Annoying People

Great spiritual masters often recommend that their students embrace the presence of those who they find annoying. The theory being that the annoying person reflects their own short comings and gives them an opportunity to look deeper at their own lives.

Easy to say, however the ability to remain centered and aware when we feel uncomfortable with someone is much more difficult than doing so when we are in the presence of those who we feel at ease with. But the truth is that we have an opportunity to cultivate both patience and acceptance when we are around people we find annoying. These qualities are vital to our spiritual growth. Annoyance can be an important teacher and our way of dealing with it can be an indicator of the progress we are making on our journey.

There are always going to be people and situations that we cannot control. The way we respond to these experiences reflects our spiritual development and mastery over our own lives.

Try to be a little more accepting of those around you. It smoothes the edges of life. When someone is really getting on your nerves...breathe deep and long until you settle back into yourself and can deal with the situation with mindful awareness.

in peace,
Aaron

Zen Yoga OnFitness

Check out the new issue of OnFitness Magazine. (march/april)

Zen Yoga: Get Your Energy Flowing is on the cover!

I've got four pages with my article The Long Stretch and a whole series of great photos.

OnFitness is considered the #1 magazine for personal trainers. Available at Barnes & Noble, Borders and other bookstores.

http://www.onfitnessmag.com/current_issue.htm

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Hoitsugan Seminars III

Well, I've finally been able to process all of the photos from the Hoitsugan Seminars III. The gallery of photos I've put up is here.

www.artofzenyoga.com/gallery2.htm

The Seminars were a fantastic experience. They took place on the campus of De Anza College in Silicon Valley, California. We had over 115 attendees with 45 different classes to participate in, taught by some of the best karate instructors in the world. The Hoitsugan Seminars are truly blazing a new path in traditional karate training. www.hoitsugan.com

Bringing Zen Yoga to the Seminars has been very gratifying. The response to the breathing & movement practice as a supplement to hard-style training is fantastic. The philosophy is perfectly suited to people looking to deepen their martial arts study.

in peace,
Aaron

Whole Health & Hoitsugan

It feels as if I haven't stopped since I got back from Australia and Japan.

We had a booth at the Whole Health Expo in Northampton, MA (http://wholehealthexpo.com/ )this past weekend and taught a couple of workshops. It was very well attended. I got the sense that people are really looking for something that will help them feel better. The problem is that we tend to look everywhere but inside ourselves for the answer. All the crystals, magnets, detoxifying foot baths and health drinks are wonderful, but without a body that is moving and breathing combined with a mind that is calm and undistracted, they are not really going to be of any real help other than to trick us into thinking we are fine...more on this later.

Need to switch gears this week. Thursday I'm off to San Francisco for the 3rd Hoitsugan Seminars. This is a series 47 karate seminars taught by some of the best martial artists in the world. I am honored to be a part of it and bring Zen Yoga to the program. I will be teaching 5 seminars over the weekend. Should be a great time!
more information is here: http://www.hoitsugan.com/hoitsuganseminars3.html

The new Zen Yoga Online Course starts this week and we are happy to have a good group of new instructors joining us. Always looking for people who want to explore things a little deeper.

in peace,
Aaron
http://www.artofzenyoga.com/

Photo Gallery - Australia & Japan

I've finally had a chance to put up some photos of my travels to Australia and Japan. You can see them here:

www.artofzenyoga.com/gallery1.htm

I'd love to hear your comments on these, please leave your comments here....

many thanks,
Aaron