The Blissful Body of the Yogi(ni): Yidam Practice & Yoga Asana

Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, a Tibetan yogi often compared to the great Milarepa, when addressing the issue of Yidam practice within the Vajrayana vehicle of Tibetan Buddhism, has said: It is the blissful body of the yogi or yogini that is the true Deity. So what might this mean? And how, if at all, is it (or could it be) related to the practice of Yoga asana? Lets explore

Yidam practice unfolds in two stages: (1) The generation or creation Stage, in which the specific deity that one is working with is created, i.e. given a form within the imagination of the practitioner; and (2) The Completion Stage, in which that created form of the deity is dissolved: resolved into emptiness, and (its residue, its true intelligence) light/radiance. The practice also, over time, evolves from one in which the deity is merely a conceptual projection, to one in which the natural deity appears, non-conceptually, before the practitioner, as a visible aspect of his/her own radiance.

Yidam practice as a whole is based, in large part, upon a productive use of the imagination. It takes that capacity (and strong tendency) most of us have to make mental pictures, and uses this as a tool to align us with, open us to, a reality that is deeper, more profound, and truer than the one were habitually tuned into. The imagined forms of the deities have the quality of being able, potentially, to act as portals, or gateways into these deeper realities to put us in touch, directly, with aspects of awakened mind.

Now its important to notice the distinction between ~ on the one hand ~ this Yidam-practice way of using our imagination (as a very specific form of mental training, which ultimately can liberate us), and ~ on the other hand ~ a use of the imagination which amounts to no more than (habitual, and often largely unconscious) fantasizing. To engage in fantasy is ~ from the perspective of Buddha dharma ~ a non-productive use of the imagination: one that takes us further into the territory of conceptualization, mental elaboration, and as such further and further away from a reality which has the potential to liberate us.

So how does any of this relate to the practice of Yoga asana? We could, first of all, consider each specific asana as a deity-form: something we construct/project (a la the creation Stage) and then dissolve (a la the Completion Stage). And certainly asana practice is based largely upon a distinction between productive and non-productive alignments/uses of the body. The productive alignments (a la the productive uses of mental imagination) are those which have the potential to open us into a reality deeper than the mere physical, e.g. to the level of the Central Channel/Shushumna Nadi, and the subsequent conscious flow of that awakened energy outward, into the whole network of nadis within the subtle body of the yogi or yogini. The non-productive alignments (a la fantasies), on the other hand, simply keep the energy of our subtle bodies circulating unconsciously (divorced from the truth of the Shushumna Nadi) in old samskaric patterns, i.e. keep us circling on the wheel of bith-and-death which in Buddhism is called Samsara.

And in the same way that in deity practice there is an evolution from the deity as a mere conceptual projection (though a potentially productive one!) to the non-conceptual appearance of the natural deity; just so in our asana practice we often begin with a rather outside-in approach, in which the asana is actually a form of conceptual projection, i.e. its an idea we have (from our teacher, or books, or whatever) that we put forth in the form of an arrangement of (the appearance of) bones, muscles, etc. but its not yet real or natural. As our asana practice matures, more and more were able to work from the inside-out, in which the asanas emerge spontaneously, non-conceptually, as aspects of our natural intelligence/radiance. Our movements in and out of the asanas are infused with the spirit of what in Taoism is called Wu Wei: an effortless effort which quite naturally produces the correct alignments (as opposed to imposing those alignments based upon some external moral code of asana practice).

So how then do we progress from a conceptual to a natural way of expressing our asana practice? From the poses as mere conceptual projections to expressions of an awakened bodymind? A practitioner of the generation Stage of Yidam practice might move in this direction by finding the Completion Stage within the creation Stage, by finding the dissolution of the form as an inherent aspect of the form itself (much as ~ in taoist theory/practice ~ Yang is an inherent aspect of Yin: they inter-are). In this same way, our asana practice might re-member the dissolution of form within every form/asana taken. And might ~ to extend the principle ~ put into conscious and ever-evolving relationship all opposing movements So little by little our ideas about the right way to do the pose are replaced by an ever-more-subtle tremoring which spontaneously aligns us in a way that allows our conceptually projected body to dissolve into the blissful body of the deity: an aspect of our own radiance, pouring forth, shedding itself continuously, for the benefit of all living beings.

One of the initial trainings in Dream Yoga ~ once the practitioner is able to be lucid (i.e. awake) within the dream ~ is to transform the body: to change the shape of ones body into the body of a bird; into an airplane (and fly to Paris!); or ~ relevant to our current exploration ~ into the shape of a deity, which ~ in the context of dreaming ~ is quite easy to experience and understand as being an empty form, i.e. a form made only of color, light & energy (much like a rainbow). In this same way, our vinyasa ~ our movement in and out of asanas, upon the thread of our awakened breath ~ might become, with practice, a kind of Rainbow Painting (Ive borrowed the phrase from a book with this same title written by Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche): merely a play in color, light and energy, a toggling back and forth between the display of empty forms (the specific asanas), and the bliss which is the residue of their dissolution.

