Tucson Yoga Teachers' Blog

Surrender

2012-02-23T16:19:00.003-08:00

By Alysa Volpe

If you have ever been caught in an undertow, you know the feeling of fear that rushes in. There a sensation of complete absorption, as if you and the water have become intertwined and it is holding onto you with such force that you will never see the light again. Being in the grips of such force unexpectedly is terrifying and it is the struggle against the water that only makes it worse. The only way to survive is to surrender to the flow and ride it back to the surface. Our lives are much like that experience.
There are times in which we recognize with ease that the fight isn’t necessary, but often it isn’t until we have become overwhelmed with exhaustion that we finally stop and see that the answer was to surrender in the first place. I started to think about this the other day, as I was attempting to write this piece. I was overanalyzing my words, canvassing my thesaurus and trying, trying so hard to be interesting, to sound like a yogi, and then I stopped and I remembered that feeling of the undertow, the holding of the breath and the body fully engaged to do battle and I had to stop and pause and really laugh at myself. All this effort was paradoxical. As a student of yoga, I know that the answer is not in the doing but in the surrender and acceptance. It doesn’t mean that the struggle is not valuable, because it is, but acceptance is just as important. The small amount of reference to the asana practice in the Yoga Sutras is described by these three words: Sthira sukham asanam, which translates to sitting still with steadiness and ease. In our practice we often struggle, we try to get the foot to our thigh in vrikshasana or wrap the arm to bind and find ourselves holding our breath and efforting into what should be a practice of stability and relaxation. It isn’t until we quiet the judgments and expectations of what we think should be happening that we can come to acceptance and find our breath. It is almost always the moments, in which we stop trying so hard that we finally find ourselves floating into Sirsasana or surrendering to the stretch or finally realize that we just may not have the anatomical structure to bind into a specific pose. Once we stop fighting what is, we come to a place of being able to receive what is without the stressful and dramatic dialogue. We are just beings inhabiting a body that may surprise us. Our character is not determined by how good we think we look in the specific shape of a pose, because there are many wonderful people who are unable to touch their toes. Our yoga practice is an opportunity to observe ourselves, not just physically but mentally and spiritually. Yoga is union and union does not happen when energy is unstable. We may learn many valuable lessons from our struggles. The lotus flower does not come to blossom without the experience of moving through the muck to find the light, so as we find ourselves judging our toes or trying to be the perfect ideal of a yogi or even just a good person, we must first come to see things as they are, because it is only in the moment of awareness that we can see clearly and finally surrender and find the light.

Cinema Nirvana Presents The Incredible Shrinking Man

2012-02-23T14:00:00.000-08:00

March 17th at 7:30 PM

As we inch our way into Springtime, I thought screening this 1957 science fiction classic would be “just right.” It was directed by Jack Arnold, adapted from the Richard Matheson novel, The Shrinking Man.
Those of you familiar with Matheson’s work (including I Am Legend, A Stir Of Echoes and many of the original Twilight Zone classics such as “Nightmare At 20,000 Feet”) know to expect an intelligent, thought-provoking, even philosophically challenging film, despite the seemingly histrionic title!

And I’m not alone in seeing this film as truly significant: the Library of Congress named The Incredible Shrinking Man to the National Film Registry as being “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant and worthy of being preserved “for all time.” The film has been referred to as “existential” and perhaps we can add “dharmic” as other reasons to be considered “significant.”

The story revolves around Scott Carey and what happens to him after exposure to a radioactive “cloud” while out boating. Yes, he begins shrinking. And the implications begin to grow. What happens to a man as he shrinks to the size of a three year old child, then to a six-inch doll, then to…. no-thing?

Please join me March 17th as we view and discuss this intriguing “little” film.

The film, pop corn and discussion is free. Donations will be greatfully accepted for Western Resource Advocates

Poep Sa Frank Jude

Holy Transformation

2012-02-20T19:43:00.000-08:00

By Michelle Marks

Who isn’t enamored with the butterfly?

Whether the adoration comes from the beauty, from the perceived freedom of physical wings, or the remembrance of what came before its majesty, we all know a holy transformation has taken place.

The life cycle of a butterfly is like the pranavah, the mystic sound of Om, that Patanjali talks about in the yoga sutras. This innate humming resides in the continual cycle of things.

At the stage of flight, magnificence and wings mark the end stage of a transformational journey that began much earlier on. The significance of the mystery of a butterfly’s cycle is felt by all. Its metamorphosis is revered, but what I want to revel in is the entirety of the adventure.

To begin, two butterflies must find one another and mate. When this miracle occurs and fertilization is successful, the female is ready to lay her eggs. Did you know that the shape of butterfly eggs vary? And each of these unique and individual eggs, I have learned, consists of an outer casing inside which is the females fertilized ovum. At the top of that egg is a tiny opening to allow the male sperm to fertilize the egg. WOW! Sometimes the eggs are laid singly, and other times they may be in a bunch. If an egg survives the first transformation, there is a variable amount of time to hatch.

The larva is hatched….. and they are eating machines. It is solely in this stage of the larva that physical growth occurs. And just as it can be so different for each and every individual sentient being, each little caterpillar is so NOT the same! They can be naked, or hairy or colorful, or with or without stripes. Contemplate this: do you have a preference for caterpillars? Which ones would you let crawl on you, and which would you pass on by? Some caterpillars will eat your plants, and some are poisonous to their predators.

