Generosity and Contentment Go Hand-In-Hand

Contentment at its best. nature always leads us back onto the path. (photo by Ed Gonzalez)

The Buddha laid out a path for awakening the mind and heart. The first instruction he gave his monks was to practice dana or generosity. According to the Insight Meditation Society: The practice of generosity develops lovingkindness and compassion, deepens awareness of our interconnectedness and encourages non-attachment. Giving is said to benefit both the giver and the receiver – the giver practices sharing and letting go, and the recipient practices acceptance of what is presented.

The Yoga Sutras also laid out a path for further awakening. One of the practices that it prescribes is Samtosha or Contentment, described in Chapter 2, Sutra 42: From an attitude of contentment (santosha), limitless happiness, mental comfort, joy and satisfaction occur.

I think that generosity and contentment go hand-in-hand. The more content we can be with the way things are for us in the moment, the easier it is to be generous. And the more generous we can be with what we have and how we receive what we’ve been given, the more feelings of contentment will arise.

During the holiday season, we can feel like we don’t have enough money to buy gifts and time to do everything we want to. The remedy to these feelings may be just to be content with the moment-by-moment unfolding of life in and around us, and to discover what life wants to give us in each moment and to accept the moment’s “presents/ce” graciously. As for gift-giving, we may not have the money to buy material things to give as presents, but we can also consider non-material ways of giving, such as a heart-felt phone call or a gentle smile. We can be content with such ways of giving, which in the end may go a longer way towards making another person feel good than any object might. The bottom line is: if we are content with what we have in the moment, it is easy to be generous. And as we are more generous, then undoubtedly contentment will arise as we receive life’s magical giving back to us in each moment.

As I get up there in years, I’m finding myself wanting less and desiring to give away more. I’ve noticed that others in my circle seem to feel the same way. As the Buddha famously said: Contentment is the highest form of wealth. I know that compared to many others, I’m not as materially wealthy. Nonetheless, I do feel wealthy in ways that no one can take from me and that don’t depend on whether the stock market is going up or down.

It's been a strange year, for sure. Many unexpected victories and many sad events. The Danish Poet Soren Kierkegaard wrote: “Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.” And so, as you look back at your victories and losses over the past year, I hope you can savor them and learn from each one, and move forward into the new year from a place of contentment. I hope your contentment leads to more generosity – both towards yourself and others. I hope that spirals back to you truly feeling wealthier, more mental comfort, and much joy.

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you practice generosity and contentment, …
May your mind and heart be further awakened, …
May your further awakening be the greatest gift you can offer for the benefit of ALL Beings everywhere. 

Aloha and Metta, Comfort and Joy,
Paul Keoni Chun

The sun is rising on a new day, a new year, and a new beginning.

Yoga, Buddhism, and My Reflections on Gratitude

So grateful to have Nature in its raw beauty just outside our window.

It’s been an interesting journey being temporarily disabled, having to negotiate life on crutches and wearing a boot on my right foot over the past seven weeks. I’ve learned to slow down and savor the beauty held in more moments. And in many ways, I am grateful for the experiences I’ve had. So much so that my yoga practice right now is to reflect on what I am particularly grateful for. Here are a few things:

 1.    I’m grateful for the many people I came across who offered to help me out in small, yet important ways – like holding doors open for me, offering me their seat on the subway, giving me room to pass slowly by as they walked around me, and offering their help in any way I needed. Thinking about these occurrences make me smile and reminds me of human beings’ capacity for unsolicited kindness and generosity. For this I am grateful.

2.    I appreciated that JetBlue made it so easy for me to travel with a disability by giving me extra leg room and a front row seat at no extra charge. Thanks, JetBlue! My heart grows fonder for you, which is a benefit for both of us.

3.    I appreciate the travel assistance I received from the airport workers who as soon as I arrived at the terminal wheelchaired me from check-in through TSA all the way to my plane. One of these workers particularly stood out to me. He is a relatively recent immigrant from Bangladesh. He shared that a family member was able to sponsor him and his wife and their three children to enter the U.S. He kept saying how happy he was to be here in the U.S., “America is the best!” he said several times. I am grateful that I could have that reminder of how lucky we are to be American citizens. And I was grateful that I could help another human being with a generous tip to help him in his new life here. I get so overwhelmed sometimes by the many sad events that happen in far off places and long to help in some way. This man gave me an opportunity to help make the bigger picture brighter in a small, localized way. Thinking about that man makes me smile now, and for that I am grateful.

4.    I am grateful to Nature. My husband and I are fortunate to have a home in Florida with a backyard that is frequented by Sand Hill Cranes, Ducks, Turtles, Alligators, just to name a few from Nature’s immense lineup of diversity. The other day I got to sit by the window doing my work, and every so often I would peek out and one of God’s creatures was in my field of vision. Being able to observe Nature is one of the most healing of pastimes. I am so grateful that I can see Nature from such a close vantage point. My heart grows wider thinking about it now.

The spiritual teacher, Sadhguru, says:

“Gratitude is not an attitude. Gratitude is something that flows out of you when you are overwhelmed by what is being given to you.”

And in many ways that is what I am experiencing right now – just an overwhelming feeling of appreciation for all that I have been given.

And I don’t mean just the good stuff I’ve been given, but even the “bad” stuff. About this, here are two lessons from Pema Chödrön:

Gratitude
“Be grateful to everyone” is a way of saying that we can learn from any situation, especially if we practice this slogan with awareness. The people and situations in our lives can remind us to catch neurosis as neurosis, to see when we’re in our room under the covers, to see when we’ve pulled the shades, locked the door, and are determined to stay there.

Don’t Flee from Uncomfortable Tenderness
The natural warmth that emerges when we experience pain includes all the heart qualities: love, compassion, gratitude, tenderness in any form. It also includes loneliness, sorrow, and the shakiness of fear. Before these vulnerable feelings harden, before the storylines kick in, these generally unwanted feelings are pregnant with kindness, with openness and caring. These feelings that we’ve become so accomplished at avoiding can soften us, can transform us. The open-heartedness of natural warmth is sometimes pleasant, sometimes unpleasant—as “I want, I like” and as the opposite. The practice is to train in not automatically fleeing from uncomfortable tenderness when it arises. With time we can embrace it just as we would the comfortable tenderness of loving-kindness and genuine appreciation.

