Category Archives: grateful

HEALING THE HEART, HEALING THE MIND

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Healing the Heart
is
Healing the Mind

NOW GOING ONLINE!

The heart is alive. In fact, it brings life to us with each pulsation, sending rivers of prāna flowing through our plasma, blood, muscle, fat, skeleton, marrow and finally, our vital reproductive juices. There it transforms into our very essence itself or leaves us to form a new life with another beautiful heartbeat singing its song!

This heart that is the fiery sun of our own universe, is ever producing our minds through its sensory rays and clear light! Mind as it spreads its venous tentacles to every sense organ so that we can fully experience the world around us. Mind that extends instinctively down into our bellies, so we vicariously feel each perceptive truth as a somatic experience. And mind, like a tree, sends its rising branches upwards to form our brain. Where we think, imagine, reason and occasionally perceive the highest truths.

And yet, we imprison this heart behind gates of arrogance, lust, hatred, greed, jealousy and pride. And we subject it cruelly to fears, unjustly to angers and unmercifully to grieving.

Our hearts are the key to our lives. Heal our heart and we heal our mind. In healing the mind we finally discard the undigested toxins of fear, anger and grief. And spontaneously and oh so creatively, the heart sings its joy and its simple innocent declaration- know me and know peace.

Upcoming Healing the Heart Online Workshop:

June 27. Now open for Registration. Space Limited.  Click here to Register.

July 11: Scheduled. Email adretreats@gmail.com for advance Registration!

 

 

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:
In the Vedic tradition, the heart is the seat of emotions, of prāna and of our intrinsic immunity. It is also the origin of the mind and it is from the heart that the mind as emotions moves towards the brain for intellectual understanding and the gut for instinctive behavior. If we free our emotional seat from the siege of its enemies: fear, anger and grief then the rightful emotions of playfulness, innocence and joy rule supreme once again. It is a journey of remembrance. One we should all take together. Yoga and Āyurveda show us the way to do so.
WORKSHOP CURRICULA:
The Heart as Seat of Mind
The Qualities of the Heart: Creativity, Innocence and Joy
The Enemies of the Heart: Fear, Anger and Grief
The Allies of the Heart: Resolve, Patience and Faith
PLUS
Practicum: Emotional Intelligence Yoga Practice: Healing The Heart/Healing The Mind (separate practice video)
Understanding Heart Disease Through Āyurveda: Treating Through Yoga (Bonus separate video)

 A heart to heart prayer:

May we together be each others protection.
May we together nourish each other.
May we together become each others strength.
May we together become wise.
May we always be friends.
May we support each other in finding peace.

May your breath always be at peace!

QUIETNESS

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Dear friend,

It has been a while since I have written. There is so much being written and shared out there anyway, so the ability to just listen for a while got to me.

Also, there was not much to share in terms of events in the life of Yogarasayana, my alter ego. Or rather, my teacher and practitioner persona.

It is not that there has not been a lot going on. We finished the Yogarasayana India 2016: Forest Sage Retreat auspiciously. A lovely group of students and friends sharing some yoga sutra of Patanjali, some jungle time, some Ganges time and some all around good times.

On coming back, I headed to Phoenix to spend time with the students of the lovely Mary Bruce and Lorilee Gilmore, my hosts. The topic was Psychology of a Sage. So you can see where my head is these days…On coming back, I headed to Phoenix to spend time with the students of the lovely Mary Bruce and Lorilee Gilmore, my hosts. The topic was Psychology of a Sage. So you can see where my head is these days…
Read the related article Psychology of a Sage: Activating Higher Functional States here.

And of course the LA Ayurveda and Yoga Therapy Clinic has been in session and has kept me busier than ever.

Then of course there has been all the other stuff that we all shared. The uncertain becoming even more uncertain, definitely a disturbed vata trend. And I believe to some extent, we are all a little shell shocked and a little worn out by events not just here in the USA, but all around the world.