I did not know that throughout the larval stage, a caterpillar has to shed it’s skin several times in order to accommodate further growth. There are an average of five sheddings that each span between two weeks and a month in duration, and each time, immediately upon shedding the old skin, the larva fills with air, allowing the new skin to take on a new size and giving the caterpillar as much room as possible to grow into this new size. With each transformation it is possible that the caterpillar will appear totally different!

With the final shedding in the caterpillar’s journey, the often camouflaged pupa, or chrysalis, emerges. Using different types of support, and its own unique methods for creating a support system around itself, the chrysalis starts out soft and skin-like, and gradually hardens to form a protective shell, around which the cocoon is then formed.

The humming of the life cycle continues.

With a complete disassembly of the cells and then their reconfiguration, a new form is being created inside the cocoon. Inside the chrysalis itself, most of the body breaks itself down into a pool of undifferentiated cells in a process called histolysis, whereby the caterpillar almost entirely dissolves by it’s own digestive juices, before it can come back together to form a new shape. For this change from caterpillar to butterfly to occur, in other words this dying must take place. For rebirth, then, a tissue that has been in the creature all along, but unused until now, supervises the building of its new body. Histogenesis: the creation of new tissues, new limbs, new wings with which to fly. There is no escaping growth at this point; the only choice is to surrender to the process and that is why caterpillars must choose safe places to hide within nature to go through this process.

The process of a complete transformation has a name: holometabolism. This change can occur in a matter of weeks or months, resulting ultimately in the emergence of a butterfly. The newly formed body pumps fluid into the shriveled wings, and within a short amount of time, the wings are full, dried, and capable of flight.

If you have made it this far in my discourse……..

Holy transformation! I can think about my own life (can’t we all) and recognize some of my “sheddings” in which prana has seeped into my being and, given me more room to grow, to reveal my many incarnations. Like the caterpillar, we must shed our skin to become who we were meant to be, and like the caterpillar, there is so much help for us within the process.

It is only because at present I am tucked safe within the cocoon, that I am even contemplating all of these teachings. I may be “safe” within the hard outer casing, but as we have just read, there is no escaping! The vulnerable process of turning inside out, of breaking down what was to reveal what will be, is a big deal! A new shape is forming from the blueprints that were there all along held within my karma, my cosmic blessings, and my ancestors. However the new “shape” is not known!

Remembering the wisdom of all that is bigger than we are, and this incredible adventure that began long ago and perhaps has occurred several times over; and then applying it, living through it, is an emergence! And even then, we still must pump our own nectar from within to fill our own wings. Did the humming of the cycle ever cease? Did we forget to listen to it? Are we afraid of it? Have we begun to discover that our process is the nature of all things! A cycle in which the humming never does stop, a birth, a death and a rebirth.

In the discomfort of the cocoon, of the total tenderness, can we remember the life cycle of one breath? Of one wave? Of the inevitable earlier sheddings that we have made it through? And can we remember with equanimity?

I know for me, this is all a practice. From noticing my attachments, my likes (the colorful, fuzzy caterpillars) versus my dislikes (the black and white spiky ones in my orange tree), which really stem from my conditioning, and my patterns, and my fears, I am emerging. I am recognizing that that tenderness, that going deep within, and that vulnerability in allowing what is hard to literally dissolve back into our primary source of water, are essential in the process of being gifted wings.

Just as the butterfly is fragile, and beautiful, and unique and impermanent, so are we. With the seamless continual hum of all nature, we too can be versed in the letting go, and the allowance of miracles and the recognition that we are really not so different from the butterfly and so many of God’s other creatures.

http://www.butterflyguide.co.uk/lif

http://home.cogeco.ca/~lunker/stagesbf.htm

February Update: Kirtan, Farm Day, Intro to Yoga and more

2012-02-02T17:09:00.001-08:00

Classes are bustling this winter, and we have two exciting community events coming up! First, it's Kirtan Chanting on February 11th with Gabrielle, Bradford and Leah, then on March 10th we're hosting Yogi Farm Day, when we'll gather at a brand-new community farm in southwest Tucson for an afternoon... Read more >

Cinema Nirvana Presents "The Dhamma Brothers"

2012-02-02T16:03:00.000-08:00

Showing Saturday, February 25, 7:30pm

I had been planning on eventually screening the 1997 documentary, Doing Time, Doing Vipassana about a large-scale program using vipassana meditation as taught by S. N. Goenka at Tihars Prison in India. But after seeing The Dhamma Brothers, a film released in 2007 about a similar, but much smaller scale prison meditation program at the Donaldson Correctional Facility in Alabama, I felt that this would perhaps be more relevant to us living in Tucson. It hits much closer to home!

The film concentrates specifically on four inmates, all doing time for murder, along with interviews with guards, prison officials and local residents. It is directed by cultural anthropologist and psychotherapist, Jenny Phillips, documentary filmmaker, Andrew Kukura, and Anne Marie Stein, a film-school administrator.