It is the tender moments of life that can be our best teachers. Yes, we can initially act by recoiling and moving away. But every so often, when I am confronted with one of those uncomfortable moments of life, I find a piece of my heart breaking open a bit more and feeling compassion for myself and/or the “other”. I am grateful for those tender moments of higher awareness that can override my base human self. In my search for higher awareness, I love revisiting this lesson again and again from the Buddha:

The Buddha taught that every human birth is precious and worthy of gratitude. In one of his well-known analogies, he said that receiving a human birth is rarer than the chance that a blind turtle floating in the ocean would stick its head through a small hoop. He would often instruct a monk to take his ground cloth into the forest, sit at the base of a tree, and begin "gladdening the heart" by reflecting on the series of fortunate circumstances that had given the monk the motivation and ability to seek freedom through understanding the dharma.
—  The Old Wisdom

If in fact that this is true, then just the fact that I’ve arrived here as a human birth is more than enough to be grateful for. I feel like I’ve been given an opportunity to help move the Universe’s Creation forward. I am grateful that my heart is capable of “gladdening” and that I’ve been given tools to experience even greater freedom.

One of those tools I’ve heard about is the practice of writing down things one is grateful for. It can lead to an expansion of one’s heart and mind. Just by having done this exercise here, I can say it is true. I feel more aware, more expansive, and calmer and more at peace. I feel freer. I am grateful for this human birth, and for my inner longing to seek greater freedom through yoga and contemplative paths such as Buddhism.

As we wind down the year, I hope you can have some time amid the hustle and bustle to reflect on all things are you grateful for. I hope you can not only practice gratitude, but in fact be the very essence of gratitude – the continuous giving and receiving that are the very actions of Life itself in each moment, in each breath you experience.

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you look to the positive, …
May your feelings of gratitude inspire one person near you, … and from there ripple out for the benefit of ALL Beings everywhere. 

Aloha and Metta, Peace and Freedom,
Paul Keoni Chun

I caught sight of this bird practicing yoga - standing up tall and concentrating. I'm grateful to Nature for reminding me how to stay in the moment and observe life as it is unfolding!

Yoga and the Art of pratipakṣa-bhāvanam

Nature's annual fall phenomenon created the beautiful colors of the Ukrainian flag. Even though there is darkness coursing through the foreground, there is brightness and brilliance dominating beyond. This is pratipakṣa-bhāvanam in action.

Many years ago, when I was studying Thai Yoga Massage, my teacher would say to us: “always look to the positive!”  She was referring to the yoga practice of pratipakṣa-bhāvanam. Little did I know at the beginning of this month that this would be one of my main yoga practices for the month.

On Oct 11, I was running to an important event. Suddenly, I found myself flat down on my side. Darn, my right foot found an opportune time to fall in love with a crack in an NYC sidewalk! Having been physical all my life, I knew this injury was different. After looking at the x-rays the next day, my doctor summed it up by saying: “it’s not serious, but it’s serious.” The doctors’ orders are for me to wear a boot and use crutches for 7 weeks, and not work (teaching yoga, in my case) during this time period.

I immediately felt a sense of loss. Physical loss of function. Loss of my ability to earn a living. And a loss of the sense of “who am I” that I’d come to identify with. I like being independent and in control of my life, and now I felt myself more dependent on others and less in control.

But, after a few days of moping around trying to figure out my new reality, there also emerged the question of “what are the bright sides to all of this?” Several answers arose.

 In my teaching, I work with people with all sorts of disabilities, and one of my first thoughts was “Now, I know a bit more of how they feel.” Empathy arose within me.

I now know a bit more how it feels to not be fully and easily mobile, and to be forced to slow down and take life one step at a time. Surprisingly (though it should not have been to me who practices meditation daily), I found myself being a little more present in each moment. That in itself has been a gift.

I know how people with disabilities feel when they have to negotiate the subway system. Some of those elevators leading down to the train platforms smell absolutely foul, but when you have no choice, you do what you gotta do. The upside for me is that I now have a better understanding of some of the challenges people with disabilities have to face living in this city.

I’ve mentioned in recent blogs that I moved recently. At this point, I still have a good number of boxes to sort through and either save/organize or discard the things in them. Suddenly, I have the gift of time to do this major project. I count this as a positive.

While loss is loss, perhaps the bigger gain is the realization that I do have the resources to get through this and I’ll be OK. My losses are nothing compared to the people who lost their homes and livelihoods after Hurricane Ian hit. My injuries are not permanent and compared to folks with life-long disabilities, my situation is mild and will pass.

Human beings have an incredible ability to adapt to new situations. I like figuring things out, and I gained new ways of doing things on three usable limbs.

As far as my physical yoga practice is concerned, since I can’t do vinyasas and downward dogs, I now do chair yoga, yin yoga, and restorative yoga. These practices have important benefits too, and I’ve gained the time and space to engage with them more fully.

I also gained an admiration for people I know who persevere on despite their disabilities. I think of my friend David who renovated a house even as his Parkinson’s grew worse. I think of my student Martin with a neuromuscular disease who needs to get around in a scooter yet always seems happy and makes me happy when I see him. Martin’s physical ailments didn’t keep him from going white-water rafting in Oregon earlier this month. I think about my brother Francis who lost part of several fingers, yet never complained and continues to do important space research for the U.S. Air Force. These people all inspire me, and they give me the gift of how to have a positive perspective and live a good life after loss.

So that’s my yoga practice for this month: pratipakṣa-bhāvanam, always look to the positive. Are you ready to give it a try? Perhaps you’ll find it harder to do than that crow pose or bird-of-paradise pose you may be currently aspiring to achieve. But in the end, I think you just might find it far more beneficial.

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you look to the positive, …
May your positive attitude inspire one person near you, … and from there ripple out for the benefit of ALL Beings everywhere.

