Broken Ribs...

Really bad luck and bad timing. But, accidents happen, and the best thing is to try to accept it and do the best of it. I´ll be going on a yoga holiday soon, and I guess I won´t be able to do much yoga for the next 4 weeks or something. And in the begining of August, Dena Kingsberg is coming to Stockholm, but hopefully I will have healed sufficiently by then to be able to do atleast a modified practice.

So, what has happened? I was invited yesterday by my brother in law to go "Segwaying". It´s a kind of vehicle that goes forward when you lean forward, and stops when you lean back. It looks very peaceful and easy. All was going well until we were supposed do go downhill a quite steep gravel slope. Somehow my segway got a backspinn or something, and the next thing I knew I was falling over it in full speed. I landed right on the wheel with my rib cage. I´m glad I had a helmet, or I would have had a cuncussion as well! My first thought was that I had broken my ribs. Then everyone was saying (denial I guess), that I was probably just bruised. So, we went back , and then we went for dinner. All the time the pain was getting worse and worse. On my way back home, I decided to go to the hospital to check it out.

Well, after four looooong hours at the emergency, I finaly got to see a doctor who said that I most probably have fractured ribs. Healing time 4-8 weeks. Nothing to do but take pain killers. Lots of them! I am taking three kinds, three times a day (poor liver)! He said that it was important to manage the pain. I looked it up on the net, and it says that it´s important to be able to breath in deeply so that the lungs can heal probably. Otherwise there is a greater risk for lung infection. Good thing I know how to do pranayama! The pain is really bad when I inhale deeply, and whenever I move! I also have pain in my neck. Hopefully that will go away soon. Hope it´s not whiplash or anything, but that it´s just pain from the muslces straining in the fall. The pain is said to get worse the coming days, and then it will subside slowly.

I won´t be doing any yoga for the next weeks. Too painful to just move! I don´t know how soon I can start doing asanas again. I do beleive it´s good to not be completly still when injured, but still take it easy. Anyone have any experience of this? I´d be glad for some advice.

A Time To Reflect

The summer holiday is a perfect time to stop, a space inbetween, a time to reflect and think about what has been acomplished during the year, and what you wish to acomplish for the second half of the year. I beleive that you need time away from your everyday activities to to get this room in time and space to see yourself clearer.

Here are some questions that I will be asking myself this summer. The best thing is to write them down. It becomes more powerful then, because you then have to be more specific than if you just answer the questions in your head.

1) What do I already have to be greatful for?
2) What are my hopes and dreams for the rest of the year?
3) Are there any obstacles that are in the way of acheiving these goals?
4) What can I do to remove these obstacles?

I beleive that one of the greatest obstacles for most people is fear. It is a habitual way of thinking that is deaply rooted in our minds. A great way of overcoming fear is to visualize. Take a situation that you wish to acheive, but where there is fear in the way (ex: talking in front of other people, traveling on your own, changing jobs, expressing feelings, leaving a bad relationship, creating new habits etc). Imagine yourself in that situation. First feelings of fear are most likely to pop up. Just let them pop up, but don´t hold on to them. Then when things have calmed down, see yourself in the situation that you wish to acheive. Do this every day, and fear will diminish. The hard part is just doing this everyday, creating this new habit. It´s much easier to just go on in our old habits, like watching TV at night, or facebooking or blogging:-) instead! Or perhaps the fear that things can actually change! It´s much safer to just be where you are...

Buddhist Mindfullness- The Video!

Buddhist Mindfulness

I would like to share with you this brilliant speach on Buddhist mindfullness, held by a teacher from the FWBO, the Buddhist Sangha where I practice.

Mindfullness of the small, everyday things.
Mindfullness of the body.
Mindfullness of the positive, negative or neutral feelings of the body.
Mindfullness of the citta (heart/mind), or the stories that we tell our selves.
Mindfullness of the Dharma, or bringing the practice into action of what we can do in the now, to change the situation.

Click here: Video

The Story Of Starbucks And Samadhi

What connection could there possibly be between Starbucks and Samadhi?

At the chanting workshop I wrote about earlier, Sri Narasimhan told us that he was very fond of coffee. Actually, he admitted that he was addicted. Which was quite nice, since the goal of yoga is to become detached from everything that binds us!

Because of his love for coffee, he had a story about how to explain the different stages between dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation) and samadhi (enlightenment), using the analogy of finding a good cup of coffee.

Imagine that you are driving around looking for a coffee shop. Well, not just any coffee shop, but Starbucks, because they serve Indian coffee! The only thing you are concentrated on seeing is a Starbucks shop. This is like dharana. The you enter the coffee shop, and you look at the menue. They serve many things there, but you see only the coffee menue. Everything else on the menue is shut out. This is like dhyana. Finally, you get your coffe, you drink it with full attention, and you are fully in the experience of drinking the coffee. This is Samadhi! Yeah, I like that one!

A more common explanation I´ve heard is that of likening it with water. Water dripping is like dharana. Each drop is a point of concentration. You continuously put your attention back on the object of meditation. Then the dropping becomes a flow of water, this is like dhyana. Constant concentration on the object. Samadhi is like the ocean. There is water everywhere, and you are one with the water. You ARE the water, the water is you.

Both are nice analogies, but the Starbuck one is my favorite!

Yogi Materialist

Who said a yogi can´t be a materialist?

It´s funny, there are some things I really think twice about spending money on, and then with other things, my pockets have holes! My God, yoga can really be expensive (mark that I wrote can be, suggesting that it might not be, or wasn´t once upon a time).

So, what have I spent my money on now? According to the hottest ashtanga rumour;-) the cotton mats are on their way out. On it´s way in is the Skidless Mat from Yogitoes. Light, easy to wash and slippery free. Above all, light. I bought the brown one, loam(lera). All my other cotton mats are light in color, like the sky. Like my Vata element. I thought it was time for some more earthy tone, like my Kapha element. Hmm, maybe I can vary my mats according to which dosha needs to be balanced?? When my vata is hight- use the earthy one, when my kapha is high- use the airy one!

It was a bargain, only 705 SEK! I didn´t think twice. I am a true yogi.

Gururji- Thankyou

गुरु

A guru is a person who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom and authority in a certain area, and who uses these abilities to guide others. A guru is one characterized as someone who dispels spiritual ignorance with spiritual illumination, who brings light into darkness.

I have often wondered if I can consider Sri K. Pattbhi Jois as my guru. Doesn´t one need to have a personal relashionship with a teacher to call him or her your guru? After some consideration, I decide to call him guruji, not my guru, but guruji. Meaning he is the guru of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, the teacher of my teachers. And I am eternally greatful to him for dedicating his life to the practice of yoga, and teaching it to many people from all over the world. He has brought light into the life of thousands of people! That is just incredible.

I am greatful that I had the opportunity to be in his presence, even though I never spoke to him, or had any adjustment from him, he still radiated a certain kind of energy around him that touched me. He was 93 years old, and still had a back straight as a plank. Although he seemed to be slightly senile, he had a presence and a clarity in his eyes. He still seemed curious.

So, thankyou Guruji. You are like a bright, shining star in the dark sky, leading the way for anyone who is willing to see and follow the guidance. Even though your bodily presence is no longer in this world, your spirit will live on in the hearts of thousands of people. Vande gurunam will now take on another meaning for me. I bow to the lotus feet of the guru.