Dan Schwartzman http://danielschwartzman.com A Bikram Yoga Teacher's Journey posterous.com Thu, 25 Aug 2011 19:02:04 -0700 Impossible is nothing http://danielschwartzman.com/impossible-is-nothing http://danielschwartzman.com/impossible-is-nothing
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. 

Bikram Yoga is doing the same thing over and over again and achieving different results. 

Have no expectations. 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1196591/Camel_lowres.png http://posterous.com/users/4SOmtDgrrSBX Dan Schwartzman Dan Dan Schwartzman Thu, 04 Aug 2011 12:09:35 -0700 Tao http://danielschwartzman.com/tao http://danielschwartzman.com/tao

Humans are born soft and weak.

They die stiff and strong.

The ten thousand plants and trees are born soft and tender

And die withered and sere.


The stiff and strong

Are Death’s companions

The soft and weak 

Are Life’s companions.


Therefore,

The strongest armies do not conquer,

The greatest trees are cut down.

The strong and great sink down.

The soft and weak rise up.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1196591/Camel_lowres.png http://posterous.com/users/4SOmtDgrrSBX Dan Schwartzman Dan Dan Schwartzman Thu, 16 Jun 2011 12:45:00 -0700 Welcome to the Monkey House http://danielschwartzman.com/welcome-to-the-monkey-house http://danielschwartzman.com/welcome-to-the-monkey-house

Whenever I feel disconnected from reading, humor -- or both -- I pick up a book by Kurt Vonnegut.  Right now, I am reading a collection of short stories called, "Welcome to the Monkey House." In the preface to the book, Vonnegut shares what he says are the two themes to all of his novels, which were inspired by messages from his siblings. 

1) “No pain” were the last words of his dying sister.
2) “Here I am, cleaning shit off of practically everything,” his brother said in a letter after he had his first child.

At the end of his novel Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut relates a quote that has stayed with me and resonates these themes:
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"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom always to tell the difference."

Coincidentally, the phrase was etched into a pendant hanging from a naked woman's neck who had been transported to the planet Tralfamadore to serve as a human specimen in an alien zoo. 
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In "Welcome to the Monkey House," Vonnegut dreams up similarly hilarious ideas that embody the human condition.  In the title story, the world population is 17 billion people and population control is of the utmost importance, leading to the invention of something called ethical birth control, which makes people numb from the waste down.

"Most men said their bottom halves felt like cold iron or balsa-wood. Most women said their bottom halves felt like wet cotton or stale ginger ale. The pills were so effective that you could blindfold a man who had taken one, tell him to recite the Gettysburg Address, kick him in the balls while he was doing it, and he wouldn't miss a syllable."

"The pills were ethical because they didn't interfere with a person's ability to reproduce, which would have been unnatural and immoral.  All the pills did was take every bit of pleasure out of sex. Thus did science and morals go hand in hand."

And how did the universal usage of these pills get enacted into law? An exchange between the story's two main characters, Nancy and Billy the Poet, explains:

“The world is in the mess it is today because of the nothingheadedness of olden times.  Don’t you see?" She [Nancy] was pleading weakly. "The world can’t afford sex anymore.”

“Of course it can afford sex," said Billy. "What it can’t afford anymore is reproduction.”

“Then why the laws?”

“They’re bad laws," said Bily. "If you go back through history you’ll find that the people who have been most eager to rule, to make the laws, to enforce the laws and to tell everybody exactly how God Almighty wants things here on Earth -- those people have forgiven themselves and their friends for anything and everything.  But they have been absolutely disgusted and terrified by the natural sexuality of common men and women.”

For me, good writing like this is timeless and evokes a true feeling: joy.

Or, as the author says eloquently in regards to sex:

"I have spent this night, and many others like it, attempting to restore a certain amount of innocent pleasure to the world, which is poorer in pleasure than it needs to be."

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1196591/Camel_lowres.png http://posterous.com/users/4SOmtDgrrSBX Dan Schwartzman Dan Dan Schwartzman Wed, 08 Jun 2011 08:06:00 -0700 Alex Nakleushev, Bikram Yogi http://danielschwartzman.com/alex-nakleushev-bikram-yogi http://danielschwartzman.com/alex-nakleushev-bikram-yogi

"Pain is inevitable...