Aloha and Metta, Peace and Positivity,
Paul Keoni Chun

Practicing my favorite yoga pose for this month: viparita karani or legs-up-the-wall pose. Whether injured or not, elevating one's legs is a great way to refresh after a long day of work. Try it and see!

Yoga and the Art of Dying

Whimsical Art in downtown Fort Myers, FL on September 3, 2022. The calm before the storm. Sigh. There's a yogic message being played out here.

The Buddha famously taught:

‎"Hatred is never ended by hatred –
but by love [this is an eternal rule]”
Dhammapada verse 5
“Many forget that we here must die,
For those who remember, quarrels end.”
Dhammapada verse 6
Siddhartha Gautama (The Buddha)

As I write this on the last day of September, 2022, my heart is filled with sadness for all the death and destruction that we are witnessing. The war in Ukraine rages on with unfathomable atrocities being unearthed. Migrants seeking a better life are dying at the border. We remembered and commemorated once again the events of 9/11. And now, Hurricane Ian. My heart feels pain.

Earlier this month over Labor Day weekend, my husband and I enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Ford’s Garage in downtown Ft. Myers, FL. Afterwards, we happened upon this whimsical piece of public Art (above) just across the street. It made us chuckle at the time.

Now, it makes me think about the Buddha’s words about forgetting that one day we too must die. My heart breaks thinking about the people who served us in the restaurant and the nice shop owner from New Jersey who’s store just across the street was filled with delightful tchotchkes that made us chuckle. I know they are suffering immensely right now.

Death and destruction so immediate such as all the happenings I mentioned above make us pause and remember that our lives are fragile. And precious. And hopefully to try again and again to let go of quarrels – both inside and outside of ourselves. About this, Pema Chödrön writes:

If we want suffering to lessen, the first step is learning that keeping the cycle of aggression going doesn’t help. It doesn’t bring the relief we seek, and it doesn’t bring happiness to anyone else either. We may not be able to change the outer circumstances, but we can always shift our perspective and dissolve the hatred in our minds.

And that is exactly why we practice yoga and meditation. To loosen and dissolve, if ever so slightly with each practice, the hatred in our own minds and hearts. And as I’ve said many times in this blog in various ways, it starts with dissolving some of the hatred we direct towards our own selves. I know I am not perfect – even at self-compassion. And yet, each day I do try to remember to be kind to myself when “bad thoughts” cross my mind. Or when I make a mistake.

So, I think that yoga and the art of dying is remembering each day that we’re not going to be here forever and to try to add to the world’s joy in some small way. It could be being kinder to ourselves. It could be pausing to see the people we encounter in our lives as being just like us – they just want to be happy and content. It could be donating to worthy causes directed at helping people less fortunate than ourselves.

It could also be reflecting on Pema Chödrön’s words here:

When I die, I want to die with no regrets. When I die, I want to die free of habitual patterns and things, obstacles that hold me back from awakening. I want to die as free from all of that as possible. I want to die with less self, selfishness, self-centeredness. I want to die with less reactivity where I just lose my temper in a second or become overwhelmingly jealous in a second. I want to grow in self-reflection and be able to really know my mind and work with my mind. And every day we have more and more of a sense of freedom.

I hope that as your yoga and meditation practice continue that they help you to dissolve just a little more of who you think you are each day. And I hope that they can help you to resolve some of the conflict that is in your heart and mind. I hope the day that I die that I am freer. And I wish the same for you.

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May your mind dissolve quarrels, …
May you remember that one day you will not be here, … for the benefit of ALL Beings everywhere.

Aloha and Metta, Peace and Kindness,
Paul Keoni Chun

Sanibel Island, FL, September 4, 2022, at sunrise. My husband enjoying finding shells washed up by the tide along the beach. Little did we know then that this was the calm before the storm. Sigh. I cannot believe this beautiful island we enjoyed so much together has been devastated by Ian.

Yoga and the Art of Loosening the Grip

This bird "loosened its grip" by opening its wings, and voila! - it caught the watermelon my husband tossed in the air! I guess a case can be made that when one "loosens the grip and opens one's 'hands'," abundance arrives in spades.

I’m just about 7 weeks into living in my new apartment. While I’ve made progress in unpacking, I still have a way to go. Having lived 63+ years on this earth, I’ve accumulated my fair share of earthly possessions. So, the 5th yama (1st limb of yoga, things one should not do) which talks about “aparigraha” has been on my mind a lot lately. Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati’s translation of aparigraha is “non-possessiveness, non-holding through senses, non-greed, non-grasping, non-indulgence, non-acquisitiveness.” And here is his commentary on this Yoga Sutra (2.39):

Aparigraha brings the past and future: When one is steadfast in non-possessiveness or non-grasping with the senses (aparigraha), there arises knowledge of the why and wherefore of past and future incarnations.

Wow! While I’d love to know more about my past and future selves, my more immediate concern is about simply creating more space in my apartment while at the same time honoring the indelible memories that many of my possessions contain. They tell the story of my life in this incarnation.

But letting go can be hard to do.

So, I draw inspiration and insight from two people. Molly Lannon Kenny (The Samarya Center) talks about aparigraha as “loosening the grip and finding freedom.” Intellectually, I can understand that. It makes sense that the less things one has, the more spaciousness one can attain. And in that spaciousness, there is physical, mental, and spiritual freedom. And Paul Dallaghan speaks of Aparigraha as “The Art of What is Needed.” He recounts a nice phrase: whatever you own really owns you. Yes, we can be bogged down by our possessions. And he also writes that in practicing aparigraha: The lack of material bondage allows the spirit to reveal itself. So, by not being so attached to our possessions, theoretically we can be more in touch with our truer identity, and perhaps the past and future incarnations that the Yoga Sutras speaks of.

