i want to align with the divine

theme: line up for more light- in nature we are gaining a minute more of sunlight everyday. :)

The Practice

1. set the foundation and open to grace: feel the ground beneath you with the four corners of the feet and any part of the body that is touching the mat- your foundation. and make the inner body bright- feel brightness from the inside especially of the torso radiating out fully in all directions, supporting you, filling you, puffing you up.

2. muscular energy: hug the muscles in and around the bones with loving kindness

3. inner spiral: from the inner edges of the feet, inner spiral up the legs, moving the thigh bones back and apart, widening your sitting bones even left and right, expanding all the way up to the waistline

4. outer spiral: sustaining the energetic expansion of the inner spiral, scoop the tailbone in as you lift the lower belly into the light of the core, rotate the leg bones back to neutral and spread wide the pinky toe side of the foot, to complete the contracting energy of the outer spiral

5. organic energy: from the focal point lengthen out through the center of the bones in all directions, rooting down into the foundation more fully, reaching up skyward through the top of the pose, and radiating your inner beauty out through the skin

LOOP: kidney, baby, kidney. draw the front ribs back. inflate into the fullness of the kidneys on both side evenly, from waistline up the midback fill it up with light

Focus: Pay attention to any areas of the body that feel stuck, blocked, or have an effect from injuries. Really work Inner Body Bright and the Universal Principles of Alignment in those areas to create more balance in the body.

Postures

Centering: Settle down into your seat of honor, into your seat of worthiness. Brighten the inner body with steady ujjayi breaths in and out through the nose, feeling as the prana comes in through both nostrils down into the very lower belly and
lower back then filling all parts of the torso, front and back, right and left, side and side. Maintain the the luminous inner body as you exhale completely back out.

Fold the hands into Anjali mudra.

set an intention: perhaps "to open to grace", then release it, no expectations here, like it's your first yoga class ever, open to the moment...

om om om

om namah sivaya gurave saccidananda murtaye nishpranpanchaya shantaya niralambaya tejase

om

Warming Up...

Table pose: line up the bones of the hands and legs symmetrically on both sides. stretch out from the center of the wrist and out through the fingers. make the inner body bright. feel the whole back up with light. fill the kidneys up with breath

Downward dog: turn inside and feel the ujjayi breath. from your hands run muscular energy up the arms and into the heart (more energy for the heart), and from the focal point in the heart extend organically down through the hands, pressing the metacarpals and all ten finger pads down deep into the the mat. from the heart now stretch up to the hips, keeping the hips lifted root down through the heels, opening the calves, opening up to more light

Child's Pose: widen the knees apart wider than the hips, with the big toes touching, sink the hips to the heels, bow forward to the light inside yourself, the true teacher and rest the forward down onto the mat, breathing in and out of the belly, let the whole entire back soften and connect with the universal.

Down dog: bend the knees in DFD. rooting down through the inner edges of the feet, draw back with the inner legs, drawing the inner thighs back and separating the sitting bones wide and apart, keeping the space and light in the pelvis, stretch the legs straight back and root again down into the foundation through the feet.

(do variations of DFD and Child's working kidney and pelvic loops and inner and outer spiral of legs as much as you need to get energy flowing.)

Sequence:

In every pose, use the muscular and skeletal alignment actions of the inner and outer spiral as well as the energetic visualization and sensation of these principles, in order to bring the feet, legs and hips into alignment, and the hips and low back in particular into a place of energetic expansion, openness, and joy. especially remember to maintain the expanding spiral as you balance it with the contracting spiral.

Key: more inner spiral to the back leg in every pose, more outer spiral in the front.
the inner spiral initiates from the inner heel, while the outer spiral initiates from the from the ASIS and brings the inner thigh pouring outward.

High Lunge- arms up over head, take kali mudra (this mudra transforms negativity into positivity) - pause in low lunge after to absorb the light from the pose
DFD
High Lunge- second side

Anjaneyasana- arms up over head, take kali mudra
Stay on same side, slide up into...
Trikonasana
Trikonasana Crescent
Virabhadrasana 2 (feel inner spiral here, widening inner thighs apart to support Vira 2 from the midline and underneath, scoop your precious little tailbone in)
DFD (downward facing dog)

Repeat sequence starting with Anjaneyasana- second side (and don't forget to breathe into the sacrum and kidneys first before lifting up and back with the heart to lengthen your psoas in Anjaneya)...have you ever noticed how the sacrum bones looks like butterfly wings? hhmm...