Storm Clouds

Perhaps some quiet is called for. Some time to turtle up, huddle into a shell and examine who we are in there. I feel fortunate that in these difficult times, I have these ancient yogic teachings that I can fall back on. Those that talk about who I am when I move past who I am sure I am: because I know I am flesh and blood, lifeforce, a mind, some intelligence and even some happiness when I allow it. When I say to myself, yes indeed this is me. But it is not lasting. This is the mortal me. It changes just like my world changes. And it is best not to get too attached to this me nor to the world it lives in.

Best to go looking for the me that is not mortal. The one that does not suffer. The one that is also you. It is there we fall in love with each other and everything else mortal. In fact, that is the simplest description I can give of Tantra, of Buddhism, and of the Upanishadic Vedanta. And it is from that place that I continue to grow this love that trumps all the hate I may exude, share, witness when I do not allow myself to be. Just. Quiet.

Arun File - 03

Even in this conversation we are having. To encourage you to join me in this quiet. Where we are a shared Being. Not separate except in our mortal lives. And that is as it should be. Where we can enjoy each other, admire each other, help each other and give each other space when we get under each others skins.

But this is getting long in the tooth. So I will stop here.

I have a quieter year planned for 2017. We shall see how that plays out. Perhaps I will still come to your hometown. However, I do encourage you to join me in any of the below and meet each other too.

There are three teaching Retreats planned:

April: Yoga Practices for Emotional Intelligence: CLICK HERE
Sivananda Yoga Farm, Grass Valley, CA. April 7-9, 2017


photo

This time around, it is less theory and almost all practicum. So, you actually get a taste for why I keep teaching this stuff. This Emotional Intelligence Stuff. The stuff that when functioning clearly, innocently, joyously leads to clear, innocent, joyous thinking and thus actions. Those that support us instead of bushwhacking us. Every. Single. Time.
REGISTER HERE FOR GRASS VALLEY RETREAT

June/July: The Art and Practice of Vinyasa Krama Yoga with Ayurveda: Zen Rocks, Mani, Greece. REGISTRATION COMING SOON! INFO: ADRETREATS@GMAIL.COM

Ever since I started studying with Ramaswami Sir, back in 2004/5, I knew I would need to teach this miraculous way of practicing. But I also knew I had to wait till it came in my voice. Obviously Ayurveda infused. Here we go. Serious Practitioners and all Yoga Teachers. This is for you.

Sept/October: Yogarasayana India Retreat 2017! Into the Stories.

This Retreat is in the Planning Stage but this is how it is shaping up:
Two sections:
A Southern India portion that includes Somatheeram Ayurveda Beach Resort, Kerala, for a week of pampering and Ayurvedic treatments and then a week of travel around some of my favorite places down south. Such as Mahabalipuram, Pondicherry, Arunachala.
A Northern India portion that starts with the birthplace of Lord Krishna; continues to the Taj Mahal and then wanders into Rajasthan, and into some legendary temple, wildlife and archeological sites. Along the way we will talk about the teachings of Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, the meaning of Tantra which in itself can be quite evasive to pin down and stories from India’s mythological past.
A total of two weeks in Southern India. And one week in the North. Do just two weeks or do it all.

If you are interested in this Retreat, please write to adretreats@gmail.com and you will be put on an Early Announcement Letter with a Special Price Offer.

Meanwhile, I bask in your friendship,

Arun Deva

The State of Things and a California Summer

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Dear friend,

This has been a very powerful year already. The transformations have extended around the globe, here at home and in my own life, with great vibrancy. There have been some grassroots growths in consciousness that are astoundingly poignant, especially in the way we relate to food. Love what Michael Pollan, Marion Nestle, Dan Barber have going on!

Many questions have arisen in the yoga world too and I was very honored to be in the new yoga documentary: Yoga Maya  addressing some of these teutonic shifts arising in the synthesis of the western world and yoga, sort of an evolutionary process, I believe.