As far as my own personal current decluttering is concerned, I’ve found that in order for me to “loosen the grip” I have to do two things. One is that I have to go slowly. Some things can be easily let go of fairly quickly – e.g., the face masks I accumulated these last two years that I’ll never use. (Yesterday, I ended up giving these and other personal care items to a donation drive for people currently experiencing homelessness.) But other things will take a little longer to let go of – particularly things that evoke a memory of a person or a happy experience I’ve had, like my souvenirs from my trip to Africa in 2009. So, I’m taking my time with each item, deciding whether to let go of the physical item at this time or not, and enjoying remembering the circumstances that brought that item into my life. No need to be in a hurry to let go, but rather release in a time that feels right to me. The other things I’ve discovered which is helping me to “loosen the grip” is to have a lot of compassion for myself. Letting go can be hard to do and I can offer myself a lot of compassion as I undergo this process.

But, now that I’m well into the process of letting go of physical possessions, I’m gaining more physical space in my apartment, and I’m liking that very much. I’m experiencing a gravitational pull in that direction and it’s gaining momentum.

And hopefully, as I practice “loosening the grip” on more physical possessions, it may make it easier to “loosen the grip” on some of the mental patterns I’ve held on to. For example, I’ve no doubt this process will lead me in the direction of having more forgiveness for both myself and others. We really don’t walk in other people’s shoes and so we don’t have a lot of information on what leads others to do the things that they do. But I do have a sense that when I’m not so bogged down by things that are cluttering my own mind and heart, that I can begin to have more feelings of compassion, understanding, and forgiveness for others.

Wherever you are in your life and whatever your relationship with your possessions are right now, I hope that you can slowly “loosen the grip” on the things that are no longer serving you well. Maybe some of those things can serve another human being well at the moment. If so, that would be a win-win-win situation for you, the other person, and all beings on this planet.

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you give yourself time to “loosen the grip”, …
May you have compassion for just how hard letting go can be, …
May you enjoy the memories, …
May the spaciousness and forgiveness you create for yourself be of great benefit to ALL Beings everywhere.

Aloha and Metta, Peace and Space,
Paul Keoni Chun

Whoops, I "accidentally" "loosened the grip" on some delicious sour cream coffee cake I got at the Farmer's Market on 66th and Broadway, and look who appeared! Perhaps this is a sign of a past or future incarnation, as Yoga Sutra 2.39 might suggest?

Yoga and the Art of Letting Go

Sunrise on a new day in my new apartment.

After 27 years of living on the 27th floor of my building, my number was finally called up. I was offered a bigger apartment on a higher floor. Yes, I'm movin' on up!

I was filled with excitement, and truth-be-told – dread. 

Time to gain a new perspective on life. Yay!

Time for change. Huh?

And time for, uh ... sigh ... letting go.

One of my first yoga teachers many years ago said during class: practice letting go of what is stale, old, and no longer useful.

I think about these words now. They are so relevant with where I am in life right now. Somewhere in the 3rd chapter for sure, and perhaps entering the 4th chapter. During times of significant change, we have an opportunity to pause and ask: what is really important to us right now, and what can we let go of? For sure, many of us asked ourselves such questions in the beginning phases of the COVID-19 pandemic.

I’ve been asking myself these questions a lot these days, as I unpack and decide what to discard that I don’t need any more. Many years ago, I heard Eckhart Tolle say to Oprah Winfrey:

There is more power in letting go than clinging.

I thought about this today as I unpacked things in my kitchen and was trying to decide whether to hold on to a collection of spices I’d accumulated. As I was looking at each container, I realized I hadn’t used many of these things in a long time so why hold on to them any longer? So, into the garbage they went. I felt lighter. Same with old clothes I was sorting through last week – will I ever use these things again, I asked myself? The answer was “highly unlikely.” So those got tossed into the material recycling bag.

I’ve been intentional about my unpacking. First, I cleared a space on one side of my apartment where there is nothing but what I need – e.g., my bed, rug, space to practice yoga, and so forth. On the other side, I have boxes and bags of things to sort through and either keep, throw, or give away. I have to say, I’m really enjoying the area that is cleared of things other than what I need. And I’m less fond of the area that is full of stuff. And that is motivating me to want to keep creating more area with fewer things and less area with stuff. My apartment is taking on the minimalist feel of an Apple retail store.

Now, for sure, letting go of stuff – be they material things or mental patterns we’ve clung to – is not easy. But what I’m liking about the changes happening in my life right now is that I’m finding I really like the empty spaces, cleared of things. I’m fortunate in that my apartment is on a high floor, so I can see more sky out of my windows. I’m so enjoying just looking at the sky and the clouds. I’m seeing space that I didn’t see before, and it is helping to clear my mind of stuff it’s being bogged down by.

Essentially, with these changes, I’m gravitating more towards spaciousness and further away from clutter. Which brings me to why we practice yoga, which is to be able to experience more space in our mind and heart so that ultimately, we can realize who we really are. Yoga as a practice has guided me to accepting more the letting go parts of life. And it has given me greater clarity about who I really am and what my purpose here on Earth is.

I hope that as you continue practicing yoga and meditation you will find it easier to let go of more stuff. And I hope the spaciousness it produces brings you great clarity and purpose.

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you let go of that which is stale, old, and no longer useful, …
May the spaciousness you create for yourself be of great benefit to ALL Beings everywhere. 

Aloha with Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun

Sunset on another day in my new apartment. I'm so grateful to have a new perspective of life.

Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen and the Art of Both Sides Now

Dramatic skies over the west coast of Florida

Recently, I was with my husband in Florida and he looked up and said “I love the sky here. The clouds are amazing.” I could see his point. I, too, was struck by the vastness of the sky and the breathtaking cloud formations that appear in them. They have been a source of tremendous fascination and wonder for us both.

It made me think of Joni Mitchell’s song Both Sides Now, in which she writes:

… I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down and still somehow
It's cloud illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all …

Later, she concludes:

I've looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all

I can understand the confusion and the “not knowing” of life. So many things just don’t seem to make sense at the moment. Witness the war in Ukraine, the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and the allowing of guns to be carried in public places in New York State. The clouds of life seem very dark and gloomy at the moment.

