Each Day

Each Day

Be careful.

  Take care.

    Love the life you have.

Be mindful.

  Cultivate joy

    Love the life you live.

Be alert.

  Nourish awareness.

    Love the moment that is here.

And all good will follow.

~~~

Each day is the opportunity to be your true self.

Who is showing up with this breath?

Who are you? Really? Really??

Who is the you that is showing up?

Is it the one that society approves of

or the one that follows deep truths

that lie beyond social strictures?

Can you allow your creative expression

to be beyond outcomes,

to give without consideration of approval,

to live your infinite flow of being?

Then you are living your true self.

“All you need is already within you, only you must approach your self with reverence and love. Self-condemnation and self-distrust are grievous errors. Your constant flight from pain and search for pleasure is a sign of love you bear for your self, all I plead with you is this: make love of your self perfect. Deny yourself nothing -- glue your self infinity and eternity and discover that you do not need them; you are beyond.” ― Nisargadatta Maharaj

“Wisdom is knowing I am nothing,
Love is knowing I am everything,
and between the two my life moves.”
― Nisargadatta Maharaj

richard hammer

   1-13-17

2017 Blessings

2017 Blessings

May your new year be

  wild and wonderful,

  entertaining and expressive.

May you encounter

  unexpected joys,

  fortuitous connections,

  and flowing abundance.

May you be gifted with

  new insights,

  magical moments, and

  infinite joy.

May you be strong, healthy,

  and wise in all things.

May you be inspired to

  help others, be the solution,

  and rise to the occasion.

May your song be peace,

  your acts loving and generous,

  and your words healing.

May you know the cycles

  of coming and going,

  and be at peace with

 all that arises and passes.

May you and I move forward together.

     richard hammer

        1-1-17

Present Wholeness in 2017

Present Wholeness Yoga

January 2017

How will you open in the new year of 2017? Knowing that change is a constant - What will you allow to come into being? What will you sustain that is here? And what will you release and let disappear?

For the New Year

In “Living Deeply: The Art and Science of Transformation in Everyday Life”, Marilyn Schlitz writes that there are five elements to the process of changing our consciousness.

First is the intention to make positive, life-affirming changes.

Second is building spiritual practices out of our exploration, and shifting our attention from external to internal forces.

Third is repetition of our practice to build new neural pathways and behaviors to create a new habit.

Fourth is guidance, which can come from many sources, such as “a trusted teacher, reading an article, a book that rocks you”. At this point, there comes a shift from outer to inner authority.

Fifth, all of these elements, “are wrapped in the arms of surrender”. “It's all about yielding to potential.”

~~~

May that which is dying, go gently.

May that which is being born, arise exuberantly.

And may I be high witness to them both.

- Ascended Master Djwhal Khul

~~~

Use these thoughts from other teachers to light your path into the next evolutionary period.

“Teach only love for that is what you are.” - A Course in Miracles

“The only real voyage or discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”

- Marcel Proust

“Reality is simply the loss of the ego.” - Shri Ramana Marharshi

“Everyone knows how to choose; few know how to let go. But it’s only by letting go of each experience that you make room for the next. The skill of letting go can be learned, and once learned you will enjoy living much more spontaneously.” - Deepak Chopra

“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be....” - Lao Tzu

“Practice the presence of peace. The more you do that, the more you will feel the presence of that Power in your life.” - Paramahansa Yogananda

~~~

“Within the heart of every human being is the Truth they are seeking. With Truth, you live a life filled with perfect health, creativity, supply and Joy. … An inspired life is a life lived from the heart. Your heart center is the gateway, the portal, of your infinite nature ~ the healer within you. Your highest intelligence, purest love and infinite wisdom are all found within your heart. Each time you choose to be love in action, you open your heart.” - Chunyi Lin – Spring Forest QiGong

