Have you read any of the works by David Deida?

Immersed in the world of Hatha yoga, Tai Chi Chuan and meditation, plus research in medicine and consciousness since he was a teen (yup, he was admitted to the Florida Scholars Program for “gifted and unusual students” at the University of Florida before he’d even graduated high school), Deida is acknowledged as one of the most insightful and provactive spiritual teachers of our time.

That was a looong sentence–but summing up all of Deida isn’t easy. And I’m just getting started.

It’s funny that, in the midst of a rising personal awareness of the truly sacred nature of sexual energy and Kundalini energy, along came my new registered massage therapist, Dawn Leonard. The teacher arrives when the student is ready, I suppose.

Not just an RMT, Dawn has herself studied multiple disciplines and is passionate about combining scientific fact with metaphysical understanding. She’s also passionate about healthy sexuality–especially for women. Enter her mentioning her latest read, “Finding God Through Sex”, and exit her lending Lindsey the book “The Way of the Superior Man”–both by Deida.

Why’d I pick a book written for men? It was calling to me. I read it in two days. I couldn’t wait to pick it up again. I’m in love with this book. I’m in love with the version of women Deida presents in this book, and the version of men. I’m in love with the fact that it is possible for women to be feminine or masculine and men vice versa–and that it is possible for us to have healthy, conscious, spiritually uplifting relationships that serve our greatest purpose by honouring our essential self.

I’ve gained so much from this one book. Here are

5 Yoga Tips for Lovers, inspired by David Deida:
(“Yoga” here is being used in the most fundamental way, defined as union)

1. We all look for love through union. For most of us, this search is limited to mating, having sex, and finding a life partner.
2. We try to find release from our worries and stresses and escape into the ocean of love through this union, but unless we are practicing conscious relationships with ourselves and others, we always end up disatisfied.
3. There are simple practices that can help us maintain healthy, radiant, supportive relationships with our partners and ourselves. These include honouring parts of ourselves we might have labeled as “too stereotypical”, or “inappropriate”–based on our societal judgements. Are there times when we women feel the urge to let our emotions really come into play, to really express them, and loudly–but we resist because we don’t want to be seen as “emotional–just like a woman”? Deida has no judgements of the emotional waves feminine women tend to experience more than masculine men. He writes, simply, that this can be a part of feminine women’s essential nature. And since there is nothing lesser about being feminine, there’s nothing lesser about being emotional.
4. For the men, Deida recommends seeing the challenges presented by attempting to understand and navigate feminine women’s fluidity and capacity for changing rapidly as representative of the challenges of the world. It’s a man’s job, he says, to stand full of love, holding steady and willing to cleave through the surface waves with conscious, light love. No need to understand or try to navigate. Just stand steady, full of penetrating love.
5. And what about the chocolate-lovers? Mostly women, Deida explains it this way. If we’re not getting the love we look for from our partners, or within ourselves–where the deepest love is accessed–we’ll fill the void with chocolate. Or shopping.

Interesting, hey?

With love,

Lindsey

5 yoga tips for lovers. singletons included, and chocolate-lovers, too. inspiration from David Deida [vid]

March 16, 2011