And that is where yoga and meditation can be helpful. If anything, they can be a starting place for clearing some of the fog in our own bodies and minds. And they can be useful tools for holding the dark clouds within us that we’ll undoubtedly encounter at some point in our lives with more grace, patience, and compassion.

I realize that if we just had blue skies all the time, we’d never be able to experience the clouds. And sometimes the darker and heavier the clouds, the more contoured and colored and rich our experience of them will be.

And so too will our lives be richer. It is the darkness and drama that can be entry points into living a rich life. A life that leads toward more compassion, generosity, and kindness. As Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen said in an interview with Krista Tippett:

... Sometimes what appears to be a catastrophe over time becomes a strong foundation from which to live a good life.  It’s possible to live a good life even though it isn’t an easy life....  That’s one of the best kept secrets in America.

Dr. Remen herself has experienced the dark side of life in a life-long battle with Crohn’s Disease. But she has somehow overcome the odds and lived longer than was expected, and as a physician working with people with cancer she has a unique insight into healing and curing. She says:

The way we deal with loss shapes our capacity to be present to life more than anything else.

Certainly, loss has that effect of making us immediately present. And that is an aim of yoga and meditation – to be ever more present. Of course, we can also try to escape the feelings of loss through drugs and alcohol. And at times that might be a valid escape route. And, we could also choose to use the tools of yoga and meditation to sit with the experiences of loss, and create a bigger container within which to hold the feelings. And, hopefully this will lead ultimately to creating more compassion for ourselves and others.

Dr. Remen said:

… By listening generously, we may not be able to help find a cure, but we may certainly be able to help create a healing. … We can only cure a small amount of human suffering.  The rest needs to be healed ....

And perhaps that is why we’ve been put on this Earth and been given our unique set of challenges. Perhaps we are here simply to be healed. None of us will escape dying. There’s no cure for that. But perhaps we can leave this Earth having left it a better place and be cured of at least some of the karma we brought with us. Dr Remen said:

The view from the edge of life is so much clearer than the view that most of us have.  That what seems to be important is much more simple and accessible for everybody, which is who’ve you touched on your way through life, who’s touched you... what you’re leaving behind you in the hearts and minds of other people is far more important than whatever wealth you may have accumulated.

Perhaps we’ll never understand life’s illusions – cloud’s illusions, if you will. And maybe that’s OK. Without the darkness of life, there wouldn’t be wonder and amazement to behold as we gaze at the clouds floating by in our inner skies. And without that perspective, we would have one less way forward toward more healing, and more compassion and kindness.

I hope the clouds within you are an amazing sight to behold at the moment.

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you see both sides, now,
May you see life at the edges,
May you be further healed, so that you can be of great benefit to ALL Beings everywhere.

Aloha and Metta, Peace and Ease,
Paul Keoni Chun

The Light is temporarily being covered by darkness, but for Sure it is still there.

Yoga and the Art of Living with Ease

Summer time, and the living is easy ... and filled with blooming delights!

At the end of my morning meditation practice, I do a brief metta practice. I’ve done this for many years now. I follow the traditional pattern, starting with “May I be happy” … “May I be healthy” … “May I live with ease” … and then proceed from there to add on phrases connected to a yoga theme that I am striving to live by for that day, week or month.

This past month, I found myself repeating the third phrase often – may I live with ease. Maybe it’s because I turned 63 this past month. While not technically retired, I’ve found myself with that retirement mindset flooding my thoughts. Perhaps it’s just sheer tiredness from pushing that rock up the hill like Sisyphus for so many years, or just wisdom gained through growing older and presumably wiser. But at this point in my life, I find myself wanting and choosing living with ease more often.

From Swami J’s translations of the Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, Sutra 2.46 is: sthira sukham asanam – The posture (asana) for Yoga meditation should be steady, stable, and motionless, as well as comfortable or filled with ease, and this is the third of the eight rungs of Yoga.

For us, that means that in order to realize our highest possibilities, we have to have ease in our life. Whether it’s while sitting in a yoga posture or executing a “posture” in our daily life to-dos, choosing ease will lead to the best outcomes.

There are a lot of people in the world right now who by the circumstances thrust upon them cannot live with ease right now. And in our daily lives, for sure there are moments when un-ease can appear out of nowhere. But as you continue to practice yoga and meditation, I hope that you can recognize opportunities for living with ease more regularly so that you can shift toward ease more quickly when unease rears itself in your life. Afterall, we can’t be useful to the world unless we are able to experience steadiness, comfort and ease often.

Unlike the winter months – when “the weather outside is frightful” – the weather outside is rather delightful right now. I hope that you had a great unofficial start to your summer and I do hope the months ahead will be filled with ease.

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you live with ease,
May you live with ease so that you can be of benefit to ALL Beings everywhere.

Aloha and Metta, Peace, and Ease,
Paul Keoni Chun

For these two iguanas, living with ease can mean living at the seeming edge of the world at El Morro in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Yoga and Suffering, and the Wisdom of Thich Nhat Hanh

The darkness of winter laid the groundwork for something profoundly beautiful to emerge. .

A great teacher passed away earlier this year. Thich Nhat Hanh was an inspiration and guiding force for many around the planet who seek solace from witnessing the horrors of the world. Fortunately for me, I got to hear him speak in person back around 2006. I remember that though he spoke softly and quietly, his words carried a lot of weight. 

He himself had witnessed many horrors as a young monk growing up during the war in Vietnam. And ironically, the war itself helped shape him into becoming the teacher that he was in life and helped him develop the important lessons he would impart to his many followers. One lesson is on the importance of suffering itself. 

I recently re-listened to an interview he did with On Being host, Krista Tippett, in which he said something quite profound (I’m paraphrasing it here):

I do not believe that Heaven is a place where no suffering exists. I would not want to live in a place where there is no suffering. It is out of suffering that understanding and compassion arise. 

Usually, we think of heaven as a place of perfect peace. But to Thich Nhat Hanh, peace is derived from understanding, which is derived from compassion, which is derived from suffering itself. In other words, out of something so dark and terrible can come something so indelibly light and beautiful.

