Upcoming Events

Introduction to Yoga
Saturday, December 9
12:00 - 2:00pm / $20

Our beloved Anita will be leading an Introduction to Yoga suited for any brand-new beginners who want to get a headstart on their 2007 yoga practice! Send friends and family to register at the studio or on the website.

Satsang: Discourse, Breathing & Meditation
Sunday, December 10
9:30 - 10:30 / By donation

Come together for our last satsang of 2006. We'll explore the deeper currents of our yoga practice, practice pranayama and meditate on our intentions for 2007.

Holiday Potluck Brunch
Sunday, December 10
10:30 / Bring a snack, treat or dish to share

All are welcome at Kansas Siddhi Yoga's Holiday Potluck Brunch! Very casual, friendly and low-key. Just a chance for us to celebrate our interconnectedness and mutual respect.

mysterious

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.- -Albert Einstein

The purpose of studying Buddhism is not to study Buddhism, but to study ourselves.-Shunryu Suzuki, "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

The one whose mind knows the clarity of perfect wisdom is never afraid or even anxious. Why? Because when being at one with the living power of wisdom, the mother of all the buddhas, that person has the strength to remain in a state of undivided contemplation even while ceaselessly and skillfully engaging in compassionate action. The wise one is enabled to act because of concentration on a single prayer: "May all beings never leave the path of enlightenment, which is their own true nature and is empty of separate self-existence."-Prajnaparamita

Book Club Times

I'd like to propose some possible times for our book club. Please provide your feedback what times work best for you. It appears that the consensus is to first read/discuss "How Yoga Works" Times are nor in any particular order.
-Mon Eve
- Wed Eve
- Sat Aft
- Sun Morning
- The time I didn't think about

Any thoughts?
Love,
Allison

from " Conversation with God"

Life is not "What are you going to do?" but "Where are you going to be?"
The soul is concerned only with where you are going to be.
Are you going to be in a place called fear or a place called love? Where are you- and where are you coming from- as you encounter life?
1) open, friendly, caring, helpful, considerate, cheerful, even joyful
2) goodness, mercy, compassion, understanding, forgiveness, love
3) Godliness
What then would your experience be?
Beingness attracts beingness, and produces experience.

You are on this planet to produce something with your soul. Remember!

The spirit of you seeks, in the largest sense, that grand moment when you have conscious awareness of its wishes, and join in joyful oneness with them.

The function of the soul is to indicate its desire, not impose it.
The function of the mind is to choose from its alternatives.
The function of the body is to act out that choice.

When body, mind, and soul create together, in harmony and in unity, God is made flesh.
Then does the soul know itself in its own experience.
Then do the heavens rejoice.

Right now, in this moment, your soul has again created opportunity for you to be, do, and have what it takes to know Who You Really Are.
Your soul has brought you to the words you are reading right now- as it has brought you to words of wisdom and truth before.
What will you do now? What will you choose to be?
Your soul waits, and watches with interest, as it has many times before

Be thankful and receive

I am gratitude
Om Namah Shivaya I bow to that which I am capable of becoming
Take a deep breath in; Receive the energy of God
slow down
in this moment
from my heart
pay attention; feel the abundance and beauty all around
in everything
I am pure Awareness
this energy is connected
we are all oneness
Release the breath, and all that your Spirit does not need
my soul is flowing
I am becoming
Namaste,
Mike

The thought manifests as the word;
The word manifests as the deed;
The deed develops into habit;
And habit hardens into character.
So watch the thought and its ways with care,
And let it spring from love Born out of concern for all beings;
As the shadow follows the body, as we think, so we become..."
The Buddha

Thank you!

Hi Kula,

I just wanted to give thanks to all of you and the support you provide. Just thinking of all of you gives me strength to press on. I am truly grateful. May this holiday season be a reflection of all the progress we have made and may it be put to use off the mat. Setting by example, gotta love that one. Keeps me in balance when I feel like acting crazy wrong. May you make deep connections with all your loved ones and maybe even those that are harder to love.

Namast'e,

Leslie

Mystic India showing at the IMAX Theater

Jeff just brought home a flyer for an IMAX movie called "Mystic India, an incredible journey of inspiration" which is the true story of Neelkanth, an 11 year old yogi who sets out on a 7 year spiritual journey across 8000 miles of India's vast landscape.