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... Suffering is optional."

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- Alex Nakleushev, Bikram Yoga NYC

 

Flowers

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1196591/Camel_lowres.png http://posterous.com/users/4SOmtDgrrSBX Dan Schwartzman Dan Dan Schwartzman Sat, 28 May 2011 17:32:00 -0700 Ethan Waldman, Bikram Yogi http://danielschwartzman.com/ethan-waldman-bikram-yogi http://danielschwartzman.com/ethan-waldman-bikram-yogi

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"It's so much easier...

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to accept where you are...

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if only you are in the right place." 

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- Ethan Waldman, Bikram Yoga Burlington

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1196591/Camel_lowres.png http://posterous.com/users/4SOmtDgrrSBX Dan Schwartzman Dan Dan Schwartzman Sat, 21 May 2011 19:02:00 -0700 Yvon Chouinard http://danielschwartzman.com/yvon-chouinard http://danielschwartzman.com/yvon-chouinard
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via 2outofthree.com

The whole purpose of climbing something like Everest is to effect some sort of spiritual and physical gain. But if you compromise the process you’re an asshole when you start out and an asshole when you get back.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1196591/Camel_lowres.png http://posterous.com/users/4SOmtDgrrSBX Dan Schwartzman Dan Dan Schwartzman Sat, 14 May 2011 19:55:19 -0700 Complete 180 http://danielschwartzman.com/complete-180 http://danielschwartzman.com/complete-180
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"The best journeys answer questions that - in the beginning - you didn't even think to ask." - Jeff Johnson, 180 South

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1196591/Camel_lowres.png http://posterous.com/users/4SOmtDgrrSBX Dan Schwartzman Dan Dan Schwartzman Wed, 11 May 2011 11:27:00 -0700 New Kona Bike Day | Urban Adventours http://danielschwartzman.com/new-kona-bike-day-urban-adventours-0 http://danielschwartzman.com/new-kona-bike-day-urban-adventours-0

Happy New Bike Day, Dan S!

Few things make us happier than seeing a customer and his or her new companion ride away from our shop together. So, in honor of our great bikes, and even greater customers, we plan to celebrate such events a bit more often here on the blog.

Today we celebrate the happy partnership of Dan and his new Kona Sutra. May they enjoy many miles together and have a spectacular ride down the California coast this coming fall. Cheers!

Dan S. and his new Kona Sutra

Dan S. and his new Kona Sutra

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Posted on May 8th, 2011 in Bike Shop, New Bike Day | | No Comments »

via urbanadventours.com

As Outkast said, I got my "Wheelz of Steel."

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1196591/Camel_lowres.png http://posterous.com/users/4SOmtDgrrSBX Dan Schwartzman Dan Dan Schwartzman Mon, 09 May 2011 18:53:00 -0700 The Joy Is in the Journey http://danielschwartzman.com/happiness http://danielschwartzman.com/happiness

This past weekend I caught up with an old friend. After a night out, we came home and had one of those philosophical conversations that go late into the night. Surrounded by the white walls of his apartment, my friend told me about his experiences living in a big city. He told me about living in a fun neighborhood, but that he was not happy because the street he lived on was noisy.

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"If I lived one street over, I could have been happy," he said.

I started thinking. Sure, one street over could have been nice, but perhaps that's where the garbage trucks park.  Or maybe the house would have squeaky floorboards or drafty windows. If it's not one thing, it's something else.  Somethings are within ones power to change and some things are not. Contentment comes from within in the power to accept what you can't change and to change what you can. (Recall the last page of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five). 

The next day at breakfast another thought occurred to me and my face lit up.  Granted, someone has probably said it before, but it was new for me, especially in its succinct way of synthesizing the idea. My thought way this:

"Happiness is a journey. Happiness is not a destination." 

When I related a few pieces of this story to my yoga class this morning, they erupted in cheers when I delivered the last line after the final exercise.

