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The heart is always pure; there is no way to make it impure. And the head is always impure; there is no way to make it pure. And these are the alternative ways to live: one either can live in the head or one can live in the heart. -Osho Love-love-love it…

The heart is always pure; there is no way to make it impure. And the head is always impure; there is no way to make it pure. And these are the alternative ways to live: one either can live in the head or one can live in the heart. -Osho

Love-love-love it…

Ready, Set, Travel-Time!

So much for conference calling on Skype last night ;-( I had a great conversation with Jolin, laughing our way through most everything. This was the first time that we’ve actually spoken, and I can say with confidence that the four of us are going to really enjoy our experiences together. I know Christina from my NYC days and Emma from the retreat I facilitated last year… All I can say for now is, we have an amazing crew so far. Jolin will be departing soon after the retreat, so in consideration of this, let’s keep it simple and make plans to stay at Om Yoga, chill together and we can figure out more (or less) things to do after her departure. (stay for longer, Jolin. Mas tiempo, Muy importante :-)

We do need to conclude the retreat on the 17th. We will do our morning practice and have a closing circle. Likely, we can have lunch and then split for Om afterwards. Puerto is only about a half hour away… Get settled in, go to the beach, whatever. Om has hammocks, Emma. Om also has yoga classes everyday at 8:30 and 4:00pm so it’ll be easy to keep the groove on. Once settled in Puerto, it will be much simpler to see what else to do, if anything at all, because Puerto is an incredibly unique place. The Caribbean vibe is infectious.

The fun will begin in San Jose with everyone’s arrival. You will all just want to have dinner and probably just go to sleep after your travels. We’ll all jump on the bus in the morning, head. Down to the GG and spend some more quality time in the pool, jacuzzi, hammocks, the beach, etc. Dining at the GG is an experience unto itself, as the dining area overlooks the pool, the jungle and our yoga deck. Our retreat will open in the morning with an introductory circle and a morning yummie asana flow practice.

As stated in the curriculum, the times between the morning and afternoon asana practices and either before or after the evening workshop are available to all my students for bodywork and counseling session and tarot card readings, as well as more time to do nothing. Given the small size of our group, I’ll have the time and energy to work with everyone more then just once.

Please begin to visualize what you wish to accomplish in your time at the GG. Energetically, this place will blow all things conventional right out the window. Everyone will experience significant shifts in their thinking, life’s priorities and manners of living. Much of what moves us in our mundane lives will be revealed. Try to drop deeply within yourselves and know what your truth is. Try to visualize yourself living in an expanded state of inner and outer awareness, living in a new sense of Self with broader perspectives, and less burdened by things that are in inner conflict. All of this is going to begin to melt away upon arriving at the GG.

Courage, as Osho defines it in his book, is about moving through fear, inhibition and guardedness. These things keep us miserable as they are the creators of habits and patterns. Yoga, specifically, teaches us to move beyond rigidity and inflexibility on a physical level first, but as we move our bodies, we soon realize that our physical patterns really begin with our thoughts and emotions.

Real courage comes in the form of introspection, real self-assessment and a sincere willingness to activate changes from within FIRST. There will be many opportunities to share our challenges with each other and determine what is real for each of us, and what is BS.

From the tantric perspective, all of our faculties will be enlivened and stimulated. Just the rich feelings of the density of the living, breathing environment in which the GG is situated will make everyone fall in love with themselves. As we do our great work, nature will support everyone on their respective journeys. Life in the jungle maintains itself in a perfect state of equilibrium. This innate function of existential balance will speak to everyone’s heart and Self. The energetic dialog which you are all on the verge of experiencing will be quite profound and in ways not possible to appreciate until here… Breathe, and inhale I Am. Everything else is superfluous in contrast…

2012 and the Left Hand Path

Greetings, Visitors!

Well, here we go, heading into a new year. Funny… years wouldn’t exist unless humanity came along and invented the concept of time. And yet, we do fashion most of our intellectual understandings of life and living along a linear model of time. So let’s just roll with it and have some fun.

March is getting closer and so is the retreat. If you have found your way to this retreat @ The Goddess Garden, then you must have been doing some deep googling… Congratulations for making it this far.

The Left Hand Path is a very unique perspective, philosophy and manner of living. I teach what I live. I teach what has worked for me and how re-writing our personal constitution can clear a whole bunch of muddiness out of our Beings. LHP philosophy and practice is never going to win a popularity contest… It requires too much clarity, too much awareness and too much introspection, but the rewards are manifold for those who know they know something about themselves, but can’t quite touch it. And no matter how hard we try to relate this sense of something greater within our Selves, few, if any, can empathize… That’s the hard part; finding others to relate higher knowledge and experience.

The magic of this retreat is that we will all have many opportunities to connect with others who have had, and continue to have these kinds of awakenings.

