Final Post

Sub plans: Write a final blog entry about how you will take the lessons from this class into the rest of your lives. When done, you can go to the library and take out books to read over Thanksgiving vacation

I mentioned at the end of class yesterday that the unique part of the east meets west class is that I have learned life lessons that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. Meditation is something I will now always have with me to create peace in my mind when things are chaotic, and the idea of samskaras will always guide me when I want to start or change my habits. When David came in to talk, he flooded my mind with new ways of viewing life. For example, not working for the reward but working for yourself. Also for a college supplement the question asks what is the risk in finding yourself and why is it hard for some people to do. For this question I plan to go into detail about what our "real" perfection is and how it's hindered by our flaws or reincarnation. These beliefs will stay with me for the rest of my life.

Prompt 17

The one quote that really stuck with me from chapter 3 talked about no expectations- Without concern for results perform the necessary action;surrendering all attachments, accomplish life's highest good. To me this means achieve accomplishments for yourself, not for the reward. Life is full of different pressures and expectations and it's very easy to get carried away by these two things. College for example is not something everybody wants to do after high school, if that is the case one should not focus their life on getting into college because it is not their highest good. Whatever that person wants to explore or focus on, is what they should be excelling in to their highest potential. This quote translates to "work to please yourself, not someone else." That is how I read it and I couldn't agree more. When we all work to our highest potential that is what makes the world a better place.

On Pain

"Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding." This quote has so much truth to me. The times I feel I am in most pain is when I lose a sense of familiarity and understanding of a situation. This is why death is one of the most painful things a human can go through. Knowing someone for a long time and losing that sense of familiarity is what hurts the most. Pain is also self-chosen and the healing is internal. People have a strength within them that can heal any pain, but healing cannot be forced. It is a power within us all that we can only use until we have understood the pain that we have gone through.

On Reason And Passion

There are many situations in my life where I need to decide whether what I feel in my heart is right, or if what is in my head is right. Reason and passion seem to always conflict. This chapter opened me up to the realization that reason and passion is what drives our lives. Reason guides our ship and passion can burn it. I should let my soul direct my passion with reason, whether it will burn me or build me. We all have beliefs and reasons for doing what we do- the most important thing is that we listen to both sides and not just one. That is what takes us on our own personal journeys of life.

Talking

Talking is blocking the peace with your mind. Thoughts cannot process when one is talking all the time, instead, thinking is blocked. People talk in fear of being alone, or speak of things that reveal who they are without knowing. I know a lot of people who seem unassured of who they are, and those are the ones that talk the most. If they gave themselves a moment to collect their thoughts, even the simple thought of who they are, they would see a different side to themselves. They may easily understand other people, but in order to gather the thoughts to observe ones self, aloneness is key.

On Freedom

"For you can only be free when even the desire of seeking freedom becomes a harness to you, and when you cease to speak of freedom as a goal and a fulfillment." To me this quote means you are not completely free until you cease to wish for anything that has to do with freeing yourself. You live your life with complete fulfillment. Freedom can also be yearning to discard fragments in ones life. It is not always gaining something, but at times freedom can be a desire to lose something. There are somethings we cannot change, laws, the weather, or the people around us. It is our conscious decision to choose to care about these uncontrollable things. When one starts to let go of desires, freedom is all that is left.

Final Project

Our final project reflects what we've learned about yoga and what yoga means. It's definition is not "working out" or even "stretching". The definition we used in class is unity. Unity with ones self and unity with the world around them. Yoga relieves stress physically and mentally as well as meditation. In our final project we will talk about what meditation and active yoga has done for us as well as well as it's main purpose in life. All the different topics we've discussed this year ties to emotions, thoughts and ones "being." All these aspects weave into the practice of yoga in some way, shape or form. For example, samskaras, chakras, and religion all tie into yoga.