reader's comments are the best part of awful article about Amma

I was directed to this article about Amma in Newsweek yesterday. It is short, and offensive, and mostly pointless. The comments to the article are the most interesting part.

there are such gems as:

• Posted By: Thewhitesmiter @ 07/23/2008 11:40:54 PM

  Comment: I just visited one of her sites and noticed that's she fat. I've never seen a fat saint before. Isn't it a sin to eat too much or do Hindus believe that's okay because they have a god with an elephant 's head?

and also

Posted By: ppreeti @ 07/23/2008 5:45:09 PM

Comment: Very poorly written article. With not so very good English and no hify understanding, I think i can come up with better article, an article useful to the readers. Please do some check before releasing such articles. Such a huge and amazing event and this all this article writer could come up with.

perhaps you would like to post a comment of your own!
newsweek article

Buddhist Monk Suspended between life and death

from Al Jazeera

Interesting Links from The NYC Amma Program Guide

I just got back from spending along weekend with Amma in both NYC and DC. Good Times.
Web surfing with the Amma program guide is always real interesting. A whole bunch of like minded people who are into supporting the summer tour advertise in the guide, and the projects that they are a part of are usually pretty cool. Below are some of the sites I particularly liked.

Healing Practitioners, part I
Alexia Neonakis, Vedic Astrology and Ayurveda, I like to support anyone who studied with Dr. Lad.
Sam Geppi, Vedic Astrologer. I used to listen to Sam's Podcast every day.
Shyam, the cosmic healer. This guy has a fun website.
Robin Lee, she seems to be an intuitive nutritional counselour. sounds cool.

thats all for now, maybe more tomorrow...

Rare Vishnu Statue found in Bangladesh Pond

"While re-digging his pond recently, Mongal Member at Sultanpur of Brahmanbaria Sadar upazila found a 10th century statue of Lord Vishnu five metres below the ground.

The night after the discovery, the so-called Magnet Party (smuggling group) of the locality offered Mongal Tk 10 lakh for the statue. He refused the offer. He feared about the safety of the artefact and contacted the local police station to handover custody of the statue.

Meanwhile, local journalist and cultural activists contacted Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (ASB) and urged them to help preserve the statue properly. Editor of Smatat Barta, a local daily of Brahmanbaria, Manjurul Alam said, "We thought it is our responsibility to protect our heritage from the clutches of smugglers.""

from "The Daily Star"

Enlighten Up!, the movie

Here is a cute little movie about a nice jewish boy from nyc who travels around the world (mostly NY and India) practicing asana. The movie's producer was hoping to capture some sort of miraculous transformation and spiritual growth on film, taking a beginner from the ground level, all the way up to Enlightenment. Although it is unclear from the website wether or not she achieves this goal, she manages to collect interviews with many inspirational and famous yogis and yoginis. Dharma Mittra, Mr. Iyengar, Pattabhi Jois, and Alan Finger, to name a few.
Enlighten Up! Website

Tripsichore

From Tripsichore's Performance at Studio 34. Photo by Joe Longo.

Preservation of 'The Peerless Caves'

The Caves of Dunhuang are some really spectacular caves in Western China. They are so spectacular, that they are called 'Peerless'. Unfortuanately, due to harsh winds, time, and lots of tourists, the caves are rapidly deteriorating. What will become of them?
New York Times Article (with slideshow)
Friends of Dunhuang (preservation efforts)

Telluride Yoga Festival, July 11 to 13

From the "so much good stuff happens all on the same weekend" files:
The Telluride Yoga Festival has a delightful array of yoga teachers in a gorgeous setting. I am particularly fond of Robert Svoboda, Simon Park, Chandra Easton, and Scott Blossom, having had the good fortune to work with them in the past.

we especially like that the organizers of the conference seem to be very community and enviornmentally minded. 25% of their take will be going to the 'Sheep Mountain Alliance', a "grassroots citizen organization dedicated to the preservation of the natural environment in the Telluride Region and Southwest Colorado. To this end, Sheep Mountain Alliance will protect the health of regional ecosystems, wildlife habitats and watersheds, and will promote a sense of community, quality of life and a diverse and sustainable local economy."

