EMILY PERRY:: ELEMENTAL

THE TENDERNESS OF NOW

So, like many of you, I am consumed with what is going on in Japan, leaving me unbalanced, unsteady.  Living in California, this tragedy has hit so close to home in so many ways.  We have been shaken up, exposing lots of tenderness and rawness.

Instead of being in that rawness, that exposed feeling, we often work to hide or cover the sensation. This time, I am trying to remember the words of Pema Chödrön, and her talks about how this moment is the perfect teacher. 

"Rather than indulge or reject our experience, we can somehow let the energy of emotion, the quality of what we're feeling, pierce us to the heart.  This is easier said than done, but it's a noble way to live.  It's definitely the path of compassion-- the path of cultivating human bravery and kindheartedness."

                                                        -- Pema Chödrön,

                                                            When Things Fall Apart

And that is just it.  Moving "beyond hope and fear" (as she puts it) takes us on a trajectory right to the heart.  And not just to our own hearts, but the heart of the matter.  We uncover the roots of things.

It is uncomfortable, and yet it is the essence of dukkha, that sense of dissatisfaction with the way things are.  Here is where the gifts of practice get you through.  Our practice is our space to breathe into change, discord, uneasiness, and pain.  It is a space held for us and our experience.

Our practice helps us become familiar with the rawness, and makes it okay for us to be tender in this moment.  

Remembering that this moment is all we really have.

OFF THE MAT: Awakening Compassion

One of the many gifts of practice is the ability to bring compassion into our lives.

Let me explain: by sticking to a practice, be it yoga or another form of mindfulness, we learn to soften into our experience.  We watch our minds display their unwieldiness, their confusion, their neurotic nature.  

We become aware of our own story.  How we have bought into it, or ignored it, or been ruled by it.

And hopefully this leads us to recognizing that we are bigger than our story.  The essence of who we are is bigger than anything we can imagine.  And once we recognize this in ourselves, we start to see it in others.  We start to awaken our compassion for the human experience.  

As a health care practitioner and yoga teacher, I soon became aware of how everyone I treated or taught had some crazy story: perhaps it was of trauma, or overcoming dire circumstances.  But time and time again I found myself in awe of all these people I was meeting.  I saw their stories in myself as well, and after a time I came to realize that we all have been though or are going through adversity.  

It is so much easier to have compassion, then, for our own experience (and that of others) when we hold this truth in our hearts.  Our practice can then be about expansion, about reaching beyond our story.  It can be about being soft with ourselves, with others.  

Our practice can ripen into one which nourishes our sense of love and abundance, and ultimately frees us from the restraints of story.

play the edge & change your experience

In yoga practice there is something called playing the edge.  

As we work through an asana with full awareness, we play the edges of our experience, both physically and mentally.  We work the energetic edge, and learn things about ourselves that we never knew.  We uncover the depths of our experience.  We learn to trust our intuition, and it is this trusting that develops our faith in ourselves off the mat.

As we move into the rest of our lives, playing the edge teaches us to move differently.  Perhaps we learn to be softer with ourselves, and move with a little more ease, or- at times- with more intensity.  Or we may find that we have grown into our strength & personal power.

Yoga can be a path of uncovering and discovery, especially when we turn our awareness inward during practice.  We notice our inner body, and allow it to come to light.

In yoga, playing the edge of our experience can help us to grow, even when we are standing at the edge of what seems like a insurmountable goal.  We take it step by step, moment to moment.

Breath by breath.

OFF THE MAT: the gifts of practice

After years of taking my self to the mat, day in and day out, I began to take notice.

There was a gentle unfolding of things.  And a strengthening internal sense of knowing.

Yoga practice is not just about developing a strong body.  Sure, that may be what brings us to the mat initially, but it is also about quieting the mind so that we can more fully embody who we are.

When we bring our attention to our internal practice on the mat, we can more easily do so in the rest of our lives.

Practice turning inward on the mat leaves an imprint on our consciousness.  This repeated contact with our internal lives leads us to connecting with our true self, strengthening our relationship to our authenticity.

When we practice, we re-tread those pathways and imprints that lead to full embodiment time and time again.  We also strengthen the connection between body and spirit using the breath as a bridge.