And this, perhaps, represents ~ simultaneously ~ the waking up of the dream of our asana practice, and the waking up of the dream of our Yidam practice; represents the waking up from the dream/fantasy of religious practice into the blissful radiance of the Present Moment Amen and Sobeit.

Elizabeth Reninger has been exploring yoga ~ in its Hindu, buddhist & taoist forms ~ for more than twenty years, and is a student of Richard Freeman and Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche. She is also a published poet, and currently resides in Boulder, colorado. For more essays on yoga-related topics, please visit her website at: http://www.writingup.com/blog/elizabeth_reninger

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Sciatica Treatment - What's The Fastest Sciatica Treatment Available Today?

If you're like me, you know about back pain. All about it! I don't get it often, but when I do ... boy do I know it's there!

The most common cause of back pain in North american adults is sciatic pain. So in this article I want to tell you about sciatica, look at a possible cures for you, and make a personal recommendation.

OK ... sciatica treatment. Let's start with a quick description of the problem.

You have nerves running all through your body, which feed huge amounts of information to the brain and are absolutely critical to your functioning. Your biggest nerve is the sciatic nerve. It is attached to your lower spine, runs across your buttocks, then down your legs as far as your ankles.

When that nerve gets irritated or pinched or rubbed up the wrong way you feel pain. Although pain generally is notoriously hard to pinpoint, the pain from an upset sciatic nerve is usually felt in the lower back, or at the back of your leg above or below the knee.

At times it will be excruciating. (Do I sense you nodding in recognition?) often it is dull and troublesome. It can be very, very persistent.

So, what can you do?

Normally, the first reaction is rest. And a couple of days of rest can be helpful. Surprisingly, however, resting for any longer only tends to make the pain worse. And none of us have that much free time anyway. So, rest is not the long-term answer.

There's got to be another way. And there is; do more exercise!

Either do strength-building exercises, that will make your abdomen and back muscles stronger, and give better support to your lower back.

Or do stretching exercises. These will gently push and pull on tight, inflexible muscles that may be the source of the pain, and in a few days the pain will have gone. Keeping up stretching exercises will give you quicker recovery and work to help you get no future flare ups.

Or, equally effective, do light aerobic exercise. Things like walking and swimming. These sort of exercises will move fluids and elements around your body, building a better healing environment for you, and will also release your natural pain killers, the endorphins.

So, for some people, exercise and movement is going to help sometimes.

If that fails, over the long term, however, I recommend you look around for a well qualified doctor who is a sciatica specialist.

Be demanding on yourself as you look. Choose the best specialist you can find. Don't shop around for the cheapest deal. Ask questions until you find a good practitioner. Someone with years of experience treating sciatica, who is a surgeon and, if possible, teaches medicine at a school, would be ideal. Sciatica treatment is hard to get right, and unless you work hard to find a well-qualified specialist your treatments are likely to be short-lived.

Len McGrane writes on health in general and, most recently, on sciatica treatment. For more, helpful treatment information please click now to schwartzneurosurgeon.com.

Traditional Yoga Meditation Certification

You're Not That Body

Five thousand years ago Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, spoke the Bhagavad-gita (the song of God) which contains information about God, the living entities, karma (action and reaction in this world), time, and the material energy.

The Bhagavad-gita is one of the Vedic literatures. The word veda (from which the word Vedic comes) means knowledge. The Vedic literatures deal with spiritual and material subject matters. The knowledge they contain is perfect, because of its perfect source. God, or God's devotees in disciplic succession from God.

The Bhagavad-gita teaches us that the soul is unbreakable, unchangeable, insoluble, everlasting, immovable, and neither burnt nor dried. l The Vedic literatures inform us that there are many eternal souls of whom the chief is Krishna, who is maintaining all of the other souls. The Bhagavad-gita explains that the body, which we (who are souls) identify ourselves with in the material world, is simply a machine. It is, of course, a very complex, wonderful machine. Nonetheless, it is still a machine.

In the way that one drives a car, the soul is driving the body. Unfortunately the soul thinks that it is the body, so the characteristics that pertain to a particular body are thought by the soul to be its characteristics. For example: if the body is white, has a gigantic nose, is female, and is born in the United States; the soul thinks that it is an american white woman that needs a nose job.

Because of the soul's identification with the characteristics of the body, he (the soul) identifies others according to their machine, body characteristics, and forms alliances and animosities accordingly. Thus he develops family attachment, racism, nationalism and even specism; which are all manifestations of the same disease misidentification of the self with the body). When the soul becomes Krishna conscious he no longer distinguishes between living entities because of the differences in the bodily encagement; therefore he sees the true equality of all beings.

The soul is situated along with God (the Supersoul) in the heart of this machine. The soul is driving this machine according to his desires. The Supersoul is observing the soul's actions, and waiting patiently for the soul to become frustrated in its attempts to enjoy through manipulating the machine body.