They are also partnering with the 'New Community Coallition' , which 'was formed in 2007 to implement sustainability efforts in San Miguel county.' Together they will be working to promote a zero waste festival. Participants at the festival will recieve a reusable bag (we have quite a collection of these, don't we?), and filtered water will be freely available in all yoga rooms throughout the festival. You are encouraged to bring your water bottle.

Yoga Class with Michael Franti in August

If I lived in San Francisco, and I wasn't scheduled to teach my own class on August 3rd, I would probably want to take this yoga class at Yoga Tree Castro, with live music by Michael Franti. Of course, it's also a benefit for a good cause.

"Please join Michael Franti and Les Levanthal for an afternoon of YOGA and
MUSIC to benefit and support the �911 Power to the Peaceful Festival and
Organization.

Join Les for an awakening of the heart and spirit! Begin to celebrate the
joy and passion in your practice through opening and listening to what's
inside. By breathing deeper into poses, start shifting compassion from your
mat into the rest of your life. Blend pranayama, asanas, music and sweat to
build strength and flexibility while letting go of struggle.

Together, Michael and Les will lead you through a journey of music,
mindfulness and inspiration!"

register here

Yoga event stretches across US-Mexico border fence

This seems really newsworthy. I love the idea of yoga practice as a tool for transcending boundaries. Here it happened literally. I found the below article here.

ap photo

The Associated Press

TIJUANA, Mexico The rusty fence may divide the beaches of U.S. and Mexico, but it can't break up a yoga class.

A few dozen yoga aficionados rolled out their mats Sunday on both sides of the wall between Tijuana, Mexico, and San Diego. The international group stretched and meditated together before exchanging hugs through the fence bars.

The session was organized by the Border Meetup Group, which promotes cross-border understanding by staging social events on the divided beach.

Coordinator Dan Watman said the group aims "to make friends across cultural, political, societal, even emotional barriers."

The Tijuana beach is a popular destination for families who come to chat through the fence with loved ones on the other side.

Amma Tours the East Coast

Amma, Mata Amritanandanamayi Ma, will be finishing up her North American Tour this month. She was in Chicago over the weekend, and will be in DC and NYC this coming week and weekend. She has worked and lectured to Millions of people worldwide, and nearly all of them speak of her amazing and transformative presence. It is even more impressive considering her grueling schedule:

"It is hard to comprehend the source of Amma’s inexhaustible energy that flows from moment to moment, day after day, in the form of a loving, motherly hug. Often she sits for more than 18-20 hours straight without even a moments break. Over the past 35 years Amma has hugged more than 25 million people around the globe. When asked if she ever feels tired of listening to the same problems of people, and hugging over and over again, Amma answered with a smile, “ Where there is love, there is no effort.”
From her website

Pankaj, Ajay, and Russill

Pankaj and Ajay Sharma of the Light of Love Spiritual Foundation (Downingtown) are featured in this video with world renown author and performer Russill Paul. The three of them will be leading a sound healing workshop during the Halloween weekend. All I know is, is that when the veils between the worlds are thin, I want to be chanting!

I met the Walrus

In 1969, a 14-year-old Beatle fanatic named Jerry Levitan, armed with a reel-to-reel tape deck, snuck into John Lennon's hotel room in Toronto and convinced John to do an interview about peace. 38 years later, Jerry has produced a film about it. Using the original interview recording as the soundtrack, director Josh Raskin has woven a visual narrative which tenderly romances Lennon's every word in a cascading flood of multipronged animation. Raskin marries the terrifyingly genius pen work of James Braithwaite with masterful digital illustration by Alex Kurina, resulting in a spell-binding vessel for Lennon's boundless wit, and timeless message.

