Aparigraha

I grew up in Texas. granted our beaches are not as beautiful as other states; water and sun amounts for a bunch of fun for a youth. When I was a kid, we’d always head to Galveston Texas in the summer. It was exciting!

The second our station wagon pulled in, we’d rush off to find friends from summers past or new ones, and then we’d go to the beach. And for a few years one of the first things we’d do was build a sandcastle. No, not the kind you make by flipping over one of those crummy plastic buckets and manicure with flimsy plastic shovels. These were big and sprawling with towers and arches driftwood for bridges and huge moats.

Nothing felt worse than coming back the next day and seeing that masterpiece had been kicked over, or our sandcastle had succumbed to the rising tide. That’s why one time we decided to put a lot of rocks inside, so that anyone who tried to kick it would get hurt... No kidding!

All of our miseries are nothing but attachment. Our whole ignorance and darkness is a strange combination of a thousand and one attachments and we are attached to things which will be taken away—like that sand castle by the time of death, or even perhaps before.

Aparigraha is a concept of non-possessiveness, non-grasping or non-greediness. The 2nd chakra is a space where we feel careful, and vulnerable. It is located just above your navel and is a space of creativity and compassion. It surrounds a place of letting go of release, both physical and emotional.

Our Society has been sold a poor bill of goods. We have been told that our worth is derived from what we own. Aparigraha is having only what is necessary in our life without greed. The more we hold onto, the less we can receive. Physically, The more the body holds and clings, the less it can move. And the more stuff we have, whether in our home or packed into our thoughts, the less peace and spaciousness we experience.

"We are like children building a sand castle. We embellish it with beautiful shells, bits of driftwood, and pieces of colored glass. The castle is ours, off limits to others. We're willing to attack if others threaten to hurt it. Yet despite all our attachment, we know that the tide will inevitably come in and sweep the sand castle away. The trick is to enjoy it fully but without clinging, and when the time comes, let it dissolve back into the sea."

—Pema Chodron

THE LAW OF DOMINANT THOUGHT

The Law Of Dominant Thought says what your mind is focusing on expands. So if you focus on the missing piece of a puzzle it will consume you into thinking negatively, instead of actually seeing the positive qualities that are right in front of you. Instead of having appreciation or gratitude for the scenery in the puzzle, you negatively focused on the one thing missing. This kind of thought process can consume you. If you focus on what is missing, all you will get is more that is missing. If you practiced abundant thinking, imagine what kind of impact it could have.

Our Ego-identifies with attachment. Obsession creates our consumer society where the only measure of progress MORE. Perhaps unchecked “striving for MORE” is a disease.

“ If you don't get what you want, you suffer; if you get what you don't want, you suffer; even when you get exactly what you want, you still suffer because you can't hold on to it forever. When you catch yourself running away from a desired outcome (literally or figuratively), ask yourself:

“Am I running away from something?” If so, Then you're acting out of fear. Or "Am I running towards something?”

If so, Then you're running out of greed and this creates anxious feeling in the chest.

When motivated by love there is no pulling nor pushing, and there is no haste nor hesitation. It is this humble yogi's path to use myrself as a vessel to spread goodness, love, and understanding by loving my body and spirit first. Unconditionally!!!

Like so many others in the West, I began to practice yoga for its health and fitness benefits, and the deeper practice followed naturally. I doubt if it would have happened for me any other way; had someone tried to push “Eastern” thinking on me, I would have recoiled. It was a slow, internal process, a growing awareness, the cumulative effects of regular asana practice that awakened my interest in spirituality.

—Stephen BIson ERYT500

#SacredSpaceFrisco#UnityGetsReal #Iam1busybuffalo

It wants to be free of change.

Free of pain, free of the obligations of life and death.

But change is a law, and no amount of pretending will alter that reality.”

—Dan Millman