Yoga and the Art of Finding True Freedom

One World Trade Center, a.k.a. Freedom Tower, glistens on a top-10 Day in NYC on July 30, 2023.

The Freedom Tower, while staying within the boundaries of its foundations, still appears to stretch towards infinity. Similarly, yoga in its highest form can help us to know our infinite possibilities even as we stay rooted to the earth.

Ever felt constricted by the circumstances of your life? Ever felt like running away from your life as it is to something you imagine to be better? Have you ever thought “if only this (or that) weren’t happening right now, then I would feel free”? If you answered “yes” to any of these (and I have a feeling you did!), then perhaps yoga can help you find a truer and lasting sense of freedom.

Gavin Harrison, in his book In the Lap of the Buddha, writes:

“In spiritual freedom, we do not become free from events, but we become free within events. Circumstances lose their power to lacerate our minds”.

In a sense, when we practice yoga poses, what we’re trying to do is to find greater freedom within each pose. In class, we don’t skip poses because we don’t like them (unless they will cause physical harm, and if so, we find modifications). Rather we enter into each pose, find our limits, and then extend those limits further by using our breath and our focus. In every yoga pose we practice finding greater freedom within those confines, rather than escaping those confines altogether. Thus, yoga can be a pathway towards finding true freedom. We do so by going deeper within our feelings – physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual – rather than trying to escape our feelings. In each pose, we can experience a feeling of true freedom budding.

Taking our yoga practice off our mat, we can also try to find greater freedom within our life circumstances. Granted, I am not saying one should stay in an abusive relationship or dangerous situation – those are definitely times to look for the escape hatch. Rather life constricts us all in some way or another. Even rich people who seem to have it all can be constricted by their feelings of dissatisfaction and always wanting more. Whatever the circumstance we are faced with – whether it be financial, relationship issues, the effects of climate change, health issues, you name it – we all are capable of pausing, breathing, focusing and experiencing. If we can do this, we can move towards a truer and more lasting kind of freedom.

You’ve heard it said: our democratic system of government is messy and chaotic. And yet, you’ve probably also heard it said: it’s still better than the alternatives. Barack Obama said:

Before we get too depressed about the state of our politics, let's remember our history ..... Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. What is amazing, is that despite all the conflict, our experiment in democracy has worked better than any form of government on earth.

Yes, it always seems to feel like we’re taking one step forward, then two steps backwards, then three steps forward, and on and on. But Barack Obama also said:

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. The future rewards those who press on.

Whether it is fighting to protect the earth and climate, reproductive rights, the dignity of migrants, or the myriad of challenges and differences confronting our country, we can all pause, breathe, focus and experience. If we do, the right action we need to take will bubble up to our awareness and lead us forward. There is always freedom to be found in the direst of circumstances.

For me, true freedom means knowing I will never have it all, and I am always free to give things my best shot.

I hope your ongoing yoga and meditation practices can lead you towards finding true freedom.

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you pause, breathe, focus, and experience, …
May you find freedom with circumstances, … for the benefit ALL Beings everywhere.

Aloha and Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun

The Hawaiian Islands of Hawai'i and Maui on July 14, 2023. Nature continues to stretch towards its infinite possibilities as these islands are being born and put to rest across eons.

Yoga and the Art of Remaining Balanced

Life can be a difficult balancing act. But try we must, whether we succeed or fail. (Broadway in midtown Manhattan.)

Last month, I wrote about how each of us has a sacred duty that we are called upon to fulfill in this lifetime here on Earth. The difficult thing is not only figuring out what that is – though if you sit still long enough and listen to your heart, you will – but also executing it. For sure, we will be thrown off-balance at times as we try.

Over the years I’ve been teaching yoga, there are perennial yoga teachings that I return to over and over again because I think they are important to keep top-of-mind. One is this lesson from the Bhagavad Gita:

You have control over actions alone, never over its fruits.  Live not for the fruits of action, nor attach yourself to inaction.  Established in Yoga, O Arjuna, perform actions having abandoned attachment and having become balanced in success and failure, for balance of mind is called Yoga.
— Krishna speaking Arjuna in the Bhagavad-Gita (Chapter 2)

Though the Bhagavad Gita is describing Karma Yoga, or the “yoga of action,” I like to remind students who do yoga asana practice that the goal is not to be able to touch your toes or stand on your head. More importantly, the goal is to cultivate equanimity in our mind as we attempt to touch our toes or stand on our heads or run the marathon or whatever. And whether we’re practicing yoga on the mat or out in the real world, the way we cultivate this equanimity is by simply giving it our best shot while not being attached to the results. Buddhist Teachings say:

Equanimity is letting go of the fruits of our actions.

This teaching is really resonating with me right now. New York City is fully open again after 3 years of pandemic restrictions and concerns. It feels absolutely wonderful! Lately, I’ve been working on re-building the nonprofit I founded, Keoni Movement Arts, back to where we were when the pandemic brought us to a halt in March 2020. Building anything from the ground up is filled with many uncertainties, but I keep reminding myself to just take things one step at a time, follow my instincts and give it my best shot, and try to stay calm as the results come in. This kind of thinking has really helped.

I know that you are thinking about your next goals and next steps. I know that you may be feeling off-balanced a bit as you pursue them. Please know that you are not alone, that you are experiencing what everyone else here on Earth has experienced at one time or another. And I hope that yoga can help you to let go of the results as you take your best actions. Always remember: though you may have had some particular destiny in mind, the actual arrivals may end up being more exciting and fulfilling than you could have ever imagined.

A long while back a friend told me of something he had heard some famous movie director (perhaps George Lucas) say. It was something like: films are not completed, they’re simply at some point abandoned. Similarly, it is not our job to complete our duty, but rather simply know when it’s time to let go of whatever results we’ve achieved and then move on. I’m going to take that advice by ending here and simply saying that I wish you best of luck in practicing yoga in action and I wish you exciting moments ahead!

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May yoga help you to give it your best shot, …
May you not be attached to the results, …
May you remain balanced, … for the benefit ALL Beings everywhere.

Aloha and Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun

Staying balanced while practicing virasana (hero pose) can be a challenge for everyone, but without life's curveballs, we cannot grow.

Yoga and the Necessity of Shining Your Sacred Jewel

The sun's reflection glimmers like a jewel on the Hudson River on Memorial Day.

Earlier this month I happened upon a podcast with one of my favorite yoga authors, Stephen Cope. Many years ago, I had read his book, Yoga and the Quest for the True Self, and was so captivated by his simple to understand ways of explaining yoga philosophy, that I highlighted passages from practically every page of his book and have shared various quotes from it with students in my yoga classes over the years.

