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Read moreInspirations: Practicing
The Sacred Now
Now is the time to know that all you do is sacred. In late 1300, Hafiz wrote the poem, Now Is The Time. His words remain resonant in 2015; an ancient call to arms reinstating what is always needed, and has always been true. There is never a better now to expand consciousness and consecrate the body. For the body, like the earth, beings of the natural world, are being eclipsed by technology, intellect and speed. Intuitive complexities are losing a battle to the ease and safety of straight lines, and analysis. … Now is the time to understand That all your ideas of right and wrong Were just a child’s training wheels To be laid aside When you can finally live With veracity~ And love For the most part, we are secular beings. We set aside a few moments to ask God for help, or to rage at Her/His unfairness, rarely allowing veracity~ And love to settle in and soften life’s blows. The body as sanctuary takes practice. It is a rehearsal hall full of mirrors in constant use, requiring intention, resilience, and Windex. … Now is the time for the world to know That every thought and action is sacred. This is the time For you to deeply compute the impossibility That there is anything But Grace. Now is the season to know That everything you do Is sacred. Cleaning the mirrors that reveal us to ourselves is the daily practice of ‘chop wood/carry water’ that grows our light. In choosing the sacred now, we elect to integrate head and heart. We expand old visions beyond original teachings. We re-calibrate polarities of shadow and light, admiring both the convoluted and the narrow. The profane and hallowed live side by side where we fear beckons courage to grow. Our… Read more »
Read moreAs Are You to Me
A short while ago, I oddly chose a song to not only close Yoga classes, but make everyone sing along. I wasn’t sure why, or why that song. Beautiful as it is, it’s not an easy sing. But honoring the feeling of rightness, I rallied on. Weeks later, I now know why. It is a serenade of seeing all life as a reflection of self, and in that vision~spirit enters, reminding us of the reflected-offerings in each moment. They are of what and who we love, and what we see through that appreciation. If you see it, you are its reflection. It is then some aspect of the dreaming self, that one who owns divinity, and knows it is sacred, that incandescent being who struggles with the daily onslaught that is often tedious and maddening. The alchemical integration that this year asks of all of us is evolving to dissolve old matrices. As they go the way of the DoDo Bird, we need updated Unicorns of creative Grace to emerge, rooted from the beauty of the old but re-structured and re-envisioned. Song and movement help us deepen into the body, as in doing ‘Celestial Communication. ’ Every layer is touched. It doesn’t matter what we create; shoes, gardens, children, paintings, friendships, for as Osho wrote, ‘what matters is we put our soul into whatever it is.’ This mindfulness is what creates sacred reflections. Since I have an Eclipse with which to celebrate my birthday this year, I’m choosing the visions I wish to transform, the songs I wish to sing, and the dances that move me closer to the sacred-self. Since transformation is the only game in town for all of us, I am choosing to see that you, whoever you may be, however near or far, known and un-known… Read more »
Read moreAll Hallowed Heavens
As this is a very magical day, make opportunity to take to the mat to revamp and renew. Ask, “What is the Practice that serves me in bringing 2013 to strong closure?” What Pranayama will help break stagnant habits? Where within favorite poses can I challenge my body? How does this Shakti Yoga Dance move me deeper into emotional connection? Which mudra supports my prayer in this moment? Which chant will help bridge reality and desire, moving me across chasms? How do I accept surrendering in Savasana, letting love hold me more sweetly? Today, the heavens are All-Hallowed-worthy. There is a rare, even bizarre line up of planets in the same 9th degree. Pluto, Uranus (the famous square) along with Mars, Chiron, Mercury, and the Moon. And include the Sun who is just a minute off. “What does it mean?” You ask. “I have no idea.” Says I. Certainly if you have any planets in the 9th degree, or close by, your world is going to shake rattle and roll….. Perhaps in magical, wonderful ways. If it were me, I’d make a wish, spend time visualizing it coming true, and believe in bizarre dreams being real. When given a choice, go for the magical, not the fearful. This All Souls Celebration might have a chance of uplifting the world and moving us all, willy-nilly, toward redemption and Grace. Have you noticed any symbolic parallels between events in the wide world and those closer to home? Any similarity of pattern? Don’t look at the form, but the energy. Is it break through, or break down? It’s often easier to see cultural and social shock waves rocking the high seas, usually more difficult to see our small life boat’s in jeopardy. The Uranus-Pluto square hits dead-on this week, accompanied by a Solar… Read more »
Read moreResilient Hearts
