Deepen Your Spiritual Practice Through the Dharma of Poetry

How can poetry open up new ways of thinking, feeling, and being in the world? Author, teacher, and poet John Brehm shares how we can enter a poem, allowing its power to be a gateway to experience a deeper sense of wonder and mystery.

John Brehm is the author of several books of poetry, and editor of the anthology The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, and Joy.  His most recent book is a collection of essays, The Dharma of Poetry, which we will be discussing today. His poems have appeared in numerous publications including Poetry, The Writer’s Almanac, Poetry Daily, The Best American Poetry, The Norton Introduction to Literature, and many other journals and anthologies. John teaches for Mountain Writers Series in Portland, Oregon, and for The Lighthouse Writers Workshop in Denver, Colorado. He offers a monthly Poetry as Spiritual Practice gathering and with his wife, Alice Boyd, leads mindfulness retreats that incorporate Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement lessons, guided meditations, and mindful poetry discussions. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

WEBSITE: JohnBrehmPoet.com

GUEST COMMENTS: Thank you so much, Laurel, for having me on the show and being such a wonderful host. I felt such a nice connection with you and so appreciated all your questions, as well as the calm presence you brought to our conversation. You made it easy to go deep into the poems. It was a real pleasure and I'm extremely grateful. I know it will bring attention to poetry as spiritual practice.

YOGA HOUR TEAM COMMENTS: As a person who is not really into poetry but would like to be, this conversation has helped open up a new appreciation for me. John Brehm says we can let go of analyzing a poem and what it means, which is the traditional way poetry is taught and just listen, experience and appreciate the poem. I appreciated how he said that poetry has become his spiritual practice. He said "Reading, writing and teaching about poetry are deeply spiritual for me. It has always felt like a way to get closer to the sacred. It gives me a sense of being in the universe in a way that is awake, alive and aware." It was beautiful to hear Laurel read some of the poems to John as well as offering him opportunities to read. His inclusion of poems from many different authors illustrates the concepts that he wants to share. The discussion of James Wright's poem The Blessing as well as Denise Levertov's poem Aware deeply moved me and inspired me to see and read poetry in a new way. Laurel’s inclusion of Yogacharya O’Brian’s poem, Someone Left the Door Open from her book The Moon Reminded Me, at the beginning of the program beautifully set the stage for the rest of the conversation. Thank you for bringing John Brehm to us.

DR. TRUJILLO’S COMMENTS: What a joy it was to have John Brehm on the show to talk about poetry and his lovely lovely book The Dharma of Poetry. I loved sharing some poems with our listeners and talking about how poems can be spiritual teachers, with lessons like: “pay attention; walk through the world with reverence and wonder; look closely at extraordinary experiences and even more closely at “ordinary" ones”. I also loved the idea that poems, which are written through the heightened awareness of the poet, can call forth that same heightened awareness from within us. We gave some great examples of how poetry can deepen one’s spiritual practice which I hope were inspirational to our listeners.

Meditations on the Five Elements

We live in landscapes and landscapes live in us. Dr. Christopher Chapple, author and professor of Indic Studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, shares how the classical teachings of the East reveal the interconnection between the human and nature and how we can participate in the healing of the earth.

Dr. Christopher Chapple is Doshi Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology and founding Director of the Master of Arts in Yoga Studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He has published more than twenty books on topics that include studies of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Yoga, and religion and ecology including the book we discussed on this program, Living Landscapes: Meditations on the Five Elements in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain Yogas. He has received many grants for his research and serves on numerous advisory boards worldwide. Dr. Chapple is dedicated to the teaching of the whole person, body, mind, and spirit, through the modalities of book learning and experience as provided in Yoga traditions.

