Eoin's Bliss Blog

“Listen before acting”

There is an elegance in this simple statement. First of all, it recognizes the fundamental aspects of the way we interact with the world. Active and passive, giving and receiving, asserting and yielding. Effectively, Yin and Yang. Yin is the receptive and yielding and Yang is that active and asserting.

So often we are active in the world. Convincing others of the validity of our values, of trying to shape things so that they match our internal map. This is healthy, to a certain extent. Who doesn’t want to see more of what they like in the world? Anyone who has been around kids for a while knows that we learn to express our wants very early in life.

Have you ever been around a “me-centered” person? Everything revolves around them, their issues, their likes, their dislikes. It can be quite tiring after a while, or in a lot of cases, very quickly.

Since the ego is not asserting itself while listening, it is not a skill that we have many role models for in our world. But Listening is the process of receiving information. Of informing our body, mind and hearts. Instead of an outgoing stream, it is incoming. It is essential that we remind ourselves daily of the need to listen.

Think of the constriction you feel in your body/mind when people don’t listen to you or misunderstand you. Teeth grit, back tightens, viscera hardens. Contrast that with being really, genuinely understood. There is a sense of peace, flow and ease. What a great gift it is to be listened to.

The problem is that only a small of information we are exposed to even makes it past the filter our mind has called our belief system. Some psychologists say as little as ten percent of what we hear registers with us. It is like we have a gatekeeper filtering out information that doesn’t reinforce what we already believe.

In a world of action and asserting, it is important for all of us to develop this skill of true listening. Bhuddist mystic, Thich Nat Hahn states it this way: “Love is listening deeply.” Consider that. What is being said there? In eastern traditions, love is the comes by transcending the bounds of our ego-centered point of view and opening up to the concerns of others. That’s called listening.

How do we learn to listen? Listen with your body. When we are listening, there is ease in our body, even if we don’t agree with whatever we are listening to. Try paying attention to how we breathe. There is no unnecessary constriction.

Ultimately, meditation is the skill of deep listening. And by meditation, I don’t mean only the idea of sitting in silence in a room somewhere, but also getting quiet outside and feeling the vibrations of nature. There is a deep wisdom and a sense of connection waiting for us beyond the realms of wants and desires. Tap into it.

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Tea time as the sun rises here in Vancouver. We just had the most inspiring 10 days of teacher training. I can’t wait for you to experience this generation of yoga teachers.

In spite of the deep sense of tiredness I feel from running such an intense course, last night was not a restful one.

A Conservative Minority Government in Canada? How did this happen? It flies in the face of every value I believe in. A leader who was voted the worst in the world for his environmental policy by the UN in Bali last year? Who adamantly opposes Kyoto and supports his Alberta oil cronies? Who has us tangled up in a war in Afghanistan that has hundreds of civilian casualties every year? No to mention a leader who has enforced radical cuts to the Arts and to social programs. This is not the Canada I grew up believing in.

The national candidate who speaks most truly to my values, Elizabeth May of the Green Party was defeated in her home riding in Nova Scotia by the Conservative defense minister. My spirit is deflated. How can my country be so out of touch with what citizens not motivated purely by self interest are trying to promote? How did we get 4 left wing party and one on the right allowing a Prime Minister to be elected with only 36 percent of the votes?

My whole message of what I am teaching can be distilled into this fact: every action is a balance between self-interest and concern for the well being of others. We need to get in touch with the deepest part of ourselves through yoga and other activities in life to be guided by the wisdom of our heart.

When I hear the radio interviews with people who elected Stephen Harper, they talk about how he cut the GST and helped save them money and how they believe he is qualified in looking after the economic future of their children. We can talk about Harper’s economic policies another time, however, once again we have again put economics in place of the environment.

I would love to write more abut how sustainable energy is the business of the next generation and we just have to wake up and see that. Germany, for example estimates that Solar energy will be the biggest industry in their country in the next 10 years.

I could go on, but the fact is that if you agree with me, you are still reading this and those who don’t have stopped a long time ago. We only read what supports our own ‘Private Idaho’ view of the world.

