A tremendous amount of effort

"I have made a vow to attain Enlightenment in the female form - no matter how many lifetimes it takes"

One of my spiritual heroes is Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, who in 1964 was the second Western woman ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist nun. She spent 12 years in a Himalayan mountain cave in intense spiritual practice, which included sleeping in a traditional wooden meditation box in a meditative posture for just three hours a night. Since coming out of the cave, she has taken on the cause of equal rights and opportunities for Buddhist nuns. Listen to her important message about spiritual practice:

Regarding her time in solitude, she says:
"One of the good things about suffering is that it pulls people up.....and gets them thinking. When everything seems to be going well, and things are rolling along, then one tends to be less motivated to deal with the fundamental issues of life."

On living in an affluent society:
"If one has any sense at all, one should eventually realize that getting more stuff does not fill that huge black hole inside of discontent, disillusionment, and frustration. Then one sees that the spiritual teachers of all ages have something important to teach us.....But everyone seems to want everything so quick, these days."

She tells the story about how an individual once asked His Holiness the Dalai Lama what was the quickest and fastest way to achieve enlightenment. His Holiness just looked at him, then put his head down.....and just started crying.

"It's not a quick and easy fix. A genuine spiritual path is not easy," she says.

"It takes a tremendous, tremendous amount of effort to become effortless. And how much people are willing to put into it.....I don't know. This is my only fear. But hopefully, there will be a change in consciousness. Because if not, the planet is finished. We don't have that much time."

Progress on the path....

So I wanted to share some thoughts about how my little "Contemplative Life Project" has been going.....

Firstly, I have gotten some reactions from people who think it sounds too intense and too radical. To answer this, I return back to my yoga teachers--and founders of Jivamukti Yoga--David Life and Sharon Gannon. I was attracted to them, and their style of yoga, because it openly admits to being radical--and that it is a GOOD thing. As I wrote in an earlier blog posting, unlike the way this word is commonly pejoratively used in today's parlance, they define the word to mean "going back to the root." In other words, being radical is adopting a no-bullshit philosophy that doesn't treat surface symptoms but delves deeply into the root causes of problems.

This resonates with me because I have never been one to settle for superficial fixes. Anything that I have taken on and become passionate about, I have often delved deeply and devotedly into. So, this time, I figured there couldn't be a better thing than spirituality, liberation, the ending of samsara, to delve deeply into. :)

That being said, I know enough about myself, and the human condition in general, to know that becoming too ascetic and extreme doesn't work. So I have taken a gradual approach to my Monastic Rules. I don't follow them all yet, but have set my vision, my view, towards that direction. It has helped me focus. And it is also a work in progress; I fully expect to change them, often, as this progresses.

So, where am I right now with regards to them? Well, I have been struggling to get my butt to the meditation cushion before bed. I don't know why, but there is some sort of blockage in my psyche that resists meditation before sleeping. I am often so tired that it is sooooo easy to justify skipping this. In the mornings, however, I love to do my hour meditation and look forward to it. But it wasn't always so.....I remember when it was a struggle to just do the 10 minutes in the morning. I wonder how much of this is just habituating the act. So, my new focus is on just sitting for 5 minutes before bed to habituate the act itself, and not worry on how long I meditate for.

Speaking of the power of habits, I am constantly amazed at what you can do by fully utilizing this secret. For example, I went to bed last night around 8pm because I was exhausted, and woke this morning at 4am. Most people would think this was a crazy schedule, but for me it is normal. I started getting into this routine (sleep by 8/9pm, wake by 4/5am) about 6 months ago and it was WEIRD back then. I kept doing it, though, and now - its so natural.

So the other habit that I am trying to inculcate is the food one. I was tremendously inspired by the practice of eating by 6pm that the amazing yogi Dharma Mittra does and advises his students to do. It makes so much sense, both as an ascetic practice, and as a dietary one. When I do this, I feel more focused, clear, and energized in the evenings. And Dharma Mittra can stand on his head without arms......so he can't be that wrong...... :)

Tibetan Dream Yoga

For centuries, Tibetan masters have taught their students how to use dreamtime and dream space to further spiritual progress by increasing awareness during the dream state, otherwise known as Tibetan dream yoga. The Yoga of the Dream State, an ancient Tibetan manual on the practice of dream yoga and lucid dreaming, teaches that we can learn five spiritually significant wisdom lessons through this path of awakening:

