"The stillness, the stillpoint, is the one true place from which real change can be delivered throughout the mechanism." Swami Chetanananda
Volume 16.0
April -- 2016
From the Cushion
Swami Chetanananda
Dr. Becker, The Still Point, and
Total Well Being
I've been very lucky to meet some amazing people in very unusual places. In 1973, I was in Dallas where I met Rollin Becker. Dr. Becker who grew up in Missouri, lived in Michigan and then had moved to Texas. He had no idea at all about yoga or meditation, and I doubt he had ever even heard of it before I met him.
His father, Arthur Becker, was the first president of the first osteopathic college in the United States, and a long time student of Andrew Taylor Still, who founded osteopathy and chiropractics. Dr. Becker and his brother trained as osteopaths with their father from the time they were very young.
When Dr. Becker was in his early thirties, he met another osteopath named William Garner Sutherland, who was hard at work trying to complete the understanding of an area that Still had not fully flushed out in his life, and that was the cranial-sacral mechanism. [read more]
Practice & Inspiration
Sadhvi Parananda
We are Light and Sound
Did you know that when a baby is born its body is 78% water? It is seventy-eight percent water! By time we are adults our bodies are 60% water. That certainly goes against thinking of our bodies as solid. Figure in the amount of gas that is present, some people having more than others, and we begin to realize that maybe we misunderstand our true nature.
Einstein has a wonderful quote:
"Concerning matter, we have been all wrong. What we have called matter is really energy, whose vibration has been lowered as to be perceptible to the senses. There is no matter. There is only light and sound."
We are light and sound. How wonderful. Let's think about that the next time we introduce ourselves. So often we present ourselves in the light of who we know, what we do or where we came from. [read more]
In the broadest sense, the answer is, "Absolutely!" In a narrower and more accurate sense, the answer is "Yoga supports healing in a way that is unique to its method."
The fundamental truth about healing, well understood in all medical practices, whether mainstream or alternative, is that doctors are trained facilitators of that which actually does the healing. That "something" has power and capacity beyond what can be described in scientific or even human terms
[read more]
April is National Poetry Month, which inspired me to write an article about poetry as a means of worship. That's potentially a huge topic, so I'm limiting the coverage to a short discussion of some of the works from India available in English translation that might be of interest to students at The Movement Center. I owe many thanks to Professor Alexis Sanderson, who shared both his insights and resources with me.
In 1983 Swami Chetanananda wrote a touching tribute to our practice. This book, a book of poems, captured the pulse of our lineage in simple yet profound ways. Timeless would be the word that describes these teachings because even today, 33 years later, you may hear Swamiji offering the same guidance. Even more astounding, they could just as well be quotes by the gurus of our lineage.
What follows is a few of these precious offerings. [read more]
