Motivation

Buddhism

2011-10-18T11:22:00.000-07:00

The path is the most powerful urge in our life—the path is our life.

Contrary to popular belief, the Buddhist path is not a rejection of the thinking mind. Meditation is not some concentrated attempt to silence thought. On the Buddhist path, thought is totally embraced as a natural expression of our physical body. However, meditation does move beyond our personal story-line, in order to explore the silence, from which, thought emerges.

Buddhist spirituality is an embrace of the human condition. It is an exploration of the relationship between reality, the silent wisdom of the body, and the conscious mind. We are returning to the source—”the power of being in which every individual participates”—so that we may witness, in its entirety, the spontaneous movement of the human life-cycle. In Buddhism, our true life is described as a three dimensional process of pressing out called, the Three Bodies of Enlightenment.

Through the practice of mindfulness we are invited to participate in the birth and death of our personal life. We do not seek to kill or destroy our relative self; we grant it the space it needs to follow its natural cycle of life. In meditation, we simply watch as one thought arises and passes away, only to be replaced by another thought (shamatha). As this process of birth, death, and reincarnation slows down, we begin to notice the space or bardo between conceptual manifestations. This gap is incredibly interesting. It begs the question, “Who am I between thoughts?”

Overwhelmed by curiosity our practice takes on a more inquisitive nature (vipashyana). In a moment of silence—the gap that separates the death of one subjective self and the birth of another—we plummet into the infinite depths of our being and watch as our true life—silent, but creative—selflessly offers itself up as a gift to the world by taking birth in time-&-space (Bodhisattva/ warrior archetype).

The ground of being is the genesis of everything, including the limited self.

Physical sensations, sounds, images, tastes, smells, thoughts, and emotions are all expressions of the source, awareness. Our relative life is not a stable event, but a constantly evolving projection of the changeless essence. The form or the image is insubstantial, but the process is vital. In other words, the forms are empty or devoid of any independently enduring characteristics or thingness (shunyata), but the source is luminous—self-emergent or unborn, and therefore, indestructible (vajra). However, the luminous source can only be made known through its projections. So, form is an expression of emptiness and emptiness is the true nature of form.

The true nature of mind cannot be distinguished from reality. Reality and awareness are co-emergent. The two—the relative and the absolute; ordinary consciousness and original Mind—are, in fact, different aspects of a single essence. Our life, in time-&-space—the finite—is the unmediated expression of the infinite—the uncreated ground of being from which everything in the universe, including the universe, is continually emerging (dharmata). At this point, all distinction of large and small self or unconscious and conscious mind disappear, like pouring water into water. This is the dissolution of the witnessing consciousness, at which point, we are revealed to be neither the wave (conscious mind) nor the ocean (unconscious mind), but “wetness.” The immediate circumstances that seem to define “our” life and reality, in it’s incompressible vastness, effortlessly co-emerge in an experience of undifferentiated being.

To use more Buddhist terms (the Three Bodies of Enlightenment), the creative body of being (dharmakaya) is the energy or indestructible experience of isness from which life (not our life) emerges. Creativity is not a quality of man. It is a quality of life that finds expression in innumerable forms, including man. The body of pure intelligence (sambogakaya) is the unmediated articulation of being—life seeking to experience itself through physical incarnation or the wisdom of the body. The intelligence associated with the body is a manifestation of the creative nature of being, marked by emptiness or the absence of censorship—the rawness of direct experience (mahamudra). Life, then, offers itself as a gift—susceptible to birth, old age, sickness, and death, repeatedly through a process of reincarnation. “Our” life is characterized by fleeting manifestations of individuality (nirmanakaya) that are born out of creative and unique interactions between the universe and the conscious mind that are facilitated by the body of sub-conscious wisdom. In other words, it is through our relative day-to-day life that the
To use more Buddhist terms (the Three Bodies of Enlightenment), the creative body of being (dharmakaya) is the energy or indestructible experience of isness from which life (not our life) emerges. Creativity is not a quality of man. It is a quality of life that finds expression in innumerable forms, including man. The body of pure intelligence (sambogakaya) is the unmediated articulation of being—life seeking to experience itself through physical incarnation or the wisdom of the body. The intelligence associated with the body is a manifestation of the creative nature of being, marked by emptiness or the absence of censorship—the rawness of direct experience (mahamudra). Life, then, offers itself as a gift—susceptible to birth, old age, sickness, and death, repeatedly through a process of reincarnation. “Our” life is characterized by fleeting manifestations of individuality (nirmanakaya) that are born out of creative and unique interactions between the universe and the conscious mind that are facilitated by the body of sub-conscious wisdom. In other words, it is through our relative day-to-day life that the

absolute is revealed.

