Meditate upon the clear light of being shining through all of reality.
Imagine yourself as a Buddha and let the city wake you up! Subscribe!
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Mythic Yoga Journey™ to Japan: Haiku #3 Video Poem
Meditate upon the clear light of being shining through all of reality.
Imagine yourself as a Buddha and let the city wake you up! Subscribe!
Tuesday, August 15, 2017
Nazis stole the Swastika: Now We're Taking it Back for Luck, Peace and Well-Being
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| Swastikas on lanterns at a Buddhist Shrine in the Dontonburi district, Osaka, Japan |
“The soul speaks in an image,” Aristotle said. The voiceless language of symbols speak to our psyches and awaken powers, like good luck, good health and well being.
That’s the meaning of the swastika, which for thousands of years before Nazis and Eurocentric World War II history stole the symbol from Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Native American tribes, like the Navajo, used the swastika in healing rituals. In European history, the symbol was associated with Norse gods like Thor and Odin. The swastika is also the pattern made from the revolution of the stars of Ursa Major around Polaris.
In Japan the swastika is called the manji (卍) and it was on maps in Japan to denote Shinto and Buddhist shrines and temples. I remember seeing it on Google maps the first time I visited Japan in November, 2016, and marveled at the impression this symbol made on my psyche. And it had nothing to do with Nazis, but the power of activating the powerful seeds of healing and auspiciousness within me.
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| Swastika at a Shinto shrine near Nishikujo Station, Osaka, Japan |
Japan, however, decided to change the swastika to pagodas or torii gates in preparation for the for the 2019 Rugby World Cup and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The changes will not apply to Japanese-language maps, and there is no suggestion that the temples themselves should remove manji from their premises. But it just doesn’t have the same effect, and we are all losing something within ourselves as a result, such as access to our inner lives via the mythic dimension that our psyches (psyche means soul in Greek) need and crave in these troubled times.
Around Japan I have seen dozens of temples and shrines with the swastika. Nazi versions face right and usually sit in a diamond shape at a slant, while the manji version is a square. Japanese Buddhism has both a right-facing and left-facing manji. So think left swastika L for luck and love and R for Reich on its side for Nazi differentiation.
But the Nazi symbolism of the West has usurped the power of the symbol in the East in the last 70 plus years, especially in the United States, making this symbol inaccessible to many. It’s time to take it back and educate people about this symbol’s origins and true meaning, because humanity depends on it. As human beings, our psyches need something beyond just shopping and working. It needs ritual, myth and participation in the cosmos, otherwise, as Mythologist Joseph Campbell says, society disintegrates. And it is! Just read the headlines!
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| Swastika on a chozubachi, water-filled basin, used for purification at a Shinto Shrine near Nishikujo Station, Osaka, Japan. |
“Mircea Eliade was motivated at all times by a deep concern for the future of Western civilization, which he saw as threatened by possible extinction,” writes Robert Temple.
“He believed it essential that we recognize and acknowledge the archaic and the Eastern contributions to man's spiritual history while there is still time to do so with good grace. Otherwise, by maintaining an attitude of contempt or superiority towards the rest of the world — past and present — we would bring disaster on ourselves and the world as a whole.”
So contemplate the swastika. Notice the tension of opposites from the Nazi symbolism that has embedded itself today and with the rise of hatred and chaos in the United States and Charlottesville, Virginia as the West declines and the East rises with its ancient connotations of health, well-being and peace in the East. See where those two meet. One thing passes away, the other arises. What has been suppressed, comes into consciousness once again.
Experience the symbol in your body, your art, your meditation, your dreams and see what happens.
And may peace, luck and good health be with you!
More pictures of Swastikas in Japan on my blog, Sydney in Osaka! Subscribe!
More pictures of Swastikas in Japan on my blog, Sydney in Osaka! Subscribe!
Sunday, July 9, 2017
Mythic Yoga 4-Week Online Class Starts July 16/ 17
This has been my experience, as I remarkably find myself living in Osaka, Japan with my new husband. It's a rebirth for sure, as my 84-year-old father died June 24, the day I moved to Japan. I went back a week later for bereavement. To clean out the old and rebirth the new.
My father, my past life in Colorado and childhood home in Boulder, Colorado - so much was left behind, but all was brought with me too. I pulled the choice memories and good from the ashes of the past.
I have been asked to put on an online Mythic Yoga training. Join me next week Starting Monday July 17 for 4-weeks exploring your personal mythology via yoga philosophy, mythology, art, writing, yoga asana and more.
Know Thy Self! Use dreams, myth, the body and personal storytelling for self-discovery and transformation!
