DEDICATION

Reading from Tuesday, October 22, 2013 yoga class

From the book "Yoga as Medicine" by Dr. Timothy McCall

"Tapas is the Sanskrit word for heat and shares a root with the English word taper, a type of candle.  To the ancient yogis, the human body without yoga is like an unbaked clay pot, and regular yoga practice is the kiln that gives the body the strength and resilience to withstand the wear and tear itis subjected to.  The key, Patanjali said, is regularity of practice.  Tapas, the fire, or dedication that fuels practice, is what keeps you going even if you don't always feel like it."

AND

"Well-known in the yoga world are the students who come to yoga because of a health concern, take on the practice, get better, decide it's okay to stop practicing, and then have a relapse of symptoms.  When patients ask Dr. Karandikar, who runs a huge yoga therapy center in Pune, how long they need to keep up their yoga practice, he responds with a question of his own: "How long do you need to keep brushing your teeth?"  To avoid losing what you've gained, whenever possible, continue your yoga no matter how bad or how good you are feeling."

A couple of quotes I ran across this week:

The man who views the world at fifty the same as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.
                                                                                                               Muhammad Ali

You are the sky.  Everything else--it's just the weather.  
                                                        Pema Chodren