Yoga and the Art of Loving Yourself
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After a snowfall, the warmth of this couple's love keeps the cold at bay.
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Earlier this month, I taught a yoga and meditation workshop for the Center for Family Support, a disabilities organization here in NYC. It was part of a series of workshops entitled: Love Yourself: Mind, Body, and Spirit. It got me thinking, what does it really mean to "love yourself?"
I think that beyond the usual extra pampering we might give to ourselves, whether it be a massage, a tasty and nutritious meal, an extra hour of sleep, or any number of things, for yogis and Buddhist meditators, the concept of truly loving yourself lies further and deeper within.
I got an email from Prajna Studios at Shambhala Publications sharing a free teaching from a Buddhist monk named Phakchok Rimpoche, entitled The Power of Dignity. After listening to it once, it so grabbed my attention that I found myself wanting to listen to it several times more just so I could more fully understand the teaching. What resonated deeply with me was this part of Phakchok Rimpoche's teaching (I've edited for clarity and understanding):
When you don’t have your own dignity, you cannot give respect to others in a way that is fully beneficial to them. If you want to give other people respect; you need to find your own dignity first. Then you will have genuine respect to others. When you have no dignity, you are vulnerable to your own emotions. That’s when you make other people miserable because you are not complete. So awakening dignity is completely not selfish. It’s actually opposite of that. Finding your own dignity is actually beneficial for others, with your family members or others, whoever you meet in your life.
At the beginning of the talk, Phakchok Rimpoche shared how before he started meditating he was so nice and so compassionate towards others. But he felt he lacked a strength, decisiveness, and confidence within. But little by little, his practice led him to uncovering his basic goodness, and with it feelings of wholeness, confidence, and satisfaction.
Shambhala Publications explains the concept of dignity this way:
This concept of dignity is different from what we might assume with a Western understanding and is a core teaching of many wisdom traditions. It is a quality of dignity that is rooted in the knowledge that you are fundamentally good at your core. According to the teachings, the simple fact that you are alive means you carry a wholeness, wisdom, and perfection, and the task of meditation is to uncover this within yourself by working with the patterns of thoughts and emotions that get in the way of this self-knowledge. When you practice returning to this natural dignity again and again, it is possible to develop unwavering joy, confidence, and love for yourself while simultaneously engaging the world with genuine openness and compassion.
I remember watching The Whale and being particularly struck by what Brendan Frasier's character Charlie says at the end. I don't remember it word for word, but basically the last thought he imparts to his daughter before he dies is: Everyone is good!
The main takeaway for me is that it’s important to uncover my own basic goodness first, so that I can cultivate a fuller knowing of my basic dignity. Having done so, I can then meet the challenges that others will inevitably lay in front of me with a fuller kind of compassion and respect. But until I have sufficient confidence in my own basic goodness, I can’t be authentically compassionate and caring towards others. Loving yourself is doing whatever it takes to uncover your basic goodness, even if the quest may appear selfish to others.
This aligns with another teaching of the Buddha, which has always resonated with me: Light your own lamp and the lives of others will be illuminated effortlessly. In other words, before I do the work of helping others, I have to do the important work of transforming my own self first. Otherwise, my work in support of others won’t be as authentic as it could be.
So the Art of Loving Yourself for me means doing the day by day work of seeing the good that is already within me, the seed goodness that has always been a part of me. I don't have to go searching for it outside of myself nor seek external validation of its existence. There's enough drama in the world. I just strive not to add to it in unhelpful ways.
I hope your ongoing yoga and meditation practices can help you uncover your basic goodness, your dignity. And I hope the realizations can give you confidence and satisfaction as you navigate the outer world.
May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you know your basic goodness, your seed dignity, …
May you Love Yourself in ways that ultimately will benefit all Beings everywhere, including those that exist in Nature.
Aloha and Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun
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While walking near the World Trade Center this past weekend, this mural caught my attention:
I'm sure the wisest yogis amongst us would agree with its message!
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These migratory birds paid us a visit this week at our home in Florida. Nature has me falling in love with it over and over again!
Yoga and the Art of Letting Go
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The view from my window during breakfast this month. Both ordinary, and extraordinary.
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January as we all know is a time for new beginnings. And according to this NY Times article, it's becoming a favorite month for some. I can see the wisdom in that.
For me, I like to review my goals, dreams and wishes from the prior year, and set forth new ones for the new year. It is a time to evaluate what is working and what can and needs to be let go of.
I was inspired by this quote by the Thai Buddhist Monk, Ajahn Chah:
“Do everything with a mind that lets go . . . If you let go a little, you will have a little peace. If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace. If you let go completely, you will know complete peace and freedom. Your struggle with the world will have come to an end.”
Being practical, I decided to take baby steps. No need to aspire too greatly, because then it might all come crashing down quickly. Sometime earlier this month, I was listening to the radio -- NPR I believe -- and there was a segment on mindful eating that caught my attention. Essentially, the woman suggested we practice just sitting and eating. Not eating while looking at our phones, computers, TVs, or pick your favorite meal companion. So, I decided to commit to taking my meals just sitting in front of my window. The practice was both simple and at times difficult, as my mind would yearn to multi-task! But persist I did.
Here are three things I observed:
What is in front of me is what is in front of me, and it is enough. We've had a lot of grey overcast days here in NYC in January. And while my mind was yearning for more sunshine, it eventually settled into being OK with things as they are, not as I wish them to be. Very yogic, for sure.
Letting go of my habit of needing to be entertained by other distractions such as TV or my phone led my mind to being quieter. Oh, for sure, there were thoughts going on in my head, but it was easier to see them come and pass. As you may know, quieting the movements of the mind is one of the first goals stated in the Yoga Sutras. Sutra 1.2 reads: yogash chitta vritti nirodhah or "yoga is the cessation of the movements of the mind."
Being mindful of my actions led to more beneficial moments of awareness – like when my body was telling me I am full and can stop eating.
On the topic of mindfulness, many years ago I heard an interview Krista Tippett did with Thich Nhat Hanh. Here are some bits of wisdom he shared:
Life is available only in the present. That is why we should walk [or eat, I will add!] in such a way that every step can bring us to the here and the now.
... when you are mindful, you are fully alive, you are fully present. You can get in touch with the wonders of life, that can nourish you, and heal you.
I can't say that I am an expert in mindfulness or will give myself an "A" in "letting go." But, I can say that I am just a bit better at both as a result of my eating practices this month.
And here are a few personal benefits I've noticed:
I feel noticeably less anxious about how things are going to turn out. If anything, I'm more curious. That aligns with Buddhist philosophy.
It feels easier to be in the present and I’m getting a lot done.