As he says in the interview:

… You cannot grow a lotus flower on marble, you have to grow them on the mud. Without mud, you cannot have lotus flower, without suffering you have no ways in order to learn how to be understanding and compassionate. … .

With all the horrors we’re witnessing in the world today, I sometimes wonder if we’re actually living in hell. It is truly heart-breaking. And yet at the same time, the opportunity is always available to us to not let the pain break our heart apart but rather to open up our hearts more.

Personally. there have been times in my life when I was going through personal heart-ache and it truly felt like hell. Indeed, on one occasion when I was intensely feeling the pain of heartache, I sat in meditation and after around 20 minutes of being with my breath, suddenly my heart began feeling light and at ease. I’ve never forgotten that experience. It was truly a feeling of heaven on earth.

And it takes practice to arrive at this experience. Fortunately, yoga and meditation are tools we can use to hold our suffering like a mother holds a child in her womb. With compassion and care and deep love. As yogis, it is our job to witness our suffering and to try to transform it into something useful for ourselves and the rest of the world, 

We don’t know how long this terrible war in Ukraine will go on for. But each day it does is another day that we can try to develop a little more understanding and compassion. Just a little more is all that is needed. But that little more will go a long way towards creating something beautiful. Yes, we can … create heaven from hell on this beautiful earth.

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you witness your suffering,
May you transform your suffering into understanding and compassion, …
May the beautiful flower that grows from your mud somehow benefit ALL Beings everywhere. 

Aloha and Metta, Compassion, and Peace,
Paul Keoni Chun

Experiencing heaven on earth in Central Park this past month.

Winter has given way to spring in Central Park.

Yoga and the Art of Springing Toward Abundance

Yes, hidden from view are the visual delights of this lake in Central Park, but, more importantly, hiding in plain site is the abundant promise inherent in the branches that already exist.

I’ve been reflecting a lot on abundance this past month. It grew out of a recognition that I have so, so much. And I am not just talking about the material stuff.

Yes, I know there is a war raging in Ukraine and many people there are suffering from lack of basic necessities. Yes, I acknowledge that at this point in the pandemic many people are still struggling to make ends meet. Yes, many of us are still feeling the need to be cautious and haven’t returned to pre-pandemic levels of socializing. Many in the world are experiencing great lack right now.

Still, especially for those of us who are not in any immediate life-threatening danger, one way we can help the local and global causes is to recognize the abundance that exists within and near us already.

The promise of spring is the abundance of growth in the natural world that we are about to witness. Spring brings abundant greenery, delectable fruits, and enjoyable temperatures, among many other things that we will soon be delighting in. It becomes a natural and easy thing for us to recognize abundance in our outer world during the spring season. This time of the year also fills us with happy thoughts as we anticipate the coming physical ease in our life after the cold winter. And when our minds are filled with ease, it is easier to recognize our already existing abundant nature within as well.

There is a popular line of thought that goes something like: what you think is what you become. I think one way to become more of what we want to be is to practice recognizing all that we already have. I’m not suggesting that we take up a monk-like existence by living in a cave somewhere and subsisting on our basic needs only. Rather, I am suggesting that in order to have more of what we want, we need to recognize all that we do have right now. And if you stop to think about it, most Americans have quite a lot and more than most of us need. It should be easy for most of us to do this thought exercise.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from Eckhart Tolle and Oprah Winfrey, two people who have created a lot of abundance:

Acknowledging the good that is already in my life is the seed of abundance. … Abundance comes only to those who already have. [Eckhart]

Abundance comes from within you. External things do not make you abundant. Abundance is the energy that flows out of you, out of the being of who you are, out into the world. Initiate this process by recognizing the abundance all around you already. ... Outflow determines inflow. … Give that which you say you most want.  [Oprah]

As yoga and meditation practitioners, I think we would we would be well served to add any of their ideas to our practice.

We are all witnessing the horrors that happening in Ukraine, and it’s making us feel helpless. Yet even this far distance from which we are viewing the war, there are things we can do. One example is donating to non-profits like Razom for Ukraine, which is sending medical supplies to the front lines and amplifying the voices of the Ukrainian people. Another example is even just learning more about this region of the world and the incredible cultural and scientific accomplishments it has produced. (For me personally, a favorite Ukrainian accomplishment is that of Lilia Podkopayeva, who won the 1996 Olympic All-Around Gymnastics Gold Medal in Atlanta. The unique quality of her gymnastics is memorable to me and she is one of the greatest there ever was, in my opinion.) Or, it can even be something as simple as donating to any one of our favorite causes at the moment. I believe that each time we make a donation to help someone else in need it is a recognition of the inherent abundant state we are already living in. 

As spring approaches for us, in our immediate environment we can grow into abundance more things like: peace, contentment, being OK with things as they are right now, and letting go of instead of accumulating more of. Growing these things will help bring balance and serenity into our life. These are really the higher goals of practicing yoga and meditation, not whether you can touch your toes or stand on your head.

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you spring toward abundance,
May you recognize the abundance that already exists within and just outside of you, …
May this recognition somehow benefit ALL Beings everywhere. 

Aloha, Metta, Peace, and Joy,
Paul Keoni Chun

Yoga and the Art of Loving, Again

Separated as we may feel at times from each other, there is always a bridge that connects each of us indelibly to each other. Call that bridge yoga, call that bridge the Dharma, but by whatever name you call it, I hope you can cross it over and over again.

No matter what you think of Joe Biden, this reprieve from the previous administration has felt like a breath of fresh air. As individuals, according to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, we need first and foremost food, clothing, and shelter. Extrapolating this outward into the political world, it has felt like we’ve needed this time over the last year to catch our breath from the collective trauma we experienced for the few years of our country’s recent past. Having met our basic needs and being able to breathe again, we can move up the ladder to secure love and belonging.

And now there’s Ukraine. Everything feels disrupted again. My heart is broken. So back to my yoga and meditation practices I go, for which I am grateful.

The Dutch Priest, Henri Nouwen, wrote:

In a world so torn apart by rivalry, anger and hatred, we have the privileged vocation to be living signs of a love that can bridge all divisions and heal all wounds.