This is showing Monday-Wednesdays at 3:45pm through December 7. However, it looks like there will be a special showing on Saturday, November 18 at 3:45. This is what the KC Zoo website says but I have not yet been able to verify by phone. Jeff and I are planning to be there!

From the website...

"Mystic India rediscovers India, a land of many mysteries and fascinations, the one land that all desire to see. Home of the Himalayas, the tallest mountains, India is our world's largest and oldest democracy, and contains an amazing wealth of wisdom, culture and spirituality. And within this earliest civilization known to mankind, lie hidden mystical secrets. It lies hidden in India’s silent spirituality, making her a mystic land of meditation, contemplation and enlightenment.
For thousands of years, many have willingly left the comforts of their home and family and set off across this spiritual land in search of these secrets. Their aim has been to reach a deeper understanding of existence and share the meaning of life that would elevate the rest of humanity. Of all such journeys, perhaps none is greater than the true story of an 11-year old child yogi, Neelkanth, who took an extraordinary journey through the wonders of mystic India. An adventure of hardships and survival, faith and fearlessness undertaken by a child. The only one of its kind in the history of mankind.
From 1792 to 1799, Neelkanth walked alone, barefoot and barebody, 8000 miles for 7 years through the length and breadth of India. Carrying no maps, no food and no clothing, how he crossed the roaring rivers, faced ferocious animals and survived the freezing winter of the Himalayas, is still a mystery. It is a story of struggle, of kindness and of courage even when face to face with a man-eating lion."

Satsang This Sunday 11/19

Please join me this Sunday morning, November 19, at 9:30 am for our Kansas Siddhi Yoga Satsang. If you've haven't been yet, these are informal gatherings where we come together to explore our yoga practice off the mat.

It is an opportunity to deepen our existing sadhana (practice) by learning more about the teachings of yoga, pranayama (yoga breathing) and meditation. The yogic sages believed that meditation was the sure way to samadhi, a state of perpetual bliss despite anything that's happening around us. In theory meditation sounds great, putting it into practice is rarely easy. Together, we can make this happen and work on it becoming a new habit.

Come and explore the other limbs of yoga, beyond the physical practice and spend time basking in the supportive glow of your yoga kula.

Sunday, November 19 9:30-10:30am
By donation

Namaste, Gina

Dave Stringer coming to Kansas Siddhi (and Kansas City)

Namaste Kula!

We are in for a very special treat! A good friend of mine, Dave Stringer, will be performing on Friday night at Maya Yoga downtown (as seen above!). He'll be making his way to KC from Austin and told me he'd actually be arriving in Kansas City on Thursday and asked if we wanted him to play during class on Thursday night! Absolutely!

So I strongly urge you to find a way to class on Thursday night to practice to live music! Dave and some members of his band will be playing "atmospherically" during class and they will chant during savasana. If you've never practiced to live, devotional music, you are in for an incredible treat! And you can follow it up with a whole night of kirtan the next night at Maya Yoga!

Since we have a limited amount of space, I am reaching out to you first with this invitation and sincerely hope you can deepen your practice by this experience. It is my holiday gift to you!

Hope to see you there...

Namaste and love,
Gina

point of view!

Reality is like a face reflected in the blade of a knife; its properties depend on the angle from which we view it. -Master Hsing Yun, "Describing the Indescribable

Being ok with making mistakes

I just wanted to share. I have recently been teaching yoga at my gym. Thank you Gina for being such a great teacher. I am not sure why but I was so scared to do this for such a long, long, long time and I was afraid I would mess up and I do but usually never on what I thought and thought and wasted time thinking about for hours. I feel as though I have just shed another layer by just not fearing making a mistake but allowing myself to grow from the mistake. It's quite freeing. After all I am human. I now look for opportunity to stepping out of the box and know it's going to be ok. I'll recover, learn and grow. Thank you yoga for the wonderful insights!!!!! Don't be afraid to just go THROUGH! The other side is so Amazing!