I've lost a few pounds.
I hope you've had a good time with your New Year Resolutions, whatever they may be. And, if you've noticed or learned along the way, I'd love to hear what they are, so feel free to write back and let me know.
At any rate, I do know that letting go of past habits can be a tricky thing. I do hope that you can experience the art of letting go by simply (or maybe not so simply) slowing down, doing one thing at a time, and noticing more of the extraordinary in the ordinary things that surround you.
May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you let go a little, …
May anything you can let go of ultimately benefit all Beings everywhere, including those that exist in Nature.
Aloha and Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun
Practicing mindfulness as I walked the streets of NYC last night led me to this extraordinary and whimsical art installation in Madison Square Park!
Yoga Lessons from Ecuador, p. 2
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The Amazon Rainforest as viewed from the Sacha Lodge Canopy Walk in Ecuador.
So many pathways to the Light
As I shared in my last yoga letter, I had a once-in-a-lifetime experience in Ecuador recently, when my husband and I visited the Galápagos Islands and the Amazon Rainforest for our 5th anniversary. In the photo above, we were standing on a bridge gazing out over the rainforest canopy when, Jarrold, our Nature Guide, shared that there are more plant species in one hectare of the land below us in this part of the Amazon than in all of North America. I found that simply amazing. Talk about diversity, equity, and inclusion - the Amazon has it in spades!
Basically, each plant and tree is just trying to reach for the light. Similarly, every human being is trying to be touched by the Light of awareness and there are many different ways of being in the path towards getting there. As a friend of mine, Mike, said to me yesterday there are many paths leading up to the top of the mountain. You just have to find the one that's right for you. For some humans, it's yoga and meditation. For others it may be Islam, Hinduism, or Jesus or any number of other spiritual practices. Or simply prayer. I thought the Amazon Rainforest was an apt metaphor for this human quest for the Light. Some folks are still in relative darkness on the forest floor, and others have figured out ways to be closer to the Light. And each of us may look different -- like the many species found in the Amazon -- but we each need to be touched by Light in order to grow to our fullest individual potential.
This epiphyte -- or plant that grows on another plant but is not parasitic -- is helped along by this tall tree it's attached itself to.
Our practice helps others
This beautiful bromeliad above is able to flourish by taking up residence on the trunk of a tree high above the ground, and thus bringing it closer to the sunlight. In nature, this is called commensalism, where one species benefits while the other one is unaffected. Similarly, as yogis and meditators, we can help others to flourish simply by giving them fertile soil from our own practice upon which to build their own. We affect others just by the peaceful light we give off as a result of our practice, and we probably won't ever really know how many others we are affecting in positive ways. In each of our own humble ways, we can move closer to our bodhisattva, spiritual warrior potential by helping others to be touched by more Light.
Pausing above the canopy in the Ecuadorian Amazon Rainforest at Sacha Lodge. With sunset -- a.k.a. the Golden Hour -- nearing, the sky's colors were spectacular.
Gratitude
I am overwhelmed with gratitude for having had this opportunity to see another part of God's grand vision expressed in a multitude of ways and possibilities. This has been a life-changing experience, one I won't soon forget. For sure, having an attitude of gratitude can keep our mind and hearts open, and is another path we can take toward moving closer to the Light.
I posted photos, videos, and commentary in a travelogue on my Facebook page, if you'd like to get a glimpse of what this part of the world looks like.
A hauʻoli makahiki hou, happy new year, to you and yours!
May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you find your own path towards the light, …
May you help others along the way, …
May your mind and heart be filled with gratitude for all that you've been given, …
May your collective practices benefit all Beings everywhere, including those that exist in Nature.
Aloha and Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun
Photo Credits:
Photos of the Amazon Rainforest by me and my husband Ed.
Yoga Lessons from Ecuador
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El Chato Ranch, Isla Santa Cruz, Galápagos
As I write this, I am sitting in a lodge in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Through the sliders on our balcony, I am viewing the jungle. Green, lush, and dense, with each plant and tree competing for light and water. God’s diversity is in full display here. It’s been an emotionally overwhelming experience, one that has caused me to choke up several times already since we arrived.
My husband and I are celebrating our 5th year anniversary here today, Nov 30th. He wanted to create a trip-of-a-lifetime for us and has been planning this vacation for almost a year. And so, here we have been for close to two weeks, experiencing once-in-a-lifetime things. From the exquisite beauty of Quito – a UNESCO World Heritage site – to the rugged islands of the Galápagos islands with all its one-of-a-kind creatures to the incredible biodiversity of the Amazon where more plant and tree species exist in one hectare of land than all of North America, each day has been a discovery of something new, unexpected, and extraordinary.
Along our journeys, several yoga related themes and practices have come to my mind:
Equanimity
One of the fascinating things I learned is that animals have rights and they are written into the Ecuadorian Constitution. Ecuador is known to be a peaceful country (recent political assassination aside), and I think one of the reasons for this is that there is such a balance of man and nature here, and that man pays nature a high amount of respect.
In yoga, one of the goals of our practice is to develop equanimity. A benefit of having such a mind-state is described here by the British author, Stephen Batchelor:
A compassionate heart still feels anger, greed, jealousy, and other such emotions. But it accepts them with equanimity and cultivates the strength of mind to let them arise and pass without acting upon them.
When we can maintain our composure, we can act in right ways in the face of difficult situations. I have a sense that the people here have a good grasp on how to keep their cool. For example, we visited the Kichwa Tribe in the Amazon and were told that on some days they have success in their hunting and on other days they bring back nothing. But they just try to live in the present moment, and let each day be what it is. They experience happiness and sadness just like we do, but they know no feeling ever lasts, and they let things pass and come back to the present moment. To me, this is very much a yogic-like practice, and is a way to develop equanimity.
In the silence, there is richness.
We passed a little stream near our hotel called Laguna de las Ninfas. Above the entrance was a sign reading: Escucha el silencio. Translation: Listen to the silence. From that point on, as much as possible, I tried practicing listening to the silence. And of course, out in nature, there really is no such thing as silence, with all the hum of activity going on. But during those moments of me practicing being silent, there was an awareness of a world that I normally don’t know exists. Similarly in meditation practice, we simply sit in our own silence, so that we our minds can move in the direction of further self-realization and toward deeper states of awareness of the interconnectedness of all life.
Staying curious helps keep the mind open and free.
If someone were to ask me what I was expecting before the start of our trip, I would say I knew I would be blown away, I just didn’t know how I would be blown away. I didn’t do a lot of planning in advance for this trip. The result was that each day felt full of delightful and unexpected surprises. When we initially arrived in Puerto Aroya and were trying to learn our way around the town, we were feeling a bit stressed about the unknowns. Yet even these moments of discovery were rich experiences and necessary parts of our journey. By the end of our stay there, we felt super comfortable and safe walking about the town. As yogis, one of the ways we can maintain a spacious mind is to remain curious.
