Life Practices for the Best of your Life

These practices came to me through the skilled teaching of Rod Stryker. I still struggle with mastering all of them - but it is a lovely reminder that anything that helps us move in the direction of attaining these actions is skillful.
Embody what you can, and feel compassion for that which you cannot yet master.

~ Love and respect yourself and the world.
~ Have faith in yourself; your strength, courage and tenacity.
~ Love and be grateful for this life given to you, with all its strengths, limitations & karma.
~ Strengthen your potential - do not undermine it.
~ Make time for yourself, honour yourself.
~ Expectation, entitlement - these create suffering. Be grateful for what is offered. Do not want more.
~ Disconnect. Discover the stillness in silence.
~ Cultivate your relationship with the force behind all life.

Asmita... this was me once

http://blackdiamondequipment.com/en/experience-story?cid=video-live-climb-repeat&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&campaign=experience

I watched this.
I cried. This was me at one time.
I climbed. I worked in climbing. I dreamed sequences. I visualized success. I awoke in a van, had coffee and went climbing usually before others were up.

Then I wanted more. My heart wanted a home, a shower. A baby. To serve the world in some way.
I awoke in a house. I went to a job. I taught others what I had learned.
I had a son. Someone counting on me. My soul also longed for his happiness, his life to be full.

The job continued to evolve; more administration, less teaching. My soul's longing to solve the next problem no longer fulfilled. The longing to share now met as a mother.

Climbing was pushed to the back of my heart. Not enough time, no climbing partner.

Then I found Yoga.
I had new sequences to solve, new movement to understand. Movement in the body and movement of the mind.
A whole new adventure, exploring my inner landscape.
Climbing inside... overcoming the obstacles of my own limitations.
I now have the joy of climbing inside and occasionally out. Solo and occasionally with a partner (if she hadn't up and move to BC).

There will always be climbing in my heart... the routes are just not always on rock.

Resistance

This morning I awoke to a winter storm.
It's mid March.
I awoke to feeling my earring come out as I pulled my hair back and now cannot find it.
I awoke to learn an amazing spirit and mentor has died.
I buried myself in a book - "Who Would You be Without Your Story? by Byron Katie.
My story - it shouldn't be snowing, my dear friend should not have died and I should be able to find my earring. It is not really any of these things that is the cause of my suffering, it is the idea that they should not be happening. I am snug in my home with a fire blazing in the stove and warm tea in my hand. My dear friend has spent the last 3 years fighting cancer. Now she is at rest. And the snow... it is March. It is a little crazy to believe that it shouldn't snow in winter.

Who would you be without your story?
Thanks Katie.

Sutras - threads of living fully

Sutra 1.33
Transparency of mind comes by embracing an attitude of friendliness, compassion, happiness, and non-judgement toward those who are happy, miserable, virtuous, and non-virtuous. ~The Secret of the Yoga Sutras, by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, PhD.
The magic of being a parent has been being able to live this sutra with my son. He can speak to me in a way that is less than virtuous and I can still feel equanimity in my heart. When he is happy, I do not feel jealous or envy, I simply feel joy.
Although it is very hard not to feel attachment toward my son, at least the taste of the teachings shows me the potential expansiveness of my heart.

It takes a Community

Love makes the world go around.
Love happens between people who think alike.
Love is a reflection of the love in our own heart.
Without a mirror, a person to reflect our Self, fear exists.
It takes two to make love a reality.
It takes more than 2 to really shine.

Love

Love is always there, only acknowledged or ignored.

Just Show Up

Never never never give up on your ability to become the person you want to be. But just do it to the best of your ability in the moment you remember.
Our suffering comes when we resist what is happening. Shift your focus to who you want to be and act as if you are who you want to be.