Our flyer is now completed and plans are in the making for the next ShakitKura Healing Lounge to be held on Saturday, November 12th at Flying Yoga Shala in Oakland, CA.


Our first event was most successful. We had so many people come out and share their energy and grace with us. Not to mention the wonderful healers who offered body work, acupuncture, astrology readings, custom flower essence readings, sound healing and natural food vending!


We are gearing up for the 2nd ShaktiKura and event details can be found on facebook by clicking the word, OOooOOoooOOOOOH!


Entrance is just $10 and tips are suggested for bodywork sessions.


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Staying Put

So I'm gonna stay in the bay. After a rough week in LA and realizing that my community is right here, right now it came to me on the I-5 North drive to sunrise on my way back up here that this is my home.

So I'm not sure when I will be living in Los Angeles if at all? I am still open to it but one thing that is ringing true for me right now is to get myself grounded and start making money and being of service to my community, stepping up; which is something that came to me in Vipassana very strongly.

So I am now wanting to be of service for peoples health and wellness and am offering donation-based health counseling.

I will give you a session and a half (90 minutes-$150 dollars of value) for any amount you wish to pay.

Learn more about your health and how to become healthier and stronger on your own food journey by learning macrobiotics, ayurveda and chinese medicine principals along with energetics of food and seasonal eating and cleansing techniques.

Whatever is needed for your own unique 'bioindividuality' -which means your own unique you-ness, we will discuss and go over so you can gradually incorporate healthier options into your day without guilt or worry.
If you would like to take this step, the paypal button below and on the right side tool bar of this blog and you can make any donation. I will then contact you and send you a health history to be filled out and we will schedule a time to talk or to meet in person.

I'm here for you!

~B

Sat Down and Shutted Up

  Pablo Picasso marked the beginnings and endings of his periods with trips and time away from his usual surroundings. I feel like I just left my blue period behind and am into a new space. 10-days silent will do that to ya. Yes, you! I'm not going to speak personally on this one because I feel that most people who enter the space of Vipassana come out the other end transformed in some way or another.

This is my experience, what little I can share with you, at Vipassana, a 10-day silent meditation retreat.

Have you ever sat most of the day, in silence, focusing on breath and practicing observing sensations in your body without making them mean anything? Probably not. Opportunity knocks.

It was an opportunity. That's the word I keep using; Opportunity. To have the pleasure and sometimes pain of seeing yourself in such a real way. There's no hiding out in Vipassana, it's you and your seat cushion-all day.

Well, most of the day but even that occurs like all-day, most of the time.

I was scared on the drive over, meandering through the desert hillside of Southeastern California. I had no idea what I was walking into but I knew in my heart I was ready to clear out the clutter. Arriving at the SCVC (Southern California Vipassana Center) in 29 Palms, CA and walking onto the campus that I would call home for the next 10 days and 11 nights was a surreal experience. The first night, which really is 'Day 0' we were allowed to talk until about 8pm when the first meditation took place which would carry the space of noble silence all the way through Day 10's morning. I made some chit-chat with my roommate and some guys in the dining hall during dinner.. But got the feeling most of us didn't want to talk. People were ready to go silent and go deep.

And really I coasted into Day 1, 2, 3 and into Day 4 with little hardship. The only part that was difficult was getting used to sitting, in which we had three group sits for 1-hour each every day. The rest of the time was for us to be in the Meditation Hall at our own leisure and later diligence to get what we each respectively came for. I would walk the paths a lot during the day, making rock scultpure's of fish and comets.

I watched the animals meander around the desert floor, the birds play and sing-songfully to each other and the ants working tirelessly, also in silence and in complete cooperation. I learned a lot by watching nature. After a few days that's all I could really do to pass time. Everything slowed down. There weren't a lot of thoughts entering my mind like there usually were pre-Vip.

My senses heightened. I heard animals and sort of embodied one as I would patiently sit in the desert watching, listening and learning about how an animal just is what it is. How a tree just is. A mountain just is, and all have no trouble just being what they are. Why is being human so difficult sometimes? When someone sneezed in the meditation hall, I felt the sound-wave ripple through my ear into my head. I smelled breakfast coming out of my pee in the morning and I felt more at peace and gratitude than I have in a loonnng time.

On the 4th day we learned Vipassana and in one two-hour meditation block scanned the body of sensations and thoughts that arose with them. At the end my body was humming. Vibrating so loudly, with so much sensation. My legs probably fell asleep, my arms were made of granite. My chest pounding. For me it was before some of the other teachings that would eventually release me of making the sensations mean something about me. I guess that's the best way I can put it. I took it personal, like when you have a pain you react-you took it personal. Or when you have a pleasure filled sensation, you react as well-although it is pleasurable you still take it personally. I felt a spinning wheel in my solar plexus, I got nauseous, I was scared. I backed away not knowing what was happening to me and found myself, actually just observed myself shaking in front of my eyes. For 30 minutes I shook until at tea I pulled the bag out of my cup and the seizing stopped literally as I my fingers touched water. I still can't explain it but feel I touched my pain center... whatever that means.

Vipassana is the practice of purifying the mind, the ancient technique taught by Gautama Buddha. It's an art form really; to observe sensations arising and passing away in the body, constant sensations, constant thoughts, constant constants. Everything is impermanent, Anicca, always rising and passing away. To sit and learn Vipassana is the act of watching and observing these sensations without attaching a story-line to them. This one is good, OUCH-uncomfortable-I wish that would go away, damn that annoys me, I like this feeling...Oohh, Wow, my third-eye activating, I can feel the concentrated sensations on my forehead! I'm so spiritually connected!~  As Miles Davis said, so what?


To observe all of this and catch myself enacting the attachment of thought-to-feeling was astounding. And alas, the teaching of Vipassana is to observe just that. To recognize that it's always changing, that the feelings CAN'T be mine because they don't stick around, it's not a personal thing, Anata. And to be able, which really is a practice-enabling is.. to be able to just solely observe all of this, letting the constant force of the universe and nature, Dhamma, just naturally flow, flow, flow... Well, that's a beautiful thing. We are just witnesses in this life, WOWWW~  I'm so excited right now and so feeling this. To be able to live our lives as witnesses.. Oh man! What a notion (conceptual).. What an experience..  Yes!

Vipassana also is the experience of actualizing substance. Feeling, on a deep conscious and unconscious level - the mind. I think I read on a 'Yogi Tea' label once that 'wisdom becomes knowledge through experience.' It's one thing to be an academic, to be wise and knowing. But to experience our own mind and the power and learnedness inside of it, to see what we preach and teach and demonstrate to others FREE of the ego-meaning when the mind is ego-less for a moment and no thought is there, we can open up and be authentic with ourselves because you can't fake it anymore. The ego has gone missing and the cosmic mirror is placed right in front of you.

But why do this? The Buddha taught that in our suffering as humans we are conditioned to feed the cravings, avoid the aversions and attach to feelings, and often with malcontent. Why do we steal, lie, cheat, cut corners, hide truth, self sabotage, over indulge, be excessive and manipulate? We trained ourselves to; from childhood the mind has been making meaning and morphing its' identity to avoid pain and get what it wants. So, at the root level, we suffer. The rub is most of the time we aren't aware that being these ways cuts us off from love and compassion, which makes us feel good and provides healing for ourselves and others. Vipassana is a way to go down and weed-out the impurities so we may be loving, compassionate, peaceful and a contribution to the world. It's to be of service, selflessly serving others so they may be at peace and be happy.

It was said that Jesus, upon being crucified had love and compassion overflowing from his heart. Literally while dying and being nailed to a cross he was experiencing love. He knew his captors were miserable people who didn't know any better, and b/c Jesus was an enlightened being he died the way he lived.

So, Vipassana is the the practice in the art of living, and the art of dying. People who regularly meditate and are committed to living a transformed, peaceful life of service are happy at their death beds, ready in the moment for what comes next, just like in life right now-moments arising and passing away, all is impermanent and there is nothing to hold onto.

I could write endlessly about this experience in the desert and all the profound happenings. And Vipassana was also hilarious.

Oh, the things I observed, like this one man who every night before the 6pm meditation would open the two small windows closest to his seat, only to watch them be closed by an elderly man who came in after him and sat in a chair directly underneath them. Just to be a witness and watch the whole situation go down was priceless, and it happened every night! That alone was better than anything I could watch on tv.

Because at Vipassana, despite there pretty much being only meditation, walking, sleeping and eating that takes place-all in silence and without any body language or eye-contact, texting, phones, computers, ipods, pda's, etc.. There really is A LOT of content rich with color and vividness, and none of it can be discussed. And the content is rich considering the context of the situation you're in. When laughter broke out on the 8th day, uncontrollable laughter for myself included b/c someone farted, oh man, what a release and so much joy. I got in my bones, in the deepest part of my core that a fart will go down as the funniest sound that has ever been created and experienced by man. I don't know what it is, but they are funny! But they're only funny in groups. A lonely fart is just that, it's lonely, and they like an audience. And-you can't talk about it.

Beautiful and odd moments too; The sunrises and sunsets, the skies and clouds that were witnessed were moments of timeless silence shared by us all. It was like we were all in this dream, dreaming together and watching things happen for the first time. Couldn't talk about it.

When this mysterious bright orange light appeared in the sky one night that a few of us were around to look at it, we couldn't talk about it.. I mean, is that an alien ship? I don't know and I have to shut up about it.
Dammit. Oh, I just reacted.. back to work.

Vipassana is so simple it's brilliant. Anything that happens is an opportunity-there's that word again, to look at yourself and what you experience within everything that happens outside of us, because in that meditative state of noble silence, it's so apparent to observe the mind when something remotely distinct happens.

I had this one moment where I found this quartz in the desert and brought it with me in my pocket. I did that with lots of rocks, mostly every day and would sit with one in the meditation hall. So this quartz fell out of my pocket one afternoon and I forgot to pick it up. An hour later realizing this I caught myself hook, line and sinker saying to myself, 'My rock!' Then it hit me. My rock? Why is it mine? What is mine? I didn't even know of its existence all but two hours ago and now it somehow belongs to me and it's become 'mine'? Funny huh...  Who really is 'you'? Who's me? Who's my? And for the love of Goenke who the heck is 'I'? All really good inquiries.

S.N. Goenke, btw, is a Burmese man who at some point brought the teaching of Vipassana back to India where apparently it wasn't being practiced authentically for years. And the guy took India by storm and we have today a world where Vipassana is being taught and paid for by the students who have preceded a guy like me coming into the course. Two meals a day, nice accommodations and top-of-the-line life school teaching all for a suggested donation of $100. It's non-dogmatic, scientific and universal in its teaching. You just sit with yourself. That's it.

Goenke is the Tony Robbins of the east. He's charming, funny, inspiring and brutal in the sense that he is the teaching. But he's jolly too, brutally jolly. No messing around here, "the teaching will liberate you from misery, and most people are miserable". But when he says misery he doesn't mean the kind of dismay that reaks to be around... he means the kind of misery that sneaks up on you when the last slice of pepperoni was just taken by the guy in front of you. It's the kind of misery that has you pray you don't run into your annoying neighbor every time you step outside. That's the same misery that then has you be excited and happy b/c you didn't run into your neighbor. They both feed each other. When you're happy that something didn't happen that you thought would you only solidify it's roots. It's the vicious cycle of your habitual nature that keeps you safeguarded and secure from all things your mind wants and doesn't want every day. Traffic; now that's a source of misery. You are miserable when there's traffic and you tried to beat it, but didn't, and that misery is fed by a craving of no traffic and an aversion to traffic. Then you are happier than you've ever been when you beat the morning or evening rush-hour. It all feeds the same source of wanting/not wanting, craving/aversion, good/bad. You become a slave to yourself.. or your mind actually. And that's how we live, that's how we die. And it's filled with suffering.

Vipassana was the space where I taught myself how to live and how to die. I can remain balanced in the face of traffic and remain equanimous by the pushes and pulls that happen in so many moments like at the family dinner table, or do my best at the very least. And you get that teaching downloaded all by sitting and watching your respiration, observing the sensations in the body that rise and pass away and learn not to hold onto them like they're yours, because they're not. And of course the thoughts; they never go away.  I just observe them and return to sensation and breath, the thoughts subside, slow down... and cease for a but a few precious moments hopefully ending years of conditioned thinking about pain and pleasure and curing your need for anything outside of yourself where the ultimate goal is enlightenment-freedom from suffering.

And the moments of clarity that did come to me, forget about it~ It was weird,... it's like I got clear by not thinking. Stuff would just come to me. Like moving to Los Angeles, practicing health counseling again and teaching yoga. The sound I want to create for my next didgeridoo album, relationships and how to be a better brother!

It all rises and passes away, knowing that doesn't mean anything. Being that does. And yes, you really should do this at some point in your life, because you will die, how is up to you. Here's the link.

~B

The Wandering Tzu

I'm moving again... the journey continues, this time Ill be heading to SF proper! WOOT! The Mission.. that's where I'll be. Staying in a super nice apt. off 24th street. I will be there for at least 29 days. My new roommate is a defense trial lawyer for an insurance company, and a dedicated Burner.. (that's Burning Man, btw.. )

In the past week my wanderings have taken me all around the east bay.. that's on the other side of SF, btw.. Oakland, Berkeley exist here and it's so nice.. The weather is a constant 58 degrees, not bad for Decemeber, and Lake Merritt is super sweet. Its a GIANT lake in Oakland.

As I was looking for directions at a bus stop I met a few guys rollin' a good time and by the time I left the bus stop on my way to the Lake to look for the yoga studio I was going to visit, I was floating and for the first time really seeing my new home. The lake looked like New York City! People walking at different speeds around the lake, houses sitting right on top of the shore-line, or so it seemed... Just really peaceful vibes.

I fell in love. It's like the Shire... in my mind, and my heart.

So anyway, this also is the same week that I have been reading the Tao Te Ching.. Really great book by Lao Tzu layin' down the laws of life. Lao Tzu was a wanderer.. He's the guy who said, "the journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step." Really great stuff.. I recommend, it's been rearranging my molecules. Today I was on the BART heading to the city for work and this woman with green highlights came and sat down next to me... She started talking right away about the Tao Te Ching.

I was a bit introverted and felt like listening to music and staring out the window but amused my new friend anyway. "I'm a performance artist, clown and mask something or other...." Then she started telling me that she could interpret my handwriting. I was interested. Turning off my ipod while listening to Ondrej Smeykal, a great didgeridoo player and let Ruby, my new friend entertain me. She then proceeded to interpret my handwriting after I wrote a few sentences down for her. "You've really broken out of the box" she said,... "No one has ever turned the paper on its side and written something for me." Then she said something about me being slightly moody, artistic and some more stuff.. I can't remember right now. I'm tired and am actually writing this AFTER i've already finished the entire post...

Let's see what else.. I'm tired right now.. *yawn*.. I'm heading to bedski.  Oh, alright, before bed, a random page I will turn to in the Tao Te Ching.. for your pleasure..

"The Master arrives without leaving,
sees the light without looking,
achieves without doing a thing."

Ok, goodnight!

Playing w/ and Transforming Worry.

Play with worry? I was meditating the other day and all of a sudden saw that being worried is really a GIANT opportunity to transform yourself. 

Check this out.. Every moment is an opportunity to shift our context from being in a state of worry to being in action for what is possible.  

To not be too serious and significant about this.. you will have to play with worry.

• Play with worry? Playing with worry is being worried AND seeing the underlying opportunity that worry can provide. For example; If I am worried about going to a party b/c someone is there that I am afraid of seeing (for whatever reason), you can look at the underlying opportunity which would be to confront your fear and transform your outlook by having a conversation with that person. The result (*if done correctly); You are now free and happy, or at least off of focusing on that one initial worry. 
• *note-the conversation you have will have to be geared at 'outing' yourself so to speak.. being authentic about why I was nervous to see this person. I am communicating in a way that is generous and doesn't 'dump' emotions and words onto someone else.

Here are some other words I wrote down about this,... Maybe I'll speak more about it? What do you think? I'd like to know.

Worrying is stagnent energy based in fear.

When we worry, remember, it is always to confront our fear and be the powerful people we are.

Being worried will bump up against what you really want, or what you are committed to. You will have to move past this to overcome worry. All else will be numbing yourself, which blocks your own self expression.

Staying worried costs your own expression in the world from coming through. 

On the flip side, you will get something by staying worried. You will get to be right when what you really want- you won't allow yourself to have, all b/c you are worried about it.

Worrying is praying for what we don't want, What do you want?

Worrying is actively resisting dealing with the problem.

We we worry, we place a block on the universal energy that is always available to us, who's purpose is to guide us through.

Worrying is the result of being wounded as a child. When you worry you are really reliving the pain of being hurt from your past.

When you worry, you don't see your underlying commitment. It's b/c you are committed to something greater in this situation. Look and see what you are committed to, really.

Avoidance is a symptom of worrying that prevents you from being powerful and opening your heart.

The more you worry and avoid, the smaller you become in the world.

The act of being with worry, noticing it and moving through it-is yoga.

~B

We're Switchin' It Up~

My Parents would be proud; I'm doing something with my Judaism--wandering.

I'm not a hedge fund manager, a lawyer, or even a... he-he..or that, someone else filled those shoes. I'm a real, bona fide wandering jew- I may be green, but I'm surely not the plant variety of  the 'Jew that wanders'. No. I'm me, Brandon, Tuvia Simcha, a man on this earth walking around, playing my didgeridoo, practicing being conscious through yoga, dance and movement, meditation and communication,... Looking into and 
e x p l o r i n g ...swimming around with and playing...

juggling the stuff, all the stuff and nothing but the STUFF...

So why did I choose to do this?

A yoga blog was too small for the content I wanted to write about. While I do enjoy being in my practice and experiencing the benefits that a yoga practice gives me, it was just getting a bit boring talking about yoga. Plus, Hello!! I'm over here in California wandering around looking for work, a home, and really noticing that without purpose to why I came out here, life is totally aimless. But not so aimless that it can't be appreciated and learned from. So, I have come to realize that I am a wanderer, and quite enjoy just the process of being IN my wandering.

I think there is a message to send and that people can take the time to explore in life, wander and get lost in themselves, I mean, if you never set foot outside of your own environment how could you really know who you are, or what you're made of, or even more important.. what you're dreams are. You could argue that we become a social construct, thinking we are in control and know who we are, but how can you be so sure. "The unexamined life is a life not worth living." Socrates said that...

So please, please.. sit back and relax, for a minute, while we say, 'pardon our appearance' and completely switch up the context of this blog. Context is the container for which the following content will appear, and without proper context -the message cannot be sent. The Context IS decisive. What's your context?

I invite you to read over the draft of my manifesto, or, as you will find it -- the 'what this blog is about' sidebar section to find my own mission statement for creating the switch-up of this blog.

~B

To Practice.

Whoever said practice makes perfect was on the right path. Practice brings us closer to our intention of what we want, and that is good. However, practice will never get us to perfection, only towards the space of being whole and complete in our practice and life. It will however, bring us into the space of happiness.

"Practice, you wanna talk about practice?!"
Allen Iverson reacting to the infamous 'why practice'
press conference, back in the day.

Speaking of practicing, my yoga practice has waned over the last 6 months. Funny too since I went away to deepen my practice and learn a new form of yoga which I have been posting about. Although YogAlign was great, it also veered me off course. Actually, nothing can veer me off course, so I want to say 'threw' me off course. But you know what? Nothing can throw me off course either if it's all the same path we are on. So, now I want to say everything happened as it should have. Moving on...

YogAlign taught me a lot, I loved being on Kauai too. The yoga I learned was very different than the yoga I have been practicing over the last 7 years. I thought my training was going to forever change the way I practiced again. I also thought it was going to change it in the sense that I couldn't go back to practicing the way I used to.  I remember having the thought that I may never be able to practice the yoga I grew into learning b/c every asana wasn't always in perfect alignment, which was the style I was learning, and being in the best alignment was the only way I thought I could practice again.

I was right on one hand. My training did forever change the way I come onto the mat and practice asana. I find myself way more aware of how I am using my body and breath while practicing, not always just doing asana but bringing being to my practice.  I also can go back to practicing styles of yoga that I grew with in the past.  I am letting go of which way is the right way and which way is the perfect way to practice. As long as I am practicing yoga, all is well.

"Practice, and all is coming."

I see that practicing is just practicing. There are many forms of practice and practice will always lead you further down your path. As I type this now, embodying Osho and channeling him as I do at times; (my impersonation now), 'With no practice you will be standing still on the path, looking at the flowers and talking a lot. But it won't occur to others as wisdom, it will just seem arrogant, and you will mock where you never went further along the path, you will not smell the flowers or hear the birds singing.'  Those who practice, in my mind at least right now, are ones who are in the inquiry of learning, they are involved in it. The bigger 'it', and are likely to not always be bragging or talking about themselves, others or the practice in a selfish manor. They are in a spiritual context, humble, learning, open, unable to judge so much. When one is on the path but no longer practicing, the ego can take a larger piece of the pie and act all-mighty, describing the 'way it is', unless they are humble enough to admit they are no longer practicing.

To be talking about your practice w/o practicing is, as Michael Franti says on rapping, "to be rhyming without a real reason, is to claim but not to practice a religion." Practice is less talk and more action. More self and less ego. The late Sri Pattabhi Jois, founder of Ashtanga Yoga says, "Practice, and all is coming." This statement is golden.

So what I want to share is that I am practicing again. I am practicing and slowly allowing my practice to lead me to what is next for me in my larger 'practice'.  I am incorporating the different styles and aspects of yoga and creating the intention to go deeper down my path.

Today I practiced a Kundalini Kriya on the beach with breathwork. All roads lead west... or east, or wherever, it doesn't matter where they lead, really.

B~

I-anger (Iyengar)

That's another term for Iyengar, an alignment based yoga method taught by the renowned, late, Sri. K. Pattabhi Jois. I went to Yogaworks last night for a class and while it was amazing to be there with all the state of the art, posh-bling features that the studio possesses. I couldn't quite move past my own judgement.

Ok, ok, whoah.. hold the phones here. But Brandon, YOU are a yoga teacher and why the heck were you judging in the first place (Oy, this may take a while). First, I'm still practicing, learning, practicing, learning. Second, I'm a human being and let's face it, we ALL judge, everyone, even YOU, the person reading this right now. But so what if we judge. What comes first and foremost as my own practice is discernment. I judge, then discern, then the judging wanes and opens to being compassionate. That's been my own path. I can see that I am judging and when I do this what gets cut off is love, self expression (my own), affinity, laughter, lightness, being, breath, all of it. But it's natural to judge so naturally we must notice this and move into a space of looking at where the judgement is coming from, what we are getting from it and what it's costing us.

Back to last night's Iyengar class. Where was the connection of posture with breathing? It didn't show up. "Open your chest by lifting your ribcage, tuck your tailbone in, suck in your stomach." I was dying to teach that breath will naturally move everything into alignment, how could he be missing this and more-so teaching this! 'Move my body into a dome?'-What the heck does that mean? 'Make my leg a square?'-Huh? Then when the teacher taught us to outstretch our arms from the socket by pulling our shoulder blades in, I have to say I killed him off, right then and there in that moment. But why?

I noticed myself being a statue of grey toned stoicism hiding all the thoughts, including 'externally rotating the shoulders at the joint is what holds the arms and shoulders in the socket so why are you teaching this way b/c it's wrong.' But again, not important b/c I was still portraying a grotesque Rodin-like statue, yogi in disguise, and that's not who I want to be.

In yoga and in our lives, what really is important here. Getting it right? Probably not. Teaching it correctly? I would say yes but then what is it to teach 'correctly?' So maybe not that either although it's still important. Being with breath, present, alive and inspired. Come on, totally yes.  At least for me it is. And maybe this is the yoga that I realize I want to teach?

I could understand that the teacher was doing his best, giving his all and only knows what he knows. So why should I judge silently pretending to be happy? Ok, I gave that up. I wasn't too happy in class last night. I allowed the cynicism to come out. I didn't like it. But I didn't hide it either, and that may have been the gold. To me I conceptually get that everyone and everything is my teacher if I am willing to be open to the lesson. Whethere I get the lesson or not is a different story. I was willing last night. I learned that when I allow myself to be true to myself, even if it's by showing resignation and cynicism, I will eventually move into a compassionate place. Eventually, it passed and I began to consider all the different styles and ways one can learn, practice and teach yoga. There are many, especially in New York. I began to see the teacher in a new light where I could be compassionate and a contribution to his class just by being present. And what came next was the best. I saw my deep commitment to teaching yoga and how I am at the next level of the journey as a new teacher and what I am sure to bump up against as a teacher.

Because if I was this way in this guy's class, someone is sure to be that way in mine. So how can I empower myself as a teacher and my students? How can I teach so everyone is taken care of? I'm not sure exactly, not just yet. Although, I'm stoked to teach this lineage and modify my own teaching practice to empower students with movement and breath with what inspires them and how they can remain more present and compassionate with themselves. Ready?

B~

Didgerido-ing My Thing

Some of you may know that I have thrown myself into the magical world of playing the didgeridoo. Here's whats been going on. I went to Australia in 2000 to study printmaking. I bought a didgeridoo there. It was in Cairns (prounounced: Cans) that I purchased this didgeridoo. I ran into a man playing one of these didgeridoos for minutes on end. I was mesmerized watching him play and listening to the drones, crackles, twangs and buzzes flowing from the instrument. He stopped, looked up at me and said, "It's an amazing journey." That was pretty much it for me, I had to get one.

I learned different sounds, but ran into a blockade trying to understand this 'circular breathing' stuff. How do people breathe in AND out at the same time. I couldn't do it. I gave up and my didg' became an ornament for showing friends and impressing girls.

Fast forward to April, 2010. I am in Kauai, studying yoga, right,.. you guys know this. One of the girls in the training with me has this boyfriend named Jim who has a didgeridoo. And I don't know what it was about this guy, or this didg' or what, but something in me said, "it's time to play this instrument again." So, I bought one at the local music shop, a plastic version, painted in the traditional Aboriginal way of the dreamtime serpent. 

I practiced and practiced, the sounds came back to me. I expanded on more sounds. Still the circular breathing wasn't there, although I became committed to learning so I can fulfill on this dream I had of playing in the New York City subway system. I first became aware of this dream after I saw this, check it out. 

I left Hawaii still practicing. Practiced more at the Dharma Siddha Buddhist house in Berkeley, CA. They were happy I was playing. I was happy too, but I knew I had lots left to learn. I came back to New Jersey and watched countless circular breathing tutorials on YouTube, it still wasn't helping b/c I wasn't circular breathing, which basically means I can play well, but for only 15 or so seconds at a time, maybe. To circular breathe would mean I could go out into the streets and fulfill my dream and mission of playing in the subway and being a busking musician, an artist but only once I get this breathing technique.

When I was in Berkeley I met a woman who could play and circular breathe. She said it was all feeling. That wasn't good enough for me at the time though. I needed linear, concrete examples on how to breathe, move my cheeks, flicker my tongue. All of it. I also met a man at the same house I met this woman at and he was giving me all kinds of equations for breathing circularly. But that didn't help either. Was I ever going to get this!

Yes I was! I got it. I got it last friday night! And, I have to say the woman who taught me to just feel my way into it was right. It's a total feeling instrument and my teacher. And last friday night, one week ago right now, I was playing in the W4th subway station on the B,D,F,V Downtown and Brooklyn platform fulfilling a dream. How did it happen?


Didg'in da' subway from brandon waloff on Vimeo.


Earlier that night I was in my room around 8:45 playing, probably just going to stay in and drink a beer with Doug and Olivia when it just clicked. Just like that. I couldn't believe it. I was now ready to go play in the subway! And good thing for me b/c with my recent financial shortage I was planning to play the next day, even if I didn't get the breathing down. Perfect!

It was one of the most exhilarating experiences I have had in a while, different than Hawaii. This was me on my edge, as a man and I was SUPER ALIVE!  I made a few duckets but the best part was talking to a 10-year old girl and her mom as they gazed in curiosity.  

Since that night the interactions remain to be the best part of this whole new endeavor I have taken on. West 4th street, Broadway/Lafayette, Central Park (that was a free concert I gave to the people), Washington Sq. Park, Madison Sq. Park and Union Square have all seen me to this point. Coincidentally at the same time I have begun to teach yoga. I've played 6 times now in New York City and have taught yoga 3 times last week. Since playing I have met 3 yoga teachers also who want me to play with them in their class as well as some other juicy opportunities that have surfaced where I can play music.  

I feel I am living out of my heart and am completely in alignment with my passion right now. I want to create music. I want to develop this sound with inspiring mantra's and trance-like effects and play across the lands and be a yoga teacher and didgeridoo player for my students. You don't think I'm serious? Oh, I am. Just you wait. 

Throughout this past week I have felt more connected to yoga, to it's practice and how much of an honor it is to teach this lineage. How does the didgeridoo connect to yoga besides playing for classes? I am playing. Yoga is a practice that can loosen up the tightness of everyday living, lighten up our outlooks and enlighten our souls. Naturally playing didg' in the streets has come from lightening up and living day by day, listening to my heart, shutting up my head and remaining present to my dream. Yoga means union. Yup, that's how.

B~

Teaching

I'm going to teach. I have to, really- I do. If I don't teach, I will never know. Many people have all kinds of trainings under their belt but are not teaching their gift. The magic can become lost, the tools dull. What you don't use, you lose. Going to bed one night recently I was wondering what others would think of this style of yoga that I am now trained in teaching. Key word: Teaching.

I was wondering how I would be as a teacher (already know I'm great). I was wondering if I would ever teach?
People have been asking me all over the place, "Where are teaching?" "Are you teaching yet?" All that jazz.

And I will be, I keep saying, or something like that.

So anyway, back to laying in bed one night. Actually, I was laying on floor. I was sleeping on the floor. Not for postural support or renunciation of material things b/c I'm this 'enlightened yogi' now. But b/c Bob, my sub-letter was still in my room. So there I was laying on floor in our common space area, Doug around the corner sleeping when it struck me, 'I have to teach now'.

This is my Karma Yoga, or service oriented gift that I must give back. To enable me to live more holistically I feel one must give and be in the process of giving. For me, I give money to the homeless as well as grant them my being too (thats not just some time, it's also giving them my attention). I give artists money, I give people food. I like to give.  This style of yoga is the next level. It requires my time to give.

I am into many things and have various projects I am embarking on now that I am 'back', wherever back is, I realize I must teach. To give, to be known in the world for continuing what others have seen me learn in Hawaii which for myself- strengthens my own foundation. And of course knowing those answers that I now ask myself in bed, or in floor.

If you would like a session please let me know, I would be happy and honored to teach you tools you can use for the rest of your life, to feel better, to be healthier, and to receive, because receiving is also just as powerful as giving when you can allow yourself.

Someone recently asked me what my most profound moment of yoga has been

 The most profound moment of my yoga practice, albeit there were many, would have to be the moment I realized that I was in fact, a yoga teacher. It wasn’t at my teacher training or after my training. It was at Burning Man in 2006. 


I was taking a class from this really great teacher named Joe who teaches somewhere in the Chelsea section of New York City. There must have been about 70 people in his class, under a tent in the desert. It was early, around 9am and we were set up in concentric circles going from the smallest circle in the center of the tent (with me in it-of about 6 people) outwards towards the largest circles at the back ends of the tent which linked roughly 20 or so people. I can’t really remember those details. What I do remember was that since it was outside and being the very expansive desert was hard to hear Joe as he walked around and taught. 


I noticed two things. One, that I was amazingly present and centered in my practice that morning. I hadn’t practiced in a few months up until that point and was surprised how open my body was. This leads me to the second point. I was smiling. Wide. And since I was having my own transformational experience in this class already being all open and present of sorts, I saw other people who couldn’t hear the teacher watching me for instruction. 


Besides radiating positive energy that morning, I profoundly got in my bones that I was a yoga teacher. All right inside that moment. It was just a matter of time from that point to the moment I chose to head to Kauai to teach.

Same River, Never Twice.

I am back. Aloha New Jersey. Although, as I drove into Jersey City taking in the Manhattan skyline early this morning around 1:15am, for the first time in, ohh,... 56 days. As I parked the car I will be driving all the way back to D.C. for my brother tomorrow, walked a few blocks to my apt, and as I and walked around in my apt. I could absolutely not deny the dualist feeling of never leaving in the first place and knowing I am not the same person who lived here almost two months ago.

It felt like I never left. Everything seemed the same. Except for the smell. Bad. That is the one difference so far. The air is not the same air in Kauai. I never noticed before I left?

The environment felt so familiar my mind began playing tricks on me. 


"It's still the same here, nothing has changed, you haven't changed, why did you ever leave, did you ever leave? I knew it, the whole thing was a dream."  


Blah, blah-blah-blah blah 
(thank you mind chatter for sharing).


So, there was all of that, AND, what I do notice already, right off the bat, is that I feel like I grew up. I already feel more connected and open, accepting and centered. A sure-fire result of leaving just to come back home and being more in my own skin, being more at home, not just in jersey city, but with myself. I think Being able to differentiate between the these two feelings and thoughts is gold, and I'm grateful for it.


Things feel similar and different. The things are similar, but I am different. And so the proverb, You can't step in the same river twice.  Super Mamish Mahalo.

Giving is Receiving

Revamping life. It's time for a change. If anything being away taught me, it's that being away is the best way to find my way. Of course I would want to be around communities and local sustainablity and connect more to my own passions and gifts that I have cultivated over the last 10 years of my life as an artist and a healer.

To get out of the NY/East Coast/NJ rut was the best medicine I could have ever asked for.  I'm ready to come back more connected and aligned to who I am and to what my heart is saying. Being in California was feel good. I worked with a lot of people on the YogAlign Method and even found myself leading a shot-gun style class at this raw food/superfood collective one night where raw pie and poetry was the theme.  And it felt good, not to try but to give, know what I mean?

Ah, the theme of this blog comes through. When I give my gift freely without trying to or being attached to doing so, my own expression comes through with more vibrance.

I have found this true before in the past as well. For instance, last week when I was sitting around talking to people about life and yoga and hawaii what naturally came was, "I can show you some stuff" and bc it was natural and in the conversation, the gift I offered was more readily able to be received- and thus received as I showed Alexander some neuromuscular breath work. He benefited from it but even if he didn't the experience for me was rewarding as I too received the gift of service. As they heal, we heal.  I wondered if I had come with the intention of working with people at the party, would it have come naturally as it did just by me wanting to help others and share? 

I always thought there was this rigid formulaic way to go about marketing and 'getting' clients as a practitioner, but what I keep noticing is that it's always a natural process for me and if anything I have been fighting my gift of spontaneity, charisma and connection with people.  I could easily be myself, go up to strangers and talk to them, I do all the time. And to then share with them my talents is what's next.

As a health counselor in the past when I tried to make things happen I rarely achieved success in that model. But I always noticed that when I was natural and in my own wanting to share what I know with others, openly and without expectation of a return, like money, I wound up being successful in the relationship, which could be the initial consult for bringing back clients who will pay.

There are many times when I see someone suffering or ailing on the street, that I just want to go up to them and give myself, without any expectation in return. I most of the time restrict that natural energy, thinking "that would be weird," and go about my life. But now I see it differently and as my recent travels have shown, I am more open to sharing and giving which excites me because when people ask, "are you going to teach when you return home," I say yes, but really don't want to force anything. I'm really just most interested in helping others and letting the energy flow as it does, and if it leads to clients and classes, etc. great. If not, then so what, I'll do and be where I'm guided.

What are your talents you share or don't share? Where have you noticed yourself in command through the energy of giving? What would be possible for you if you were present with yourself and your gifts? What would you receive? What could you give to others? What difference would that make for them?

Mainlanding

I think I'll mainland it for a while, maybe a looong while? I arrived in California today and after 3 flights the most challanging aspect to my travels was no doubt the bus/train/bus/train/cab connection from San Jose-->Berkeley. Took me 4 hours to commute, but only $11. That's a big mahalo to the finance gods and a sure fire slowdownyourasana tenant.

And, apparently I brought the Hawaiian sun with me! It was easily in the 80's. Plus, I am completely and absolutely bringing the Aloha spirit with me as well. Big mamish mahalo to Darius and the Mahasiddha Buddhist home for hosting me. I am in exactly the place I am supposed to be. Totally clear.

Conscious like-minded people here openly sharing life and each others gifts. I was already invited to share Yogalign with the crew here. You guys are all amazing. Aloha spirit-stoked! It's time to be the teacher I know myself to be.

Although I must say that perhaps the most interesting feature of being back on the mainland (it's not the noise or grotesque, endless shopping) is that my back is peeling like a mutha'! When I was a kid I used to love it when I would get tan and peel. But I ain't seen nothin' like this before, check it out!

(granted the pic doesn't do complete justice)


Was it because my body knew I had left island and now the re-acclimation process has begun? Was it the countless hours on the 3 planes trying to sleep unsuccessfully while I squirmed against my seat? Or was it the mainland water from the mainland shower that I took today which sent signals to molt?  No matter, any which way I slice it, I'm mainlanding now.

Right Now & Moving On~

4 days left in Kaua'i. Damn I'm gonna miss this place. People have said, "why don't you just stay?" I say, "I don't know, my home is in New York (or New Jersey)." Sure the air will be dirtier, the food not nearly as fresh, the people a little more aggravated and the pace A LOT FASTER. But, it's my home, so that's where I will be, for now.

Moving on, this blog will serve as a place to learn about alignment and yoga, and the humor and wonder of taking the philosophy of yoga (remember it's not just postures) out into the world with our people in our lives.

BUT, I promise you I will continue making videos of smoothies and fruits and foods that serve the yogic lifestyle of simplicity and wholeness, as well as other fun ones, just because. AND, I will be in California and Oregon until May 13th, so you will get to see more adventure and fun along the way, and hopefully some videos of me working with, I don't know, you!?

Let me know if YOU would like a session to check out the amazing benefits that YogAlign provides for feeling light and free in your body. It really is the bomb. We'll work out the details later.

Right now I am teaching a man for 4-days who has been a yogi for longer than I have been alive! He knows a lot, but what I am finding is that just because one practices yoga doesn't mean one doesn't have pain. It's amazing teaching Roberto, hopefully he will write in on this post and share. I'm almost in as much disbelief as he is witnessing his quads opening more than he has ever felt. Ever! Or seeing his face as he experiences his psoas (or hip flexors) opening up, he seems as though he is in shock! This work really does work, wow.

Mahalo for reading, B~

What's Yoga? What's Yogalign?

  Let's get to the yoga shall we. I figure it's time to share the style of yoga that I'm learning vs. the yoga I have been practicing for the last 6 and half years.  First. What is yoga? Basically, and I mean, REALLY basically (b/c my blog would run on forever just defining what yoga is with all the metaphors and interpretations I can come up with) yoga literally means "union."  Satchidananda Ashram, the editor of Patanjali's Yoga Sutra's describes yoga as "the understanding and complete mastery over the mind" and later says yoga is the study and science of the mind to master its reactions and behaviors, or to become one with what is going on outside of us so we are connected to each other and what is-is in the moment. 

  Most people think yoga is just a bunch of physical postures to become more flexible or strong or limber, what have you.  This blog is about yoga being on the mat and off of it, which is why I practice, so I can be happy and with my body in any pose (situation) without trying to control it or wish it was different or wish I was different, etc.  Instead of being in two places at once, you know-my mind is in one place and my body is someplace else. Make sense? The physical practice is a practice for living.  Ok, moving on.

  Yogalign, the method of yoga I am studying is going to give some people a real test to what they think yoga is. For instance, the traditional yoga posture, pictured here, Prasarita Padottanasana is supposed to benefit the spine, knees, back, hamstrings, etc. according to Yoga Journal. But how is it doing that? Because in this picture the knees are hyper-extended and the sacrum is rounded and possibly crunched. This is not supporting natural alignment and doing this will train the body to move out of it's natural integrity. And, for most people, they'll never get here, but they'll try really hard, and that's not good. 

  Michaelle always says "You can't get comfortable by being uncomfortable." And, "You can't get in alignment by being out of alignment."  So, why are we doing it this way when thousands of years of traditional yoga says otherwise?  Here, you will see our variation, which Michaelle calls 'Surfers Stretch.'



  We bend the knees to keep the curve in the lower back so our sacrum isn't getting crunched which can cause all sorts of injuries like nerve problems and disc problems. We are consciously breathing and feeling how the ribs and diaphragm move too. Because we are in this variation of wide legged forward bend we can also laterally stretch the side channels of fascia and lattisimus dorsi (the lats). It feels so good, I have never felt that whole lat muscle stretch this way before, its a real side and back opener-all in body integrity. 

  We are literally training our brain to put our body in or out of alignment, might as well do it correctly, right? If we are more aligned in our body, we are more aligned in our life, more able to pay attention to details and can be more attentive to the subtleties in our life, so we can pick up on the messages and signals and become more powerful human beings. And also so we can feel good! So many of us are in pain. 

  When you practice yoga next time, think of your spine, think of your sacrum, think of how you're breathing and ask yourself, "do I feel good right now?" "is my body supposed to be here?"  If your answer is something different than your yoga teacher has been telling you, ask them about the anatomy of the body. And if you are hurting or want to try something different, then I'll be home soon to help!

-Brandon.

Wrapping up and moving on-I'll be on the radio!

I'm about to eat lunch and bike down to one of the beaches, but of course, I have to post first.  Lunch is gluten free flax bread with almond butter and homemade grapefruit jelly made by a friend from class. I'll probably slide some local Arugula in between too.

To finish on this whole tensegrity (the body's integrity of structure) fascia conversation, I wanted to point out that the image I last posted with the bands and beams is how our body is held together, which I mentioned. What I forgot to say was that anytime we have a pull on one end of the tensegrity model, the other side is also constrained.  So that neck stiffness you have ain't coming from the neck, check your hips, sacrum or even your feet! Review the last 4 entries of this blog to catch up, if you haven't read it yet, do it. You just might learn something about your body!

Now, onto the weekend, I'm off for the week and I'm gonna go study some asana to find specific injuries I can work with people on if they are hurting, the weather has broken and I'm going on my first hike this weekend, work with a partner on Yogalign-maybe from the top of a mountain and then tomorrow night.... I will be making my community radio debut on a show called 'The Get Low Show' which highlights music from the best players around. 

Laura, my classmate is taking me on the air! I will be on KKCR Kauai community radio, from 10pm to midnight (Kauai time) where apparently we will be doing some partying too. You can listen in too, live streaming.

Have a great mahalo mamish aloha weekend.

We're 3D (pt.3)

  Listening to Thomas Meyers talk about the fascial system today in greater detail continues to puzzle me, but in a good way. In a way that is expanding my conception of how intricate the human body is and how meticulously created we are. Like, literally down to the cell. The reason the arm cannot extend beyond 180 degrees at the elbow is because a series of arteries and capillaries and veins are running through the arm. If the arm did extend beyond that point, they would rupture.

  Here's what I do want to talk about. Remember my post a few weeks back on proprioception? No? Ok, I'll review. Proprioception is basically, in my own terminology, how our body remembers to move, and does move in every situation, both physical and emotional based on how we record, store and process information. In other words, we are the physical manifestation of every experience we've ever had, to put it-bluntly.

  An example could be something like this. A teacher yells at a 5-year old in kindergarten when trying to grab for second helping of cookies from the cookie jar. The child was startled, shocked.  In that very moment, chemicals excreted from its' glandular system rapidly oozes and secretes and fear becomes known. The child shrugs the shoulders towards the ears and sinks the chest inward to protect the heart. From that moment on every time the child would receive desert from the teacher, the body would recoil in some fashion, fear was the past experience as the body replays the motions. As the child grew up and would be around an authority figure or let's say the lunch lady or a parent ready to give out desert, the body would in some way twitch towards this structural movement. It became ingrained. This is proprioception. This is of course a fictitious example and exaggerated, but not one that is far fetched. We all have these structural integrations that have been set neurologically. When this happens the fascia that connect the muscles and runs throughout the body become set to hold the body in that way.  Proprioception could also be something as passive as sitting at the computer in an irresponsible way. Irresponsible to how the body naturally is aligned, which will set the motor of the body to remember this position and repeat it over and over again.  Proprioception. Got it?

Ok, now I can move on. Here is what I wrote in my notes today while watching and listening to how the body's fascia, which is it's pliable, fibrous structure, like wrapping to taffy and is like a network which downloads all kinds of environmental information to hold the body upright, works.

'So the fascia is a moving neural casing or web that runs the length of the body and is directly related to our proprioception. So, by breathing in newly and with correct alignment, with a clear mind thinking positive, affirmative thoughts can open up and replace tight proprioceptive posture and reprogram the body, it's thoughts and emotions towards what is possible for the individual. We will now be able to move more freely in life without, not only physical restriction, but mental, emotional and psychological blockages as well. We will be reformatting the fascial system and reprogramming ourselves so we can come closer to achieving our highest potential.'


So listen up. If you have pain, if you have trauma, if you have doubt, fear or insecurity, or even if you have poor posture and your neck just hurts, you will need to realign your own structure and melt away the old fascial network holding your muscular system in place.  Because it's the fascia that is directly channeled to your systems make-up which gives you your posture, or how you show up in the world, just as you are-right now. Is this blowing your mind!? It is mine. You can literally melt away old fascia that no longer serves you by working the fascia itself.

That's the work I'm doing over here. It's not just yoga, its structural realignment and body transformation. I'll be soon posting videos showing you how to do this for yourself. It's magical. Just today Michaelle worked with me on my sacrum and at lunch all kinds of buried emotional stuff came out. You have to start relating to your own body as a storehouse for it's emotional make-up. The reason I couldn't open up my lumbar spine and sacrum was in part due to what I was 'holding' in it. That's all for now.

Why is it called that?

I'm about to depart, a new journey, a new life awaits. Welcome to my Hawaiian, Kauain yogic blog about my life, my visions, my insights from a small island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Now, so you can understand the name of this blog, eh-hem, Dhanurasana (pronounced, 'Don-yur-ahs-ahna) is commonly referred to as 'bow pose', Google-it. Of course, my mind went to great lengths and troubles to come up with an ideal blog title, so much so that a new fear of not creating a blog might actually have occurred due to the perfection I faced to just name it. Amazing.

Well, I named it. There were some other front-runners, like 'wordsong' and 'youngmanandthesea', but through it all, slowdownyourasana came to pass. But why this one?

Besides Dhanurasana being a yoga posture, I liked the way the words morphed together. It sounds like 'down your asana' (which could be another blog altogether for disgruntled yogis, or highly sexual yogis). Never-the-less, slowdownyourasana is about slowing down, being present and still with life, right now.

It's about yoga in the way that when we are on the mat, it never matters how 'good' we are 'doing' at yoga compared to others, which I hear very often, but about being where we are on the mat, in the moment, with what we got-all right now.

And for those of you who aren't yoga savvy, yoga doesn't just take place ON THE MAT, it takes its shape for those who practice off the mat as well. Like, how are you going to be on the subway or bus during the morning commute when there is traffic, loud people and other chaotic events?

How are you going to be when you get home from work and your kid or spouse is wound-up and frustrated, b/c you were expecting a peaceful return greeted by open and loving arms.

Well, that's the practice of yoga. For me, and many other yogis, it's about being present in life's chaos no matter where I am at.

So, I wonder how this NJ/NY man is going to fare in the slow-paced life of Hawaiin timing? Come back soon to find out, you're invited!