I’ve been posting photos, videos, and commentary of my trip on my Facebook page, if you’d like to get a glimpse of what this part of the world looks like.
Thanks for letting me share a bit of what I’ve learned and experienced on my journey here with you.
May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you listen to the silence, …
May you know a peaceful balance between yourself and all other beings, …
May your mind remain curious and open, …
May your new found freedoms somehow benefit all Beings everywhere, including those that exist in Nature.
Aloha and Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun
Listen to the silence
Yoga, Service, and the Power of Perseverance
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LADY LIBERTY STANDING STRONG IN NY HARBOR AS A BEACON OF HOPE FOR ALL IMMIGRANTS WHO HAVE DARED TO MAKE THEIR WAY TO THIS COUNTRY IN SEARCH OF FREEDOM AND A BETTER LIFE FOR THEMSELVES AND THEIR LOVED ONES.
This past month, I made my annual return to a yoga dance flow sequence that I have been refining for years. The sequence leads to the yoga posture “Hanuman-asana” or the forward splits position. Picture Simone Biles split-leaping though the air. In the story of the Ramayana, Lord Hanuman does a giant split-leap over the ocean to rescue the wife of Lord Rama, the master he was serving. He was so devoted to his master that he found within himself the will, the power and the strength to complete an important mission that was dear to his heart. He overcame his forgetting nature and self-doubt to serve something bigger than just his little self and small ego.
From various sources, here’s what I’ve gathered about what Hanuman symbolizes:
Lord Hanuman, The Monkey God, directed all his energies towards the worship of Lord Rama, and his undying devotion made him such that he became free from all physical fatigue.
Hanuman is worshipped as a symbol of physical strength, perseverance and devotion.
Lord Hanuman symbolically stands for pure devotion, complete surrender and absence of ego or the lower self.
He was devoted to the ideal of selfless service.
- source unknown
Lord Hanuman symbolically stands for pure devotion, complete surrender and absence of ego or the lower self. His character tells us what we can do in our lives by becoming pure devotees of God, aligning ourselves with the forces of good, helping the weak, with self-control, unconditional faith and total surrender. ….
He is a perfect example of true devotion and complete surrender. He also symbolizes the story of animal man in us who through the path of devotion and service to God, can purify himself and attain immortality.
- Hinduwebsite.com
Essentially, the character of Hanuman reminds us of the powers that lie deep within ourselves that are awakened when we engage in being of service to the humanity and the greater good. … Hanuman-asana is the forward-splits position. The arms are raised overhead in victory. The body is stretched out in all 6 directions. Practicing the pose, we gain victory over our own selves, our ego and our tendencies towards evil.
- Professor Joshua Greene
The character of Hanuman teaches us of the unlimited power that lies unused within each one of us.
- About.com: Hinduism
I love doing this sequence along with my playlist of songs devoted to Hanuman. Less so because the posture stretches the hamstrings and hip-flexors, and more so because it opens the heart center to reveal what’s truly important to my being. I love what the character of Hanuman symbolizes and the possibilities that exist during those fleeting moments when I am aligned with my hearts deepest desires. There’s a lot to unpack about the character of Hanuman and the reminders it offers us. There are a few things that are resonating with me right now.
Hanuman reminds me of the power of perseverance. It’s all about putting one foot in front of the other and just doing the next thing. That’s pretty much how I’ve built Keoni Movement Arts, the nonprofit I founded. That’s pretty much how I got as far as I did when I was performing as an actor, dancer, singer. That’s pretty much how I along with countless others got through the pandemic – just by taking things one day at a time figuring things out as we went, serving the larger cause by protecting ourselves and others, until at last we made it to the other side. As the pandemic starts to fade into the background, we can pat ourselves on the back for having demonstrated some Hanuman-like abilities we didn’t know we had.
Moving beyond myself, though, I am inspired by the migrants who made it through the Darién Gap to come to the U.S. And many have landed here in NYC. Why would they make such a risky trip that involves remembering their Hanuman-like abilities. Without knowing the particulars of anyone’s individual story, I imagine that overwhelmingly it was to escape oppression and violence in their own countries and to create a better life not just for themselves but for their loved ones as well. To them, the cause is great enough and beyond just their own smaller ego’s needs that they had to persevere and act, putting one step in front of the other through this treacherous part of the world.
I think about the war in Ukraine and the many soldiers who put aside their own personal needs to serve a cause much bigger than their little selves. The collective courage of this country has been truly Hanuman-like in my mind.
I think about the tragedy of the Israel-Hamas war and the countless numbers of innocent people on both sides who are simply trying to create a better and more peaceful life for themselves and their loved ones. I salute those who have suffered yet are willing to go deeper within to find that restraint that may make for a more lasting peace in the region. This to me is a Hanuman-like response to a very base desire to want to retaliate.
I know that I am fortunate living here in my small corner of the world. I am safe and have my basic needs for food, clothing and shelter taken care of. And I know that we can’t solve all the problems of the world. But maybe we can help work toward the greater good by restraining our own senses, not adding fuel to the fires, constraining the forces of evil within in order to connect more fully with our God-like nature. In our own humble ways, we can serve a higher cause by practicing yoga and meditation to calm the winds within our own minds in order to help reduce some of the turbulence in the world.
I hope that your ongoing yoga practice can keep revealing what is truly in your heart, and I hope you have the courage to use your gifts, and find your strength and ability to persevere as you step-by-step work towards completing your sacred missions.
May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you find your particular Hanuman-like abilities, …
May your service to the world in your particular ways somehow benefit those nearest to you, and ultimately benefit ALL Beings everywhere.
Aloha and Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun
The whimsical Art all around our city never ceases to delight me. I found this delightful object on the Highline, and it made me pause and admire. I'm sure Hanuman would agree that Art is a force for good!
Yoga and the Art of Moving from Darkness to Light
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9/11 Memorial Pool, South Tower on 9/11/23. Hard to believe it's been 22 years since a 100+ floors tower stood above this now hallowed ground. May we never forget.
This past month, we once again commemorated the events of 9/11/01. I still remember looking out of my midtown apartment window and witnessing how that gorgeous NYC day devolved into being the scene of an immense tragedy. Each year, on 9/11, I try to go down to lower Manhattan to visit the Memorial Pools. It helps me to never forget.
As I’ve shared annually since then, the Buddha also wished for us to never forget this lesson:
Hatred is never ended by hatred - but by love [this is an eternal rule].
