As donations for Inner Fire Yoga’s silent auction benefiting Domestic Abuse Intervention Services continue to stream into the studio, the tables full of contributions remind me of the overwhelming generosity in our yoga community.

They also remind of something Marian Wright Edleman said: “We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.”

img8265Fortunately, in our community, people are not ignoring the small difference they can make. Instead, they’re donating gift cards and jewelry and beautiful works of art. While every donation is appreciated, it is especially exciting to have donations that are expressions of people’s special talents, like a hand-knit hat and original paintings and photos by local artists. These creations are a manifestation of your light shining brightly – thank you so much for sharing!

Last year, Inner Fire Yoga donated $3,400 to DAIS from our Abundance Celebration, and we hope to write an even bigger check this year. While we cannot foresee the many ways this donation will help women and children in Dane County, we know that your donation of any size helps to make a big difference.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your donation!!! And let the bidding begin

A few weeks ago, Inner Fire member Claire Bergman asked if we could post a list of books that Inner Fire teachers either read from in class or have found enriching for one’s yoga practice. First, below is great passage from Judith Lasater’s Living Your Yoga, our most-recent book club book and one of the books on the list. The list of Books We Like follows.

“The more we try to control our world, the less control we have. The more we are willing to let go of control and simply stay present with what is, the more control we have….. When we feel out of control, it is usually when there is a conflict between what we think and what we feel… But our bodies, which are the storage units for our feelings, simply cannot lie. Whatever we feel in our bodies is our truth.” – Judith Lasater

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel
Ruiz Wisdom of Yoga by Stephen Cope
Meditation for the Love of It by Sally Kempton
Invisible Acts of Power:Channeling Grace In Your Everyday Life by Caroline Myss
Meditations from the Mat by Rolf Gates
Living Your Yoga by Judith Lasater
The Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga by Deepak Chopra and David Simon
The Ultimate Happiness Prescription: 7 Keys to Joy and Enlightenment by Deepak Chopra
The Heart of Yoga by T.K.V. Desikachar
A Life Worth Breathing by Max Strom
40 Days to Personal Revolution by Baron Baptiste
Journey Into Power by Baron Baptiste
Bikram Yoga by Bikram Choudhury
Yoga and Ayurveda: Self Healing and Self Realization by David Frawley
Autobiography of a Yogi by Yogananda
Fierce Medicine by Ana Forrest
Anatomy of The Spirit by Caroline Myss
The Mirror of Yoga: Awakening the Intelliegence of the Body and Mind by Richard Freeman
Tantra Illuminated:The Philosphy, History, and Practice of a Timeless Tradition by Christopher D. Wallis and John Friend
Light on Yoga by BKS Iyengar
Hatha Yoga Pradipika by Swami Muktibodhananda
Anatomy Trains: Myofascial Meridians for Manual and Movement by Thomas W. Myers
The Tibetan Book of the Dead by Chogyam Trungpa
Manual of Zen Buddhism by Suzuki
The Dhammapada Translated by F. Max Muller
Be Here Now by Ram Dass
Thinking Body, Dancing Mind by Chungliang Al Huang and Jerry Lynch

While February is the shortest month of the year, to me it sure feels like the longest here in Wisconsin’s frozen tundra. Yet, I’m sure there are many folks who wish February was longer and snowier so they could ski and snowboard more. It’s truly a matter of perspective. And how we view our world has a tremendous impact on our daily mood, energy level and level of happiness.

Lately when caught up in a mindset of “my life is so hard,” I recall Judith Lasater’s parable in the chapter on Perspective her book Living Your Yoga. She tells the story of a villager who lived in a small house with his wife, mother in law, six children, a cow and some chickens. This was driving him crazy (I imagine his wife wasn’t thrilled about it, either).

So he went to the village rabbi, asking for advice, and the rabbi said, “Buy a goat.” The man immediately bought a goat, and the house was even more chaotic than before. The man went back to the rabbi who said, “Sell the goat.” The man’s house was then positively peaceful without the goat.

Lasater’s conclusion regarding this parable: “When you find yourself in a situation that could be made better if you were to step back to gain perspective, inhale gently and on your next exhalation, say to yourself, Sell the goat.” Life is pretty darn good as it is, right here and now, today. As Voltaire said, “The most important decision you make is to be in a good mood.”

By Karen Erstad

Last Sunday, Jackie Meacham, 38 enthusiastic yogis and I (Karen Erstad) launched Inner Fire Yoga’s first 40-Day Bootcamp, inspired by Baron Baptiste’s 40 Days to Personal Revolution: A Breakthrough Program to Radically Change Your Body and Awaken the Sacred Within Your Soul.

As part of this special class that kicked-off the Bootcamp, we had a not-quite-two-hour-long asana practice, which was great because lengthier practices give yogis a chance enjoy long holds, perhaps experiencing some breakthroughs in the process, and then we also had time to really wind down before savasana. In preparing for this special class, I ran across one of my favorite excerpts from 40 Days to Personal Revolution.

It’s in the chapter where Baptiste explains the fifth of his 12 Laws of Transformation, which is “Shift Your Vision.” This is about looking at usual things with fresh eyes, says Baptiste. “As we start to spiritually awaken, our new vision allows us to see that most of our obstacles are created within our own hearts. Our greatest power to change ourselves is found in our ability to see beyond the veil, to see with an enlightened vision.”

Shifting your vision, continues Baptiste, calls for attention, intention and faith. “Attention is mental focus, and attention begets energy. Whatever you give your positive or negative attention to, you will energize, for better or for worse.” Be aware of where you’re attention goes, and know you can choose where it goes — even if you think you can’t.

“Intention has tremendous power, because when you hold an awareness of what you need to do in the back of your mind, you direct your energy and the energy of the universe in that direction,” says Baptiste. “Right intention leads us to the realm of flow, or what the Indians call vinyasa. When we find the pureness of our intentions, we unleash a force that has the miraculous and infinite ability to rally circumstances, energy, situations, synchronicity and serendipity all on our behalf.”

This is one of the reasons we focus on intention with our asana practice: is your intention to expand your awareness or to expand your biceps? One intention can lead to a flowering of consciousness and greater enjoyment of life, while the other could lead to tendonitis.

Lastly, to shift your vision calls for faith. Says Baptiste, “It’s important we develop a heart of faith and use it as a great tool to shift from seeing with our literal eyes to seeing with our spiritual ones.”