Our day-to-day life—going to the grocery store, riding our bike, talking to a friend, or talking to an enemy—is truly magical. What we actually are is a mystery. It is only through mindful participation in this mystery—the cycle of human life, where the conscious and unconscious worlds are co-emergent manifestations of reality or Truth—“not a truth or the truth, but Truth”—that any genuine sense of fulfillment will ever be found.

The spiritual path is the most powerful urge in our life—the path is our life. Personal ambition or desire—the most glaring quality of the ego-centric mind—is nothing more than a perverted example of the primordial imperative (Bodhicitta) to go beyond the self-conscious tendency to think about ourselves and awaken to the fullness or perfection of our humanity (buddha-nature) through an experience of being (enlightenment). True contentment is contingent upon my conscious consent to this primitive desire. Meditation is a practice of consent.

2011-10-08T07:57:00.001-07:00

LIFE

2011-07-10T09:25:00.000-07:00

sharing our yoga path, thanks Ben...I adore you!

2011-03-19T09:36:00.000-07:00

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Are you a YOGA fan!!!!

Well if you are like myself who travels a lot you know its some times really hard to fit a class in. Since i started doing yoga about 4 years ago which my best mate Miss Cat Deeley introduced me too (may i add after much resistance from me). I become obsessed instantly. Now when in New York I goto the AH-MAZING Elena Brower at http://virayoga.com/ and when in LA me and Cat have the equally wonderful Camilla Bergstrom. Who is the one who go me hooked.

So i guess your wondering where this going??? Well I needed to find some way to get my yoga fix when traveling and my girls Camilla and Elena are not around. Believe me a lot of the place's I go have never even heard of a yoga studio!!!!!! And to be fair I don't have the time to go after a long shoot day. Then Elena introduce me tohttp://www.yogaglo.com/ problem solved !!! Its the most fantastic yoga website with online classes. They set a camera up at the back of the room and record the class. You really feel like your there its great. There are many styles to chose from i practice Anusara. So you just sign up for a small monthly fee and off you go online yoga anywhere anytime genius. So check it out i hope you find it as good as i have.

Vancover Yoga review 2011

2011-02-06T04:23:00.001-08:00

Anything Is Possible: A Weekend Workshop with Camilla Bergstrom

by TANYA LEE MARKUL on 01. FEB, 2011 in EVENTS, MEDITATION, REFLECTIONS, REVIEWS, TEACHERS, YOGIS

Yoga has the potential to become something much more than just exercise, and for many of us this exercise is exactly where the journey begins. Our body starts to tone, strengthen, open and then all of a sudden we start to think differently. Eventually the connection is made: as we work on the body, we are working on the mind, the two inseparable.

When we become aware of our bodies and connect to what is happening physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, anything is possible, according to Camilla Bergstrom: when we are in sync, when we are in harmony with mind and body, we experience the strength and confidence that will lead to the feeling of I can do this and eventually the wisdom that goes beyond it.

Camilla’s 11-hour weekend workshop tested this theory. Students were offered an opportunity to find their boundaries by examining the thoughts behind the seemingly challenging or impossible. As Camilla put it, ‘the first step is to become aware of our thoughts. Thoughts create an emotion and emotion creates a reaction. If we change the negative thought into a positive, the body will respond and we will find strength we didn’t even know that we had.’

Offering a masterful sequence of inversions, handstands and a variety of standing poses, Camilla teaches a simplistic fusion of yoga style combining self-healing with her experiences, various teacher influences and philosophy. Her teaching approach was challenging, passionate andcontagiously courageous. She also took a great deal of time to focus on alignment and individual needs.

The workshop was complemented with breathing techniques and meditation. Students were invited toelongate their inner experiences by writing down and sharing their inner dialogue, as, according to Camilla, there’s more to just feeling yoga in our shoulders or our hips, much, much more, and when we write it down, it helps us to become even more aware of ourselves; it helps us to figure out which plane we are living on. Are we too much in our head? Are our feet on the ground? When we write and share, the experience becomes deeper, more profound, and when we speak it, it almost becomes an agreement.

No stranger to the element of fear, Camilla helps students acknowledge their own veil’s through the process of taking a step back, finding the discipline in their fear and committing to it versus separating from it. Camilla believes that if it means something to us, if it’s important to us, it’s going to happen and we are going to move forward. When the veil is lifted, we find purpose and within purpose we find simplicity: the result of stability, honesty and acceptance.

