July 15, 2016–I was delighted to make another cameo in a news piece with 97-year-old yoga master Tao Porchon-Lynch, this time with ABC News online. For the last few years, as I was co-authoring Tao’s autobiography, I’ve traveled with her moderating conversations and assisting in yoga workshops. The pictures in this news piece are from our time in Jamaica as we were finishing Dancing Light.
July 14, 2016–97-year-old yoga master Tao Porchon-Lynch and I spent the afternoon with Shwaasaguru Sri Vachananand Swamiji from Bangalore. He is a yogic science expert and philosopher best known for his mass yoga camps, TV shows in India and teaching of Shwaasa yoga. He was sent to his Master Sri Marulashankara Shivayogi at age 8 and has been dedicated to the yogic lifestyle since. Tao presented Shwaasaguru with her Dancing Light book. He presented her with an Ishta-linga – a grey slate stone to aid in a specific meditation technique. It is a key aspect of Shiva-yoga. He also informed Tao that she will be honored in the 2017 Yoga Ratna Awards in Bangalore next year.
A DOSE OF POWER LIVING®: Enjoy Each Step – As Wayne Dyer said, “When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor. It’s to enjoy each step along the way.”
A DOSE OF POWER LIVING®: Still the Mind, See your Self – As yoga master B.K.S. Iyengar said: “The still waters of a lake reflect the beauty around it. When the mind is still, the beauty of the Self is seen reflected in it.”
QUOTE CARD: “The still waters of a lake reflect the beauty around it. When the mind is still, the beauty of the Self is seen reflected in it.”
-B.K.S. Iyengar
Pranayama is a vast subject with illimitable possibilities. It is psychosomatic, since it explores the intimate relationship between the body and the mind. It may appear quite simple and easy, but the moment one sits down to practise, one quickly realizes that it is a difficult art.
-B.K.S. Iyengar, in Light on Pranayama
Words can hypnotise and attract a reader toward religious practice (sadhana) and make him think that he understands a spiritual experience. Reading, however, only makes him more learned, while practice (sadhana) in what he read brings him nearer to truth and clarity. Fact is truth and clarity is purity.
-B.K.S. Iyengar, in Light on Pranayama
NEW YEAR’S AFFIRMATION: This day marks a new year… may you be newly awakened to it.
May your eyes be open to the wonders around you…
BOOK: The Living Gita: The Complete Bhagavad Gita, by Sri Swami Satchidananda – Part of the epic poem of the Mahabharata, the Bhagavad Gita is a classic scripture of ancient India. Translated as “Song of God,” it offers a great story which prompts you to think about your own inner guru.
POSTCARD: “This day marks a new year… may you be newly awakened to it.
May your eyes be open to the wonders around you.
May your ears hear your inner guru.
May your mind see unlimited possibilities
and create new realities.
