveling student , there is nothing like dropping-in at a traditional Ashtanga YogaShala & knowing that there will be a sense of sameness & continuity there ; wherever that " there " may be.

The image on the left is from the entryway of the AYRI Roma yogashala.

Being back in Los Angeles for the Thanksgiving break , I've been able to practice at my teacher's yogashala the past couple of days. During Led Class , I was on the receiving end of several " welcome back " adjustments , which initially reminded me that , yes , sitting in airplanes for etyended period of times is completely unnatural.

But most importantly , it also reminded me that my dharma as a student of the Ashtanga Vinyasa practice is to breathe through it & Surrender. Then everything makes sense & expansion happens.

From the KPJAYI website comes this new entry ( to me ) which distills parampara , the elements of knowledge , dharma & surrender intrinsic to it.

" Surrendering to parampara is like entering a river of teachings that has been flowing for thousands of years , a river that age-old masters have followed into an ocean of knowledge "

Hari Om Tat Sat !

Maya-mi : Just Be Thankful

Maya is illusion. Maya-mi , the land of illusion , where everything is seductive & sensual. Always happy to be back , to be able to walk on the beach & boardwalk after meetings & get to  practice at Miami Life Center's Mysore evening class.

Patrick is back from Mysore & is full of humor & good cheer. And I found street parking outside MLC prior to each class. South Beach karma.

Not so happy Saturday night as I had to fly to New York early Sunday morning & the party on the hotel roof deck is keeping me awake. Definitely not an illusion , hehe.

I am grateful this Thanksgiving that I received blessings from my Guru Maharaja on the occassion of his Vyasa Puja.

Happy that I had Thanksgiving lunch after artik at the LA Temple today with my teacher.

Led class tom.AM , Mysore class Sun. AM then the Tulasi & Salagrama Festival in the afternoon. Jaya !

First Winter : Sex, Drugs , Yoga & Organic Cooking

I was reading the NY Times in the car on the way to JFK last Friday & was intrigued by this review of the movie " First Winter ". "When winter begins, life is serene for a group of new-age Brooklynites living in a remote country farmhouse. Sex, drugs, yoga, and organic cooking absorb their days, safely tucked away from the stresses of urban life. But when a blackout of apocalyptic proportions strands them with no heat and no electricity during the coldest winter on record, their utopian commune is breached by anxiety and their idyllic harmony begins to lose its tune. As time wears on and the food supply dwindles, power struggles, jealousy, and desire threaten the group's ability to work together in order to survive. In this extraordinary debut feature, filmmaker Benjamin Dickinson explores the fundamental instincts of human nature that arise when perseverance and beliefs are not only tested, but taken to their limits. Nuanced, authentic performances escalate with heightened emotion, while ethereal landscapes intimate that the poetic world of First Winter exists in an undefined time and space, perhaps not so far apart from our own." --Genna Terranova, Tribeca Film Festival