Dr. Martin Luther King expanded upon this teaching by stating:
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness, in a descending spiral of destruction. The chain reaction of evil must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.
I think we can all identify with the feeling of spiraling into a deepening cycle of destruction. Someone does something to us and our mind goes spiraling down the path of wishing to get even and/or calling them expletives either directly or silently. As a relatively mild example – here in NYC, we get assaulted daily by people behaving badly. Motorcycles revving up their engines, e-bikes cutting closely into our path, people blasting their music too loud as we walk by. Name your city-dwelling pet-peeve. Relatively speaking, these are mild, transient experiences and generally don’t cause us to spiral downward too far. But then there are other experiences where people do more serious harm to us, both psychological as well as physical. In those cases, the spiraling downward can linger longer and start to do serious harm to our own beings.
As yogis, we’re called upon to use our breath and our awareness to keep the seeds – the cycles, if you will – of hatred that exist within each of us, at bay. Pema Chödrön would say “recognize when you’re getting hooked by intense emotions.” Yoga can help us to recognize when we’ve been “hooked” and guide us to pause, experience, and move the internal feelings from darkness toward light. It can help us slowly get out of the downward spiral.
I don’t know who wrote this, but I read a while back: Gu means Darkness and Ru means Light in Sanskrit, so Guru means moving from dark into light. A teacher merely lights your path; you walk the path.
Each time we practice yoga, our job is to keep getting a little better at lighting our own path and becoming less reliant on others to do that for us. A teacher can only lead us to our path and light our way for only so long. And while it’s great to find a teacher that can lead us there, ultimately any good teacher knows that their job is only to get us there and along the way give us the tools to do the heavy lifting ourselves. Over time and with practice, we can become better at trusting that basic wisdom inside that we all possess. If we can be gentle and compassionate with ourselves during our times of darkness and uncertainty, we can move more easily toward the Light.
Our other job as yogis is to realize that while we can help lead others to the Light, ultimately others will have to step into their own light. As Pandit Pandit Rajmani Tigunait said:
... the Buddha repeatedly proclaimed, “Light your own lamp and the lives of others will be illuminated effortlessly” -- none of us has the power to force others to rid themselves of darkness. The only power we have is to demonstrate how delightful it is to live in the light.
We all wish we could heal the world. We can all fall at times into the trap of trying to be someone else’s savior. But if we are truly desirous of serving others, then one of the best ways we can do that is to keep lighting our own lamp first. So, as you become more skilled at doing yoga, see if you can keep illuminating your inner guru. See if you can light your own lamp brighter. And then, for certain, I believe, you will see yourself becoming a quiet yet palpable and present force – a guru – to others around you. Having witnessed that, for sure you will start to see others becoming a Gu-ru, moving their own darkness to Light. What a delightful way to be of service to others!
May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you never forget, …
May you move from darkness to Light… for the benefit of those nearest to you, and ultimately benefit ALL Beings everywhere.
Aloha and Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun
This rainbow appeared over my building on 9/11/23. Even though the skies are mostly gray, the suns rays and the colors of hope are starting to transform the darkness into light.
Yoga and the Art of Putting Aside Distractions
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Sand Hill Cranes in our backyard. Much of the time, our minds are akin to this family of birds - one unit, but constantly looking in several different directions. A.K.A. multi-tasking.
Yoga can help us focus our minds in one direction, on one thing at a time.
My experiments with eka-tattva-abhyāsaḥ
This NY Times Opinion essay immediately caught my attention: Stop Multitasking. No, Really — Just Stop It. Yup, I will admit it – I am guilty of multi-tasking. Wanna join me in admitting to this?!! Or at least I can have, at times, the appearance of multi-tasking, because as the article points out, multitasking isn’t really even possible, as mainly, we’re just switching our attention rapidly between different foci without realizing it, incurring cognitive costs each time we do so. The problem, the article points out, is that trying to multi-task decreases our performance.
The essay mentioned a Yoga Sutra that I was previously not familiar with. Evidently, even in Patanjali’s time back over 2000 years ago, people had a hard time focusing on one thing at a time. Patanjali wrote in Sutra 1.32:
tat-pratiṣedha-artham-eka-tattva-abhyāsaḥ
Translation:
To counteract this (distractions), the practice upon a single stuff (is proposed).
So, Yoga and the Art of Removing Distractions is really an inside game: engage in eka tattva abhyāsaḥ. In plain English, practice focusing on one thing only at a time.
The payoff is you’ll get more of the things you want done, done. According to the essay:
At work, the way to get more tasks done is to learn to let most of them wait while you focus on one. “This is the ‘secret’ of those people who ‘do so many things’ and apparently so many difficult things,” wrote the management guru Peter Drucker in his book “The Effective Executive.” “They do only one at a time.” Making a difference in one domain requires giving yourself permission not to care equally about all the others.
An aside – a shoutout to my husband Ed. He’s really good at focusing on doing just the one immediately necessary thing, and waiting and putting immediately unnecessary things aside. Perhaps you are too, and if so, you’re a better person than I.
In principle, I like the concept and wisdom of doing only one thing at a time. However, putting it into action proved to be far more difficult. Like any new practice, I was gung-ho at the beginning of the month! I stopped jogging and working out with my AirPods in my ears. I stopped walking the streets of Manhattan while listening to music. With all the E-bikes whizzing by in all different directions, I’ve learned that letting go of any distractions can potentially be a lifesaver! I stopped listening to music while doing my yoga asana practice in the morning. I stopped listening to WNYC while I take a shower in the morning. I stopped listening to a new favorite podcast of mine called What School You Went while cooking. But slowly – yup you guessed it – the old habits started creeping in. OK, so I still don’t listen to music while practicing yoga or walking the streets, but I still find it comforting to listen to the Brian Lehrer Show while in the shower. Some habits are just so hard to break.
In my yoga asana practice, I’ve been more attuned to practicing drishti or “gaze points”, putting my attention at one point in each asana. I especially enjoy focusing on one spot while in downward dog, generally some point between my knees (traditionally in Ashtanga Yoga, the gaze point is the navel). Anything that will keep my monkey-mind in check is a good thing.
While I haven’t been 100% successful at eliminating all distractions, I’m glad I had time to experiment with eka-tattva-abhyāsaḥ. Everything is incremental, after all, and the best and most sustainable habits are built up slowly. I think I will still continue to choose to stay as safe as possible when traversing the streets and riding the subways by removing unnecessary distractions. And hopefully, the practice will creep into other areas of my life and help not only to increase my productivity, but more importantly give me an abiding sense of calm from moment to moment.