Four Steps to Opening Your Heart – Gratitude, Honesty, Respect, Kindness.

~~~

The Tens List for 2017

Forget the traditional practice of resolutions for the new year. The number 2017 is a “1' in numerology which invites beginnings and creation. What is arising for you to say yes to at this time for the new year?

Here is a practice of Tens for self reflection. Make a list, or several lists, of 10 items.

• 10 things to be left in 2016. Such as thoughts: eg negative self talk, grievances, missed opportunities, associations, experiences.
• 10 things to bring into 2017. Such as new learnings and creations, greater skill development in a chosen field, meeting new people, travel to never before visited place.
• 10 minutes every day for each: purposeful movement exercises such as yoga, for meditation, for sitting and journaling or walking in nature, for _______________
• 10 ways to give to others, to serve. Helping out a local charity with your time, talents, or tithing. Taking time to listen to someone who needs to be heard re: their life problems.
• 10 ways to create – writing, art, cooking, crafting, sewing, ________________ .

This is a time for setting Attitude, Intention, Attention // Direction, Discipline, Dedication.

Cultivate a sense of your 5 P's: Power, Purpose, Passion, Presence, and Possibility.

For Bonus Points – establish a 100 Day Gong. - Write out and create a daily check off list of things you will without fail do each day for 100 days and if you miss a day you start over at one for 100 days. This could involve diet, exercise, journaling or any other practice.

Do not become overwhelmed with all this. Step away and let it come.

Consider creating a metta (loving kindness) statement for your year repeating it each day to yourself, silently or out load, several times. Statement such as: “May I be happy. May I be well. May I know peace.” and then sending it out to others, both known and unknown, with “May you be happy. May you be well. May you know peace.”

Rules for 2017:

Don't be tricked into believing that the way things are is how the world works.

Look for beauty everywhere. Allow yourself to be amazed and live in awe.

Find what your heart opens to.

Make your own rules..... with love as your guide.

~~~

लोकाः समस्ताः सुखिनो भवन्तु

lokāh samastāh sukhino bhavantu
May all beings in the Universe BE HAPPY AS HAPPINESS!

Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti 

Thoughts for January 2017 from Richard Hammer   

Speak the Truth Fearlessly

In this moment of time of change with the coming into the Winter Solstice next week and then the New Year of 2017 with a new President the opportunity is to face what is, and is coming, fearlessly. These words from Jack Kornfield are appropriate for these times of change, flux, and re-centering for finding one's strength and stepping forward.

"True strength meets the vulnerability of life with caring and courage. True strength knows that there are two great powers in this world. The first is those who are unafraid to kill. The other is those who are unafraid to love. Even in situations of great danger, true strength chooses love. Martin Luther King Jr. demonstrated the strength of this love in the darkest hours, saying, “We will meet suffering with soul force.” It takes courage to truly feel the weight of each other’s suffering, courage to honor the other side’s fears of annihilation and loss of dignity. Yet until pain and fear are held in a wise way, the cycles of hatred will continue.

True strength also brings clarity, like a sword that cuts through illusion. It is called discriminating wisdom. When we are not locked in blame or struggle, we can see things as they are. “We can,” says William Butler Yeats, “make our minds so like still water that beings gather around us that they may see… their own images, and so live for a moment with a clearer, perhaps even with a fiercer life because of our quiet.” When needed, we can be fierce and strong, wielding the sword of clarity. Liberated from anger, we can speak the truth fearlessly. At the same time we are free of ill will, so our actions care for the welfare of all."

What Is Asking

What is asking for your attention this day?

Perhaps duty and obligation, or maybe wonder and grace?

How will you consciously embrace this moment? Is there a feeling of push or surrender?

Then read this poem that asks what time it is... .

    What time is it?

There is a time for laughter.

There is a time for joy.

There is a time for crying.

There is a time for caring.

There is a time for giving back.

There is a time for receiving.

There is a time for loving unconditionally.

There is a time for union.

There is a time for centering.

There is a time for story.

There is a time for community building.

There is a time for giving thanks.

There is a time for mystery and wonder.

There is a time for peace.

There is a time for raising one's hand.

There is a time for raising one's consciousness.

There is a time for acknowledging.

There is a time for releasing pain.

There is a time for healing and saying yes.

There is a time for being real.

There is a time for connection.

There is a time for questioning.

There is a time for looking up.

There is a time for turning over stones.

What is this time for you?

      richard hammer

          11-21-16

And when times seem dark, confusing and challenging read Todd Norian's post dated 11-23-16.

"Remember the last line of the Shiva Invocation: Niralambaya Tejase, which has become my prayer I offer to you. "I stand within my own heart, independent from anything external (niralambaya), and I refuse to allow the negative forces of reality to disturb my internal peace of mind, clarity of thought, and alignment with human values I know are right. I choose to stay open, in my center where I access the calm in the chaos. When I do that, the essence of illumination (tejase) will shine out and be a guiding light of love, justice, and equality for all people. From that place may I act with love."