Work in Progress,
Leslie

BOOK CLUB

I am grateful for this thought. Becky G came up with the idea of a group of us getting together to discuss all the different books we are reading (one at a time). Helpful insight for each other. So, I am putting it out here for you! We can use the blog to get things started. who’s in?

Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Feel…speak
Choose your words, for they become actions. Do
Understand your actions, for they become habits.
Study your habits, for they harden into character.
Develop your character, for it becomes your destiny
Paraphrase of Buddha

Om Namah Shivaya
Mike

VOTE (and practice yoga for free!)

Namaste Kansas Siddhi Yogis!

Whenever Election Day falls on a particularly busy Tuesday and I start to question whether I will even have time to stop off at the polls and vote, I think of Tibet, I think of Cuba and I think of the suffragettes in this country and all they endured and fought for to do that which we sometimes feel too busy, too apathetic or too inconvenienced to do, vote.

Rather than focus on how little time I have, I focus on the incredible right I have to vote. I think of all the people on this planet who would love the opportunity to have some say in who is making decisions about their lives and the laws of the state and/or country they live in. In the eyes of many peoples worldwide, this country represents freedom, something many have only dreamt of. And, admittedly, we sometimes feel "too busy" to even exercise an invaluable freedom that is only wished for by so many.

The more apathetic we get, the more "asleep" we get in our lives. As you know, yoga is a process of awakening. As part of this awakening, let's offer our honor and respect for our rights and for those who made attaining those rights their great purpose in life.

Please vote tomorrow - sit down now and learn where your polling station is. Decide now when exactly you will stop by to cast your honorable vote. Bring in your "I Voted" sticker to the studio tomorrow night and practice for free!

Love and freedom to you all,
Gina

Healing Mantra

Rama (Healing Mantra):Om Apadamapa Hataram Dataram Sarva SampadamLoka Bhi Ramam Sri Rama Bhuyo Bhuyo Namamyaham
This is a long mantra to put in a chapter for those just starting off, but is placed here because it is the most powerful healing mantra I have ever encountered. The very rough translation is, 'Om, Oh most compassionate Rama please send your healing energy right here to the earth, to the earth (twice for emphasis.)'
I have seen this mantra completely cure one person from a schizophrenic break who was in a locked ward. The psychiatrist said he would never lead a life on the outside again. In the middle of a 40 day sadhana done in his behalf, he was living in a 'halfway house' for those on the road to recovery. After 40 days of a spiritual discipline done on his behalf, he was on his own. He has since graduated from Art School which he attended on scholarship, and is working as an artist.
Another individual who was on medication, took off spurning his pills and disappeared for a time. After a 40 day sadhana done on his behalf, he had stabilized his life and was back on his medication without complaint.
A woman I know was in constant pain for four years. She undertook this discipline and after just a few weeks was in less pain than at any time she could remember over the past several years. She is still doing the mantra an expects to be pain free relatively soon.
Although the mantra is long, it is simple to say phonetically. If you can, say it 108 times in a sitting. If you are just starting out, this may initially take up to one hour. After you are comfortable with the mantra, it will only take you 30 minutes.

Spiritual giving

This morning in class Gina spoke of giving gifts this season for the spirit and soul. So I'm putting it out there for you! This year think about giving massage, yoga class, spa trip, books, magazines, trees, spiritual life coach counsel. Use your imagination, give to enrich the soul, feed the spirit, add beauty!
Om Namah Shivaya
Mike

BABYSITTING COOP

I love the idea of a larger babysitting coop. How would we organize it? Would we have one meeting place or would it rotate? I live in Lake Lotawana, but it seems our locations should be more central. How can we make it stable and reliable without making it over-organized? I made this post so we could gather opinions.

info on liver cleanse

info about your liver http://home.bluegrass.net/~jclark/liver_cleanse.htm

Unlimited November Pass

Hello Kula!

As I'm sure most of you have received the email from Gina regarding the unlimited pass for 90 dollars for the month of November. I have already bought my pass and I am so excited that I can come practice EVERY DAY if I want and if I can. So I was just throwing this out to everyone that I think this is an excellent opportunity for us to practice together every day again which I miss so much. During the cleanse practicing with the kula every day was so inspiring and I gained so much strength from all of you!

Much Love
MO