Last week we started exploring the first of the nested layers of Self: Vastu. We defined this Sanskrit word as anything that is outside of ourselves, whether near or far. Part of the “stuff” around us is food, and Vastu as food has a great influence on us.

A few years ago I decided to face and digest a personality trait that I had avoided for decades. It was uncomfortable and scary to say the least, but I went ahead and did it. Over time I realized this issue had so many layers, which helped me understand why I had been avoiding it. It can be overwhelming and daunting to face things like this, but I had to start somewhere. So I took a first step, then another, and another. I am still walking. I do feel a deeper sense of accomplishment and self-awareness, even though the work continues.

I hope your summer is going well. I certainly have been enjoying it. My sister and I toured Brooklyn over the weekend. We started in downtown Williamsburg then we walked through Prospect Park and finally we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. It was a wonderful day. I have been to all this places before but walking through all these places with my sister created a new experience of them all.

I hope you are having a wonderful summer season. I have been walking the streets of New York City which is one my favorite things to do. I love this because it gives me an opportunity to enjoy and admire the city but also it gives me time to reflect and contemplate about myself and life. To know oneself is the highest goal one can have for a yoga practice. This is one of the things that drew me to start to practice yoga. I remember being in my early twenties and realized how little I knew about myself. Not only that but I did not know how to go about such an endeavor.

I can't believe it has been week over a month since my last email. Time does fly. It feels great to be writing these emails again though. 

I decided to investigate this theme of balance lately since it has been a challenge to experience it more often in the last few months. I discovered that it is a very rich and nuanced topic in yoga philosophy. In Sanskrit, Santulana is the act or state of balancing. As an act, Santulana requieres action to experience it but in our daily lives who has time for that, right? 

In the non-dualistic Tantra Philosophy, it is said that there are two aspects to the power of knowledge. These are Jñāna which refers to the knowing of theoretical knowledge and vijñāna which is the actual experience of that theoretical knowledge. To truly imbibe full knowledge of anything these two aspects must be acknowledged and experienced.

The highest Truth in this philosophy is that:

"There is only one Consciousness"