Enjoy my articles published in the Canadian Yogi Magazine

Spring is a time of renewal and reflection. Please enjoy my yoga articles previously published in the Canadian Yogi Magazine https://canadianyogi.com.

For your reading pleasure I've put them in this blog too.

Reflection in writing

A Pebble in the Pond

By Darlene Romanko

published Spring 2019 edition https://canadianyogi.com/a-pebble-in-the-pond

How does yoga help in times of challenge? One way to look at this question is to look within ourselves. A healthy individual contributes to a healthy community. Healthy communities contribute to healthy countries and so on.

My yoga practice contributes to my health and well-being so I can assist others on their journey.  I remember being in a class where troubling world events, disasters and inequity were discussed. We attempted to focus on how each of us responds to these issues. Working an 8-hr. day, volunteering in the evening and running children to their activities, I wondered how I — one tired mother, daughter and spouse — could possibly make a difference in this world. 

Our minds can create powerful positive and negative influences in ourselves and in others. Do my thoughts, words and deeds create suffering or lessen it? Where do my motivations lie? Would I approach an issue with anger, blame and righteousness? Alternately, would I approach it with compassion, joy and wisdom? I decided on the alternate path. 

The pond was all around me. Accepting that challenging issues are part of the human condition, I decided my path would focus on lessening suffering where and when I saw it. My best attempts are enough. Gathering pebbles and inviting others to gather their pebbles, we toss them into the ponds together, freeing them to sink into the depths while watching the ripple effect grow into waves.

Changing Seasons Path of Vipassana

by Darlene Romanko

published Spring 2018 http://www.canadianyogi.com/changing-seasons.html

As a yoga teacher, I usually do a meditation in the morning. Seated on my flower pillow, facing east absorbing the sunshine, I close my eyes. Cleansing breath in and out.  Scanning my chakras, meridians, chanting the mantras in the way of my teachers. Releasing and absorbing the energies of peace within myself and in my surroundings.  Seeking samadhi, the state of bliss. The meditation ends and a new book Realizing Change — Vipassana Meditation in Action sits beside me.  Remaining on my pillow, I watch the leaves turn their crimson, yellow and orange and read about change. Change in our lives while we journey for truth and happiness.

According to the book, Vipassana is a meditation technique that originated in India and was preserved in the Buddhist tradition. Sayagyu U Ba Khin taught at his Vipassana center in Rangoon and entrusted S.N. Goenka to take Vipassana back to India and spread the teachings — teachings that are applicable regardless of one’s background. An invitation to a 10-day course promises to lead you to discover how to meditate. To deal with change using the mysteries of our mind.  It claims that Vipassana meditation develops and purifies the mind using techniques and exercises so we are better able to control ourselves. Some of my favourite sayings are that “change is inevitable; it’s what we do with it that counts” and “the only thing we can control is ourselves”.  This book was inviting me to hone my mind and heart through meditation.  One only had to set aside one’s understandings and be open to the possibilities. ​ Why not?  I registered for the course.  In spring I will head to the Dhamma Surabhi, Vipassana Meditation Center in Merritt, British Columbia, Canada. Open to spring purification on the road to perfection. Welcoming the possibility of change of the seasons in both nature and myself. ​

Update after publication: Circumstances prevented me from attending the spring Vipassana retreat in 2018 but did not stop me from spring cleaning by meditating on.....Becoming Vajrasattva The Tantric Path of Purification Lama Zopa Rinpoche