What is next, Bliss Army? How do we lick our wounds and ‘be the change’ when the political tide seems to be stacked against us?

To answer that we need to look at anger. What is anger? Basically, it is a neuro-physiological response we feel when our image of how the world should be does not match how things really are.

According to St. Augustine “nothing good ever happens without anger.”

This is the essence of the Bliss Army idea. People ask all the time, wow, isn’t the army idea antithetical to yoga? I am always amazed since the Bhagavad Gita unfolds on a battlefield. Life is a battle between how to make our thoughts match the reality of world events.

When we lose our centre, this anger harms us. Any martial artist will tell you, the major key to success in any battle is to make your opponent so upset, that they cant think clearly. Then they are vulnerable and easy to overcome.

The tools that martial artists use to maintain their centre are the same ones as the yogis. Attention to the breath, a relaxed and alert body, learning how to calm the reptilian brain and minimize all chatter in the mind.

So here we are, things aren’t going our way. The ultra-fiery, “I just want to smack someone” response when our breath is short and choppy is important to move through our bodies. Scream, vent, curse, stick little pins in a Stephen Harper voodoo doll (now there is a great business idea for someone). Get this stuff out of your body.

In the Bhagavad Gita, The “stuff it down”, super mental control of a yogi can lead to what one of my teachers, body mind psychotherapist Susan Aposhyan calls “emotional constipation.” You have to let it out in a way that is non-harming to you and others. If you are a Himalayan Cave dwelling super yogi, you made not need this step, otherwise take a little time and find a constructive way to vent.

That is step two connecting back to the source. The ultimate guide for all life’s higher purposes. Here is a small list of ways to connect with The Love force: getting quiet; getting out in Nature; a deep yoga practice: mediation; an uplifting book; surrounding yourself with loving, kind peopleand even going through a grieving process.

Listen to this guide. It is ultimately what is telling us what is wrong with the way the world is. Then refocus at the task at hand. Being the change. Setting an example for others who are ruled by the opposite of the Love force, the force of self-interest.

Know that there are millions and millions of people who ‘get it.’ The Bliss Army is massive. You are far from alone.

One last thought: “Go Obama!”

Check out these ideas on Eoin’s BLISS FM Podcast

This is the start of the next session of our yoga teacher’s training and I wanted to share this with you. The first two terms are borrowed from a great friend and teacher, Joel Kramer, the latter two are ideas that I have been forming for a while.

Pushers The mindset of a pusher is one that is motivated by achieving a goal at any cost. It is a result of our intensely competitive society where we have to rise to the top no matter what. It is a tempting mindset, but the pushing approach to yoga eventually means ignoring vital bodily feedback leading to frustration and injury.

Sensualists Another of Joel’s terms to describe yogis who tune into somatic (first person, experiential) feedback while practicing yoga. This feedback is never ignored and it is used wisely while working towards personal growth. The whole body, mind and subtle energy systems works together as a unit to create an a liberating yoga experience.

Mechanists is a term I use for Yogis who are working from the outside in. They approach their body from an objective experience. Movements are rigid and and driven by the analytical frontal lobe. I call this the ‘Lab Coat effect’ where purely rational activity is the dominant mindset behind every pose. This is a very typically ‘Western’ attitude to break things down like this. We need a certain amount of it, because this mechanistic understanding helps us to make poses more therapeutic and safe. When we have too much of it, our consciousness is not in the body and we are not open to the experience of the subtle energy inherent in all things.

Conduits use the same methodology as sensualists, except not only are they aware of feedback from the body, but there is a distinct sensation that some kind of profound but un-nameable energy is flowing through them. Musicians, artists, lovers, athletes, yogis or anyone who is deeply immersed in what they are doing in body, mind and ’soul’ has felt this.

In the past, this might have been called divine grace or God, but it is best to leave this force nameless since words can never capture it and always try and tame it. Plus we have so many pre-conceptions about what these words mean that it loses the freshness of the experience.

