Weekend Workshop at Yogaville – Upgrade Your Story!

Stacy Kamala Waltman’s Weekend Workshop at
Integral Yoga’s – Yogaville in Buckingham, VA
June 22 – 24, 2012

Click here for more info:
Upgrade Your Story: Life Coaching and Yoga

To register:
Life Coaching and Yoga – Upgrade Your Story,
engage your inner alchemist ~
with
Stacy Kamala Waltman

~

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AN OPPORTUNITY TO POUNCE!

“Our senses enable us to perceive only a minute portion of the
outside world.” ~ Nicola Tesla

The title of my blog post was Is Yoga a Religion or Cult?  The body of the article answered this question yet in the approximately 20 places I posted; only one person actually read the message and responded within the context of the missive.

On the other hand, eleven people replied to the question, Is Yoga a Religion or Cult without reading the content of the blog’s message.  Their answers lead the conversation over to their preferred arena; a particular website or educating me about yoga.

While I am always open to new information, it was clear from their remarks that they did not know the extent of my 30+ year yoga training.  It was simply an opportunity for them to “teach” and apparently they “needed” to teach.  Some call it pontificating, I call it pouncing.  The ancient’s called these reactionary tendencies to blindly respond, samskaras.

Samskaras are simply a reaction waiting to happen; an auto-pilot.  Samskaras are our tendency to interpret information in a certain way or look at a particular view of the whole while the ego locks on to a small facet and launches a reaction.  Unchecked these behavioral loops of bias repeat and behaviors become more entrenched.  Oh, and by the way, we all have samskaras and most are hidden from view; blind spots.

Sometimes, after much thrashing about, Stress Management Programs like yoga catch our eye and we begin to consider what it would be like to perceive the world with a new lens and respond in a different, non-habitual way.

Yogic Stress Management tools of cultivating awareness, breathing practices, and self-reflection help us de-magnetize the power of our samskaras/tendencies.

The first step in pulling away from samskaras is gaining awareness of these habitual responses.  This in my opinion is nothing short of a miracle.  Often people get to this place after they have tried over and over again to see their blind spots but they miss what they can’t see.  They are able to consider the edges of their periphery but their blind spots are…blind.

Yogic practices to cultivate awareness include but are not limited to: Meditation, Yoga Nidra, Pranayama, and Life Alignment Coaching.  Each of these programs teaches you how to slow down, take pause and become more aware.

When you take a moment to pause and notice the desire to pounce, check in with yourself and ask, “Have I missed, skipped or ignored something?” or “Am I looking at this situation, person or event with fresh new eyes or dull biased ones?” and “It may be or feel unfamiliar, but I am going to do my best to respond differently to this situation, right now.”

Please enjoy one of my favorite quotes:
“Thoughts can create such a barrier that even if you are standing before a beautiful flower, you will not be able to see it. Your eyes are covered with layers of thought. To experience the beauty of the flower you have to be in a state of meditation, not in a state of ‘mentation’. You have to be silent, utterly silent, not even a flicker of thought – and the beauty explodes, reaches to you from all directions. You are drowned in the beauty of a sunrise, of a starry night, of beautiful trees.” ~ Yogic Wisdom

My thanks to the eleven people who “needed” to teach me about yoga as a result of my previous blog.  It provided us with a worthy topic for discussion.  For those of you who missed the original article, here it is:  Is Yoga a Religion or Cult?

Please share your thoughts on this topic.  It is so lovely when people respond from their own experience in a conscious way.

Here’s my Twitter info if you’d like to join:  YogiKamala

Blessings ~

~ Copyright © 2012 (Stacy Kamala Waltman)

~

 

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YOGA, is it a religion or cult?

Q. Is Yoga a religion or cult?

Stacy Kamala Waltman answers:

    “Yoga is a holistic approach to health and balance. It is not associated with any religion although it is spiritual; the practice connects us with our highest and most lighthearted state.

Meditation techniques have been used in many religious traditions: Catholic, Buddhist, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, etc. The tools used in a yoga practice include every area of one’s life including healthy food choices, reverence for the Divine, flexibility in mind and body and deep connection to the breath. When all areas of our lives are in balance we tend to be truly happy, healthy and more loving to ourselves and others.” ~ SKW

“I have learned so much from God that I can no longer call myself a
Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim, a Buddhist or a Jew.

