honorCode and Dharma Project Partnership

“The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!”

— William Wordsworth

I love the story about William Wordsworth that Aadil shares in his book, Fire of Love. “William Wordsworth spent most of his life in the beautiful Lake District of Northern England… soon after Wordsworth moved to Dove Cottage, he sent a letter of protest to the local authorities complaining about the constant noise of the horse-drawn buggies on the road near his home. He claimed that it disturbed his concentration and he could not write poetry. He wrote that a wheeled buggy passed by ‘at least once a week.’

Can you imagine that level of concentration and connection! “Getting and spending, getting and spending”... that’s what we do. We have lost the wonder.

It's time to reconnect. Read many other inspirational stories from Fire of Love during our upcoming book club that starts September 10th at 12pm. Register Here.

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honorCode's 2YR Anniversary Celebration

The Dharma Project is so excited to have honorCode as our partner. Together we were awarded United Way’s Spark Prize, which will help us to bring a joint program of computer science, SEL(social and emotional learning), mindfulness and yoga into the lives of teachers and students in Atlanta Public Schools. Join us on September 12th for honorCode’s 2nd year anniversary fundraiser at Atlanta Tech Village. Dharma Project will be showcased at this event. Get your tickets here. If you can’t make it to the event, you can still donate to the cause.

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Creative Loafing Article

Check out Creative Loafing's interview with Rutu. The article was supposed to be a cover story, but CL went from being a weekly to a monthly publication in August and we lost to an article about chicken wings. The irony!

Weekend Class Schedule

We have a few schedule changes for this Memorial Day weekend:

Saturday, May 27th 10am with Ronald Young
Sunday, May 28th 10am Class Cancelled
Monday, May 29th 6:45pm Class Cancelled

“Awareness is the opposite of violence. ”

— Aadil Palkhivala.

May veterans everywhere experience peace and healing.

While I'm Away

I will be at Purna Yoga East in Clayton, NC assisting Aadil Palkhivala with the 500 Hour Purna Yoga Teacher Training. There are still a few more days to register for this training. This time that I spend immersing myself in study and teaching not only feeds my development as a student of yoga but it also allows me to better serve you in your process as a practitioner. The challenge I experience when I leave town is that my classes diminish in attendance. I understand the connection one has to a particular teacher and I appreciate the investment of time, money, and effort that you make to attend my class and study with me and it is important for me to leave town to refine myself and my teaching.

I would like to leave town and not worry about whether or not two weeks away will create a strain on the business. My request is that you continue to attend class, nourish your practice with consistency, expand your mind to the potential of learning from another teacher, support me so I can better support you and help keep the doors of this beautiful studio open. We're in it together.

Thanks for your continued support of All Life is Yoga. I look forward to sharing the teachings I receive from Aadil with you.

The "How" Is Irrelevant: Finding My Yoga Teacher Part II

by Rutu Chaudhari

The yogic path has been one of the most daunting and also, one of the most rewarding endeavors of my life.  It’s a grueling dance of commitment, effort and faith.

Early on, at the onset of my pursuit for a yoga teacher, I was able to grasp the power of commitment.  I didn’t know anything about Aadil Palkhivala; I had read a few of his articles in Yoga Journal Magazine, but I never actually studied with him. I had no idea what sort of individual he was or what he was offering as yoga.  When I examined his training, I was more or less awe struck.  First of all, it was a 2,000 hour certification.  What?  The most I’d heard of up until then was 500 hours.  This alone was intriguing.

As I read on, I learned that his wife, Savitri, was a meditation master who taught an accessible, heart opening meditation program that was at the core of the Purna Yoga curriculum.  I didn’t realize how much I was interested in meditation until I read about Savitri’s experience and dedication to knowing herself and embodying her truth.  That’s when I truly felt that this was the program for me. I didn’t know these people but something in me said, ‘YES , I’m definitely doing this!’

Then I realized that the training was in Washington State...that’s on the other side of the country.  Nah, I don’t think I am gonna be able to do this program.  Then I scrolled down and saw the price!  Yeah, I’m definitely not doing this training!

The How! How can I make this happen?  How will I afford this?  How can I take that much time off, etc? The How is a dream killer. Whenever I thought about how I could possibly make this happen I just felt discouraged, dispirited and stifled.

For some reason, in spite of my disheartened state, I made the decision that I have to do this program. These are the teachers I want to study with since this was the only yoga teacher training out there calling me.  The result of this decision is what taught me one of the most profound and important truths of being an artist and having dreams. The How is irrelevant.  The pursuit of my aspiration has nothing to do with how I’m going to actually make it happen.  The How is a result of my faith and commitment.  The How unfolds in a way that my mind could never conceive.  So why bother using the mind to focus on the how? Just focus on the dream.

The How is irrelevant.  What a beautiful lesson to start me off on my journey into Purna Yoga.  A journey, I quickly learned, is a study with true masters.  Each moment with Aadil and Savitri is a transmission.  Even in the process of deciding to study with them, I experienced their commitment and faith transmitting through me.

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Check back soon for the next chapter of Rutu's journey. To read Part I, please click here.

Rutu Chaudhari is a certified Purna Yoga teacher who holds a 2,000-hour certification. Rutu assists teacher trainings, yoga workshops and conferences with Aadil Palkhivala.  She is the Director of the College of Purna Yoga in Atlanta and conducts teacher trainings at her thriving studio, All Life is Yoga.

Rutu is a shining example of the discipline and love for yoga. She sincerely lives her yoga and her radiance and light shine from the inside out. Rutu offers an abounding knowledge of alignment and anatomy, meditation, practical application of yogic philosophy and nutrition and lifestyle from Ayurveda, Chinese and Western traditions. She is also a leading teacher of yoga therapeutics.

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