yoga as medicine ::: thoughts of a practicing yogini

"Sri Yoga Devi is the Goddess of Yoga and the Shakti of Bhagavan Narayana."
http://www.suddhayoga.net

yoga is such powerful medicine.
this is us taking back our inherent birthright of love, power & health...
we are such exquisite & unique expressions of the Universe!

our practice is unique to us.
our breath, our LIFE FORCE, is unique to us & yet it reminds us our ONENESS -
WE ALL BREATH, in ... and out ... it is also in this dualistic motion that We Were All Created.
Yoga is Youth & Youth is not an age, Youth is not a number,
Youth is how we choose to live,
how much fun we allow ourselves to have: on and off our mat,
how we choose to honor our bodies....
Yoga is a worshiping of our own Temple, so we may show up for ourselves,
so we can show up for those we CHOOSE to love & to Honor,
to be present, be strong, be Love & just BE with...
Our practice is just that: Our Practice.
so be gentle with yourself, accept yourself as You Are. Allow yourself to dance, liberated in the Maya... breath in the Maya, breath in the Lila, the divine Dance, breath in the posture,
Breath. Keep Breathing.

Namaste, Sat Nam, Jai Ma in deep gratitude...deep surrender.

Thank you Teachers & Masters
who have come before us & allowed us Now,
OUR PRACTICE.

ommmm shanti, shanti, shanti....
natalia.

PLEASURE & LIBERATION :::

yes, you can have both.

from my teacher: Psalm Isadora :
"... We learn our dharma, our law, our place in the Wheel of Life. Once we come to know and surrender to our dharma, we can turn the wheel of life instead of trying to turn against it..."

and how exhausting is to continuously feel we are swimming upstream against Mother Ocean's current: she will always outswim us. the struggle against ourSelves, avoidance of ourSelves, is an avoidance of our inner voice is Our own struggle against the current.
water flows, Mother Ocean's river's which flow easily and deeply into Her waters (which covers 71% of the Earth's surface...) represent that flow... it's a flow into her own depths . To know our dharma (our path) we must allow ourSelves to flow more deeply INTO ourselves.... how deep do you allow yourself to go? to grow? GO IN ... that's where the medicine is... INSIDE OF US...

This came to me recently during meditation, I chose to come out immediately to transcribe it:
"When we think someone is done with us, we become very upset - what this really is, is an opportunity to more fully step into our Dharma...When we truly know our Dharma, our life path, we are filled with inner peace...because each opportunity to be "alone" is not truly aloneness..its a space to more fully step into who we are, and why we came- and we all came here to bring something special and be a unique expression of spirit, of the creator..."


***flow deeper. get deep. come in, come in.. ask yourself questions, love yourself & accept yourself a little more deeply right now in this moment than you ever have before... it's time. we are the One's we've been waiting for... :) :) :)
***

love.natalia.:::n.om

I'M GRATEFUL FOR ...................

green juice, cafe gratitude, life food organic, golden bridge, yoga, tantra, psalm isadora, taylor, n.om again.. skyler, crystals, dolphins, jai zeta, my mommy, juicy, Facebook and gmail, airplanes, kindkreme, beautiful art, kind people, smiles, sunshine, the mountains in los angeles, my friends who love me and listen to me, christopher witecki, soulgarden, rudy, her laugh, the gate slamming, bhakti fest, n.om, creativity, osho, ram dass, healthy chakras, brilliant people, kind people, smiling, dogs, babies, amazing conversations, sunshine, sex, beautiful hair, art, expression, pure barre, ryan heffington, dance, lucent dossier, burning man, lightining in a bottle, lyndsey, marty… lsd & amazing beautiful high vibe mushroom chocolates, amazing wine, mini coopers, well designed type work, beautiful cars, beautiful nature, nature, sunshine, sky, clouds, trees, the park in hollywood, shannon…. kombucha 2000… erewhon, healthy roads, learning and loving our "mistakes", natalie, jerry park, rosie…black hair dye….me. the universe. god, krishna, jesus, buddha, crystals, every-thing.


with love, natalia

mallorca, spain / hossegor, south of france

paris:

written on a napkin in an italian restaurant in Paris, waiting for the rain to submit.