In this Unity In Yoga podcast, SEASON 8 | Episode 1: Seeking Inspiration for Living/Practical Wisdom, Stephen mentioned a yoga story that I had heard about many years ago that captivated me, the story of Indra’s Net. Stephen explains Indra’s Net this way:

… Indra was one of the greatest gods of the Ayurvedic pantheon, which goes all the way back to 2,000 BCE and before. And Indra, like most of these gods, lived on top of Mount Meru. It was said that Indra, who was the fiercest and most powerful of all the gods of the vedic dispensation, Indra had cast a vast net over the entire universe. And at the vertex of each warp and woof strand was a gem. And it was said that that gem was an individual soul. And it was that soul’s job to hold together that part of the web. If they did their dharma, they were holding together—again, dhr, hold together—that part of the web. If they didn’t, the whole thing begins to unravel from their spot.

Why is this important to us as yoga practitioners? Stephen explains that from the karma yoga perspective taught in the Bhagavad Gita, we all have a “dharma” or “sacred duty” that we were given to fulfill on this earth in this lifetime. He says:

… we’re back to this really very interesting connection between individual fulfillment and the common good. So if you’re doing your dharma [sacred duty], it holds together the whole thing. This word dharma, it does tend to have many meanings, but they all converge around dhr, to hold together: the law, the truth, the path. There’s a certain quality of that “holding us together.”

Each of our lives are so precious, because we are all a jewel in Indra’s Net. And of us have been born with some special calling that is unique to us. It is up to us to listen quietly and hear “the voice of God” within so that we might know what our calling is. Once we know, then we have to have the courage to act on it.

In my lifetime, I’ve felt the calling to act upon something more than a few times. Earlier in my 20s and 30s, I just had to dance. In my 30s and 40s, I just had to act. And in my 50s and now my 60s, I just had to create Keoni Movement Arts, teaching yoga, dance and gymnastics – 3 things I threw myself into and loved doing – to others, particularly to those with the least access or means. I turned 64 this past month, and when I look back, I remember experiencing doubt and uncertainty amid the passion and the thrills. But now, my life seems to all make sense. All along, I have just been guided by that inner voice that says “you have to do this.”

I don’t know what your dharma (sacred duty) is, but I do know that if you practice any kind of contemplative art – whether it be yoga, meditation, praying, dancing, singing, hiking, hearing the laughter of children, and so on – you will hear “the voice of God” speaking to you and guiding you through what you must do.

And speaking of “must do,” here the dharma is guiding each of us to doing our part in “holding up the net” at our vortex on it. And “holding up the net” means taking actions that will benefit – not hurt – ALL beings, in addition to our own selves. Practicing our dharma is not a selfish act, but rather the most selfless act we can do.

Here is what we receive when we do our “sacred duty”:

The work we have to do can be seen as coming alive. More than some moral imperative, it’s an awakening to our true nature, a releasing of our gifts.
Joanna Macy (b. 1929)
American Writer  

I hope that your ongoing yoga and meditation practices can lead you to knowing your dharma, give you the courage to act on it, and awaken you further to your true nature.

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May yoga help you to know your “sacred duty,” …
May hold us all together at your part of the Net, … for the benefit ALL Beings everywhere.

Aloha and Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun

The Earth's great jewel in the sky on Memorial Day.

Yoga and the Art of a Spring A-“Woke”-ning

A rose by any other name is A-“rose” … A rose by another name could be A-“rose”-ning  … or even A-“Woke”-ning?

This past month, Christians celebrated Easter, which commemorates when Christ “rose” from the dead, bringing eternal life to his followers. Christians wear red on Good Friday in honor of the blood that Jesus shed on the cross for our salvation. Jesus suffered much during his life in hopes that his followers would know freedom from death and deliverance to an eternal life. In a way, from a yoga perspective, he “woke” from the dead to inspire mankind to wake up to our highest realizations and possibilities.

We practice yoga so that we can awaken to our True Nature and ultimately see the interconnectedness of all beings. Seems like a worthy endeavor to me. And ultimately a harmless one. But the path toward that higher realization can be fraught with fear and turning away as we are confronted with seeing the not-so-good parts of ourselves. Yet by sitting and viewing those parts with the least amount of judgement and self-loathing as possible, we can traverse to the other side, to that state of yoga or union.

The term “staying woke” derived from the African-American Vernacular English. Sadly, to me, “woke” has become, IMHO, misused, mis-characterized, and demonized in the current political discourse.

Recently, I listened to the African-American writer Thomas Chatterton Williams interviewed by Margaret Hoover on Firing Line. When asked what “woke” meant to him, he described it this way:

Be conscious, be aware … don’t be asleep when there’s inequality in society … don’t sleepwalk through life and do your part to contribute to a status quo that is less than it could be … do your part ….

The Hollywood actor and Stanford graduate, Sterling K. Brown, referred to “woke” in the commencement speech he gave to the Stanford Class of 2018. Stanford Magazine recounted his speech. Here are some highlights of the article that caught my attention:

Calling upon his freshman-year focus on philosophy, Brown chose quotes from his “big three,” Socrates, Plato and Lao Tzu, to share with the graduates.

Brown chose the Socrates quote, “An unexamined life is not worth living,” to prompt graduates to, in Brown’s words, “stay woke.”

From Plato, Brown chose this quote: “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” He told the graduates that it is their birthright and responsibility to shine.

From the author of the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu, Brown offered this quote as it related to his journey as a Stanford student: “When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”

“When I feel fear, as uncomfortable as it may be, I know I’m in the right place. Whether you’re 22, or 42, never allow fear to keep you from expanding your definition of self.” 
—Sterling K. Brown

Personally, I think it’s sad that people have become afraid of the possibility of becoming more enlightened, more “woke”. Yet, the compassionate side of me can understand. Becoming more “woke” can be a scary thing, and it's far easier to put the parts of life we don’t want to see into a closet in our mind and try to keep them there.

In his early life, the Buddha was shielded from seeing the ugly parts of life by being kept in the palace and only being exposed to the beautiful, pleasurable and happy parts of life. But when he finally left the palace and saw the suffering that existed out in the “real” world, it led him to seek a path toward the end of suffering. He finally arrived under the bodhi tree and sat in meditation for 49 days with the intention of finding supreme enlightenment. By the time he arrived to the bodhi tree, he had already witnessed many ugly parts to life, and while sitting under the tree, his mind was assaulted with desire and temptation. Yet, he persisted in “staying” with the feelings and ultimately “woke” up to his True Nature, to a state of Nirvana.

So, the Buddha’s journey and ultimate achievements can give us the courage to “see” life as it is, which might be far different than we want it to be. But ultimately, we practice yoga not only to stretch our bodies but also to stretch our awareness to what it could be if we’re willing to open up and witness all of life, exactly as it is. We practice with the aspiration to lessen the duality of the haves and the have-nots, and to see more of the non-duality that exists beyond that when we “stay woke” to the common threads that connect all of us.

The African American writer, Richard Wright, said:

Men can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as they can from a lack of bread.