The truth has shared so much of Itself with me that I can no longer
call myself a man, a woman, and angel or even pure Soul.

Love has befriended Hafiz so completely. It has turned to ash
and freed me of every concept and image my mind has ever known.” ~ Hafiz

 

Kamala Yoga:  www.kamalayoga.com

~

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STACY KAMALA WALTMAN’S WORKSHOP AT YOGAVILLE ~

Professional Life Coach and advanced Yoga teacher Stacy Kamala Waltman will lead you on this journey, using visualization, asana, various concentration and meditation techniques, and her expert insights and skilled guidance.

Kamala has been studying yoga for over 30 years and is RYT500 certified.  For more information and to register, please visit:  Yogaville Workshops.

~

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Not Even the Symbol Remained ~

The Naked Saint by Shernaz Wadia

When scantily clad women of the 21st century are frowned upon, she dared to go around naked in the 12th century!! Who was this dauntless woman? This was the young, defiant, vibrant, one and only “Akka” – respected elder sister of the world – Akka Mahadevi of Karnataka.

She was liberated by her unstinting devotion to and love for her Cenna Mallikarjuna, Lord, white as jasmine, Lord Shiva. Staying nude was a common practice among male ascetics in those days, but for a woman it was considered nothing less than sacrilegious and shameless. Legend has it though, that her nudity was totally protected by her beautiful, long hair. Her statue too, installed in her birthplace, stands thus today.

People,

male and female,

blush when a cloth covering their shame

comes loose

When the lord of lives

lives drowned without a face

in the world, how can you be modest?

When all the world is the eye of the lord,

looking everywhere, what can you

cover and conceal?

Akka Mahadevi lived during the 1100s in Karnataka, a region on the southwest coast of India. She was born in Udatadi of Banavasi, in a pious Shaiva family. According to Shaiva literature her parents were Nirmala and Sumati, themselves steadfast devotees of Lord Shiva.

That was the time of liberal Veera Shaivism, a reform movement. Its leaders – political and spiritual radicals ¬¬ aimed at direct communion with the divine, rather than through meddlesome mediators. The satsangs of the Veera Shaivites had no room for the caste system. At their gatherings all were required to work, eat, study and practice together. Rituals were reduced to the barest minimum. Their community thrived outside of society and developed a strong spirituality alive till today. Outstandingly, in their households, daughters were taught to read and write and were allowed to study scriptures, putting them on par with the men in these respects. Theirs was a direct spiritual and political rebellion against the orthodoxy and religious sway of the Brahmin priests.

Akkadevi grew up under this progressive influence, with the framework of Shaivism as her paradigm. Little is known about her childhood, except that she studied under Shivagamacharya and started writing vachanas from a very early age. She is said to have written about 350 extant free verse lyrics in the Kannada language, known as vachanas (literally, “sayings”), in praise of the Lord, whom she had accepted as her mystical husband and lover. Like that of other bhakti saints, the imagery of her verses too is based in the everyday, familiar language of ordinary people.

She had wanted to remain an unmarried devotee of Shiva, but her family forced her to marry the ruler of her land, King Kaushik, who having fallen in love with her beauty, sent her a proposal and threatened her family when she rejected him. But she still kept him at a distance asserting that Shiva, was her only lover and husband.

“Listen, oh, Mother! I love Him,

He is the one, the only one.

He knows no birth and death.

He is unchained by caste or clime.

He is boundless, changeless, formless;

He is beautiful beyond comparison,

All others fade away and die at last.

I will have none of them.

My Lord shall forever be

One day, when the constrictions of household life became too claustrophobic, she ran away rather dramatically from her husband’s house. With the rejection of family life and worldly belongings, she shed her clothes too as a symbol of her asceticism. She roamed free throughout South India, singing her songs and worshipping her Lord, eating and sleeping as and when the mercy of strangers permitted it. Her act was considered a defiance of the varnashrama dharma which suppressed the shudras and women. She proved that a woman has every right and has all the means to pursue a life exclusively engaged in the exploration of the divine. She is even believed to be a major figure in the social empowerment of women. one of the first feminists and to date she inspires those fighting for women’s emancipation.

