Eoin's Website: www.eoinfinnyoga.com]]> http://www.ihanuman.com/index.php?pageId=1481 en-us Fri, 08 Sep 2006 15:14:56 EDT Mon, 16 Jun 2008 20:07:47 EDT Fri, 08 Sep 2006 15:14:56 EDT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Bluewallllc.com Content Management System peter@bluewallllc.com, sara@bluewallllc.com 180 eoin finn, yoga, power yoga, surf, love Eoin Finn Eoin Finn http://www.ihanuman.com/pdsFiles/eoin_headshot.jpg http://www.ihanuman.com/pdsFiles/my_resume.mov http://www.ihanuman.com/index.php?pageId=6440 Sat, 12 Jan 2008 09:06:53 EST http://www.ihanuman.com/index.php?pageId=3568
On event day, at 10:15a.m. Saturday morning I took 3 steps on the field at Thunderbird stadium and my flip flops became ‘slip slops’… It was a wet field worthy of a brutal rugby match or for a medieval Excalibur type battle, but hardly the type of weather that would ever inspire people to come practice yoga outdoors and listen to live music.

Feeling dejected, I asked myself, how this could happen. I know most people think of Vancouver as rain soaked, but in July the grass turns brown. In 7 years of teaching outdoor yoga 5 days a week, I have only been rained out 5 times. Why today would our luck change. After all the hard work we all put into this event.

On our way back to the event with a truck full of tarps, I asked Insiya, “what is the lesson here?”

I wasn’t sure. What I did know is that I was looking forward to setting up tents and being around all the great volunteers who were cheerily setting up for the event despite the dampness.

It really hit me then, the lesson is this. How do we deal with Adversity in life? As the name, Blissfest connotes, the idea of the event is to maximize happiness. How do we deal with it? It is easy to be happy when the skies are blue but when the hard, gray days hit, what kind of strategies do we have to deal these down cycles?

People still showed up. We had almost 1,000 people attend our event and as we looked out into the rain-soaked crowd it was apparent that people were engaging in the best strategies for hard times.

You make the most of it. Mentally, you change the way you look at things and find that silver lining. What I saw was people who changed from doing yoga in apocalyptic conditions to a bunch of people magically transformed into joyous little kids playing in puddles.

We stopped cursing the rain and instead it became a ‘celebration of water.’

Secondly, we realized that what makes hard times bearable is to surround oneself with the support from one’s community. Too often when we go to our perfectly warm and cozy studio to practice, it is easy to feel content to be separate. In the pelting rain, the welfare of the people next to you becomes blazingly apparent.

I salute the human spirit for its ability to find resilience and generosity even in the face of adversity. The power of these forces rocked everyone to their core.

Keep good company. Take good care of each other and never feel alone and life’s rainy “Mist” fests can truly turn into Blissfests.

Namaste

]]> http://www.ihanuman.com/index.php?pageId=3568 blissfest yogathon adversity yoga attitude community Thu, 26 Jul 2007 11:16:32 EDT http://www.ihanuman.com/pdsFiles/eoin_beach.jpg eoin_beach.jpg ]]> http://www.ihanuman.com/index.php?pageId=3494 Mon, 16 Jul 2007 16:54:31 EDT http://www.ihanuman.com/index.php?pageId=3313

It is good during these times to have a check in with oneself. Why are you doing what you are doing? Do you ever do that? Just stop and think about why you are doing the things you do?

Hatha Yoga teaches me that. If we find ourselves going so deep into poses that we get injured or that the very sap of our practice, our joy, shrivels up in the process of pushing ourselves too much, it really forces us to make an assessment… Hopefully.

That is what I am doing right now with the Yogathon and Blissfest in mind. Trying to clarify to my own self why we are all doing this event.

The first thing that comes to mind really is sustainability. Odd place to start, isn’t it? But what I feel is that we need to broaden some concepts in our language. Sustainability is about actions that enable something to last.

Unsustainable lifestyle we have created both culturally and environmentally all share the same root cause. Living in a culture where we only value our own desires. Where all we care about is receiving from people and resources. The human animal has always had myths that helped him stay grounded in his or her connection to others. We always had churches or gathering places where we could come together as a community and really feel the power of that bond.

With the demise of spirituality and the increasingly economic focus to our lives, we often don’t make time to come together as a society to connect. It is that deep feeling of connection that is ultimately what inspires us to live more sustainable lives. It is this shift that needs to happen.

Why is there a separate movement for green living, for health, for yoga, for kids? Aren’t they all trying to help us create a more sustainable way of living?

Why don’t we all come together in one big, fun event to celebrate being here. Together. To give to others in need from our community at the same time.

That is what keeps all of us going.

Let’s create such a fun vibe that the very life force that feeds our cells as individuals and as a larger social body will dance with creative nectar.
]]> http://www.ihanuman.com/index.php?pageId=3313 yoga sustainability blissfest yogathon love connection motivation Thu, 03 May 2007 12:09:59 EDT http://www.ihanuman.com/index.php?pageId=3312

Try it sometime. Find a place to sit, lie or be mellow. Turn off everything electronic. Bask in moonlight.

I am lucky that the we have a huge window in our place that faces due east. Each month around the full moon when the Pacific Northwest skies are clear, you'll find me surrounded by pillows on a futon in the white light of the moon.

How many past generations have enjoyed such simple splendors?

With 70% of your being made of water, allow the tides of your soul overflow.

