H Γενναιοδωρία ως πρακτική

Παιδιά, την αρχή της Άνοιξης δεν τη γιορτάζουμε μόνο εμείς στην Ελλάδα. Τυχαίνει να είναι και η Περσική Πρωτοχρονιά γι’ αυτό σας ευχόμαστε Happy NoRooz. 

Όσο για την ψυχική μας ανανέωση που όλοι ποθούμε, η έμπνευση έρχεται μέσα από την απλή διαδικασία του να παρατηρούμε τα πράγματα πιο βαθειά και με αγάπη, με υπομονή και συνειδητότητα ή στα Αγγλικά: “Mindfulness”.

Ο μεγάλος Βιετναμέζος δάσκαλος του Ζεν Thich Nhat Hanh διδάσκει ότι η βάση για τη “Σωστή Δράση” είναι το να κάνουμε τα πάντα με προσοχή και συνειδητότητα. Υπάρχουν πέντε τρόποι για να καλλιεργήσουμε τη συνειδητότητα η οποία αποτελεί το κλειδί που ξελύνει τον ανθρώπινο πόνο.  Ο δεύτερος από αυτούς τους τρόπους είναι η γενναιοδωρία. 

Ο Thich Nhat Hahn αναφέρει στο βιβλίο του The heart of the Buddha’s Teaching:

“Έχοντας επίγνωση του πόνου που γεννά η εκμετάλλευση, η αδικία, η κλεψιά και η καταπίεση, υπόσχομαι να καλλιεργήσω αγάπη και συμπόνια μαθαίνοντας πώς να εργάζομαι για το καλό των ανθρώπων, ζώων, φυτών και ορυκτών.  Θα εξασκηθώ στη γενναιοδωρία μοιραζόμενος/η το χρόνο, την ενέργεια και τους φυσικούς μου πόρους με όσους χρειάζονται στήριξη.  Αποφασίζω να μην κλέβω και να μην παίρνω τίποτε που ανήκει σε άλλους. Θα σέβομαι την περιουσία των άλλων και θα εμποδίσω όσους θέλουν να επωφεληθούν από τον ανθρώπινο πόνο ή τον πόνο άλλων όντων στη Γη… “ Και συνεχίζει παροτρύνοντας... “Πρέπει να μάθουμε να ζούμε απλά και να μη παίρνουμε παραπάνω από ότι χρειαζόμαστε. Όταν κάνουμε κάτι που εξαπλώνει το δίκαιο, αυτό είναι Σωστή Δράση”.

Ο Thich Nhat Hahn αργότερα θα εξηγήσει το πως η “Σωστή Δράση” ισοδυναμεί με τη “Γενναιοδωρία”.  Έχουμε μιλήσει για τη “Γενναιοδωρία” ως μία από τις ¨Έξι Ηρωικές Πράξεις ενός Μποντισάττβα (που είναι όποιος ακολουθεί το μονοπάτι της επιφώτισης και αποφασίζει να ζήσει ηρωικά, νοιαζόμενος δηλαδή τους άλλους).

Στις τάξεις μου αυτή την εβδομάδα μοιράστηκα την ιστορία με τον αγαπημένο μου δάσκαλο τον Reb Anderson που κάθε φορά όταν του εξιστορούσα μια εσωτερική μου δυσκολία με ρωτούσε εάν μπορούσα να νοιώσω γενναιόδωρη. Δεν μπορούσα να καταλάβω τι ακριβώς εννοούσε και αν έπρεπε να νοιώθω μεγαλύτερη γενναιοδωρία προς τους ανθρώπους γύρω μου. Με τον καιρό κατανόησα την ελευθερία και τη χαλάρωση που αναβλύζουν όταν επιτρέπουμε στον εαυτό μας να αισθανθεί όλη τη γκάμα των συναισθημάτων μας χωρίς λογοκρισία.  Αυτή είναι η γενναιοδωρία στην οποία αναφερόταν ο Reb.

Όταν είμαστε θυμωμένοι απλώς δεχόμαστε τον θυμό μας. Όταν είμαστε φοβισμένοι, μπορούμε να αγκαλιάσουμε τον φόβο μας και όταν μας καίει η φωτιά της ζήλιας, εξασκούμαστε στο να δίνουμε χώρο στον εαυτό μας να ζηλεύει.  Η πρακτική αυτή είναι πραγματικά απελευθερωτική. Επιτέλους μπορούμε να κάνουμε ειρήνη με όλες τις συναισθηματικές μας καταστάσεις ακόμη και με τις πιο δύσκολες.  Συμπόνια, αγάπη και δεκτικότητα αναβλύζουν τότε από αυτόν τον αποσυμπιεσμένο χώρο μέσα μας.

Αλλά πριν μπορέσουμε να κάνουμε ειρήνη, η απαραίτητη προϋπόθεση είναι η ήρεμη παρατήρηση, η συνειδητότητα. 

Το 2012 με όλες τις δυσκολίες και τις προκλήσεις του, μας παραπέμπει στη μοναδική αυτή πρακτική.

Σας προσκαλώ να καλωσορίσετε την Άνοιξη με μερικές στιγμές διαλογισμού!

Είθε να είστε χαρούμενοι, ήρεμοι, και ελεύθεροι!

Metta (με αγάπη και συμπόνια),

Βιβή

Greetings!

What a special season, this spring of 2012!

March 21st was the first day of Spring, and the Persian New Year!

We received messages from Persian friends and family wishing us Happy NoRooz.

And a youtube melody to remind us of this nature celebration, as spring is ushered with music and dance...

Though many hearts are broken in this fragile time of world history, it is a good time to look deeply and connect more gingerly with our inner space and each other. This new fresh feeling that we all long for could arise simply by looking inwardly with sensitivity.

