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Greetings!
Season greetings to all of our students, friends and family! We wish you a healthy and prosperous holiday season. May the wealth of loving family and friends remind you of the true value of this time of year. It is a wonderful time to remember to pause in gratitude, give thanks for all that you are receiving each day.
We want to thank all of you who took the time to write a review on either Google or Yahoo for us! Your kind words touched us deeply AND helped to bring our rating up in the search engines. May more people come join us in the blessed practice of Yoga on the Beach. If you didn't get a chance to write a review here are the links again. Hit the "write a review" button, and share your experience.
Nancy is very excited for the opportunity to see some of the Cape Cod students midwinter this year. Check out our upcoming events for the Midwinter Sanctuary.
We acknowledge each one of you as a bright light in our lives. Thank you for sparkling in your own delightful way.
Light, Love and Deep Appreciation,
Nancy and Don |
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Radical Acceptance
by Don Bartolone |
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The term "radical acceptance" first caught my attention while perusing the Kripalu catalogue. At first glance, I interpreted this to mean acceptance of all circumstances including the most challenging, acceptance of the self. I further considered that with accepting the self, I could learn to abstain from self criticism, self hatred, and self rejection in any form. This in turn could lead to acceptance of others and their selves, with all the flaws and inadequacies that they may house.
I wasn't completely off track in these assumptions, however, having gone down this path now, I have come to have a clearer understanding of this process for "radical acceptance" along with the power of its practice.
Those of us who are head centered, tend to examine our thoughts, change or modify our thoughts, and even try to stop our thoughts. That experience may be something akin to attempting to stop the flow of blood. In yoga, we practice connection and dialogue with the body through the sensations the body experiences. It's a heart centered practice which relieves us of the analytical exercise involving thought, we let got of the "story."
Yoga is a path in which "radical acceptance" is an invited guest. We practice being in the moment with whatever we are feeling physically, energetically, emotionally, and mentally in each asana.
Integrating this practice in into our daily lives opens the way to heightened awareness through the transmutation of the energy of resistance and fear. How does this occur? Its simpler than you might expect. We sit with the sensation or feeling. We observe our reaction. We pause, and we continue to observe the change in the feeling, on whatever level it is. We may also invite our breath into the process, and boldly breathe into the sensation, even when we initially perceive it as unpleasant.
If we could put away the judgment of the experience, releasing the concept of duality, we position ourselves to see what seemed previously beyond our grasp. Not dissipation but a powerful morph of perception awaits us when we mindfully sit with the physical sensation of the moment.
CONTINUE |