Let the deep peace of this radiant sphere pour into you.
]]> http://www.ihanuman.com/index.php?pageId=3312 moon bathing peace relax Thu, 03 May 2007 12:07:03 EDT http://www.ihanuman.com/pdsFiles/yogathon.mov http://www.ihanuman.com/index.php?pageId=3029 Sun, 18 Mar 2007 23:54:12 EDT http://www.ihanuman.com/pdsFiles/showboat_meditation.jpg showboat_meditation.jpg ]]> http://www.ihanuman.com/index.php?pageId=3027 Sun, 18 Mar 2007 23:42:34 EDT http://www.ihanuman.com/pdsFiles/breakin_yogi_eoin.jpg breakin_yogi_eoin.jpg ]]> http://www.ihanuman.com/index.php?pageId=3025 Sun, 18 Mar 2007 23:42:34 EDT http://www.ihanuman.com/pdsFiles/eoin_india2005.jpg eoin_india2005.jpg ]]> http://www.ihanuman.com/index.php?pageId=3023 Sun, 18 Mar 2007 23:42:34 EDT http://www.ihanuman.com/pdsFiles/eoin_hanuman_bali.jpg eoin_hanuman_bali.jpg ]]> http://www.ihanuman.com/index.php?pageId=3021 Sun, 18 Mar 2007 23:42:34 EDT http://www.ihanuman.com/pdsFiles/eoins_yoga_quickie.mov http://www.ihanuman.com/index.php?pageId=3019 Sun, 18 Mar 2007 23:38:19 EDT http://www.ihanuman.com/pdsFiles/vancouver_yogathon06_overhead_650.jpg vancouver_yogathon06_overhead_650.jpg ]]> http://www.ihanuman.com/index.php?pageId=3017 Sun, 18 Mar 2007 23:38:18 EDT http://www.ihanuman.com/pdsFiles/py4h2_forwardbend_eoin.jpg py4h2_forwardbend_eoin.jpg ]]> http://www.ihanuman.com/index.php?pageId=3011 Sun, 18 Mar 2007 23:05:41 EDT http://www.ihanuman.com/pdsFiles/EoinYogaFunk.jpg EoinYogaFunk.jpg ]]> http://www.ihanuman.com/index.php?pageId=3003 Sun, 18 Mar 2007 22:59:19 EDT http://www.ihanuman.com/index.php?pageId=2992
We spend so much time thinking about it and it is good to become clear about what this powerful force called Love really is.

Here are excerpts from the wedding speech I came up with. Enjoy:

Is there any other concept that is more important that LOVE? I spend so much of my life trying to answer many questions about Love: Specifically, ‘What is it?’, ‘Why does it feel so good?’ and ‘How does so much of it fit in one body?’

We all seek it.

Like plants that receive Rain, if we have Love in our environment, we feel full of Life, Renewal and Growth.

Without it, we are like a desert plant, which even if we blossom, are Guarded, Protected and Full of Thorns.

Some people reduce Love to the chemical experience of hormones affecting our organism.

On the other end of the spectrum, others have a more exalted view of Love and consider it a Force of the Universe, existing independent of us.

The fact is, we don’t fully know how to put our experience of Love into words. What we can say for sure is that it is a hugely powerful experience that can, as the expression goes, move mountains.

In spite of the power of this emotion, we only have one word in the English language to for it.

The Inuit have 28 words for snow we are told. We use the same word to express our feelings towards our siblings, our lovers and chocolate. How bizarre.

When contemplating exactly what Love is, at its essence, it is this:

For most of our life, we humans spend most of our days thinking about how we can fulfill our desires. How can others serve us.

The experience of Love creates a dramatic shift in our perspective. When we feel Love, the object of our Love, another person, group of people or thing seems to rise in importance. Our needs are not of such elevated importance anymore. The balance has shifted.

Ultimately, the recipient of our Love seems even more important than us. In fact, we would sacrifice our needs for the well-being of another.

When you think about the nature of the balance we described, when we elevate the importance of someone or something an appropriate word to describe this is “understand.” We “Stand Under” another.

This idea is key to a more loving relationship and a more Loving World.

Understanding… So often we would rather spend our energy defending our position than understanding the needs of others. Propaganda is really about suppressing the views of another and propagating our views to others.

This ability to understand is what we need more in relationships whether they are between individuals or groups of individuals.

I think I’ll continue this thread more later… getting too cerebral about Love is a danger. In the meantime, please take one minute at least to do the following exercise.

Find a comfortable posture away from the computer if possible. With closed eyes, a softness in the forehead and slightly parted teeth, sit and welcome the love experience into the body. Feel a brightness to the heart centre. Bask in it for as long as you like.

Spread that feeling to others.

Trust that your are tapping into a deep and boundless well.

Namaste.

]]> http://www.ihanuman.com/index.php?pageId=2992 love, philosophy, meditation, heart, intention, relationships, spirituality, inner growth, blossom, bliss, eoin finn, eion Sun, 18 Mar 2007 22:40:31 EDT http://www.ihanuman.com/pdsFiles/groupsurf_07.jpg groupsurf_07.jpg ]]> http://www.ihanuman.com/index.php?pageId=2990 Sun, 18 Mar 2007 22:08:47 EDT http://www.ihanuman.com/pdsFiles/mar_newsletter_07.jpg mar_newsletter_07.jpg ]]> http://www.ihanuman.com/index.php?pageId=2988 Sun, 18 Mar 2007 22:08:47 EDT http://www.ihanuman.com/pdsFiles/pranayama_eoin.mp3 http://www.ihanuman.com/index.php?pageId=2986 Sun, 18 Mar 2007 21:25:34 EDT http://www.ihanuman.com/pdsFiles/e-warrior3.jpg e-warrior3.jpg ]]> http://www.ihanuman.com/index.php?pageId=1816 Wed, 18 Oct 2006 12:38:26 EDT