Горизонт N22/851

RUSSIAN DENVER / HORIZON
4
Sasha Sosniak
(Voronenko), Denver
Sasha Voronenko was born in
Russia, but moved to California
when she was 11 years old.
After graduating University of
California, Berkeley she found
a new home in Colorado. She
teaches yoga in the studio and online
through sashasosniak.com.
Her online blog can be found at
westernworkforceeasternheart.
wordpress.com.Sasha loves yoga
because the physical practice
has such an intense connection
to real life. Her featured writing
focuses on ways to fuse Eastern
philosophy with Western business
and workplace culture. She
believes that this fusion can create
a healthy work and life balance.
When not in the yoga studio,
Sasha hikes, travels, road bikes,
lifts weights, tries out new recipes,
spends time with her family,
friends, fianc? and their dog
Oxley.
The Upanishads are an ancient
text which forms the core
of Indian philosophy. They are
a collection of ancient oral traditions
that contain the fundamental
teachings of Hinduism.
The name «the Upanishads»
translates as «sitting close to.»
This definition implies that these
teachings are those of a higher
Kenneth Rapoza
teacher (or power) meant to
be passed down as fundamental
truths of the Universe. So
what do they have to do with
our Western modern life? I
think they can be approached
as a framework to question our
world. With it, we can approach
our goals in a way that is different
than the ways usually presented
presented to us by the
media, Western education and
money driven career paths. We
can look at the concepts in the
Upanishads as those which call
for personal work and consistent
questioning of what we perceive
as reality. After all we are all human,
regardless of our origin, so
the lessons we ultimately need to
learn are pretty much the same.
There are many lessons to
ponder while reading the Upanishads.
What keeps coming up
for me is the fact that our society
preys on finality while the idea
behind so many of the lessons
and stories in the Upanishads is
that there is no end. Our souls
move on after our bodies die, the
stories continue after they stop
being written, and our deepest
desires are never totally fulfilled
so we are always striving for
more in one way or another.
While reading this text, I’ve
been doing a lot of inquiring
within. I’ve looked back to see
my life’s patterns. While I’ve always
considered myself a pretty
reasonable person, it looks like
I have very deeply rooted fears
that have driven my actions and
reactions throughout my life.
Fear of missing out; always saying
yes to friends, family, coworkers.
Fear of loss – inquiry
about the person’s whereabouts,
jealousy, only letting so many
people past the walls I’ve built
The Upanishads and the West
around myself. Fear of death;
and not only my own but those
around me – Oh how this gets
worse as we get older and learn
to complexity of life.
The finality of a life, a decision,
an inquiry – we stress over it and
how it will end. Our stress takes
over our life and we become less
able to see the things right in
front of us – our current reality,
as well as the bigger picture; a
higher purpose is lost. If we are
lucky enough to slow down we
will notice that it is not what you
do but how you do it that matters.
I’ve noticed that in my own
life as I practice nipping stress in
the butt when it comes to being
anxious over some outcome, I
become less attached to a result
and am happy in the simple process
of building something.
I had been studying and doing
yoga for a while when I got
kicked out of grad school a few
years back. My life got turned upside
down, in an uncontrollable
handstand kind of way. I thought
I had a path, a path that I had
honestly chosen because it was
safe rather than it being my passion.
It was something I watched
others enjoy, so I thought I would
enjoy it too. It wasn’t mine and I
see it now, but back then it was
the only thing I thought I knew. I
had to reevaluate, recalculate and
tried my hardest not to jump into
anything too fast just for survival.
It is hard not to, especially when
there are bills to pay and life to
continue.
So, after some looking around
and searching within, I started
teaching yoga as a living rather
than just a hobby. I did still consider
the question of «what’s
next»? The difference this time
is that I attempted not to be attached
to «What’s next?» as a final
answer, something that is the
only thing that is for me. I knew
that my rita (law, order, regularity)
had been thrown off balance,
but in the process I have realized
Yajna – sacrifice. According to
the Chandogya Upanishad «the
most significant human action
is the sacrifice of personal gain
for the sake of something higher
and holier». I knew I wanted to
Russia ‘Will Never’ Attack A NATO Country, Unless Provoked
Sorry Cold War warriors
itching for a bloodbath with the
Russians, the Wild East isn’t rolling
into the Wild West anytime
soon–unless provoked, so says
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The big problem is that Russia
is indeed feeling provoked.
