Karma Yogi IV: March is for Women!

February was a celebration of Black History. Now we move from one aspect of who I am to another...Women's History! March is Women's History Month as well as National Women/Girls HIV/AIDS Day on March 10th. So let's do this Karma Yogi session with a little celebration and links for you to get into the spirit of celebrating Womanhood:

Let's not lie to ourselves and act like Michelle Obama is NOT history in the making! The first black First Lady of the United States? Come on now. It will start with her but it surely won't end with her.

If you are in Brooklyn, you can celebrate Women's History Month with First Saturday at the Brooklyn Museum. If you are in NYC on Saturday and love Hip Hop, you can celebrate Women's History Month with this jam.

It's so crazy how much history was made in a couple of months! 100 year old Black women got to vote for and elect a black president. This may not seem like much to most but when your family has been slaves for the past 300 years, this is HUGE. Especially for those who have lived through slavery and segregation. Bless them!

Now let's move onto March 10th...

According to the HIV/AIDS Awareness Website:

In 2005, women represented 26 percent of new AIDS diagnoses, compared to only 11 percent of new AIDS cases reported in 1990. Most women are infected with HIV through heterosexual contact and injection drug use.

Women of color are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. AIDS is now the leading cause of death for Black women ages 25 to 34.

You can get involved in your area by clicking here. In NYC, from 3/6 - 3/13, Womens and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day will be celebrated here. If you can participate, please do.

Now, even though we are celebrating Women's History this month, I truly believe that in order to respect the past, we must use the lessons learned then for the future. With this in mind, I'm going to give you links to a couple of websites and blogs that I think are doing a great job in helping women in the present and for the future:

kiva.org --> Micro-lending at its finest. It allows you to loan to the working poor around the world. I don't know why but it works. I'm going to lend to someone in need by the end of the month. You can lend in increments of $25 or more.

International Women's Day is March 8th. You can help out not only by participating with kiva.org but also with seva.org. Seva means "service" in Sanskrit. Karma Yoga is based on seva and goes beyond that in regards to the manner in which you perform your service. According to the website,

Working in nine countries in addition to the United States, Seva Foundation supports projects in the area of health and wellness, community development, environmental protection and cultural preservation.

Working with children and parents in the United States, lend4health is a blog that does micro-lending to benefit those that need help with their health and wellness. Spawned from kiva.org, lend4health is currently helping out children and adults dealing with autism spectrum disorders. For more information, click here.

The last website that I'm going to talk about is called Off the Mat,Into the World. Created by Yogini Seane Corn, Hala Khouri, and Suzanne Sterling, OTM takes Yoga and Seva to new levels with their Humanitarian tours. For more information, please click here.

I think this is it for now...we need to celebrate women everyday - the past, the present, and the future. Women need to celebrate their bodies, their mindset, and what we do for this planet and humanity. No more of this "secondary but necessary" business. Once and for all, let women feel and rise up to the word equality. Respect from others can only come when we start to truly respect ourselves.

Until next time...stay strong, stay healthy, and fight dis-ease!

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Random Thoughts XVI: A little something for Yoga Teachers in Training.

I wrote this on my Twitwall today, for a couple of YTT (Yoga Teacher Trainers) this morning. I liked it so much that I decided to share it with all of you. Just a little something for people to understand what goes on when you learn how to teach Yoga. You will realize that unlike other schools of learning, when you learn how to teach Yoga, you will come to realize that you are the teacher and the student at the same time. Enjoy this amazing phenomenon. (and besides...I feel really bad not being able to post anything this week...2 jobs will do that to you )


When I was in Yoga Teacher Training, I learned about all these new and wonderous things that amazed me and terrified me at the same time: chakra, kundalini, tantra, etc.

My teachers would talk about these things, especially in relation to the Yoga Sutras. Before going any further, they would always say, "this is NOT for your future students." I would look at them like, "why not? this is great for anyone to learn!" Going deeper into my Teacher Training, I understood why.

Learning about chakras, etc. is for your use because you are no longer at a Beginner Level when you do teacher training. However, unless you're doing a 500 hr. TT, your "demographic" is going to be true beginners - people who don't even want to do asana, much less learn about chakras and kundalini. I guarantee you that if you introduce chakras to someone who knows nothing about Tadasana, they will leave faster than they came in, before you can finish the last "a" in the word chakra.

Then why learn about them then? This was one of the many smart mouth questions that my ego asked inside but my heart knew not to speak out loud.

When you teach, you are providing a service, whether you get paid or not. You are sharing a part of yourself with your students. Teaching classes (even teaching one class) a day can take a lot out of you mentally and emotionally (physically too, if you're teaching more challenging Hatha Yoga styles). Everytime you teach, a bit of prana leaves you and permeates throughout the class, into their bodies.

Learning about chakras, kundalini and the like is a way for you to replenish your prana and conserve it for these times when it is released. You can share and share and share but what happens when you're drained or burned out and you have no more to share? You can't teach nor learn anything.

So it's great to learn new things but at this point in time, you have to separate yourself. You are now the teacher and the student. You are the beginner and the intermediate. You must remember that you are going to teach those who may know nothing. As you teach, you also have to remember that you are a student too (because you learn about your students from each class).