Science can claim that the sensation of this energy is a neuro-physiological event. They may be right, but for those who feel it, no matter what it is powerful and we need to let it guide.

If I have one mission in life it is to open up to the experience of being a conduit for some kind of larger force to flow through me and to share pathways to this experience with others. That is the mission of each yoga class, retreat, teacher training or simple interaction with others on the street that I am trying to open up to more.

* for more information about pushers and sensualists see Joel Kramer’s article Yoga for Self Transformation at joel and diana’s website

U.S. Elections, Vancouver Elections, Canadian Elections… It is unreal that the shape of our world will be moulded in the next few months. This could be a huge turning point for what David Korten calls the “Earth Community” or we could plunge back into self interested foreign and domestic policies.

In one sense, we have become a huge global village here on Planet Earth. In another, the borders are getting tighter and tighter. With the drive to make “homelands more secure,” our hearts are becoming more rigid with each ‘us and them judgment’ we are exposed to. Name any city on earth; Bombay, Beijing, Washington or Ottawa and you will see that Fundamentalism is flourishing everywhere.

Compounded by fear about recession, real estate meltdowns, and peak oil we have a shriveled up every man for himself mentality. Every time I turn on the radio and listen ‘experts’ talk about what the biggest issues are here in Canada the environment has not been named even though just a few years ago, it became a key political issue. David Suzuki has started a website called voteenvironment2008.ca which I encourage you to visit.

Yet at the same time, there are so many causes for hope. So many people truly thinking globally and borders seem to be breaking down. The flag of planet earth is the one they wave and not just their country, religion or local “tribe.”

On International Peace Day, Sunday Septemeber 21 as part of the Global Mala Initiative, I am happy to be a part of a festive team of yogis leading 108 sun salutations at Peace Arch Park on the US and Canada Border. Check out malaontheborder.com and come on out rain or shine this Sunday.

Celebrate love. That is what this day is all about.

“What do you do for cardio?” is a question that I often get asked. “Nothing, just yoga and surfing” I casually reply.

With our Ukee Beach House rented for most of the summer and the outdoor classes rocking, I decided this summer to put surfing on the back burner. But “how am I going to get my nature and outdoor exercise fix?” I thought. I realized I had to do something because for one I love nature and have to play outside. Secondly I love creamy desserts and Crème Brule shows up on your body more as I approach 40 than it did in college.

Then last month I was meeting up with Chip and Eric at lululemon and next thing I knew I was fitting my medium sized legs into Chip’s spare extra large shorts and walking up the Grouse Grind.

“Hmmm.. I might as well embrace Vancouver Culture for my summer in the city away from my ocean playground. What could be more Vancouver than the Grouse Grind? We could even do a yoga class at the top,” went the thought process.

“Am I really doing this I?” asked myself?

For those of you who don’t live in Vancouver, it is a constant straight up and down climb on root and rock stairs hidden behind a thick Northwest evergreen forests. Is there one single flat spot to get your breath or to leisurely check out the view? Nope. Just pure, well, grind… If the Hobbits could create hell, the Grouse Grind is what they would come up with; an 800 meter ascent into thigh burning hell.

Have you ever thought something and wondered if it was really you thinking it. Did I really suggest to myself? The Grouse Grind? I hate the Grouse Grind. I normally walk up the Grind once every 5 years and never enjoy it. If it wasn’t for the mild amnesia that time induces I would never let my friends talk me into it.

I have only done the Grind 4 times this year and I am not a jogger, but if you really want to improve your time on this Hellish Ascent, then run a yoga class at the top at 8:30am and be at the bottom at 7:40am. Guaranteed to shave some minutes off. I was amazed though how much the yoga really helped for this.

“Ok, I guess we are going to have to do this one quickly today” I said to Insiya as we locked up our car and headed for the trailhead.

