Tilak Pyle

Yoga and Meditation Retreat in Costa Rica

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:52:31 EDT

In January I will be leading a Yoga and Meditation Retreat in Costa Rica! Below is information on the week. It's going to be an amazing time, practicing yoga, going deep in our meditation practices, taking eco-adventure trips, and being around some of the greatest people on the planet. Come if you can, and pass it along to those you know who may be interested!

Yoga & Meditation Retreat in Costa Rica
w/ Tilak Pyle
January 10-17, 2009

Treat yourself to a week full of blissful yoga, deep meditation, communion with nature, and fun with some of the best people on the planet, all at the tropical mountainside paradise of Pura Vida Spa in Costa Rica!

Tilak Pyle will offer two yoga classes daily, a vigorous vinyasa class in the mornings and blissful restorative class in the evenings. There will also be group meditations, meditation instruction, yoga nidra (guided deep relaxation), partner yoga, and many other opportunities to nurture your body and spirit.

In addition to yoga, there will be time to explore the beautiful gardens, soak in the sun beside the pool, nap in a hammock, hike through rainforests, and relax in the mountainside hot tub. The Wellness Center offers a wide range of spa treatments from facials and massage to Watsu. You can also join one of the daily Eco-Adventure Tours which include whitewater rafting, excursions to volcanoes, waterfall gardens, and exotic beaches, and ziplining through the rainforest canopy. There's something for everyone, and you're sure to return home rejuvenated, connected,and inspired.

Prices start at just $1165 and include accommodations for 7 nights, 3 delicious gourmet meals per day, all yoga classes and workshops with Tilak, and airport transfers within Costa Rica. Airfare, eco-tours, and spa treatments are extra. Early Bird discount of $100 if you register by August 1st!

For prices, travel information, and registration form, visit www.tilakpyle.com/costa_rica.

Our Indian Adventure

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 22:38:15 EDT

My wife, our two kids and I spent November and December in India. I had been once before, so this one was about exploring the mother land as a family. We went to museums in Delhi, took boat rides in Nainital, cable car and horse rides in Mussoorie, a jeep safari at Rajaji National Park, saw Agra Fort and, of course, the Taj Mahal. We also got to touch the spiritual heart of India: the Neem Karoli Baba Ashram in Kainchi, darshan with a Saint in Rishikesh, Arati at the Ganga. But the thing that we all agree touched us the most was being with the kids at Ramana's Garden School and Orphanage in Lakshman Jhula.

Ramana's Garden is home to about 60 kids between the ages of 3-17. All "Untouchables", many orphaned or abandoned. Many of these kids came from horrific backgrounds: prostitution, physical and sexual abuse, homelessness, malnutrition. And somehow these were the most responsible, caring, well-adjusted kids we had ever seen! Ever! There was very limited adult supervision, and yet these kids played together wonderfully, looked after each other. They washed their own clothes. They took turns cooking their own meals. They got up very early each morning on their own volition to study, and then studied late into the night. Every evening after supper they gathered in a small room and chanted to God, eyes shut tight, swaying back and forth unselfconsciously. And then said goodnight to each other before returning to their rooms.

All I kept thinking was: "You don't have to visit Babas. You don't have to visit temples. God is right here, before your very eyes. Wanting to sit on your lap. Playing with your kids. Teaching you that it takes so little to be happy. Food, shelter, hope, love.

Ramana's Garden
Friends of Ramana's Garden

You can view the pictures from our India trip in Michelle's Photo Gallery.

Step It Up 2007

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 12:49:14 EDT

This past Saturday I attended the Step It up 2007 rally here in Charlottesville, as part of the nationwide effort to raise awareness about global warming and to convince lawmakers to create legislation and policy changes to reduce greenhouse emissions 80% by 2050. Despite the rain, about 150 people showed up to hear speakers from engineers to city councilmen, from biodiesel enthusiasts to environmental lawyers.

There is so much we can all do to make a difference in the health of our planet, and it's often easy to be overwhelmed, so the main thing is just to start somewhere. One small thing that collectively can make a huge impact is switching from standard light bulbs to compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). Here are a few facts about CFLs that should inspire you:

* CFLs use 75% less energy than a standard light bulb.
* If you change 6 bulbs, you will save about $270 in energy costs.
* If you change 12 bulbs, you will reduce as much greenhouse gas pollution as an acre of forest absorbs in one year.
* If you change 18 bulbs, you do as much good as if you'd completely stopped driving for a year.

