As a teacher, your presence is the most important part of tonight’s practice. It’s not about achieving an advanced asana that brings me joy or pride. What truly makes me happy is witnessing your dedication, seeing you push yourself and doing your best while staying present in your practice. Feel, experience, and free the negative emotions once trapped deep inside, with your movements.

Tonight, don’t aim to impress me or anyone else in this room. Simply be awake and listen to the teachings of your soul as you move through the sequence.

The Story of the Dead Sea

In Israel there are two major bodies of water. One is the Sea of Galilee, a beautiful lake 13 miles long and 7 miles wide, filled with fish and surrounded by lush foliage. It is Israel’s largest fresh water lake and absolutely picturesque. The other body of water is the Dead Sea, 50 miles long and 11 miles wide and it’s shoreline is 1300 feet below sea level. I have been told that seven million tons of water evaporate from the Dead Sea every day, and the saline or salt content of the water of the Dead Sea is 10 times saltier than the oceans of the world. The Dead Sea lives up to its name. No seaweed, plants, fish or any living thing of any kind live in or around or near the water. Fish accidentally swimming into the waters from one of the several freshwater streams that feed the sea are quickly killed by the toxic level of salt.

Both the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea are fed by the Jordan River There is really only one difference between these two bodies of water, really only one thing that causes the Sea of Galilee to be beautiful and alive while the Dead Sea is barren and lifeless. The difference is that the Sea of Galilee takes water from the Jordan River, and then it gives water back to the river. The water simply passes through the Sea of Galilee. As a result, the Sea of Galilee is full of life and beauty. The Dead Sea, on the other hand, only takes water, but it gives nothing back, and as a result it sustains no life. Those two bodies of water bear witness to a truth of human life. It is in receiving and then giving back that life and hope are sustained. In other words, The Sea of Galilee is a conduit, The Dead Sea is a container. The first is full of life, the second is full of death!

The same is true in our spiritual life. If you and I have spiritual input but no spiritual output, we will become stagnant, lifeless, bitter, and caustic. However, if we like the Sea of Galilee are receiving and giving back, we become vibrant, healthy and life-giving. This is the wisdom and reality of Jesus’ words, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.“

“Inside any deep asking is the answering.” – Rumi

“It’s your road and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you.” – Rumi

“I want to sing like the birds sing, not worrying about who hears or what they think.” – Rumi

“Love is the bridge between you and everything.” – Rumi

“We carry inside us the wonders we seek outside us.” – Rumi

“Raise your words, not your voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.” – Rumi

“Life is balance of holding on and letting go.” – Rumi

“If light is in your heart, you will find your way home.” – Rumi

“Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames.” – Rumi

“As you start to walk on the way, the way appears.” – Rumi

“Be an empty page, untouched by words.” – Rumi

“What hurts you, blesses you. Darkness is your candle.” – Rumi

“If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished?” – Rumi

“Why do you stay in prison when the door is so wide open?” – Rumi

“The soul has been given its own ears to hear things mind the does not understand.” – Rumi

“Open your hands if you want to be held.” – Rumi

“Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes. Because for those who love with heart and soul there is no such thing as separation.” – Rumi

“I learned that every mortal will taste death. But only some will taste life.” – Rumi

“If you want money more than anything, you’ll be bought and sold your whole life.” – Rumi

“Why struggle to open a door between us when the whole wall is an illusion?” – Rumi

“The wound is the place where the light enters you.” – Rumi

“Our greatest strength lies in the gentleness and tenderness of our heart.” – Rumi

“Do not feel lonely, the entire universe is inside you.” – Rumi

“Let the waters settle and you will see the moon and the stars mirrored in your own being.” – Rumi

“Always remember you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, smarter than you think and twice as beautiful as you’d ever imagined.” – Rumi

“I was dead, then alive.

Weeping, then laughing.

The power of love came into me,

and I became fierce like a lion,

then tender like the evening star.” – Rumi

“Doing as others told me, I was blind.

Coming when others called me, I was lost.

Then I left everyone, myself as well.

Then I found everyone, myself as well.” – Rumi

“I died to the mineral state and became a plant,

I died to the vegetal state and reached animality,

I died to the animal state and became a man,

Then what should I fear? I have never become less from dying.

At the next charge (forward) I will die to human nature,

So that I may lift up (my) head and wings (and soar) among the angels,

And I must (also) jump from the river of (the state of) the angel,

Everything perishes except His Face,

Once again I will become sacrificed from (the state of) the angel,

I will become that which cannot come into the imagination,

Then I will become non-existent; non-existence says to me (in tones) like an organ,

Truly, to Him is our return.” – Rumi

“You don’t need to create, imagine or visualize anything. So don’t worry, you can not fail. You are not required to do anything at all. In fact, you are going to discover that leaving aside everything is simple and natural.

For now, leave aside even the desire for enlightenment itself. Trust this. Don’t get entangled with the mind.”

Simple stay as you are. Isn’t it a relief.” – Mooji

“Now as you enter your meditation, enter it empty, naked and welcoming. Allow your practice to fill the blank and empty pages with the teachings of your soul.” – David Scott