This is a huge R and D thing for me. I hate clocks and timing things and all the “Type-A-isms” that so many of Vancouver’s uberfit love. I just want to do sports and not get stressed about time. I hate feeling like a gerbil on a treadmill with some clock hanging over me. I do sports to forget about clocks

How can I get to the top in 40 minutes when that is 10 minutes earlier than the week before (we were at the bottom at 7:40 that day)?

“No time to contemplate that, Eoin, just start walking, you idiot,” I heard my inner coach, stopwatch in hand, assert.

Off I went, barefoot on the side of mountain (you have to try that walk barefoot) scurrying up with my hands on my knees so I could use my arm power and not just my leg power to take 3 stairs at a time.

Here’s the great part, a younger me would have been huffing an puffing, and panting like a birddog let loose in a butterfly museum, but I found the body mind awareness that yoga has provided me to be an amazing tool. I was not taking shallow, short and choppy breaths but long deep and efficient ones. It was like life, when people are stressed they loose efficiency unless they have a lot of training.

“Wow, this is a test of my yoga wisdom for athletes,” I thought. All that pranayama (yogic breathing techniques) paid off and I had no oxygen debt. It shouldn’t have surprised me since my friend Skip was just on a boat trip with magician David Blaine who set a world record for holding his breath underwater for 17 minutes and 4 seconds, largely using yogic techniques and very advanced body mind control.

As I reached the half way mark, I developed a huge desire to study the scientific results of doing cardiovascular exercise mindfully vs in an untrained way.

I want to study how the state of mind of the athlete helps to regulate the flow of blood and oxygen. If the body uses energy more efficiently. The respiratory rate vs volume of air intake with an efficient ‘yoga style’ breath. Which part of the lungs yogis use vs athletes who are not aware of the neuro-physiology of breathing. Slowing down the heart rate to increase recovery time and reduce oxygen debt. Those types of geeky things. I am hoping that someone who works in a lab somewhere is also interested and wants to spend a little time researching this.

With basically no cardiovascular fitness training for my legs, I whipped up the mountain in 44 1/2 minutes shoeless but not breathless. We had a great yoga class, took in some sunshine and a view of one of the most amazing places to live on planet earth. With every breath I took during the practice, I smiled knowing that the changes in my being that were taking place were so deep.

Is there a bigger buzzword out there than organic? It is amazing how a term referring to carbon-based life has come to symbolize so much for us. Wholesome, sustainable, ethical, and healthy, we capture it all with each utterance of the word organic.

I think one essential part of the organic movement is that it takes more time to grow things organically, but, man, they are sweeter. I always am amazed that fruits or vegetables that I hated as a kid taste amazing to me now when I eat the organic version rather than the industrialized ones.

When things are not grown organically, really they are trying to be sped up or artificially pumped up with hormones and chemicals rather that relying on nature’s inherent life force.

Without the luxury of big budgets the organic growth of the Yogathon and Blissfest has happened because it resonates so deeply with the calling that we all have inside us. The call to shake off the bonds of a society that is overly concerned with personal desires, economics, reductionist science and an overly rational value system in relation to the lessons that our hearts are teaching us. That we are one interconnected whole, an organic structure and we care deeply about others around us.

After six years of organic growth, this year promises to be a stellar assembly of musicians, yogis, green businesses, tasty food vendors, kids and adults. We are all coming together not just in support of the amazing cause of Camp Moomba but to create a celebration of our core value … Love.

This event is a symbol and a ritual for you the shifting values of our generation. When there is love in our hearts, big budget or not, we will use the energy we accumulate during this event to grow organically into a more loving and kind society. Let’s celebrate that this weekend. Encourage others to come out, bring your smiles and get ready for something really, really powerful.

Yoga in the rain - Camp Moomba Yogathon 2007 from bm1contact on Vimeo

It’s coming again. The sixth annual Yogathon and Blissfest Sat, July 12 at Thunderbird Stadium, UBC. This promises to be a breakthrough year, a full cultural event our city that people plan their schedule around. It is exciting to see because the vision is so powerful.