Jenny Phillips was largely responsible for the meditation program’s inception at the prison after having studied prison culture in Massachusetts. The first ten-day intensive retreat at the prison was in January 2002 with twenty inmates. A second retreat was held in May 2002 with thirty-seven inmates and a follow-up three day retreat with interviews was held in January 2006. Convicted murderer, Grady Bankhead described the retreat as tougher then his eight years on Death Row. And that is his positive assessment!

I’ve chosen this documentary because I’ve a special interest in Prison Dharma, my book having been used in the San Quentin Insight Prison Project, and with my serving on the Board of Directors for the New Leaf Yoga Foundation, which brings Mindfulness Yoga to incarcerated youth and youth at risk. As usual, the film, pop corn and dharma talk are freely offered. Dana will be gratefully accepted for New Leaf Yoga Foundation.

See you at the movies!

frank jude

Dhamma Brothers Trailer:

Practice, Practice, Practice

2012-01-25T16:53:00.001-08:00

By Michelle Marks

Tapah Svadhyayesvara Pranidhanani Kriya Yoga II:I

tapah = accepting the purifying aspects of painful experience; svadhyaya = self-study in the context of teachings; Isvara = Supreme Being; pranidhanani = surrendering, devotion, offering the fruits of one's practice; kriya yoga = Yoga in practice

In the second book of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Sadhana Pada, we are inspired by the practice of Yoga. Patanjali is offering practical yet profound means of existing in the moment to moment. All of these teachings seem to be built upon the movement towards freeing ourselves from being enraptured with the fluctuations of the mind. I have found that this first thread of book two can be applied in the most practical of ways, and for me the significance is a real power house.

Tapas, the acceptance that purification can carry pain is theoretically digestible, but to apply it can take tremendous strength. We get to experience this purification in many ways, from the physical, to the subtle, inclusive of our emotional, mental and spiritual bodies. Tapas is a discipline of training in our senses, with the recognition that the nature of the mind is to run towards that which is pleasant and far from that which we perceive will be painful. When I come to my mat for an asana practice, the purifying aspect is most often quite pleasurable for me. To be in my body, and to feel into my bones and muscles is a celebration. I even appreciate the humbling days when my physical body speaks to me and asks me to be quieter, slower, to move with less vigor. However, it is the practice of applying this acceptance into the rest of my life that the practice really blossoms. Can I embrace that the lessons which might hurt, which may challenge me in every way are burnishing me into gold? Can I be moved by experience that training the senses instead of being controlled by them has power, has sweetness? This is a valuable question to ask ourselves. Do we consciously take our practice off the mat?

Svadhyaya, the pursuit of the interior landscape, is one I live by. While we may read the great spiritual teachings, or be so well-versed to speak of them, do we turn and look within? It takes tremendous warriorship to see clearly, or even begin the exploration to literally study the self. In this quest, we might find our abundance, our light, our beauty, and we must also be willing to embrace our shadows, our fears, and those places that are often the most uncomfortable. As thorough as we are in the investigation, the practice asks us to then, look again. For everything is changing, and always revealing another truth. Patanjali again, reiterates that this is a practice, which is inclusive of falling down, sometimes face down, and then finding the courage to pick ourselves up, and name the human-ness of our experiences. We have the exquisite opportunity to become vivid, to become most intimate with ourselves, and our experiences, inclusive of our actions, our speech (both within and without), and our intentions.

Isvara Pranidhanani, the ultimate letting go, is the softest most tender aspect of the teaching of kriya yoga. Surrendering is a practice. My husband’s grandmother used to always say to me, “We must let go and let God.” And this application has been like a lullaby many times over. And yet, for as many times as I have repeated this mantra, the practice of letting go of always knowing, of always being safe, of looking my fears in the face can be terrifying. With all of my dedications, I am practicing. With each repetition of heart and mind we are expanding our capacity to let go just a little bit more, ultimately opening our minds beyond the amazing limitations we have learned to impose upon ourselves.

Yoga in practice is a tremendous gift. It is an opportunity to wake up. When we infuse our experiences with a bit more vitality, and with reflection, then we might see the applications of our practice on our sacred journey from the miniscule to the marvelous, recognizing that the practice is not separate from the rest of our life. We sometimes forget what we are practicing for. I invite you to ASK YOURSELF!

Yoga for Pregnancy

2011-12-30T15:24:00.000-08:00

Yoga can be a wonderful way to enjoy pregnancy, and many women take yoga classes at Tucson Yoga while pregnant. Tucson Yoga is offering its first-ever prenatal yoga series starting January 14, for three Saturdays from 3:00 to 4:30pm, taught by Alysa Volpe. Click here for details & registration.

Yoga can help align your body optimally for healthy carriage and delivery of the baby and reduce discomfort in your upper and lower back. In addition, yoga provides breathing and relaxation techniques to use during pregnancy and labor and can teach you how to move and adjust your own body more intuitively in order to ease the movement of the baby during delivery.

Yoga can also pose risks, however, if you attend the wrong class or if you do inappropriate postures. Before you start taking yoga classes while pregnant, it's important to be well-informed.