Each class features movement, yoga, contemplation and a different ancient Hindu and myth that leads you through life's stages Bring a dream you’ve had and would like to work with, a notebook, your body and your listening ears to journey within and discover your personal myth. Includes all materials.
Five Sunday/Mondays July 16/17-August 13/14. Classes run one hour and start Sunday, July 16 7:30 pm. Eastern Standard Time. Starts Monday July 17 at 8:30 a.m. Japan Standard Time and 5:00 a.m. India Standard Time.
Register by purchasing the downloadable Mythic Yoga materials online. Cost is $199. Enroll by July 13 and receive 25 percent discount with this code MythicYoga at checkout.
Saturday, May 27, 2017
Mythic Yoga: The Story in the Body - Personal Mythology & Transformation via Body and Story
Pictures are images that bubble up from the soul. Putting together images for this movie guides you to begin to listen to the story in the body as you take a Mythic Yoga Journey™ into your own story. Use svadyaya, self-reflection, to contemplate the images while you practice yoga. The classic method of Mythic Yoga by Sydney Solis. Subscribe!
Friday, May 26, 2017
The Mythic Yoga Studio Orlando House Perfect for Your Yoga Story Writing and Travel Retreat!
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| Is it a magical cottage in the woods? No! It's the Mythic Yoga Studio Orlando location! Stay here 2BR and 2BA house smack in the middle of charming and walkable Thornton Park, downtown Orlando, Florida and get inspired to write, make art, practice yoga, meditate, travel on your Mythic Yoga Journey™ or just down to Universal Studios! |
That's because you surrendered and finally got clear of that old story that was churning around in the back of your head like a Greek chorus, shouting, LOOK! LISTEN! What are you creating?
You turned around, got a good look at that story and learned to take a risk, follow your bliss, re-story it and get your old mind and body out of the way! Rebirth!
That's what happened to me on my long 14-year Mythic Yoga Journey,™ a journey of mythic proportions that keeps getting more amazing by the day.
Yoga and stories are powerful tools to transform your life! Suffering, thank you! What great gifts as a result! Especially to have faith and take time off to heal! I never guessed I'd be moving to Osaka! So you can't judge what happens to you! And that makes living in these uncertain times a lot easier!
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| Practice yoga among art and books! Discover your own Story in the Body! |
Remember, the Mythic Yoga Studio IS wherever YOU are! Be it Orlando, Boulder, or Osaka, myth and yoga are always there to wake you up to the NOW!
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| This box I use for storing yoga mats has a story to tell! It was used by the famous Life Magazine Photographer Fritz Henle to send back photographs of Pablo Casals he took while in Spain. His daughter Tina Henle is one of my best friends from my Mythic Yoga Journey™ time on St. Croix in the USVI and she gave this to me. |
I will be traveling back and forth since my soon to be 17-year-old daughter doesn't want to go.
But the house serves as my office for writing and upcoming trainings, as well as a yoga studio/gallery, featuring my collage artwork of my Personal Mythology series that I hope will inspire you in your Mythic Yoga Journey™ and creative work or travels.
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| Artwork for sale from the Personal Mythology series by Sydney Solis at the Mythic Yoga Studio Orlando house and rental property. |
Yoga and story and art heal! I'm living proof! This place is to be a hub of international yoga and mythology exchange - Orlando to Osaka for yoga and Buddhist meditation, not to mention the amazing mindful culture of Japan you will fall in love with!
And what a story I have connected with that! And of course I will always drop into my hometown of Boulder, Colorado and visit my 84-year-old papa and gazillion family and friends.
You must visit the Dove Inn Bed and Breakfast in Golden, Colorado that one of my best-friends Elizabeth runs. Trainings have been held there in the past and more will be held there too! So get on the email list now!
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| Eclectic, artistic, funky charm describes this house owned by two artists! Get inspired by hanging out here! |
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| Built in 1938, the house was in the Orlando Historic Homes calendar! |
Book a private yoga session with our manager, Reider, who also teaches at Orlando Power Yoga Orlando.
If you are writer, poet or artist, get inspired by my plethora of books on psychology, yoga, mythology, folklore, fairytales, poetry, fiction and more! Trainings and more will be coming soon!
And if you are a healthy food and gardener freak like Florida Master Gardener that I; my husband, Steve, and Reider are; you will get excited about the coming hydroponic system and all the juicing, vegan and vegetarian cookbooks we have!
So Know Thy Self! It's a mythic return! I followed my bliss and my mind is literally blown! Join us! Contact us today for rates, dates and more information!