1. Dreams can be altered through will and attention
2. Dreams are unstable, impermanent, and unreal — much like fantasies, magical illusions, mirages, and hallucinations
3. Daily perceptions in the everyday waking state are also unreal
4. All life is here today and gone tomorrow, like a dream; there is nothing to hold on to
5. Conscious dreamwork can lead us to the realization of wholeness, perfect balance, and unity

Tibetan dream yoga practice comprises three parts:

1. Daytime practice, designed to help us recognize the dreamlike nature of all existence and thereby prepare us to experience our dreams as vividly as we do our waking activities
2. Morning wake-up practices that help us recall our dreams, and confirm our determination to recall more of them
3. Night time practice, which prepares the ground for lucid dreaming and spiritual

Daytime Practice: 

During the day, practice these four points:

• Contemplate the body as illusory and unreal
• Contemplate the mind and mental activities as similarly insubstantial
• Regard the world, phenomena, and experience as dreamlike, insubstantial, impermanent, and unreal
• Recognize the relativity and ungraspable quality such as time, space, knowledge, and awareness

Wake-up Practice:

The moments immediately after waking are the most fertile for recalling dreams. The following practices are designed to support and strengthen your recall. Upon waking in the morning, practice:

• The lion's out-breath - breathing out with the sound "ah"
• The lion-like posture for awakening and purifying - sitting up in bed with raised head and gazing and emphasizing the exhalation, repeating the "ah" out breath three times
• Raise the energy - standing up, reaching the fingertips to the sky, and repeating the lion's out-breath 
• Enter into mindful reflection on the transition between the states of sleeping, dreaming, and waking reality - coming into the present moment, recording dreams. Thus, you will enter the day recognizing that all things are like a dream, illusion, fantasy.

Nighttime Practice:

After going to bed, practice these four points in order to create the conditions for mindful, lucid dreaming.

• Chant the following prayer three times to remind you of and strengthen your resolve to awaken within the dream, for the benefit of the ultimate awakening of all beings: “May I awaken within this dream and grasp the fact that I am dreaming, so that all dreamlike beings may likewise awaken from the nightmare of illusory suffering and confusion”.
• Lie on one side with your legs together and knees slightly bent. Let your bent arm take the weight of your torso by resting your head on your open hand. This is the posture of the sleeping Buddha
• Visualize the letter "A" (symbolizing infinite space) on the surface of the moon.

“There are some who are awake even while asleep, and then there are those who, apparently awake, are deeply asleep” – Lalla

The Contemplative Life Project

For the past couple months, my focus has turned more and more towards the pursuit of a contemplative life. By this, I mean a lifestyle specifically designed to cultivate awareness, insight and compassion for oneself and others, by slowing down, simplifying, and exploring one's inner depths. It is a way of being that is fundamentally radical and transformative. Contemplative practices include meditation, in all its various forms, but also encompass a wide range of other disciplines, to include mind-body practices, art, and reflection.

In many ways, however, this is not a new thing for me, since I have always felt a unique calling towards a lifestyle of silence, solitude, and simplicity.

But recently, I have become increasingly interested in pursuing deep and rigorous spiritual growth as a layperson. So, how can I live a radically spiritual life without becoming a monastic? Well, that is my project.....

Agi's Monastic Rules
I decided to begin by coming up with some practices to follow. I wanted to be as hard-core as possible, to really explore the possibilities. Not all of these practices are a part of my life just yet, but I am working towards them... Check them out HERE.

As I continue to explore these and other practices, I will share my journey. I welcome any comments, ideas, thoughts, and advice. :)

Jiva Offerings: March 2011

Each month, I donate all my proceeds from teaching to a different charity, and throughout the classes I'll be talking a bit about the good works that organization is doing. This month's charity is:

Women for Women International

Our Mission: Women for Women International provides women survivors of war, civil strife and other conflicts with the tools and resources to move from crisis and poverty to stability and self-sufficiency, thereby promoting viable civil societies. We're changing the world one woman at a time.

From Victim to Survivor... to Active Citizen

Our Theory of Change: Women for Women International believes that when women are well, sustain an income, are decision-makers, and have strong social networks and safety-nets, they are in a much stronger position to advocate for their rights. This philosophy and our commitment to local leadership builds change and capacity at the grassroots level.

Why Women for Women International?

Participation in our one-year program launches women on a journey from victim to survivor to active citizen. We identify services to support graduates of the program as they continue to strive for greater social, economic and political participation in their communities.

As each woman engages in a multi-phase process of recovery and rehabilitation, she opens a window of opportunity presented by the end of conflict to help improve the rights, freedoms and status of women in her country. As women who go through our program assume leadership positions in their villages, actively participate in the reconstruction of their communities, build civil society, start businesses, train other women and serve as role models, they become active citizens who can help to establish lasting peace and stability.