It's recommended that you start with prenatal yoga classes or DVDs and learn the basic modifications for pregnant women (which are also outlined below). From there, you may wish to start taking general yoga classes. At Tucson Yoga, we recommend that pregnant women who have never done yoga before take our Gentle Yoga classes. (See our class schedule for class times.) As you're learning, tell every new instructor that you're pregnant so s/he can offer modifications for you and your baby's safety. The basic modifications for pregnancy are shown below - if anything is unclear ask a teacher. If you were steadily practicing yoga before your pregnancy, you may continue classes at the level you've been practicing for as long as it feels appropriate - as your baby grows, begin applying the modifications and paying extra attention to what feels right in your body as it changes.

Lack of scientific information

Prenatal yoga is a rapidly growing field; however, the effects of yoga on pregnancy have still not been scientifically researched. Much of the information you'll find about yoga and pregnancy is subjective, and various sources offer conflicting advice - for instance, two of the most well-known prenatal yoga teachers have completely conflicting opinions about Downward Dog posture: one says that it is a dangerous posture that can cause miscarriage, and the other says it's one of the best postures a pregnant woman can do. Given the lack of authoritative information, yoga during pregnancy is done at your own risk. The most important thing is to listen to your body's intuition, and play it safe by avoiding postures that don't feel right.

Modifications to use during pregnancy

Twisting: In general, avoid straining, compressing, and twisting in the belly or abdomen. Gentle twisting is okay.

Inversions: Avoid all inverted poses (headstand, handstand, and shoulder-stands).

Pranayama: Absolutely no breath retention, breath suspension, or "breath of fire" (kapalabhati) should be attempted.

Abdominals: Abdominal strenghthening poses should be avoided (e.g. boat pose).

Lying Down on the Back: Pregnant women are generally told not to lie on their backs after the first trimester in order to prevent Vena Cava Syndrome (a lowering of blood pressure due to the baby pressing on the vena cava artery). Some women still enjoy lying on their backs during the early months. In general, use your intuition, and listen to your body. The modification for final relaxation pose (Savasana) is to lie on your side. A bolster between the knees and a pillow under the head can make a world of difference.

Lying Down on the Belly: All pregnant women should avoid face-down postures that stress the weight of the body on the belly, including cobra, locust, and bow poses. Pregnant women past the first trimester should completely avoid lying on the belly. Good alternatives to the face-down backbends are bridge and camel poses.

Relaxin: All pregnant woman are gifted with relaxin. The purpose of this natural hormone is to facilitate the pelvis and hips to gracefully shift during pregnancy and childbirth, providing an easier passage for the baby's arrival. Relaxin causes the ligaments and muscles to have more flexibility. With the gift comes responsibility. Pregnant women need to engage muscles more actively when they are stretching because of the amount of relaxin in their systems, to protect joints that are normally protected by stronger tissues.

Balancing: The larger your belly grows, the more challenging balance poses become, so avoid postures that are uncomfortable or cause doubt. Use the wall, blocks, straps, or other aids as needed while your baby grows.

The Basic Rule: Above all, listen to your body and use your intuition. Your baby and your body will let you know what you need and what poses are uncomfortable. And please ... don't practice yoga to the point where you're fatigued.

Take Bathroom Breaks: During pregnancy, take water and bathroom breaks liberally. Set up your mat near the bathroom in yoga classes. Trust your body-wisdom and have faith of the grace nature gifts us.

Share Your Experiences! If you've done yoga while pregnant and have any advice to share, we'd love to hear from you - you can post comments below this article.

Resources

Articles: Yoga Journal also has a good collection of pregnancy-related articles at Yoga Journal - focus on Pregnancy

DVDs: You can learn the modifications for general yoga classes with prenatal yoga DVDs. Check out the DVDs by Gaiam, Shiva Rea, and Yoga Journal.

Cinema Nirvana Presents: "A Fistful of Dollars"

2011-12-30T13:53:00.000-08:00

The Master enters a battle gravely,

With sorrow and with great compassion,

As if he were attending a funeral.

--- Tao Te Ching

Okay, I’m going to go out on a limb here and state unequivocally, that Fistful of Dollars (along with its “sequel” For A Few Dollars More) are among my all-time favorite films!

AND, even if you think you don’t like ‘westerns,’ or ‘spaghetti westerns’ in particular, or (gasp) Clint Eastwood (who, again, I will gladly cop to thinking is one of America’s great filmic and cultural geniuses), I am going to go further out on that limb and say that I think I can impress you with the overwhelming cultural, social, moral, and dharmic significance of this revolutionary, simultaneously iconoclastic and iconic film.

Fistful of Dollars is the first of Sergio Leone’s stylized, cut-rate westerns (shot for $200,000 in Spain by Italians, with an American fairly unknown actor, and a pan-European cast). It is also often thought of as the first of its kind: a new genre, the spaghetti western. When shot in 1963, the western was fairly moribund. Leone created a revolution by taking a revisionist approach, reflecting the European love-hate relationship to America.

By the end of the 1950s, the American western had become a caricature of itself, with unreflective good guys (with white hats) dispatching Indians and bad guys (wearing war paint and feathers and black hats respectively), filled with a naïve heroism that had become more laughable than believable. Leone’s West has no room for such Boy Scouts, but its men were driven by greed, lust, revenge and not a little sociopathic sadism. Using the traditional elements of the conventional genre, Leone took a new angle – right down to filming the horses, rather than in noble, photogenic profile, but from behind, “up their asses,” as he put it!

