Mantra

Om Shanti.

Om Namah Shivaya.

Lokah Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu.

Om Mani Padme Hum.

I am love.

May all beings be at peace.

What do all of the above statements have in common? They're mantras and they are one slice of the practice of yoga. This week, I've been sharing my love and use of mantra. Mantra is comprised of two words, "Manas" meaning 'mind' and "Tra" which means 'to transcend'. So when we utilize mantra, one of the reasons we do so is to "transcend the mind." And who doesn't want to leave behind some of our crazy and never-ending cranial chatter? I know I do and this is one of the most powerful practices I have discovered that does just that.

Mantra isn't limited to the practice of yoga, as it's basically an intention that can be thought of, chanted, or spoken. It can be in any language, although there's a strong association with Sanskrit and Pali (the language of the Buddha), but certainly not limited to that. One of the most significant aspects about undertaking the practice and study of mantra, is that we begin to see the pliability of their use as they can be chosen based on what intention and manifestation one is seeking. 

It is thought that when we do chant in a language that is not our native tongue (such as the "dead" language of Sanskrit) that we are able to focus more on the sound vibration rather than the specific meaning. It takes us into the senses of the practice and away from over-intellectualizing so we can truly feel the experience. 

The use of mantra is one of the supportive practices for calming the mind with many Kirtan artists espousing that once you dive into an evening of chanting, you begin to shift the mind's energy to one of greater calm and focus. In the Sutras of Patanjali, with its 196 aphorisms, the second sutra Yogas Citta Vrtti Nirodha (1.2) can be translated as "Yoga requires the calming of the fluctuations of the mind".  In other words, in order for us to be in union with ourselves (which is the meaning of yoga), we need to bring the often wayward mind chatter under control. I think of Vrtti's like hummingbirds bombarding a feeder. They buzz about, diving past each other in quick movements, much like our minds do. So for us to find a sense of harmony, it's vital that we undertake some discipline of mind control...and mantra is one way in which to do so.

I use mantra on a regular basis. When flying, I chant a mantra on both take-off and landing. As both of our Golden Retrievers were transitioning out of their body, I chanted a mantra of transition (not very well, but it felt important to me to connect to them in their finals breaths). When I'm overwhelmed by the jagged daily news, I'll often turn off the radio and listen to a favorite Krishna Das CD instead (the album Kirtan Wallah does the trick). 

The most powerful experience I've had with a mantra practice began about seven years ago when I undertook the task of learning the Hanuman Chalisa, a 40-verse prayer, in the Hindi dialect of Awadhi. Each morning I had the words to the Chalisa and would chant along and then sit in meditation until the bell rang. I did this practice for probably two years straight and what I noticed was that upon waking in the morning, instead of my mind launching straight into my to-do list, I had the verses of the Chalisa looping through my mind. It was as though the transition from sleeping to wakeful consciousness was now infused with an intention of service and devotion. It was a way that my practice influenced and established my day from a choice I had made which strengthened over time.

Of course, after my morning practice, my mind would do what a mind does and I'd then launch into my thinking-busy self. The impact was that I had created space for a remembrance of something bigger before all of the habituated thoughts dominated. I also have noticed that if I spend three or fours days at a yoga festival, the same thing happens. I awaken with a mantra in my mind and it feels simply beautiful.

The more we repeat a meaningful mantra, the more it becomes part of who we are. I know that who I want to be is a person who lives intentionally, with purpose and service, from a place of ease and compassion. Mantra is the rock upon which this is built, and for that, I am truly grateful.

Solstice

We are at that turning point time of the year- the Solstice. I've written many times about both the winter and summer solstice as there's just something about these profound earthly markers that excite me. I think it's because they signal an opportunity to stop for a few moments and take stock. The word "solstice" means "sun standing still" or as Wikipedia says:

"The word solstice is derived from the Latin sol ("sun") and sistere ("to stand still"), because at the solstices, the Sun's declination appears to "stand still"; that is, the seasonal movement of the Sun's daily path (as seen from Earth) stops at a northern or southern limit before reversing direction."