If you take up eka-tattva-abhyāsaḥ, I’ll be curious to hear of your experience. Feel free to send me an email, or leave a comment below. Good luck with the practice. Maybe it will even help save a relationship or two!
May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you do one thing at a time as often as you can, …
May your new found focus benefit someone near to you, … and ultimately benefit ALL Beings everywhere.
Aloha and Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun
Beautiful Maui Island on July 14, 2023. Lahaina is on the other side of the Extinct volcano on the right. The loss has left me feeling very sad. Join me in helping Maui to rebuild by making a donation to the Hawaii Community Foundation Maui Strong Fund.
Yoga and the Art of Finding True Freedom
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One World Trade Center, a.k.a. Freedom Tower, glistens on a top-10 Day in NYC on July 30, 2023.
The Freedom Tower, while staying within the boundaries of its foundations, still appears to stretch towards infinity. Similarly, yoga in its highest form can help us to know our infinite possibilities even as we stay rooted to the earth.
Ever felt constricted by the circumstances of your life? Ever felt like running away from your life as it is to something you imagine to be better? Have you ever thought “if only this (or that) weren’t happening right now, then I would feel free”? If you answered “yes” to any of these (and I have a feeling you did!), then perhaps yoga can help you find a truer and lasting sense of freedom.
Gavin Harrison, in his book In the Lap of the Buddha, writes:
“In spiritual freedom, we do not become free from events, but we become free within events. Circumstances lose their power to lacerate our minds”.
In a sense, when we practice yoga poses, what we’re trying to do is to find greater freedom within each pose. In class, we don’t skip poses because we don’t like them (unless they will cause physical harm, and if so, we find modifications). Rather we enter into each pose, find our limits, and then extend those limits further by using our breath and our focus. In every yoga pose we practice finding greater freedom within those confines, rather than escaping those confines altogether. Thus, yoga can be a pathway towards finding true freedom. We do so by going deeper within our feelings – physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual – rather than trying to escape our feelings. In each pose, we can experience a feeling of true freedom budding.
Taking our yoga practice off our mat, we can also try to find greater freedom within our life circumstances. Granted, I am not saying one should stay in an abusive relationship or dangerous situation – those are definitely times to look for the escape hatch. Rather life constricts us all in some way or another. Even rich people who seem to have it all can be constricted by their feelings of dissatisfaction and always wanting more. Whatever the circumstance we are faced with – whether it be financial, relationship issues, the effects of climate change, health issues, you name it – we all are capable of pausing, breathing, focusing and experiencing. If we can do this, we can move towards a truer and more lasting kind of freedom.
You’ve heard it said: our democratic system of government is messy and chaotic. And yet, you’ve probably also heard it said: it’s still better than the alternatives. Barack Obama said:
Before we get too depressed about the state of our politics, let's remember our history ..... Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. What is amazing, is that despite all the conflict, our experiment in democracy has worked better than any form of government on earth.
Yes, it always seems to feel like we’re taking one step forward, then two steps backwards, then three steps forward, and on and on. But Barack Obama also said:
Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. The future rewards those who press on.
Whether it is fighting to protect the earth and climate, reproductive rights, the dignity of migrants, or the myriad of challenges and differences confronting our country, we can all pause, breathe, focus and experience. If we do, the right action we need to take will bubble up to our awareness and lead us forward. There is always freedom to be found in the direst of circumstances.
For me, true freedom means knowing I will never have it all, and I am always free to give things my best shot.
I hope your ongoing yoga and meditation practices can lead you towards finding true freedom.
May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you pause, breathe, focus, and experience, …
May you find freedom with circumstances, … for the benefit ALL Beings everywhere.
Aloha and Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun
The Hawaiian Islands of Hawai'i and Maui on July 14, 2023. Nature continues to stretch towards its infinite possibilities as these islands are being born and put to rest across eons.
Yoga and the Art of Remaining Balanced
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Life can be a difficult balancing act. But try we must, whether we succeed or fail. (Broadway in midtown Manhattan.)
Last month, I wrote about how each of us has a sacred duty that we are called upon to fulfill in this lifetime here on Earth. The difficult thing is not only figuring out what that is – though if you sit still long enough and listen to your heart, you will – but also executing it. For sure, we will be thrown off-balance at times as we try.
Over the years I’ve been teaching yoga, there are perennial yoga teachings that I return to over and over again because I think they are important to keep top-of-mind. One is this lesson from the Bhagavad Gita:
You have control over actions alone, never over its fruits. Live not for the fruits of action, nor attach yourself to inaction. Established in Yoga, O Arjuna, perform actions having abandoned attachment and having become balanced in success and failure, for balance of mind is called Yoga.
— Krishna speaking Arjuna in the Bhagavad-Gita (Chapter 2)
Though the Bhagavad Gita is describing Karma Yoga, or the “yoga of action,” I like to remind students who do yoga asana practice that the goal is not to be able to touch your toes or stand on your head. More importantly, the goal is to cultivate equanimity in our mind as we attempt to touch our toes or stand on our heads or run the marathon or whatever. And whether we’re practicing yoga on the mat or out in the real world, the way we cultivate this equanimity is by simply giving it our best shot while not being attached to the results. Buddhist Teachings say:
Equanimity is letting go of the fruits of our actions.
This teaching is really resonating with me right now. New York City is fully open again after 3 years of pandemic restrictions and concerns. It feels absolutely wonderful! Lately, I’ve been working on re-building the nonprofit I founded, Keoni Movement Arts, back to where we were when the pandemic brought us to a halt in March 2020. Building anything from the ground up is filled with many uncertainties, but I keep reminding myself to just take things one step at a time, follow my instincts and give it my best shot, and try to stay calm as the results come in. This kind of thinking has really helped.
I know that you are thinking about your next goals and next steps. I know that you may be feeling off-balanced a bit as you pursue them. Please know that you are not alone, that you are experiencing what everyone else here on Earth has experienced at one time or another. And I hope that yoga can help you to let go of the results as you take your best actions. Always remember: though you may have had some particular destiny in mind, the actual arrivals may end up being more exciting and fulfilling than you could have ever imagined.
A long while back a friend told me of something he had heard some famous movie director (perhaps George Lucas) say. It was something like: films are not completed, they’re simply at some point abandoned. Similarly, it is not our job to complete our duty, but rather simply know when it’s time to let go of whatever results we’ve achieved and then move on. I’m going to take that advice by ending here and simply saying that I wish you best of luck in practicing yoga in action and I wish you exciting moments ahead!
May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May yoga help you to give it your best shot, …
May you not be attached to the results, …
May you remain balanced, … for the benefit ALL Beings everywhere.