Then, in sevasana, I added one final thought.

"Everything you do is yoga.  The journey is yoga."

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1196591/Camel_lowres.png http://posterous.com/users/4SOmtDgrrSBX Dan Schwartzman Dan Dan Schwartzman Sun, 08 May 2011 20:46:00 -0700 Quotes http://danielschwartzman.com/quotes http://danielschwartzman.com/quotes

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"Even if I was dead... 
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I would still practice." 

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- Ann Marie Paul, Bikram Yoga Brewster

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1196591/Camel_lowres.png http://posterous.com/users/4SOmtDgrrSBX Dan Schwartzman Dan Dan Schwartzman Thu, 05 May 2011 12:34:00 -0700 The Right Way http://danielschwartzman.com/the-right-way http://danielschwartzman.com/the-right-way

Bikram Yoga is for everyone and every body. It doesn't matter how well you do each posture, only that you try the right way.  Even if you can only do part of the posture, you will receive one hundred percent of the benefit medically If you try the right way.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1196591/Camel_lowres.png http://posterous.com/users/4SOmtDgrrSBX Dan Schwartzman Dan Dan Schwartzman Tue, 04 Jan 2011 20:56:00 -0800 Try (Much More) Harder http://danielschwartzman.com/try-much-more-harder http://danielschwartzman.com/try-much-more-harder

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"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better."

Samuel Beckett.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1196591/Camel_lowres.png http://posterous.com/users/4SOmtDgrrSBX Dan Schwartzman Dan Dan Schwartzman Tue, 04 Jan 2011 15:19:00 -0800 Peace http://danielschwartzman.com/peace http://danielschwartzman.com/peace

There once was a king who offered a prize to the artist who would paint the best picture of peace. Many artists tried. The king looked at all the pictures. But there were only two he really liked, and he had to choose between them.

One picture was of a calm lake. The lake was a perfect mirror for peaceful towering mountains all around it. Overhead was a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. All who saw this picture thought that it was a perfect picture of peace.

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The other picture had mountains, too. But these were rugged and bare. Above was an angry sky, from which rain fell and in which lightning played. Down the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall. This did not look peaceful at all.

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But when the king looked closely, he saw behind the waterfall a tiny bush growing in a crack in the rock. In the bush a mother bird had built her nest. There, in the midst of the rush of angry water, sat the mother bird on her nest - in perfect peace.

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Which picture do you think won the prize? The king chose the second picture. Do you know why?

"Because," explained the king, "peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. Peace means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your heart. That is the real meaning of peace."

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1196591/Camel_lowres.png http://posterous.com/users/4SOmtDgrrSBX Dan Schwartzman Dan Dan Schwartzman Wed, 29 Dec 2010 13:44:53 -0800 The Mississippi River http://danielschwartzman.com/the-mississippi-river http://danielschwartzman.com/the-mississippi-river "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.  Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating on one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." - Mark Twain

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1196591/Camel_lowres.png http://posterous.com/users/4SOmtDgrrSBX Dan Schwartzman Dan Dan Schwartzman Tue, 28 Dec 2010 13:28:17 -0800 Evidence http://danielschwartzman.com/evidence http://danielschwartzman.com/evidence "Set your own standards. Not everybody can do what we do
We can't do what everybody else does. Alot of people get
comfortable playing follow the leader. But if you want to
see change you need to be the leader to follow. Let's make it happen." - Evidence

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1196591/Camel_lowres.png http://posterous.com/users/4SOmtDgrrSBX Dan Schwartzman Dan Dan Schwartzman Fri, 17 Sep 2010 00:35:00 -0700 A Yogi's First Post http://danielschwartzman.com/the-first-post-bikram-boi http://danielschwartzman.com/the-first-post-bikram-boi

San Diego in three days and counting.  Been getting my stretch on in Portland, Oregon, a great town that sustains five studios.

I am stoked.

-D

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1196591/Camel_lowres.png http://posterous.com/users/4SOmtDgrrSBX Dan Schwartzman Dan Dan Schwartzman