It is a lovely and warm Friday evening as I walk into the back studio of Yoga Mandala to attend a ceremony done on the first Friday of every month. No cult here, but yes there are some intriguing symbols and plenty of chanting and singing involved. It’s called a kirtan and it is the embodiment of spiritual devotional singing and chanting in the Hindu tradition that is at the heart of one major branch of yoga called Bhakti Yoga. Blissed out after the amazing evening, I decided to interview the charismatic and wildly funny conductor of the kirtan – Sean Feit.

Vlad: You lead kirtan, essentially devotional singing, how did you get started with that?

Sean: I had been doing long Buddhist retreats for many years, and at a certain point in the unfolding of the practice it became clear that another kind of medicine was needed. I noticed that one of my strengths was faith, and connected with that energy. It is not very emphasized in the Vipassana tradition that I was practicing in at the time. But I had faith in the process, and in the possibility of guidance coming from wherever it comes from.

To anthropomorphize that guidance made sense to my heart. The forms, images, and stories – the human-shaped archetypes of the divinities really worked for me more than a dry, “pure” wisdom-all-the-time kind of approach. I’d been doing yoga for a decade and really loved the yoga deities.

I started to connect with the forms of the deities, and because I was already a musician kirtan was easy and I started doing it. I grew up Catholic, and really like the rituals, I really like being in relationship with something, but didn’t want to be part of a church. But devotion and faith still turns out to work for me. So I’ve transferred my affection to the blue guy and the monkey – somehow those images just resonate.

Vlad: What is your favorite part of leading a kirtan, what is that sweet moment that you savor?

Sean: The moment, like in any practice, is when you are actually feeling something. When I am singing to somebody and things line up and I get it for a second. It’s a little like the way they say you have to repeat a mantra 100,000 times because you only actually have to say it once but most of those times you weren’t really there. I like that about bhakti – its tolerance of endless failure. When you get it it’s really sweet. It doesn’t ask you to be perfect in any way. The moment is whenever I am actually available for it: I’m singing, or other people are singing, and the heart is just there.

Vlad: Devotional chanting is considered a major part of Bhakti Yoga, so what is Bhakti yoga?

Sean: To me, and this is a very idiosyncratic definition, bhakti is something like permission. The spiritual world is so full of methods, prescriptions, and things you have to do a certain way! If you don’t do the exercises right they don’t work. Bhakti is the part of the path that takes you as you are, and whatever works for you – do that. The heart of the practice is just the feeling of being connected. It’s different from asana where there are lots of things to do, and meditation with lots of things to not do. Bhakti is really simple, really sweet. What do you love? How you get lit up?  Just do that!

Vlad: So what is the textbook definition of Bhakti Yoga?

Sean: Heart opening practices like mantras, and thinking about the wisdom stories, connecting with aspects of whatever you call Divine, with what makes you feel connected. One of the things that seems important to me about bhakti is what Krishna says in the Gita: all the paths work, but the bhakti path is easier, because it gives you a form to focus on.  It’s not absolute truth, of course.  There is no Krishna, no blue guy, no monkey God, but thinking about Krishna or Jesus or whoever you like does something. It’s what I call a skillful use of duality. You take on the dual, understanding that ultimately it’s fictional. If I already understood that my self is fictional I would not need to do that. But as long as I think I exist, it may be helpful to think that the Divine exists as something that I can have a relationship with.

Within the bhakti tradition, you reflect on Kali, or Krishna, or whoever is your favorite form and as that reflection matures you let go of the separation, you take the deity into your body and you feel like you are Krishna or Kali. In bhakti yoga losing yourself in the devotion brings deep happiness that leads toward wisdom, love, and clear seeing.

Vlad: How is Bhakti path different from the traditional yoga as we know it in the West – in theory and practice?

Sean: Yoga in the West, through some brilliant marketing maneuvers, has become a self-help practice that is often little more than physical exercise. Bhakti tends to look more like Pentecostal Christianity: just sing all day and lose yourself in loving! But really get involved in your worship, really adore God!

It’s strange and interesting to have public yoga classes that are essentially all about physicality and the cultivation of body, but within this near-universal focus on body there are tidbits of philosophy and spiritual affirmation – teachers play Sanskrit mantras and chants in the background. I say it as if I am critiquing it, but I do it too!