Jiva Offerings: February 2011

Each month, I donate all my proceeds from teaching to a different charity, and throughout the classes I'll be talking a bit about the good works that organization is doing. This month's charity is:

Friends of Ramana’s Garden, Inc.

Friends of Ramana’s Garden, Inc. is a nonprofit charity established in 2005 in the United States. It supports Ramana’s Garden India, a wonderful and loving children’s home and school near the renowned spiritual center of Rishikesh in northern India. Our mission as Friends is to support abandoned, destitute, and abused children who are given food, shelter, necessities, and education so they may thrive in a world that once seemed almost hopeless. One doesn’t have to be an “orphan” to come and live at Ramana’s Garden. One has to be at risk of, hunger, death, abuse, torture, or being sold into prostitution or child labor. Most of all, the children are given lots of love and nurturing in a welcoming and tolerant spiritual environment.

Ramana’s Garden India was founded by a dedicated and forceful American woman, Prabhavati Dwabha, 18 years ago as a result of her spiritual practice on the banks of the River Ganga. Prabhavati’s heart overflowed with compassion for the numerous homeless, destitute, and abused children she met there, and she decided to make those children her life’s work.

To learn more, watch this video that was shot onsite at Ramana’s Garden India, which includes an interview with Prabhavati. The story of Ramana’s Garden India and how these wonderful kids are creating joyous opportunities for themselves will truly open your heart and inspire you to realize your own greatness.

Jiva Offerings: January 2011

Starting in the new year, I will be transitioning from teaching my regular Sunday Jivamukti class, to teaching the Saturday class. As part of this change, I decided to super charge the Saturday classes by donating all my teaching proceeds to a charity. Each month will be dedicated to a different charity, and throughout the classes I'll be talking a bit about the good works that organization is doing.

This will accomplish a couple of things....Firstly, all the students coming to class will, by default, be donating towards that charity, so coming to class will be an act of generosity to oneself and to others! This is exactly in line with the Jivamukti ethos of serving all living beings - lokah samasta sukhino bhavantu.

Secondly, this will be a great way to learn about the important work being done by nonprofits and volunteer organizations worldwide. Perhaps this might even inspire some to look into certain causes and issues more deeply.

Thirdly, this gesture is my response to the inspiration I felt by Peter Singer's  The Life You Can Save. The book's message is that our current response to world poverty is not only insufficient but ethically indefensible. He argues that we need to change our views of what is involved in living an ethical life. To help us play our part in bringing about that change, we need to dedicate ourselves to personal philanthropy (figuring how much to give and how best to give it), local activism (spreading the word in your community), and political awareness (contacting your representatives to ensure that your nation’s foreign aid is really directed to the world’s poorest people). He writes:

For the first time in history, it is now within our reach to eradicate world poverty and the suffering it brings. Yet around the world, a billion people struggle to live each day on less than many of us pay for bottled water that we don't even need. And though the number of deaths attributable to poverty worldwide has fallen dramatically in the past half-century, nearly nine million children still die unnecessarily each year. The people of the developed world face a profound choice: If we are not to turn our backs on a fifth of the world’s population, we must become part of the solution.

So join me in becoming part of the solution in 2011!

*************** January's Charity *****************

Yoga Prison Project

The goal of the Prison Yoga Project is to expand the practice of Hatha Yoga and Mindfulness Meditation to prisons and rehabilitation facilities, and to provide training for Yoga instructors interested in teaching to at-risk populations in prisons, residential rehabilitation facilities, and community programs.

Their programs aim to help people shift unconscious behavioral patterns of reacting into conscious ways of responding by teaching individuals the skill of clearly witnessing their moment-to-moment experience. Learning this fundamental behavioral shift can make the difference between a person committing a crime or not.

Hundreds of prisoners, those serving life sentences as well as men who have been released from prison, have been introduced to the self-transformative benefits of yoga and meditation through the Prison Yoga Project's program at San Quentin.



DONATIONS:
Just $20 provides 4 yoga practice manuals for prisoners.

Celebrate and Elevate: New Year's Eve Event

-- SOLD OUT ---

Looking for an alternative to the average over-priced, hangover-inducing new year's party? Connect with the intention of new beginnings and community in this sacred and celebratory evening!

Celebrate and Elevate

New Year's Eve 2010

with Agatha Glowacki & Justin Blazejewski

Date: Fri 12/31/2010
Time: 9:00 PM - Midnight
Flow Yoga Center, Washington DC

Purify through a vigorous asana practice, release through deep yoga nidra, and reconnect with your spirit through sacred silence.