A Yoga Practice asks over and over that we grow the muscle of ‘compassionate observer.’ There are other practices, completely off the mat that offer, and encourage this resilient growth. The one I encountered last weekend was ‘on the boards.’ It surprised me that sitting in a dark theater became a great Practice. Observing actors inhabit characters who badly needed resiliency, but hadn’t yet learned much of it, and were therefore struggling to stay emotionally afloat in difficult relationships, with a story line that twisted them every which way, was a wonderful way to observe not only their lack of practice, but mine own. The play offering this emotional maze is at New Rep in Watertown, showcasing the playwright, Steven Dietz’s work, Rancho Mirage. The power of theatre, that conspiracy between actor and audience, between light and dark, real and unreal offer wonderful gifts for practicing. As actors move in and out of their story, surveying their battlefields of bad behavior, I consider mine own and observe the playground where commiseration, judgment, and empathy square off. But it’s an objective playground. Unlike the actors, I can engage, or withdraw. I may not have control over my feelings but being the observer, I can measure how much I’m willing to expand and forgive, or the degree of grudge needing to drop away. If lucky, the story brings up personal minefields where I see old patterns, and can review my failure, safe in the 12th row. We never know how much hearts can hold, or how resilient we need to be. Practicing is good. Many feel life is a ‘Theatre of the Absurd,’ where making sense has gone the way of the Dodo. Emotions are absurd, unless they’re OURS. Theatre reminds us not only of our absurd humanity, but that the world’s a… Read more »
Read moreThe Book of Earth
The Book of Earth decrees-no death, only translation, and transmutation of dark and light; observer and observed trading visions; body and mind growing soul. The Book of Earth begs renewal at every turn. How can death be different? The gravitas of Earth balances dreams and imagination lifting life onward. Death is ‘the triple’ we accomplish soaring to reach the next trapeze. It is the “Wow” factor. The death we really fear is the death of dreams, when color is wrung from the day, and hope lies dry and desiccated. It is that heavy death arriving when the tongue has no sweet words, and the Moon soars into the night sky- unseen. The Book of Earth asks time and time again for redemption in renewal. Renewal is risky, and renewing old dreams costs twice as much. Fear flails and flounders with ghosts of what might have been. It moves through bone and muscle with the stink of regret, like old, white fat left to mold. In each breath, at every sunrise, in the start to a week, with every cycle of the Moon, soar toward your triple, stretch for the next trapeze. Let “Wow” be the mantra of sweetness on your tongue. It’s a Practice, no?
Read moreWalk On The Wild Side
It’s odd. As life grows ever more bumptious, and out of control, there are fewer and fewer wild places in the world. The garden is not wild, unless it is wild with weeds, and one can’t consider garden’s wild anyway. Daily life is driven, but it is not wild unless we are living in Syria, or sky diving, or listening to a doctor tell us we have a deathly disease. The last undiscovered, wild places on the planet are discovered, claimed, and filled with Big Macs, the kind we eat and the kind we work on. And despite feeling out of control, most of us are not wild. We are crazed. That is not wild. There is a growing need for us to express a capricious wild side, if only to balance the over-committed, dedicated, work-weary self. What has happened to the lion tamer in the Zebra skin, one-piece? What of the trapeze artist, in pink tights, and sequined tutu? We did once dream of being wild, and extra-ordinary? Trouble is, we feel we have enough problems and challenges without being weird and possibly asking for more. Trouble is, we have winched down and positioned ourselves for the least amount of friction. Not a bad deployment except- trouble is, no one is laughing. When was the last time you roared, wet your pants, and couldn’t catch your breath? When was the last time you kicked off your heels, ripped off your sport coat, and let ‘em have it…whatever ‘it’ is, it ain’t your norm. Our ‘norm’ is working so hard to keep us in the norm-zone that we’ve disowned parts of our whole in order to stay safe inside the norm-lines. When this happens, we erupt volcanically, or we are confronted by strangers who do, taking us down with them…. Read more »
Read moreFingering Secrets
Hands are magical instruments; multi faceted, powerful, tender, destructive. They can be gnarly, spatulate, pudgy, delicate. The fingers, as emissaries, touch the world, bringing back thousands of impressions full of information. Brains are activated and trained by working with fingertips, especially during childhood. Hands and feet possess abundant nerve supplies which light up large areas of the brain. Every finger has its own life, it’s energy of giving and receiving, its particular ability, or quality. Areas of the palm, as well as fingers, relate to planetary energies, to meridians and body parts, to chakras, to the five elements, and states of being. Acupressure and Acupuncture use points on the fingers and hand to stimulate healing through different areas of the entire body. There are also reflex zones, and marma points that are stimulated for healing. The art of palmistry is not magical, rather it is knowledge of multiple levels of energy revealed in a hand. Using fingers to form hasta/hand mudras reveals yet another layer of information. Mudras, like Bandhas, are locks, and locks conceal secrets. Each mudra intends to connect to the divine, to cosmic consciousness, which is one of the primary goals of Yoga. Through the mystery of mudra, hands reveal our longing to connect, not only by touch, but by the shape of a mudra. When practicing mudras, the brain is lit from conscious and un-conscious information housed in the fingertips. With intention and practice, mudras can change character traits, create healing, bring serenity, and offer awareness. There are 25 essential mudras, and many others that have been added along the way. You can make up one, once you know the energies in each finger. Simply by rubbing or pressing the fingers, you awaken dormant energies within. Next time you reach out and touch someone, or grab… Read more »
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