WEBSITE: www.bellarmine.lmu.edu/yoga

THE YOGA HOUR TEAM COMMENTS: Dr. Chapple’s energy, love and passion for the teachings of Yoga really shines through in this program. His focus on the five elements and the importance of understanding their place in our own lives and that of all creation brings us to a greater understanding of our connection, in this world, as one with all of life. We can see ourselves as integral with the environment around us, showing us that we are not here to use and abuse the environment but to care for it as we care for ourselves. The poetry and scripture that Dr. Trujillo quoted from his book, made this program a sacred space. Just for an example regarding the earth element, Dr. Chapple used the example of just in our own homes products of the earth such as wood and cotton make up the structure of our homes and much of our furniture. Our relationship with food reminds us of our relationship with the earth. We remember fields where our food comes from and we honor the labor of many people who bring the food to our table. He had many beautiful, touching examples and reminders of how the other elements of air, fire, water and space affect our lives in very deep and profound ways.

DR. TRUJILLO’S COMMENTS: I enjoyed our meditations on the five elements, particularly how they relate to the earth, our bodies, and the yoga tradition. I appreciated the way Dr. Chapple shared his experiences of the five elements, both in the book and in our conversation. For the fire element, it was helpful to contemplate fire as both the sunrise and as our desire and will. For the element of space, I loved thinking about the space that we can create for ourselves and others through our yoga practice. A quote from his book: "Through yoga practice and meditation, one can shift the mood or general feeling tone of a situation from agitation and anxiety into a place of understanding and acceptance. This inner space permeates the body and breath...Creating and maintaining auspicious space serves as the hallmark of yoga practice.”

PREVIOUS EPISODES WITH DR. CHRISTOPHER KEY CHAPPLE:
Living Liberation: The Yoga Sutra Part Two
The Clear Jewel: The Yoga Sutra Part Three
Patanjali’s Step-by-Step Approach to Spiritual Realization and Conscious Living
Both, And: The Inclusive Worldview of the Bhagavad Gita
In Praise of Mother Earth

Sacred Music—Divine Connection

How does sacred music deepen our connection to the Divine? David Rhodes, musician and songwriter, shares how sacred chants and music can quiet our minds, bringing us to a deeper connection with the Divine. David will be sharing music from his new CD, Door of My Heart that is a beautiful collaboration between David, Prabha Pacey and Barry Phillips.

David Rhodes is a composer, arranger, and pianist who draws inspiration from his classical training, work with jazz and fusion groups, study of world music and his immersion in the sacred music traditions of the East and West. David's recordings include the critically acclaimed Traces of Eden, Moonbirds, Fluid Days – Modal Improvisations, and Live in Concert: Elaine Kreston and David Rhodes. His acoustic palette includes piano, keyboards, harmonium, zithers, voice and percussion. He is also a composer for film production and theater.

WEBSITE: MoonBirdsMusic.com

GUEST COMMENTS: Thank you, Laurel, for the opportunity to reflect more deeply on my spiritual practice and musical journey. Your questions were very helpful in teasing out the beginnings and motivations for the music. It also brought home to me again the inner melding and mending that naturally occurs when we chant over a period of years. My own experience of greater opening and regaining lost parts of my psyche is evidence of that. Indeed that is a potent and haunting line in the chant Door of My Heart: "will my days fly away without seeing you my Lord?" The emotional impression of those words gave rise to melody and harmony. The alchemy of words together with music is recognized and taken in by the heart, and we are moved by it in ways we can't fully comprehend or explain. A mysterious kind of spirit medicine!

YOGA HOUR TEAM COMMENTS:I loved the focus on sacred music in this program. Something that we hadn't done before. David's love of music and sacred music in particular really came through in this conversation. Your discussion of how music and chanting in particular can move us inward, away from sense distractions, to the depth of our connection with the Divine gave us an understanding of how we can use this as a spiritual practice. The arrangements that were played give us a wonderful taste of the talent and devotion of David and his collaborators on this project, Prabha Pacey and Barry Phillips. I appreciated how they have brought modern language and musical arrangements to all of the music on this CD. Simple Gifts was such a beautiful song for this holiday time of year. I am used to Sanskrit chants but this American song is very heart opening. He Hari Sundara is beautiful and it was wonderful to hear the story about it. I didn't realize that He Hari Sundara is the original Sanskrit chant that Yogananda adapted to O God Beautiful. David, Prabha and Barry’s arrangement of that is amazing.

