Well that was a mind-blowing four weekends, packed with a lifetime's worth of information!

As you're digesting it all, follow this link to flickr for a few photos from last weekend that might help bring back some memories:

 https://www.flickr.com/photos/131938077@N05/?


I'll also be posting audio from all three days sometime soon.

Namaste everyone, see you down the road,
Linda

I never understood Bob Dylan. Both because my parents were into him (so I wasn’t) and also because I could never understand what he said. But after reading this article- I get it. The reason he is such a well-respected legend is because of his complete and utter devotion to music.

Dylan wrote songs and sang songs just for the love of it. Not because he was looking for anything or had a goal in mind.

When is the last time you did something for the pure love of it? Not looking for a result or something in return?

The Bhagavad Gita states:

“You have a right to your actions,

But never to your actions fruits.

Act for actions sake.

And do not be attached to inaction.”

In our society is seems like a lot of our daily actions are to get something in return.  Either money, approval, or a pat on the back. But in many ways our asana practice and our pranayama practice are empty of promises. (Even though the Hatha Yoga Pradipika promises that if you practice Nadi Shodana for 3 months all of your 72,000 energy channels will be cleansed ;) ) We still don’t know until we put in the work and find out for ourselves. The practice is not easy. It holds a mirror up and sometimes we don’t like what we see. 

Can you still stay on the path when the road gets rocky?

Can you commit to helping a friend when there is nothing in it for you?

Can you explore each asana without looking for sensation?

I don’t think Bob Dylan looked for approval or affirmation from anyone. He just acted on his dharma; which was singing and writing songs.  He has earned the respect and admiration of many for this reason.

-          Jamie Lugo

Bob Dylan

I was never much of a Bob Dylan fan, even though I was always told by everybody that he was just plain genius.  I have come to truly respect his views on things and appreciate what he has done in the world.  After reading the transcription I felt even more kinship with him and the mechanisms that allowed for that were; his hardworking ethic and his persistence.  He believed in what he was doing completely as did others.  So, with love and support of members of his music industry community he became successful and recognized as a prolific musician and composer.  That very point is something that i believe is fundamental to thriving today and integral to the survival of our society.  Passing good energy from mentor or teacher to student or aspirant, being easy with how others use or incorporate what we ourselves have produced.  Honoring ourselves, those that have come before us and those that follow is a true mark of greatness.  We should always be mindful of where we are going, where we are from, and those we meet on our path.

Dharma Talk Inspired by - Bob Dylan's MusiCares Person of Year speech By - Deborah O'Brien

"For three or four years all I listened to were folk standards. I went to sleep singing folk songs. I sang them everywhere, clubs, parties, bars, coffeehouses, fields, festivals. And I met other singers along the way who did the same thing and we just learned songs from each other. I could learn one  song and sing it next in an hour if I'd heard it just once.

If you sang "John Henry" as many times as me -- "John Henry was a steel-driving man / Died with a hammer in his hand / John Henry said a man ain't nothin' but a man / Before I let that steam drill drive me down / I'll die with that hammer in my hand."  If you had sung that song as many times as I did, you'd have written "How many roads must a man walk down?" too. 

In our yoga practice our teachers tell us "practice and all is coming".  This concept is further elaborated by the statement above from Bob Dylan.  We are the vehicle for the growth and progression of art.  By singing the same songs - practicing the same asana - this repetition and routine stimulates and inspires the creation of new art.  This new expression of ourselves never would have exsisted without the regular practice. 

I could see Patabi Jois and Bob Dylan enjoying a conversation on the topic.  

Here's the Asthanga Yoga Opening Chant - Dylan Style

"But you know, they didn't get here by themselves. It's been a long road and it's taken a lot of doing.But you know, they didn't get here by themselves. It's been a long road and it's taken a lot of doing." 
Bob Dylan is invoking the principle of Abhyasa (effort). Creating art is hard work. It takes effort, dedication and sacrifice. And then it doesn't belong just to you. There is vairagya (surrender). "...everything belongs to everyone," he says. You share your gifts. 