Yoga and Tantra are rife with new-age-y vernacular. And yet, for all the promises, all the faith and all the dogma of current commercialized yoga and tantra, few, if any teachings touch upon the truest nature of who we really are: Individuated and Individual Beings.

Each human being is unique, and rather than taking an RHP view towards unification and oneness with an almighty - external to the self, we will go diving head-long into what constitutes the Higher Self, which is an energy within each of us that animates the lower self, mind, body and emotions. 

Your questions are important! This is not for the average-minded person. Please feel welcomed to ask anything and everything, nothing will be left unanswered. You are invited to join us on Facebook, but please be prepared to answer some questions about yourself first. All level yogis are invited; it’s got nothing to do with ‘how well’ you can do your asanas… :-)

Om Shanti!

Clint Kapp, RYT - CNMT

Teaching Yoga

Teaching Yoga, by Mark Stevens is a wonderful book on the authentic practice of the science of yoga, written in contemporary terms. He covers the Eight Limbs compassionately, veering away from the typical dogmatic presentation of its practices, opening the subjects up to a very tantric and all-inclusive presentation. I love teachers who get off the yoga-nazi path and on to more loving understandings of the practice.

Equally well-worded for students and teachers alike, there’s something in this easily understood volume for everyone.  

Retreat Info

Things are picking up nicely on our Facebook page. We have a nice group forming for the retreat in March. I’ve been posting options regarding what to do before and after the retreat, where to stay, transportation info… all kinds of goodies.

This is going to be a tremendous experience for all of us. The course content is aimed at becoming aware of the Self, which is neither the mind, body or emotions. It will be an intense experience, punctuated with lots of fun, dance, laughter and more fun.

The Goddess Garden is such a beautiful venue for tang a loving journey into the depths of what stands in the way of knowing one’s truth.

Also worthy of investigation, particularly for women, is the essence of Shakti from an energetic viewpoint. Shiva is well known as the destroyer, but Shakti is the animating force which enables Shiva to act. Without Shakti, Shiva would simply be a dormant energy.

“Shakti (Devanagari: शक्ति) from Sanskrit shak - “to be able,” meaning sacred force or empowerment, is the primordial cosmic energy and represents the dynamic forces that are thought to move through the entire universe in Hinduism.[1] Shakti is the concept, or personification, of divine feminine creative power, sometimes referred to as ‘The Great Divine Mother’ in Hinduism. On the earthly plane, Shakti most actively manifests through female embodiment and creativity/fertility, though it is also present in males in its potential, unmanifest form.[2]”

To get an unforgettable experience of Shakti as she relates her questions about existence with Shiva, Osho’s The Book of Secrets is a must-have.

-Clint

Logic and Reasoning

“It has been stated time and again in all the textbooks on tantra and yoga that an aspirant should try to eliminate all intellectual barriers in respect to his spiritual sadhana. As long as you approach your sadhana through an intellectual process of logic and reasoning, your experiences will remain static.

The level of mind that you are trying to reach is beyond the entanglements of intellectual bantering. Ques­tions such as, “Why am I doing this sadhana?” “What do these visions mean?” “Am I making any progress?” “Where are all these experiences coming from?” “Where will all this lead me?” are bound to arise in every person. However, these and other intellectual acrobatics have to be avoided.”

This is a very cool statement. Awakening is not an intellectual process, partly maybe, but not in totality. Yet, until we gain some “time out of mind” we really don’t know what it feels like to experience detachment. And, until we make ourselves become detached, the experience remains lost in the vapor of obscurity.

Needless to say, this is a great book. While the information may seem incomprehensible at first, it is certainly worth working through it. It is one of those books that give clues to be researched and known further. To one who is in seeking mode, the journey will prove worthy of effort.

Tattwa Shuddhi

“The mind which we use in day to day life for perception and cognition ordinarily acts through the senses. But if we can introvert the senses and turn the mind inwards, it manifests itself through inner experience and an expanded mind. This matter is separated from energy, thereby liberating the energy or shakti principle, which then unites with shiva or consciousness, creating a homogeneous awareness.”

While I am not finished with this short book yet, it has the feel of a precision surgical instrument, going straight into the work of awakening. Even though I have never read this particular take on Tantra, it feels more than vaguely familiar… like I knew I knew some of this stuff, but not sure as to where or when I first became familiar with it.  

Yes, it all goes toward the Brahman… according to the authors of this mighty little read. As a Setian, I take it back inward to the deified Self, which the author refers to as the antah karana. What makes it such a mind-blower is this: A universal all is thought to exist, and many appeal to it for the wisdom it is thought to have. As we achieve a deified state, empowered with the Gift of Isolate Intelligence, it becomes more clear that as such, I can certainly play in the cosmic all, yet I can withdraw my Self from it, observe it for what it is and then project my Will upon it as I see fit.

Fun stuff! More on this one later…