July's Theme of the Month

I spent last weekend in Marin County, visiting some friends who I haven’t seen in a while. They are having a baby soon, and I thought It would be a nice time to visit, during the calm before the storm. While I was there, we went to a vegan restaurant called “Cafe Gratitude”. This place was fabulous from top to bottom. The decor was bright and cheerful, with murals of dancing children, affirmations, and penetrating questions “Can you surrender to how beautiful you are?”.
The food was fabulous, I had the “I am Celebrating” ( Raw Chile Relleno with cashew cheese) and the “I am Thriving” (Lentil Soup), and my friend had “I am Plenty Great” (Granola and fruit with cocnut Yogurt) and “I am Wonderful” (watermelon smoothie). Now, I can’t seem to get the hang of ordering at Starbucks, I’m only able to order smalls, mediums, and larges, but at this place, ordering by affirmation seemed totally natural and really, really fun.

The spirit of fun, and adventure was present not only in the design, and the menu (that’s the easy part) it was also alive in the staff. These beautiful people played their part so well, engaging us with joy and humor. They had a question of the week, “what are you proud of?”, and and were thrilled by our answers. That was the tip of the iceberg. I was so blown away, I asked to see the employee training manual (i love training manuals).

They claimed not to have one, and said that simply they just ‘play the game’ and that they have different themes, and different weekly questions, and other practices that keep them really dedicated to showingup for each customer. They also handed me a book, written by the owners, called Sacred Commerce: Business as a Path of Awakening.
I read it the entire way home, and I think it’s brilliant. I was very inspired by it.

It is time that the studio had a theme of the month. I would like us to have a clear focus, i would like us to travel on a shared journey. Imagine having a monthly topic that you could work with, struggle with, and with which you ultimately find clarity, certainty, and peace. Imagine being surrounded by a community that is meditating on the very same thing. Even though our yoga practice is ultimately an inner, personal journey, it will be beautiful to have a central group theme that we can share about, riff off of, and explore together.
I will attempt to make sure that each monthly theme is universal enough so that they will work for everybody, and also that they relate pretty clearly to traditional yoga teachings. I will also offer the theme from two different angles. The first Angle will be broad, sweeping, grandiose, and abstract. It will speak to universal truth, love, and beingness. Some people really relate to this sort of Angle very well. The second Angle will be specific, concrete, and quantitative. It will offer a practice (either on or off mat) that is measurable. One will be able to look back over their day and ask themselves “Did I smile at everyone I met today” (or whatever). There will be another population that this Angle will speak to more. More angles may emerge, but this is good for now.

This Month’s theme will be “Being Open To All That Comes”. We (if you will join me) will practice equanimity, and remaining heart centered in the face of all of the many events and phenomena that arise in the course of our day. We will consider the possibility that all things that arise have the possibility of guiding us towards a more full spiritual experience. We will be more aware of the places where we shut down and check out in the face of our experience. Where are we avoidant? Where do we shut down and simply endure a moment that we have decided is not good enough? Where do we play the martyr, or the victim? Can we be open to the idea that the hand of God is in everything, at all times? Can we surrender to the idea that our life provides us with what we need to go the the next level? And, what feelings come up when we tackle these ideas? This is the grandiose Angle. If you are curious about some traditional precedent for this theme, I would like to point you towards the
Bhagavad Gita.

“When a Man has mastered himself
he is perfectly at ease in cold,
in heat, in pleasure or pain,
in honor or disgrace.”
This is what I hold for you! Perfect Ease!



Our Practical Angle: NO COMPLAINING! We are going to take the month off of complaining. This makes sense right? if we are complaining, certainly we couldn’t be continually opening to the beauty and grace of each moment. This is a chance for us to become more impeccable with our speech, and our intentions. By observing our words, and our patterns of speech, we can start to find ways to create more upliftment, openness, and spacious love on a practical level. This is something that you can inventory, at the end of the day, and get honest with yourself about how you did. This has been a fun practice for Sally and I, catching each other when we slip up. We would be happy to keep an eye out for you too!
Good Luck with all this, and good Sadhana!

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