If you are looking for a life-altering experience, I highly recommend Camilla. You’ll be guaranteed a powerful physical journey and perhaps discover a deeper sense of your own true nature.

The Anything Is Possible weekend workshop took place in December 2010 at Hamsa Yoga Studioin Copenhagen, Denmark. Camilla currently resides in Los Angeles, California and offers local and international private and group classes. She has a podcast and much more information on her website: http://camillabergstrom.com/.

happiness....

2010-10-18T18:04:00.000-07:00

Love the lyrics to the song "happiness" by The Fray

Happiness is just outside my window
Would it crash blowing 80-miles an hour?
Or is happiness a little more like knocking
On your door, and you just let it in?

Happiness feels a lot like sorrow
Let it be, you can't make it come or go
But you are gone- not for good but for now
Gone for now feels a lot like gone for good

Happiness is a firecracker sitting on my headboard
Happiness was never mine to hold
Careful child, light the fuse and get away
‘Cause happiness throws a shower of sparks

Happiness damn near destroys you
Breaks your faith to pieces on the floor
So you tell yourself, that's enough for now
Happiness has a violent roar

Happiness is like the old man told me
Look for it, but you'll never find it all
Let it go, live your life and leave it
Then one day, wake up and she'll be home
Home, home, home

lovelove

camilla

a moment of magic

2010-09-17T14:48:00.000-07:00

A few years ago when I first bought my horse, who is by the way the most amazing creature I have ever met, so clever, sweet and listens to everything I am asking of him. Anyway, one day I am rushing up to the ranch running late and people are waiting for me to go out on a long ride. First of all for those of you who knows me, I am never late and I hate to make people wait for me. I ran around like a maniac trying to find a saddle (hadn't yet my own) and getting him ready with no consideration at all of him. I jump on him feeling stressed and in not such a great mode, barely groomed him, no kiss, no carrot....well one thing lead to another and next thing I know about 20 minutes into the ride I find myself on the ground. I was in shock!!!! My perfect horse actually bucked me off!!! I am sitting on the ground up on a hill and my friends told me he ran home. Mangled and in shock (but ok) getting ready to walk all the way back, I all of a sudden hear a noise from the bushes on the side of the hill. I see two big horse hoofs crawling up the hill towards me and there he was. It was the most magical moment, this huge creature who could have easily just run home to get fed, could have said; screw her, turned around and came back to me. That moment my relationship to horses changed forever and just like I want him to respect me, I now respect him and always take my time with him before I ride. Horses truly create magic, they will give back to us what we give to them. If we have patience, show them love and respect, I do believe this is what we will get in return....and by the way this goes for humans as well.

lovelove

camilla

finding inspiration

2010-08-02T15:07:00.000-07:00

I think we all have moments when we feel we don't have to much going on, the schedule is all the same every day, we have our same routine every day and we feel kind of bored.. We are neither climbing up or down, the phone seems more quite, life just kind of is. Nothing really to complain about, life is good, but we don't really feel that inspired. We seek for something to happen, maybe a change. I call this the grey area, feels like something is missing. Often this is the time that we focus more of what we don't have rather then looking at what we do have. You start looking at everybody else, comparing you're life to theirs. This is probably the place I feel the most uncomfortable and I tend to thrive on being on a go.

When something amazing is coming to our lives or we are super busy running around and never really have a minute over to ourselves, we don't have time to meditate, enjoy the day, we certainly don't have time to just listen or even call our family and friends, we forget about the simple things and we feel we are in such a great flow. We forget this time will pass and we forget to fully enjoy it.

When there is chaos, then that is all what is going on, all our energy goes to trying to get back on track.

To be in the grey area right in between the dark and the light, gives us an opportunity to be still and fully listen. Nothing is really distracting us, this is a perfect time to enjoy the simple things in life, to make small changes from our every day routine. Drive a different route to work,

call the people you haven't talked to in a while, people who have a positive energy around them who might even have a lot going on in their life. Watch movies that are about a subject that inspires you, or listen to a meditation tape.

Be at home, alone, organize closets, clean or go for along walk in you're neighborhood. Talk to people you usually don't have time o talk to, in the elevator, cashier at the supermarket, you're neighbor who you might be use to just saying hello to. The tiniest thing can make a difference, practicing mindfulness, change the breakfast in the morning if you're like me who always eat the same.

Take a different class from what you're use to, a different teacher, a different studio even.

This time will pass, we all know this. It's life, things happens that will teach us our biggest lessons then there is time in between, time for space and reflection, for us to just be, recharging, seeing all the beauty, enjoy it!!!!

love

camilla

2010-06-25T08:49:00.000-07:00

coming soon....