When the soul decides that its attempts at enjoyment have been futile and that all future endeavors will miserably fail, he may decide to seek out God. At this point Krishna sends His representative in the form of the spiritual master to guide the soul on its spiritual path. The soul, being covered by the material energy, is not capable of perceiving the existence and direction of the Supersoul who is situated next to him in the heart. Therefore the Supersoul directs His external representative (the spiritual master) to help the sincere searcher.

The Vedas call the present age the "Age of kali" the age of quarrel. This age began approximately 5,000 years ago. In this age people are less for tunate, less intelligent, shorter lived, have shorter memories, and have weaker bodies. Good qualities such as sympathy for other seducation, truthfulness, cleanliness, forgiveness, and mercyare quickly disappearing. Society is beset withcheating, diplomacy, and violence. The so called leaders of society are encouraging intoxication, illicit sex, gambling, and meat eating, which are considered the principles of irreligiousity.

There is one good quality in this age. That is, simply by chanting the Lord's names, one can escape the miseries of this age, and go back to the kingdom of God at the end of life. Krishna incarnates in every age to preach the religious practice that is applicable for that particular age. In other ages Krishna taught meditational yoga, or temple worship, or sacrifice.

Krishna appeared about 500 years ago as Lord Caitanya. This advent was predicted in the Vedic literatures more than 5,000 years ago. Lord Caitanya taught the religious practice recommended for this age, Sankirtana, the congregational chanting of the Lord's names: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.

Devotees of the Krishna consciousness movement engage in the chanting of the Lord's names in public, distributing transcendental literatures (which encourage others to chant), and performing personal meditation on the Lord's names (called Japa). --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For more wisdom, visit http://www.bkgoswami.com and click on Books.

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Tattoo Starter Kits

Tattoos are the perfect way for anyone to express themselves. The possibilities are in no way limited when it comes to decorating your body with permanent ink. Whether you are into tattoo by hobby or are looking to make it your profession, you have the need for good, quality tattoo starter kits. This article will tell you what to look for.

When you are first getting into being a tattoo artist on a personal and hobby-related level, purchasing the right equipment might seem daunting. A tattoo starter kit is the best way to get all the tattoo equipment you need without spending too much money. A good tattoo starter kit should include a tattoo machine, needles, tubs and tattoo ink. Make sure your tattoo machine comes with the right power supply as well.

In addition to the basics, when you look into purchasing tattoo starter kits, see what kinds of extra equipment are included. Many companies will include the smaller necessary items like gloves and rubber bands. And if youre really lucky, youll find a tattoo starter kit that includes design sheets. These sheets offer a great starting point for your tattooing with popular tattoo art to choose from.

Whether you are just starting to apprentice or you own your own tattoo parlor, tattoo starter kits are necessary to keep business going. A new tattoo apprentice should look for a starter kit that offers a lot of extras, including stencil paper and tip guides. On the other hand, a seasoned tattoo professional might be looking for a more basic starter kit to replace one that is out of date or to supply their tattoo parlor with new equipment. Both kinds of tattoo starter kits are available.

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Sheet Metal Roofing - Simple Facts

In a common way of thinking, metal roofs are considered to be traditional. But along with the times, they are again getting used often due to their distinct features. They are arguably durable, lighter compared to other roofing types, lesser maintenance, and energy efficient and fire retardant.

Metal roofing can be seen on numerous homes. Due to its versatility, it can be installed anywhere and will require lesser time and effort, withstanding the worst weather conditions and would be easy to replace.

The aluminum and steel type of this metal roofing are currently the most widely used. Both can offer great lengths of durability and being lightweight as a bonus. Aluminum and steel are usually have a tile appearance. Even without support from rafters, they can be installed easily. However, the most expensive type can be of copper material as they can provide the best appearance of the three.

Aluminum types can mimic tiles, slate and cedar shakes. They don't rust. As a good benefit of using them, they actually lessen the sound of rain, to this fact remains the best turnaround choice for most metal roofing adopters.

For aluminum, they weigh about half a pound per square foot and 1.5 pounds for steel. This is the advantage of metal roofing as they can be installed over multiple sheets of shingles. With this kind of material, it would be optional to add roof rafters to get an added load.

Aside from the fact that it is easy to install, sheet metal roofing can be of shingles. It makes installation better and would cost lower. The quickness of installation can be advantageous when the weather can be unpredictable to lessen the time to where rain can be disastrous to an open-roofed house.

Furthermore, they are also a good fire retardant. Metal roofing is a noncombustible material and can resist fire up to class A. Class A can be the ones that insurance companies give discounts due to the less probability of catching fire and having more time to extinguish them before things gets worse.

Some of the newer types of roofing have insulation foam on the bottom of the sheets to reduce radiant heat. The metal roofing pitch can be relatively low; usually it ranges from 3 to 12 inches. You can check the metal roofing's data sheet to make sure they can be installed on your home.

For tips on using metal roofing, visit http://www.metalroofing101.com

Pilates And Yoga Video