My Vipassana Meditation - 10 Days in Stillness by Anthony Reed

Recently I stepped away from a 15-year career in the corporate matrix in order to teach more yoga, create more space and hold more grace for deeper exploration of Self.

The first stop on this journey was immersion into a 10-day meditation course at the Northern California Vipassana Center, Dhamma Manda. 

Prior to this course, over the last decade I have read many Eastern and Western philosophical texts, countless 'self-help' books and scrolled through thousands of one-line Instagram-able dharmas. But these 10-days of deep meditation took me far beyond intellectual and emotional theory and into the realm of an experiential understanding for what it means to truly bring my mind into presence through the body.

The Vipassana meditation technique was taught by Gautama Buddha…The Enlightened One, and the tradition has been passed down through a lineage of teachers for thousands of years. This particular course I attended was developed by S.N. Goenka in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin and is moderated by certified assistant teachers. There are over 160 of these centers all over the world. 

Essentially, the practice guides one beyond just the intellectual understanding of impermanence. By steadying the mind to a highly aware state of equanimous observation, we are able to tap into the most subtle sensations of the body and understand the 'Law of Nature' as anicca (change) at an experiential level. 

In other words, Vipassana meditation calms the mind and teaches us to simply observe everything AS IT IS so we can stop reacting out of old toxic patterns of craving and aversion.

Foundational to the course (and ultimately practice in its purest form) is in following a code of discipline which includes noble silence, no phones, no books, and adherence to a set of precepts - no killing, no stealing, no sexual activity, no lies, no intoxicants. This practice of moral conduct is called sīla, which helps to develop samādhi - concentration of the mind, which enables paññā - the wisdom of insight. Students wake up at 4am and sit in mediation for about 11 hours each day.

It was fascinating to witness my thoughts and emotions fluctuate throughout each of the 10 days. Normally these swings get covered up or off-loaded through outlets like conversation, digital distractions, or various other intoxicants. Having to just sit with all my own stuff, become an observer of my mind and watch all these cravings for creature comforts rise and fall was liberating in a whole new way.

Going into the course I tried not to hold any expectations, but I did anticipate being 'hangry' a lot since the only two proper meals were at 6:30am and 11am each day. I was surprised to find that hunger was not much of an issue, and I actually found that my body did quite well with this eating schedule. I've even started to make some adjustments to my daily eating habits since the course.

Physically, the most challenging part of the course was the strain that 11 hours of seated mediation places onto the body. Luckily, I brought a foam roller and hook massager, but I underestimated how sore my body would get especially in those first 3-4 days. And I felt so grateful for my asana practice! Just 15-30 minutes in my room each day was a total game changer. After all, the original purpose of asana practice was effectively to prepare the body for meditation!

To whatever extent it is appropriate for me to 'recommend' a Vipassana course to someone, for those considering a course I would encourage you to answer the call. Since attending Dhamma Manda I have found myself to be more accepting to change and less reactionary; I have been able to feel more present in my body; and my mediation practice has become much more consistent and structured.

Paradox is…that by EMPTYING out all the stuff, I am starting to feel the FULLNESS of my being.

Sustainable Weight Loss Through Yoga by Kaushik Dash

My journey into yoga is really the birth of the person I am today, before this practice I had no other direction, purpose, or form of joy that wasn’t destructive.

I was extremely overweight. At my heaviest, I was past 400 pounds; but the weight was just a physical manifestation of what was going on in my brain: stuck energy everywhere and zero body awareness. I was severely unhappy and saw no reason to keep existing. Something had to change.

Eventually, I started getting heart complications: arrhythmias; I would wake up in a sweat in the middle of the night, for no reason. Eventually, my heart rate will spike to upwards of 180 bpm. I knew in that moment… I did not want to die. I had a lot of work ahead.

First. I decided to fix my relationship with food. I started incorporating a healthy diet into my daily routine. I started to exercise daily and make myself a priority.

Fast forward to a few years later, 2018 to be specific. I was somewhere around 300 lbs, a lot of progress but a lot of work was still needed. The more I did; the more I found what I needed to work on. 