Aloha and Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun
Staying balanced while practicing virasana (hero pose) can be a challenge for everyone, but without life's curveballs, we cannot grow.
Yoga and the Necessity of Shining Your Sacred Jewel
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The sun's reflection glimmers like a jewel on the Hudson River on Memorial Day.
Earlier this month I happened upon a podcast with one of my favorite yoga authors, Stephen Cope. Many years ago, I had read his book, Yoga and the Quest for the True Self, and was so captivated by his simple to understand ways of explaining yoga philosophy, that I highlighted passages from practically every page of his book and have shared various quotes from it with students in my yoga classes over the years.
In this Unity In Yoga podcast, SEASON 8 | Episode 1: Seeking Inspiration for Living/Practical Wisdom, Stephen mentioned a yoga story that I had heard about many years ago that captivated me, the story of Indra’s Net. Stephen explains Indra’s Net this way:
… Indra was one of the greatest gods of the Ayurvedic pantheon, which goes all the way back to 2,000 BCE and before. And Indra, like most of these gods, lived on top of Mount Meru. It was said that Indra, who was the fiercest and most powerful of all the gods of the vedic dispensation, Indra had cast a vast net over the entire universe. And at the vertex of each warp and woof strand was a gem. And it was said that that gem was an individual soul. And it was that soul’s job to hold together that part of the web. If they did their dharma, they were holding together—again, dhr, hold together—that part of the web. If they didn’t, the whole thing begins to unravel from their spot.
Why is this important to us as yoga practitioners? Stephen explains that from the karma yoga perspective taught in the Bhagavad Gita, we all have a “dharma” or “sacred duty” that we were given to fulfill on this earth in this lifetime. He says:
… we’re back to this really very interesting connection between individual fulfillment and the common good. So if you’re doing your dharma [sacred duty], it holds together the whole thing. This word dharma, it does tend to have many meanings, but they all converge around dhr, to hold together: the law, the truth, the path. There’s a certain quality of that “holding us together.”
Each of our lives are so precious, because we are all a jewel in Indra’s Net. And of us have been born with some special calling that is unique to us. It is up to us to listen quietly and hear “the voice of God” within so that we might know what our calling is. Once we know, then we have to have the courage to act on it.
In my lifetime, I’ve felt the calling to act upon something more than a few times. Earlier in my 20s and 30s, I just had to dance. In my 30s and 40s, I just had to act. And in my 50s and now my 60s, I just had to create Keoni Movement Arts, teaching yoga, dance and gymnastics – 3 things I threw myself into and loved doing – to others, particularly to those with the least access or means. I turned 64 this past month, and when I look back, I remember experiencing doubt and uncertainty amid the passion and the thrills. But now, my life seems to all make sense. All along, I have just been guided by that inner voice that says “you have to do this.”
I don’t know what your dharma (sacred duty) is, but I do know that if you practice any kind of contemplative art – whether it be yoga, meditation, praying, dancing, singing, hiking, hearing the laughter of children, and so on – you will hear “the voice of God” speaking to you and guiding you through what you must do.
And speaking of “must do,” here the dharma is guiding each of us to doing our part in “holding up the net” at our vortex on it. And “holding up the net” means taking actions that will benefit – not hurt – ALL beings, in addition to our own selves. Practicing our dharma is not a selfish act, but rather the most selfless act we can do.
Here is what we receive when we do our “sacred duty”:
The work we have to do can be seen as coming alive. More than some moral imperative, it’s an awakening to our true nature, a releasing of our gifts.
Joanna Macy (b. 1929)
American Writer
I hope that your ongoing yoga and meditation practices can lead you to knowing your dharma, give you the courage to act on it, and awaken you further to your true nature.
May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May yoga help you to know your “sacred duty,” …
May hold us all together at your part of the Net, … for the benefit ALL Beings everywhere.
Aloha and Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun
The Earth's great jewel in the sky on Memorial Day.
Yoga and the Art of a Spring A-“Woke”-ning
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A rose by any other name is A-“rose” … A rose by another name could be A-“rose”-ning … or even A-“Woke”-ning?
This past month, Christians celebrated Easter, which commemorates when Christ “rose” from the dead, bringing eternal life to his followers. Christians wear red on Good Friday in honor of the blood that Jesus shed on the cross for our salvation. Jesus suffered much during his life in hopes that his followers would know freedom from death and deliverance to an eternal life. In a way, from a yoga perspective, he “woke” from the dead to inspire mankind to wake up to our highest realizations and possibilities.
We practice yoga so that we can awaken to our True Nature and ultimately see the interconnectedness of all beings. Seems like a worthy endeavor to me. And ultimately a harmless one. But the path toward that higher realization can be fraught with fear and turning away as we are confronted with seeing the not-so-good parts of ourselves. Yet by sitting and viewing those parts with the least amount of judgement and self-loathing as possible, we can traverse to the other side, to that state of yoga or union.
The term “staying woke” derived from the African-American Vernacular English. Sadly, to me, “woke” has become, IMHO, misused, mis-characterized, and demonized in the current political discourse.
Recently, I listened to the African-American writer Thomas Chatterton Williams interviewed by Margaret Hoover on Firing Line. When asked what “woke” meant to him, he described it this way:
Be conscious, be aware … don’t be asleep when there’s inequality in society … don’t sleepwalk through life and do your part to contribute to a status quo that is less than it could be … do your part ….
The Hollywood actor and Stanford graduate, Sterling K. Brown, referred to “woke” in the commencement speech he gave to the Stanford Class of 2018. Stanford Magazine recounted his speech. Here are some highlights of the article that caught my attention:
Calling upon his freshman-year focus on philosophy, Brown chose quotes from his “big three,” Socrates, Plato and Lao Tzu, to share with the graduates.
Brown chose the Socrates quote, “An unexamined life is not worth living,” to prompt graduates to, in Brown’s words, “stay woke.”
From Plato, Brown chose this quote: “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” He told the graduates that it is their birthright and responsibility to shine.
From the author of the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu, Brown offered this quote as it related to his journey as a Stanford student: “When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”
“When I feel fear, as uncomfortable as it may be, I know I’m in the right place. Whether you’re 22, or 42, never allow fear to keep you from expanding your definition of self.”
—Sterling K. Brown
Personally, I think it’s sad that people have become afraid of the possibility of becoming more enlightened, more “woke”. Yet, the compassionate side of me can understand. Becoming more “woke” can be a scary thing, and it's far easier to put the parts of life we don’t want to see into a closet in our mind and try to keep them there.