Iris Cohen

Bob Dylan

In his MusiCares Person of the Year acceptance speech, Dylan revealed part of his composing process, saying, "I learned lyrics and how to write them from listening to folk songs. And I played them, and I met other people that played them back when nobody was doing it. Sang nothing but these folk songs, and they gave me the code for everything that's fair game, that everything belongs to everyone."

I liken this to what we have been learning these past few months. Practicing and experimenting with different poses to create sequences is part of a great tradition being passed down to us by Colleen and Rodney, who learned from their teachers, the importance of continuing to find different ways to evolve our skills and share more about the unending secret codes that can be uncovered through practicing yoga.

Dylan said, "Critics have said that I've made a career out of confounding expectations…I don't even know what that means or who has time for it." 

I have found that in creating sequences, something like Dylan has in writing songs, that we can positively confound the expectations of all those who practice with us in a way that often defies words but that can be realized and felt.

Dylan quotes Sam Cooke "voices ought not to be measured by how pretty they are. Instead they matter only if they convince you that they are telling the truth"

It's not always about the voice as it is about the lyrics of a song.

It's not always about the body but rather the poses of a sequence - that silently speak of an otherwise undefinable truth.

Doreen

“ You know, my yoga  didn't get here by itself. It's been a long road and it's taken a lot of doing. This yoga of mine, it is like mystery stories, the kind that Shakespeare saw when he was growing up. I think you could trace what I do in yoga back that far. My  yoga was on the fringes then, and I think is on the fringes now. And it looks like it has  been on the hard ground. "                                                          

                                                                                                            - Pierre Bismuth

Bob Dylan Teaching

"Well voices ought not to be measured by how pretty they are.  Instead, they matter ONLY if they convince you that they are telling the truth."

So, thats just it.  Slow down and make the poses truthful.  Be curious, watch and breathe.  Be razor sharp in your observation to unearth some stuff embedded deep inside and look NOT so pretty but instead look and BE truthful propped up with lots of blocks and blankets.

To slow down, notice and allow the poses to be more truthful is tough.  Practicing yoga becomes a journey and not just a simple, rote, calisthenic class.  This investigative style of practice has informed my teaching tremendously.  My words blossom to "nudge" students gently into new terrritory-------not control or force their limbs into picture-perfect forms.  As I witness my body, along with my students, unfold into asana architecture,  I am inspired by the beneficial yet mostly "imperfect" forms that have take shape.  

For this reason, I am stepping further and further away from the overcooked-vinyasa flow style of yoga practice.  To unmask my holdings, along with my students, I must hold and watch.  HOLD, BREATH, and FEEL…..Yoga is an art and there is certainly no "right" practice- only different paths/practices to allow conscious, TRUTHFUL, communication with the tight, strong, weak, loose secrets of our bodies.  I thank Rodney and Colleen for their teachings that opened this less frenetic yogic path up to me.  I feel more and more truthful each time I practice and the poses only matter if they are telling the truth.   - Sue O'Connell

The Spiritual Message in Bob Dylan’s Speech 

In some ways Bob Dylan still seems somewhat baffled at his success and the fact that he is referred to as the voice of a generation. He claims that there is no secret to writing beautiful and meaningful lyrics. He has lived his music. He has a respect and love for who came before him ~ his teachers. Their message, their lyrics became so much a part of him that it was only natural that he began to create his own without any thought to fame, celebrity or monetary success. He just tapped in to his own voice. When you find your passion, something you love, live it and allow it to become a part of you. Find your teacher, learn from them, respect their work, practice what they teach, but never forget who you are. Find your own ways, your own voice and be true to who you are. At times you might be criticized and it may get hard, but staying true will allow you to live with yourself with comfort and ease which is much more important than trying to please others. “Voices are not measured by how pretty they are,” Dylan said quoting Sam Cooke. “They’re to be measured by whether they’re telling the truth.” There is so much to talk about in referencing this speech. The obvious is the work on asana ~ practice, practice, practice until it becomes a part of you. But also allow yourself to feel that place inside where you might feel a tug of war between what you feel, what is your authenticity vs. what is expected of you or what you pretend to feel based on others expectations. You might realize that your real joy looks very different. Various situations will present themselves in ways that may compromise your authenticity. That is when the work begins ~ the practice of realizing your truth as opposed to your habit. We rarely verbalize what our values are, but when we do, our intentions become very clear. When we’re clear in our intentions, when we’re definitive inner convictions, we begin to feel a shift. Our relationships feel it as well and then changes can begin.                                     - Debbie Charych 