DR. TRUJILLO’S COMMENTS: I found all of the cuts that we shared from David’s new CD Door of My Heart to be so inspiring, particularly "O God Beautiful”, "Door of My Heart" and "Simple Gifts”. It’s one thing to discuss sacred music, and another thing entirely to experience it directly. I enjoyed discussing sacred music and how our devotion while chanting matters more than musical talent. I also appreciated discussing the one of the benefits of chanting is that it deepens our meditation practice by helping to turn our attention within. David mentioned the lyric from "Door of My Heart" “will my days fly away without seeing you my Lord?”, how thought-provoking and inspiring it is, and I entirely agree.

A Year of Divine Pilgrimage

What is a divine pilgrimage? Are you ready to make a pilgrimage to your divine self? On the 40th anniversary of the Center for Spiritual Enlightenment, Yogacharya O’Brian discusses the importance and role of spiritual pilgrimage using the examples from Autobiography of a Yogi.

Yogacharya O’Brian is the founder of the Yoga Hour. She is an acclaimed teacher, poet, award-winning author, and minister who has served seekers of spiritual enlightenment from all walks of life for over forty years. She is the recent recipient of the 2021 New Thought Walden Award for Interfaith and Intercultural Understanding.  She has published several books including her latest book, The Jewel of Abundance: Finding Prosperity Through the Ancient Wisdom of Yoga. A teacher in the tradition of Kriya Yoga, Yogacharya O’Brian serves people from all faith backgrounds who are seeking what is known as Self- or God-realization, or awakening and is the spiritual director of the Center for Spiritual Enlightenment, a meditation center in San Jose, CA.

WEBSITES: EllenGraceOBrian.com CSECenter.org

YOGA HOUR TEAM COMMENTS: Today's conversation with Yogacharya was deep and soul felt. She started with the idea of time being evanescence - unreal. That set the tone - sharing that it is important to know what is essential about what we do in this life and what will remain. For her, the essence of pilgrimage is defined by the intention one brings to opening to Divine grace, opening up to what you have not known and opening to the transformation that brings. Yogacharya's invitation to us to commit to a year of Yoga Yatra (Yoga pilgrimage) calls for the intention to journey from the self to the Self in our ordinary life. I was particularly moved by the Kabir poem she shared that started with "Don't go outside your house to see the flowers". I now have a much deeper understanding and appreciation of pilgrimages. Listening to Yogacharya share about her own pilgrimages and those of Paramahansa Yogananda from Autobiography of a Yogi was a call to deepen my own practice.

DR. TRUJILLO’S COMMENTS: What a joy to have a conversation with Yogacharya O’Brian about Yoga Yatra, pilgrimage to the Divine Self. It was so supportive to me personally to discuss this with you, the idea of being able to take a pilgrimage to our own deepest Self. I loved the questions she asked at the beginning of the conversation, prompted by her 40th anniversary of ministry: What is eternal? What is essential? What will remain? She discussed that one of the things that distinguishes pilgrimage from other activity is the intentionality we bring to it, the willingness to open ourselves to Divine Grace and to be transformed. I look forward to the 2022 New Years Retreat with her as a way to launch this year of Yoga Yatra. Listeners can find out more about the retreat at csecenter.org.

The Legacy of Paramahansa Yogananda

Countless people have been inspired by Paramahansa Yogananda’s book Autobiography of a Yogi. Philip Goldberg, author of The Life of Yogananda shares insights on the legacy of this great spiritual teacher as we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the publishing this seminal book.

Philip Goldberg’s book, American Veda documents how Indian spirituality changed the West and his book The Life of Yogananda:The Story of the Yogi Who Became the First Modern Guru is a biography that sheds new light on the life of this great spiritual teacher. Phil Goldberg has been studying the world’s spiritual traditions for more than 50 years. He is an illuminating and entertaining public speaker and workshop leader, meditation teacher, and an ordained Interfaith Minister. Phil’s most recent book is Spiritual Practice for Crazy Times. He contributes regularly to The Huffington Post, Elephant Journal and Spirituality & Health magazine online. Phil is the host of the Spirit Matters with Philip Goldberg podcast and he also leads American Veda Tours of India.

