Archive - April 10, 2014

This interview with Rose Taylor Goldfield is the second of a 3 part series on “Training the Wisdom Body”.

(I interviewed Rose in her home, looking out a large window at the San Francisco cityscape on a sunny early-Springtime day. We talked about her Buddhist background, her teachers, this special type of Tibetan Buddhist exercise, the ideas grounding it and the “Wisdom Sun” community she co-directs with her husband Ari….)

The first interview shined light on Meditative Movement as taught by Rose Taylor-Goldfield in her brilliant book “Training the Wisdom Body: Buddhist Yogic Exercise.” (That’s Rose above in the cover photo. ) We looked at the practical side of the exercises and with the last 3 questions, got to know Rose a little better as a person.

In Part 2 below, we sink into the meaning behind the physical practices and the theory behind the “how to” instruction. The feelings and realities we uncover while practicing the forms and what it means to join with them authentically and in the moment.

The Interview, Part 2:

Tina: I want to try to avoid getting too academic here, because what we’re about to discuss really is the beauty of the practice…the meditative life that keeps the movement from being just empty form. So here goes….Can you help us laypeople out with understanding the link between “Buddhism” and “Yoga” in language and history?

Rose: In Tibetan, the word for Buddhist is nangpa sangjehpa. Nangpa means “insider” in the sense of one who turns inward to examine her own mind as a practice. You can see how the term Buddhist from this definition could be applied to many things. In this context, “yoga” isn’t referring to a separate tradition. It’s actually a translation of the Tibetan word naljor, which is used to translate the Sanskrit word yoga. It means to “join with reality,” seeing what’s actually there, being in accord with reality instead of covering it over with our own ideas and beliefs.

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