«Our attitude to NATO enlargement
and the expansion of
the so-called affiliate program
with the moving of NATO military
infrastructure closer to our
borders has not changed,» Lavrov
was quoted as saying in RIA
News on Monday. «The doctrines
of our security are clearly
written and one of the main
threats is the further expansion
of NATO to the east,» he said.
«We don’t consider the existence
of NATO a threat, or the way
in which the military alliance
works in practice. But there is
no doubt among serious analysts
here that NATO has seized on
the (crisis in) Ukraine…to discriminate
against Russian in order
to invent new reasons for the
existence of the alliance,» Lavrov
told local reporters today.
Russia has been locking horns
with the West since the February
2014 ousting of Viktor Yanukovych,
then Ukraine’s president.
Yanukovych was removed
from power following massive
political protests against his decisive
lean towards Russia at the
expense of a trade deal with the
European Union. That deal was
N22/851 от 06.10.2016 e-mail: info@gorizont.com Simply the best
seen as a way to move Ukraine
closer to the orbit of the E.U.,
much in the way the Baltics have
gravitated towards Scandinavia’s
sphere of influence after the fall
of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Sanctions were imposed on Russia
after it annexed Crimea, a
southeastern peninsula that is
home to Russia’s Black Sea Navy
fleet. The two year anniversary
of sanctions on Russian banks
and energy company’s is coming
up next month. Those economic
pressures, coupled with weak oil
prices, have led to back-to-back
years of GDP contraction in
Russia.
Russia’s government is not
pleased with NATO’s expansion,
which NATO says is primarily a
defense mechanism and not an
offensive against Russia.
Of the current crop of presidential
candidates, Hillary Clinton
is the biggest anti-Russia war
hawk, having warned numerous
times that the Russians are
a threat to the Baltics. For the
Russians, the presidential frontrunner
is likely to spar with Russia
over a Baltic invasion that
simply does not exist, meaning
U.S. sanctions on Russia are unlikely
to go away under a Clinton
presidency.
The removal of sanctions are
based on an agreement signed
in Minsk, Belarus last year that
calls for Russia to stop backing
anti-government rebels in Eastern
Ukraine regions like Donbass.
Fighting rages on there.
have a job that served and helped
others. I knew I wanted to make
a great difference and I have surrendered
to the «how.»
I now trust the process; I know
when I focus on the quality of my
work I become rooted in it. I trust
that it will lead me to the right
place at the right time. I am open
to possibility, and I am not rushing
to create a cocoon of comfort
because I am afraid of what may
happen if I do not. I am no longer
an actress playing a role in
my own life, I am rather «being»
in a life where the work is to be
mindful and passionate. As a result,
my fears have slowly stepped
out of center stage and now stay
in the chorus line, where they are
much more manageable.
I am aware that what I do for a
living now is not final and there’s
more uncertainty and exploration
in the future. I am less afraid
of this now, and I am consistently
learning to stay rooted through
the changes and through my
own growth.
When we stop «acting» within
our own lives, we have to dig
things up and work through
them. We learn to connect to our
higher purpose, our «timeless
self». How this has defined me I
am not sure, yet I do know that
with lots of growing pains, I am
getting to a place where I accept
me for me. A place that is less
fearful and more loving. A place
that is less anxious and more
rooted. A place that is less selfish
and more abundant. The hope
is that I continue to consistently
do the work without the expectation
of perfection. The desire
is that others see that which is
beyond them, their greater purpose,
and practice being in constant
inquiry as well.
The agreement does not include
Russia returning Crimea to
Ukraine. While the Ukrainians
have also failed to hold up to
their end of the bargain in allowing
for elections in the region,
Russia shares the bulk of
this burden.
Nevertheless, NATO’s
strengthening its presence in
Eastern Europe is Russia’s fault,
says former U.S. ambassador to
Moscow and Stanford University
professor Michael McFaul.
«The alliance has to reflect the
threat from Russia, and NATO
has taken a series of measures to
do this,» he said in an interview
with Estonian media outlet Postimees.
McFaul called out Russian
diplomats who like to insist that
the post-World War II creation
of NATO came with a guarantee
that the military alliance would
not spread eastward into former
Soviet bloc territories. McFaul
said, «Russians always talk about
this document. I haven’t seen
this anywhere in writing.»