At the end of the day, the festival acknowledges that none of us exist in isolation but are who we are due to our relationships to others. In times when we get so busy and are bombarded with news media, business and life commitments it is so easy to forget this. And as a society we have been getting low marks for our ability to create a social model that honours local community.

Still, deep in our hearts, when we take the time to recognize it, we know that life without community bonds is incomplete. The force that binds us together is called love which means we focus less on ourselves and more on others. In yoga, we call it Karma Yoga. This is what we are celebrating.

Whether you can do yoga or not, come out for day. Start a team and fund raise, or just pay the $20 admission. You’ll be sending kids who are impacted by HIV and AIDS to go to camp for a week.

Besides the amazing lineup of all levels yoga, enjoy this event for the music, the people, to enjoy products from sustainable businesses or to watch the delight on the faces of all the kids there. Let’s play and dance and each one of us bask in the energy that is created by so many kind and conscious people gathered in one spot.

As an example of how, to use the title of a book my friend Tony gave me the other week, “Why Good things Happen to Good People” here is a video clip someone just emailed to me yesterday of the (Rainy) event last summer. Every year it is so apparent that people have incredible hearts, they just need the forum to let it out. Thanks to Bruce Yu for this footage.

Yoga in the rain - Camp Moomba Yogathon 2007 from bm1contact on Vimeo

Namaste,

The root of Vinyasa according to Srivatsa Ramaswami in The Vinyasa Book is “Vi” variation and “Nyasa” means “in a prescribed way.” Literally then, it is variation within prescribed parameters.

It becomes confusing because we have a style of yoga which has emerged called vinyasa yoga or vinyasa flow yoga, and you’ll hear Ashtanga Yogis referring to “doing a vinyasa” (ie: lifting up, jumping back, doing upward and downward dog) between every seated pose.

Really, the essence of Vinyasa is to complete a cycle with a goal and intention.

This means that we have a clear idea of the beginning, middle and end of a cycle and where we want to be at the end of it. The whole yoga practice in this way can be seen as a vinyasa. Inside that larger vinyasa are a whole series of mini-vinyasas that each have there unique goal.

If Yogis were tennis players, they would eliminate the terms, game, set match with vinyasa, vinyasa, vinyasa. Game, Set and Match after all are all just a series of larger and larger cycles.

In another way, it is a lot like a musical album. The whole album is a vinyasa, then each independent song makes it’s own smaller vinyasa. Artists put a lot of thought into how they lay the songs out on an album; yoga teachers should too.

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Logical sequencing

, building up to a peak. Each pose complimenting the poses that are coming next. For example a series of hip flexor openers before backbends (front body stretches)
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Time to digest between

vinyasas the way a tapas restaurant gives you time to digest before the next dish comes out (serving food is another great vinyasa example). Note: think about how little time our society has to digest anything. It is a constant flood of one thing following another
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Breath.

The poses are the notes, the breath is the way we play the instrument of the body.

A skillful vinyasa teacher will recognize the needs of his or her students and apply what is best needed. The gunas are a good hint at understanding the sequencing. Understanding people’s injuries or skill level is key. We also have to asses their physical needs. For example, a group may hate a chaturanga vinyasa cycle and want to take the path of least resistance, but that may be precisely the reason why they need to be challenged in that way.

As we prepare for the Teacher Training coming up this April 17, I have been writing summaries of books, ideas and philosophies that have been influential to me. One of those books is Power vs Force which is an interesting scientific attempt to calibrate the levels of consciousness that most mystic traditions present.

The idea is that when we are acting from the lower levels of consciousness, we are acting from force, meaning that we are trying to control, to manipulate and to achieve ego gratification.

Acting from higher levels of consciousness, we are “tuning into” a power that resonates with people and they do not need to be forced and one’s inner core values of what is true and right do not need to be compromised.

Those levels of consciousness are

700-1000 enlightenment
600 peace
540 joy
500 love
400 reason
350 acceptance
310 willingness
250 neutrality
200 courage
175 pride
150 anger
125 desire
100 fear
75 grief
50 apathy
30 guilt
20 shame

Furthermore, each level of consciousness has it’s attractor patterns – meaning that the same way a magnet attracts iron filings, the consciousness of a person sets up certain attractor patterns for events in one’s life.

