Costa Rica: Home for the Next 3 Months

Hi friends. Many of you know that I have been intending to go to India to continue my yoga studies and take some well deserved rest. The fates, however, had something else in mind when last Thursday I received word from a friend and colleague about an opportunity to spend the spring working on a project in Costa Rica; the very same project that I worked on in February earlier this year. While this is an exceedingly last minute change of plans (that even required the cancelation of my ticket to India), I believe this decision will lead to balance. Had things unfolded as originally planned, I would be boarding a plane today for India. The entire architecture of the spring changed in a blink. A breath. Change can come that fast.  

After so much running around in the last 4 years of my life, taking this three months to learn, hike, practice, mist net birds and bats, and to be still in the beauty of nature will be a medicinal downshift. The research I am supporting is subsumed under Stanford's "countryside biogeography" project, which endeavors to understand the dynamics of human land-use patterns on bird and bat communities, and to quantify the ecosystem services provided by forested areas in the Las Cruces area of Costa Rica. 

I am thrilled to be a part of this project, and equally excited for the opportunity to spend my time with really great people and to practice my Spanish in one of the most bird rich, beautiful landscapes in the world. Here is a link to some of the results that have emerged from this project. 

Lastly, I am cognizant of the fact that Yoga does not need the boundaries of a yoga mat in order to be practiced, and in fact the practice is truly tested when we bring what we learn on the mat out into the world--when the mandala of the sacred space is destroyed to reveal that its true nature is the nature of everything. The practice will always continue and I commit to being aware of the continuous unfolding of the opposites, of prana and apana, in the radiant dynamism of the natural world for the benefit of all beings. 

Wisdom vs. Knowledge: a Proposal

Knowing something does not give you power over it, nor does it make you somehow more in control of the situation. Can you allow your knowledge of the said thing to provide you with insight into the fabric that weaves together the subject and the object? Can you allow your knowledge to actually make you more tangibly aware of your own vulnerability? To co-opt facts for the ego's benefit will only add strength to the fires of samsara.

Yogi and European Mysticism

            

More Dew

Morning Textures and Condensation.

Nature taking it back.

Ciudad vieja, en Panama

Misty Morning Raven

An old raven speaking the wisdom in the guttural way that they do. Location: Berkeley Hills

Hindi and the Harmonium

La Hoja de Palma

Strelitzia reginae

                  

Will work for the elation of others...

YOGA PRIVATES

Do you feel like your practice has plateaued, and are you looking to advance? Are you lost in your yoga classes and looking for clarity? Do you have nagging aches and pains from your practice that you just can't move on from? Do you want to know how to develop a sustainable home practice and have the support to make it happen?

Are you seeking a mentor to support you in your journey towards manifesting your teaching capabilities?

I am now available for for both periodic and ongoing private yoga instruction and yogic mentoring. Let's take it higher together!

Location: SF Bay Club or your personal practice space.
Length: 1 or 1.5 hours.
To reserve a session call 415-612-0190, or email matthew.champoux@gmail.com

~Headstand~

Radiant Morning

Flowers, Water, Tree.

Home Tree

-BE THE TREE-

The Architecture of the Universe and Avatar

The Heart is considered to be the architecture of the universe; the great weaving that binds all of creation (and anything seemingly empty of the qualities associated with creation) together. The Heart is furthermore, and rather obviously, found at the core of all beings, and at this Great Center(according to the tenets of Advaita Vedanta) we find the seat of the Atman, or our true self--it is a commonality that binds us to each other. This is the principle highlighted in the brilliant film, Avatar, which I hope that everybody sees at least once. This film crystallizes very brilliantly the true nature (and value) of the world that we live in with its emphases on the Great Goddess Eywa and the intimacy of connection felt by the Na'vi to their home, to each other, and nature. Through realization of the True Self we pierce the knot of ignorance that keeps us from the heart splitting the reality and beauty of the universe. We realize that we are Brahman , or the totality of the universe. Our ignorance, avidya or lack of knowledge, is due to the fact that our conditioned mind extrapolates ourselves to be essentially separate from things and things from us). Through awaking to the nature of Atman we liberate the subtle energy of the body which flows naturally, like water down a deep and rocky gorge, into the honeyed center of all things and through diving into the great ocean of the Heart with a one-pointed focus, the apparent "thingness" that we ascribe to the processes of continuum around us (and which are us!) breaks down to reveal the dependent arising of all phenomenon. Through the disintegration of the rigidity that binds our mind to subjects as if they were perminant and essential we come to view the vastness of creation like a beautiful weaving, a tantra, of gossamer brilliance that is empty, luminous, dreamlike, and the very fabric to enlightenment. We are connected and always participating in this flow that binds. Every moment we are connected the heartbeats of all beings; even to the hummingbird sipping nectar from a shimmering red flower that rejoices as it spills its heart out into the world high above the buzzing, heavy aliveness of the rainforest. We are One. This is the lesson of the great wisdom traditions of the world and what will give the film Avatar its lasting value.