You, that flows within my inner sphere,
to knock me down & search around, with care
Do I squander the moments that redefine my mirth?
am I searching, nothing,
fondling the Earth...?

i've truly been enjoying my journey through Europe - to stop and reflect is really why I feel I manifested this trip. When i'm home in Los Angeles, I am always going, here I have allowed myself an opportunity to slow down my pace a little bit and observe. Not just everything around me, but to really observe mySelf: what I want, who I am and how I fit into (or don't;) to this big, mad, beautiful world I chose to live in...

someday, somewhere, anywhere, here, there:

"Someday, somewhere - anywhere, unfailingly, you’ll find yourself,
and that, and only that, can be the happiest or bitterest hour of your life."
— Pablo Neruda

n.om from Hannah Hughes on Vimeo.

jewelry making class TWO ! :::

so much fun :::
love, n.om

IT FEELS GOOD TO HAVE FOUND MY SELF ONCE AGAIN .

response to naked.

photos, natalia.benson, 2010

response:::

what is it to be naked? to be nude & unshamed by whatever your physical form? :

it is freedom, bliss, child-like fairy innocence, eternal beauty, because there is no one & no thing

other than the beat/bat of your own heart, whom can whisper words of solace & Truth about

your own Being.

we come in Naked, we exit Naked, through the gift shop, up to the stars, as brand new as when

we came in ... back to the Love Centered Source that rests at the very core of our own Beingness,

it's never not with us, it's never been without us, it's because it is Us.

stare naked at YourSelf in a mirror, at your Lover, at your Friend, at your Foe,

because peering behind the judgment of an

overactive mind, we are all in Oneness. Nudity is Oneness, & courage & bravery at Accepting

EVERYTHING exactly as it is ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

so take it all off & just BE.

--- natalia, naked on this day june 8, 2011

an ode to a beautiful nude

p. helen korpak

((( sent to me by my best friend )))
an ode to a beautiful nude

With a chaste heart
With pure eyes I celebrate your beauty
Holding the leash of blood
So that it might leap out and trace your outline
Where you lie down in my Ode
As in a land of forests or in surf
In aromatic loam, or in sea music

Beautiful nude
Equally beautiful your feet
Arched by primeval tap of wind or sound
Your ears, small shells
Of the splendid American sea
Your breasts of level plentitude
Fulfilled by living light
Your flying eyelids of wheat
Revealing or enclosing
The two deep countries of your eyes

The line your shoulders have divided into pale regions
Loses itself and blends into the compact halves of an apple
Continues separating your beauty down into two columns of
Burnished gold
Fine alabaster
To sink into the two grapes of your feet
Where your twin symmetrical tree burns again and rises
Flowering fire
Open chandelier
A swelling fruit
Over the pact of sea and earth


From what materials
Agate?
Quartz?
Wheat?
Did your body come together?
Swelling like baking bread to signal silvered hills
The cleavage of one petal
Sweet fruits of a deep velvet
Until alone remained
Astonished
The fine and firm feminine form


It is not only light that falls over the world spreading inside your body
Yet suffocate itself
So much is clarity
Taking its leave of you
As if you were on fire within


The moon lives in the lining of your skin


----PABLO NERUDA

every thing is every thing :::

Everything is everything
What is meant to be, will be
After winter, must come spring
Change, it comes eventually
[2x]

I wrote these words for everyone
Who struggles in their youth
Who won't accept deception
Instead of what is truth
It seems we lose the game,
Before we even start to play
Who made these rules? We're so confused
Easily led astray
Let me tell ya that
Everything is everything
Everything is everything
After winter, must come spring
Everything is everything
Change, it comes eventually ...

- lauryn hill