LOOK WHAT FRAWLEY SAYS ON VEDAS !

Vedas and ancient Egypt

Through the Vedas we can reclaim the spiritual heritage of the entire ancient world that can help take us beyond the current materialistic culture and the many problems it continues to bring us.

THE VEDAS represent a monumental spiritual literature, by far the largest, that remains from the ancient world. We could therefore call the Vedas, `the pyramids of the ancient mind.' The Vedas are the oldest record of the great dharmic traditions of the East, with not only the Hindu but also Buddhist, Jain, Sikh and Zoroastrian traditions part of the same greater stream of spiritual striving. Apart from the biblical tradition, this dharmic or Indic tradition is one of the two dominant streams of world spirituality that has endured throughout the centuries and remains vital to the present day, as the global popularity of Yoga, Vedanta and Buddhism clearly reveals.

If we look at the Vedic tradition, we see that it was based upon an ancient priestly order that was extensive and sophisticated, comparable to the priestly orders of ancient Egypt or Babylonia. This priestly order was concerned not merely with rituals but also with spirituality, yoga, philosophy, medicine, astronomy and architecture that form the basis of the various Upavedas and Vedangas.

This spiritual culture of ancient India can easily be compared with that of ancient Egypt, which was similarly guided by extensive priestly orders, their sophisticated rituals and an emphasis of mysticism and magic. As ancient Egypt was arguably the spiritual centre of the West in the ancient world, so India can be said to be the spiritual centre of the ancient East.

The Greek bias

One of the main mistakes that western scholars have made is to approach Vedic civilisation using ancient Greece as their starting off point. They look at the Vedas like the works of Homer, reflecting traditions like the Greeks who only came on the scene during the late ancient period (after 1500 BCE). They view the Vedic people like the ancient Greeks as mainly a warrior people, on the move, as part of various proposed Aryan invasions/migrations of the time. They place Vedic culture in the mould of the type of primitive tribal Indo-European culture much like what they propose was at the root of Greek civilisation. The Western date of 1500 BCE for the Vedas was made to parallel their 1500 BCE date for the early Greeks (though biblical constraints also entered into the picture).

However, Homer and the oldest Greek literature of the Iliad and the Odyssey at best resemble Hindu epics like the Mahabharata that came at the end of the Vedic period (but without the same depth of Vedantic thought or a dominant guru figure like Krishna). The Homeric model was of a less spiritual and more recent culture to which the materialistic western civilisation could comfortably trace itself. It did not reflect a mystic, rishi or yogi culture like that of the Vedas or that of ancient Egypt.

Along with this mistake, western scholars have tried to use language as the determinative factor for judging ancient cultures — as if groups that spoke languages belonging to the same language family must possess a similar or contemporaneous culture as well. However, we should note that language families have persisted through various historical ages and different types of cultures. For example, we cannot make medieval Russian and ancient Persian contemporaneous or similar in civilisation because of some linguistic affinities. On the other hand, cultures of the same time period have similar civilisations in spite of language differences. The ancient Romans, for example, had much in common culturally with the Carthaginians who had a similar life-style and lived in the same part of the world, in spite of speaking languages that did not belong to the same family.

Therefore, we must look at the Vedas according to the cultural affinities of ancient civilisations, not merely according to linguistic affinities. As a type of spiritual/priestly culture, Vedic civilisation resembles more that of earlier Egypt or Babylonia than that of Greece.

The Greeks, though speaking a language with affinities with Vedic Sanskrit, represented a later ancient culture already moving away from the spiritual and hieratic civilisations of the early ancient world.

A reevaluation

Western scholars invented the term `henotheism' to describe how any one of the many Vedic Gods could represent all the Gods (a situation that prevails among the Puranic Gods as well). We should note that they used the same term for the ancient Egyptian religion which had a similar view of multiplicity in unity among its many Gods. The Vedic and Egyptian Sun Gods follow the same model of henotheism, being both the One God in essence and many different Gods in function.