For those of us in the northern hemisphere, and specifically for those of us here in the desert, our days have grown long, with the birds making their pre-dawn conversations known at what seems a ridiculously early hour and the night sky is just getting dark 45 minutes before I retire for the evening. If I'm paying attention, I can see the signs of the solstice and am reminded to check-in with where I am.

It's been six months since the winter solstice, a time when things were dark and ready to welcome longer days. Now is the perfect time for taking stock of what's manifested in those past six months. In classes this week, we've been checking-in with what's been happening in our lives and asking the question, "Does this align with how I wish to be living in the world?". We can ask this question on the many aspects of who we are. Take a moment to ask yourself:

• How have I been looking after my physical self? How's my health been over these six months? Is there something that needs to be added or let go? Am I making time for self-care and nourishment? Am I moving my body in a way that honors where I am currently?
• How has my mental health been? What has been occupying my thoughts? Am I paying attention to past patterns and habits and, if yes, are they still serving me?
• What's been my emotional state since the last solstice? Have I been steady? Moody? Unusuallyexperiencing a strong emotion that I haven't previously?
• And how is my spiritual life and connection to my highest self? Am I nurturing that side of me? Am I making space for daily connection to what's sacred?

As we sit and reflect on what's happened over the past half year, it's more powerful if we can do so from a place of not judging how we did, but simply notice what has happened and if it feels good in our bones.

Recently, I was in a place where I was trying to make a major decision. I could feel myself reaching for the answers and as I did so, it seemed that more challenges arose rather than solutions. So instead of striving for an answer, I awoke the following morning and simply laid down in savasana (final relaxation pose). Setting myself up in a supported and comfortable position, I brought the image of being still and staying open to mind. The intention was to simply be, not try. And guess what happened? Ideas and solutions started to bubble up. It was in the stillness and letting go that I began to find clarity.

As a practice this week in classes, I've been encouraging people to feel the still points between breath movements. Breathe in, retain the breath and feel the still space. Breathe out and notice the same still point at the end of the breath. When we notice the turning points of the breath, we sense in our being moments of quiet. If we offer ourselves enough of these still moments, what we need or don't need might just appear. It's as though we can embody our own solstice moments.

Stand still and happy Solstice!

Be Kind

The wide open road was before us, feeling as though we were often the only people on earth. We were driving across the Top End of Australia, from Broome in Western Australia to Darwin in the Northern Territory. This was our big Australian adventure before moving back to live in the United States. Ed and I hired a 4WD for the trek and, fairly early on, we thought we had switched on our supplemental fuel tank but a little while later...chug, chug, chug we came to a gentle halt alongside the road. It was the wet season, which translates as the low tourist season, so very few people were traveling and my mind tried to qualm the rising uneasiness that it might be a while before any help arrived, not that we had any way of calling for such help being in such a remote part of the country.

As good fortune would have it, a few kilometers back, we had passed a pickup truck filled with local aboriginals who, seeing us stopped on the side of the road in a most unintended looking way, pulled over to help us. The bonnet (hood) was up with Ed and an aboriginal guy peering into the engine as I sat in the passenger seat thumbing through the owners manual. At about the same time, we all realized we hadn't "primed" the supp tank and once we did we were able to be on our way.

We thanked and waved goodbye to our road angels and had an amazing journey without any other troubles. Unconditional kindness from total strangers.

This story came to mind as sometimes I sit on a Sunday afternoon lacking inspiration for what I'd like as a theme for the upcoming week. This past Sunday just happened to be one of those days. So I sat with it for a bit, trying to be okay in not knowing and hoping for divine inspiration. Often when I'm not sure as what to write about, I simply allow myself to recall the previous week's conversations and see if anything floats to the surface. And sure enough...it did. I was motivated to return to some level of simplicity, a theme that perhaps I'd touched upon before so here it is...be kind.

