I live in the sweet spot of the universe: Carlsbad, California. It is a most amazing place. Almost every day, I wake before the earliest of birds and meditate along with my three-year-old, seven-pound companion – Peaches the Morkie terrier. She loves it when we meditate that early and sometimes I think she may just fall back to sleep – a verified sign of a meditation.
After we meditate, I drive two miles to the beach just as the sun is peaking up and we walk on the sand for about an hour. Sometimes, if the water is warm enough, I’ll plunge into the cool Pacific Ocean for a bit and lower my Pitta to start the day. Peaches is more Vata in the morning so it rarely is balancing for her to swim in water that cold. But when she does, after our romp at the shore, we head home where I will steam broccoli, carrots, rice, and chicken breast with a drizzle of olive oil. It’s her favorite breakfast. I prefer watermelon or coconut juice, and don’t otherwise feed my agni until around ten.
An ocean mist known as the marine layer fills the morning air until about ten, and then the sun bursts through the clouds and fills the sky with a robin’s egg blue until sunset. We breathe ocean prana all day long and bathe in the sun’s warmth. And when the sun sets so magnificently over the blue horizon, the stars dance in the blackness of the night sky.
The sweet spot has amazingly powerful healing energy and most of the people I interact with all day have meditation and yoga practices. We teach and live the gifts of conscious communication and dine on sattvic foods most the time. We also have our moments; we grieve losses; we leap into the future and ask “what if?”; we are oblivious to someone in need and we perform random acts of kindness; we move in and out of balance as life races in around and through us; we fall in love and divorce from loved ones; we are diagnosed with diseases and are given clean bills of health; our physical bodies break down and thrive; we let rewarding moments slip by without celebrating . . . and sometimes we celebrate too much; we are selfless and get defensive; we jump up to help and we withdraw when we don’t feel needed; we say things we wish we hadn’t and don’t say things we should have. And sometimes we simply channel the universe.
Every day we learn something new about ourselves and we grow. Being a practitioner and a teacher of yoga, or meditation, or Ayurveda, or Vedanta doesn’t make us stop being human . . . it doesn’t peel away our anna mayakosha or eliminate our subtle realm. But since most of the time our inner and outer dialogues are the same, we walk authentically with these teachings rippling through us, moving us ever closer to a life of deeper fulfillment. We can more easily move back into balance because we can feel when we’re out of it.
Being a certified instructor means that you have awakened to divine facets of existence and chosen a path that expresses the most magnificent aspects of the universe in each moment – the most magnificent aspects of you. Yet, even with all that . . . sometimes we are channeling the universe . . . and sometimes we are not so present. This is the beauty of life – that it is ever changing and evolving and we get to struggle at it or gracefully flow with it as one.
Our practices keep us on the path to live more creative, compassionate, expansive lives . . . to live our respective dharmas. You honor the Chopra Center by walking the talk; by helping, healing, and serving; and by sharing love and light through your individual expression.
On behalf of Deepak, David, Teresa, and the CCU staff, thank you for trusting in the universe, the Chopra Center, and most importantly, for trusting in yourself. Together, we are a healing, empowering, enlightening force of nature.
Peace, davidji
There is less than a month to go until Journey into Healing/The CCU Instructor Conference.
More than 400 people have signed up for Journey – this will be the largest Journey in Chopra Center history. And there are a few spaces left for certified instructors to join us at the retreat. Remember you can come for free if you refer 5 people (and that’s free attendance at Seduction in November as well). Deepak, David, Teresa, and I look forward to spending the week with you.