Balance is the key and so is pranayama. Teach a student pranayama properly and their knowledge of the chakras, kundalini, tantra and whatever else will come with ease. Soon, you won't have to tell them anything. They will come to you, asking feverishly for the knowledge you can't wait to impart.

Jai TTs! Om Shanti.

Until next time...stay strong, stay healthy, and fight dis-ease!

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Karma Yogi I: The Begin Again

Happy Holidays Everyone!

I'm stuck at work until around 4pm, but that's okay because I get to talk about one of my favorite things to do!

Before I get into Karma Yoga and what that entails, let's take a look at what karma is:

kar·ma

Pronunciation:

\ˈkär-mə also ˈkər-\

Function:

noun

Etymology:

Sanskrit karma fate, work

Date:

1827

1often capitalized : the force generated by a person's actions held in Hinduism and Buddhism to perpetuate transmigration and in its ethical consequences to determine the nature of the person's next existence2: vibration 4

— kar·mic \-mik\ adjective

taken from the Miriam-Websters Dictionary online. 

Take a look at what I bolded...the word "karma" comes from Sanskrit. It means fate, work or action. In regards to our general lives, it means "action entailing its consequences." In laymen's terms, that means: actions that affect our present/future.

Many Yogis will use the word "Seva" instead of "Karma Yoga." Seva means "service" in sanskrit. To me, there is really no difference between the two words, save the extended application of "karma."

At Integral Yoga, Karma Yoga means doing everything in service to the greater good. It doesn't matter what you do. As long as you do it with the purpose of the greater good, then you're a Karma Yogi. Bhakti Yoga, which is based on devotion, is along the same lines but differs in that your "service" and "devotion" will be to a figure, object, or concept (I'm referring to Jesus or Buddha). Karma Yoga is done for the greater good, which can be yourself or a group of people in a certain situation (like the elderly).

Well what's so good about Karma Yoga?

Karma Yoga helps to keep the mind focused and calm and selfless. When you do something for others, there is no feeling like that. Accomplishment is bettering your fellow man is most times better than finding $100 on the ground. Being of service to someone in need is priceless. Being selfless is being closer to the Most High (in whatever form you choose).

Let's face it. There is a recession in this country. Everyone - those with jobs and those without - are struggling to make ends meet. People are losing their houses, cars, you name it, they either lost it or are going to lose it. This makes people depressed, angry, lost, and hopeless.

One of the ways to combat it is through Karma Yoga (volunteering). Regardless of your situation, there is always someone worse than you. Focusing the mind on someone else's good will can take your mind off your negative thoughts and make you feel better as a human being.

Besides, what else can you do when you're broke, down and out but help your fellow man who is worse off so that both of you can feel better, accomplished, more than enough.

I have no time to volunteer. Would charity work?

Yes, giving to a charity is considered Karma Yoga. However, if you don't have the money to give, what else can you do? Donate your time. Donate your resources.

I give to charities. However, it's a daunting task to figure out which charities are really out to help people and which ones are out to help their own pockets. Then there is the annoyance of junk mail that these charities send out every other day. Jeez. For me, it's just easier to donate your time.

Let me also point out that time does not mean you're whole life. You can do Karma Yoga once a year for 30 minutes. There are people who do Karma Yoga over the phone or even online. It doesn't have to be everyday at all. It also doesn't have to be something super huge. OK...the Red Cross isn't taking volunteers right now. There is always a YMCA, Homeless Shelter, Church, or Yoga/Fitness Place (other than those commercial gyms) that provide internships and karma yoga type jobs.

OK See...I'm ready to help out my fellow man/woman/child/animal. Where do I start?

Start at home. I don't mean "clean your house." That isn't Karma Yoga (even though I believed it was for a long time). If you have a child, start at their school. If you go to school, start at your school. Go to church? Look there. A member of a Yoga Studio or Wellness Center? There you go. Join a Food Co-op! That's a great start to get healthy AND do some Karma Yoga.

A lot of us want to save people on a grand scale. We want to help domestic violence victims (like I do), or single mothers, or victims of Hurricane Katrina. There's nothing wrong with that at all...but why don't you start with a local chapter of an organization? Think about it.

Seva and Karma Yoga shouldn't be something you just jump into. It's good to do research and make sure it's something that you WANT to be a part of and not out of obligation. Intention is very important in everything you do.

Here are a couple of links to help you get started:

• Idealist.org - a great website to find volunteer/internships (paid and otherwise)
• If you are in the NYC area, then take a look at these sites and contact the persons in charge to find out more:
• Embora Wellness and Movement Studio - they are always looking for interns to help out at the front desk. You can get free classes in return (Brooklyn).
• Integral Yoga Institute - their Work Exchange Program is excellent. I was a Karma Yogi there for 6 months. When I did Karma Yoga again recently, I missed it so much that after Yoga Teacher Training, I'm going to make it a point to do it again, at least once a week (like I don't practically live at this place already!). IYI is located in Manhattan.
• The Mayor's Volunteer Center - a great site for New Yorker's to find volunteer work in different areas, within many areas of interest.

I'm going to leave it here for now. Next time I talk about Karma Yoga, I will only talk about one organization (or link for more information) at a time. I just wanted to give you this overview to get your feet wet.

So until next time...stay strong, stay healthy, and fight dis-ease! (UK and Canada, I see you)

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