Uttanasana
Tadasana (remember to take your tailbone with you)
Uttanasana, keep inner feet descending first, then spread pinky toes
Monkey (1/2 way up)- work the principles

Bow in to the light of your heart Uttanasana

Pigeon- with thigh stretch, settle into the pose, squaring the hips by using the spirals, breathe a nourishing, relaxing breath into the low back, fill the kidneys,
grab the foot, take your fav variation here

Pigeon- other side

Uttanasana
Tadasana

Parsvakonasana (maybe with bind, but keep the Inner Body Bright and fullness in the mid-back)
Trikonanasana
Pyramid
Standing Split (using the leg spirals more fully than ever before in standing hanuman
DFD

Uttanasana
Tadasana
Utta
DFD

Pigeon with twist, your fav variation here
Pigeon with twist- other side
DFD

Plank- Working the inner spiral and kidney loop
Cobra
DFD
Camel (can you focus mostly on the spirals of the legs and the light of the low back and kidneys?), the stable lower body supporting the opening of the belly and chest
Vajrasana
Child's
DFD

Anjaneyasana both sides
Natarajasana (spiral spiral spiral and see what happens in this pose. standing leg inner foot ROOT, fill the back body up with light and lift it)
other side Natarajasana

Uttanasana
Crow
Jump back Plank, flow through a vinyasa

Virabhadrasana 1 with fold- with hands clasped behind the back take hands up overhead as you bow, inner spiral to keep you lifted, outer spiral to stabilize
Vira 1 with fold- second side
DFD
Child's


Janu Sirasana
Upavista Konasana
Ardha Matsyendrasana

Sarvangasana
Matsyasana

Savasana


Have fun, beautiful gyspy. Here's to lots of gorgeous heartfelt practice in 2010!

from prem prakash's yoga of spiritual devotion - commentary on narada's bhakti sutras

the worldly person is intent of 'getting from the world; as such he is continuously frustrated because there is always more to get. the yogi is intent on giving to the world; he enjoys contentment because there is always more to give.

---------

the aspirant need not be perfect to perform service in the world; he need but be striving toward perfection. he need not desire only god; he need but desire to desire only god. he need not be pure love to god; he need but be working toward purity. it is the yogi's duty to do his best to be a clear channel for love. it is god's duty to see divine love somehow reach the world

devotional poem

Is there any treasure like the Mother's name?
Though She's Consciousness
Though She's Brahman
If you call on Her
She comes.


-Kalyankumar Mukhodpadhyay

hey friend

wanna practice?

ah, but there is no question

study with Michael F.!

anu= individual sara= universal

go for it...anu w/ that passionate poetic liquid magma asana man!

think about it...in every moment, our soul is connected to something bigger.

but be open, because i now know the meaning of Twist of Fate.

like, be prepared to twist.

ab

flow, move, breathe, be, but do not work at a women's clothing store called gypsy!

heeehee!!

oh ab!

i think the gypsy spirit just means your heart is open to the swirling ever-changing universal flow that envelopes us all.

how to stay grounded? connect with the home in your heart.

just take one breath and allow it to puff into your heart, where ground connects with heavens, light with dark...and it's yOur HeArT, your beautiful beautiful heart - that is home.

i'm totally in the air too - to needle, or to anusara with michael f, that is the question. i wonder what you might say? :)

gypsy blood, you say?

hey there yogini-ji!

got your text in a sleepy haze this morning, and unsurprised to hear that you feel a pull to wander again. do tell!

it does, i might mention, tie in very nicely with the full moon today. strong energy pulling us up and away from the ground, no wonder she wants to wander.

i have observed the most recent new moon and tonight's full moon with fellow goddesses. according to ancient times and even the farmer's almanac, the new moon is a time for grounding, for planting seeds...and intentions. the full moon exerts a strong gravitational pull on the ocean, and on water. and since we are mostly water, the full moon affects us too. it's a time to pull plants from the earth, with the moon energy uplifting. it's a time to harvest. it's a time to take a step back and look at the abundance you've manifested.

and it's always a good time to plant a new intention, to evaluate where you find yourself in this game of your life, and which direction you'd like to plant your next step.

so...where to, fluttering fairy friend? as long as it's on the upward spiral, you've got my full backing!

