“If your happiness depends upon someone
else being reasonable, then you are in a lot of trouble.”-Richard Parenti,
Monday, March 7, 2016.
“You have control only over one thing
and that’s your thoughts… You can choose the thought that makes you feel good
or you can choose the thought that keeps you in the honey trap of negative
thinking.” Richard Parenti
“One of the most important things you
can learn in Yoga is: learn how to behave, be successful, be functional and
productive in the material world so you may set an example for others.” Richard
Parenti
I am very fortunate to receive daily
affirmation texts from Richard. These daily words are positive, uplifting and
remind me how essential living a purposeful life really is. What I mean by
living a purposeful life is that I can chose to live a conscious life as opposed
to a self -centered fast food approach to life. I can chose to in digest in my
spirit nourishing words of encouragement and wisdom that can bring about
internal change which translates to external change. Let’s start a change
reaction whereby we live purposeful, meaningful lives.
I met Richard Parenti in October of
2014. He was seated next to me at The Great Valley Bookfest in Manteca,
California. We hit it off instantly. Richard is a mentor, a yoga instructor, a
teacher, an author and I consider him a friend. In life, I believe we are here to
teach one another life lessons. Richard has had a wealth of experience in his
life and he is willing to share it. To me, that is what being a mentor is all about. Richard is the author of: Emotional Sobriety: Feel Good Secrets for
Everyone, Balboa Press, 2013, and was a contributing author in, Manifesting Magnificence: A Personal Growth
Workbook, Serendipity Press/Serendipity Media Group, 2015.
Describe
for us what made you decide to become a yoga teacher for patients with M.S.
In 2003,
a young woman in a wheel chair came into the yoga studio that I just opened and
asked if I would teach a yoga class to people with multiple sclerosis. I said I
was not qualified and had no idea of what or how to teach such a class.
Her
response caught me off guard. She said, “What if I bring 8 students to you for
a trial class.”
Again I
said no. Then she said, “I, not only will get the students, but I will train
you as I have done yoga for several years, and I will collect the monies for
you.”
She was
stubborn. So thinking she would never find 8 students nor be able to get the
money I said o.k.
We set a
date to do a trial class. I never expected her to show up. But indeed she did
with 8 people and handed me the money.
That’s
how it began. And not only did she begin teaching me by giving me feedback, the
rest of the class would often throw in their two cents. It was a new experience
of letting go of control and opening up the door in me of being more
compassionate and open up deeper to my own inner growth while teaching.
And now
we have the longest ongoing MS Yoga class in Stanislaus and San Joaquin County.
Also, for the MS Society of Northern California I train yoga teachers how to
teach MS yoga. And I feel uplifted every time I teach this class, as the
students are so appreciative of their progress and that I take the time to work
with them. It is very fulfilling.
What are
you working on now?
Now I am
working on my giving my workshop, “Emotional Mastery” (Chitta Prasadanam) to
yoga students learning to become teachers more often as well as mentoring
individuals who are sincere in their quest to become God Realized,
understanding that I too am on the path and I have many tools to offer others
that have used and am still using.
And I am
focused on spending more quality time with family and friends, and more time in
the sun appreciating all that I have become, all my wonderful life experiences
and all that I have been given.
How have
the daily inspirational texts helped you and others?
They
remind me to the deeper work I can still do on myself and from what others tell
me it helps them understand certain aspects of spiritual growth or it also
reminds them of what they already know and may or may not be applying in their
lives.
Can
you please share some of your favorites?
Live
with joy
I’m
happy with dying and I’m happy with living. Both are appealing to me
It’s
alright
So
what
Peace,
love and family, all else is just noise
I
love we all get to choose what we want, whether we know it or not
You
recently shared with your personal friends that you no longer fear dying, how
did this come about?
It
started six years ago when my mentor gave me an initiatory Sanskrit death
mantra. Meaning, I was being trained to let go of the fear of dying and embrace
a spiritual state of consciousness higher than the one I was at.
I have
had enough experiences internally that showed me that I was not the body, but
an Energy Being that was always in a state of Joy and Peace. So returning to
the non-physical became attractive to me.
When I
had this insight I realized I was complete within. I had no more mountains to
climb. I had achieved all the goals I had ever set, save one, God Realization,
which is an ongoing goal that can happened in any second or in many lifetimes.
Also, I
had lived a magnificent life. I lived what most men dream about. I had no more
attachments and somewhere along the line I let go of attachment to the body, my
family and all things material. I was pretty amazed I had reached this level of
consciousness, because not so many years ago I was the opposite.
This way
of thinking and feeling was a most profound experience as I had just been
diagnosed with cancer and given one year to live. And rather than be afraid I
was happy with the idea of dying. It was appealing to me just as much as living
was appealing. It was a new state of consciousness that was born in me at age
75.