It is an interesting recipe: 90 percent exercise, 5 percent rest and 5 percent affirmation. It’s come a long way from Indian yoga, and certainly a long way from the roots of yoga in the Tantras and earlier meditation traditions, but Western yoga has lead to Indian music and Indian mantras sung by Westerners – and it’s a signal of authentic spiritual seeking in the Bay Area and throughout the Western world. It’s problematic – colonial, orientalist, and appropriation – but that’s how the symbols are working right now, and the amazing thing is that it really works for people. It has good effects, as we get out of our heads and into our bodies. We could all use some exercise, after all, and endorphins make you susceptible to suggestion, so we are in this open state and our teachers – who are kind and well-intentioned – plant in us information about wellbeing and freedom.

Vlad: Would you change this in any way?

Sean: I like teaching classes sometimes that are not within that model. I would love to teach a regular Saturday morning class that was an hour of asana, with no music and just focused silence, then an hour of sitting in silence, and I’m never sure where to put the kirtan piece – maybe after.  Certainly some chanting in there somewhere.

The sitting thing is so interesting because across the tracks in the Buddhist world, total beginners will come to a sitting group and sit for 45 minutes regularly. They just deal. But in the yoga world, the standard form is movement, and nobody can sit still. Its partially because in the Buddhist world, discomfort is considered grist for the mill, whereas in the yoga world it is considered a sign that you are doing it wrong. I’m working on bringing those two worlds together.

Vlad: If somebody was going to choose a yoga path – what advice would you give them on how to do that?

Sean: I would say, “who are you? What are your strengths and temperament?” “Do a practice that mostly relies on your strengths, but that will open into your weaknesses. If you absolutely can’t sit still for one minute, start doing a fast vinyasa practice for a couple of years and do that until you can sit still.”

One of the things Buddha admitted was that yoga, like spiritual paths in general, was not for everyone. The Buddha actually considered not teaching after he attained enlightened because the thing he realized was too subtle for most people to understand. The story goes that Sacca, the king of the gods, overheard him thinking this, and materialized before him saying, “Blessed one you are wrong, there are beings with little dust in their eyes who would be able to understand the Dharma that you teach.”

Yoga – by which I mean an integrated practice that includes meditation and spiritual inquiry – is suitable for people with relatively little dust in their eyes, but folks with a lot of dust may need something else. There are so many ways that the psyche gets traumatized, and may be not available for deconstruction, and yoga at its heart is a deconstruction practice. It’s a practice that challenges who and what you think you are. A lot of us are not ready for it.  But the asana practice on its own – and this is how yoga is most often taught in the West – can be an appropriate doorway, because we can engage with it on many levels, including just as physical conditioning.

There is a strong movement to bring the physical practice of yoga asana to a lot of different populations, and in a way I think that runs parallel to the way yoga in general has become more widely adopted. It speaks to our level of inner health. That actually before we do anything really deep, we have to be in our bodies and be here! The physical practice of asana is right for our culture, for the amount of stress and disassociation so many of us carry. It is then a practice that is right also for bringing to a wider populations and it does seem like it can really help.  And when folks hunger for more, the deep river of the tradition is right there.

Related posts:

1. Is Yoga a Modern Fad
2. Benefits of Yoga: Tip of The Iceberg

An interview with Bidyut Bose, PhD –  Niroga Founder

Interview conducted by Vlad Moskovski

It brings me great pleasure to interview Bidyut Bose, or BK , as many of us know him. He is a leader in the Yoga community inspiring many with his dedication, wisdom, and caring. Bidyut Bose, PhD, is the executive director of Niroga Institute (www.niroga.org), a nonprofit organization that brings Transformative Life Skills (TLS) to students, vulnerable youth, cancer survivors, seniors and people battling addiction. The work of Niroga directly uplifts thousands of people every week in schools, juvenile halls, homeless shelters, cancer hospitals and rehab centers. Niroga also trains minority young adults to become Certified Yoga teachers, prepared to serve their own communities with cultural competence and linguistic sensitivity.

Vlad Moskovski: How did Niroga begin?

While employed in the high tech industry in Silicon Valley, I observed the ravaging effects of chronic stress on my colleagues and the entire organizational culture. Having grown up with yoga and meditation, I knew that there was a solution to this. I essentially became a student of stress and began to look at the impact of chronic stress on society. Feeling the need to give back, to serve selflessly, which was a big part of my growing up, I decided that perhaps this was the time to step back from the high tech world and start to serve my community.

When I learned that one out of every two kids in inner city schools are dropping out, I realized we have to do something about this colossal waste of human potential. When a kid pulls a gun on another kid because they feel ‘dissed’ – in that situation what if we can create a space between stimulus and response? An increase in self-control could be the difference between life and death on the streets.