(facts taken from the Piedmont Environmental Council's Enlighten campaign)

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Tue, 17 Apr 2007 11:55:51 EDT

Born Into Brothels

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 12:11:10 EST

Michelle and I watched Born into Brothels last night, a moving documentary about a children living in Calcutta’s red light district. Having seen first hand children living on the streets of India, and knowing how desperate and hopeless those situations typically are, I was even more inspired by the incredible work of Dr. Prabhavati and Ramana’s Garden, a home and school for orphans and destitute children in the mountains of Northern India. Ramana’s Garden houses 55 children, whom no one else would take in or care for, and provides an education to 138 children. It’s amazing how much of a difference we can make in the lives of others, and in Dr. Prabhavati's case giving hope where there would otherwise be none. It’s powerful, and we all have a chance to be a part of that. Please visit her website to learn about the various programs she has started there, and if you feel compelled to help, there are many ways you can do that.

Namaste!

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Sun, 11 Feb 2007 18:24:34 EST

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Good Karma Award: Swadeshi Yoga

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 14:45:30 EST

Last week, after class, one of my friends and students asked me if I had any recommendations on where to find good mens yoga pants. I told him that I have a couple pairs of Swadeshi Yoga pants that I really like, but didn't know if they made any long enough to fit his 6'5" frame. He sent the following email to them:

Your line of men's yoga pants has been recommended to me by a dear friend and yoga instructor. My problem is, I am 6'5" tall with a 35" inseam. I always struggle with finding yoga pants that will fit such that I am not wearing capri pants! By any chance, do you have any pants that will be at least 34 inches in the inseam or can you recommend any? Thanks for your time and consideration.

This was their response:

Hi. I’ll tell you what. If you promise to sing our praises to your fellow yogis and yoginis we would be happy to finish some pants for you at 35”. Just order off the website and I will flag it when it comes in to make the special length.
Regards,
Larry
Swadeshi Village

Now how cool is that! I don't know of many companies that would do that. Good karma points to Swadeshi! A company a great story, high-quality products at excellent prices, AND personalized customer service! These are the people that we want to stay in business and can feel good about giving our money to. If you're looking for some new yoga clothes, check them out.

Experiential Learning

Sun, 10 Dec 2006 14:21:39 EST

Our son Texil was born while Michelle and I were working our way through college. Michelle had just completed an unpaid internship, and I was going to school during the day and working late nights and weekends at a smoky (and very illegal) Beach Bingo. When Kali was born, Michelle left her job to stay home with the kids for the first few months while I went to graduate school and taught freshman English as a graduate assistant. During both of these times money was very tight, and both times we took advantage of a federal food asistance program called WIC (Women, Infant & Children), that allows expectant mothers and mothers with small children to receive a certain amount of free formula, milk, and cereal every month. It was very helpful, and we were very thankful for it.

During that spring semester I taught two courses in Research Writing, and incorporated into the curriculum a service learning component. Students would pick an issue and then go about their research in the usual ways, going to the library and searching the internet. Then they were required to volunteer with non-profit organizations whose mission was to address that issue. This approach balanced the information gained through traditional research with their insights from personal experience, and challenged many of their stereotypes and preconceived notions with real lives and real situations.

I volunteered as well, at the local Food Bank. Every Friday I would drive down to the small warehouse and work alongside an older gentleman and his rotating crew of one or two teenagers performing their court appointed community service. We spent our time together sorting food that had been donated.

Four things stick out in my mind from my work there. The first is that most of the “juvenile delinquents” I worked with were really good kids; they had just had poor parenting and had made some bad decisions. The second is the disgusting amount of the donated “food” that was candy! (“Kids, your breakfast is ready.” “Aww, Moooommmm, Twizzlers again!”) The third was learning that most people who come to food pantries and soup kitchens are not alcoholic, homeless old men, but women with children. And the last is that the proposed federal budget for that year called for a reduction in almost every federal food assistance and welfare program.

President Bush came to town that year to give a speech, and I stood at an intersection with a sign as one SUV after another left the stadium, filled with white folks who either scowled or rolled down their window to shout some obscenity at me. I remember looking down at my sign that read, “Budget 2000: Make Hunger a Priority,” and being very confused as to the cause of their anger. And then this old lady with white hair stops her car across the intersection, calls me to her and says, “Thank you. I’ve been working with the hungry all my life.” I said, “No ma’am, thank you.”

"God comes to the hungry in the form of food." - Gandhi

Sun, 10 Dec 2006 14:12:10 EST

The following is excerpted from a story that appeared in The News Virginain on 12-6-06.

