I hope you are all having a great Autumn. I can't believe Thanksgiving Day is just around the corner. We are going to explore strength during these last weeks of the year. Strength is something that we can't just say we have. It is experienced as we participated in our yoga practice. I think we can all agree that we are usually more aware of how much stronger we want to be. Even if this is the case we all experience some degree of strength. As we continue to regularly step into the fire of the practice, we start to develop more of the strength we want to experience. There is no way around it.

When I first started practicing the yoga poses I thought that there were more advanced teachings beyond the fundamental principles that I was taught. As I continued to practice I realized something that my teachers had been telling me all along. It does not matter how advance (read contorted lol) a pose is we always come back to the fundamental principles. If there is an advance teaching it would be to explore how the fundamental principles are applied and manifest in the  "advance" poses.

I hope you are all having a great Autumn. I have particularly been making the point to go for walks and be outside to enjoy the great weather we have been getting.

As I was preparing for the classes I will teach this week with the focus on the foundation of the yoga poses I came across a photograph of Mount Rainier. I used to live in Seattle and I was reminded of the  steadfast presence of  Mt Rainier which inspires both respect and awe in all who look upon it.

As I was reading one of my teacher's books called "The Yoga of Discipline". I was reminded of the three qualities that according to yoga philosophy form the basis for every thing in the universe. These qualities are called gunas which is Sanskrit for strand or fiber. There is sattva guna which is the qualities of lucidity and lightness. There is rajas guna which is the qualities of energy and passion. Finally, there is tamas  guna which is the qualities of darkness, heaviness, and inertia. Everything in the universe from the most solid to the most subtle contains a mixture of these three qualities.

In the tradition that I follow, Navaratri is the celebration of the female aspect of Consciousness, the Goddess, for nine consecutive nights. This celebration started on October 3rd and ends on the 12th. One of the aspects of the Goddess that is celebrated is Abundance which is represented by the Goddess Lakśmi. When It comes to Sanskrit names I always like to research their etymological meaning.

Today, Sunday, we are having the equinox. a day of equal daylight and night. It is place for balance. It is also the first day of Autumn so it is a very transitional time. We are still feeling a little of the summer and just starting to feel the autumn too. This is the time when nature starts to turn inward so to speak. Trees do this by shedding their leaves and in doing so they put up a very colorful show. It is always amazing to me how we go through the same seasons year after year but also every year the way the seasons manifest is different. There is a sense of sameness and newness at the same time.