If we close ourselves off from knowing about the injustices that go on in the world and only seek personal material gain, we might find that while our bodies won’t starve, our soul may.

Thich Nhat Hanh said:

Awareness is like the sun. When it shines on things, they are transformed.

I hope that you can stay with your yoga and meditation practices long enough build the muscle of an ever-deepening awareness. And I hope that muscle is so strong that it helps you not shy away from witnessing some of the deep injustices coursing through our living planet. I hope the light of awareness shines upon you long enough that you are truly transformed, and that it spreads out to those nearest and dearest to you until, because of your courage, the whole world is transformed.

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May yoga help you to be just a bit more “woke,” …
May your incremental steps towards being “woke” somehow affect someone near to you and spread out from there to ALL Beings everywhere. 

Aloha and Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun

Spring A-"Woke"-ning

Yoga and the Art of Returning to Your True Nature, Which is Something Beautiful

Sanibel Island, March 25, 2023. Nature always knows what it needs to do to survive.

Last week, my husband and I returned to Sanibel Island, which as I wrote about in my September 2022 blog, was devastated by Hurricane Ian. We arrived to the island before sunrise, and had no idea what we would see. As the sun rose, we were saddened to see numerous trees fallen and many businesses still not up and running. Yet, we were also heartened to see some homes and businesses being restored and green shoots of new life appearing on the soil and trees. As we walked along the beach, which had very little human traffic at that early morning hour, I had a sense that even after a major upheaval and if left alone by human encroachment long enough, nature has a way of restoring itself to its former glory. Similarly, if we can get out of own ways for long enough, we can return to our True Nature, which is something beautiful.

Yoga and meditation practices and philosophy can help us. Here is one of the Buddha’s core teachings that I have been reflecting on recently:

With gentleness overcome anger.
With generosity overcome meanness.
With truth overcome deceit.
- The Buddha

This teaching reminds me to be gentle with myself when I make mistakes. It reminds me to be generously kind to myself by seeing that the “me” that I am is actually a good person with good intentions, even when my actions are perceived to be mistakes by others. And it reminds me to try to remain as clear-headed as possible through yoga, meditation and healthy habits so that I can see the truth in sticky life situations as clearly as possible.

I really like this quote by Pema Chödrön:

Respecting Ourselves
The whole process of meditation is one of creating that good ground, that cradle of loving-kindness where we actually are nurtured. What’s being nurtured is our confidence in our own wisdom, our own health, and our own courage, our own goodheartedness. We develop some sense that the way we are—the kind of personality that we have and the way we express life—is good, and that by being who we are completely and by totally accepting that and having respect for ourselves, we are standing on the ground of warriorship.

Just as the upheaval on Sanibel Island is giving way to Nature replenishing itself with fertile soil, our meditation practice is creating “good ground” and guiding us back home to our own wisdom, our own health, and our own courage, [and] our own goodheartedness. Who we are in our Natural state is basically good. It's just that we forget that and often others conspire to help us to continue to forget that. Coming back over and over again to remembering that, as Pema reminds us, is an act worthy of being deemed a warrior.

Treading lightly into the political world, what with Trump’s indictment yesterday, I think we as yogis are particularly called upon at this time to know that there will be anger and meanness, but we can counter that with as much gentleness and generosity as we can give. And patience too, as ultimately the truth will come out and overwhelm the deceit.

I have no doubt that Sanibel will return to its natural state of beauty. And, I have no doubt that in the face of all the hurricanes life will throw at you that you will return over and over again to your True Nature, which is something beautiful.

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you be gentle, generous, and truthful with yourself, …
May your True Nature, which is something beautiful, somehow affect someone near to you and spread out from there, … for the benefit of ALL Beings everywhere. 

Aloha and Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun

Sanibel Island, March 25, 2023. Green shoots are starting to appear on the tree brnaches. Somehow, i have no doubt, nature will find a way to replenish itself and thrive again. Gently over time, so can we.

Yoga and the Art of Softening the Heart

The colors of love are in the air at sunset. Nature knows how to make us fall in love over and over again.

I’d like to share a story I received yesterday from the School of Practical Philosophy in their Daily Reflections email.

Night and Day

The master asked his disciples: "How do we know when the night is over and the day has arrived?" The disciples pondered the master's question. 

One answered: "Master, night is over and day arrives when you can see a house in the distance and determine if that's your house or the house of your neighbor."

Another disciple responded: "Night is over and day arrives when you can see an animal in the field and determine if it belongs to you or to your neighbor."

A third disciple offered: "Night is over and day has arrived when you can see a flower in the garden and distinguish its color."

"No, no, no," thundered the master. "Why must you see only in separations, only in distinctions, only in disjunctions? No. Night is over and day arrives when you look into the face of the person beside you and you can see that she is your sister, he is your brother. That you belong to each other. That you are one. Then, and only then, will you know that night has ended and day has arrived."

Unknown Author

We celebrated Valentine’s Day this month, which always presents us a good opportunity to explore the incredible possibilities of love, while at the same time protecting our own vulnerable hearts from the challenges that loving too much can bring.

This month I experienced the highs and lows of love. I love the work I do as a teacher and actor. My lover and I had a misunderstanding that festered and became something bigger than it needed to be. I know the feeling of a heart so overflowing with love that it wants to be a spigot of generosity that doesn’t want to be shut. I also know the very human experience of needing to protect a heart that is hurting. Through it all, I was inspired and helped along by the teachings and words of a few sage individuals.

Donna Fahri reminded me that:

"Yoga is fundamentally about befriending yourself, knowing how to be loving towards yourself. As the One All, how could you not be loving towards the One All? [Yoga is about] befriending others, because there are no strangers anymore – there is no separation." 

As the parable of Night and Day teaches us, we are all part of the One All. And yoga is meant to help to remind us of that each time we practice. Each time we each breath into an asana on our yoga mat or fully experience a breath when we’re out in the world, we are asked to just keep trying to be loving and kind to ourselves in order that one day we see little distinction between ourselves and others.

Pema Chödrön said:

Soften what is rigid in your Heart.  Work on yourself.  Work on your Heart.

The work is always on and with our own selves first. Because the keys to liberation lie within us. I think the practice involves both protecting this heart of ours when it feels the pain of loving too much as well as exploring the immense potential of an open-hearted relationship to the All Ones outside of ourselves. In relation to our yoga asana practice, at times we take child’s pose to keep this heart protected and safe, while at other times we explore poses like wheel or camel so we can explore the possibilities that come with opening the heart to being vulnerable while exploring our capacities for loving openly and generously.

Lastly, when my heart felt pain, I remembered these words by Sharon Salzberg from her insightful book Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness:

… In cultivating love, we remember one of the most powerful truths the Buddha taught … that the forces in the mind that bring suffering are able to temporarily hold down the positive forces such as love or wisdom, but they can never destroy them.… Love can uproot fear or anger or guilt because it is a greater power. Love can go anywhere. Nothing can obstruct it.