Many symbols are common to ancient Egypt and India including the worship of the Sun and Sun kings, the sacred bull, the hawk or falcon, and the seeking of immortality as the main goal of life. Indeed the Vedic ritual of the Yajur Veda reflects a similar spirit to the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Like the Vedic, the Egyptians not only had a love of magic and the occult, but with their symbols like the cobra at the crown of the head, suggest a knowledge of Yoga as well. Yet such connections have been ignored because they are cultural rather than linguistic in basis.

Egyptian culture endured from before 3000 BCE down to the early Christian era. Isis and Osiris were worshipped in Rome as well as in the Old Kingdom of Egypt. Similarly, Vedic deities need not be limited to the later eras in which they are still mentioned. Their worship could easily extend back to the 3000 BCE date that we commonly find in Puranic texts as marking the beginning of the Kali Yuga.

The archaeological record of India is of a monumental civilisation that persisted from 3000 BCE, if not earlier, not only into the late ancient era, like Egypt, but with a modified continuity up to the present day. In India today we find the same types of rituals and temple worship still being practised as once occurred in ancient Egypt and Babylonia. That this type of spiritual ancient civilisation has survived only in India suggests how deep seated and original it must have been in the country.

While ancient India did not leave monuments like the pyramids of Egypt, it did leave extensive urban remains and its great Vedic literature, its pyramids of the mind. Connecting the monumental spiritual literature of the Vedas, not only with the great urban civilisation of ancient India, but with a similar spiritual civilisational model as ancient Egypt, will provide us with a better approach to the Vedas that can help unravel their spiritual secrets. Through the Vedas we can reclaim the spiritual heritage of the entire ancient world that can help take us beyond the current materialistic culture and the many problems it continues to bring us.

TAPPING AT MARMAS TO CREATE ABUNDANCE

TAPPING AT MARMAS

Many secrets of yogic healing can be found through the study of Ayurveda, the traditional natural medicine of India. In fact classical Yoga relies upon Ayurveda for its language and methodology of healing both body and mind. Traditional Yoga therapy was included in a greater Ayurvedic context of the healing arts, including the use of diet, herbs and bodywork. A number of these factors of Ayurvedic healing are now becoming introduced into the Yoga community. Marma therapy is another important approach common to both Yoga and Ayurveda, which deserves a greater examination.

‘Marma’ is a Sanskrit term for sensitive or vulnerable points on the body. Injury to marmas quickly affects the health and vitality of a person and in the case of some marmas can even prove fatal. Another term used for marma points is ‘varma’ points. Varma refers to protective material or armor. Marmas are regions of the body that were protected in battle in order to safeguard the life of the warrior.

Marmas are commonly used in Indian martial arts (Dhanur Veda) much like sensitive body points in Chinese and Japanese martial arts. Certain marmas, touched in a specific manner, can confuse, incapacitate, paralyze, or even kill an opponent. Dhanur Veda trains a warrior how to recognize marma points as well as the different blows that can be used to affect marmas in various ways.

Yet besides their usage in martial arts, marmas have an important role in Ayurvedic medicine, which will be the main focus of our discussion here. Beside ‘lethal marmas’, which are of more interest to the martial arts, are ‘therapeutic marmas’, which are more important in Ayurveda. However, these two types of marmas do overlap and all marmas have some therapeutic value as well as some degree of physical vulnerability.

Marma Points and Acupuncture Points
There is a tendency to equate marmas with acupuncture points, which they do resemble. Marmas are points or areas on the body that can be manipulated with either acupressure (done commonly) or needles (only practiced by some Ayurvedic doctors in South India and Sri Lanka, where it is called ‘marmapuncture’).

Marmas vary in size from _ finger lengths or digits (the most common) to four finger lengths or about the width of the hand. While there can be a close degree of correlation between smaller marma points and acupuncture points, this is not always the case relative to the larger marmas. Acupuncture points are usually smaller in size and more specific in location.