Even before Niroga was born, we were asked to work with a small group of young women in an alternative high school in Marin. Right after the first session, the teachers came back saying, “The kids took to the breathing and the quiet sitting like fish to water.”  And I thought, “This is great – there is hope!”

Next came an alternative high school in Oakland. There is a video on the website, where the therapists, foster youth services, teachers, and the principal all say that everyone has given up on these kids and that the teaching of Yoga, breathing techniques, and the other tools are making them realize that each one of them has potential. Then, people from probation, healthcare, and education in Alameda County called us together saying – we need this program in Juvenile Hall.

The first thing I asked was, “How long is the average length of stay in juvenile hall?” About 3 weeks, I was told. So I said, “Then we have two conditions.” Here we are – a puny non-profit, and we are setting conditions for these heads of agencies! The first condition is that it has to be a daily program. Five days a week for both boys and girls. The second condition is, we have to have one class a week for staff. The staff need these tools just as much as the youth. My idea was simple: change each individual kid, and along the way, also the very culture of the institution to make a long term impact. We did research, used standardized scales, measuring chronic stress, and self control or emotion regulation. We showed we could get measurable results working with hundreds of youth.

Then we began to look at where are the youth are going once they get out of juvenile hall. We started to go into schools, first providing hour-long yoga classes in after-school programs, and then during school offering a distilled version of the hour-long class. We compacted it into 15 minutes, keeping the same structure and called it Transformative Life Skills (TLS).

When we went into the classroom with the 15 minute interventions, the teachers modeled and worked with the kids. Very naturally, trainings evolved for schools and school administrators. We now have training programs for school teachers and school- based behavioral health providers so they can teach this in their classrooms and not have to rely on us. We are effectively giving them tools to help themselves, as well as enhance their professional practice.

Next we began to look at the social elitism in the practice of yoga. In order to reach those individuals and communities that need these practices the most, we have to change the face and zip code of yoga. The face from white to black and everything in between. And the zip code spanning the hills to the flats. As a social justice part of our movement, we began to train people of color to become certified yoga teachers. And so the Integral Health Fellows program was born. Every year we are training 25 yoga teachers, and about half are people of color. We make it affordable by offering a scholarship, it is a pay-forward model. Upon graduation, we require them to serve their community – to give back two hours a week for the next 50 weeks. That’s 100 hours of volunteer service by each of the graduates. It’s a huge contribution in community capacity building.

Vlad: Are you surprised at how Niroga has grown, did you expect this?

We started just about 6 years ago, in March 2005, and I came into this with the spirit to try not to have any expectations. I was just seeing how it evolved. The first few years our growth was almost exponential, doubling year after year. Then it flattened out with the economic crisis. Now it’s starting to grow very quickly again, the demand is there. But, the resources are not quite there – we are still vulnerable as an organization.

Vlad: What is the biggest challenge that Niroga faces right now?

I think it’s getting the pervasive awareness of the power and potential of these transformative practices. Right now there is a confluence that is making it accessible. Neuroscience is showing that chronic stress really messes up our bodies and our minds, the brain and our behavior. And at the same time there is convincing evidence that mindfulness practices mitigate these effects. Major developments in somatic psychology on optimal treatment of trauma, which is of course the reality of many of the people we serve, speaks to the combination and integration of the kinesthetic, emotional and the cognitive. So yoga, breathing techniques, and meditation fit into this space.

The fact that being able to regulate our emotions affects everything we do, is huge. And yet in a culture that does not know how to do this, it becomes a challenge to not only realize how important it is, but also figure out ways to systematically build these capabilities. This awareness is a really powerful catalyst, this understanding is a game-changer.

When we look at violence prevention, the notion of tough on crime simply is not working. Whether it is a prison or juvenile hall, all of them seem to be running at full capacity. So we know that incarceration is not going to get us out of this mess. You can try to create safe environments, enhance walkability, better lighted streets, clean parks, but you can’t just do that and stop. You have to also change our ability to regulate ourselves and that internal environment is often missed or dismissed.

We need to influence people who are making the decisions. City council members, board of supervisors, the politicians all the way through to Washington. How much importance are they going to give to this powerful catalyst that enables us to make healthy lifestyle choices, that changes our behavior? If we can get them to think along these lines, then the resources will get lined up. This is the biggest challenge, not only for Niroga, but for all mindfulness organizations in this space.

