The Radiance Sutras: Find a Pulse*~

What is this mysterious awareness shimmering 

everywhere within it?

What are these instinctive energies

that undulate through our bodies, 

moving us into action?

And this “matter” out of which our forms are made -

What are these dancing particles of condensed radiance, 

Are they an illusionist's projection?

What is this power we call Life, 

appearing as the play of flesh and breath?

How may I know this mystery and enter it more deeply?

Deep inside the human heart live two lovers….

Goddess/Shakti (Creative Power of The Universe) & God/Shiva (Consciousness That Permeates Everywhere). There they have a coversation about connecting with sacred energies of life through full body spirituality, being at home in the universe, how to accept every breath, sensual experience, and emotion.

This conversation is written in a texted called The Radiance Sutras from the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra

A “tantra” is a manual of practices. This tantra is a set of mediation instructions given as a conversation between two lovers.

The One Who is at Play Everywhere said,

There is a place in the heart where everything meets.
Go there if you want to find me.
Mind, senses, soul, eternity, all are there.
Are you there?

Enter the bowl of vastness that is the heart.
Give yourself to it with total abandon.

Quiet ecstasy is there -
and a steady, regal sense of resting in a perfect spot.

Once you know the way 
the nature of attention will call you 
to return, again and again,
and be saturated with knowing, 
“I belong here, I am at home here.”

Answer that call.

You can read The Radiance Sutras here:
http://www.lorinroche.com/radiancesutras/radiance/sutras1992.html

a few more excerpts that have been inspiring me lately….

The life essence carries on its play 
through the pulsing rhythm 
of outward and inward movement.
This is the ceaseless throb, the rhythm of life - 
terrifying in its eternity, exquisite in its constancy.

Breath flows in, then surrenders to flow out again.

In this moment, drink eternity.

Breath flows out, emptying, emptying, 

Offering itself to infinity.

Cherishing these moments,

Mind dissolves into heart,

Heart dissolves into space,

Body becomes a shimmering field

Pulsating between emptiness and fullness.. 

The emptiness of space permeates the body 
and all directions simultaneously. 
Space is always there, 
already there before your noticing of it. 
What we call space is a presence that is a more solid foundation than the firmest granite. 

Space is permission to exist and worlds within which to express.

Without thinking about it, 
without forming mental images of it,
rest in this vast expanse
and become friends with infinity.

If you can tolerate the nothingness,

the ecstatic energy of that emptiness will surge 

through you and carry you

into the world beyond all thought. 

Consider vast spaciousness as permeating 
above your head, below your tailbone,
and within your heart simultaneously.
In this, find complete freedom to exist.

Forget all of your ideas about the body -

it's this way and it's that way.

And just be with any area of it,

this present body

as permeated with limitless space.

Drenched in freedom.

Bring it.

The Pursuit of Beauty

            

         The consequences of being beautiful are not always as glamorous as we hope.  In order to confront the often unfavorable costs of beauty, we must first understand what drives the pursuit of beauty.  According to Deborah Rhode, the forces that fuel this obsession are a mix of sociolobiolgical foundations, cultural values, market forces, technology, the media, and advertising tools.

            From a sociobiological perspective, appearance has gained importance through evolution. “Sexual selection” is to thank for the aesthetic preferences that exist today. “Over time, individuals whose genes survive are those who choose mates with characteristics conducive to reproductive success. Attractiveness is one such characteristic because it signals health and fertility, particularly in females” (Rhodes, 46). In mate selection, men look for youth and appearance in women while women look for financial capacity in men. In our society, a thin body is linked to a higher socioeconomic status. This contradicts the goal of evolution since extremely low weights can cause problems with the female reproductive system.

            For most of our history, a woman’s value has been in the home, and her status reliant on her physical attractiveness to attract a husband (hence the term “trophy wife”). Social status and appearance go hand in hand for Women. Men don’t have this problem because traditionally, they have alternative ways of building socioeconomic status and appealing to a spouse.  Appearance based “gender hierarchies” exist for women because of the various social and economic influences that perpetuate them. These influences come mainly from the media, advertisements, and technology. “Taken together, they lay the foundations for discrimination based on appearance and the personal costs that it imposes” (Rhodes, 48). 

            Our culture’s pursuit of beauty has not been totally negative for women. The positive effects of the beauty industry in the pursuit of equal rights for woman is something I had never thought much about before reading The Beauty Bias. It is an industry that is for women by women, giving females a huge opportunity to be successful entrepreneurs and business executives. Women are to thank for beauty schools and salons as well as direct sales marketing strategies and celebrity endorsements. While the beauty industry has allowed women to take a step forward in their push for rights and equality, it has also pushed them back by fueling the already strong obsession with appearance for women as individuals. An example of this step backwards would be the rise in distribution and sales of weight reduction products. Since 95% of dieters do not keep weight loss off, the market obviously has a low consumer and high corporate interest. The beauty market is not only targeting women. Adolescent girls have become a desirable target for the beauty industry. “Female adolescents have been a particularly inviting market because most are unhappy with their bodies and vulnerable to media messages” (Rhodes, 51). What is an industry that prays on the insecurities of young girls really doing to push women’s rights and equality forward?

With new advances in technology, it is becoming easier and easier for women, girls, and even men to change what they do not like about themselves. Rhodes makes an important point with the statement: “Beauty may be only skin deep, but that’s what’s instantly and incessantly available in our electronic age; and it is increasingly out of touch with the bodies that nature offers” (Rhodes, 54). I think this is part of one of the biggest injustices in our culture. The media, the beauty industry, and social constructs are constantly blasting messages of how females should look. Being bombarded by the ideal and totally unattainable (for most) image of the “perfect woman” could drive any female to insecurity, eating disorders, and life threating procedures. 