The Miracle is to Walk on Earth by Thich Nhat Hanh

"I like to walk alone on country paths, rice plants and wild grasses on both sides, putting each foot down on the earth in mindfulness, knowing that I walk on the wondrous earth. In such moments, existence is a miraculous and mysterious reality. People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child- our own two eyes. All is a miracle."

siva/shakti

hey wick,

after taking that flying hanuman leap toward the crass in the last blog, i decided to redeem myself by writing about all things pretty and appropriate- like dance.

remember the time i was letting go of most of my possessions (i believe you had done the same a year prior), and i tried to give you my green belly dancing skirt? i was like, 'i haven't used this in a really long time, please enjoy it.' you were like, 'no way, you're keeping that. ' besides, by then you had your own kali-esque black one and even had it with you that day. there began a 'yoga trance dance' (should i give shiva rea credit for that name?) party that ended with a little house music version of 'yes we can.'

i love spontaneous siva nataraja. maybe a cousin of the spontaneous siva linga?

we've been talking about siva for as long as i can remember. but what does it all really mean?

in sanskrit the word siva means "auspiciousness, goodness, grace."
and the word shakti means "sacred force or empowerment."
and the root word shak means "to be able."

shak- no wonder 'yes we can' is such a powerful mantra. We are Able. i don't mean to mix yoga and politics, but the most famous karma yogin did- Gandhi!

siva nataraja is the form of the dancing siva, who dances the world
into existence, maintains it, and dissolves it, there in the ring of fire.

in the tantric vision, siva and shakti are not separate from us, rather they are the particular energies that we already are. perfect compliments- the goodness and the mover of the goodness. siva is siva and shakti, so i try to be in remembrance of her too all the time.

enlightenment in the tantric vision is any moment that you feel joy or love, and these moments just keep expanding. john friend said it the best- 'it's like an all night dance party type of deal.'

in other words, we are the dance party.

love,

amanda

ko-hee-zhin is no

i wrote this blog at the airport while wearing a shirt that says, 'just be.' given to me by mandi.  ['mandi' - what does it mean?  this moniker is new to me]

just be.

i'm tryin'.  my intentions are that i am calm, present, kind, selfless, energetic, altruistic, stimulated, stimulating, playful, joyous, fun and funny, able to connect with others but also able to define and respect boundaries.  this is a big one.

how many times have we delved into a good deed, just waiting for that 'feel-good-all-over' sensation to give a little helium puff to heart center before radiating out little bits of warmth to our fingers and toes.

this, too, says lord krishna in the bagavad gita, is attachment.  seriously.  so we go back to BG, where charioteer/god krishna pounds into arjun's head, about 308 ways, the concept of Karma Yoga.

what's cool about karma is its simplicity: do good, and good things will happen.  do bad, and bad things will happen.  it's a big seller on the Do Good Front, at least by my reckoning.

so here we are, good little yogis, doing good deeds and enjoying the sunshine and friendly faces of a good karmite (merr??) and one day we give a beggar some change and they spit on our feet.  ?.  !!.

so let's take four full seconds to imagine our reaction were the drops of spittle to rain on my newly peducured toes?

i'll be honest, ab:  i'd be pissed, at least a little bit.  even in my most sattvic of days i would have felt at least a flare, or a fleeting jolt of pin-prickly anger.

which takes me back to the aforementioned krisha's advice to arjun: 'hey, dude, doesn't matter how it turns out, it matters how much love you have in your heart when you do it.'

can you just imagine arjun's reaction: 'ummm....so....are you saying that i can kill my friends and it's cool with the Universe as long as i do it with love in my heart?'

well, yeah.  kind of.

doesn't matter if you burn the kali-shaped birthday cake you made your buddy for her birthday.  if you did it with heart chirping of love, your buddy got the most delicious part of your gift.

and while karma's really cool in that most of the time good begets good, semetimes it's crafty and yields a result that we're conditioned to label 'unpleasant'.

this is when krishna kicks in - not only are we happier when we do good, but we are most happy when we do good and smile just as widely when we encounter unpleasantries along the way.  it is then that we are so full of Light Juicy Nectar.  it is then that we are so interwoven with the Divine.  it is then that we're on It, and in It.

and while we're all different glints of light off the same sea, every person's got boundaries.  'but,' i counter, 'what if i want to be like the dalai lama and make everyone around me happy as a pig in shizah?'