Other men are thorn

under the smooth leaf.

I cannot touch them,

go near them, nor trust them,

nor speak to them confidences.

Mother,

because they all have thorns

in their chests,

I cannot take

any man in my arms but my lord

white as jasmine.

~*~

I love the Handsome One:

he has no death

decay or form

no place or side

no end nor birthmarks.

I love him O mother. Listen.

I love the Beautiful One

with no bond nor fear

no clan no land

no landmarks

for his beauty.

So my lord, white as jasmine, is my husband.

Take these husbands who die,

decay, and feed them

to your kitchen fires! [Ramanujan, p.134]

~*~

Later she wished to join a community of Veerashaivas (a new and radically democratic group of Shiva devotees), and many of her poems are from the report of her successful attempt to prove to the male Veerashaiva leaders gathered in the city of Kalyan that she was worthy to be part of their community.

Why do I need this dummy

of a dying world?

illusion’s chamberpot,

hasty passions’ whorehouse,

this crackpot

and leaky basement?

Finger may squeeze the fig

to feel it, yet not choose

to eat it.

Take me, flaws and all,

O lord white as jasmine.

At the ashram here she met the famous Veera Shaivite Guru, Basava. He doubted her sincerity as a serious spiritual seeker. Her nudity covered by her hair was questionable to him, but when she argued that she did it to spare him embarrassment, he recognized her genius and she entered his ashram as his disciple.

“It’s only when the fruit is ripe within

That the outside doth lose colour.

If I covered the symbol of sex,

It’s lest it hurt your eyes.

Why does it needle you, O Brothers?

Spare this poor maid

Who has surrendered herself to Cenna Mallikarjuna.”

She attended many gatherings of the learned at the Anubhavamantapa in Kudala sangama to debate about philosophy and attainment of spiritualism

“Seeing the feet of the master,

O lord white as jasmine,

I was made

worthwhile.”

She is believed to have died in her 20s, supposedly disappearing in the banana groves at Shreeshaila, in Andhra Pradesh while in ecstasy entering mahasamadhi (divine union) with a flash of light. This merging of hers into her Lord white as jasmine is thus described by Vasanti Mataji –

“The bee that was engaged all along in drinking the nectar from the white jasmine is consumed totally in that very process. Not even the symbol remained” ~ Vasanti Mataji

www.kamalayoga.com

~

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Are you Giving Up or Surrendering?

Happy Spring!

There is so much abundance around; such beauty. I hope you are all getting outside and surrendering into life!

Many people misunderstand the concept of surrender. Surrender is not inaction or giving up or even accepting defeat or being codependent. Surrender is giving up our expectations of how things should be. When we expect or demand a certain result we are operating from a standpoint of control rather than deep surrender. Bargaining with the Divine is not surrender; “I’ll do this, God… if you do, that.” Surrender is making plans, utilizing our intelligence and capacities but not being attached to the fruits of those actions.

In one of my favorite books, the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna tells the warrior Arjuna that making plans, taking action, even painful action, is not only necessary it is the only way we fulfill our destiny (dharma).  A more contemporary version of this theme is by baseball legend, Yogi Berra. He said, “In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is.”

We often get stuck in intellectualizing about how things “should be” rather than how things actually are. Clarity comes when we practice and apply what we know rather than theorizing.

Are you more comfortable imagining, conjecturing or instructing others rather than taking your own inspired action?

This week I invite you to take one specific action step each day. Then, give up your ideas of how things should turn out. Cultivate the art of noticing and being watchful. It is an enlivened and stress-free response to living life to its fullest.

Join me on www.kamalayoga.com ~

To your great health and happiness!

Stacy

~

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~ Launching into 2009 Grounded ~

So much information in the world focuses on lack.  What we don’t have and how we should improve ourselves can take center stage.  Often making New Year’s Resolutions focuses on our dissatisfaction’s with our current state of being and we can feel discouraged rather than empowered.

