Jiva is Shiva

Theme: Invite you to contemplate some words with me. Jiva is Shiva was the mantra of Swami Vivekananda. He was the first yogi to bring Indian spiritual ideas publicly to the United States in 1893 at the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago.

Jiva means individual and Shiva means god. So Vivekananda was saying the individual is divine. He believed every person was a manifestation of god and needed to be honored as such. Jiva is Shiva. Every individual is divine. Our uniqueness is our perfection. Diversity is beauty, it is Sri.

Invite you to consider what makes you unique and maybe consider expressing your uniqueness a little more in life. Try to consider a little less what others expect of or demand of you, and focus in on those things in life that reflect your own highest and best intentions. Your unique path in life is your Satya, your truth.

Quotation: Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
- Dr. Seuss

Surya Namaskar - move with the breath
Surya Namaskar - engage muscle energy and organic extension
Surya Namaskar modified sequence...

Tadasana - inner body bright, soften outer body, hold your satya in your heart.
Uttanasana - hands clasped (open the container of the heart with the breath to fill it up.
High Lunge - hug the beach ball
Parsvakonasana (level II touch the floor)
Downdog - bring leg up - bend the knee and roll over and back
Chaturanga - hold and just connect to the breath
8-point - engage the core and suspend the breath then release down into the earth

Cobra - baby, drunken, and wide armed (open up the heart and hold your satya there again)
Low Plank Oblique (level II - come up to plank)
Downdog - Vasisthasana (level II - Wild Thing)
Iguana
Pigeon with Thigh Stretch
Utkatasana
Malasana - Bakasana

Gomukhasana - Cow pose (forward bend from heart and hold your satya firmly in mind)
Ardha Matsyendrasana
Padmasana - Kapalbhati Kriya Pranayama - with Gyan Mudra
Supta Padmasana/Virasana, supported on bolster
Jathara Parivartanasana
Eye of the Needle
Happy Baby/Savasana

Concerns: one student mentioned after class that he experienced that he didn't feel warmed up enough for Supta Padmasana/Virasana. So in my next class I will endeavor to focus more on the warmup sequence, add more sun salutations and make the intro more vigorous.

Closing: We practice yoga to remember that individuality is divine. Our uniqueness is our perfection. Diversity is Sri.