Leone replaced the usual grandiose expansive and optimistic music of the conventional Western with the haunting, wistfully sad themes of Ennio Morricone; the frenzied accelerating action of stagecoaches and war-painted Indians of the typical Western climax with frozen, extreme close-ups, and the stark black and white morality with the moral ambiguity of its lead character symbolized by his brown hat.

One of the most interesting facts about this film is that Leone’s first choices for “The Man With No Name” were Henry Fonda, who they couldn’t afford, and then Charles Bronson who declined the role, arguing that the script was bad. Ironic, considering that this is the man who went on to star in the revenge-porn Death Wish series. Also, in the “who laughs last” department, it’s interesting that both Fonda and Bronson would later star in Leone’s Once Upon A Time In The West in 1968. (See, I told you this film would go on to have cultural significance!)

Other actors who turned down the role were Henry Silva, Rory Calhoun, Tony Russel, Steve Reeves, James Coburn, and Richard Harrison. In desperation, the producers then asked Richard Harrison for suggestions of lesser-known American actors, and it was he who suggested Clint Eastwood, who had been playing a cowboy in the television series, Rawhide. Harrison later stated, “Maybe my greatest contribution to cinema was not doing Fistful of Dollars, and recommending Clint for the part.”

Eastwood, who received $15,000 for the job, was himself instrumental in creating the distinctive visual style of the Man With No Name. The blue jeans, hat and trademark cigars, along with props from Rawhide including the Cobra-handled Colt, a gunbelt, and spurs all came with him from California. Just about the only thing supplied by the European producers was the Spanish poncho! While Eastwood himself is a non-smoker, he said that the foul taste of the cigar in his mouth helped put him in the right frame of mind for this character.

Though Leone initially feared that Eastwood was too “light” for the role, he reportedly took to Eastwood's distinctive style quickly, and commented that "I like Clint Eastwood because he has only two facial expressions: one with the hat, and one without it."

Because A Fistful of Dollars was an Italian/German/Spanish co-production, there was a significant language barrier on the set. Leone, and most of the cast and crew, did not speak English, and Eastwood communicated with them mostly through stuntman benito Stefanelli, who also acted as an unofficial interpreter for the production and would later appear in Leone's other pictures. Similar to other Italian films shot at the time, all footage was filmed silent and the dialogue and sound effects was dubbed over in post-production. Interestingly, it has been suggested that this linguistic isolation lends something to the isolated, non-attached vibe Eastwood has throughout the film. He’s in the film’s world, but not of it.

If you’ve not seen Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo, please make every effort to see it sometime before seeing A Fistful of Dollars if at all possible. The similarities between the films are so telling that Yojimbo’s producers won a plagiarism lawsuit against Fistful of Dollars’ producers. Kurosawa insisted that he receive compensation, writing Leone: “It’s a very fine film, but it is my film.”

British critic, Christopher Frayling identifies three principal sources for A Fistful of Dollars: Kurosawa’s samurai film, Yojimbo; Dashiell Hammett’s novel, Red Harvest; and Carlo Goldoni’s 18th century play, Servant of Two Masters. Be that as it may, Kurosawa won the lawsuit, receiving 15% of the film’s worldwide gross and exclusive distribution rights for Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. Kurosawa later said that he made more money from this film than he did from Yojimbo!

Please join me Saturday, January 21st at 7:30 PM for a screening of this contemporary classic, some free pop corn, dharma talk and discussion, and the dana offering to a local charity soon to be announced.

See you at the movies!

poep sa frank jude

TY Photo Shoot!

2011-12-27T14:20:00.000-08:00

Check out our beautiful teachers in this selection of some of fun and playful shots from our recent photo shoot with Jade Beall. Keep an eye out for more pics from this shoot!

Cinema Nirvana 2011 Wrap-Up

2011-12-19T21:18:00.000-08:00

December marks the conclusion of the second year of Cinema Nirvana, with February the actual celebration of our Second Anniversary. Looking back at this last year, we’ve continued the “tradition” of screening an unusually diverse group of films
, from the sublime Wings of Desire to the slightly absurd Independence Day; from the frothy Elvis “classic,” Jailhouse Rock to the creepy and dark After.Life as well as the moving documentary Tibet: The Cry of the Snow Lion, about the Chinese occupation of Tibet, presented by Guest Host, Alyssa Kratz.

No matter how obscure it may be, we’ve found dharma lessons in all these films, as well as in Jaws, The Graduate, the noir classic, The Big Sleep with Bogey and Bacall, and the romantic comedy, As Good As It Gets. Everything from the six realms of samsara to the prajnaparamita has been discussed, and dana was raised for six local charities and three international organizations… AND we even “adopted” a Great White Shark!

Angel Charity for Children, $90.00
Casa de los Ninos, $140.00
Shanti Uganda, $200.00
Habitat For Humanity, $50.00
World Wildlife Fund, $140.00
Many Mouths One Stomach, $175.00
Therapeutic Ranch for Animals and Kids, $108.00
CODAC, $100.00
Lha Institute for Social Work & Education, $174.00

TOTAL: $1,177.00

I wish to take this opportunity to thank all you cinephiles!

