With smart phones in our hands and our laptops in close range, every answer to every question is right at our fingertips. We consume great amounts of food, but participation in growing is not something we have time for. We want prolific stock returns, yet we are unwilling to do even basic accounting. In today’s world we have been trained to expect instant gratification.

More often than not, we all want for something. And we want that something as soon as possible.

This is a result of our “western mindset”. This mindset is spilling over into the treasured practice of yoga.

A few months ago I met with a friend and told him that I was going to “be a yoga teacher.” I didn’t then, and still don’t practice yoga six days a week. How could I be a “teacher” if I am not a true student? Honestly, I let the “western mindset” get to me. I sometimes think God will hand me things overnight. I’m writing these words to emphasize to myself that practice is the goal.

All around the world, pop-up yoga studios are certifying “yoga teachers” in as little as 15 to 30 days. A studio hands someone a certificate and that person is considered qualified to instruct you based on what they could have picked up in two weeks. What ever happened to the guru-student relationship? What happened to waking up at 4am to meet your guru for practice? What happened to learning from a lineage of teachers? People travel to India for a month thinking that the keys to yoga will be handed to them. Why?

“Hi, do you guys offer teacher training?”  This phrase would never be uttered a thousand years ago. I heard a story of a guru who made a perspective student walk to his house at 4 o’clock every morning for 100 days straight before he let the student practice with him. Today, many people in our western society are bypassing the lessons learned from respected yoga gurus of the past.  Do people truly believe yoga is something that can be fully understood in less than a month? Streamlined yoga instructors are trying to sell yoga. The truth is that a lot of us are being sold yoga from “teachers” who don’t practice themselves.

We are all students of this world. We are all amazing sources of Love. We might as well inhale, exhale and enjoy the practice of yoga.

Yoga is a transformative process. It’s a meditation. It’s a practice. Most importantly, it’s a union. It’s a realization that when you come to the mat, when you practice asana, you come to unite yourself with everything.

I don’t mean to be negative. I’m of the belief that some yoga is better than no yoga, but I want to help myself (and potentially help you) by reinforcing that the practice is the tapas.

True practitioners can help slow this world down a bit. You can certainly help me. Together, we can help everyone realize that we are already in heaven and that no matter how fast we want success, it’s all coming. Especially if we let life evolve and come to us. Remember, this too shall pass.

Be patient. Let’s gently keep telling ourselves to remember the niyama of santosha (contentment).

Practice life patiently, and all is coming.

Shanti. Shanti. Shanti. Peace. Peace. Peace.

1)     LIMA

When traveling to Peru you’ll most likely fly into Lima, a city rich with Pre-Columbian ruins and enchanting Spanish Colonial architecture.

2)    CUSCO

Tucked away within the striking Andes mountains range lies Cusco, the breathtaking Andean City, and the former capital of the Inca Empire. The city is peppered with luscious greenery, expansive farms and ancient ruins, leaving you no other choice but to feel as though you’ve stepped out of reality and back into the 13th century.

3)    SACRED VALLEY

Here you will find the Mother Earth ceremony, the Ollantaytambo ruins, and Pisac, a quaint and friendly village where there is plenty of handmade Alpaca items, jewelry, bags, and hand-painted Incan pottery.

4)      MACHU PICCHU

The Incas built this estate around 1450, but abandoned it as an official site for the Inca emperors a century later at the time of the Spanish Conquest. Before 1911, the site was unknown to the outside world until the American historian Hiram Bingham brought it to international attention. Since then, Machu Picchu has been added as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

5)      QUINOA

Many different Quinoa (pronounced “keen-wah”) dishes can be found all over Peru. The country is exporting more of the nutrient packed grain than it can produce at the current moment.

Photo by timsnell

Via HuffPo and Culturist

“I believe that happiness is not taught, it is recognized.” – Dr. Robert Holden

We all have the innate ability to experience joy – it is our divine nature. For some, happiness is buried deeper than others. Some of us were born with our happiness buried in light sand – easy to find and keep. Some are born with better tools to dig through any material to achieve happiness. Yet for many, happiness is buried deep in dense and heavy clay that is tough to get through…but not impossible.

Happiness can be buried deep by pain, insecurity, loneliness, self-loathing, ego, a difficult childhood, stress, or learned behaviors and thought patterns.

Starting today, you can unearth your joy and live with happiness now, despite your circumstances.

What makes people happy is unique to each person. The key is to create a life that brings you as much joy as possible and to remove barriers that have been built around your God-given ability to live with joy.

Happiness is innate, genetic, and learned. Numerous studies have shown that we are each born with a unique range of happiness, with genetics influencing up to 50% of our ability to feel happy.

Didn’t we know this intuitively? Some of us have an easy time finding joy…while some of us have to work harder and dig deeper for our joy.

Be assured that your genetic make-up does not define your happiness destiny. The amazing thing is that the happiness genes appear to be changeable, meaning with life factors such as a supportive family, nurturing and loving relationships, purpose, exercise, etc. can help a person overcome their genetic pre-dispositions to unhappiness.

Here’s to creating a life that supports your happiness and fosters peace and joy!

Via Erin Cox and Entheos.com

“Death is not the opposite of life. Life has no opposite. The opposite of death is birth. Life is eternal. Death is a stripping away of all that is not you. The secret of life is to ‘die before you die’ and find that there is no death. Awareness is the power that is concealed within the present moment.… The ultimate purpose of human existence, which is to say, your purpose, is to bring that power into this world.”

~Ekhart Tolle

Claudia’s guide to Mysore – Check it out — here.

“Ever since my first trip to Mysore to study at the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute back in 2008 I wanted to have a comprehensive list of information, as in: when to go, how to prepare, what to pack, places to stay, where to eat, etc. I wanted it so much that I created one. ”

We try not to let money drive us, but for all those who practice ashtanga a one month trip to Mysore is $2500 away. It potentially will change your life.

Flight from JFK to Bangalore round trip ———— 1,200
Car Service Back and Forth Bangalore-Mysore —    100
Shala First Month —————————————    650 (**)
Hotel stay for the first couple of days ————–     100
Rental in a Gokulam home (1 bedroom for 2) —–    250
Food ——————————————————    150
Rickshaws/Transportation/Events/Other ———–      50

Living Situation?

Many students just walk around Gokulam and knock on doors.  Indian families are opening their doors to students more and more.  Prices have been going pretty high these days ranging anywhere from 7000 to 20000 Rupiahs per month depending on how far from the shala you rent, which is very different from the 400 Rupiahs I paid back in 2008 for a room 6 blocks away.

Check out this map of Mysore

For more on food, transportation in Mysore, and shopping check out the link at the top of the post.

Om Namah Shivaya

A free online course that started Monday will offer students the chance to learn about giving from Warren Buffett and help decide how to spend more than $100,000 of his sister’s money.

More than 4,000 people have already signed up for the course that will also feature philanthropic advice from baseball legend Cal Ripken Jr. and the founders of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield. Boston Red Sox Chairman Tom Werner and journalist Soledad O’Brien are other featured guests. The amount being given away could grow if more students sign up.

Buffett and his older sister, Doris Buffett, will be featured in the first class to talk about their motivation for philanthropy. Warren Buffett is gradually giving away all of his $58 billion Berkshire Hathaway stock while Doris Buffett has already given more than $150 million away en route to her goal of redistributing all her wealth before she dies.

The Giving With Purpose online course is modeled after a class that has been taught at more than 30 universities that allows students to give away $10,000 after evaluating several nonprofits and learning about effective giving.

Its not to late to register and watch week 1’s video lectures. Hit the link about and click “register.”

Via HuffPo