Newsletter January 2010
Monthly Focus is Stillness

Welcoming 2010 – Happy New Year!

As the stillness of winter penetrates the flesh our being, may revelation after revelation emerge through our innate creative expression. Being still allows life to be born. ENJOY!

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Monthly Kriya:  Savasana

At the end of your day take five minutes to rest your body and mind in stillness through the practice of savasana (corpse pose). Lying on your back, arms down to your sides, palms facing upward, close your eyes and release all tension and holding from your body and mind. Feel your eyes rest into your sockets, allowing your ears to fall away from your face, as your tongue softens to the lower pallet. Set your consciousness on simply being present in the moment, with ease and total contentment. After several minutes or when you feel the practice is complete, gently rise and slowly re-engage with the outer world.

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Inspiring Quotes

“Within you there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.”
Hermann Hesse

“Your innermost sense of self, of who you are, is inseparable from stillness. This is the I Am that is deeper than name and form.”
Eckhart Tolle

Through return to simple living Comes control of desires. In control of desires Stillness is attained. In stillness the world is restored.”
Lao Tzu

“One’s action ought to come out of an achieved stillness: not to be mere rushing on.”
D.H. Lawrence

“I am glad that so much movement happens in this stillness.”
Richard Land

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Returning to Stillness

We perceive a tree as being still. Yet, when a gust of wind sends its branches swaying in all directions, its movement is unmistakable, while the tree remains rooted and still. As we look upon the silence of a lake we feel the stillness, yet life forms such as fish and weeds emerge to the surface creating movement. The lake emanates stillness and also moves readily with life and change. Movement cannot exist without stillness. The innate expression of life is through stillness and in that stillness, life moves.

Have you ever noticed the pause that occurs between your inhalation and exhalation? This pause is stillness. Breath moves rhythmically in distinct patterns around this stillness. If you observe intently, you’ll notice your breath is like the wind around the tree of your being. It may vary, and shift its pattern depending on the forces external to you or the integrity and structure of your current state of being, but your innate quality of being, is still.

The exhalation creates an outward movement while the inhalation creates an inward movement. Stillness embodies a pattern of giving and receiving. It is an outward and inward expression. As you draw air and oxygen inward it feeds and fuels your life. As you exhale you release carbon dioxide outward, which fuels and sustains the plants and life around you. One cannot sustain without the other.

We often forget what we are giving and receiving and how essential and symbiotic our simple pattern of breathing is. The pattern has become so innate within us that we literally forget what the breath represents – what it offers outward and what it draws in.

It is common to lose consciousness of this movement as it revolves around stillness. The pause between our breath is ever present. Whatever moves around (including the rhythm of our breath) is ever-changing. Stillness brings continuity to the movement and thus an inescapable connection to life within and around us. One is never isolated if one is breathing. One is never disconnected — no matter the shifts in rhythm — so long as one is breathing. Where there is movement, there is stillness. And, stillness is where peace resides.

So inhale, hold your breath, and remember what is innately yours. Direct your attention to the complete silence that is always present. Know that stillness flows perpetually. And know that you can choose to move rhythmically from that place — at any moment.

Daily Reflections

Ask yourself. . .

How can I take more time to acknowledge my connection to breath and to life?

Do I notice the stillness of being beneath my breath?

What draws me away from my connection to stillness?

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May the rhythm of your breath and being be forever stable, returning always to what is in essence – still.

With a warm heart and perpetual smiles,

elaina
swami karikananda

Om Shanti!