It is good that “yoga” is now an incredibly common word in the West. But “yoga” is often used to refer to exclusively to yoga postures. In fact, postures are just a very small part of Raja Yoga, which is the complete path to merging with Spirit. After all, the word “yoga” is merely the sanskrit word for “union.”…

I imagine most readers have at least heard of the Bhagavad Gita. It is part of a huge epic—The Mahabharata—in which cousins fight over a kingdom. (Boy, talk about a common theme throughout history!)

The chief warrior for the noble king and his brothers (the Pandavas) is named Arjuna, and he is the greatest archer in the world. His chariot driver is The Lord Krishna. At the last minute, as the first battle is about to commence, Arjuna says to Krishna, “I cannot do this. I cannot kill my own family members. My strength and will are sapped. My bow falls from my hands.”

My uncle was a full professor in the Engineering department at Columbia University in NY, and later became Dean. He was obviously a smart fellow, but he also had a natural philosophical bent. He and I would often wind up chatting at large family events. One time at such an event, he sought me out quite actively and pulled me aside. He said, "I just read something really crazy, so of course immediately thought of you!” Thanks for that—I think. A bit of background before diving into why my uncle sought out his crazy nephew…

You are walking down the street and fall into a hole. You are not pleased (to put it mildly) and with great effort you climb out. A week later… same street, same hole, and in you go. This time it takes you a little less time to get out. A week later… guess what?… same street, same hole. You sort of notice it, but fall in again and climb out. Later on as you are there again, you notice the hole and avoid it. Clever! My goodness, we can be slow!

The value of service is self-forgetfulness. In fact—and this is worth thinking about—it is impossible to feel stress, or even unhappiness, unless you are thinking about yourself. Stress, worry, sadness, fear… is all forgotten when our focus is on helping someone else.

I have noticed that most of us humans are quite sensitive to criticism. (Animals may be as well, but none have told me, so…) The first question to ask is: why are we upset or put off by the critical comment or email? But perhaps the more important question is whether it is true or not.

People often talk about “balance” as in “work-life balance” or “work hard then play hard.” In yoga postures after all, it is almost always appropriate to follow a stretch to one side with a stretch to the other. I’d like to suggest, however, that the idea of balance is perhaps overrated.

When I was 17 I had what was supposed to be a fatal brain tumor. They did not have PET scans and CAT scans in those days, so the diagnosis took quite a while, as I had none of the normal symptoms that one would expect (in my entire life I have never had a headache, for example — not even then). By the time it was clear what the problem was, I had to be rushed into surgery. Fortunately, I had an emergency appointment set up with a top-level neurosurgeon…

I was at the front desk when I heard a woman on her cell phone near our gorgeous fountain. She was a bit loud, but I felt to let it go for a little bit. When it became clear this was to be an extended call, I approached her. I pressed my palms together in a pranam and said, "I am so sorry, but maybe you can take this call right outside? We try to keep a quiet environment for others so they can enjoy the store.” She simply walked to another part of the store and continued her call. I gave it another minute or two and started walking over towards her—she saw me—and she hung up.

I wanted to share a significant change coming to East West. After a year of careful consideration and analysis, I have decided to dramatically shrink our events department. I consider each of you part of the East West family, so wanted to share both the news and the thinking behind this.

The world is enticing. The ups, the downs, the thrills, the spills. The ultimate soap opera to keep us engaged, whether joyous or sad. This is what has us come back over and over, tweaking the details in hopes of the perfect result. But that desire obscures what we are doing here. This planet is a school (and not a PhD program, mind you — it’s more of an elementary school!). The odd thing is that we keep trying to change the school itself rather than to learn the subject matter.

As much as we try to be secure and centered in ourselves, let’s face it, we are social animals. Friends, co-workers, life partners, family… those relationships have a great effect on us. Almost all of our most challenging situations involve something with two legs!

You pass by a flower bed on your property and see a small weed. Bending over, you pull at it. But to your surprise that little weed seems to have a three-foot-long root! Ten minutes later your clothes are less clean, you have broken off the upper part of the weed down to a stub, you are a bit sweaty, and what’s left is smiling at you (laughing?). The easy things are… well… easy. What’s left may not be.