Marmas in turn are not related to the meridian system of Chinese medicine but to the chakra, nadi and srota-systems (channel-systems) of Yoga. For example, chakra points like the top of the head (adhipati marma) or the third eye (sthapani marma) are also important marma points. Similarly, the end points of various nadis like the palms of the hands, the soles of the feet, the corners of the eyes, ears or nostrils are important marmas as well.

Ayurveda also treats marmas with massage, oils and aromas more commonly than with either acupuncture or acupressure. So while we can draw a comparison between marmas and acupuncture points and their treatment, we should not confuse the two either.

Nature of Marma Points
Marmas are of various compositions relative to the tissues that make them up, defined as bone, tendon, muscle, nerve or vein, including relative to channels that carry the doshas (biological humors) and channels that carry thought and emotion. Many marmas are a combination of several such factors. In this regard, all major joints like the elbow, knee, wrist and ankle contain significant marmas.

While many marmas are on the surface of the body, like points on the hands or feet, others are internal like the heart and the bladder, which are large marma regions. Blood vessel marmas, likes those in the neck, are another type of internal marma.

Many marmas are on peripheral regions of the body like the arms and legs. The head has the greatest concentration of marmas, with special marmas governing the eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth and brain. Yet marmas can also be found along the front and back of the trunk as well.

Yet besides anatomically defined marmas, which are the same in everyone, other marmas unique to an individual’s special anatomical structure also exist. These can result from injury, from postural distortions and other changes in our physical structure brought on by various factors from our life-style to the aging process.

There are 107 prime classical marmas according to the Sushruta Samhita, one of the oldest Ayurvedic texts, which also mentions marmas relative to the practice of surgery. However, besides these primary marmas are many other marmas, up to 360 according to some healers. To some extent, any sensitive point on the body of a person is a kind of marma or vulnerable location. The skin itself can be regarded as a greater marma zone in which all the other marmas are contained.

Marmas are also locations in which the doshas of vata, pitta and kapha can be held, along with their subtle essences of prana, tejas and ojas. As sensitive zones, marmas can hold various emotions like fear (vata), anger (pitta) or attachment (kapha), as well as the gunas or primary qualities of sattva (calm), rajas (aggression) and tamas (inertia). In this regard the concept of marmas goes beyond modern medicine and its purely physical definitions to the main principles of mind-body medicine.

Marma and Prana
Marmas are most closely connected with prana or our vital energy. They serve as ‘pranic control points’ on the body, where the energy of prana can be treated, controlled, directed or manipulated in various ways. This is perhaps the key to their importance.

Many strictly anatomical marmas are still important pranic zones, like points by the heart or the head, because our anatomy is created by and serves to hold prana. Prana and vata dosha (which is connected to prana), for example, reside and accumulate in the empty spaces in the body, particularly in the spine and the joints. So many marma points are located in these regions. Even in a particular marma area, the main pranic point in it may shift or move over time, which means that the prana at a marma is more important than the general structure of the marma itself.

In addition, just as there are special marma points unique to a person’s anatomical structure, there are also marma points that are unique to a person’s energy patterns, expression or psychology. There are non-physical marmas located in the sphere of prana around a person, in the aura, like certain points above or behind the head. Even the more obviously physical marmas are an expression of a deeper energy that is the most important factor, not simply their anatomical location. Besides the classical fixed marmas, we must also recognize such variable and changing marmas. We should view marmas and marma therapy more in terms of prana and energy than in simply physical location or physical manipulation.

Marmas are important diagnostic as well as therapeutic points. The pulse itself is one of the prime ‘vessel’ (shira) marmas in the body, where the patient’s energy can be read and understood. Ayurvedic practitioners routinely palpate various marma points for diagnostic purposes during patient visits. Marma points are important regions for gauging the doshas, their level of accumulation and their possible disorders, particularly relative to vata dosha, which governs pain and trauma. Any painful point on the body becomes a kind of marma as long as the pain exists.