What we are trying to do is transform ourselves so we can change the world around us. Imagine getting to this magical tipping point where most of the people in the community are practicing these skills of self-mastery most of the time. How beautiful that would be!

Vlad: Where do you see yourself and Niroga in 10 years? How will it grow and change?

The big picture dream for me is generational transformation. How do I affect children, their children and their children’s children. In that process, everything we are trying to do is to get these TLS skills to as many people as possible, in as many places as possible. So that they are able to use these skills for themselves and be a lamp unto those around them. One lamp lighting another, there is no other magic to this. We are hoping for that type of exponential, viral effect that seeds the community with peacefulness, joyfulness, and mindfulness. In this way we can counteract the negative spiraling down – the pettiness, smallness, violence, and greed. To pull ourselves back out, so that each one of us can tap into the infinite potential that is within us. That’s the dream!

For this to become a reality it can’t be just Niroga. I think the dream is a shared dream, it’s up to each one of us to play a part in that dream. I have no clue what will happen in 10 years, but I know this much – I am going to keep working at this until my last breath.

Vlad: Is there anything you would like to say, directly to yoga teachers interested in this dream? That are passionate about spreading yoga and working with diverse and disadvantaged populations?

Two things. First – deepen your own practice. Deepen it so you live a life that is aligned with the spirit and essence of yoga. Without that, you will not be able to operate from a position of strength.

And then, grounded in that strength, practice and teach yoga in the spirit of Karma Yoga. The very essence of Karma Yoga is to try to work a little bit more selflessly, so that you really feel like every student is the very embodiment of the divine. So that every act becomes an act of worship. That way we transform everything around us into the sacred, so there is no secular left. And so it becomes all encompassing, it becomes universal, all-accepting.

Like Mother Theresa used to say – I’m serving Christ. Christ in the poor, the destitute, or the one ridden with leprosy. How can I treat every single potential student as my teacher, as the divine embodied in front of me. Strive with every ounce of your strength for self-realization, and then translate that into action. You grow a little bit, and you are able to serve more effectively more selflessly, and through that you grow – elegant positive feedback, reinforcing itself, spiraling upward.

Just start where you are, you don’t have to wait to be highly evolved. A little bit each day, two minutes, five minutes. Work to the best of your ability without caring what comes out of it, without caring what others will think about it. Somebody gives you a dollar for your class or a hundred, you treat them just the same. One person comes to your class or a thousand, you teach the class just the same. That becomes Karma Yoga. We have all of these opportunities to practice. What a blessing! That is how I feel about my life, that every breath, every moment I have to teach is a blessing, an opportunity to grow and propel myself forward.

Related posts:

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3. The Ojai Yoga Crib – A Yoga Retreat Like No Other

My path has been to combine the three of these together into my daily life and by weaving them together with the goal of involution. It is the process of looking inward to find the understanding to internal problems and wisdom of the outside world. While it may seem counter intuitive to look inside for outside understanding let us consider the fact that the world does not exist without our minds to interpret what our senses are taking in. Therefore it is reasonable to presume that as we involve and develop our understanding of ourselves, the mind – the focus of our study changes and with it all reality. This is the simply yet powerful truth behind all spiritual practices – look within!

My practice is also founded on four guiding principals they are: simplicity, patience, love, and contentment. These four principals while difficulty to embody, form the core teachings of yoga philosophy and the three schools of thought outlined above.

Bhakti Yoga – the yoga of devotion and self surrender. This is said to be the simplest and easiest path because we are not asked to do anything but give up all control. All doer-ship is released until our life becomes the silent mantra to a higher power, “I am your tool, through me your work will be done”.

Karma Yoga – is the yoga of action, in this practice we practice non-attachment with every deed, word, and thought.

Raja Yoga – also called Ashtanga yoga is the synthesis of the above two and focuses on controlling the mind in order to bring it into stillness.

These three are designed for different people, different personalities. My journey has been to combine them together and practice continuous self-dissolve through giving up all of my actions to a higher power. When something happens, I practice non-attachment. After every action I say – “my work it is complete.” Whatever happens, however people react, their reactions will not have an effect on me. I am still, I am complete, and my actions are complete. The only way I am able to do this is because I have decided that in order to follow this path I must be 100 percent invested in whatever I do. I stay completely present and invested. Once my work is done, I step back from it and observe it as if it is whole and perfectly complete. Not mine anymore, I have given it up to the universes to do with as is needed. Finally, through the practice of Hatha yoga I practice cleansing the body and preparing to withdraw the senses. Following this, I observe the breath – the fundamental principal and living force within all of us. It is the main sources of prana that we take into the body and pranayama or breath control is practiced to take in more prana and direct it into the higher energy centers within the body. Meditation begins to unravel the mind, one moment at a time. Revealing the judgments, flaws, patterns, and streams of thought within. This is no simple task, by simply sitting back and observing the mind we are able to delve deep into the nature of the mind unlocking our true potential and spiritual beings.