Thich Nhat Hanh calls this way of looking deeply at everything in our lives "Mindfulness", and says that,  "the basis of Right Action is to do everything in mindfulness."  A key training in cultivating Mindfulness is generosity. 

The compassionate Vietnamese Zen Master, Thich Nhat Hahn, mentions in his bookThe heart of the Buddha's Teaching: "Aware of the suffering caused by exploitation, social injustice, stealing, and oppression, I am committed to cultivating loving kindness and learning ways to work for the well-being of people, animals, plants, and minerals. I will practice generosity by sharing my time, energy, and material resources with those who are in real need. I am determined not to steal and not to possess anything that should belong to others. I will respect the property of others, but I will prevent others from profiting from human suffering or the suffering of other species on Earth." And he concludes by adding: "We have to learn to live simply so that we do not take more than our share. When we do something to promote social justice, that is Right Action".

Thich Nhat Hahn then equates Right Action with "generosity".

These past few days at NYSY we looked at "generosity" as one of the Six Heroic Acts of a Boddhisattva, a person who vows to live life in a caring, heroic, and enlightened way. In my yoga classes I explained that my dear teacher Reb Anderson upon listening to me talking about a difficult emotion he would always ask: "Are you being generous with that feeling?" For quite some time I did not understand whom I needed to be generous towards, thinking he was talking about the people around me. Over time I realized the freedom and relaxation that comes from allowing ourselves to simply experience our difficult emotions. This is the generosity Reb was talking about. When we are angry, we can just accept our anger. When we are fearful, we can embrace our state of fear, and when there is the fire of jealousy burning up inside us, we can practice giving ourselves the space to be jealous. This practice is indeed liberating. Finally we can make peace with all our emotional states, no matter how difficult. Compassion, love, and acceptance naturally arise from that inner space of ease.

But before we can make peace, we first need to observe things quietly, with mindfulness.

This is the call of our challenging times in the year 2012.

I invite you to welcome Spring with some moments of quiet meditation!

May you be joyful, peaceful, and free!

  

With Metta (loving kindness),

Vivi and our beautiful NYSY Team!

Meeting of greek Anusara Kula

On Sunday March 11, several Anusara teachers and friends met at Avocado and discussed the recent developments on the Anusara front.

Here is a short summary from my own personal point of view:

--We all expressed our appreciation for the teachings of John Friend & Anusara and our concerns for all the recent developments.

--We have all been deeply touched by the pain and confusion and all the ethical issues that have been raised.

--We remain open to the future and less attached to our need to stay affiliated with Anusara Inc. If Anusara continues to exist as a good organization that contributes to the advancement of fairness, democracy, health, and strong ethical yoga practice, then yes we would all like to be part of it.

--We vowed to speak up and have less tolerance for attitudes that do not really serve the highest good.

--Overall, we all felt that Anusara in its core lacked a strong foundation on clear values and ethics. We would like to follow a more spiritual organization one that is founded in real care for the world, rather than a mere financial corporation. We would like to see Anusara reach out and make a difference in places where help is needed in the world...

Allow me to share some of my personal thoughts & feelings on the subject of ethics and finances:

1) Yes it is true that NYSY is responsible for bringing some of the most celebrated yoga teachers in the world right here in Athens.

I have been thinking deeply on how we contributed to this phenomenon of Yoga Teacher Celebrities and the whole financial game. I acknowledge our great responsibility here. Looking as honestly as I could, what I found in my heart was my clear intention to bring the best teachers that I had personally met and admired to my homeland and people. Look at the results: the whole level of yoga and pilates teaching in Greece has been elevated to a whole other level through NYSY's programs. It has been a lot of hard work and we do not regret it. We are proud to witness this great expansion of yoga and pilates studios and communities across the country. Now more committed than ever, we are still here with the same intention to make the world a better place through "healthy minds and healthy bodies".

2) At the same time we can't help but acknowledge the rising imbalance: As the financial situation in Greece is approaching record lows, many guest teachers' intentions do not jive with the needs of our community. Some of them demand unreasonable minimum guarantees--sorry but I see a demand of 8,000€ for a workshop as absurd for our community of many unemployed people where one is considered lucky to have a job that pays 800€/month. There is nothing yogic or sri about this equation in my eyes.

3) What to do?

We have many great options. Challenge makes our resolve clear and our stance even stronger.

--First of all, we have many people in Greece by now who are strong yoga teachers and practitioners.

--We can encourage each other and together uplift our Greek sangha.

--We can start thinking of ways to offer more of our practice and service "for the benefit of all beings". The Good Karma YogaFEST is proving to be a great opportunity for our communities to meet and practice together, while offering a very small donation to a benefit cause.

--In my practice I am personally starting to look at the deeper philosophical roots of yoga. Our recent trip to India was one such effort and I plan to share more soon.

--We can all continue to search within and connect with our own deep intentions and inner divinity. Search, practice, connect!

--More discrimination, less tolerance... Ludicrous as it sounds, several star teachers are contacting us about offering seminars in Greece right now. Like Hollywood stars they have their assistants make contact. The first thing the assistant or manager wants to make clear is minimum financial guarantees.

In a time when Greece is in the news every day and everyone has heard about the unemployment, poverty, debt, and people's hardships,

my standard reply to them is: "Before we even start talking about minimums, can you tell us...What connection do you feel to Greek people right now and what would you like to offer to our yoga communities?"

4) It is a good time to try being fearless while remaining compassionate. A great time indeed to become activists for "the change we want to be in the world".

5) Om Saha Naa-vavatu... Maa Vid-vishas-vahai... Let us not turn against each other.

Times are tricky. Let us use our fire constructively and not direct it at each other... I see it, feel it happening all around and percolating inside me too, but the undercurrent is LOVE right?

I bow to you with great love and respect,

Vivi