Each time I feel the pain of love, I try to remember that these feelings are just temporary, like “clouds in the sky” as Buddhists would say. As an Artist, at times I’ve experienced intense and great love for the incredible diversity and beauty of both the natural world as well as human creation and invention. These moments are great reminders for me of our immense human capacity to love and to feel love and loved. They are great anchors to hold on to when the waters of love get rocky. Ultimately, my lover and I reconciled because we both know at a deep and intimate level that our love for each other is the greater force than anger and fear are. With great loving comes great explorations of the ups and downs of love, all of which can strengthen our love relationships. But as Buddhist Meditation teacher, Gina Sharpe, told me personally back on January 17, 2011, when I was amid a personal despair: The antidote to fear is loving-kindness. Our path to healing and back to exploring the power of love starts with us being as generously loving and kind to ourselves as we can possibly be. This is the heart of yoga and meditation practice.

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you soften what is rigid in your heart, …
May you realize that night has turned into day, …
May you be loving and kind to yourself first,
May you know the full power of love, … for the benefit of ALL Beings everywhere. 

Aloha and Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun

The colors of love are in the air at sunrise. How can one not help falling in love!

A Story About Beginning Again That Will Inspire Your Yoga Practice

A tree grows in Brooklyn on January 30, 2023. Nature's annual "beginning again" ritual continues as this tree sprouts new shoots.

Navy Veteran Mark Frerichs was an American contractor working in Afghanistan when he was captured by the Taliban and held captive for two and a half years. He was interviewed by PBS NewsHour co-anchor, Amna Nawaz, earlier this month. (View Part 1 and Part 2) As I watched him speak, I was mesmerized by his story of survival, and at times I thought this is a true master yogi. He was chained by his ankles and wrists, only given a dirt floor to sleep on, fed stale bread and dirty water, and beaten and threatened with execution on numerous occasions. He was finally freed in a prisoner exchange last September, and seems to be on his way to a remarkable recovery.

How did he survive? By meditating, doing body scans. Here’s how he describes his practice:

You just have to be able to totally relax your body. … from your toes to your head and just imagine your muscles relaxing from your toes, your ankles, up your shins, your knees. You just talk yourself through your body. By the time it gets to your head, you can't feel your body, for me, anyway. I can't feel my body. My body is like it's you're sleeping. So you're sleeping, but you're awake. Your brain is totally aware of what's going on in a room. And you can do whatever you want.

I can’t attest to ever having experienced samadhi – the highest state of yoga practice – myself, but this description by Mark sounds like he was well on his way to achieving it. Two of the earliest instructions in the Yoga Sutras is yogash chitta vritti nirodhah and tada drashtuh svarupe avasthanam. Yoga is the practice of quieting down the movements of the mind. Then the Seer abides in Itself, resting in its own True Nature, which is called Self-realization. Under extraordinary circumstances, Mark seems to have achieved some higher level of awareness and realization through his practice of sitting still.

Later in the interview, Amna asks Mark: how are you doing? Part of his response is:

… I'm having intermittent sleep issues. Sometimes, I will just have this — these feelings come across me, of, like, impending danger. But they pass.

This speaks to the Buddha’s teachings about the impermanence of all phenomena. In yoga, we train to be present and still so that we can recognize the transitory nature of everything.

Finally, Amna asks Mark if he holds anger toward his captors, to which Mark says:

If I harbor resentment or carry on continual feelings of anger, then they have won. Resentment for the past is a waste of spirit. If I don't let this thing go, it's going to just keep festering and festering. I got to just let it out, let it go.

And this is both a main objective of yoga practice as well as a main feature of the practice itself – to practice letting go, over and over again. Mark’s story is an extraordinary example of this important aspect of yoga practice, and an inspiration to us all of us as to what we can become if we do practice this over and over again, no matter the circumstances of our life.

Buddhist mediation teacher, Sharon Salzberg, writes in her book, Real Happiness:

When we put our attention on the feeling of our breath, “almost immediately we feel the healing power of being able to begin again. … This is the practice. This ability to let go and begin again is the kind of fruit that we take into our ordinary life. We might stray from our chosen course, but realize we can begin again. We might lose sight of our aspiration, but realize we can begin again. We might make a mistake, but realize we can begin again.”

I have no doubt that Mark is no different than you or I in that over the course of his two-and-a-half-years ordeal he lost sight of his aspirations. And while he was forced to stray from his desired course by his captors, he is now fully aware that he can nonetheless begin again. And what is no doubt helping him begin again is the constant daily practice of letting go.

In the words of Maria Robinson:

Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.

Mark Frerichs certainly seems to creating a new ending to his story, one that he probably couldn’t imagine just 6 months ago. I hope that Mark’s story inspires you to be still in the midst of chaos, practice letting go of resentments, practice seeing the dark clouds come and go, and script incredible endings to each of your remaining days on this Earth. May the work you do on yourself through yoga and meditation somehow benefit someone near to you, and ultimately reach all beings everywhere in a positive way.

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you not waste your spirit and begin again to let go of old resentments, …
May you see the passing nature of reality, …
May you realize just a bit more of your True Nature,
May you create incredible new endings daily, … for the benefit of ALL Beings everywhere.

Aloha and Metta, Ease and Tranquility,
Paul Keoni Chun

Fall reds give way to winter browns on January 30, 2023. Nature's color palette is beautiful to behold no matter the time of the year.

Generosity and Contentment Go Hand-In-Hand

Contentment at its best. nature always leads us back onto the path. (photo by Ed Gonzalez)

The Buddha laid out a path for awakening the mind and heart. The first instruction he gave his monks was to practice dana or generosity. According to the Insight Meditation Society: The practice of generosity develops lovingkindness and compassion, deepens awareness of our interconnectedness and encourages non-attachment. Giving is said to benefit both the giver and the receiver – the giver practices sharing and letting go, and the recipient practices acceptance of what is presented.

The Yoga Sutras also laid out a path for further awakening. One of the practices that it prescribes is Samtosha or Contentment, described in Chapter 2, Sutra 42: From an attitude of contentment (santosha), limitless happiness, mental comfort, joy and satisfaction occur.

I think that generosity and contentment go hand-in-hand. The more content we can be with the way things are for us in the moment, the easier it is to be generous. And the more generous we can be with what we have and how we receive what we’ve been given, the more feelings of contentment will arise.

During the holiday season, we can feel like we don’t have enough money to buy gifts and time to do everything we want to. The remedy to these feelings may be just to be content with the moment-by-moment unfolding of life in and around us, and to discover what life wants to give us in each moment and to accept the moment’s “presents/ce” graciously. As for gift-giving, we may not have the money to buy material things to give as presents, but we can also consider non-material ways of giving, such as a heart-felt phone call or a gentle smile. We can be content with such ways of giving, which in the end may go a longer way towards making another person feel good than any object might. The bottom line is: if we are content with what we have in the moment, it is easy to be generous. And as we are more generous, then undoubtedly contentment will arise as we receive life’s magical giving back to us in each moment.