“Food Pantries Struggle” by Alicia Petska

A drought in federal food supplies has hit local food pantries hard, leaving them with a dwindling inventory at a time when their clients most need their help.

“It’s a really bad time, out of all times, for this to hit right at winter,” said Hunter Fauber, director of one of the Shenandoah Valley’s largest pantries. “This has really been a blow. In all my years doing this, it’s never gotten [as low] as it has now.”

At the root of the problem is a shortage of what are called “bonus commodities” from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, extra food rations doled out to organizations like schools and food banks on top of the shipments they’re “entitled” to. [Most notable missing are] standard fruits and vegetables, the nutritious food that pantries often find most difficult to buy on their own. For example, this week at the Verona Community Food Pantry, pantry-purchased items lining the shelves are soda, snack cakes, and a variety of pie fillings, each of which comes in a large, unlabeled, dented can.

“That’s a struggle we have all the time, trying to get nutritional food,” said the president of the pantry’s Board of Directors, Ralph Steger, noting they only have a couple thousand dollars to buy food in any given month.

In recent months, the USDA has been sending out little or no bonus foods, a shortage the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank said extended nationwide.

“USDA food commodities across the country are low, and every food bank is frustrated,” said Teresa Yates, the Blue Ridge director of food security. “It’s putting us down hundreds of thousands of pounds [of food].

For the Verona pantry - a pantry that was started in Fauber’s garage 17 years ago and has since grown to be one of the biggest in the Blue Ridge area - the shortage has meant receiving only about 3,200 pounds of bonus foods in the last three months. Normally, officials said, one good month would be closer to the 60,000-pound range.

“There’s not as much,” said one discouraged client, Keri Jones, a Craigsville woman who was there with her husband and 1-year-old baby.

“I haven’t seen any vegetables today at all,” she said as she scanned the shelves. “Usually, they have something. It makes it a lot harder now because we’ll have to go to the grocery store and pay a lot more money that we don’t have, especially right around Christmas time.”

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Fri, 08 Dec 2006 12:37:11 EST

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Building The Bridge

Fri, 08 Dec 2006 09:37:58 EST

The idea of “monkeys building a bridge” comes from the Ramayana, one of India’s two epic poems and one of its most loved stories. It tells of Rama, the prince of Ayodhya, and his wife, Sita, who is kidnapped by the demon king, Ravana, and carried across the ocean to his fortress city on the island of Lanka. The storyline then centers on Rama’s efforts to find and rescue Sita. He is aided by his loyal brother, Lakshman, and an army of monkeys; foremost among them is Hanuman, a monkey with not only amazing powers and unbelievable strength but an intense devotion and love for Rama.

Once they discover where Sita is being held, the next obstacle is how to get the entire army across the 100 miles of ocean that seperates them and the fortified island. The answer is to build a bridge, using the powers of Nala, one of the monkey chiefs and architect who has the boon that whatever he touches will not sink. So the monkeys begin tearing down mountains and using the rocks to form a bridge that stretches out across the great expanse of water to Sita.

I’ve read this story many times and in many different versions. What I’m always struck with is the compelling sense that this is not just an ancient story, but that it’s the story of our lives today. The quest to find the part of ourselves that is lost, to reconnect with the truth of who we are, and the profound grace that is the people, practices, and experiences that help us along the way.

Here are three of my favorite verions of the Ramayana:

Ramayana by William Buck
The Ramayana: A Modern Retelling of the Great Indian Epic by Ramesh Menon
The Ramayana by Elizabeth Seeger

Jai Monkeys!

The Launch of iHanuman!

Thu, 07 Dec 2006 14:44:55 EST

iHanuman has now officially launched! I feel very good about the vision behind this site and what it's about. I am also very excited about the excellent group of teachers who have agreed to be a part of this, and look forward to that community growing. I think iHanuman has a lot to offer students, teaches, and the yoga community as a whole. I think its contributions will ripple out in both subtle and direct ways to make a positive difference in the world.

Jai Hanuman!

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Tue, 28 Nov 2006 10:12:14 EST

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Tue, 28 Nov 2006 09:41:44 EST

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Tue, 28 Nov 2006 09:41:44 EST

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Tue, 28 Nov 2006 09:41:43 EST

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Tue, 28 Nov 2006 09:41:43 EST

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Tue, 28 Nov 2006 09:41:43 EST

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Tue, 28 Nov 2006 09:41:43 EST

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