Websites: PhilipGoldberg.com

THE YOGA HOUR TEAM COMMENTS: Phil has so much information and insight about Yogananda as a person and as a great spiritual teacher. It was fun to hear about the Beatles, especially George Harrison and their influence on really popularizing these teachings from India. I was also interested in hearing that Phil recommends that if we haven't read Autobiography of a Yogi, we should. He said "If Yogananda wasn’t the most influential yogic teacher who came to America he was in the top three. mainly because of the institutions he established that continue the teachings, including the Center for Spiritual Enlightenment and because Yogananda's writing has endured to this day, 70 years after he passed. He literally has affected millions of lives. There is no way to calculate how many books have been sold since 1946, but Autobiography still sells thousands of copies each year. One of the reasons it endures is that mixed in with all the stories about people is a primer on yoga philosophy." Phil reminded us that Yogananda was a renunciant-a monk but a great example of someone who could live in the world, not shirking any of his worldly duties, but keeping his spiritual life as the priority of his life. I am inspired to pick up Autobiography of a Yogi again, and find new nuggets of learning and delight that I haven't noticed before, just as Phil said he has done.

DR. TRUJILLO’S COMMENTS: I really enjoyed having Phil Goldberg on The Yoga Hour to discuss the legacy of Yogananda and to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the publication of his book Autobiography of a Yogi. It’s always a joy to have him on the show. He was the perfect guest to have when discussing these topics. I love the way he can fill in information about what is known about Yogananda’s life from books like Autobiography of a Yogi with so many additional details from his extensive research including how Yogananda’s photo ended up on the cover of the Beatle’s album Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was great to review the impact of Autobiography of a Yogi on western culture with him.

Mantra: Diving Deep Into Meditation

How does the use of mantra support spiritual awakening? Stella Wuttke, Ph.D., and Marty Wuttke, Kriya Yoga teachers, share how mantra is used to develop a more profound meditation practice and how its vibrational power supports healing of the mind and body and deepens spiritual awareness.

Marty Wuttke is an ordained minister for the Center for Spiritual Awareness. He is a pioneer in the field of bio and neuro-feedback with over 35 years of experience and is the founder of the Wuttke Method of Neurotherapy, now the Infinite Potential Institute. He consults and teach neurotherapy nationally and internationally, as well as meditation and the yogic science of consciousness.

Dr. Stella Wuttke is a psychologist, neuro-scientist, and sound therapist. She acted as a principal investigator for a state-funded EEG project on brainwave patterns associated with visual perception and was lab-director of the neurofeedback laboratory at the University of Jena, Germany. Stella taught at the undergraduate and graduate level at universities in Austria, Germany and the UK. She co-founded, with her husband Marty, the Wuttke Infinite Potential Institute in Santa Barbara, California which offers the neuroscientific, non-invasive methods of neurofeedback, energy medicine, sound therapy and meditation training

Website: IPI.Global

THE YOGA HOUR TEAM COMMENTS: The program today about the last four limbs of yoga, dharana, dhyana, meditation, and samadhi and how mantra supports the deepening of our meditation experience was very in-depth but also easily accessible . Marty and Stella's long time study with with Roy Eugene Davis, their deep knowledge of Kriya Yoga and their study and knowledge of what is happening in the brain with meditation really helped me understand how mantra works. My other take-away was the reminder of the importance of a regular practice of meditation. With an intermittent practice, we won't get the positive, physical changes in the brain.

DR. TRUJILLO’S COMMENTS: I really enjoyed being able to discuss mantra, as well as the inner limbs of concentration, meditation, and samadhi with Marty and Stella. I appreciated the strong science background that each of them have, and how they brought it into our discussion. The Max Planck quote about how physical matter is really composed of energy was inspiring, and helped me to understand more about the power of mantra, sound vibration, since our bodies are actually made of vibrating energy, like all matter. The information about the physical changes of thickening in the frontal cortex of the brain that occur over time in meditators is an inspiration for my continued meditation practice.

Harness Your Healing Energy with Yoga

Are you ready to amplify the benefits of your hatha yoga practice? Lauren Walker, certified yoga teacher and energy medicine practitioner, shares practices that help you to access your underlying healing potential.