Marma Therapy
Marma therapy is an important tool of both disease prevention and disease treatment in Ayurveda. It can be used to balance the doshas, to increase agni (the digestive fire), for detoxification (reduce ama), as well as to promote energy (vajikarana) and aid in rejuvenation (rasayana). It can be part of special clinical methods (like Pancha Karma) but also part of self-care and our daily health regimen. For example, massaging marma points on the head, like those around the eyes, ears, nostrils and mouth, is an important way to stimulate one’s mind and senses in the morning. Relative to diseases, marma therapy is particularly good for arthritis and other structural problems, as well as for treating any type of nerve pain or paralysis.

The treatment of marmas, though having many methods, is primarily a matter of therapeutic touch. Ayurveda employs massage and pressure (like acupressure) to marma points. It has various techniques for massaging marma points either by themselves or along with partial or full body massage (usually the best procedure) In its typical fashion, Ayurveda uses special medicated massage oils or tailas, generally herbs prepared in a sesame oil base, of which dozens of different formulas exist manufactured by various Ayurvedic pharmacies. Certain massage oils applied to specific marmas will result in special therapeutic effects to increase energy, reduce toxins, create flexibility or bring about the changes necessary for true healing to occur.

The use of aroma therapy is another important tool for treating marmas, either with massage oils or by themselves. Aromatic oils have a strong ability to influence Prana and alter our energy. Marmas can be massaged or anointed with different aromatic oils, as per the location and conditions. As marmas are sensitive points, they are regions that aromas can penetrate easily and influence the entire body through them.
Stimulating oils like camphor, eucalyptus or cinnamon are used for opening up energy at marma points, while cooling and sedating oils like sandalwood or khus serve to calm or consolidate the energy. Applying camphor, menthol or eucalyptus to the marmas at the side of the nostrils to remove congestion is such a stimulating marma therapy, while applying cooling and calming sandalwood oil to the third eye to treat headaches is such a sedating approach.
Marma Therapy, Yoga and Prana Therapy

While much of marma therapy consists of massage and direct touch, another significant portion consists of energy treatment or pranic healing, in which touch may be light or even indirect. In this regard, the prana of the healer is as important as the physical manipulation of the marmas. We can compare this to the martial arts in which a master with a strong chi or prana can stop or knock down an opponent with his own energy, using only a light touch or no touch at all. An Ayurvedic healer with a good prana can have a strong healing effect by his prana alone, even without using any significant touch or physical manipulation. This more subtle or sattvic form of touch is often best for treating the mind, emotions and deeper consciousness of the person.

A good marma therapist must therefore cultivate his or her own prana. This requires Yoga practices for the creation of additional prana (pranayama) and the ability to withdraw or focus prana on to a particular point (pratyahara), which may be a point in the body itself or even outside the body. A yogi with an awakened prana can easily become a good pranic healer and will intuitively find the appropriate marmas on the patient by the very power of his healing energy. Just as water flows to a lower level even in the absence of any other stimulus, so too the prana of the healer will naturally flow into the weak pranic or marma points of the patient.
Marmas enter prominently into yogic thought and yoga therapy. As marmas carry the energy that develops from the chakras and nadis of the subtle body, they can be used to energize the physical body from within. As we practice Yoga, particularly pranayama, we will naturally become aware of these pranic control points. Great yogis have always known the secrets of marma as part of the greater science of Yoga. Many yogis practice pranic concentration on specific marmas to aid in the opening of the chakras and nadis or to simply aid in relaxation and purification of the body. In this regard, marmas can become important points in the practice of Tantric Yoga and the arousing of the Kundalini.

Marma Therapy Resources
Marma therapy is usually included in the curriculum of Ayurvedic training programs, of which there are several in India &  United States and in the state of California. It is taught along with Ayurvedic massage and is often used along with Pancha Karma therapy, Ayurveda’s special detoxification approach. Many Ayurvedic centers offer marma therapy either by itself or as part of other therapies. A good resource in this regard is the National Ayurvedic Medical Association (NAMA).
Ask your Ayurvedic therapist about it and experience marma therapy for yourself. There is probably no person who cannot benefit from marma therapy in some manner or another. Often it is a transformative tool for both treating disease and improving energy.