There’s so much rivalry, anger, and hatred in the world, it’s overwhelming at times. I think of my yoga and meditation practices as one small part of that bridge that can help heal some of this. In addition to all the external things I try to do to help the world, this inner work helps me connect, through my breath, with this living sign of love. What a privilege.

The Trappist Monk, Thomas Merton, wrote:

The only true joy on Earth is to escape from the prison of our own false self, and enter by love into union with the Life Who dwells within the essence of every creature and in the core our own souls.

I am grateful that yoga and meditation keep me constantly aware of all the false identities I’ve built up that I’ve come to falsely believe define me. Equally as important, they remind me over and over again of the connection that I have to every living being on this planet and elsewhere. 

A core belief of the philosopher, J. Krishnamurti, was that:

Love & truth can't be found in any book, church, or temple.  It comes when you know yourself.

I am so grateful that yoga and meditation help me to know myself better, and with greater compassion.

The Persian poet, Rumi, wrote:

Reason is powerless in the expression of Love.

And:

A pearl in the shell
does not touch the ocean.
Be a pearl without a shell
a mindful flooding
a spark turned to flame
bird settling nest
love lived. 

I am so grateful that yoga, meditation, and dance help me to feel that spark of love deep within, and that on occasion it grows bigger and becomes a flame. Every so often, the shell around my being comes off and I am moved to take actions that will somehow benefit not only me but others as well. Every so often, I am engulfed by Love so fully that my sense of reason goes by the wayside, and I find myself saying: It may seem crazy, but I have to do this. It has led me to taking action to find and receive romantic love, pursue a life in the performing arts, and to found Keoni Movement Arts, which serves people who don’t have the opportunities I’ve had in life.

I hope that yoga and meditation can help fulfill one of your basic needs – your ability to love again … again and again – for the benefit of all beings everywhere. 

I hope you’re feeling a sense of optimism as spring begins to bloom again.

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you at times be a pearl without a shell, …
May that spark of love within you become a flame, …
May you cross that bridge between hatred and love, again and again, …
For the benefit of ALL Beings everywhere. 

Aloha, Metta, Peace, and Joy,
Paul Keoni Chun

Manatees at TECO In Florida - every time I get the chance to view God's creatures up close I fall in love with Nature over and over again.

We Can Always Begin Again

Nothing like a good snowstorm to give the city a reset -- a chance top pause, reflect, ... then begin again.

This past weekend, New York City got a huge dousing of snow. I loved it. This city moves at such a fast pace that I relish those times when I am forced to slow down and be still.

Sillness. That’s what yoga is all about.

I had a chance to teach a yoga basics class recently. I started out by asking folks what they thought the purpose of yoga was. I got various answers, such as: stretching … relaxing … bringing mind, body and spirit into closer connection … to experience enlightenment. All these answers are in fact part of yoga, but the true goal of practicing yoga is to quiet down the movements of the mind, or yogash chitta vritti nirodhah from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Patanjali goes on to state that when the mind is still, then we can realize who our True Nature (tada drashtuh svarupe avasthanam). Then, we can realize who we really are.

Unfortunately, with the commercializing and commodifying of yoga in the west, people here seem to think that the goal of yoga is to be able to touch your toes or stand on your head or be more powerful and physically stronger. Wrong.

If we are to achieve this highest state of yoga, it requires, I believe, practicing beginning again … over and over again. It requires a willingness to let go of the parts of our past that are no longer serving us well. It requires cultivating the practice of touching each moment with the least amount of judgement. In this respect, meditation practice is a wonderful vehicle for moving further in this direction.

As Maria Robinson says:

Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.

In whatever ways you like doing it, as you reset and start anew at the beginning of another new year, I hope you’ll reflect on – and perhaps implement – ways that you can begin again. And in the stillness that comes to your mind, I do sincerely hope that you hear your heart’s truest desires and wishes, and manifest them in the coming year. And most importantly, may the new ending you write for yourself benefit not only you but all beings as well.

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you let go of the parts of your past that are no longer serving you well, …
May you begin again, …
For the benefit of ALL Beings everywhere.

Aloha, Metta, Peace, and Joy,

Paul Keoni Chun

Children always know how to Begin again … and again … and again!

Generosity Starts with Ourselves

Central Park, December 2021. Nature so generously offers us many opportunities to pause and reflect on how lucky we are.

In order to cultivate an awakened mind, the Buddha taught that there were virtues we should try to perfect. He called them paramis, which translates to “perfections.” The first of these qualities is dana or generosity. According to Buddhist meditation teacher, Gina Sharpe: … The path begins there because of the joy and openness that arise from the generous heart. Pure unhindered delight flows freely when we practice generosity. We experience joy in forming the intention to give, in the actual act of giving, and in recollecting the fact that we’ve given. …

Recently, I watched a PBS Newshour segment about formerly incarcerated individuals trying to regain a foothold in society. It’s a difficult process, as many businesses, entities, and people will hold that they committed a crime against these people. One woman said something that made my ears perk: What if you were only known for the worst thing you would ever done?

This made me stop and realize – we’ve all done things that we aren’t proud of. Sometimes my mind is filled with regret over something I did or said in the past. And sometimes I get to thinking: how could I have been so stupid! Feelings of self-hatred arise. 

But truly, we are far more than the worst things we’ve ever said or done. And I have to counter those thoughts with remembering that I’ve done many things to make my and other folk’s lives better. I have to stop myself in these moments and remember – I’ve been enormously generous at times in my life, and truly I am far, far more than the worse things I’ve done in my life.

So, while dana or generosity is usually thought of as something we do for and to others, I think it’s also important to practice generosity toward our own selves too. 

In this season of giving, can you remember to give to yourself along with giving to others? Can you be generously compassionate, patient, forgiving, kind, and loving towards yourself? If you do, the whole world will benefit.

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you practice dana toward both yourself and others, …
For the benefit of ALL Beings everywhere.

Aloha, Metta, Peace, and Joy,
Paul Keoni Chun

What a generous gift Nature gave me and my husband when we happened upon this sight in Everglades National Park.