As I get up there in years, I’m finding myself wanting less and desiring to give away more. I’ve noticed that others in my circle seem to feel the same way. As the Buddha famously said: Contentment is the highest form of wealth. I know that compared to many others, I’m not as materially wealthy. Nonetheless, I do feel wealthy in ways that no one can take from me and that don’t depend on whether the stock market is going up or down.

It's been a strange year, for sure. Many unexpected victories and many sad events. The Danish Poet Soren Kierkegaard wrote: “Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.” And so, as you look back at your victories and losses over the past year, I hope you can savor them and learn from each one, and move forward into the new year from a place of contentment. I hope your contentment leads to more generosity – both towards yourself and others. I hope that spirals back to you truly feeling wealthier, more mental comfort, and much joy.

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you practice generosity and contentment, …
May your mind and heart be further awakened, …
May your further awakening be the greatest gift you can offer for the benefit of ALL Beings everywhere. 

Aloha and Metta, Comfort and Joy,
Paul Keoni Chun

The sun is rising on a new day, a new year, and a new beginning.

Yoga, Buddhism, and My Reflections on Gratitude

So grateful to have Nature in its raw beauty just outside our window.

It’s been an interesting journey being temporarily disabled, having to negotiate life on crutches and wearing a boot on my right foot over the past seven weeks. I’ve learned to slow down and savor the beauty held in more moments. And in many ways, I am grateful for the experiences I’ve had. So much so that my yoga practice right now is to reflect on what I am particularly grateful for. Here are a few things:

 1.    I’m grateful for the many people I came across who offered to help me out in small, yet important ways – like holding doors open for me, offering me their seat on the subway, giving me room to pass slowly by as they walked around me, and offering their help in any way I needed. Thinking about these occurrences make me smile and reminds me of human beings’ capacity for unsolicited kindness and generosity. For this I am grateful.

2.    I appreciated that JetBlue made it so easy for me to travel with a disability by giving me extra leg room and a front row seat at no extra charge. Thanks, JetBlue! My heart grows fonder for you, which is a benefit for both of us.

3.    I appreciate the travel assistance I received from the airport workers who as soon as I arrived at the terminal wheelchaired me from check-in through TSA all the way to my plane. One of these workers particularly stood out to me. He is a relatively recent immigrant from Bangladesh. He shared that a family member was able to sponsor him and his wife and their three children to enter the U.S. He kept saying how happy he was to be here in the U.S., “America is the best!” he said several times. I am grateful that I could have that reminder of how lucky we are to be American citizens. And I was grateful that I could help another human being with a generous tip to help him in his new life here. I get so overwhelmed sometimes by the many sad events that happen in far off places and long to help in some way. This man gave me an opportunity to help make the bigger picture brighter in a small, localized way. Thinking about that man makes me smile now, and for that I am grateful.

4.    I am grateful to Nature. My husband and I are fortunate to have a home in Florida with a backyard that is frequented by Sand Hill Cranes, Ducks, Turtles, Alligators, just to name a few from Nature’s immense lineup of diversity. The other day I got to sit by the window doing my work, and every so often I would peek out and one of God’s creatures was in my field of vision. Being able to observe Nature is one of the most healing of pastimes. I am so grateful that I can see Nature from such a close vantage point. My heart grows wider thinking about it now.

The spiritual teacher, Sadhguru, says:

“Gratitude is not an attitude. Gratitude is something that flows out of you when you are overwhelmed by what is being given to you.”

And in many ways that is what I am experiencing right now – just an overwhelming feeling of appreciation for all that I have been given.

And I don’t mean just the good stuff I’ve been given, but even the “bad” stuff. About this, here are two lessons from Pema Chödrön:

Gratitude
“Be grateful to everyone” is a way of saying that we can learn from any situation, especially if we practice this slogan with awareness. The people and situations in our lives can remind us to catch neurosis as neurosis, to see when we’re in our room under the covers, to see when we’ve pulled the shades, locked the door, and are determined to stay there.

Don’t Flee from Uncomfortable Tenderness
The natural warmth that emerges when we experience pain includes all the heart qualities: love, compassion, gratitude, tenderness in any form. It also includes loneliness, sorrow, and the shakiness of fear. Before these vulnerable feelings harden, before the storylines kick in, these generally unwanted feelings are pregnant with kindness, with openness and caring. These feelings that we’ve become so accomplished at avoiding can soften us, can transform us. The open-heartedness of natural warmth is sometimes pleasant, sometimes unpleasant—as “I want, I like” and as the opposite. The practice is to train in not automatically fleeing from uncomfortable tenderness when it arises. With time we can embrace it just as we would the comfortable tenderness of loving-kindness and genuine appreciation.

It is the tender moments of life that can be our best teachers. Yes, we can initially act by recoiling and moving away. But every so often, when I am confronted with one of those uncomfortable moments of life, I find a piece of my heart breaking open a bit more and feeling compassion for myself and/or the “other”. I am grateful for those tender moments of higher awareness that can override my base human self. In my search for higher awareness, I love revisiting this lesson again and again from the Buddha:

The Buddha taught that every human birth is precious and worthy of gratitude. In one of his well-known analogies, he said that receiving a human birth is rarer than the chance that a blind turtle floating in the ocean would stick its head through a small hoop. He would often instruct a monk to take his ground cloth into the forest, sit at the base of a tree, and begin "gladdening the heart" by reflecting on the series of fortunate circumstances that had given the monk the motivation and ability to seek freedom through understanding the dharma.
—  The Old Wisdom

If in fact that this is true, then just the fact that I’ve arrived here as a human birth is more than enough to be grateful for. I feel like I’ve been given an opportunity to help move the Universe’s Creation forward. I am grateful that my heart is capable of “gladdening” and that I’ve been given tools to experience even greater freedom.

One of those tools I’ve heard about is the practice of writing down things one is grateful for. It can lead to an expansion of one’s heart and mind. Just by having done this exercise here, I can say it is true. I feel more aware, more expansive, and calmer and more at peace. I feel freer. I am grateful for this human birth, and for my inner longing to seek greater freedom through yoga and contemplative paths such as Buddhism.

As we wind down the year, I hope you can have some time amid the hustle and bustle to reflect on all things are you grateful for. I hope you can not only practice gratitude, but in fact be the very essence of gratitude – the continuous giving and receiving that are the very actions of Life itself in each moment, in each breath you experience.

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you look to the positive, …
May your feelings of gratitude inspire one person near you, … and from there ripple out for the benefit of ALL Beings everywhere. 

Aloha and Metta, Peace and Freedom,
Paul Keoni Chun

I caught sight of this bird practicing yoga - standing up tall and concentrating. I'm grateful to Nature for reminding me how to stay in the moment and observe life as it is unfolding!