In his early life, the Buddha was shielded from seeing the ugly parts of life by being kept in the palace and only being exposed to the beautiful, pleasurable and happy parts of life. But when he finally left the palace and saw the suffering that existed out in the “real” world, it led him to seek a path toward the end of suffering. He finally arrived under the bodhi tree and sat in meditation for 49 days with the intention of finding supreme enlightenment. By the time he arrived to the bodhi tree, he had already witnessed many ugly parts to life, and while sitting under the tree, his mind was assaulted with desire and temptation. Yet, he persisted in “staying” with the feelings and ultimately “woke” up to his True Nature, to a state of Nirvana.
So, the Buddha’s journey and ultimate achievements can give us the courage to “see” life as it is, which might be far different than we want it to be. But ultimately, we practice yoga not only to stretch our bodies but also to stretch our awareness to what it could be if we’re willing to open up and witness all of life, exactly as it is. We practice with the aspiration to lessen the duality of the haves and the have-nots, and to see more of the non-duality that exists beyond that when we “stay woke” to the common threads that connect all of us.
The African American writer, Richard Wright, said:
Men can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as they can from a lack of bread.
If we close ourselves off from knowing about the injustices that go on in the world and only seek personal material gain, we might find that while our bodies won’t starve, our soul may.
Thich Nhat Hanh said:
Awareness is like the sun. When it shines on things, they are transformed.
I hope that you can stay with your yoga and meditation practices long enough build the muscle of an ever-deepening awareness. And I hope that muscle is so strong that it helps you not shy away from witnessing some of the deep injustices coursing through our living planet. I hope the light of awareness shines upon you long enough that you are truly transformed, and that it spreads out to those nearest and dearest to you until, because of your courage, the whole world is transformed.
May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May yoga help you to be just a bit more “woke,” …
May your incremental steps towards being “woke” somehow affect someone near to you and spread out from there to ALL Beings everywhere.
Aloha and Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun
Spring A-"Woke"-ning
Yoga and the Art of Returning to Your True Nature, Which is Something Beautiful
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Sanibel Island, March 25, 2023. Nature always knows what it needs to do to survive.
Last week, my husband and I returned to Sanibel Island, which as I wrote about in my September 2022 blog, was devastated by Hurricane Ian. We arrived to the island before sunrise, and had no idea what we would see. As the sun rose, we were saddened to see numerous trees fallen and many businesses still not up and running. Yet, we were also heartened to see some homes and businesses being restored and green shoots of new life appearing on the soil and trees. As we walked along the beach, which had very little human traffic at that early morning hour, I had a sense that even after a major upheaval and if left alone by human encroachment long enough, nature has a way of restoring itself to its former glory. Similarly, if we can get out of own ways for long enough, we can return to our True Nature, which is something beautiful.
Yoga and meditation practices and philosophy can help us. Here is one of the Buddha’s core teachings that I have been reflecting on recently:
With gentleness overcome anger.
With generosity overcome meanness.
With truth overcome deceit.
- The Buddha
This teaching reminds me to be gentle with myself when I make mistakes. It reminds me to be generously kind to myself by seeing that the “me” that I am is actually a good person with good intentions, even when my actions are perceived to be mistakes by others. And it reminds me to try to remain as clear-headed as possible through yoga, meditation and healthy habits so that I can see the truth in sticky life situations as clearly as possible.
I really like this quote by Pema Chödrön:
Respecting Ourselves
The whole process of meditation is one of creating that good ground, that cradle of loving-kindness where we actually are nurtured. What’s being nurtured is our confidence in our own wisdom, our own health, and our own courage, our own goodheartedness. We develop some sense that the way we are—the kind of personality that we have and the way we express life—is good, and that by being who we are completely and by totally accepting that and having respect for ourselves, we are standing on the ground of warriorship.
Just as the upheaval on Sanibel Island is giving way to Nature replenishing itself with fertile soil, our meditation practice is creating “good ground” and guiding us back home to our own wisdom, our own health, and our own courage, [and] our own goodheartedness. Who we are in our Natural state is basically good. It's just that we forget that and often others conspire to help us to continue to forget that. Coming back over and over again to remembering that, as Pema reminds us, is an act worthy of being deemed a warrior.
Treading lightly into the political world, what with Trump’s indictment yesterday, I think we as yogis are particularly called upon at this time to know that there will be anger and meanness, but we can counter that with as much gentleness and generosity as we can give. And patience too, as ultimately the truth will come out and overwhelm the deceit.
I have no doubt that Sanibel will return to its natural state of beauty. And, I have no doubt that in the face of all the hurricanes life will throw at you that you will return over and over again to your True Nature, which is something beautiful.
May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you be gentle, generous, and truthful with yourself, …
May your True Nature, which is something beautiful, somehow affect someone near to you and spread out from there, … for the benefit of ALL Beings everywhere.
Aloha and Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun
Sanibel Island, March 25, 2023. Green shoots are starting to appear on the tree brnaches. Somehow, i have no doubt, nature will find a way to replenish itself and thrive again. Gently over time, so can we.
Yoga and the Art of Softening the Heart
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The colors of love are in the air at sunset. Nature knows how to make us fall in love over and over again.
I’d like to share a story I received yesterday from the School of Practical Philosophy in their Daily Reflections email.
Night and Day
The master asked his disciples: "How do we know when the night is over and the day has arrived?" The disciples pondered the master's question.
One answered: "Master, night is over and day arrives when you can see a house in the distance and determine if that's your house or the house of your neighbor."
Another disciple responded: "Night is over and day arrives when you can see an animal in the field and determine if it belongs to you or to your neighbor."
A third disciple offered: "Night is over and day has arrived when you can see a flower in the garden and distinguish its color."
"No, no, no," thundered the master. "Why must you see only in separations, only in distinctions, only in disjunctions? No. Night is over and day arrives when you look into the face of the person beside you and you can see that she is your sister, he is your brother. That you belong to each other. That you are one. Then, and only then, will you know that night has ended and day has arrived."
Unknown Author
We celebrated Valentine’s Day this month, which always presents us a good opportunity to explore the incredible possibilities of love, while at the same time protecting our own vulnerable hearts from the challenges that loving too much can bring.
This month I experienced the highs and lows of love. I love the work I do as a teacher and actor. My lover and I had a misunderstanding that festered and became something bigger than it needed to be. I know the feeling of a heart so overflowing with love that it wants to be a spigot of generosity that doesn’t want to be shut. I also know the very human experience of needing to protect a heart that is hurting. Through it all, I was inspired and helped along by the teachings and words of a few sage individuals.
Donna Fahri reminded me that:
"Yoga is fundamentally about befriending yourself, knowing how to be loving towards yourself. As the One All, how could you not be loving towards the One All? [Yoga is about] befriending others, because there are no strangers anymore – there is no separation."