 I discovered that exercise and movement were joyful. One day, I was walking around at a street festival, and I happened upon a booth for a yoga studio. They gave me a free class card.  I tossed it in my wallet and forgot about it. A few weeks later, happened to be cleaning out my wallet, and found the free class card.

I decided that was the day.  I called the studio and booked a 90 min hot yoga class. I struggled the whole time… but the teacher was so nice, inviting, and helpful. Something clicked.  I loved everything about the class: the heat, the postures, the intensity, the body awareness. All I had wanted was to lose some weight, but instead I came into a state of awareness:  I needed to change everything about my life.

 I signed up for the first month, eventually working at the studio in return for free classes and community. I kept my ears open, listening to everyone, learning from the ground up, outside and inside classrooms, I immersed myself in the practice.

I loved the freedom in my body, mind and heart. I let go of toxic relationships and friendships. I shed weight and became stronger. I started to take classes everywhere I could. Eventually I found myself in Hayward at a studio called Hot Box Yoga. I loved the community of teachers & students. I signed up for YTT : 200 Hrs and began the deep dive from student to teacher, things were looking up. I graduated 3/1/20; just days before the shutdown.

I was so hyped to teach!  I wanted nothing more than to guide a room full of people, with a hot playlist and give others the same joy and freedom that I found on my mat. But, much to my dismay, we lost each other. Hot Box Yoga eventually had to shut down, and I lost my community… never having gotten to hold them or even to say goodbye.

This was a dark time, for humanity collectively, but I had this gift and the desire to share. I decided to post a schedule on my Insta story and offer online classes. Eventually I started doing online and outdoor classes. Teaching without props and without walls tested me to create containers whilst in the open air: a skill that is useful even today, for my outdoor classes.

This was also the time a lot of yoga teachers felt called to shelter and to go inwards, but I felt like I had been in training for just this moment, I took every opportunity to teach: online, outdoors in the cold, outdoors in the heat, it  didn’t matter.

More than ever before, it felt like people needed yoga, and I needed practice. It  felt like a perfect exchange, but I hadn’t found a community yet like the one at Hot Box.

That is, until I found myself at Left Coast.

I’m new here, but it feels familiar. 

I still love teaching my students, who teach me while I guide them. 

I leave you with a prayer by Yaslin Bey (Mos Def) 

They - the one who has created the all

You know us better than we know ourselves 

And we know ourselves better than others know or pretend to know us 

So, pardon us for our shortcomings; known or unknown

Make us better than what they say and do not make us responsible for whatever they say 

Amen, amen, amen  

Kaushik Dash

How Yoga Helped Me Conquer Asthma by Rachel Rajput

When I was a kid I had asthma. The doctor claimed my triggers for wheezing were cats, dust and cigarette smoke, and in the 80s it seemed like those things were always around.

I remember being in PE class and not being able to breathe when we were running. I was told that I should sit down and rest while all the other kids would run and play.

I didn’t have an extreme case of asthma, but l felt excluded.

I remember the fear that I would have an asthma attack... and the feeling that I couldn't get enough breath in. The sound and feel of wheezing. Breathing through my mouth.

Fast forward to today. I stopped carrying a rescue inhaler years ago.

I still have a moderate cat allergy, but the others are gone.

I attribute the practice of yoga to expanding my lung capacity.

For many years, as an asthmatic, I was told to slow down and breathe deeply, but I was never able to. In addition to the physical response my body was having, I would go into a sympathetic nervous system state of panic and could not get any air in. The only breath I could get in was shallow, in the top of my chest. Panting.

I’ve been practicing yoga now for around 20 years, diverse types and styles. When I started practicing heated power yoga a few times a week, around 2004, was when I noticed a major difference in my lung capacity.

I stopped worrying that I forgot to put my inhaler in my purse... because it was less and less often that I needed it. I could ride my bike longer without getting winded. I even stopped having to take a pre-exercise puff on the inhaler.

I’m not sure exactly when I stopped using my inhaler, but the more yoga I did, the less I used it.

I share this story because so many of us have a "thing" that we think is weird, scary, or shameful. My 'thing" was being the kid who wheezed.

Yoga taught me to breathe deeply.

Has it taught you something too?