Yoga and the Art of pratipakṣa-bhāvanam

Nature's annual fall phenomenon created the beautiful colors of the Ukrainian flag. Even though there is darkness coursing through the foreground, there is brightness and brilliance dominating beyond. This is pratipakṣa-bhāvanam in action.

Many years ago, when I was studying Thai Yoga Massage, my teacher would say to us: “always look to the positive!”  She was referring to the yoga practice of pratipakṣa-bhāvanam. Little did I know at the beginning of this month that this would be one of my main yoga practices for the month.

On Oct 11, I was running to an important event. Suddenly, I found myself flat down on my side. Darn, my right foot found an opportune time to fall in love with a crack in an NYC sidewalk! Having been physical all my life, I knew this injury was different. After looking at the x-rays the next day, my doctor summed it up by saying: “it’s not serious, but it’s serious.” The doctors’ orders are for me to wear a boot and use crutches for 7 weeks, and not work (teaching yoga, in my case) during this time period.

I immediately felt a sense of loss. Physical loss of function. Loss of my ability to earn a living. And a loss of the sense of “who am I” that I’d come to identify with. I like being independent and in control of my life, and now I felt myself more dependent on others and less in control.

But, after a few days of moping around trying to figure out my new reality, there also emerged the question of “what are the bright sides to all of this?” Several answers arose.

 In my teaching, I work with people with all sorts of disabilities, and one of my first thoughts was “Now, I know a bit more of how they feel.” Empathy arose within me.

I now know a bit more how it feels to not be fully and easily mobile, and to be forced to slow down and take life one step at a time. Surprisingly (though it should not have been to me who practices meditation daily), I found myself being a little more present in each moment. That in itself has been a gift.

I know how people with disabilities feel when they have to negotiate the subway system. Some of those elevators leading down to the train platforms smell absolutely foul, but when you have no choice, you do what you gotta do. The upside for me is that I now have a better understanding of some of the challenges people with disabilities have to face living in this city.

I’ve mentioned in recent blogs that I moved recently. At this point, I still have a good number of boxes to sort through and either save/organize or discard the things in them. Suddenly, I have the gift of time to do this major project. I count this as a positive.

While loss is loss, perhaps the bigger gain is the realization that I do have the resources to get through this and I’ll be OK. My losses are nothing compared to the people who lost their homes and livelihoods after Hurricane Ian hit. My injuries are not permanent and compared to folks with life-long disabilities, my situation is mild and will pass.

Human beings have an incredible ability to adapt to new situations. I like figuring things out, and I gained new ways of doing things on three usable limbs.

As far as my physical yoga practice is concerned, since I can’t do vinyasas and downward dogs, I now do chair yoga, yin yoga, and restorative yoga. These practices have important benefits too, and I’ve gained the time and space to engage with them more fully.

I also gained an admiration for people I know who persevere on despite their disabilities. I think of my friend David who renovated a house even as his Parkinson’s grew worse. I think of my student Martin with a neuromuscular disease who needs to get around in a scooter yet always seems happy and makes me happy when I see him. Martin’s physical ailments didn’t keep him from going white-water rafting in Oregon earlier this month. I think about my brother Francis who lost part of several fingers, yet never complained and continues to do important space research for the U.S. Air Force. These people all inspire me, and they give me the gift of how to have a positive perspective and live a good life after loss.

So that’s my yoga practice for this month: pratipakṣa-bhāvanam, always look to the positive. Are you ready to give it a try? Perhaps you’ll find it harder to do than that crow pose or bird-of-paradise pose you may be currently aspiring to achieve. But in the end, I think you just might find it far more beneficial.

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you look to the positive, …
May your positive attitude inspire one person near you, … and from there ripple out for the benefit of ALL Beings everywhere.

Aloha and Metta, Peace and Positivity,
Paul Keoni Chun

Practicing my favorite yoga pose for this month: viparita karani or legs-up-the-wall pose. Whether injured or not, elevating one's legs is a great way to refresh after a long day of work. Try it and see!

Yoga and the Art of Dying

Whimsical Art in downtown Fort Myers, FL on September 3, 2022. The calm before the storm. Sigh. There's a yogic message being played out here.

The Buddha famously taught:

‎"Hatred is never ended by hatred –
but by love [this is an eternal rule]”
Dhammapada verse 5
“Many forget that we here must die,
For those who remember, quarrels end.”
Dhammapada verse 6
Siddhartha Gautama (The Buddha)

As I write this on the last day of September, 2022, my heart is filled with sadness for all the death and destruction that we are witnessing. The war in Ukraine rages on with unfathomable atrocities being unearthed. Migrants seeking a better life are dying at the border. We remembered and commemorated once again the events of 9/11. And now, Hurricane Ian. My heart feels pain.

Earlier this month over Labor Day weekend, my husband and I enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Ford’s Garage in downtown Ft. Myers, FL. Afterwards, we happened upon this whimsical piece of public Art (above) just across the street. It made us chuckle at the time.

Now, it makes me think about the Buddha’s words about forgetting that one day we too must die. My heart breaks thinking about the people who served us in the restaurant and the nice shop owner from New Jersey who’s store just across the street was filled with delightful tchotchkes that made us chuckle. I know they are suffering immensely right now.

Death and destruction so immediate such as all the happenings I mentioned above make us pause and remember that our lives are fragile. And precious. And hopefully to try again and again to let go of quarrels – both inside and outside of ourselves. About this, Pema Chödrön writes:

If we want suffering to lessen, the first step is learning that keeping the cycle of aggression going doesn’t help. It doesn’t bring the relief we seek, and it doesn’t bring happiness to anyone else either. We may not be able to change the outer circumstances, but we can always shift our perspective and dissolve the hatred in our minds.

And that is exactly why we practice yoga and meditation. To loosen and dissolve, if ever so slightly with each practice, the hatred in our own minds and hearts. And as I’ve said many times in this blog in various ways, it starts with dissolving some of the hatred we direct towards our own selves. I know I am not perfect – even at self-compassion. And yet, each day I do try to remember to be kind to myself when “bad thoughts” cross my mind. Or when I make a mistake.

So, I think that yoga and the art of dying is remembering each day that we’re not going to be here forever and to try to add to the world’s joy in some small way. It could be being kinder to ourselves. It could be pausing to see the people we encounter in our lives as being just like us – they just want to be happy and content. It could be donating to worthy causes directed at helping people less fortunate than ourselves.

It could also be reflecting on Pema Chödrön’s words here:

When I die, I want to die with no regrets. When I die, I want to die free of habitual patterns and things, obstacles that hold me back from awakening. I want to die as free from all of that as possible. I want to die with less self, selfishness, self-centeredness. I want to die with less reactivity where I just lose my temper in a second or become overwhelmingly jealous in a second. I want to grow in self-reflection and be able to really know my mind and work with my mind. And every day we have more and more of a sense of freedom.

