Goals?

[jaen]

One of my goals for the new year had been to put another week-long silent retreat on my calendar, and yesterday I did that by applying for a metta retreat in June at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, VT. I don't know any of the teachers, but my own meditation teachers recommend it, so I feel assured that it will be a safe environment for continuing my practice. I had hoped to do it later in the year, but could not find anything suitable that didn't conflict with something else.

An every-month goal is to sit every day, even on days when there was not time or opportunity first thing in the morning. I need to persuade myself that it is possible to meditate at lunch time or before bed!

I also intend to add content to our skeletal new website, www.brahmaviharayoga.com .And, actually make the first post on my new blog-- a surprisingly intimidating proposition.

A more difficult goal, not to be accomplished by the end of February, is to sort out the question whether the yoga that I teach is compatible with the dharma that I follow. The more I understand (cognitively) and study the tantric philosophy behind this yoga method, the more I question whether I can teach this yoga from my Buddhist perspective on the ultimate nature of things. I try to keep to the heart qualities that the traditions both serve, but I have to get more clear on this, if only to be able to decide whether to continue trying to meet the increasing standards being set for teachers in this method. This is only an issue for my teaching of asana classes, not for personal practice of yoga or for my study with my yoga teachers. To be clear, I have no question whatever about the compatibility of yoga practice with Buddhist study and meditation; only about whether it is right for me to teach in this particular method.

Now I need to go and get ready to teach a pranayama/ meditation class-- my teacher is away teaching a yoga vacation in Jamaica, so I get to teach the class. This is my favorite thing to teach, and I also get to do it next Wednesday. We will work on 3-part breathing and I will teach them walking meditation.

May we, and all beings, be held in the heart of lovingkindness.

[jaen]

You are both wise and kind. I do have a good understanding about how hatha yoga and other energy practices fit in with my Buddhist study and practice, and there is no conflict. By the way, one of my meditation teachers is also a former Catholic nun, and she has given us much insight on the overlaps and differences among contemplative traditions in different religions.

The issues I feel the need to address are more mundane-- Anusara Yoga is the creation of a single living person, John Friend, and he has the legal right to limit the use of his intellectual property, which includes the name Anusara, in whatever way he wants. He raises his standards and requirements every year. If I am ever asked to certify that I personally believe in the nondual Tantric vision of reality, I will have to tell him that I do not. And more broadly, at some point-- not right now-- I see that I will need to choose where I am going to put my earthly time and study and devotion.

[lilalia]

Very interesting. Have you thought about seeking advice from your Buddhist teacher about this. The reason I say this is that years ago I used to attend regular sesshins in a Bendictian monastery. There were many aspiring Buddhists (if you can call us that) and many deep-seated Catholics. So the conflict that you described, lay in the heart of all the practicing Catholics. In fact, the Zen teacher originally was a Catholic nun doing missionary work in Japan, who eventually left the church and became an ordained Buddhist priest. There was nothing in the Buddhist teaching which did not support tolerance and acceptance and compassion. As far as I understood, this meant from the Buddhist point-of-view there was no difficulty being a Catholic Buddhist. The rigidity (for lack of a better word) was more on the other side. Christianity did not encompass some of the concepts intrinsic to Buddhism. The Catholic church even less so. Yet, I had the sense from the teacher's talks that such a dilemma is a gift to the person who has it. It was a dilemma to be understood through acceptance and not rejection. It appears that introducing your "heart themes" is a gesture of acceptance.

[jaen]

I study, and am trained to teach, in the Anusara method. Anusara yoga is based in the Hindu nondual tantric traditions. Part of that is a belief in an all-encompassing, permanent, intelligent, divine Consciousness. In the Buddhist traditions from which my teachers have taught me, nothing is permanent, and the belief in a permanent Self or Consciousness is is seen as a fundamental mistake. This is a pretty big difference. I have been trying to study the Siva Sutras, a tantric text, in preparation for a weekend of workshops and lectures with Paul Muller-Ortega. (He is a philosophy professor who is an authority on nondual tantra and who has a nice sideline of going about teaching at yoga studios. ) I am realizing more and more that this is not what I believe and this is not what I want to invest my time in studying, yet this is what Anusara yoga is rooted in. I teach a very spiritually-oriented yoga class, but it can only be based in what is true for me, and Divine Consciousness is not that. Anusara classes are wonderful and uplifting, and the teacher is supposed to always integrate a "heart theme" into the posture instructions. There are a lot of good heart themes in Buddhist teachings, and I like to use those. My husband thinks I over-worry about these matters; he might be right. But the question whether there is or is not God seems like a pretty basic one to disagree on.

[lilalia]

A week's retreat... in June... in Vermont... sounds like a seductively wonderful gift to give yourself.

I'm interested in your conflict between your Buddhist studies and your method of teaching yoga. Could you name some examples that highlight these feelings?