:: March/April 2006 Volume 5/Number 2

3 Teachers talk about Buddhism and Yoga and how these practices intersect in their teaching today.

Cyndi Lee

“I was a modern dancer in the East Village for many years and through the downtown performance scene I met a lot of other artists and performers.  In particular, Philip Glass was a good friend of mine. Phil is a super generous, loving and fun person and I was inspired by his kindness and thought, “I'll have what he's having!”  He introduced me to his Buddhist teacher, Gehlek Rimpoche, who has been my root guru since about 1990.

My teacher emphasizes both mindfulness practice and contemplative practice.  Contemplative practice helps us appreciate our precious human birth. Mindfulness practice helps us become aware of our mind habits and creates an understanding of the insubstantiality of thoughts.  These practices merge beautifully with asana practice since so much of our identity, our ego, confusion and grasping is tied up in our physicality.  Asana practice is an effective activity for processing what is stored or stuck in our cells and if we can add in awareness, clarity and compassion we have skillful means for working with our own body and mind.”

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“Buddhism and Yoga are my life. All the dharma teachings that I've received, the studies and practices that I am involved with -- these are all the guidelines for how I try my best to live.  Buddhist philosophy guides how I try to interact in every situation. 

I consider teaching yoga a Boddhisattva practice.  I feel that there is no reason to be a yoga teacher except to be helpful and there is no reason to have a yoga studio except to offer a beneficial situation.   When I asked my guru what advice he had for me and OM yoga studio, he said "Always check your motivation."  So that makes life simple.  “

I approach teaching yoga as an active practice of compassion.  This builds on the notion of ahimsa, which is active in so far as it includes a sense of renunciation -- "don't harm" -- but is basically a non-doing commitment.  From this beautiful yet inert seed we can grow the flower of actively being helpful and that's what I mean by a Boddhisattva practice.”

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“When I recommend a Buddhist practice to my asana students, it is that they start with mindfulness meditation practice called shamatha (Sanskrit) or sine (Tibetan), which translates as calm abiding.  This is a good practice for getting to know yourself, your own mind habits, cultivating gentleness and precision.  The fruits of this practice are said to be increased strength, stability and clarity of mind.  From this ground one can move on to maitri or loving-kindness practices; but it is good to develop what's called a "flat bottom" first.  A flat bottom might be similar to what Patanjali talks about in the Yoga Sutra when he says the asanas should be practiced with steadiness and ease - in other words, the ability to stay grounded, open and flexible through whatever comes our way. 

The cool thing about shamatha is that with a light touch it can be naturally integrated in to asana practice.   Formal sitting meditation is essential but from there you can incorporate a sense of mindfulness, of letting go, of staying present, of recognizing one's habits right inside our asana practice.

The practice of shamatha is also what enables a yoga teacher to be spontaneous within the classroom situation because it creates awareness of one's own habits as well as opens you up to what's going on right now.  When you add a dose of Mahayana (heart centered practices such as maitri and tonglen) practice to that mix, you start to be able to see what's going on and make positive choices about how to work with situations as they arise.  These are great tools for teaching yoga.”

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“When we contemplate our precious human birth, our great good fortune in even meeting the Buddhadharma or the precious teachings of yoga in our lifetime, and the fact that death is inevitable and comes without warning, it can definitely shift our relationship to our yoga practice in a way that is filled with curiosity, gratitude, spaciousness and a powerful sense of immediacy.

I strongly recommend that people interested in Buddhist practice find a good, qualified teacher, and if he/she is willing to take you on, then commit to them. We are so lucky in the West because there are many great lamas here now.  Learning from books is a good start but then you need to have personal guidance to benefit from these practices.”

 

 

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