While not all in our world has shifted for the better, much of this grassroots upheaval in consciousness cannot help but have a long term effect on our planet’s consciousness and its necessary healing. When I say grassroots, I believe I refer to us as we speak our soft voices, calling forth witness for a return to nature. Only she can help us heal the damage we have done to our world and to each other as we drifted from her simple dharma`s.
I am joyful in adding my voice to this movement and very humbled to teach on some of the cutting edges of it: the yoga and Ayurveda field.

It is my privilege to chair the sub-committee of NAMA’s Standards Committee in creating standards for future Ayurvedic Yoga Therapists. This is very dear to my heart and it is the heart of what I teach…

And thus: After a very long time I get to spend almost the entire summer home in Los Angeles fulfilling…

…my dream of teaching an Immersion for Yoga Teachers on integrating Yoga, Ayurveda and Tantra practices for Therapeutic Purposes, now in full swing.

Aptly named “Weaving The Yogic Basket”, a lovely group of dedicated students meet every other weekend for 3 months in San Juan Capistrano. Two weekends are already done!

This Course will  repeat next year, most likely in the Encinitas area, so if you are interested in knowing more…

Although I do not have anything scheduled in my hometown of Los Angeles, the peripherals are mostly well within reach.

Coming up next:

A Weekend of Yoga and Ayurveda in Temecula
July 19th & 20th, 2014

August:

In August, Las Vegas calls. My dear friends Val and Brian are opening up a new yoga studio: TRU YOGA, and I will be traveling there to help open it up! Stay posted for details but it will be a lovely weekend of yoga and Ayurvedic teachings as a grand opening extravaganza!
Put Vegas in your books for the weekend of August 16/17!
Details to follow shortly.

End August I will be part of Labor Day – 2nd Annual Vedic Knowledge Integration Forum at the Sivananda Yoga Farm in Grass Valley. This is definitely one of my most treasured stops on the teaching journey and I very much look forward to sharing with such powerful luminaries as Acharya David Frawley and Yogini Shambhavi

Sept/Oct is India!


Including a weekend Immersion in New Delhi for Om Yoga Studios. It is a lovely studio owned by my dear friend Mini Shastri. She has some very bright students and I look forward to sharing with them again. If you are in India or close by, please come join us.

France!

End of October finds me in new territory but from what I hear, the south of France is going to be another dream come true…

There will be an Ayurveda Immersion for yogi`s at Yoga Evolution in Aix de Provence.

Ah Greece…

…my third visit to Mani to lead a week long Retreat and Immersion. If Greece has been calling you and you would like to spend a week with me immersing in her beauty while studying yoga and Ayurveda, come now?

 

 

Winter plans are still a-brewing but they include Salt Lake City and in the local stomping grounds, LMU for the YTRx Program.  A privilege to continue to be teaching the Ayurveda segment here.

Praying you have a lovely rest of the year wherever your journey takes you.

May we be students together
May we be nourished together
May we grow strong in each other company
May we light the flame of knowledge together
May we always be friends, Arun

In love, light and friendship…

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On Thanksgiving 2013, my prayer is to all friends known and unknown, having met you in physical life or in cyberspace…thank you for your friendship!

Dear friend,

Some years ago I heard for the first time the phrase: “Love & light”
Actually, I saw it in something Dr. Lad (one of our greatest teachers) wrote.
It was such a gift.
What a joyous, uninhibited and completely selfless concept!
I decided there and then to make it my meditation.
Over the years I have learned to be less inhibited about passing it on.
More joyous every time I write it down for someone.
More grateful because gratefulness is not so much selflessness but rather, an expanding of the self to include others!
At this, as at all other times, I am eternally grateful for you, in whatever momentous, brief or passing moment I have had the pleasure of sharing with you. You expand me 🙂
In love & light,
Arun
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