PROJECT HEAL - Gyalten Samten, formerly a Bollywood actress, now a Tibetan Buddhist nun, offers insights on impermanence: the Buddhist concept that nothing lasts forever. When she speaks, she concocts recipes for maintaining lasting happiness, by sharing the practical tools of meditation to help purify the mind. She speaks with an eloquence an grace that can only emanate from the [...]
“I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death.” – Robert Fulghum
What do you believe, and why do you believe it? For centuries, belief [...]
Project HEAL: Master Reiki Healer and Yogi, Baba Jay talks about yoga as the universal divine blueprint towards enlightenment regardless of one's religious beliefs. He also demystifies the use of Hindu deities in yoga and meditation. Baba Jay speaks kernels of truth and is a must listen for seekers who are earnestly engaged in integrating spirituality to their hectic modern [...]
Master Reiki Healer and Yogi, Baba Jay talks about Reiki and eastern energy healing traditions. Baba Jay speaks in a down to earth and accessible way for people of all walks of life to understand the importance of being mindful to our inner workings and to that which we do not externally see.
Learn more about Project HEAL: www.anyamission.com
Filmed, Interviewed and [...]
Having recently flown across the entire country, I can attest that flying in an airplane is a multi-dimensional experience. On the macro level, the airplane is dwelling in this in-between space between earth and sky, above the clouds and below the stars, initiating awe and some bit of terror. On the micro level, you are stuck in a tiny seat [...]
Yogi and Master Reiki Healer, Baba Jay talks about devotion, right action and man’s duty to embrace their compassionate nature from Rishikesh, India in our first Project HEAL video!
What do you think about Baba Jay's words of wisdom? Comment below and share your thoughts!
Learn more about Project HEAL: www.anyamission.com
Filmed, Interviewed and Edited by Johnson Anand Saurabh Chong
Summer means baseball. And baseball means sitting in front of my computer almost every night live-streaming Indians games (go Tribe!), biting my nails, and screaming at the screen. But this season, a strange phenomenon happened…
If you have ever taken class at Studio Anya, you’ve probably heard phrases such as ‘enliven the hands’, ‘ground the feet’, ‘organize the shoulders’, or ‘soften [...]
Constant change – the phrase is essentially a paradox. If something is constant, it’s unchanging, unwavering, stable. If something is changing, it’s moving, evolving, transforming. The two words are opposites, and yet placed side by side they somehow mean the greatest joke in life. Nothing is ever, in fact or theory, constant. [...]
In March of 2013, Project AUM began a 6-week collaborative project to create what ultimately became the first of many contemporary dance works based on Curriculum AUM. While we await the release of video from The Moving Beauty Series (where the work premiered back in April), I'd like to introduce you to some key Project AUM players. Some are [...]
Over the past 4 years, I have been inspired greatly by Curriculum AUM. As an artist working in the medium of Dance, I've explored creating work based on the Curriculum, creating short works performed at festivals and events held at Studio Anya. This process spawned Project AUM - a platform for Artists to create based on the inspiration they receive [...]
"It is through being Wounded that power grows and can, in the end, become tremendous.” -Friedrich Nietzsch
The Wounded is the main character in Faculty 3 and represents our vulnerabilities. History alone reveals unspeakable acts of cruelty to remind us of humanity’s frailty while some would even say we are injured as soon as we exit the womb. Regardless of source, however - whether [...]
There is a clear through-line across time and culture regarding the pursuit of happiness - only there is not always a clear understanding of what happiness means. Is it peace? Prosperity? Love? Some separate state that puts you above the need for those things? We know we are pursuing something important, something that will solve the riddle to our lives, but [...]
I laid still, in child's pose, after 60 minutes of movement...and still there was that echo, a witness to all that I had done. I felt like I was on a boat--moving softly, gently, rhythmically. Where am I? Can I resurface to life and face a break-up, a hurricane, a snow storm, and even more?
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In pilates, as in life, if something seems easy, then chances are that I am doing it wrong. When I first started taking classes I smugly thought gosh, I'm pretty good at this, I must be really strong and naturally gifted. But it turns out that I just wasn't doing it right.
As classes have progressed we have focused on various [...]
Years ago, in an improv acting class, two participants had taken the stage. They started with a page from a Streetcar Named Desire and then let it flow from there. They were so in the moment that they swept up the rest of us. For several minutes they created a world that felt entirely real. Suddenly one of the participants broke. Looking totally exasperated, she said she couldn't do it anymore. The rest of us snapped out of the scene like cold water had wrenched us from a trance.
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I was fading out on the train. The rocking felt boat-like. I drifted into to studio early and tried out the magical foot machine that I had heard praised. In particular, it squeezes the feet and calves with surprising pressure. It is delicious, indulgent, a little naughty even.
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That thing I said last week about the work out not feeling like a working - that was bullsh*t. This week it was on. There was the standard, somewhat embarrassing trembling, but there was full on burn, internal cursing and mental gymnastics, i.e., The Buddha says, "there's nothing inherently good or bad about this situation, it just is". That thought process is good for another couple seconds worth of endurance.
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"Back in the day" I had a physical job. I hung from ropes in highly uncomfortable positions doing some pretty dangerous stuff. Often, every muscle clenched - from brow to sphincter. 65 feet up a tree with a chainsaw running, body twisted and getting ready to unleash big, dynamic forces, it was hard to be mindful.
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Three of the four elevators in my building are out of service and it is an eternity before the fourth arrives. I am pacing and mumbling and I have pressed the call button with increasing force maybe twelve times. Finally the doors open only to stop at every floor between mine and the lobby while the elevator becomes so packed that I can scarcely breathe let alone move. [...]
The hip bone’s connected to the thigh bone….or is it?
Prior to a recent session with Johnson, I found myself feeling some more than usual aches and pains in my lower back and my right knee. But despite the pain, I continued my usual workout routine including a morning run with hubby along the west side, which was clearly exacerbating the problem.
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