Looking ahead, the 2012 season of Cinema Nirvana starts on February 25^th, most likely with a Bogey movie in keeping with the last two February screenings (Casablanca in 2010 and The Big Sleep this year). In March, Cinema Nirvana will take place on the third Saturday (March 17^th) with the small indie film, Armless. On the second Saturday of April (April 14^th) we’ll be presenting one of my favorite sci-fi films, the existential classic, The Incredible Shrinking Man. And on May 26^th, the Spring quarter ends with the original, grand-daddy spaghetti western, Fistful of Dollars.

Keep an eye out for the monthly blogs here before each month as well as the summary of our dharma discussions at www.mindfulness-yoga.blogspot.com

See you at the movies!

frank jude

$863 raised for Tibetan Refugees!

2011-12-12T19:52:00.000-08:00

Many thanks to all of you who have helped Alyssa's fundraising efforts in the past month, which have been a great success raising $863. The money has been sent to Lha Institute for their work with Tibetan refugees.

December Update: Keith Borden, Astrology with Natasha, Solstice with Michelle

2011-12-03T14:33:00.001-08:00

Beloved Friends,

It's been an abundant month for Tucson Yoga! Many thanks are due for those who generously offered two days of their time and expertise to install our beautiful new cork floor: Scott Butler, Clyde Richmond, Christopher Hogrelius, Chris Stebe and Dave Marks - these guys worked really hard! ....Alyssa Kratz's Thanksgiving Day Benefit was a huge success, with over 40 people in attendance and over $600 raised to support Tibetan Refugees through Lha Institute.... Read more >

Gratitude will change your attitude

2011-11-21T20:14:00.000-08:00

In a time of year (let alone, the earth's history) when you have so much to choose from and satiate yourself with; the simple, yet profound act of feeling grateful for what you DO have is one of the highest practices you can utilize.
Shifting your mental state from wanting more, to being happy with what you already have, can produce long lasting effects on your mental, physical and spiritual well being. You can begin to reframe the current outlook of your finances, property, relationships, and yoga/meditation practice to become totally content with all that is around you.

If you practice feeling grateful and content, then the world can become a more abundant and pleasant place to live. Gandhi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world." No one else can do it for you; friends, family and loved ones can help, but ultimately it is your own inner work that can radically shift your perception of what you see in your daily life.

One easy way to get in contact with feelings of gratitude is right before going to sleep: As you lie down and your head rests on the pillow, bring to mind what it is you are grateful for from the day. Continue doing this until you fall into a sweet, soothing slumber. It is a wonderful remedy for insomnia or restless sleep.

So, next time you feel upset that you couldn't hold that pose as long as the folks around you or there just wasn't enough sweet potato pie on your plate, try "Feeling GRATEFUL" on for size...... it fits every time!

Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion showing Sat., Dec. 10

2011-11-21T12:56:00.001-08:00

Tucson Yoga Movie Night
Hosted by Alyssa Kratz
Showtime is 7:30 on Saturday, December 10

Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion
2003, 100 minutes
Join us on December 10, 2011 for this rich and passionate film
that documents the Tibet situation in a way that is moving and unforgettable. It chronicles the Chinese invasion and consequent occupation of Tibet and includes interviews with experts in the field of Tibetan Buddhism, frontrunners in the Tibetan fight for freedom, as well as the Dalai Lama himself. Ten years in the making, this feature-length documentary was filmed during nine remarkable journeys throughout Tibet, India and Nepal, chronicling the dark secrets of Tibet's recent past through interviews, personal stories and archival images. Martin Sheen narrates, and Susan Sarandon and Ed Harris provide voice-overs for this powerful film that takes viewers to the long-forbidden "rooftop of the world" with an unprecedented richness of imagery.

Hosted by Alyssa Kratz, who recently returned from a trip to India where she served with Lha Institute and had the opportunity to volunteer with a community of Tibetan refugees.

This movie night is by donation with all proceeds going to benefit Lha Institute for Social Work and Education, which aids Tibetan refugees living in exile in Dharamsala, India. Dharamsala is home to over 13,000 Tibetans who are escaping cultural, religious, and political repression and persecution in their homeland. Your heartfelt financial offerings will support this agency that works tirelessly to provide the Tibetan community in exile with language and job skills, health education, clean drinking water, affordable healthy meals as well as services like eye and dental exams, free reading glasses and clothing.

November Newsletter - Rami Katz, Thanksgiving Class and more

2011-11-01T11:21:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to all of you who came out for our community yoga & neighborhood clean-up day last weekend, which was a great success! There are a few changes to our November class schedule... Read more >

Astrology as a way to understand deep spiritual truths

2011-10-31T18:51:00.000-07:00

by Natasha Korshak

Vedic Astrology is a great passion for me as a yoga practitioner. It’s hard to fully explain the appeal, it doesn’t always seem so practical. Yet, I hear my first mentor often who simply said “Astrology is a way to truly understand deep spiritual truths” and I realize this is what indeed is happening as I study and practice.
I can humbly say I don’t know how it works- how it can reveal so clearly sometimes what is happening for an individual in the here and now. Yet, I do believe in the system that was laid down by the earliest seers and carried down through the generations as a spiritual science. I trust what I was taught about interpretation and my motivation to share astrology which is essentially to give you a deeper perspective on your life experience and tools to optimize your unique energy.