Practice renews our relationship to the self every time we step on the mat.  We come back to our commitment to connecting with our path, and to listening to our inner compass.

Then later,  we we roll up our mats, we have a new vision of things.  We move throughout our day from a place of truth and connection.  We speak from our hearts, instead of our conditioning.  And we act from a place of kindness.

happy new year!

happy new year to you from the california coast!

i hope your 2011 is full of the sweetest things, the warmest moments.

and i hope that this year finds you full of health, creativity, radiance & joy!

***

my word for the year is energy, (also known as prana, or qi)- have you picked one word to carry you through the new year?  i would love to hear about how you uncovered your word for the year...

namaste!

emily 

evolving

According to Tim Miller, when trying to evolve, we often get stuck in the past.  

It's where we typically get stuck.  We get stuck in the past.  Where did all those conditions for the conditioned mind come from?  They came from the past.  And, you know, if that's what runs you, all those patterns from the past, basically what happens is your future is going to look a lot like your past, because those same conditions are going to be present and create your experience based on that patterning.

 

you can listen to some of Tim's talks here.

::paying attention::

it's the little things.

the things we pass by, or miss because we are too busy.  the things we write-off or ignore.  the little expressions on their faces.  the way someone smiles at us in line at the store.  

it's the little things that can be so important, monumental even.  not only because they are little pieces of perfection just as they are, but also because they represent openings: like little doorways into our lives, they can take us deeper into the core of who we are.  noticing the small things helps us integrate, ground, grow.

so today, i am going to make a list of all the little things i notice.  join me, won't you?

a new awareness

 

for me, a good piece of dharma is one that awakens a part of me i knew was there on some deep level, or reminds me of some idea i already knew and thought on some visceral level- i just needed to be put back in touch with it.  last night, reading B.K.S. Iyengar's Light on Life was full of these moments.  But when i read the title of one section of his book, i just knew i had to share it with you:

Awareness: Every Pore of the Skin Has to Become an Eye

this is really the heart of the matter, isn't it?  our awareness cannot just come from our heads, but also from our hearts, and it has to permeate every cell of our being.  awareness is visceral, atomic.  and when we infuse our bodies with this kind of awareness, it transforms our lives and our yoga into dynamic action.

off the mat, moving with dynamic action can change the way we relate to the world, how we relate to ourselves and others.  one of the gifts of a yoga practice is that it helps us bring the prana (energy) and awareness to every cell of our bodies, so that "every pore of the skin" can become an eye.  so that when we move in life, we know exactly where we are, what we are doing, saying, not saying, meaning.  it helps us know how we are truely living.  and how could that now be the greatest gift?

The August Break: Day 31: Yoga in Action

This Labor Day weekend, I will be doing sun salutations to raise money for the Global Seva Project through Off the Mat Into The World.  I am collecting donations for the event, and any amount helps- it all goes directly to the groups listed in the flyer (shown above!).

Please click on the link below to donate through paypal: every donator will get a follow-up email to let you know how much money was raised.  You need not have a paypal account to donate through paypal- just a credit card!

Thank you for your help!  Namaste!

summer, full tilt

{little cottage, Pescadero, CA, TZ Artistic film, polaroid SX-70} 

Ah, so here we are, in the thick of summer.  if you are in the states, i hope you had a great July 4th!  so, as my teacher training is fast approaching, i have been thinking about what my classes might be like- what i want that experience to be.  there are two podcasts that really got me thinking about this:

 

• Jen Lee's episode The questions we can't stop asking.  this is what i have been thinking about of the last year i i try to merge all that i do under one umbrella.  what is the root questions or questions that drive, and connect, my art, writing, and energetic work?  
• Lara's interview at YogaPeeps with Sadie Nardini.  this is a great episode for yoga teachers, or anyone really, because she talks about developing your core message.  we can take these questions "that we are always asking", and turn them into our unique message that comes across in all our work.

over the summer, i will talk much more about this.  i think i have a really good idea about my core message, just because i have had to develop this as an Acupuncturist, an artist, and mindfulness teacher.  how about you?