by Samantha on April 23, 2012
We do not honor our great Mother. We do not look to her future. We do not listen to her needs. We only pay attention when she is really pissed off and blows a volcano, tosses a tsunami, or hurricane our way. We do not offer sacrifices and bow in celebration every day, as she [...]
Tagged as:
Earth Day-every day,
earth-consciousness,
Gaia,
incarnations,
oxymoronic humanity
by Samantha on April 12, 2012
Sometimes when least expected, a magical event appears from haphazard seed. It seems all the more special as magic is in short supply these days. The following tiny story comes to you full of magical possibility, born of an odd thought in an insouciant moment Our Yoga community celebrates. We create ritual for the earth [...]
by Samantha on March 13, 2012
The reason the world is round is it keeps us from looking too far down the road. Another reason is that- roundness is symbolic of a mandala, a magical circle. Roundness delineates birth. It is the womb. The inmost shrine of an Indian temple is called a garbha, the womb. The center of a mandala, [...]
Tagged as:
bindi,
garbha-womb,
Mandalas,
Osho,
roly-poly & aligned,
The Great Dragon,
Third Eye-ajna,
ultimate courage,
Uroboros,
void - form
by Samantha on January 22, 2012
A newcomer to class, observing a Shakti Yoga Dance for the first time, told me he was surprised at how strongly it affected him. He asked how I chose to put them together, why connect those particular Asanas? Surprised by the question I had to question, how do these dances grow out of the mat? [...]
Tagged as:
consecrated with love,
honoring Self,
or- a nap,
ritual,
sacred,
Shakti Yoga Dances
by Samantha on September 19, 2011
Despite the dizzying sense of speed, the structure of fall’s equinox provides a moment of stillness, a symbolic cross road that divides the year into one of its four seasonal quadrants. Like spring’s Vernal Equinox, along with the Summer and Winter Solstices, Autumn’s equinox is an astrological transition when we open a door to the [...]
Tagged as:
Autumn Equinox,
balance sheet.,
balancing within,
boundaries,
chant- Shrim,
Dr. David Frawley,
Hrim,
Ram,
re-assess,
re-structure,
Samasthiti-Stand Still balance,
ShaktiYogaDances,
Vata imbalance
by Samantha on July 7, 2011
To be at one with Self we must have, and be at home in our own rhythmic archetype. We must be able to move with the flow inherent in our internal rhythms. Our early relationship with rhythm begins in utero where we are soothed with mother’s heartbeat, the pulse of her blood flow, even her [...]
Tagged as:
healing pain,
heart-drumming,
re-wiring,
Reinhard & Cornelia Flatischler,
rhythm archetypes,
ShaktiYogaDances,
Sufi's trance rhythms,
TaKeTiNa
by Samantha on November 21, 2010
Rib bones picked clean under a desert sky, finger bones sucked of their sweet marrow, and skulls stacked in columns, legacy of ancient rites are within and side by side to young bones, tender under soft skin, and high cheek bones stating beauty, hip bones swaying to and fro in warm winds, and brittle bones [...]
Tagged as:
bone marrow richness,
bone structure,
carcasses,
life entrusted to us,
Shakti Dance,
Thanksgiving memories,
video
by Samantha on November 15, 2010
Last week I wrote of the many layers, the pentimento, creating a life. This week I’m dancing with cycles, literally, for I have just completed choreographing new piece on the Wellesley College Dancers to old time songs. They embody the needs and musical focus of the late 30’s, early 40’s, which was another cycle of similar extremism. Then, [...]
Tagged as:
Community,
Fascism,
fear-filled choices,
great depression,
old time songs,
planetary cycles,
politics of choas,
spiritual vitality,
Wellesley College Dancers
by Samantha on August 13, 2010
Any conversation between Itzhak Perlman and Charley Rose plays at the highest levels. In a recent interview, Itzhak was asked, how he saw greatness, genius even, in his students. The following responses were interesting from a musical standpoint, but fascinating from a life-support POV. * “Potential for greatness is in our response.” Is a powerful [...]
Tagged as:
Charley Rose,
choice,
contatious,
Itzhak Perlman,
musical ritual,
responding
by Samantha on June 10, 2010
To expand daily life and make it more livable, I vote for ritual, instead of chores. Or, chores as loving ritual. I vote for celebration instead of speed and mayhem, or… celebration of speed. Being caught in the crosshairs of too many chores and too little time is the crazy-making struggle. In olde days, ritual [...]
Tagged as:
Brahma Mutra,
ceremony,
chores,
Gemini,
layers of psyche,
Mercury,
Pitta,
Practicing,
ritual,
sacred time,
simple regimes,
Sun Salutations,
Vata
by Samantha on May 28, 2010
Today, in honor of my birth, I’m doing a most difficult task, I’m taking time out to honor myself, to question how/if this year has created essential changes within, and question yet once again; What meaning does this life have? Have I risked enough these past months? Am I on the correct path? Is there [...]