As the parable of Night and Day teaches us, we are all part of the One All. And yoga is meant to help to remind us of that each time we practice. Each time we each breath into an asana on our yoga mat or fully experience a breath when we’re out in the world, we are asked to just keep trying to be loving and kind to ourselves in order that one day we see little distinction between ourselves and others.
Pema Chödrön said:
Soften what is rigid in your Heart. Work on yourself. Work on your Heart.
The work is always on and with our own selves first. Because the keys to liberation lie within us. I think the practice involves both protecting this heart of ours when it feels the pain of loving too much as well as exploring the immense potential of an open-hearted relationship to the All Ones outside of ourselves. In relation to our yoga asana practice, at times we take child’s pose to keep this heart protected and safe, while at other times we explore poses like wheel or camel so we can explore the possibilities that come with opening the heart to being vulnerable while exploring our capacities for loving openly and generously.
Lastly, when my heart felt pain, I remembered these words by Sharon Salzberg from her insightful book Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness:
… In cultivating love, we remember one of the most powerful truths the Buddha taught … that the forces in the mind that bring suffering are able to temporarily hold down the positive forces such as love or wisdom, but they can never destroy them.… Love can uproot fear or anger or guilt because it is a greater power. Love can go anywhere. Nothing can obstruct it.
Each time I feel the pain of love, I try to remember that these feelings are just temporary, like “clouds in the sky” as Buddhists would say. As an Artist, at times I’ve experienced intense and great love for the incredible diversity and beauty of both the natural world as well as human creation and invention. These moments are great reminders for me of our immense human capacity to love and to feel love and loved. They are great anchors to hold on to when the waters of love get rocky. Ultimately, my lover and I reconciled because we both know at a deep and intimate level that our love for each other is the greater force than anger and fear are. With great loving comes great explorations of the ups and downs of love, all of which can strengthen our love relationships. But as Buddhist Meditation teacher, Gina Sharpe, told me personally back on January 17, 2011, when I was amid a personal despair: The antidote to fear is loving-kindness. Our path to healing and back to exploring the power of love starts with us being as generously loving and kind to ourselves as we can possibly be. This is the heart of yoga and meditation practice.
May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you soften what is rigid in your heart, …
May you realize that night has turned into day, …
May you be loving and kind to yourself first,
May you know the full power of love, … for the benefit of ALL Beings everywhere.
Aloha and Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun
The colors of love are in the air at sunrise. How can one not help falling in love!
A Story About Beginning Again That Will Inspire Your Yoga Practice
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A tree grows in Brooklyn on January 30, 2023. Nature's annual "beginning again" ritual continues as this tree sprouts new shoots.
Navy Veteran Mark Frerichs was an American contractor working in Afghanistan when he was captured by the Taliban and held captive for two and a half years. He was interviewed by PBS NewsHour co-anchor, Amna Nawaz, earlier this month. (View Part 1 and Part 2) As I watched him speak, I was mesmerized by his story of survival, and at times I thought this is a true master yogi. He was chained by his ankles and wrists, only given a dirt floor to sleep on, fed stale bread and dirty water, and beaten and threatened with execution on numerous occasions. He was finally freed in a prisoner exchange last September, and seems to be on his way to a remarkable recovery.
How did he survive? By meditating, doing body scans. Here’s how he describes his practice:
You just have to be able to totally relax your body. … from your toes to your head and just imagine your muscles relaxing from your toes, your ankles, up your shins, your knees. You just talk yourself through your body. By the time it gets to your head, you can't feel your body, for me, anyway. I can't feel my body. My body is like it's you're sleeping. So you're sleeping, but you're awake. Your brain is totally aware of what's going on in a room. And you can do whatever you want.
I can’t attest to ever having experienced samadhi – the highest state of yoga practice – myself, but this description by Mark sounds like he was well on his way to achieving it. Two of the earliest instructions in the Yoga Sutras is yogash chitta vritti nirodhah and tada drashtuh svarupe avasthanam. Yoga is the practice of quieting down the movements of the mind. Then the Seer abides in Itself, resting in its own True Nature, which is called Self-realization. Under extraordinary circumstances, Mark seems to have achieved some higher level of awareness and realization through his practice of sitting still.
Later in the interview, Amna asks Mark: how are you doing? Part of his response is:
… I'm having intermittent sleep issues. Sometimes, I will just have this — these feelings come across me, of, like, impending danger. But they pass.
This speaks to the Buddha’s teachings about the impermanence of all phenomena. In yoga, we train to be present and still so that we can recognize the transitory nature of everything.
Finally, Amna asks Mark if he holds anger toward his captors, to which Mark says:
If I harbor resentment or carry on continual feelings of anger, then they have won. Resentment for the past is a waste of spirit. If I don't let this thing go, it's going to just keep festering and festering. I got to just let it out, let it go.
And this is both a main objective of yoga practice as well as a main feature of the practice itself – to practice letting go, over and over again. Mark’s story is an extraordinary example of this important aspect of yoga practice, and an inspiration to us all of us as to what we can become if we do practice this over and over again, no matter the circumstances of our life.
Buddhist mediation teacher, Sharon Salzberg, writes in her book, Real Happiness:
When we put our attention on the feeling of our breath, “almost immediately we feel the healing power of being able to begin again. … This is the practice. This ability to let go and begin again is the kind of fruit that we take into our ordinary life. We might stray from our chosen course, but realize we can begin again. We might lose sight of our aspiration, but realize we can begin again. We might make a mistake, but realize we can begin again.”
I have no doubt that Mark is no different than you or I in that over the course of his two-and-a-half-years ordeal he lost sight of his aspirations. And while he was forced to stray from his desired course by his captors, he is now fully aware that he can nonetheless begin again. And what is no doubt helping him begin again is the constant daily practice of letting go.
In the words of Maria Robinson:
Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.
Mark Frerichs certainly seems to creating a new ending to his story, one that he probably couldn’t imagine just 6 months ago. I hope that Mark’s story inspires you to be still in the midst of chaos, practice letting go of resentments, practice seeing the dark clouds come and go, and script incredible endings to each of your remaining days on this Earth. May the work you do on yourself through yoga and meditation somehow benefit someone near to you, and ultimately reach all beings everywhere in a positive way.
May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you not waste your spirit and begin again to let go of old resentments, …
May you see the passing nature of reality, …
May you realize just a bit more of your True Nature,
May you create incredible new endings daily, … for the benefit of ALL Beings everywhere.
Aloha and Metta, Ease and Tranquility,
Paul Keoni Chun
Fall reds give way to winter browns on January 30, 2023. Nature's color palette is beautiful to behold no matter the time of the year.