Cultivating Heaven in 2011

Hiking Beaver Ridge in Knoxville, TN


This last week of the old year has been a revisiting of the old, while developing a greater appreciation for the new yoga-fied lifestyle we've cultivated in the last couple of years. We've been visiting family and old friends in Tennessee, having a holiday Southern style, consisting of food, food, & some more food! We've had a grand 'ole time and send out loads of gratitude to everyone who's showered us with Southern hospitality. Yet, we've also become pretty homesick for our home base in Maui. We're definitely ready to shed the sweaters & get back to our yoga-fied lifestyle of sun, sand, ocean, gardening, and yoga-ing!

In the meantime, we've got just a couple of days left to live it up in Tennessee. We've had a lot of fun sharing some yoga tips with my family, curious to know more about yoga & how they can use it in everyday life. We've worked with my mother on rehabbing her broken wrist, my dad and uncle on back strengthening and poses for digestion, and my grandmother on poses for general health maintenance. I'll explain more about that in the next post. I've been pleasantly surprised at the interest expressed in yoga around here, as this was the birthplace of my yoga path. It's nice to see the seeds of yoga developing here!



108 beans for 108 salutations

 On this eve of 2011, we also kept alive our tradition of moving through 108 sun salutations to welcome the New Year. If you ask enough people, you'll hear 108 different answers about the significance of 108 sun salutations, ranging from Buddhist and Hindu traditions to numerology to astrology. For me, I like to honor the traditions of yoga that my teachers have taught me. It's also a great way to share in the sangha of modern yogis, with celebratory sessions of 108 salutations being widespread. I think the most intriguing symbolic meaning I've heard recently came from an article by Cora Wen:


For your 2011!



1=God or Highest Truth

0=Emptiness or wholeness 

8=Infinity.

To keep track of our sun salutations, we use 108 beans moved from one bowl to another with each completed cycle. As we practiced our salutations, I just happened to be lined up directly in front of a placard on the wall that simply said: Love, Prosperity, Happiness, Good Luck, Longevity. These were beautiful aspects upon which to meditate during our practice. They are principles I intend to cultivate for our heaven in 2011, & we wish a bounty of them for all of you as well.

Hau'oli Makahiki Hou & Namaste!