This workshop is the first attempt I have made to share astrology as a subject in the yoga community. I have done many lectures and hundreds of readings, but nothing that links the info to a deeper practice experience. I am interested to do this as I believe it will help make it real for you- rather than intellectual or esoteric. I am looking forward to lighting you up for 2 plus hours, exciting you about this branch of Yoga wisdom, and motivating some of you to have your chart read too. I hope you will join me whatever your level of interest!

On that note, I would like to offer Tucson Yoga students discounted services for the entire month of December. The usual fee for a “Foundational Reading” is $125 and for this month it will be $95- a 25% discount. This reduced rate can also be applied to a holiday gift certificate. For TY Members and those that register for the workshop- the rate will be $85- which is a 30% discount.

Readings are 75 minutes, are digitally recorded and include written resources. A Foundational Reading gives you the “lay of the land” and addresses current affairs. If you have specific areas of interest, we can factor that in as well. We either meet in person in my centrally located office, or speak via phone or Skype- I have many distance clients so phone readings are no problem whatsoever. Please contact me directly if you have questions or would like to schedule a session Natasha@YogaAtHeart.org

Natasha will be offering a worskhop on Vedic Astrology at Tucson Yoga on Sunday, December 11, 3:00-5:30pm. More info >

Cinema Nirvana presents: As Good As It Gets

2011-10-31T15:01:00.000-07:00

by Frank Jude Boccio

As Good as It Gets
Saturday, November 19, 7:30pm at Tucson Yoga

This month, Cinema Nirvana will take place on November 19th (the third Saturday of the month) as Tucson Yoga will be closed for the Friday and Saturday of the Thanksgiving weekend! Our feature this month will be the 1997 romantic comedy, As Good As It Gets,
directed by James Brooks, and starring Jack Nicholson at his best as a misanthropic, obsessive-compulsive novelist, Helen Hunt, at the peak of her craft as a single mom struggling to make ends meet, and Greg Kinnear, surprisingly good as a gay artist.

The screenplay, by Brooks and Mark Andrus, is another excellent piece of work from Brooks, featuring some wonderful, bright dialogue.

In general, both critics and the film-goers agreed that this was one of the year’s best films, with Nicholson winning the Academy Award for Best Actor and Hunt winning for Best Actress. It is ranked 140th on Empire magazine’s “500 Greatest Movies of All Time” list.

The film’s title comes from the Nicholson character, who having just been thrown out of his therapist’s office, turns to the other patients in the waiting room and asks, “What if this is as good as it gets?!” As we’ll see, this “rhetorical question” turns out to be a bit of a koan that we can all practice with!

I hope you’ll join me Saturday, November 19th at 7:30 PM for a movie, some pop corn, and a dharma talk, while raising donations for CODAC, one of Arizona’s oldest and most respected community-based providers of behavioral health and family development services, serving more than 10,000 individuals and families each year.

See you at the movies!

Frank Jude

October Newsletter - Community Yoga & Cleanup Day, Indeera Johnn and more

2011-10-01T11:31:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends & Yogis,
At Tucson Yoga we've been inspired to host more community events, as we collectively recall that yoga is the joining of all things divine. We recognize the divine in the people and spaces around us, both near and far. Sometimes we gather to serve and celebrate our local community, and sometimes we join together to serve our global family. Read More >

Jailhouse Rock: Sat., September 24th

2011-09-01T11:18:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are at the end of summer, looking ahead to cooler temps and drier air! Looking back at our "Summer Blockbuster Bonanza," we had lots of fun watching Independence Day in July and Jaws –
which drew a large crowd, outdone only by Buffy the Vampire Slayer last summer. In fact, Cinema Nirvana fans are now the 'parents' of an adopted Great White Shark through the World Wildlife Fund!

For our Fall Schedule, we’ll be screening Jailhouse Rock, considered the best of Elvis Presley’s films on September 24th, a rather creepy and twisted film, After.Life for our October 22nd offering, and a documentary, not yet decided on for our November 26th screening. Once again, Cinema Nirvana takes a hiatus for the month of December, ready to return for it’s third year in January!

See you at the movies!

frank jude

Cinema Nirvana presents: Independence Day: Blowing stuff up...

2011-07-01T11:54:00.000-07:00

Showtime is Saturday, July 30, 7:30pm at Tucson Yoga

By Poep Sa Frank Jude Boccio

Henceforward, burn what thou hast worshipped,
And worship what thou hast burned.
-St. Remy

As Dean Slutyer points out, there’s an old saw about sex being like pizza: when it’s good, it’s really good, and when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good. The same is true – for me – about movies. When they’re good, they are amazing and potentially transformative. When they’re bad in a certain way, they are amazing and potentially transformative. I mean, I have had some pizza, and sex, that was really bad. And there are some movies that are just bad. But Independence Day is not that kind of bad movie. It’s also not a ‘so-bad-it’s-good’ movie like Plan 9 From Outer Space or anything. It’s simply a good bad movie, directed by Rolan Emmerich (who also brought us the 1998 re-make of Godzilla, with the tagline, “Size Does Matter” which tells you a bit about his modus operandi) and staring Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Randy Quaid, Bill Pullman and Harvey Feirstein. I bet you can just imagine the stereotypes such a cast might lend itself to!