Categories of Poses for  Mar- Ap HW:

1. Asymmetrical Backbends
2. Symmetrical Backbends
3. Asymmetrical Forward Bends
4. Symmetrical Forward Bends
5. OpenTwists
6. Closed Twists
7. Inversions
8. Hip Openers

What Bob Dylan said of his friend and fellow songwriter Billy Lee, "He was a true original....He did it all.  He was a deep, truthful man.  He wasn't bitter or nostalgic.  He just accepted. He knew where he came from and he was content with who he was.", not only seems true of Billy, but Dylan himself, and speaks to my own experience in my yoga practice.  The word self containment comes to mind.

Maybe there are other ways to become deep, truthful, accepting, self contained while acknowledging where we have come from, as Dylan did, but I know of no better way than through a sustained yoga practice..Honoring where I have come from, as Dylan did by acknowledging the source of his material, keeps me mindful of the "Great Chain of Being", where we each have a unique and definite place in the universal order of things but are at the same time deeply interdependent.  We each have a part to play but are actually interconnected and develop with and through each other and all of creation.  This is what I am beginning to feel through my yoga practice.

Bob Dylan Musicares Person of the Year Speech:

I have been inspired by every perspective and interpretation of Bob Dylan’sspeech.  Thank you all for sharing.

 

There is so much to think about after reading this speech-

A couple of phrases grabbed me from my first reading of it and have

stuck with me.

Dylan has been accused of making a career of Confounding Expectations.

How great is that?

It made me think about expectations- mine, others, how expectations enhance us, excite us, how we benefit from expectations, how they can limit us.  

The definition of expectation is: A strong belief that something will happen.  A belief that someone will or should achieve something.

That’s not a bad thing. Unless expectations prevent us from doing what is true for ourselves. That’s the limiting part. The Shoulds. The expectationswe put on ourselves as well as the ones put on us from outside of ourselves.“I should be a doing my asana practice and look just like this ..”, in spite of the pain in my knee. I should be, look, sound, or whatever like something other than myself  as I am in this moment in time and space and in this body.” “His voice should sound more like that”. Expectations can crush us.  They can prevent us from Singing the Truth.

Or, like Bob Dylan, we can Confound Expectations.

I looked up the word confound. I have been using it recently. I like it.

It means: To cause surprise or confusion in someone, especially by acting against their expectations.

Synonyms for confound are: amaze, astonish, dumbfound, stagger, surprise, startle, stun, throw, discompose, shake, bewilder, bedazzle, baffle, mystify, bemuse, perplex, puzzle, confuse, take aback, shake up, catch off balance, flabbergast, blow someones mind, blow away …flummox, faze, stump, beat, fox, (and my favorite)- discombobulate.

It seems like it would be a full career to do all of those things.

Dylan did them all by Singing His Truth. What else could he do? Did he have a choice? Do any of us?

Confound Expectation. Sing the Truth.

                                                                                                             - Diane Sjoholm

GIVING BIRTH TO THE UNIVERSE

The outbreath is an experience of the life force. In the Lamaze method of natural childbirth, they talk about breathing out and letting go as you are giving birth. The outbreath is like giving birth to the universe. You just let go.

                                        - Chogyam Trungpa