Vedic Astrology is a sister science to Yoga.

Yoga sayings

Yoga Sayings, Quotes, Poems

Favorite Yoga Sayings, Quotes and Poems

I have selected what’s below because they express the heart, mind and soul of yoga and meditation.  You can and be a fan on my blog yogauae.

This article reflects the wisdom of yoga, yoga blessings and answers the age-old questions from the yogic point of view:  “Who am I”, What is my true nature,” What is my purpose.” How to handle suffering,”  and more.  Yoga Meditations also has over 60 meditations, relaxation and guided imagery exercises.

Dedication of Merit ~ May the merit of our practice encourage all beings to unveil the hidden brilliance.

Yoga’s wisdom on one’s true nature

• Love is the first seed of the Soul. Rig Veda x.29

• Our essential nature is boundless consciousness.  We are rooted in it when the mind focuses and settles.  ~ Yoga Sutras 1.3

• For the soul there is neither birth nor death. The soul that is will never cease to be. It is unborn, eternal, ever existing, undying and primeval. One’s essence does not die when the body dies. ~ Bhagavad Gita 2.20

• There is a spirit which is pure and which is beyond old age and death; and beyond hunger and thirst and sorrow.  This is Atman, one’s Spirit.  All desires of this Spirit are Truth.  It is this Spirit that we must find and know. ~ Chandogya Upanishad.

Living BuddhaAgain and again ~ Return like mountain ~ Release like ocean ~ Relax like sky ~ And rest ~ Rest in the heart of pure awareness.

Chakra Garden of Jewels ~ Julie Lusk with inspiration from Kabir

Don’t go outside your house to search for jewels.
Don’t even bother with that excursion, my friend.
There are jewels inside yourself.
Precious, profound and ready to be discovered.

These jewels are just like flowers.

Some are taking root.  They are in the process of being fertilized and getting ready to sprout.
Others are growing and budding , preparing to flower.
There are also beautiful blooms inside, brimming with fragrance and lively vitality.
Others are in stages of decline, getting ready to retreat, recycle themselves,
and naturally cycle back to the beginning.

Like a bouquet of flowers, there are jewels within you.

There is a sparkling ruby red jewel and it’s so stabilizing and protective.
There is an orange carnelian jewel too.  It lights up your senses, creativity and ability to feel.
There is a beautiful amber jewel, radiating confidence, inner strength and courage.
There is an emerald jewel too.  The glowing emerald green jewel is loving, forgiving and kind.
There is a bright sapphire blue jewel shining with truth and sparks your creativity.
There is an amethyst glowing inside that awakens your intuition and shows you the big picture.
There is a crystal clear diamond, shining with spirit, connecting the Holy Ones with you.

Don’t go outside your house to search for jewels.
Don’t bother with that excursion, my friend.
There are jewels inside yourself,
waiting to be discovered, polished and ready to beam beautifully.

In Light of Merton ~ Joe Z.

At the very center of our being is a great spaciousness that is untouched by sin and illusion.

A point of pure truth which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our mind or the brutalities of our will.

It’s like a pure diamond – blazing with the invisible light of heaven. It’s in everybody.

And if we could only see it and integrate it – we would radiate a peace that would make all the darkness and all the cruelty vanish forever.

Meta Meditation – Loving-kindness ~ Buddha

May I be well
May I be happy and content
May I be free from danger and suffering
May I be filled with loving-kindness

May you be well
May you be happy and content
May you be free from danger and suffering
May you be filled with loving-kindness

May all beings be well
May all beings be happy and content
May all beings be free from danger and suffering
May all beings be filled with loving-kindness

Gentle me, Holy One, into an unclenched moment, a deep breath, a letting go of heavy experiences, of shriveling anxieties,

of dead uncertainties. That softened by the silence, surrounded by the light, and open to the mystery, I may be found by

wholeness, upheld by the unfathomable, entranced by the simple, and filled with the joy that is You. ~ Ted Loder

Every blade of grass has its angel that bends over it and whispers, “Grow, Grow. ~ The Talmud

Be alert for any sign of beauty or grace.
Offer up every joy.
Be awake at all moments to the news that is always arriving out of the silence
~ Sogyal Rimpoche

Today like any other day, we wake up empty and frightened.
Don’t open the door to the study and begin reading.