'well,' krisna would patiently smile, 'that's cool...but you can pour just as much love into a hug with your dad as you can give to a passerby on his ipod in the airport.'  

equanimity, non-attachment.  loving just as much with or without boundaries.  karma's a circle after all - you get the love that you give.  just in case you needed incentive to love more ;)

indian spiced chai addiction

dear missy,

i must have told you the story of the fun night of margaritas and my nickname for awhile being Tequila. but ever since that downright mystical liquids cleanse i did in the spring, the hard stuff tastes like poison. and though i'd like to be Siva and swallow it, just watch my throat turn blue, i'm not yet. but it is a family tradition- my adorable little grandma with bright blue sparkling eyes, likes to say, 'i like my coffee black and my tequila straight!' many a yogi has enjoyed exploring states of consciousness. remember that book you left when you cruised through indiana, "Aghora?" the author spent a good amount of time experimenting with the truths of these things. he even knows mantras to undo the negative effects of certain substances, but he doesn't share them in the book. you've got to go to the cremation grounds to find that out. Note another siva reference.

Mom had knee surgery this week, and since she's already been prescribed so many medical narcotics to manage the pain of fibromyalgia, not even the morphine could cut through the intensity of her pain, which went from her knee and up into the back. I joked to my grandma who was caring for her, 'how about getting a bottle of whiskey?' Grandma says, 'Alright, one for her and one for me. I love two-fers.' I had to make a 911 reiki call to my friend who is donning some fresh dreds to go up to the hospital and channel some reiki love. It was the only thing that would calm her down. Note Siva again.

So gypsy queen, if you've got a semi-temporary address for me, i'll send you back 'Aghora' and 'Ka,' which is like reading a dream. You see I'm now on a 9 to 5 schedule- that is to sleep at 9p and up at 5am, to read the texts, to pour my heart into practice, to suck the marrow out of the day, and to plant green lotuses every which way. I am addicted to indian spiced chai, prepared in the traditional way. Good fuel for opening those bliss points as i practice thai and spicy to keep me warm from the inside out as the temperatures drop and the red leaves fall.

keep the spirits rising and teaching and enjoying ultimate freedom, though i'm pretty sure the patriot act is not true yogic liberation. i do love america too.

love,

mandi

p.s. love the nataraja pic of us on the playa!!! first time i've seen that.
p.p.s. om namah sivaya

hey tequila!

i'm convinced that the divine does live inside of tequila.  it's true that a buzz from alcohol is poison in the body.  it's true that meditation and yoga and kundalini breathwork do not come with side effects of nausea and headaches the following morning.  but sometimes, you know, a yogini's gotta find her balance.

as i re-settle into san diego, i'm finding balance.  balance among my body - mind - spirit triad.  balance between my g-calendar and my gypsy spirit who only wants to know the fullness of the moon and the setting and rising of the sun to keep time.  

and teaching!  is ecstasy.  i love, i joy in the classroom.  that's right: i joy.  and that's where the tequila and the g-calendar come in.  i mean it'd be great if we had lived in india say when the tantrikas were unveiling their spiritual revolution.  but we don't.  we live in america.  land of freedom, as long as it fits inside of society's box.  

and i feel like i do bring a little tequila buzz into my classroom - yoga is that ecstatic carefree, full-energy buzz, it's footloose and fancy free, like a game of buzzed-on bocce on nantucket!  things don't always have to be so soothing and beautiful and "spiritual" to be uplifting and close to Brahman . . . and oftentimes we have to operate outside of a "box".  we can't lose our center just because we're out of the box.

i'm learning to embrace God wherever he is...he's the lady at trader joe's who reamed me out for accidentally getting in the 12 items or less lane.  he's the yellow lab and black lab who peeked their heads out of a pick up truck for love in north park.  she's you, and she's me.  

heck yeah, when can we asana it up mamacita?  