Lauren Walker is the author of Energy Medicine Yoga: Amplify the Healing Power of Your Yoga Practice and The Energy Medicine Yoga Prescription. Both books won the Nautilus Silver award for best Mind/Body publication. She’s been teaching yoga and meditation since 1997 and created Energy Medicine Yoga while teaching at Norwich University. She teaches EMYoga across the US and internationally and has been featured many times in Yoga Journal, MantraMagazine, Yoga Digest, and published a feature article about her yoga work in The New York Times. Her latest book is The Energy to Heal is available for pre-order.

 For more of her work, see EnergyMedicineYoga.net

YOGA HOUR TEAM COMMENTS: One of the topics discussed today was on the importance of using the pranamaya kosha energy system to enhance the medicine that is intrinsic in our own bodies. I was also particularly interested in the discussion of how energy forms habits ... the way we breath, our thought patterns. The 2 analogies that struck a cord were: 1) Similar to a traffic jam stopping the flow of traffic - the area where energy backs up is where the pain resides, and 2) that by changing the configuration of a riverbank, the water flow is redirected. These analogies brought clarity to the process of moving energy systems that aren't beneficial to energy patterns that are beneficial. Lauren was able to share 2 simple techniques she uses at the start of her yoga practice to wake up the energy and come to a calm centered, organized place to begin.

DR. TRUJILLO’S COMMENTS: I enjoyed the opportunity to talk with Lauren about her book Energy Medicine Yoga: Amplify the Healing Power of Your Yoga Practice. We had an interesting conversation about the energy architecture that underlies the physical body which has such a profound impact on our health. She gave a great analogy about how grooming the ski slopes at night is similar to what we need to do with our body’s energy every day. Discussing the principles that govern energy flows in the body, such as “Energy wants to move and needs space to move”, and “Energy forms habits”, were useful for me to understand energy in a new way. . I appreciated that she shared a few of the practices with our listeners that are part of the “Wake Up” energy medicine yoga practice, including the 4 Thumps and the Cross Crawl.

Connect with the Deeper Wisdom of Yoga

Are you ready to deepen and enliven your yoga practice beyond the mat? Pamela Seelig, yoga practitioner, teacher and author of Threads of Yoga shares how the profound spiritual philosophy and enriching practices of yoga can enhance our daily lives

Pamela Seelig is a yoga and meditation teacher based in New Jersey. She began her yoga journey in 1991 when an illness interrupted her Wall Street career. The practice of yoga helped with recovery and led to a lifelong pursuit of perceiving and sharing yogic wisdom. Pamela’s roots are with the Integral Yoga Institute, and she is a certified Hatha, Raja, and Meditation teacher. She is author of the recently released book, Threads of Yoga, Themes, Reflections, and Meditations to Weave Into Your Practice.

THE YOGA HOUR TEAM COMMENTS: The discussion today with Pamela Seelig was stimulating. I appreciated that it began and stayed focused on the basic wisdom of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras Book I, sutras 2 and 3.

Yoga citta vrtti nirodha:

"Yoga is the quieting of the mind

And then the seer abides in her true nature"

Pamela defined Yoga as quieting the mind, one fundamental aspect of yoga that we are not our thoughts. Once we quiet our thoughts and learn to observe them, we can experience who we really are, then direct life from this inner connection. The practice you had her share, "Observe the Inner Thought Stream", was a wonderful example of the quotes, practices, and postures she provides in each chapter of her book to bring an experiential wisdom of the yoga thread of the chapter.

DR. TRUJILLO’S COMMENTS: It was a pleasure to discuss your book, Threads of Yoga, with Pamela Seelig. I appreciate how grounded our conversation and her book are in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. It was a treat to be able to begin our discussion with Yoga Sutra 1.2, how yoga is the cessation of mental modifications, and 1.3, when mental modifications cease, we rest in our essential nature. I enjoyed her description that “When we see the twinkle in someone’s eye, we’re “seeing” prana.” Our discussion of prana was informative: how to build it, what depletes it, and that we each have an energy sheath underlying the physical body that is important to our health, as was our discussion of the third chakra, manipura.