Implication to the yoga teacher:

Although I am yet to be convinced of the validity of Applied Kinesiology as a science, the book is an excellent summation of the levels of consciousness as presented in different wisdom traditions, like the Tantric Chakra system

What I hope resonates with you is that, what your biggest gift is a yoga teacher is to choose a lifestyle where your work is to rise up the levels of consciousness so that you can you can 1) live a full life yourself 2) you can by your words, actions and very presence influence others to rise to their highest levels of consciousness.

It is an important lesson. So often, we need to remind ourselves where the average person is ‘resonating’ at… with the effects of TV, gossip magazines, advertising, commuting, selling and so on, there can be a very low frequency level of consciousness. As the Author David Hawkins points out, the average level of consciousness in our society is 175. I wrote in the Happiness Map that “there is and will always be a force in society dragging you down to a life of uninspired mediocrity.” It is the same idea. There is so much psychological inertia to overcome, that to stand in the presence of someone who is calibrating at a higher level of consciousness has a powerful effect.

Always remember, as a yoga instructor 80% of what you are doing is offering the gift of the wisdom that comes from the higher states of consciousness like joy, love and caring. You can do it in a relaxed way. People will get it.

Watch a master of this like the Dali Lama. He doesn’t need to prove his big intellect. In fact he often admits to not knowing the answers to people’s questions. It is his presence and the work he does to remain in the highest levels of consciousness that draws crowds by the thousands. It really is a palpable force… er, I guess that would be a power, in terms of the Power vs Force book, but you know what I mean.

Your Mantra before and during yoga classes: Be in your Power, Don’t Force. Trust this and it is amazing what you will attract.

Every day in Bali, we made offerings of freshly cut flowers in a small banana leaf basket. It became our ritual, as almost everyone does in Bali. Now back in Canada, I smile a warm and wide smile to that magical island of Bali and make an offering to you not with flowers but with a bowed head expressing gratitude for one of the warmest cultures on planet earth.

We just had the most amazing YES retreat at Desa Seni.
It was the most incredible retreat setting and we have already booked for February 2009. The eco-village consisted of antique and elegantly furnished villas disassembled in Java, shipped to Bali and reconstructed amongst the rice paddies close to Cangu Beach. The service and setting were so personal, genuine and gracious. I salute all of the amazing staff there for providing us with the environment to both, relax, to cultivate new friendships and to grow on our own personal evolution.

I pray that the people of Bali have the courage to keep the flow of commerce balanced with the wisdom that comes from your land. As the ubiquitous black and white checked cloth of the Balinese represents, there is always a dark side.

I am sitting in the passenger seat of Madeh, my driver’s car, on a gorgeous 5:30am surf check over the hill and temple of Nusa Dua. I take in the golden light of the morning and the green of the cow pasture below us. I see why temples were built on the cliff below, because the astonishing beauty of this vista truly opens you up to the mystery of being alive.

Madeh turns and says to me in his Indonesian accent, “this would be a great location for a hotel.” I am kicked in the gut by this statement. It is true, I have seen it around the world, where there is a view, there is or will be soon condo development or hotel.

Later that day, Madeh throws an empty plastic water bottle into the gutter. Another kick. Reality check.

I know that the inequity of the world economy has left the whole third world clambering to reach our first world standard of living at any cost, and I pray that, we can help people in these countries appreciate the value of nature in their quest for abundance. Even more, I hope we can lead by example.

In spite of these fears, I am touched by Madeh’s kindness and true friendship that he extends to us all.

This is life unfolding and I am grateful that there is so much to be celebrated in the spirit of those islands. My spirit is free and soaring. I have Bali high and I am riding it. Even now. I salute the philosophy that grounds you, Bali, and allows warmth that radiates from your hearts and shapes all who are touched by it like the molten lava shapes the island landscape.

for more photos, check out our flickr page