Take down the dulcimer.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.

There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
- Rumi

Just give me this: A rinsing out, a cleansing free of all my smaller strivings so I can be the class act God intended. True to my

purpose, all my energy aligned behind my deepest intention. And just this: A quieting down, a clearing away of internal ruckus, so I

can hear the huge stillness in my heart and feel how I pulse with all creation, part and parcel of Your great singing ocean. And this

too: A willingness to notice and forgive the myriad times I fall short, forgetting who I really am, what I really belong to. So I can start

over, fresh and clean like sweet sheets billowing in the summer sun, my heart pierced with gratitude. ~ Belleruth Naparstek

Being on the Yoga Path

• You alone can walk the inner path.  Upanishads

• Many paths are possible; whichever path is sincerely traveled leads to inner peace. ~ Bhagavad Gita 4.11

• Whichever path you follow will lead to Me in the end. Your love will be returned with My love. ~ Bhagavad Gita 4.1

• It is better to follow your own life purpose poorly, than to do another’s perfectly. You are safe from harm when you follow your own unique path. ~ Bhagavad Gita 3.35

• Do not give up your own natural life path, even though it is flawed; all actions contain flaws, as fire is surrounded by smoke. ~ Bhagavad Gita 18.48

• No effort is wasted and no gain is ever lost when on this path; even a little practice will shelter you from sorrow and protect you from the greatest fear. ~ Bhagavad Gita 2.40

There was a saint who asked a snake not to bite but to love everyone.
The snake agreed. But then many people threw things at the snake.
The saint found the snake all battered.
“I didn’t say not to hiss,” said the saint.

Ramakrishna

If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain.
If I can ease one life the aching, or cool one pain, or help one
fainting robin unto his nest again I shall not live in vain.
~ Emily Dickinson

I love to watch how birds
Soar on the wind.
There appears to be such
Little effort, yet such joy.
I want to become like a bird
and let my spirit soar
On the winds that are blowing
Through my life.

I will not be crushed against the rocks!
I will sense the rhythm,
The flow, and react accordingly.
I will trust my inner guide.

~ J. Garrett Garrison & S. Sheperd

I pray to the birds.

I pray to the birds because I believe they will carry the
messages of my heart upward.

I pray to them because I believe in their existence,
the way their songs begin and end each day
– the invocations and benedictions of earth.

I pray to the birds because
they remind me of what I love
rather than what I fear.
And at the end of my prayers,
they teach me how to listen.

~ Terry Tempest Williams

GEMS OF YOGA BRINGS YOU YOGA POEMS

Sun Salute

Stand firm on the axis
of your two arches.
Head down,
breathe deep of the damp earth
where roots have spread under old leaves.
Raise your arms slowly,
face turning like a daffodil
still wet from night's dew
until sun's beams
warm your coat of many colors,
and eyes open, astonished
at the golden glow
pulsing to arms
which lift weightless,
drawn by heart's gravity
to salute the sun.

---

Mountain Pose, Tadasana

Standing, I sing
my song of flowers, new green leaves,
crimson fruits.
Rooted in earth,
I spread my gift of shade,
while breezes play
in my leaves,
and my many fruits
ease the weary traveler.
From the cold wind,
my branches offer shelter

Standing, I fly,
knowing my birds will home
to nests they build
twig upon twig,
lined with thistle down
and my soft, fragrant petals.

Standing, I am here-
root, blossom, seed.
I spring and fall
in my many seasons.

