June 23, 2010 on 11:00 am
From the desk of The Spiritual Explorer
Juliet: from Romeo and Juliet:
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
by any other name would smell as sweet.
Mata Laxsmi
Mata Laxsmi arrived at Kashi Ashram in 2002, almost eight years ago. She had been named Mata Laxsmi after a month long work study with Ma Jaya. Later when I saw Mata Laxsmi against the backdrop of her gracious and lovely home in Atlanta and personally witnessed her extreme generosity to people, I saw that she could not have been named otherwise. So I must disagree with Shakespeare.
Mata Laxsmi received her first official Kali Natha Teachers Training Certificate in 2007, but had the luck to experience other asanas before they were formally integrated into The Kali Natha Yoga Teacher Training. I think you will find her early experience of doing the Kali Natha Yoga interesting:
Mata Laxsmi: “I first came to the ashram in 2002 for my month long work-study. Ma Jaya had just begun Kali Natha Yoga and other people were beginning to teach it. It was Kali Natha Yoga in its early form, particularly some of the early asanas, The Flying Hanuman and Ganapati asanas. The end of the month long culminated with the beginning of Laxmi Puja and I felt blessed to receive my name at that time. To commemorate this time, Ma had created a new asana called the Kashi Laxmi Prosperity Puja, which after much preparation was performed by her chelas that day. The next day after Laxmi Puja, as part of that group, we received word that those who were interested were to continue this asana 11 times.
This asana took 15 to 20 minutes to complete. Having just received my name, I was excited to practice this asana; so I and a large number of others started it. By the time we got to the fifth round of this asana, the group had shrunk to only four of us. By the sixth round we decided we would attach a prayerful intention to each asana and initially dedicated it to someone we thought of in our heads and sent healing energy to them. As each asana proceeded, intentional direction shifted to praying for Ma and her well being. Finally, we found that our last asana was dedicated outwardly toward any suffering of people in countries in general and finally to any persons who suffered in the world.
What began as a repetition of movement within an asana evolved into a conscious intention projected outwardly to all of humanity, holding them in our minds and hearts as we practiced this asana. I began to feel that the asana was getting legs as it were; that the practicing of it was becoming a powerful healing entity that had the ability to truly affect whomever we were holding an intention and praying for. It had evolved into no longer just movement of our bodies, but a solid moving prayer we were sending out into the world.”
Mata Laxsmi told me that this was to be her first feeling of actually inhabiting and feeling the power of Kali Natha Yoga and gratitude for the opportunity of effecting a real change in this world. As she put it, “From that time on, we were given an opportunity to take our prayers for well being, health and prosperity outwards to the world and actually make a difference.”
At this time in her life, Mata Laxsmi is an innovative entrepreneur melding her spiritual experience with her work life, thus fulfilling a prayerful intention that began eight years ago while performing a Kali Natha Yoga asana. We wish her the best of luck.
You can read about Mata Laxsmi at her site www.MakingIdeasVisible.com
Kali Natha Yoga as taught at Kashi Ashram began their 200 hour or residential program on June 11, 2010 divided into 10 days and 100 hours in June and 10 days and 100 hours in November, 2010. During the time of training you are fully immersed in ashram life and taught personally by Ma Jaya in regular darshan and group yoga meetings in a very intimate setting. Graduates of the 20 days Kali Natha Yoga are then invited to the 500 hour advanced training beginning January 2011.