Welcome into the community of the powerfully peaceful. Our tribe is carrying the banner of all the great visionaries of peaceful change, like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and John Lennon. You are the ones we’ve been waiting for. You can change the world. You ask how can I do that? The answer is that the “you” that you know as “I” cannot do it, but the essential you—the “I AM”—is a force for peaceful transformation that can work through our bodies and minds into the world. Our first task then is to transform ourselves into an instrument for the change by being that change. What is the change that is needed? Well, for one thing, a shift away from I-centeredness to other-centeredness. This is the first step in conducting “peace-power”—seeing ourselves in others—and it is the way of the tribe. Next step: cradle-to-grave security for all life forms on Earth.
We have responsibilities in the world, and the three main ones are:
- Responsibility to the whole family of living beings—all species;
- Responsibility to Mother Earth—the natural world—composed of earth, air, fire, water and space; and
- Responsibility to world leadership and the welfare of the common good.
Our culture’s concept of power has two aspects. Power is taken to be the cause of any change that we observe, including death, and power is also a latent force within that has the potential to cause change, like muscle power or willpower. Human beings are the only animals who confuse power with force, coercion, deceit, manipulation and death. We must change this misperception in order to access “peace-power” and live up to our responsibilities. Our true power is the power of friendliness, the power of kindness, the power of One, the power of Love.
How to accomplish this transformation? The most important step is purification of all our bodies—physical, energetic, emotional, mental and causal. The yoga practices purify us on all levels and pave the way for us to become peaceful warriors.
For thousands of years yogis have been using the same techniques to re-create themselves and as a result, re-create the world we all live in. In the Yoga Sutra, Patanjali teaches that a result of yoga practice is power (vibhuti)…
- power to fly in the sky of infinite possibility;
- power to be invisible to the demons of envy, greed and low self-esteem;
- power to know the great forces of the universe;
- power that moves the sun, moon and stars; and
- power to channel those forces for the good of all beings.
These powers can transform the world we all share.
With a steady yoga practice, you will develop powerful calmness and joy that will allow you to express a vision of the natural world where we live together in peaceful harmony with all living beings.
With a steady yoga practice, you will develop a powerful vision that will cut through the old way of seeing the Earth as a thing to be manipulated and tamed and that will open the eyes of everyone to Her invaluable connection to our own Being.
With a steady yoga practice, you will become a powerful citizen of the world who advocates for the well-being of all, rather than the enrichment of the few.
With a steady yoga practice, you will empower yourself and learn to conduct that power into the actions of the perfect citizen of the world.