Majestic. This is the only way to describe the feeling that one gets when in deep meditation. Time stops being perceived as a fluid stream of past present and future, rather it begins to slow down and break into sperate moments of now, not now. The river of streaming thoughts slows, halts, and begins to reflect the true nature of our being – full of stillness and completely whole in its infinite beauty. Like a dazzling diamond that has been taken for a series of scattered lights. Awareness, empty of mind it stands alone in this brilliant light. This awareness is pure consciousness revealed to stand apart from the mind, normally entangled within the realm of thinking. By halting the tumultuous wheel of thoughts we see through it and beyond it – into the depth and mystery that is unexplainable.

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2. Is Yoga a Modern Fad
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~Swami Satchidananda

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~Bhagvad Gita

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~Swami Siveananda

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Millions of people experience the negative side-effects of DIM Syndrome. Everything from sore neck to headaches to the ever-popular lower back pain can be traced to bad posture and unhealthy sitting habits at the computer. Lets face it, the human body was not designed to sit for hours at a time in one spot and stare forward motionless. But, since we all must work, and most of us must work at a computer, there are several habits that we can break free of and others that we may wish to adopt in order to keep our health and our sanity.

Sit Straight:

The spine has a natural curvature and is assisted by involuntary muscles and tendons along the spine. These muscles are linked to the same system that keeps our eyelids up and our lungs moving without our conscious awareness. Through bad habits we have programmed our bodies to tense additional smaller muscles to take on the work of the automatic ones. This is exhausting and causes unnecessary strain and tension in the body. By paying attention and experimenting with slight adjustments in the hips, shoulders, and head we can bring our body into a more natural alignment thereby activating the involuntary muscles and relieving the overworked ones.

While sitting in a chair, locate the sit bones. They are the two bony ridges of the hip bone that are meant to take our weight. To do so, simply experiment with tilting the pelvis forwards and back. Notice how this effects the curvature of the spine, and specifically the lower back. A proper alignment of the hips happens when the tailbone (the lowest part of the vertebral column) reaches down towards the ground/chair while the pubic/lower abdominal area moves up and inward. This action will naturally reduce some of the curvature of the lower back creating a flatter lower back and cause a slight shift backwards so that the weight of the body is distributed onto the sit bones. This adjustment also strengthens the abdominal muscles which assist the back muscles in keeping the spine erect.

Shoulders:

Having adjusted the lower portion of the body, next come the shoulders/chest. Explore the range of motion in the shoulders moving them forward and back. Notice how the forward motion of the shoulders pulls on the muscles of the

upper back and tenses the neck. Imagine somebody taking both shoulders and lifting them forward, up, and back. Let both shoulders melt down the back. Repeat several times, inhaling forward pausing at the top, and exhaling to melt. Do this often throughout the day and you may see a dramatic reduction in stress and tension in the neck and upper back. Another way to think about this motion is to lift the chest.

Head:

Moving onto the head, let the head become heavy and begin to move the head side to side, the up and down, and finally in big circles. Notice how good this feels on the neck muscles. Again here, work with the breath and breath into the area of tension, one can work with images of warmth or relaxation if that feels appropriate. A neutral spine means the head is shifted slightly back and the chin slightly down. One can also imagine a string tied to the top of the head and somebody lifting us by that string. This will cause the spine to elongate and straighten, the shoulders to move back, and the head to shift back.

Breath:

While our breathing is automatic, it is also intimately linked to our emotional and mental state. In moments of intense emotions such as anger or sadness, this becomes self evident. Because computer work requires such concentration, many people tend to hold their breath or not breath as deeply as mother nature intended. Just by the act of stopping whatever we are doing, noticing the rhythm and depth of our breath, and then taking a few deep slow breaths we can reset our system and bring more vitality and oxygen into our bodies. This actually effects our brain in a very direct way, making us more clear-headed and able to remember, reason, and problem solve better. Try it!

In addition to the negative side effects on the body, computers put immense strain on our eyes. Click Here learn simple eye exercise designed to strengthen, relax, and sooth the eye muscles and the optic nerve.

Also see my article for changing bad habits.

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