March 2007

 

 

 

 

Y: At age 24 you entered the Self-Realization Fellowship monastic order in California. Why? (What has lead you towards this step?) T: The very short version is: My earliest memories as a child were centered around great love for my parents. Shortly after that came a great love for sports, God and girls. By 18 I knew I didn't want to live the lifestyle of my parents and so was very eager to go off to college. By the second year of college (I was 19) I discovered that the girl who I thought was "the one" and whom I was very much in love with, broke my heart for another guy. I never wanted to feel the pain of a broken heart ever again. That left me with sports and God. I knew right then that only God could mend my heart, not sports. During this time I found the Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda and have not missed a day of meditation since. That was in 1970.
My dedication to the yoga path led me to applying to be a monk in 1973. I was accepted a year and a half later after spending those 18 months cooking for the monks as a resident lay disciple. The reason I went in and the reason I am more motivated than ever today is for the TOTAL divine experience of God's love!

Y:You have been a monk at this monastery for 25 years, can you describe us what your life was like? T: Life was extremely focused on service and meditation. The usual day began with a gong at 5:30am for private meditation. Group meditation was at 7am. Breakfast at 8am. Work from 8:30-noon. Meditation from noon to 12:30pm. Then lunch and back to work at 1:30. Work ended at 4:30. We had 60 minutes for recreation then group meditation at 6pm till 7pm. Light dinner followed. Then back to work or private meditation and study. On an average we meditated between 4 to 6 hrs a day. The ashram was also like a fish bowl. I lived with 90 other monks in very small living arrangements. You almost couldn't sneeze without everyone knowing about it. We came from all over the world. We were virtually rubbing shoulders with each other day after day for many years. You learned to get along with everyone because if you had sharp edges to your personality, the constant rubbing of the daily life and interaction would eventually smooth out even your roughest edges. In a nutshell, life in the ashram pointed in one direction and one direction only: toward complete surrender and dedication of one's life to God.

Y:The yoga you teach seems to be a mix of different styles/influences of raja yoga, hatha yoga, kundalini yoga and yoga flow I think to have recognized.Could you describe us what you offer during your yoga class. There seems to be a message on both spiritual and material (the body) level? T: My first priority in every yoga class is to offer the highest consciousness and vibration that I am able to be in tune with. After 18 years of public lecturing on the Science of Raja Yoga while as a monk (and now every day in my yoga classes, although I do not like the word "lecture", a better word is "inspiration"), I feel closest to God when I open my heart and let Her speak through my voice. So in some ways, these classes are "Spirit" led. The flow is never the same. We tune in with the yogi's attending and want only the highest holistic experience for them as souls temporarily housed in physical bodies. The styles, the breathing, and the poses in each class all flow from one supreme purpose: awareness of Source -- physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. You could say I like to start at the very top (the highest consciousness) and at the very bottom ( the focus of grounding in the body through extreme mindfulness on breath and basic alignments in the poses) all at the same time throughout the entire class.

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THE SOUL OF HATHA YOGA
By Reverend Tom Kelly

Hatha yoga prepares our physical vehicles for spiritual growth; disciplines the body to promote spiritual peace; and produces good health. Since hatha yoga is a metaphysical practice that takes the form of physical exercises, it is necessary to concentrate the mind on the activity in order to reap the fullest benefit. It is not just the flexing of muscles, but the inner power of concentration to awaken and redirect the life force, which gives the body strength.

The yogi’s hatha yoga mat is the battlefield where one regularly and passionately fights the battle between the lower and higher natures. The Sufi mystic Rumi explains:

“A man was breaking up the soil, when another man came by, ‘Why are you ruining this land?’ ‘Don’t be a fool! Nothing can grow until the ground is turned over and crumbled. There can be no roses and no orchard without first this that looks devastating. You must lance an ulcer to heal it. You must tear down parts of an old building to restore it, and so it is with a sensual life that has no spirit in it. To change, a person must face the dragon of his appetites with another dragon, the life-energy of the soul.”

The yogi’s hatha yoga mat is also a magic carpet in which the consciousness can disassociate from all physical, mental and emotional limitations and be transported into the realm of light and love. How can something like this be possible when doing such a physical practice? Iyengar once said that the high point from our last practice should be the starting point for our next practice. We must bring everything we are to the yoga mat—mindfulness, worries and fears, dedication, positive feeling, negative feelings, spiritual desire or even a “dry as toast” consciousness. Hatha yoga is a chance to process life, to burn up toxins, negativity, karma and to set the course of our hearts and minds in the right direction--Godward.

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