This year, in 2009, I invite you to make New Year’s Appreciations for what has been before launching into the future.  Make a list of all you have accomplished in 2008.  If your mind starts to inject a , “Yes, but……” decide to redirect your thoughts back to your magnificence.  It is your choice and within your power to chose the thoughts which are capturing your attention.  Allow your head to quiet and your heart to speak of your strengths.

Empower yourself to take pleasure in the grandeur of what you have experienced this past year.  Write down every LITTLE and big thing that you have done out of the ordinary in 2008.  Fill yourselves up with that fullness.  Turn off outside sources which are focusing on scarcity, lack and fear.  Fill yourselves up with how magnificent you are – this is your place of strength.

Every single one of you has done something outstanding this year.  Write these events down. Keep a journal.  Reflect on your greatness.  When your spiritual state is healthy, the future will unfold gracefully.

Now is the time to reconnect to prayer and meditation.  Allow 2009 to be the year when you  expand your spiritual path.

After you have fully grounded yourself into your past accomplishments in 2008, then go ahead and put your dreams for 2009 down onto paper.  Launch into 2009 grounded, from a place of fullness and gratitude.

With great love and respect,
Stacy Kamala Waltman

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A Road Toward Balance and Happiness !

The Bend Bulletin newspaper’s “U Magazine” has interviewed a couple of Life and Business Coaches, of which I am one in this article called,  “A Road Toward Balance and Happiness.”

Please click on the following link to enjoy this article and have a Happy Thanksgiving!  

U Magazine – November 2008

Namaste,
Stacy Kamala Waltman

 

 

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How to Choose a Life Coach ~

With the proliferation of executive, spiritual, and life coaches and the coaching industry in general, I often wonder when it all started – the concept of coaching.

There sure are a lot of coaches out there to select from and once we’ve decided to embark on a coaching journey, it can be challenging to decide who we should choose to be our guide.

What criteria do we use when evaluating a coach’s ability to help nurture us through this rite of passage from a life of unconscious existence into a re-arranged and authentic life?

Should clients consider hiring coaches whose lives look perfect and constrained on the outside or is certification from an accredited school the criteria that really matters? 

Should potential clients select a coach due to a referral from a colleague or do they select someone who, like the proverbial phoenix, has been decimated from hard times yet rises up again? 

The lotus flower and the phoenix bird are powerful symbols of resurrection through hardships artfully developing resilience as they rise again – stronger, wiser, and more compassionate than before.  A coach’s hardships, lessons learned and resiliency are their greatest and most worthy credentials. 

Just as there are some doctors who are more skilled than others in spite of identical training, so it is with coaches. A skilled coach is like a tincture of gypsum that breaks up the old, stagnant, and toughened clay before planting delicate seeds and later serves as a mulch of new tools protecting and nurturing their client’s tender shoots of strength, authenticity and perspective.

When evaluating a life coach, consider which one might ask us tough questions in the context of getting past our blind spots. In the spectrum of coaching choices, which coach is more likely to have a profound impact on our life?

Which coach may be afraid of offending us and therefore may let us slip by because they are invested in us liking them. And which coach has mastered the finer qualities of intuition, strength, and active listening? 

Which coach skillfully weaves a tapestry of safety so we can be the most transparent – allowing our true self to emerge fully rooted and which coach would we be trying to impress as we hide our deepest fears, dreams, and weaknesses from them – entrenched in our makeshift image?

Coaches don’t have to lead perfect lives to be highly skilled in this craft, just as some good doctors don’t have the healthiest of lifestyles or habits yet they exercise the best of care for their patients. Similarly, therapists don’t counsel themselves and often have their own therapist, doctors don’t operate on family members and lawyers rarely represent themselves. 

Great coaches though, do need to be professionals who are comfortable living within ambiguous contexts instead of pigeon holing their clients or trying to “fix them” and they must have the ability to listen exceptionally well and hear what is not being said – those deafened or noisy, tense areas that keep us looping in unconscious behavior. 

Qualified coaches are comfortable in their own skin complete with its imperfections and idiosyncrasies. Their acceptance of themselves is the soil with which clients learn awareness of their own Self. The one begets the other.