You may have heard the saying, "We can be anything. How about we be kind?". I loved that when I first saw this quote, a part of me thought about the childhood notion that I could be anything, so why not become an astronaut, or a famous actor, or a professional athlete? It didn't even pop into my head that being was a state of mind rather than becoming something that you weren't yet. I can be kind in the here and now without having to study astrophysics, acting or practicing for hours a day on my tennis serve. And if I can adopt the attitude of kindness towards myself, I have an opportunity to soften the inner critic and move more toward self-care and self-love.

Another dimension of this thought is: what does it feel like to be the recipient of kindness? When I think about the above story, not only did our roadside helpers get us out of a sticky and potentially dangerous situation (being stranded in the middle of nowhere for how long??) but I was, and still am, filled with tremendous gratitude. So much so, that their act of unconditional kindness has become one of the stories of my life...that's how powerful an impact it had.  I know that all of us have been on the receiving end of such acts of kindness, likely from complete strangers who see our suffering and reach out their hand to offer support.

When we know what receiving kindness feels like, when we act in a way that is kind towards ourselves, it creates this natural reaction when we see the suffering of others. Compassion means to "suffer with", so when we can identify it in another, we act without hesitation on their behalf.

I needed this "be kind" reminder this week and, given the reaction to students in classes, so did others. In a world filled with nasty rhetoric and negative discourse, a dose of kindness can feel like a balm on cracked skin. I am not only reminding myself and others to be kind to ourselves but to be impeccable with our word and to feel the beauty of receiving random acts of kindness from others. You just never know what ripple you're creating when you propagate this energy. It may just carry such impact that it ends up in someone's future blog!

Synergy

Definition of Synergy:
"A state in which two or more things work together in a particularly fruitful way that produces an effect greater than the sum of their individual effects. Expressed also as "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts." 


It may not seem obvious to others that I'm quite an introvert, given that I have been in front of people teaching a variety of classes for the past 36 years. I stand at the front of the class, trying to appear confident whilst projecting a sense of connection to those who are present. That energy moving outwards seems quite extroverted, which it is, but my preference in working is more like one of isolation and solitude. Over the years I have realized how I like to turn inward, particularly in a creative process. 

However, my experience has been gifted a different perspective as I have undertaken the practice of Kirtan and forming our small band, Jayne and The Om Boys. This past weekend we had a Kirtan at my studio, Desert Yoga Therapy, and not only did we raise over $1100 for The Find Food Bank (which equates to over 7700 meals!), but we had a fantastic gathering of people. As the music ended, James (one of the Om Boys) said to me, "This is the first time the wall has come down between us and them..." to which I completely agreed. The invisible curtain between "performer" and "audience" disappeared as we all merged our collective energies for the evening. People were not only singing and clapping along but danced and enjoyed many moments of zen. It truly was a touch of magic!

Now, if only I could just bring my harmonium along and sit down and sing...that might be lovely. But all alone I am not capable of generating the energy we experienced during Saturday night's Kirtan. It was the synergy of the individual parts that made it wonderful. The adding of trained and talented musicians, who push me to be better than I am, made it bigger and better than I could ever be on my own. And since I spend so much creative time inside my own bubble, stepping into collaboration feels like a new awakening. It's true when I tell others that I enjoy rehearsing with the Om Boys as much, if not more, than playing before a crowd. They have elevated me to a place I have never experienced and I have such gratitude for their commitment and energy.

So, I ran with this synergy theme throughout classes this week and, in doing so, applied it to how we create a greater effect on our practices. If you have a regular meditation practice, that's awesome. If you practice mindfulness throughout the day, that too is terrific. But what happens when you not only have a disciplined meditation practice but pay attention to what's happening in your current experience (i.e. mindfulness)? The marriage of these two similar yet different practices increases the connection to how we are present and show up in our daily lives. If you're wanting to deepen your practice but feel time-compressed, how about exploring your present experience by really paying attention to what's happening. This can be applied to any activity of daily living: folding laundry, doing the dishes, driving, eating, exercising. As my teacher says, "Become a better uni-tasker", that is, focus on what you're doing rather than mindlessly running through your day. It's been shown that nobody truly is a multi-tasker but rather someone who does a few different things within quick succession of each other. Try this on as a practice...slow down and pay attention. Feel your experience. Hear the sounds of what's happening. Become better at being in your experience than simply doing what needs to be done. 