9-10:30pm - Special Jivamukti class with Agi Glowacki (open to all levels)
10:30-11:30pm - Yoga Nidra practice with Justin Blazejewski
11:30-midnight - Mauna (sacred silence), with traditional Puja ceremony and meditation
Midnight - Sparkling cider toast!

REGISTER HERE.

We are donating proceeds from this event to benefit the important work that Anahata Grace is doing in bring healing to our soldiers. Specifically the money will go towards the next "Troop Retreat" for veterans where, at no cost to the veterans, a team of trauma therapists spend 3 days helping them heal from the trauma experienced in war.

Everything is Amazing..........and nobody is happy!

The focus for Jivamukti yoga for December is on how everything in this world is sacred. I love this concept and am immediately reminded of a hilarious YouTube video that recently went viral.....you might have seen it. It is of when comedian Louis CK appeared on the Conan O’Brien show and talked about how “Everything’s Amazing, and Nobody’s Happy.”

Louis CK points out that we tend to take the miraculousness of our lives for granted and instead of appreciating it, we have resorted to complaining and always feeling displeased.  
Definitely watch it HERE.

"We live in an amazing, amazing world, and it's wasted on the crappiest generation of spoiled idiots that don't care!"

"You're sitting in a chair, IN THE SKY, and you're complaining that it won't RECLINE??"

Brilliant!

Just reaffirms to me that comedy is often the most accurate way to depict the rich absurdity of our reality.....

So, going back to the focus for Jivamukti, the basic idea is that if only we viewed our lives and situations with the correct perspective we would be much happier. Like see everything as actually being.........sacred.

Awakening Joy Course - November

The topic for this month is the Joy of Being. Up until now all the topics have been about doing—trying to cultivate specific wholesome states by performing specific actions, such as being generous, expressing gratitude, deepening our compassion or kindness, etc. When we switch to the mode of being, we stop all trying and let ourselves completely rest, simply receiving the moment. This being is available in any moment we remember to be present without any agenda or thoughts about past or future.

This state of being is not foreign to us. Neuroscience expert Rick Hanson has said that: “When you are not hungry or threatened or in pain, your brain’s natural state has these characteristics: It is conscious, calm, contented, caring, and creative.”

There are really three parts to this:

1. The Practice of Equanimity
In Buddhist teachings equanimity (upekkha) is one of four Divine Abodes. Equanimity is the balance of mind that allows things to be as they are. It has a quality of spaciousness and non-contention. In this spaciousness and balance we can rest in the simplicity of being.

There is a story about equanimity in the Zen tradition A fierce general was the scourge of the country, laying waste to everything in his path. When villagers heard he was coming they would flee in terror, which pleased him greatly. Coming to one village, everyone did the expected except for the wise, enlightened abbot of the monastery who stayed just where he was, calmly meditating. Upon hearing that someone was not afraid of him, the general furiously stormed the monastery brandishing his sword. As he approached the abbot he bellowed, “Don’t you know who I am? I’m someone who can run you through with this sword without batting an eye.” To which the abbot replied, “And I, sir, am someone who can be run through without batting an eye.” At that the general bowed and left.

2. Trust and Surrender
This kind of trust is not based on a belief that things will work out just the way we hope, but rather that our awareness will meet the moment when it comes.By learning to trust in the unfolding and in our ability to respond to it, we keep our minds from contracting and getting in the way. Then life becomes an adventure instead of something to fear.

3. The Real Breakthrough: Boredom
One obstacle to the peace of being that can be found in each moment is our inability to enjoy the absence of stimulation. My Tibetan teacher, Trungpa Rinpoche, reportedly once started a lecture with the enticing line, “Tonight I will talk about the real breakthrough in spiritual practice.” The huge crowd in the auditorium was abuzz with excitement, thinking that they would be the fortunate ones to receive the secret teachings. The master then proceeded to ramble on for the next two hours in a rather uninspired manner. As the crowd grew increasingly disappointed and restless, he suddenly stopped mid-sentence, leaned forward and whispered to us all, “The real breakthrough is boredom!” He then explained that as long as we are looking for the next experience to delight or entertain us, we miss the peace that is right under our noses, available right now.

“Happiness cannot be found through great effort and willpower, but is already here, in relaxation and letting go. Wanting to grasp the ungraspable, you exhaust yourself in vain. As soon as you relax this grasping, space is here—open, inviting, and comfortable.”