Yeah, it’s big, loud, and stupid, with lots of stuff being blown up, and chock-full of clichés and stereotypes. But if we relax ourselves into it, we’ll find that there’s some Dharma to be found as well, primarily teachings about shunyata (emptiness), and how realizing emptiness is the ‘solution’ to our existential duhkha.

For those of you who missed it the first time around, Independence Day is a typical summer big-movie. The Earth has been attacked by really bad aliens, with awesome technology, and the Earthlings’ response is to pull out all the stops. The alien invaders choose to launch their attack a couple of days before July 4th, so the Americans in particular are gung-ho and inspired to prevail. Five years before the September 11, 2001 attacks, Independence Day seems to take some perverse joy in depicting the destruction of iconic American buildings – not leastof which is the White House! The film captures George Bush’s “You’re either with us or against us” in encouraging us to cheer at the president’s growling “Nuke ‘em,” as well as at the fate of the sign-waving demonstrators gathered in Los Angeles to welcome the aliens. They, of course, are the first ones to be zapped. Those pesky peaceniks would ruin the fun of blowing up all that stuff!

There are many who really think this film is an excellent example of film-making. I’m not one of them, but I do think it’s a fun-bad film, and I hope you’ll join me to enjoy this summer extravaganza, chow down some popcorn, and share some Dharma Discussion.

See you at the movies!
- frank jude

Cinema Nirvana presents: The Graduate

2011-05-01T11:59:00.000-07:00

Showtime is Saturday, May 28, 7:30pm at Tucson Yoga, 150 S. 4th Ave.

By Frank Jude Boccio

"Everybody’s youth is a dream, a form of chemical madness."
--- F. Scott Fitzgerald

On May 28th, those of us who remain in town
on our society's ritual 'opening' of the summer season, are invited to Cinema Nirvana's presentation of the 1967 hit film, The Graduate. Directed by Mike Nichols, from a screenplay by Buck Henry and Calder Willingham, the film stars a young Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft as his nemesis, Mrs. Robinson.

The film is now an icon of the sixties, and there have been many allusions to it, from Wayne’s World 2 to (500) Days of Summer, and even The Simpsons. The familiar narrative can be seen as an evocation of the bardo, the transitional state between death and rebirth. Of course, even if one does not believe in literal rebirth, in this very life, every change in the course of our life can be seen as a bardo. Following our discussion of the Six Realms of Samsara after the screening of The Big Sleep, an inquiry into The Graduate can offer understanding in what keeps samsara moving.

The story of Benjamin Braddock has resonance for all of us, and even if the promise of the sixties seems naïve and dated to us today, the vision that was planted in our brains, still remains throughout popular culture. Join me for a screening of The Graduate on Saturday, May 28th at Tucson Yoga. As always, there’ll be free popcorn, and while the screening is free, donations will be gratefully accepted for the Tucson local charity, Therapeutic Ranch for Animals and Kids.

See you at the movies!
Frank Jude

Cinema Nirvana presents: Wings of Desire

2011-04-01T12:01:00.000-07:00

Showtime is Saturday, April 30, 7:30pm

Let me say it out front: Wings of Desire is one of my all-time favorite films, certainly among my top-three, and can perhaps be said to be a "perfect film." Shot in Berlin in 1987, directed by Wim Wenders,
its original German title is Der Himmel über Berlin, roughly translated as The Sky Over Berlin. Peter Handke, the novelist and playwright collaborated on the screenplay with Wenders, including the film’s recurring poem, "Song Of Childhood." In 1998, a Hollywood travesty, City of Angels starring Meg Ryan and Nicholas
Cage was produced.

The film follows two angels, Damiel (the incomparable Bruno Ganz) and Cassiel (Otto Sander), as unseen by the Berliners they observe, they roam the city, "bearing witness," as recording angels, to the lives of the city’s inhabitants. The film – and the story of the angels – works as well as a meditation on Berlin’s history. The angels have always existed as angels, from before there were even any humans, and their reminiscences of the evolution of life is interwoven with the more recent past and present.

Though the two angels are invisible to all but children, incapable of any physical contact with our world, Damiel begins to fall in love with a circus trapeze performer named Marion (the radiant Solveig Dommartin). A delicious subplot involves Peter Falk, cast as himself, having arrived in Berlin to make a film about Berlin’s Nazi past, revealing himself to Damiel as also once having been an angel!

The film is beautifully shot by the cinematographer Henri Alekan when he was 77 years old. Alekan is famously known as the cinematographer of Jean Cocteau’s La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast), another of my all-time favorite films. Alekan evokes the angel’s monochromatic point of view by
using a unique, very old and fragile silk stocking that had belonged to his grandmother as a filter. Color is used whenever we are presented with the human being point of view. This is a technique first used in A Matter of Life and Death by Powell and Pressburger in 1946.

The film features a wonderful soundtrack, including songs by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, who have a cameo in the film, Laurie Anderson and Crime and the City Solution.

As always, we’ll supply the film and the popcorn, both offered freely. This month, our ‘dana’ collection will be – appropriately enough – Angel Charity for Children.

See you at the movies!
- frank jude