Tagged as:
Animal Stories,
Kapha Dosha,
Practicing,
rituals,
spirituality,
transformation,
venus,
Yoga Choreography
by Samantha on March 17, 2010
Is it our mythic self that yearns for ritual to take our hand and guide us toward wider dimensions? Does this mythos carry our ‘true name,’ that is the name holding the energy of our mystic, magical Self, the soul-Self? Mythic beings require ritual and celebration, talismans and shared Grace. The drudge of daily-do can [...]
Tagged as:
celebration,
change,
communion,
Community,
emotional Poses,
Poses of joy,
requisitioned,
Spring Equinox,
talismans
by Samantha on March 17, 2010
Is it our mythic self that yearns for ritual to take our hand and guide us toward wider dimensions? Does this mythos carry our ‘true name,’ that is the name holding the energy of our mystic, magical Self, the soul-Self? Mythic beings require ritual and celebration, talismans and shared Grace. The drudge of daily-do can [...]
Tagged as:
Easter,
faster vibrations,
higher frequencies,
mythic selves,
Passover,
spring,
Spring Equinox
by Samantha on February 18, 2010
We entered the Chinese New Year of the tiger, the metal tiger, to be specific, when we celebrated the charismatic New Moon on Valentine’s day. This New Moon of entry into the tiger’s year, packed enough juju to fill everyone’s pockets with passion. Every 12 years are Tiger years in the Chinese tradition, and they [...]
Tagged as:
change,
chest-lung openers,
Chinese New Year,
creative,
Kapha,
kidneys,
mucus,
Neptune,
opportunity,
passion,
Pisces,
resilience,
sciatic,
stretches,
symbol,
Tiger Pose,
water,
wealth,
white metal,
winter,
Year of White Tiger
by Samantha on October 29, 2009
When we play, we are lively, as in ‘full of life.’ In that happiness, we connect. In depression, we disconnect, and grow stagnant. Growing joy and contentment is no small job. Maybe it never was. With over-ripe angst, anger, and confusion , bliss is not a luxury. Consciously cultivating solace is a worthy job. We [...]
Tagged as:
celebrate,
depression,
joy,
Kapha,
opposition,
Pluto,
rituals,
Scorpio,
Shakti Dance,
songs,
Still Point,
subtle body layers,
TS Elliot,
Vata,
warm oil massage
by Samantha on September 23, 2009
As the earth held her moment of perfect balance between night & day, a tiny band of brothers circled a fire to celebrate. We stood as witnesses, called as our ancestors had been called to celebrate ‘The Queen,’ to partake and believe in her mysteries. In this last breath before tidal waves of change create [...]
Tagged as:
air,
backache,
Fall Equinox,
Garland Pose,
harmony,
Libra,
Malasana,
rituals,
rooting down,
Vata,
venus
by Samantha on August 27, 2009
Let us evolve as the heavens instruct: At sunrise, burst with light upon a new day; at each monthly new moon, surrender to the darkness of renewal; at the four seasonal crossroads of Solstice and Equinox, set road-maps of intention, and re-balance. Heaven and earth propose opportunity after opportunity for new life. Jim Harrison said, [...]
Tagged as:
Cosmic,
cycles,
Hanumanasana,
harvesting,
Jim Harrison,
Lin Yu-T'ang,
Listen to the Gods,
Pitta Dosha,
refining,
summer,
Virgo
by Samantha on June 15, 2009
Being an Astrologer, I am fascinated by questions of fate. I am engaged and delighted by an endlessly revolving relationship to the cosmos, especially to the Sun, giver of life. Weaving and un-raveling around those relationships reveals that God is, indeed, in the details. During the days of the Summer Solstice, as earth ‘stands still,’ [...]
Tagged as:
Alan Oken,
ancient,
Pitta,
Quadrants of change,
rituals,
Solstice,
spices,
Stand Still Pose,
Sun,
Tadasana
by Samantha on May 1, 2009
Come May someone, somewhere begins walking to Pomp & Circumstance. The hymn of graduation hums along for all, it is simply more audible in certain lives. Just as Ma Nature graduates to full-bloom- glory come spring, we fling off old garb, open windows, and show intimate skin, to take next steps. Revealing ourselves anew is [...]
Tagged as:
graduation,
Prana,
Scorpion Pose,
Vata,
Vrschikasana
by Samantha on April 9, 2009
When the ‘moveable feasts’ of Passover and Easter tango together, religious rituals fill the air, and tastes of childhood linger on the tongue through matzo, or peeps. The sour and sweet of holy ground offers both guilt and redemption. It can open the numinous, or close down possibility by orthodoxy. Religious roots can send us [...]
Tagged as:
Aires,
Bhagavad Gita,
Easter,
king of all Asanas,
Mandalasana,
moveable feasts,
Passover,
Sirsasana,
Sun Salutations