new moon

dear yogini,

i arrived back on the island and settled in fast, as is easy to do here. it's 8pm and pitch black, with silence that would drive some people mad, but not me, i am at peace once again. all that I can hear is my own breath, which sounds like the ocean, flowing in, flowing out. as an islander, i just want to be a part of this strip of sand and the water surrounding all around it.

sometimes the universe speaks to me through little things, like the message on the Yogi Tea bag..."life is a flow of love, your participation is requested." everyone has a part in this life, and it's our decision to pour ourselves into it. think Bhagavadgita, when Arjuna, who is feeling sullen about the prospect of fighting in the war against his relatives and his friends, receives counsel from his friend and charioteer, who is lord Krsna, the god of love. Krsna states that no one can not act, not even for a moment. that not choosing what to do next is also an action. how then can we make right action? how can we participate in an authentic way?

there are many paths. the word anusara means "to step into the currents of the heart."
in the practice of anusara yoga, the practitioner makes an engagement with her own heart.
when the heart opens, the pathways clear, and by all means, the practitioner must be ready to move, to be grounded and stay clear, because the currents of the heart are strong indeed. as i took a speedboat over to coatue the other day, the choppy waters filled me with fear, nausea, and presence. the boat driver found a place for us passengers to rest in the warm sand, sheltered from the wind, and with calm, clear, clean waters in which to wade. life may be fast and harsh or gentle and slow, and it's in bringing heart to all of it that i participate fully. there is beauty in the subtle new moon just as in the light of the brightest full moon. and each of us has a sliver of the moon pie.

i've neglected to say anything about asana. wanna practice soon hf?

xoxoxox

miss taurus

well, buddy, i know it's best to agree with the bulls in my
life, so it's fortunate how often i agree with you.

i have contemplated your words in your most recent
beautiful, inspired, fresh out of a john friend workshop posting,
and all i have to say is...exactly.

let's practice soon.

love!

practice, and all is coming

oh beard...i cannot wait to get my hands on an i-yoga session with you. fresh from john friend and in the midst of a swirl of a relationship entering the shiva phase, i find many many opportunities to practice yoga.

john's light was bright, and on it. i am hungry to get in the class and pass the torch around. i think as a teacher we have the power to empower, not just to cajole and ease and guide, but, as they say here, 'give her!'. because the practice is not always to surrender - it is always to participate. it's a dance with shakti, constantly, every moment - and on us to inspire and to be inspired. the opportunities are there: in a leaf, in a spider catching its prey, in the way that water moves - this one in particular is speaking to me. so beautiful how it flows, and it hits a rock and just continues with its flow, under the law of gravity and momentum, but effortless and easy in its course of nature. and if we could just participate like that - with clarity and beauty. water isn't trying to be something else - it doesn't try to turn itself into a rock. it sparkles and flows and reflects and shimmers, and it's beautiful, perfect, and clear all by itself. and we are too: we are beautiful. we are perfect. we are clear, all in our own rite. we were fashioned in the likeness of The Is. what more could we possibly ever be?

reminds me of the parable from a commentary on vedanta that i dug up - this man frantically searching for his glasses, tearing his house apart, yelling at his family, struggling and searching to find them, just as we search for happiness, perfection, ease, bliss, sukhum - how do we get it? more yoga! more meditation! be kinder, more compassionate! but in the end, the glasses are right there, resting on the top of our heads - we are yoga, we are meditation, we are kind beyond kindness, and compassionate beyond compassion.

sat nam.

i am that.

truth is your identity.

keepin it real funwick

missmev,

you can only imagine my confusion when i started reading your
last posting thinking that the title was 'catholic catharsis.' but
for real, Hail Mary Full of Grace! Anytime we are struggling such
as you were, we are simply veiled in the cloak of maya, covered
in such a way that we cannot see the light of our own heart and
the beauty of the grace that is shining within us and all around us.
each month women not only cleanse their bodies, but also their
emotions (not that the emotions are separate from the body,
they are a part of it). anything that needs to release, flow through
us that maybe has been blocked will at that special time with the
3 letter abbreviation have the opportunity to come out, fortunately
for me, you let it out in the most graceful, hilarious way.