Yoga and the Art of Yes/And ...., and the Power of Gratitude

The Highline park is the nexus between human ingenuity and nature’s brilliance. Each time I walk through it, I am filled with gratitude.

I love watching Nature shows. It’s so cool to see the diversity of living creatures inhabiting the Earth, each in their own way struggling to survive, to just get through another day. We humans appear to have an advantage, in that our days are not mostly consumed by providing food, clothing, and shelter for ourselves and our loved ones. We have time to create Art, contemplate the mysteries of the Universe, and meditate, among many other things. We are lucky to be able to experience this human birth. 

I read some time ago that the Buddha taught his monks “that receiving a human birth is more rare than the chance that a blind turtle floating in the ocean would stick its head through a small hoop.” For that reason, he encouraged his monks to “gladden” their hearts by reflecting on how fortunate they were that in this lifetime they could seek freedom from suffering. The Buddha taught Four Noble Truths – the first is that indeed, there is suffering, and the fourth is that indeed, there is a way out of suffering. One of his core beliefs is that we can “learn to live joyfully amid the sorrows of the world.”

One way I thought of that might alleviate some of our suffering is to practice what I call “Yes/And …, and the Power of Gratitude.” We can acknowledge that “yes,” indeed, there are a lot of problems in the world, “and,” we can still find ways to live joyfully amid the world’s sorrows. Practicing yoga and meditation are two ways available to us. As our practices mature, we gain deeper insights into the true nature of all things, including suffering. We can also practice “flowing in gratitude.” As our ability to be consciously aware of the immense beauty all around us deepens, we will experience more joy. With each delight we witness right in front of us, we can spend more moments of this lifetime realizing how lucky we are to have this human experience. 

During this holiday season, I hope you can spend many moments flowing in the powerful stream of gratitude. And, may it help to alleviate not only some of your suffering, but also some of the suffering in the world at large. 

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you remember how fortunate you are to have this human birth, …
May you live joyfully amid the suffering of the world, …
May you flow with gratitude often, … 
For the benefit of ALL Beings everywhere.

Aloha, with Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun

I was flowing with gratitude as I walked along this part of The Highline park recently.

Yoga and the Art of Selfless Service

A moment of true magic at Acadia National Park. (photo by Ed Gonzalez)

Lately I’ve been contemplating how yoga can be a pathway towards serving the world in a selfless way. When we are practicing on our own individual yoga mat or meditation cushion, how is that really serving others? Sometimes it can almost feel like a luxury, almost feel selfish to take the time to care for ourselves in this manner. But like other activities we may undertake for the purpose of self-nourishment and self-rejuvenation – like taking a warm bath or going on an Artist Date – yoga practice can help us create a buffer between ourselves and the problems of the world. It gives us the space to see things in better perspective through a wider lens. It also leads us in the direction of an awareness of a selfless self. Who we may think we are is not truly who we are.

My yoga sequence of the month was inspired by the tale of Hanuman, the Monkey God from the Hindu epic, the Ramayana. One unknown source I found many years ago states: He was devoted to the ideal of selfless service. And, says Neesha Zollinger from Yoga Today, Hanuman was devoted to a life of service ... He found his power within himself and used it for the greater good …. The lesson he teaches us, she says, is to Look within to get greater freedom outside.

Hanuman inspires us to find those talents we were given by God to manifest and develop in our lifetimes on Earth and to use them in ways that help all Beings. If we look into our own hearts, like Hanuman did, we will find what it is that inspires us towards action. And if that inspiration is truly heart-centered we will naturally find ways that our actions can benefit not just ourselves but others around us as well. 

Practicing yoga can be a selfless activity just by the fact that we breathe consciously with awareness According to the master yoga teacher, B.K.S. Iyengar: When you inhale, you are taking the strength from God. When you exhale, it represents the service you are giving to the world. Truly with each conscious and deep inhalation, it does feel like we are receiving a gift. And with each conscious and deep exhalation, the calm that overcomes us is not only a gift to ourselves but also to the people around us. 

Adi Amar from Yoga Today, says: When we learn not to react [to bad situations] all the time, we actually do ourselves and others a great service. In my experience, practicing yoga can help us create a buffer between ourselves and our problems. Recently, several work interactions I encountered left me feeling a little deflated. But with the passage of some time, my daily yoga and meditation practice, I was able to gain some perspective on the situations and figure out ways to handle them better in the future. Had my reactions been dictated by how I was truly feeling in the initial moments of these situations, they would have probably come out more forcefully and explosively and in the end would have served no one well.

Early on in the pandemic, I heard a front-line pandemic nurse say:

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in service of others.

Certainly, many frontline workers served the world selflessly. And many even lost their lives. What was undoubtedly gained in all situations was that each found a calling. Each found moments when they heard God’s voice within to serve the world according to the ways that they were uniquely qualified to do. And hopefully, each of them found meaning and purpose in their lives, which is what each of us are all seeking in the end. Perhaps as you continue to “lose yourself” in your yoga practice – meaning as yoga melts deeper into the fabric of your being – you will continue to find meaning and purpose in your life, adding to what you’ve discovered already at whatever stage of life you are in.

I leave with you a hopeful thought:

“At the beginning, mankind and obligation of selfless service were created together. Through selfless service, you will always be fruitful and find the fulfillment of your desires": This is the promise of the Creator.
~Bhagavad Gita 3.10

I can imagine that this is true, as I’ve seen evidence of it in my own 62 years of living on this island planet Earth. Ultimately, I think what we all desire – beyond the material – is a sense of peace, joy, and contentment. I hope that your yoga practice can lead you to a life of selfless service, accompanied by a life filled with feelings of fulfillment.

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May yoga and meditation help you create buffers, … 
May you always be fruitful and fulfilled, … 
May you lose yourself in selfless service, … 
May you find yourself, … 
For the benefit of ALL beings everywhere.

Aloha, with Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun

Life and Death happening simultaneously in Acadia National Park. (photo by Ed Gonzalez)