Inspirations: Change & Re-Invention

One of my great teachers, Daniel Orlansky, quoted another great teacher, Osho, and I was reminded of my first great teacher, Helen.  They have all said or demonstrated the same profound rule in different ways, but when something is completely true, it is true for all time and in all circumstances.  This is one of the few times you can write, ‘always.’  Osho’s first rule of his ‘non-commandments’ was, “Never obey anyone’s command unless it is coming from within you also.”  It’s right up there with, “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”  Good and great for all time. There are few commands which remain immutable, whatever the circumstance or age.  What grows interesting is how we choose to hear, and use the wisdom of the iconic.  We change and hopefully how we hear and use the tried and true, changes.  When first hearing the first rule; do not surrender, never obey, unless it comes from deep inside Self, I thought well that’s easy.  I don’t like anyone telling me what to do anyway.  Many years later upon hearing this, I recognize the inner layers that must be attended and heard in order to know if it is coming from within me.  Am I mirroring someone else?  Am I reacting in rebellion? Am I taking the easy way out, sliding along with the group?  What is my true voice in this moment?  Where is my courage to stand up for that voice? I also question the synchronicity of when old and loved things in our life re-appear.  Is it by happenstance?  Or is there some personal wisdom needed at this time by this seemingly random event?  The age-old question of fate or accident meet to be met only in my choosing. In case you have not seen Osho’s list of ‘non-commandments’ here… Read more »

What prepares us for our dying?  What practices help final steps courageously leap toward the most formidable of unknowns?  Need you be Thelma & Louise?  Is religion a balm?  Will belief stave off fear?  Can love do the trick?  All are helpful, except when religion forever damns us, or the beliefs are nihilistic.  And love?  What happens to love when the dying is long and arduous, taking every measure of Grace from slow years of pain?  Sometimes love prevails, often not.  So what, then?  What supports the journey from this moment’s rich, fullness –to what?  Even if it turns out to be a magnificent what, still, from this side it’s a wide and wooly chasm. From an Astrological POV, Jupiter and Saturn are the threshold planets beyond the personal.  They are the social energies of teachings, beliefs, and large organizational deployment.  Death is often associated with them for very different reasons.  Jupiter, the planet of expansiveness, beliefs, and long distance journeys opens to the great adventure in dying.  The counter point to Jupiter’s jolly largesse is Saturn’s loneliness, timing, structure, and responsibility which often accompany the death of someone loved. Both Jupiter and Saturn can be Astrological signatures of Master Teachers as well as dying. This third ‘Breath,’ exploring the make up of great teachers, those shape-shifters who transform lives, could provide one of the best answers in preparing for death.  Great teachers supply Saturn’s structure and system, a sense of pacing and stamina.  They require students grow responsible to their own highest good, their inherent abilities.  But teachers  become masters because they are truly Jupiter’s children.  Their delight is in sharing knowledge, being curious, exploring new realms, expanding horizons. Their long distance journeys are often of the mind, from a good book, the internet, and ideas ruminated with friends… Read more »

Any major decision demands life-changes.  Some we expect, others crawl out of the woodwork, and some fly in on angel wings. In my long considered decision to commit to a 500 hour Yoga certification, all manner of flying beasts have been let loose.  Despite demanding more energy than expected, (Va sans dire.) it’s far broader in experience, and exploration of instruction than imagined,which provokes this pondering. What makes a good teacher?  What’s the difference between a master-teacher and simply a good instructor? Are the requirements of being a splendid instructor much different than being a splendid human being? How does one grow toward mastery…of any sort? It raises questions of the inner teacher, the guru of the heart, and any relationship to that persona.  Eight months into a fifteen month training demands a re-commitment, a deeper questioning of the process, and a more acute level of awareness. If you become a teacher, it is important to return to the beginning and ask, ‘how were you were raised?’  ‘What were the expectations?’  If I’d been born in India, I’d be under a guru, but most Westerners decline to blindly follow guru-dictates, especially those raised in the wild west where the angst of choice is the bread du jour. Following that vein, I consider choice-fullness one of the most powerful tools a great teacher offers.  With insightful instruction students are given tools to learn to make best choices in any given circumstance, be it in a classroom, or on the street.  A master teacher does not always tell them what to do, or precisely how to do it, but instructs the how and why of exploration.  They open a door to questioning, to having a student listen to their own needs, and the idiosyncratic whys of their own body. Master teachers create… Read more »

If you stand and listen, faint rumblings of impatient bodies fill the air. With the first scent of spring we sniff new blood, shifting winter’s lock down  into choatic movement. It’s this shift that creates all manner of imbalances. These imbalances do not occur to such an extreme degree in warmer climes, but for many, March is a month of desperation.  Frustration battles hope. It’s not only difficult emotionally, but there is a spiritual angst at this time. The Astrological year starts March 21 with the vernal equinox. Ancient bones hold this knowledge and ask if we are willing to be re-born. No matter where we live, consciously or unconsciously we question, “Am I willing to re-boot? Am I ready?”  Easter, Passover, and Holi, or Phagwa, did not happen from, “Oh by the way we need more eggs.” Hell hath no fury like another snowstorm in late March.  The polarity of weather is only a piece of the discomfort. How to remain balanced, how not to be impatient, how not to yearn are all answered by being present, or going on a cruise. Those who can’t, grind their teeth….OR undertake an inner cruise.  One of the gifts of a Yoga-life is it offers answers and options for every need. We then have to be willing to step up and practice. The really interesting work is to make March feel like a cruise, not an ordeal, to treasure and make each day holy.    March Practices: 1. Read poetry, listen to joyous music. 2. Practice cleansing-breath/Pranayama: Kalibata and Lion. 3. Take more Vitamin B’s to sooth jangled nerves, and give energy. 4. Coat your skin in oils, rub it through the scalp before washing. 5. Do a fast, long or short, extreme or not.  The very best way to prepare for change is begin… Read more »

When a momentous event grabs the scruff of our necks and without warning, hurls us into new space, quite often unbidden thoughts, sounds, and visions laminate themselves in a collage from the past.  These overlays, formed from un-processed, precious, and often seemingly non-essential childhood memories, fast forward into full view when emotions are stirred.  At these times we can no longer keep the lid down. Bottom layers are up-ended, and this disturbance allows years of bleed-through to become visible, One can only deal with three to four major emotional issues in a life , so the same ones are cut, poked and exacerbated over and over, with only the form changing, not the wound’s essential energy.  We all tend to bury pain.  This makes a treasure trove of angst, regret, fear, and sorrow that waits until defenses are down. The times are ripe for revelation.  The planetary kingdom is demanding change, and true change only comes from the inside-out. Wounding-gifts that form our fine paintings seek new definition, and  revelation, We are lucky when opportunity knocks, hard knocks to be sure, but this allow us see original lines drawn under old paint, The transparency of age allows vision of the pentimento, the layers of what we have repented, and re-painted over the jagged edges and dodgy outlines of the childhood.  Are these visions not steps toward heaven? Energetic Forces Asana: Setu Bandha Sarvangasana-Bridge Pose. Lying on the back, bend knees, bringing feet in parallel, and as close to buttocks as possible. On exhale press feet down and curl tailbone up, lifting lower, then upper back off floor.  Keep thighs parallel and lengthen knees away from hips, lift pubis toward navel.  Clasp hands under back, bringing shoulders closer together.  Keep weight off the neck.  As you advance in this pose, try to release… Read more »