by Robert Thurman Ph.D: “Whenever you decide to try a particular yoga, the crucial first step is always deciding to make the change…

You must begin by accepting the fact that your habitual conceptions could be wrong.

If, for example, you live with the delusion that it is just fine to remain addicted to nicotine, that three packs of cigarettes a day puts you in optimal operating condition, then there is no way you will successfully complete a yoga to quit smoking.

Likewise, in this crucial quest of the self, the presumed core of your self-addiction, you must first convince yourself through empirical observation that the way you hold your self-identity— the constricted feeling of being wrapped around a solid, independent core— is uncomfortable and disabling.

We can take great encouragement from the fact that the Buddha told us we could escape from our suffering. Still, we cannot merely accept someone else’s report. No one else can do the job of replacing misunderstanding with understanding for us.

We must look at reality and verify for ourselves whether our habitual sense of having a fixed self or the Buddha’s discovery of selflessness is ultimately true. In this way, we can begin to transform the self-preoccupation.”

Robert AF Thurman from Infinite Life

Richard Freeman has been a student of yoga since 1968. He has spent nearly nine years in Asia studying various traditions which he incorporates into the Ashtanga yoga pracice as taught by his principal teacher, K. Pattabhi Jois of Mysore, India. Richard’s background includes studying Sufism in Iran, Zen and Vipassana Buddhist practice, Bhakti and traditional Hatha yoga in India. Starting in 1974 he also began an in-depth study of Iyengar yoga, which eventually led him to Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga.

Richard is an avid student of both Western and Eastern philosophy, as well as Sanskrit. His ability to juxtapose various viewpoints, without losing the depth and integrity of each, has helped him develop a unique, metaphorical teaching style. Richard is the founder of the Yoga Workshop in Boulder, Colorado which is his teaching home base. He has numerous practice DVD’s and CD’s, is the author of “The Mirror of Yoga” and travels throughout the world teaching courses, workshops and trainings.

Join Richard Freeman, Robert Thurman & John Campbell for Buddha & The Yogis July 1st-8th at Menla Mountain Retreat.