Ayurvedic Workshop with Arun Deva
This weekend I took several workshops about Ayurveda with Arun Deva at Black Dog. Unfortunately I missed yesterday's two sessions because I went to the Del Mar racetrack, to see Zenyatta with my brother and his girlfriend.
What a race! Zenyatta won, though she started, like she always does, dead last! But she built speed and in a rousing finish won her 18th race in a row! Amazing!
And today I did go to Arun's two last sessions.
Arun is the teacher whom I'll be traveling to India with next month. He is an Ayurvedic doctor, and I have had the privilege of knowing him for almost 8 years. He is incredibly thoughtful, devoted to the teachings of yoga and to his teachers, and so sweet. He was incredibly generous with his time and in the last workshop today, even took the time to read all of our pulses and tell us our doshas.
Here are some highlights from my notes this weekend:
*"When Awareness becomes aware of itself, then it divides into the observer and the observed."
*Purusha is that which dwells within everything but it cannot be found.
*Prakriti literally means "first action." It's the active principle. It is out of the interaction of these two that the Universe arises.
*And the energy between Purusha and Prakriti is Kriya (action).
*These energies give rise to our Individual Consciousness.
*Our nature is to know ourselves. So we create ourselves. We give ourselves an identity.
*Ayurveda follows Samkhya Philosophy.
*Ayurveda takes Samkhya into a healing modality. It sees how there are 5 elements (the Mahabhutas) and they are all active in us!
*Energy is primarily vibrational. So this vibration permeates the Universe.
*Without the ability to see duality, you can never understand oneness.
*The word "dosha" has many meanings, including: dark, heavy, faulty, blemish, blame, that which can go out of order. Or "that which is responsible." Therefore you should take responsibility for your dosha.
*Vata= Space and Air
Pitta= Fire and Water
Kapha: Water and Earth
*The G.I. tract is where all the doshas live.
*We should all have the ability to heal ourselves..
*Like increases like. The application of similarity is always the cause of increase.
*You can never change your dosha but you can imbalance it.
*The seasons have doshas. The different ages have doshas.
*The key to healing is Awareness.
My mind is swimming with so much information. I cannot wait to go to India, and partake in Arun's Ayurvedic retreat, right in Kerala. We will be eating for our doshas, getting treatments and learning about this ancient healing science. Then after the retreat is over, we will be traveling with Arun -still in the South- and going to Krishnamacharya's mandir, Sri Aurobindo's house and Ramana Maharshi's temple. Quite a yogic trip indeed! What a blessing. More on that later...
And now from the sublime to the mundane.
I just finished watching the show which has become my obsession: True Blood.
I literally stopped watching every other TV show and now I only live for True Blood. I cannot stop watching, reading, talking about it. Have gone down the rabbit hole and I cannot come back. What a joy to be so obsessed with something that brings me such pleasure but still does not ruin my life. Damn you Bill Compton- you're no good for Sookie! Team Eric, all the way.
Off to read blogs about True Blood's latest episode.
Then re-read Chapter 3 of The Splendor of Recognition, so that I can go to sleep with inspirational thoughts.
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