Back to top

---

Arrow, Utkatasana

My hands hold the wind,
tender,
as green shoots pierce the snow
in early spring.

I arrow
towards the sky,
my bow taut with desire
to see my colors spill
in crimson, orange,
ripest, reddest pink.

Feet wet with dew,
I stand,
yet warm
with hope and dreams.

Back to top

---

Savasana

Between in and out
is a place I want to go.
So I listen and breathe,
feel the air ripple and shimmer
till I pause,
and a space opens,
and I open too,
like a flower,
knowing where it roots,
how its branches spread,
why its petals smell like lavender.
Then I flow past,
rippling again,
with only scent of lavender
to hold me true.

Back to top

---

Om

Waves flow through me
bringing flowers into bloom
in sunlight and gentle rain,
warming the damp earth,
filling the pockets of darkness
until they turn inside out
and seeds fall,
germinate, send shoots to the stars
which burst in showers of gold,
set the night sky aglow,
then drift into butterflies
waltzing with petals,
billowing in summer breezes,
rest in ferns by the wandering stream,
murmuring among stones
ancient sounds
that have always been,
always will be.

Back to top

---

Silver Streams

Listening,
I sing in silver streams,
my voice
familiar
yet strange.

I hear words sing with power
beyond my ordinary speech,
mine,
yet more intense,
as colors saturate
and tones
chord sounds
more sure, more certain
than any on my instrument,
and breath expands beyond
the jar of day to day.

I call it friend,
or self,
as I stand strong upon the earth,
toes spread wide,
heels, feather-tucked,
light and ready to fly.
Balanced between earth and sky,
we salute each other
knowingly.

Back to top

---

Four Positions

Snake Pose

1. The arch is as strong
as it needs to be
to hold together stones
that must fit,
slide smoothly to join
or push against each other
grinding,
even screaming,
as they pull into position,
wedged where they must go,
taut and still.

Above the arch
the stars surround me
in a midnight sea,
which in an instant
inverts, like an empty pocket,
and suddenly
an immense sky pulls back,
shutters my pulsing light
till it focuses again
in the vast darkness,
a pinpoint of light
throbbing
still.

2. Child's Pose

Cramped,
bent around an old idea,
soft with habit
familiar comfort,
till feet tingle
to remind you
to lift your cheek from the pillow,
open your eyes to the light,
untwist your bones
for a newer journey,
bend your horizon
to curve above and beyond.

3. Crockodile Twist

Choosing sides--
right of left?
Legs move into position,
one ahead of the other,
as the top leg leans over

Is the right one free and above,
the left one caught below?
Or should it be
the other way around?

The arms don't care,
resting lightly,
bent at elbows and tucked in,
but the legs fold
according to some
motionless stride
only they can see.
One captive of the other,
chosen,
by the way of
facing forward.

4. Warrior Pose

Stretch,
pull yourself taut
like a bow-
so muscles, ligaments, bones align,
according to some purpose.

Or is it better to lump
your flesh round, soft,
fold it into your sorrow
like bread dough.

No, stretch you must
if only to feel alive down at the
cell level,
and leave your cell door
at least partly
ajar.

Gems Of Yoga brings you the Luminaries Of Yoga

Gems Of Yoga brings you a well guarded secret alive with Tripura Sundari

The Great Cosmic Power TRIPURA SUNDARI represents the manifestation of Divine goodness, grace, love, beauty, truth and harmony.
TRIPURA SUNDARI is the Supreme and Primordial Wish, the perfect and endless Divine Love that animates the entire creation, the overflowing of the absolute, fundamental Happiness, The Power of Absolute Splendor.
TRIPURA SUNDARI is the Supreme Manifestation of the Almighty power of LOVE. As an absolute law of the entire Creation, Love is a manifestation of GOD. Any harmonious and loving couple relationship is inspired and sustained by this Great Cosmic Power. For those who want to bring Love and harmony into their relationship the invocation and adoration of TRIPURA SUDARI is an essential help.