  

Thoughts on the Path

“It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble.

It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.”

- Mark Twain

A young monk asked the Master: “How can I ever get liberated?” The Master replied: “Who has ever put you in bondage?” - Unattributed Buddhist teaching

Buddhist psychology says that the causes of suffering are greed, hatred, and delusion. Or, in different terms grasping, pushing away, and ignorance of what is true. What if you were to realize that you are already whole and complete? Who would you be? What would you do?

The opportunity to create a new experience beyond the externals of problems, distractions, fears, and agitation lies in this thought, this breath, this moment. Then from this mindful place of being to step into the future.

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On pursuing your calling: “Courage is when your mind finally catches up to your heart and decides to act on what it knows.” - Mastin Kipp

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Tolerance is Divine

“Our work as teachers is to strengthen the physical body to lift our vision. Our work is to study two movements: that which we offer outward, and the wisdom we invite in - so we can walk through life with clear intuition, always beginning again.

Our work is to attenuate our own tendencies, mitigate our polarities and monitor our priorities.”   - Elena Brower

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May all your choices and acts create a life you can love. 

Florida Yoga Journal Conference Thoughts

The Florida Yoga Journal Conference was held earlier this month on the east coast in Hollywood, FL. This is the sixth time I have been to the Florida Conference. Even though I have been teaching for quite awhile I allow myself, actually remind myself, that I know nothing and to remain open to receiving. I want to allow myself not only to learn but to be amazed, both internally and externally, as to what I am being invited to experience.

There is always a wonderful sangha like energy for those who gather, despite the fact that some pursue one yogic path or lineage and others a different one. Bywords could be acceptance and appreciation.

The yogic path, which is way more than just the asanas, is one of self discover, transformation, and evolution. Part of walking this path is to mindfully engage in those opportunities and circumstances that allow one to step into the ring of fire of change. This might require a time of inner connecting, cocooning, and then emerging into something different.

One of the workshop teachers, Sadie Nardini, see her 2013 book “The 21-Day Yoga Body”, asked us, mostly teachers in this workshop, to craft a statement that says who you are. One that you identify with as truth about you that you want to present to the world.

For Sadie, she discovered that after a number of years of teaching and practice she realized that what she focused on, and taught others, her theme if you like, was authenticity and empowerment. She has a unique physical presence, that might be off putting for some, but she is unapologetic for it. Her core statement, or mantra, is “Know Yourself”.

What is your core statement? Take sometime to journal on it. Maybe over a weekend, or even over several weeks. Who are you? What do you invite others to know about you as you? Then write it up in short form, only two or three words. It is not meant to be a twenty second elevator speech. And try it on, for a few days. Say it out loud. Ask close friends if they see you that way.

Here is the one that feels right for me, at least at this time. Live in wonderment.

How will you live today? As if everything is a miracle, or nothing is?

When you live each moment with a sense of awe and appreciation, you open into vistas of gratitude. When living in gratitude vistas things not seen before become visible. Synchronicity occurs and opportunities for expression and being occur.

Of course it is a choice. Each moment and breath is a choice. What will you choose to allow yourself to live in integrity with your being, your calling, your dharma?

~~~~

"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying

to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment."

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

A second question along these lines of living authentically is to consider referencing. How do you relate to the external world vs the internal? From where do you seek guidance and power? Is it from other people, perhaps seeking their approval whether it is family, friends, or society in general? Or, is it more internal, a sense of internal intuitive alignment?

Most of us work both sides of the street on this at various times, but the question is – Are you conscious of doing it? And what has, or holds, greater validity for you? Can you find a balance that allows flow that yields mindful action that serves you and the world around you?

And what is the underlying energy of that flow? It is love. Cultivate being the presence of love. The default mode for most of us humans in regarding thoughts about the present or future is one of fear. But as we progress in cultivating consciousness and awareness of thought we come to establish a new foundation for action and that is love.

“The only remedy to fear is love.

The only place where you can choose between the intention of love

and the intention of fear is in yourself.”

- Gary Zukav

~~~

Daily Work

The opportunity of a lifetime is to live YOUR life.

Don't pass it by by being indifferent or fearful.

What can you, will you, do today to positively impact all humankind?

Where might you insert yourself, your ideas or acts, that will turn the tide of events

to help and allow all of us to live with a greater sense

of abundance, wellness, love, gratitude and grace?

reflection + discernment x mindful action = positive change

~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~