As we develop the skill of mindfulness, our ability to become non-reactive improves. Instead of being quickly triggered, we see things for what they are and can "hold space" during that time. People who are well practiced in meditation and mindfulness are not the people running around in a state of panic. 

My thought of the week is to encourage all of us to find someone or something that makes us grow, something that creates a bigger whole. I think we all seek a creative and playful outlet and finding inspiring collaborators will do the trick. Step out of your zone of comfort, explore who brings out the best in you, and enfold it into your personal practices of being more mindful and perhaps sitting for a few minutes each day in meditation.

The whole is bigger than the sum of its individual parts. Let it be BIG!

Remember

The inspiration this week was triggered by two things: Memorial Day and a Celebration of Life gathering. Here in the United States, Memorial Day is dedicated to the remembrance of those who've lost their life in service to the country. We pause, remember and say thank you for your service. This long-weekend coincided with a Celebration of Life event for our friend, tennis player, and member of our yoga tribe Mona Van Linge Redmond. Coming so close together, the impetus to pause and remember was powerful.

I was honored to be able to speak at Mona's gathering. We were tightly packed into a friend's house, literally shouldering our grief in a collective atmosphere. It was simply beautiful to hear the stories and recollections of someone who lived life with great zest. Mona was not only deeply curious and a perpetual student, she was feisty and funny. She had a long career as an educator, so when she came to me only a few months after first stepping onto her yoga mat and asked if she could undertake an upcoming teacher training, I realized she had the skills of teaching and simply needed to deepen her knowledge. She was so keen to share and so motivated to dig deeply, not only into her own practice but into the massive volumes of yoga knowledge.

Shortly after graduating from the training program, I hired her to teach to employees within the hospital program that I had been managing. And they loved her. What they loved was her ability to adapt the practice of yoga to any body. Mona understood this on a personal level as she would joke about having the most props in the room when she would practice, almost creating a fortress of props around her mat. She had stiff wrists, inflexible hamstrings, and tight hip flexors. But what she lacked in flexibility, she made up for in heart. It didn't phase her to use a block (or two) to create a sensation within a pose. She had nothing to prove, only an experience to be had. She taught to the most unlikely looking yoga practitioners and brought her love of it to them. Her enthusiasm was contagious and she ended up creating a course for employees into an on-going class. She was working her Mona magic.

Throughout this time, she also had been diagnosed with cancer, but that didn't dampen anything. If anything, it ignited a sense of deeper purpose. Throughout the ups and downs of treatment, she kept coming back to her mat, whether she had a full head of hair or not. She saw it as a way of being, as a refuge and dove deeply into her own practice when things got rocky. I was lucky to have taught her about Restorative yoga last December. She was ready to share this with others, to continue adding volume to what she knew, and to use it to support her own journey. Looking back, she was not only inquisitive throughout the intensive training but supportive of others participating.

Shortly after she passed away, I was at a yoga festival in the high desert near Joshua Tree. I had just completed a practice, was lying in savasana (the final relaxation pose), and being bathed in the sound of crystal bowls and gongs. During this deep state of relaxation, I had this incredible experience. I saw rising up above me, a massive field of light, a kaleidoscope of energy and immediately thought "Mona!". In the light that I knew was her, she sent me a silent message that all was well, as if saying to me, "Jayne, look how huge I am now that I'm no longer confined to my body! This is amazing!". The message was one of comfort and a deep sense that she was free of any limitations that may have been present in physical, human form. I left the class knowing I needed to share this message and so I did, at Mona's celebration of life.

My thought of the week is to not only remember those who've left their body and the magical moments they have gifted us with but to remember that we are not just our bodies but so much more, so much bigger, with infinite potential. I am humbled by my angel friend, Mona, now in light form, who was my teacher, reminding me to come back into my own light.

I remember and I am forever grateful.