"By the early 21st century, about half of six- to nine-year-olds were wearing lipstick, around two-thirds of preteens wanted to lose weight, the number of adolescents receiving breast implants had quadrupled over the preceding decade, and over 90% of female teenagers reported shopping as their favorite activity" 

- The Beauty Bias (Deborah L. Rhode)

Economic Crisis? Check the Beauty Industry...

Annual Global Investment in grooming totals: $115 Billion

Broken down, that is an estimated...

$38 billion for hair

$24 billion for skin care

$20 billion for cosmetic surgery

$18 billion for cosmetics

$15 billion for perfume

PLUS an additional $40 billion a year on diets

The Beauty Bias: Chapter 1

It is an unfortunate fact that we live in an appearance-based society. The ideals, expectations, and limitations placed on women’s appearances are often as great as the racial discrimination issues in our society. In The Beauty Bias, Deborah L. Rhode’s goal is to “expose the price we pay for undue emphasis on appearance and the strategies we need to address it” (Rhode, 2).  Throughout the book, she will unveil how “appearance-related practices” can place limitations on our daily lives. She will also explore legal remedies for the ongoing discrimination based on appearances that exists in our society.

            According to Rhodes, “It hurts to be beautiful”, but it also “hurts not to be beautiful” (Rhodes, 2). There has been a failure to acknowledge the large economic, physical, and emotional price paid for appearance bias in this country. Appearance-related concerns have become a noteworthy issue, which deserve the response of law and public policy initiatives. The injustices those parallel appearances are: hampering discrimination, social stigma, and costs of conformity in time, expense, and physical risk.  This includes extreme procedures to minor inconveniences.

            There are large social consequences of physical appearance. The influence of looks starts early in life. It is no secret that starting at birth “physically appealing” children are more likely to be considered smart, likeable, and good. Unattractive children are put down and usually experience low self-confidence and poor social skills. Later in life, appearance effects job performance, income, and social status. Unattractive individuals have disadvantages when applying for a job and getting promoted. This even holds true in professions where looks play no part such as politics, law, and medicine. Shockingly, “In representative surveys, 90 percent of women consider looks important to their self image, and over half of young women reported that they would prefer to be hit by a truck than be fat; two thirds would rather be mean or stupid” (Rhode, 6). What kind of society are we living in when a woman would rather be injured or less intelligent than be fat?

In another shocking statistic, we learn that “Although almost a fifth of the United States population lacks basic health care services, inessential cosmetic procedures have increased by 400 percent over the last decade and are the fastest growing area of medical expenditures” (Rhode, 6-7). A lot of these procedures come with health and life risks. Bringing more business to the medical industry, depression and eating disorders are a result of appearance dissatisfaction and yo-yo dieting. The current beauty standards are limited to privileged women with the time and money to dedicate to their appearance.

The beauty bias adds on to already significant discriminatory problems: race, class, ethnicity, and gender. A person’s looks express their religious views, political views, cultural identity, and social class. The media sexualizes women in prominent political positions to women athletes, creating a double standard and sending a message to young women that sexiness is important to their success. What is it saying about the priorities of this country when the highest paid member Sarah Palin’s vice-presidential campaign was her make-up artist?

            These are only a few themes on the importance placed on the appearance of women. I feel passionate about the points made thus far, and look forward to reading more. I was aware of the body image problem in America, and the importance placed on women’s looks and sexuality. However I was not until now aware of the extremes to which this bias is taken. From just the first chapter I feel I have gained a new perspective on appearance. Just like with human rights and decimation issues, I think that law and public policy changes can have the ability to make a difference in our society’s view and expectations on appearance. 

The Beauty Bias, and Introduction

“The Beauty Bias” by Deborah L. Rhode is a wonderfully relevant book about the injustice of appearance in life and law. It is the assigned reading for a class titled “Law, Politics, and Society” I am taking this semester. I find this topic an important one because appearance (especially for women) is a prominent social construct. It affects women on physical, social, psychological, and financial levels. In a lot of cases, the focus appearance places on women in our society distracts them from life or keeps them from accomplishing career, personal, and academic. It can lead to serious illnesses, life-threatening situations, and for some women major financial debt.

Now what does this have to do with yoga? Yoga is a practice that wakes up the true “Self” (notice the capital S). Not the superficial ever-changing self (your physical body, notice the lower case s). Yoga brings you to that deep place inside where your truth lives. With a steady practice, we find the Self that is independent of your body, weight, height, shoes, outfit, or any other superficial beautification practice (note: by “superficial” I do not mean shallow, I am referring the outside layer of your Self). We practice Yoga to strip away the superficial layers of the body and find the real us. This Self you find never changes. Regardless of how much you weigh or what color your hair is, who you are as a person will never change. That is the inner light that shines out through your cute new lulu lemon yoga outfit. Challenging asanas force us to come face to face with our fears, hopes, dreams, strengths, and weaknesses. It eventually becomes about who you are inside your heart, your intelligence, and what you contribute to society.

I am not putting down superficial beauty, high heels, or appearance enhancing products, it is quite the opposite. I will confess that I am guilty of indulging in all these practices. I love makeup, shoes, diets, pedicures, hair straightening, and the works…. but I want you all (myself included), to remember that you are BEAUTIFUL (men too!) and the way society makes you feel should not effect your everyday life. My goal is to create awareness on the social constructs of appearance in our society. I will be posting the reaction papers I write as I read assigned chapters. Your comments are welcome…..