check out david garrigues- he is incredible!

me too- haha!

Carol,
I love reading what you write.
I do not resonate with the left/right brain dichotomy, because of a lot of neural plasticity research that shows this construct to be somewhat inaccurate.

However I do resonate with a call to invite all aspects of ourselves to practice, and utilize the function of our bright mind as well as what you call the extrarational. It actually seems empowering and refreshing and as you mention a specific kind of practice to attempt to name the unattainable and engage the multiple dimensions of our intelligence.

"It’s about learning to work with the multi-dimensionality of our minds and beings more adeptly and fluidly."

I love what you say about asking too little. In addition to swaying towards being stress relief, I might add that physical therapy has been another demand placed on yoga that can limit the eventual outcome/scope.

I also found this sentence:
"While that may be the right aim for unique individuals, I don’t believe that there’s ever been a time in human history when such an absolutely ambitious goal made sense as a mass movement." provocative and I hadn't thought of it in that way.

Thanks for this!

Wow. Powerful woman. Go ahead Veena Malik- she schooled him.

"In my experience, most individuals and leaders in business and corporations, systems that are lambasted by the yoga community as evil and unconscious, are well developed beyond those in the yoga world." YES!

Typically I find several things contributing to unskillful business action: 1) a misunderstanding of what business is and its important role in all of our lives, YES! 2) dislike and mistrust of business,YES! 3) allergy to appearing conventional, YES! 4) limited (internal) ideas about success and development, YES! 5) spiritually limited ideas about commerce and exchange, and lastly YES! 6) magical and mythical ideas about abundance. YES!

Thanks Kris. I cannot agree more. I learned the hard way. I did not leave a dissatifying corporate job, but I hid behind the guise of yoga being my calling and not my career. It took me a long time to figure out all 6 of the above. My favorite of which was #6 my "Lakshmi accouting method" taught to me by Sharon Gannon (love her, but the method was not a good direction for me). It goes like this- work a lot, put the money in a purse, and then when you need money, it will be there. I realized I was avoiding a whole lot while imagining that money was not by goal but a byproduct of "living my calling" and by being so allergic to the material world.

It has been a harsh awakening. Much harsher than the transition I have seen when the folks that have been more tuned in to the material world go inside.

I love that this conversation is happening openly and we can all raise the bar, moving away from the shame and stigma associated with ambition and yoga.

Love this, and can totally relate. I don't want to complete anyone or be completed. I want mature companionship not based
on past wounds or things I can really do for myself. Love your writing!

sometimes i am really glad i live in brazil and at times simply cannot understand the no-doubt equivalent kind
of dumb ass things politicians and commentators say. honestly, right now, that is what ann coulter thinks is important
for people to know. i, for one, already knew that small amounts of radiation would not kill me. but now back to japan.

OI Helena,
Que bom ver voce aqui! Está tudo ótima na vida Carioca aqui.
Vou ligar sim quando eu consegou passar por Boulder.
Beijos!!

noname- why do you write anonymously?
since this is a blog post, it is an abbreviated version of my experience. i do not
get into the intricacies of the step-by-step process that were involved in my decision
to enter a guru/siksha relationship. i also do not go into all of the mystical and revelatory
doors that were open to me through my guru's teachings. nothing is black and
white. i do not believe that reading the true journals as you recommend would have helped me
prior to entering the relationship, nor do i believe they would help me now. i am neither naive nor
ignorant. i actually have a very powerful discriminating mind. in addition, i obviously had a strong
samskara with male authority and abuse of power. this experience was the most subtle form of abuse
that i have experienced. it was extremely difficult to disentangle because there was such a
powerful love and connection there.

"Sadly people get the impression that these experiences have something to do with the state of gurus and it's always about the state of our own development."

I do not blame my guru. I do not blame anyone. I see the experience as part of a intricate fabric that is my life and that has brought me to the point where I am now. My goal has never been to live a perfect life. I have lived fully and felt fully.

I was surprised and sad about the arrogance in your comment. You seem to feel you are so different than me. That you found the right gurus and really get what this whole spiritual path is about. I prefer to think of us as walking the path together, and each no doubt has its own twists and turns, dead-ends, and some very long highways.

to jennifer and ben,

which is the society that you refer to with weak boundaries? i am assuming it is the US.

isn't the human path one of differentiation from moment one, at conception and birth?
a continual process of testing boundaries and discovering which are important and which are not.