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Alignment Yoga

 

  

             Spirit

     Mind ▲  Body

 When we work any one corner of this triangle formed by the above three aspects of Alignment Yoga the other aspects improve.

    1.  Physical Alignment.

    2.  Mental/Emotional Alignment

    3.  Spiritual Alignment

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 (1.   Physical Alignment can be a primary tool for insight of being in the body, since the potential for mental and physical equanimity already exists in the body. Our awareness of breath and the application of structural alignment opens our body to performance levels which stabilize and center our attention on form and feeling.

"Our inner guidance comes to us through our feelings and body wisdom first -- not through intellectual understanding. ...The intellect works best in service to our intuition, our inner guidance, soul, God or higher power -- whichever term we choose for the spiritual energy that animates life."

-- Christiane Northrup
 

 “When you start to assert control over any bodily process, the effect is holistic. The mind-body system reacts to every single stimulus as a global event; to stimulate one cell is to stimulate all.” 

 Deepak Chopra M.D. Ageless Body Timeless Mind.

~~~~~~~~~Alignment Breathing Session~~~~~~~~~

"With the breathing and alignment work I felt a flow through my body which enlivened and informed all of it. And “all of it” came to mean a totality-mind, body and spirit. As I relaxed into this physical and mental openness my senses became more awake and responsive.

Transforming into an aligned human being has a joyous clarity and accessibility. I’ve learned that the more I feel, the more I love—it’s simple.”

Tamar Rogoff
International Choreographer,
Dancer,Teacher and Artist

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 (2.   Mental and emotional balance is accomplished by using the tools of wisdom philosophies as well as an integrated study of contemporary works for development of our psycho-physical aspects.  Using sitting and walking meditation and mindfulness of the body we can comfortably work with the mind and its emotional content.
 

For our fullest development in the Post Modern world of new metaphysical truths being discovered and actualized, we can use the Integral Operating Systems of Ken Wilber’s Integral Institute to fully understand both our internal and external world better, I believe.

 “The heart of Integral Philosophy, as I conceive it, is primarily a mental activity of coordinating, elucidating and conceptually integrating all the various modes of knowing and being, so that, even if Integral Philosophy itself does not deliver the higher modes, it fully acknowledges them, and then allows and invites philosophia to open itself to the practices and modes of contemplation.”
~~~Ken Wilber, The Eye of Spirit.~~~

For a study of Ken Wilber’s contribution to our landscape follow this link:
http://wilber.shambhala.com/

 To be able to join in and listen to audio & video of Ken Wilber in interviews with world leaders in all fields, as well as be updated on all events Integral follow this link:
Integral Institute ~~For growth and development this membership is precious.~~

What's "Integral"? It simply means more balanced, comprehensive, interconnected, and whole. By using an Integral approach—whether it's in business, personal development, art, education, or spirituality (or any of dozens of other fields)—we can include more aspects of reality, and more of our humanity, in order to become more fully awake and effective in anything we do.

~~~~~

 Chogyam Trungpa summarizes path eloquently with the subject being inquisitiveness:

"When you were very young, three years old, you didn't want to look into the possibility of escape, particularly, because you were so interested in how things were done. You used to ask your father and your mother all sorts of questions: "Why is this so, Mommy? Why is this so, Daddy? Why do we do this? Why don't we do that?" But that innocent inquisitiveness has been forgotten, lost. Therefore you have to re-ignite it. Getting into your cocoon of habitual behavior happens after that initial inquisitiveness. Once there was tremendous inquisitiveness happening and then you couldn't care less. You thought that you were being mistreated by your world, so you jumped into your cocoon and decided to ignore the whole thing....Actually using our sense perceptions properly -- inquisitiveness -- is so important."

From" Overcoming Habitual Patterns," in COLLECTED KALAPA ASSEMBLIES by Chogyam Trungpa.

 Free weekly message from Ocean of Dharma quotes of the week

 
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(3. Spiritual Alignment uses an integration of processing techniques and contemplative traditions for the perfecting of our journey to the other shore and back into life as it is. With this third aspect of our 3 in 1 nature we have the triangle of Mind, Heart and Mastery.

"Your lives are essentially of the nature of Shanti (Peace); your nature is essentially Love; your hearts are saturated with Truth."

"When you cultivate the awareness that you are a spark of God, that you have as your reality Divinity Itself, you can become really Divine, and you can have command over all powers. “As you feel, so you become”.   ~~~BABA~~~

 

 Receive guidance with an inspiring  * daily message* & from Sri Sai Baba

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    The subject of physical alignment is covered in our book Hathaway Alignment Sessions, as well as in the many articles written on the subject at alignment.org  Primarily this subject forms the basic practice of Alignment Yoga which focuses our attention on the body and gives us an understanding of how to develop and maintain the integrity of our body.

           As we take up this aspect of Alignment Yoga there is a need to appreciate the stage of development that we are in. They are what can be viewed as; Young age, middle aged (28 to 45) and wise age (45 +). Each age group usually comes with different perspectives of physical experience and references, as well as different priorities. For the young person the body has less discomfort and  usually functions well in the world, while those of middle and wise age come to deal with the many somatic aspects that can be viewed (mistakenly) as potential problems of health and well being. It is in the later stages of our life that Alignment becomes all the more important to work with as we seek to work and overcome the many somatic episodes we are heir to. By understanding our alignment we learn to trust our body and its ability to work with the many somatic aspects that come with ageing.

            As we progress as a culture, different views of medical and somatic information on the body are becoming integrated with the wisdom inherent in the body itself. We can efficiently work with our own body by understanding our bodies’ alignment as well as evolving our mystical intunement with divine mind.  

 

Mindfulness of the Body

 “Combining Full Awareness of Breathing with full awareness of the movements of our body during daily activities—walking, standing, lying, sitting, working—is a basic practice to cultivate concentration and live in an awakened state.”

 Thich Nhat Hanh, Breathe! You Are Alive.

  

By working with our breath for alignment we also are putting in to practice a mindfulness of the body and breath. You become accustomed to breathing into the body and feeling what is present. The momentum developed by placing our attention on the breath and the body helps us develop higher levels of awareness.  This also simplifies our quieting of the mind as attention is placed on the immediate.

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 We of the American Yoga Foundation dedicate our work with Alignment Yoga to our founding teacher; Monica Sunshine Hathaway. How blessed we are to have such a wonderful teaching, Om Shanti.

 

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~~~  Florida Center  ~~~                                                            ~~~   New York Center ~~~
 

     

 

 

 

                                                            

        
        Yogacharya  Paul Bunting

       

Yogacharya  Debbie Jensen
Golden Egg Yoga

Breath and Alignment work.
 Columbia, Maryland: Classes and workshops

             

        
 Kathleen Thompson
Follow~Your~Heart~Yoga

Breath & Alignment work.
Germantown, Maryland: Classes

               

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This page is designed to be useful as a transformational tool by providing a web experience for uplifting our awareness. Your tax deductible contributions help us grow and encourage others to grow. Alignment to our common purpose brings greater clarity and enlightenment to those who follow.

 Harmon Hathaway;
American Yoga Foundation

 

 

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