I love your description of bc, and I understand such a connection
to place. Soon as I crossed into Cape Cod last weekend, tears streamed
down my face, that light quality! OCEAN AIR!!! Slipping back into the
crack that is Nantucket was such a joy, and I too rocked the disheveled
hair all weekend in yoga letting it fly around freely in every direction,
til Julie looks straight at me as I'm coming up from a deep uttanasana
with hair veiling my face and says, "Hi, Cousin It." I love her!

Uni-verse, the one song, we are all a part of that Supreme Consciousness,
known as Siva. and it's all very real. that your brother may go or may
not go to Iraq, that our human family is there fighting right now, is all
a part of it, and it's not separate from us. We are in this ocean of
nectar together, and nesting, serving, creating beauty in your
own home is the first place and from there you can go out, maybe
cleaning up mother earth after the hippie festival, maybe not. I like
to ask in the mornings, 'what do you have for me? i am willing.'
there was a little tapping on my window this morning at 4:30 am and
as i listened, i awakened to find your messages as my first gift of the
day.

did i answer to everything buddy?

cathartic catharsis

morning sunshine!

just to give you a glimpse of my setting - and sorry to any followers who are actually following, as i tend to write as though in a letter to a. beard. i awoke this morning with heavy sensey boobs and with it that heavy feeling of pms. i just have to say, i fucking hate pms. i feel like it's such bullshit, and a lot of times i think women use this as a valid excuse to fall into their own selfish bitchy mire. but then, it happens to me. laden with sadness - and the why being secondary, as i follow my mind into whatever sad thought will validate it. first i thought of my brother, going to iraq, or maybe not going to iraq. it made me teary-eyed. in meditation this morning, the image of a suicidal corpse on a funeral pyre found its way into my consciousness...this isn't something i often recall, but i feel like my mind just grabbed it: 'aHA! HeRE's something we can validate our shitty mood with.' insert kali growl here. and as soon as is surrender to the cantakerosity of it all, that kali rage takes over and says, no way! fuck that! - and now i'm angry at the mood itself.

neuroses, dude! duuuuude, neuroses like maya all over the place!

and of course there just so happens to be a program on the canadian talk radio dealing with depression, and they ask, 'is it our dUty to be happy?' our anonymous duty to the universe to be kind. [as always, it comes down to that simple but hard-as-all-fuck concept from the buddha-buddy: self-cherishing leads to all suffering. cherishing others leads to all happiness.] and isn't pms and moodiness just a way to cherish oneself, to look inside and feel so sorry for this piteous existence? we're such poor things, to have all of our faculties, to know the joy of a backbend, to have friends and families who love us - and love always being sort-of imperfect, but maybe that's what makes it all different shapes and sizes and perfect in that right.

take another step back to cherishing others - ah oui! our place in the Universe, not just in Little LaLa HeatherLand. oh right, doh! there's a whole fucking Un-i-verse out there, of which i am a part, and not only that, but a par-ti-ci-pant [that was michael fukumura's over-annunciation] - so do we have a duty? to participate, hell yes mama, we do.

**sorry for all the f-bombs, it's just been that kind of a day and i'm keepin' it real aB.

all the hoo-ha...and then the present moment

yo beard. funtastically awesome to connect with you on i-chat yesterday, and loved loved loved the fact that the universe ended our sesh as we boogied down in still frame.

so i'm in bc right now, the most beautiful part of the world at this time of year, as i choose to believe it. partner gone for work. his roommate gone for another half day. and i got the place to myself! i can see a silhouette reflection of my head and unkempt hair in the computer screen, backed by orange-berry tree branches. what a lovely momentses it is hey?

but then i get a little restless: what can i DO today? what can i produce? and while i'm cooking, cleaning, nesting, and arting, i really feel the need to go volunteer to clean up from this festival i just went to. not just because i'm rather attached to the site of a green river with boomey mountains . . . but a little bit of wOrk, just feels good. you can get in a rut when working 8-5, but you can get in a rut when you've been gallavanting around the globe for 6 months as well. i'm not in a rut [in this particular moment!] but i think participation is a huge one. if i go volunteer i will be participating in a greater project, a festival that three girls worked their asses off to make happen. show gratitude, give back, be with giving loving humans.

and then in the end, it doesn't matter what you're doing. it comes down to thich naht hanh style each and every time: this moment, this breath, is a gift. when you treat it as such, abundance comes.

