Lineage

 

A long-time student - one of my "yoga-kids" - (she started studying with me at 16) recently wrote to me and asked me "what is my Yoga lineage".

Here is my reply.

"I do not know if it  is relevant to your inquiry – but before I answer I will tell you that I used to long for a tidy answer to the question “what is your lineage” ….as if it could help me locate myself in the wild swell of the universe and give me a feeling of legitimacy in the weird, hijacked pop-culture that sometimes goes by the name of Yoga.

But now I do not feel that longing. I think I finally trust my patchwork integration of a variety of lineages and with having a transdisciplinary approach to Yoga and to the Sacred.

So – That is my disclaimer before writing my not very comforting response :-)

I grew up in a Catholic family that had a deep devotion to the path of the Sacred Heart. I still feel that the Christ spirit is a planetary Guru. And I have a great devotion to the Mother which I originally knew by the name of Mary. But now that Sacred Feminine goes by a variety of names (Magdalene, Quan Yin, Shakti) or by no name. I do not really worry about it because whatever name She goes by, She is the Goddess or the MA, in my homemade lineage of the Heart.  -

My early Yoga life was based on Iyengar and the lineage classical Yoga of Patanjali.

I studied and practiced deeply in the ways of Taoism including Chinese Medicine and Qigong.

Iyengar and Taoism were not – for me – pathways of the heart – but were incredibly valuable parts of my journey and still are.

I found Anusara and recognized it as a kind of homecoming for me – Home to the Heart. And also, there is the lineage that gave rise to Anusara: Nityananda, Baba Muktananda and Guru Mayi. (All of which I honor to but do not feel to be my “my lineage”.

I have studied – and continue to study - long and deep with Paul Muller Ortega and Blue Throat Yoga and the lineage of Kashmir Shaivism – which now goes by teh name of Shaiva-Shakta tantra.

And of course, there is Lee Lozowick – the ultimate Patchwork master for me). There is a lineage that goes with Lee too - Swami Papa Ramdas – to – Yogiramsuratkumar  - to Lee. But I mostly resonate with Lee and his teachings.

I respect and am grateful for – feel blessed by - all the lineages I mentioned here – but do not really feel I can say any one is “my lineage”.

My sadhana is a patchwork. But I know without a doubt that at the center of my sadhana is the Heart.

 “The Way It Is” by William Stafford

There’s a thread you follow. It goes among

things that change. But it doesn’t change.

People wonder about what you are pursuing.

You have to explain about the thread.

But it is hard for others to see.

While you hold it you can’t get lost.

Tragedies happen; people get hurt

or die; and you suffer and get old.

Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding.

You don’t ever let go of the thread.