Thursday, May 18, 2017
Mythic Yoga - Two Birds - A Story from the Rig Veda by Sydney Solis
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| Two birds at Kasuga-taisha Shinto Shrine, Nara, Japan |
This story from the Rig Veda, from my E-book Mythic Yoga: Vishnu's Dream - Ancient Hindu Myth and Personal Story.
Telling stories is an art. Let the story and images wash over you as you practice yoga and begin your own Mythic Yoga Journey™ and listen to the Story in the Body.
OM SHANTI
Sunday, April 2, 2017
Your Mythic Yoga Journey™ - Stories of Faith, Healing and Transformation
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| Sydney Solis among the plum blossoms at Osaka Castle Park, Osaka, Japan |
The Sufi story of Fatima the Spinner and the Tent tells the story of a young woman who three times is frustrated by life, but in the end she sees that everything brings her to the happiness she has found.
In the Chinese story I call Maybe, Maybe Not, a farmer is distraught over problems that arise, such a his son breaking his leg. But because the son broke his leg, an invading army does not impress him into their army and he is spared.
A story in the Song of Solomon, a King is given a ring with the inscription This Too Shall Pass, to aid him in his suffering over material conditions that are either good or bad in his life.
In the end, all of these stories are stories I have collected for my storytelling performances of Mythic Yoga called Stories of Faith Healing and Transformation. They are about material conditions, whether good or bad, and how they are transient. This has been the story of my life, and I call it Mythic Yoga. They are healing stories and yoga. We use myths, stories and symbols to guide us in uniting us with our true self. It is our Mythic Yoga Journey™ to continue on the path, despite all that appears as obstacles.
For you cannot judge what happens to you. All is as it should be, or it's how things hang together. The good or the bad is just a value judgment. Things just ARE. It is only our lens of mind that brings judgment and suffering. We try to cast out demons, but demons, as Mythologist Joseph Campbell says, are just doing their part in duality. We need story, and somebody has to play each part!
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| Cherry blossoms, Sakura, at the Himuro Jinja Shrine, Nara, Japan Cherry blossoms symbolize the fleeting of life. Cherish each moment! |
My life has been that way. So many traumas - childhood trauma in my childhood home of Boulder, Colorado, the trauma of my husband's suicide, a hasty second marriage three years after that ended in divorce and losing all my money, dealing with foreclosure, intense stress, losing my youngest sister to suicide, being abandoned on a Caribbean island, traveling, being brutalized by police in Florida.
But all along I had an inner guide - yoga and meditation, and of course stories and dreams. It was my Mythic Yoga Journey, that entailed me leaving Boulder in 2010 and living in Argentina, St. Croix in the US. Virgin Islands and arriving back on the mainland in Florida.
It has brought me incredible faith, healing and transformation. And now after all that, I find myself in the incredible moment of my life with all I could possibly ever imagine. At 50, I am married to my soul mate. We are perfect match for each other in every way. And remarkably, as life has it, I find myself moving to Japan!
I hope you follow your bliss. It takes risk. I did, and I'm happy to be your guide. Since 2003 I have been writing and conducting Mythic Yoga and Storytime Yoga® workshops online and more. I had my two children to raise on my own, and I really valued the home arts and motherhood as they needed me and the business world is way too stressful to do both well. I sacrificed with bliss for them, and now, as fate has it, I am back on my Mythic Yoga Journey™ to Japan.
For the calm abiding to see clearly is with me from meditation and yoga. I have listened to my story in the body, reclaimed my intuitive, sensing and feeling self by occupying the body and feeling safe in the moment. I have peeled away the curtains of the theatre of my mind, and gained enormous joy and peace in the process. And all my dreams have come true.
That's the goal of yoga - the sage, unaffected by loss or gain. I'm not perfect, but everything is practice. I know more lay ahead. But I am ever rooted in the transcendent as I participate in duality.
You, too, can take a personal Mythic Yoga Journey™. Read my ebook, Mythic Yoga: Ancient Hindu Myth and Personal Story, which I first performed at the Winter Festival of Stories at the Boulder Public Library in 2005. Nobody could understand Mythic Yoga back then. They looked at me and said, "Mythic?" I know now, all has a purpose! All is as it should be!!
Join me! Subscribe to my YouTube Channel for my Mythic Yoga Journey™ to Japan videos of haiku poetry and more. Follow me on Instagram for my photography and haiku and tankas and more! Follow my blog on my new website, an umbrella for Mythic Yoga and Storytime Yoga, my poetry and art, SydneySolis.com.
We found an amazing apartment in Osaka, and once I get settled I will return to teaching. It's a journey! Join me! Have faith! Healing and transformation await!
OM SHANTI
Osaka, Japan
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