I hope that as your yoga and meditation practice continue that they help you to dissolve just a little more of who you think you are each day. And I hope that they can help you to resolve some of the conflict that is in your heart and mind. I hope the day that I die that I am freer. And I wish the same for you.

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May your mind dissolve quarrels, …
May you remember that one day you will not be here, … for the benefit of ALL Beings everywhere.

Aloha and Metta, Peace and Kindness,
Paul Keoni Chun

Sanibel Island, FL, September 4, 2022, at sunrise. My husband enjoying finding shells washed up by the tide along the beach. Little did we know then that this was the calm before the storm. Sigh. I cannot believe this beautiful island we enjoyed so much together has been devastated by Ian.

Yoga and the Art of Loosening the Grip

This bird "loosened its grip" by opening its wings, and voila! - it caught the watermelon my husband tossed in the air! I guess a case can be made that when one "loosens the grip and opens one's 'hands'," abundance arrives in spades.

I’m just about 7 weeks into living in my new apartment. While I’ve made progress in unpacking, I still have a way to go. Having lived 63+ years on this earth, I’ve accumulated my fair share of earthly possessions. So, the 5th yama (1st limb of yoga, things one should not do) which talks about “aparigraha” has been on my mind a lot lately. Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati’s translation of aparigraha is “non-possessiveness, non-holding through senses, non-greed, non-grasping, non-indulgence, non-acquisitiveness.” And here is his commentary on this Yoga Sutra (2.39):

Aparigraha brings the past and future: When one is steadfast in non-possessiveness or non-grasping with the senses (aparigraha), there arises knowledge of the why and wherefore of past and future incarnations.

Wow! While I’d love to know more about my past and future selves, my more immediate concern is about simply creating more space in my apartment while at the same time honoring the indelible memories that many of my possessions contain. They tell the story of my life in this incarnation.

But letting go can be hard to do.

So, I draw inspiration and insight from two people. Molly Lannon Kenny (The Samarya Center) talks about aparigraha as “loosening the grip and finding freedom.” Intellectually, I can understand that. It makes sense that the less things one has, the more spaciousness one can attain. And in that spaciousness, there is physical, mental, and spiritual freedom. And Paul Dallaghan speaks of Aparigraha as “The Art of What is Needed.” He recounts a nice phrase: whatever you own really owns you. Yes, we can be bogged down by our possessions. And he also writes that in practicing aparigraha: The lack of material bondage allows the spirit to reveal itself. So, by not being so attached to our possessions, theoretically we can be more in touch with our truer identity, and perhaps the past and future incarnations that the Yoga Sutras speaks of.

As far as my own personal current decluttering is concerned, I’ve found that in order for me to “loosen the grip” I have to do two things. One is that I have to go slowly. Some things can be easily let go of fairly quickly – e.g., the face masks I accumulated these last two years that I’ll never use. (Yesterday, I ended up giving these and other personal care items to a donation drive for people currently experiencing homelessness.) But other things will take a little longer to let go of – particularly things that evoke a memory of a person or a happy experience I’ve had, like my souvenirs from my trip to Africa in 2009. So, I’m taking my time with each item, deciding whether to let go of the physical item at this time or not, and enjoying remembering the circumstances that brought that item into my life. No need to be in a hurry to let go, but rather release in a time that feels right to me. The other things I’ve discovered which is helping me to “loosen the grip” is to have a lot of compassion for myself. Letting go can be hard to do and I can offer myself a lot of compassion as I undergo this process.

But, now that I’m well into the process of letting go of physical possessions, I’m gaining more physical space in my apartment, and I’m liking that very much. I’m experiencing a gravitational pull in that direction and it’s gaining momentum.

And hopefully, as I practice “loosening the grip” on more physical possessions, it may make it easier to “loosen the grip” on some of the mental patterns I’ve held on to. For example, I’ve no doubt this process will lead me in the direction of having more forgiveness for both myself and others. We really don’t walk in other people’s shoes and so we don’t have a lot of information on what leads others to do the things that they do. But I do have a sense that when I’m not so bogged down by things that are cluttering my own mind and heart, that I can begin to have more feelings of compassion, understanding, and forgiveness for others.

Wherever you are in your life and whatever your relationship with your possessions are right now, I hope that you can slowly “loosen the grip” on the things that are no longer serving you well. Maybe some of those things can serve another human being well at the moment. If so, that would be a win-win-win situation for you, the other person, and all beings on this planet.

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you give yourself time to “loosen the grip”, …
May you have compassion for just how hard letting go can be, …
May you enjoy the memories, …
May the spaciousness and forgiveness you create for yourself be of great benefit to ALL Beings everywhere.

Aloha and Metta, Peace and Space,
Paul Keoni Chun

Whoops, I "accidentally" "loosened the grip" on some delicious sour cream coffee cake I got at the Farmer's Market on 66th and Broadway, and look who appeared! Perhaps this is a sign of a past or future incarnation, as Yoga Sutra 2.39 might suggest?

Yoga and the Art of Letting Go

Sunrise on a new day in my new apartment.

After 27 years of living on the 27th floor of my building, my number was finally called up. I was offered a bigger apartment on a higher floor. Yes, I'm movin' on up!

I was filled with excitement, and truth-be-told – dread. 

Time to gain a new perspective on life. Yay!

Time for change. Huh?

And time for, uh ... sigh ... letting go.

One of my first yoga teachers many years ago said during class: practice letting go of what is stale, old, and no longer useful.

I think about these words now. They are so relevant with where I am in life right now. Somewhere in the 3rd chapter for sure, and perhaps entering the 4th chapter. During times of significant change, we have an opportunity to pause and ask: what is really important to us right now, and what can we let go of? For sure, many of us asked ourselves such questions in the beginning phases of the COVID-19 pandemic.

I’ve been asking myself these questions a lot these days, as I unpack and decide what to discard that I don’t need any more. Many years ago, I heard Eckhart Tolle say to Oprah Winfrey:

There is more power in letting go than clinging.

I thought about this today as I unpacked things in my kitchen and was trying to decide whether to hold on to a collection of spices I’d accumulated. As I was looking at each container, I realized I hadn’t used many of these things in a long time so why hold on to them any longer? So, into the garbage they went. I felt lighter. Same with old clothes I was sorting through last week – will I ever use these things again, I asked myself? The answer was “highly unlikely.” So those got tossed into the material recycling bag.

I’ve been intentional about my unpacking. First, I cleared a space on one side of my apartment where there is nothing but what I need – e.g., my bed, rug, space to practice yoga, and so forth. On the other side, I have boxes and bags of things to sort through and either keep, throw, or give away. I have to say, I’m really enjoying the area that is cleared of things other than what I need. And I’m less fond of the area that is full of stuff. And that is motivating me to want to keep creating more area with fewer things and less area with stuff. My apartment is taking on the minimalist feel of an Apple retail store.