Which coach will cultivate our feelings of strength allowing us to access new skills during those times in our lives that evoke our strongest fears and trigger over-used, outdated and destructive habits?

The best coaches are compassionate yet fierce, adept at seeing larger or different perspectives, insightful and forthright and have a great deal of intuition and compassion. These skills can’t be taught in school but they can be honed and developed through awareness.

Great coaches believe their clients are “naturally creative resourceful and whole” even in the midst of struggle, grief, hardship, disappointment, loss, and the tumult of change.   They learn to encourage the process allowing it to develop on its own time instead of forcing a premature solution.

Which coach will help you let go of your dependence on what is familiar and move past your resistance into a new direction? Which coach will be side by side with you as you shed light on the areas in your life you haven’t been able to face before?

I wonder, which airline first announced that in the case of a loss of cabin air pressure passengers should first put on their own oxygen mask before attempting to help their children or other travelers. Was the airlines policy of “putting on your own oxygen mask first” a twinkle in the coaching profession’s eye or was it some other seemingly innocuous event that triggered this line of work?

“Putting on your own oxygen mask first” has profound implications for us all. I don’t know which airline first taught this valuable life skill, but I wonder if they realized how profound this instruction is to the quality of our lives and safety on the ground as well as in the air.

“Putting on our own oxygen mask first” is a learned skill that is developed during the coaching dynamic. We take care of ourselves first by becoming a clear channel before we are capable of truly caring for, loving, and working well with and serving others.

Clean clear oxygen is intoxicating.  So is the coaching dynamic and living an inspired life free from habitual patterns.

May your life be invigorating and may you become clear enough to see all the serendipitous occurrences happening all around you ~ most, if not all of the time.

Stacy Kamala Waltman~

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Oxygen Mask

 

Author:  Stacy Kamala Waltman

With the proliferation of executive and life coaches and the coaching industry in general, I often wonder when it all started – the concept of coaching.

There sure are a lot of coaches out there.  What criteria should clients use when evaluating a coach’s ability to help them attain the life they want to lead?  Should clients consider hiring only coaches with certification or should they select a coach due to a referral from a friend or colleague?

Just as there are some doctors who are more skilled than others in spite of identical training, so it is with coaches.  A skilled coach is one who cultivates their client’s authenticity and who can ultimately help them expand his or her perspective on life.

In evaluating a coach, consider which one might ask you tough questions in the context of getting past roadblocks.  Which coach is more likely to have an impact on your life and how will you measure that impact?  Ask yourself which coach may be afraid of offending you and therefore may let you slip by because they want you to like them.  With which coach can you be the most transparent and which coach would you likely be trying to impress so you won’t be entirely forthcoming?

Coaches don’t have to lead perfect lives to be highly skilled in this craft, just as some good doctors do not have the healthiest of lifestyles or habits yet they exercise the best of care for their patients.  Great coaches though, do need to be professionals who are comfortable living within ambiguous contexts instead of pigeon holing their clients and they must have the ability to listen well and be able to hear what is not being said.

The best coaches are compassionate yet fierce, adept at seeing larger or different perspectives, insightful and forthright and have a great deal of intuition and compassion.  These skills can’t be taught but they can be honed and developed through training.

An effective coach navigates between stereotypes and helps their clients gain clarity.

I wonder, which airline first announced that in the case of a loss of cabin air pressure passengers should first put on their own oxygen mask before attempting to help their children or other travelers.

Was the policy of “putting on your own oxygen mask first” the first twinkle in the coaching profession’s eye or was it some other seemingly innocuous or serendipitous event that triggered this line of work?

“Putting on your own oxygen mask first” has profound implications for us all.  I don’t know which airline first taught this valuable life skill, but I doubt they realized at the time how profound this instruction was to the quality of our lives and safety on the ground as well as in the air.

“Putting on your own oxygen mask first” is a leadership quality that is developed during the coaching dynamic.  We need to care for ourselves first before we are ready to care for and serve others.

What action do you need to commit to in order to take care of yourself?  Breath deeply, listen for your answer and be allow yourself to be nourished with a commitment to go forward.

 To your unfoldment!

 

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