sorry this post is lacking cohesion majorly - i lay down to take a nap on the couch yesterday at 4pm. i was surprised to wake at 1am, and slept more till 9 this morn. i therefore leave you with this wise word, abearda: deurrrr.

xx!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX1CvW38cHA

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of you body
love what is loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting-
over an over announcing your place
in the family of things.

momentseses

what say i missmev? "No Sleep til Brooklyn!" I'm excited to get out east for another dose of goodness from my teacher. and the beastie boys always make me feel full of shakti, that is the force that enlivens, the animating energy of lord Siva's tandava dance.

as for inner and outer spiral, i do love that assist in DFD, when with the inner edge of the feet rooted, a friend draws my inner thighs back and apart, so i can freely widen the sitting bones, creating space in the pelvic floor, and into that space, scoop the tailbone, lift the belly in and up, outer rotate the thighs, and ground down through the pinky toe side of the foot, reconnecting to the earth. it's like filling an empty crystal vase with Queen Anne's lace.

life coach getting tantric on you, eh? i've been more with the buddhists lately, letting go first to let the fresh flow in. but as for colors GREEN. the color of the heart. you know that part in wayne's world, when the big hair guy says to all the other guys, "I love you, man!" and Garth responds brilliantly with, "Thank You!" There's the tantra, the first principle of anusara yoga, open to grace. With gratitude, let the love flow in first.

What else is there to say but I love you, friend?!

nuggets from 'it's us not them' in shambhala sun

• egolessness, or practicing NOW, frees us from this cycle. but when fear has taken over and we can't control the negative emotions that arise, the internal freedom that comes from egolessness is beyond our means. instead we become fixated. we live in the memory of the past or the fantasy of the future. we are stuck, unable to see the fluid truth of NOW.
• at the heart of the dharma is the truth that the world is fluid. when we practice now, we see the flow clearly. now is now. there is not another now. [how cool is that quote?!]if gentleness is the key, the method is mindfulness. in a sense, speed is the disease of our times. it's always there and it's very hard to extract ourselves from it. but speed is in face just a hallucination, a self-imposed reality...
• when it comes right down to it, the practice path is manual labor of the mind, and it's hard work. but that doesn't mea n that there is no magic. when we pay attention to the details of our life, we do find magic.
• we are enormously capable and free, and if we begin to develop appreciation, our mind doesn't dwell on what we do not have or on what we have lost.
• we need generosity in our mind, which is limitless. generosity is the seed that allows us to receive help in the future.
• the notion of fearlessness is finding it NOW.

precious human life, by his holiness the 14th dalai lama, tenzin gyatso

today, i am fortunate to have woken up.

i am alive,

i have a precious human life,

i am not going to waste it.

i am going to use all my energies 

to develop myself to expand my heart out to others

to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings.

i am going to think kind thoughts towards others

i am not going to get angry or think badly about others.

i am going to benefit others as much as i can.

momentses?

momentses? 

 

last night it hit me in a more palpable way: not only do I want to feel that I’ve cultivated positivity, health, and happiness for myself at the end of the summer, but in order to do so, as the Beastie Boys said, “ain’t no time like the present to work sh*t out.”  that is to say, happiness is now, this moment.  this very second, millisecond, this very vibration and milli-vibration – every milli-moment a choice.  and in meditation today, I thought to myself, life is simply a series of ‘this momentses’, followed by, ‘did I just say “momentses”?’  is that even a word?  I laughed myself back to that particular present moment.

other tid bits.

my life coach said yesterday that in order to let go, it has to first come in.  how very tantric.  to live is to feel, and to live fully is to feel fully.  when we quiet the citta vritti of the mind fluctuation, we open the forum to our heart.  yesterday my heart was pink and green – a nice color combo by my reckoning!  pink for romance, and green for spirit, thirsty for Union, Consciousness, and Bliss.  yes please I’ll take them all.  starting Now.

and how about them spirals?  got to inner and outer spirals in the arms yesterday in doug keller’s manual.  inner spiral feels unnatural to me, while outer spiral feels delightful.  I do suppose though, that when you do an inner spiral, starting at the thumb and pointer fingers, moving with energy up the inner arm to the front deltoid, it does firm the upper arm bone into the shoulder socket.  and I suppose that that firmness allows for outer spiral to take off.  I’m such an outer spiraler though.  what say you AB?