Now, for sure, letting go of stuff – be they material things or mental patterns we’ve clung to – is not easy. But what I’m liking about the changes happening in my life right now is that I’m finding I really like the empty spaces, cleared of things. I’m fortunate in that my apartment is on a high floor, so I can see more sky out of my windows. I’m so enjoying just looking at the sky and the clouds. I’m seeing space that I didn’t see before, and it is helping to clear my mind of stuff it’s being bogged down by.

Essentially, with these changes, I’m gravitating more towards spaciousness and further away from clutter. Which brings me to why we practice yoga, which is to be able to experience more space in our mind and heart so that ultimately, we can realize who we really are. Yoga as a practice has guided me to accepting more the letting go parts of life. And it has given me greater clarity about who I really am and what my purpose here on Earth is.

I hope that as you continue practicing yoga and meditation you will find it easier to let go of more stuff. And I hope the spaciousness it produces brings you great clarity and purpose.

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you let go of that which is stale, old, and no longer useful, …
May the spaciousness you create for yourself be of great benefit to ALL Beings everywhere. 

Aloha with Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun

Sunset on another day in my new apartment. I'm so grateful to have a new perspective of life.

Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen and the Art of Both Sides Now

Dramatic skies over the west coast of Florida

Recently, I was with my husband in Florida and he looked up and said “I love the sky here. The clouds are amazing.” I could see his point. I, too, was struck by the vastness of the sky and the breathtaking cloud formations that appear in them. They have been a source of tremendous fascination and wonder for us both.

It made me think of Joni Mitchell’s song Both Sides Now, in which she writes:

… I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down and still somehow
It's cloud illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all …

Later, she concludes:

I've looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all

I can understand the confusion and the “not knowing” of life. So many things just don’t seem to make sense at the moment. Witness the war in Ukraine, the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and the allowing of guns to be carried in public places in New York State. The clouds of life seem very dark and gloomy at the moment.

And that is where yoga and meditation can be helpful. If anything, they can be a starting place for clearing some of the fog in our own bodies and minds. And they can be useful tools for holding the dark clouds within us that we’ll undoubtedly encounter at some point in our lives with more grace, patience, and compassion.

I realize that if we just had blue skies all the time, we’d never be able to experience the clouds. And sometimes the darker and heavier the clouds, the more contoured and colored and rich our experience of them will be.

And so too will our lives be richer. It is the darkness and drama that can be entry points into living a rich life. A life that leads toward more compassion, generosity, and kindness. As Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen said in an interview with Krista Tippett:

... Sometimes what appears to be a catastrophe over time becomes a strong foundation from which to live a good life.  It’s possible to live a good life even though it isn’t an easy life....  That’s one of the best kept secrets in America.

Dr. Remen herself has experienced the dark side of life in a life-long battle with Crohn’s Disease. But she has somehow overcome the odds and lived longer than was expected, and as a physician working with people with cancer she has a unique insight into healing and curing. She says:

The way we deal with loss shapes our capacity to be present to life more than anything else.

Certainly, loss has that effect of making us immediately present. And that is an aim of yoga and meditation – to be ever more present. Of course, we can also try to escape the feelings of loss through drugs and alcohol. And at times that might be a valid escape route. And, we could also choose to use the tools of yoga and meditation to sit with the experiences of loss, and create a bigger container within which to hold the feelings. And, hopefully this will lead ultimately to creating more compassion for ourselves and others.

Dr. Remen said:

… By listening generously, we may not be able to help find a cure, but we may certainly be able to help create a healing. … We can only cure a small amount of human suffering.  The rest needs to be healed ....

And perhaps that is why we’ve been put on this Earth and been given our unique set of challenges. Perhaps we are here simply to be healed. None of us will escape dying. There’s no cure for that. But perhaps we can leave this Earth having left it a better place and be cured of at least some of the karma we brought with us. Dr Remen said:

The view from the edge of life is so much clearer than the view that most of us have.  That what seems to be important is much more simple and accessible for everybody, which is who’ve you touched on your way through life, who’s touched you... what you’re leaving behind you in the hearts and minds of other people is far more important than whatever wealth you may have accumulated.

Perhaps we’ll never understand life’s illusions – cloud’s illusions, if you will. And maybe that’s OK. Without the darkness of life, there wouldn’t be wonder and amazement to behold as we gaze at the clouds floating by in our inner skies. And without that perspective, we would have one less way forward toward more healing, and more compassion and kindness.

I hope the clouds within you are an amazing sight to behold at the moment.

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you see both sides, now,
May you see life at the edges,
May you be further healed, so that you can be of great benefit to ALL Beings everywhere.

Aloha and Metta, Peace and Ease,
Paul Keoni Chun

The Light is temporarily being covered by darkness, but for Sure it is still there.

Yoga and the Art of Living with Ease

Summer time, and the living is easy ... and filled with blooming delights!

At the end of my morning meditation practice, I do a brief metta practice. I’ve done this for many years now. I follow the traditional pattern, starting with “May I be happy” … “May I be healthy” … “May I live with ease” … and then proceed from there to add on phrases connected to a yoga theme that I am striving to live by for that day, week or month.

This past month, I found myself repeating the third phrase often – may I live with ease. Maybe it’s because I turned 63 this past month. While not technically retired, I’ve found myself with that retirement mindset flooding my thoughts. Perhaps it’s just sheer tiredness from pushing that rock up the hill like Sisyphus for so many years, or just wisdom gained through growing older and presumably wiser. But at this point in my life, I find myself wanting and choosing living with ease more often.

From Swami J’s translations of the Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, Sutra 2.46 is: sthira sukham asanam – The posture (asana) for Yoga meditation should be steady, stable, and motionless, as well as comfortable or filled with ease, and this is the third of the eight rungs of Yoga.

For us, that means that in order to realize our highest possibilities, we have to have ease in our life. Whether it’s while sitting in a yoga posture or executing a “posture” in our daily life to-dos, choosing ease will lead to the best outcomes.

There are a lot of people in the world right now who by the circumstances thrust upon them cannot live with ease right now. And in our daily lives, for sure there are moments when un-ease can appear out of nowhere. But as you continue to practice yoga and meditation, I hope that you can recognize opportunities for living with ease more regularly so that you can shift toward ease more quickly when unease rears itself in your life. Afterall, we can’t be useful to the world unless we are able to experience steadiness, comfort and ease often.

Unlike the winter months – when “the weather outside is frightful” – the weather outside is rather delightful right now. I hope that you had a great unofficial start to your summer and I do hope the months ahead will be filled with ease.

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you live with ease,
May you live with ease so that you can be of benefit to ALL Beings everywhere.

Aloha and Metta, Peace, and Ease,
Paul Keoni Chun

For these two iguanas, living with ease can mean living at the seeming edge of the world at El Morro in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico.