yoga 101

yoga info 101
definition
"the Sanskrit name for a wide range of self-transformative disciplines originating in India some 5,000 years.
The word Yoga is derived from the Sanskrit root "yuj", i.e "to yoke" [to the spirit] meaning "union of the Individual Soul (Atman) with the Universal Soul (Brahman). Yoga embraces a wide range of disciplines whose ultimate goal is the joining of body, mind and spirit, a conscious unification into Oneness.
In the Western world, the most popular form is Hatha Yoga, (Sanskrit for "Union of Force"), a form of Yoga that stresses mastery of the physical body as a gateway to attaining spiritual perfection.
When incorporated into our daily lives, even in miniscule doses, yoga offers us multiple benefits. In our task-filled, busy days, yoga provides us a respite to energize our bodies and calm our minds. In fact, most people begin to see and feel improvements in their flexibility, strength and stress levels after only a few classes.
The major branches of Yoga are
Raja-Yoga (the royal path of meditation)
Karma-Yoga (the path of self-transcending action)
Bhakti-Yoga (the path of devotion)
Jnana-Yoga (the path of wisdom)
Tantra-Yoga (which includes Kundalini-Yoga)
Mantra-Yoga (the path of transformative sound)
Hatha-Yoga (the forceful path of physical cultivation)"

The Moth and the Star

Ever heard about The Moth and the Star?

"A young and impressionable moth once set his heart on a certain star. He told his mother about this and she counseled him to set his heart on a bridge lamp instead. 'Stars aren't the thing to hang around,' she said. 'Lamps are the thing to hang around.' 'You get somewhere that way,' said the moth's father. 'You don't get anywhere chasing stars.' But the moth would not heed the words of either parent. Every evening at dusk when the star came out, he would start flying toward it and every morning at dawn, he would crawl back home, worn out with vain endeavor...the moth left his father's house, but he would not fly around street lamps and he would not fly around house lamps. He went right on trying to reach the star, which was four and one-third light years, or twenty-five trillion miles away..."

-From Jame's Thurber's "Fables for Our Time and Famous Poems"

Above the Rain

I just recently located this poem I wrote again...it was in a collection of poems...a makeshift book...but it got published! The title of the book is super cool: "Walk a Mile with Me"

Above the Rain

Above the rain
Mother Moon aches
for all below
to experience delicious
rainbow-misty days.

Sweet peach, rose and
aqua skies appear beneath
the goddess moon.

After twilight the sky
shifts to rust----
the sweltering heat dies.

Stormy clouds drift away
as the Earth takes on
a new reality...