Inspiration

If I have any chance at all in becoming remarkable, it is through and by the people who love me.  I grow from the gift of their generosity, their open-eyed non-judgment, and their ability to see inner lopsidedness and move beyond it.  They may not always like my behavior.  I do not desire or expect them to, but they do and will stand fast, allowing me to explore, fail, grow, and love. This remarkable love sees me as I would wish to be viewed, perhaps as they hope I will see them.  Together we grow toward some strange unconditional loving, and love of self through the other.  We become each other’s pets, warm animals, there when we need them, without judgment, barking when we get out of hand. Present society tells us we must be remarkable to be seen, to be heard, to have any presence.  It says things like, “We are only excellent.  Are you excellent?”  How can I possibly answer that other than by, “No.”  Hopefully I will laugh, but a voice inside niggles, “why aren’t you excellent?  Why aren’t you somebody?” These days, everybody is somebody. It is a tough and true friend/lover/mate who loves you when ain’t an excellent somebody, and your run of the mill-ness often runs to mule-ishness. I so appreciate being loved in spite of myself. It makes me possible. It makes life excellent. Pose With Seasonal Notes Asana: Uttana Shishosana/Extended Puppy Pose.  Come to hands and knees, as in Cat-Cow.  On exhale, pull hips up and back toward heels, toes flat, fingers extending, extend until forehead comes to floor between arms.  Make puppy noises of contentment if it increases your pleasure of relaxation. Health Notes: This is a good beginning warm up, and- or closer.  It gently stretches spine, upper back, and shoulders. It……

  If feeling unhappy in a pose, or unexpectedly hurt by someone’s random comment, or suddenly uneasy with a stranger or new situation,   it is smart not to take it at face value. Often it is something within the pose, the person, or comment that sparks old hidden fires of fear within. Like the mind, muscles hold memory. Often ancient, forgotten memories embedded in the muscular structure are triggered by seemingly random events.  Some people believe that they don’t have to be of this life time, but that a karmic triggering can take place when the body is ready. And Yoga is constantly getting us ready.  It is one reason to be aware, and listening to the Practice.  What secrets are being revealed? What layer is being peeled away?  It is one of the main reasons Yoga is used as a healing agent for physical, psychological, and spiritual ills/ imbalances. Sometimes we meet people we whom we have an instant affinity, others give us chills.  We are foolish beyond belief when we do not pay attention to these signals of ‘high alert,’ for the body has greater access than the brain to the kind of intelligence that is particularly important at a profoundly personal level.  When we move past the face value of, “I’m tired, I’m uncomfortable, I don’t like this pose, that person bores me,” to question why, we begin a journey for our holy grail.  This grail is the cup holding essential soul-self, and as we effort to strip away outer layers, bypassing assumption, laziness, fear, those band aids placed in strategic positions long ago, we begin our true journey. Since we are more willing to start up new journeys in January, questions for this road might be:  1.  Is this person/pose/experience pushing me off balance? How? Why……

There are certain phrases, or words, even ideas in the English language fraught with oxymoronism, or imbued with moronic sensibility.  Take ‘peace of mind’ for example.  The mind is a restless, vibrating, multi-sensory-quivering jelly.  There is nothing still or peaceful about it.  We do not come to peace through the mind. If we find it at all it is through the heart. When and if we do there is an outside chance the mind will connect to the heart, and grow still enough for a peaceful prayer. Beware the  book selling you, “Peace of Mind.” “I’m afraid to take the wrong step,” is another moronic statement. There are no wrong steps.  We’re walkin’ ain’t we? And if we are learning something from mis-placed foot prints then knowledge increases, growth follows. In fact, the worst wrong steps are often the best for they grow experience for our mysterious journey, the experience that really counts. “I assume you’re right.”  This follows on the heels of ‘fear in taking the wrong step,’ for as fear falls away we come to experience our truth.  We assume less, especially where others are concerned.  It all too often makes an ass-out of–u-and-me.  Assuming comes from a belief, or a prejudice, or laziness, often- all three. The more one assumes the more intelligence takes a back seat, growing dull and lackluster.  Assuming may bring peace of mind, leading to all manner of mis-steps. It may offer another’s truth, or belief, which they strongly believe, and we might assume is correct because their belief is so strong.  This is the dis-aster (meaning ‘against the stars.’) waiting to happen. Lest we forget, truth is an experience, not a belief, and certainly not someone else’s belief.  Before you drink their kool aid, or buy their book, follow their commandment, or walk in their footsteps, take a deep breath,……

It’s been said that ‘turning over a new leaf,’ ‘turning a page,’ ‘turning toward the future,’ are good and true actions come January 1. Frankly, I’m for turning over and pulling up the covers this year. I’m for ripping out the page and burning it. Turning toward the future only reveals the fridge, where I’ve stuck my head in a jar of fudge. I’ve lived long enough to know that this too shall pass. But hell, the pabulum of dreams unmet, and desires railroaded, is like eating an inch of cold grease off an old griddle. No? The grease and un-answered dreams clog all manner of drains even when we wishing to pull forward and turn a new leaf, or a page. It takes an enormous turning of the will to not be destructive about being destroyed. Yes, shredding is part of the process. It’s called, ‘transformation.’ Hee hee hee. Transformation is nothing but ‘destruction’ blithely written, or said by your Astrologer seeing Pluto approach. No matter what we call it, transformation is the only game in town these days. But please don’t ask me to do that. Don’t ask me to give up the ego’s wishes. I don’t want to change what I’ve constructed. I don’t want to surrender when I’ve worked so hard to hang on…. Oh Waugh waingh wallyeee. Apparently, wynching is good for the soul. I feel much better now that I’ve spread my cold grease around. Lucky you! There’s something about writing the angst in black and white that often reveals its pettiness and absurdities. This creates enough light to re-boot. There is just enough laughter to take a small step toward the year’s unknown demands. Thank you for listening. Your turn. Are you ready to begin the New Year? Or are you kicking and……

Special Saturday 1st, 2011- 10:30 AM New Year’s Day Ritual   Let us call down the angelic source to see us through the high wire act of coming year.  Treat yourself to Pranayama, chant, Shakti-dance and Vinyasa heat, followed by restorative poses, perchance – space for revelation.  2011 is a four year, a Saturn energy. How can you best use it?  How does it tie into your personal number?  Come and explore New Year dreams, poses to conquer, Shakti Dances to sing, journeys to enter, Ideas to enlarge upon…the new life waiting to take its shape.  Share what you will while eating burnt toast, hosted by Namaste Gang.  …It’s all grist for the mill as we grind slowly toward becoming in 2011. Class donations go toward buying a water buffalo through Heiffer International, spreading joy and generosity ever outward.       Third of three Breaths on connection. What is the greatest connective energy?  As an element, it is air. If it’s a force field, it is electricity. If it is through a mental process, it is a thought.  From the emotional body, I say it’s love.  Each in their way provide routes for unique and/or quotidian connection.  We use them in every moment, rarely hesitating over how transference happens, never mind, why, what or with whom. Facebook has made ‘the who’ pervasively relevant/irrelevant, Electricity connects the what of every city and citizen without hesitation, while thoughts roam air’s free ride, shooting out ideas every nano-second. I suspect the heart would like to feel as free, fast, and easy about connecting, and in a perfect world, it would.   How, in this New Year, do we connect more with, from, to the heart?  Where does the courage come from to move toward another when we have not yet been welcomed. What is……

In the sacred hour, Known to owls and the mis-begotten,  Barred doors slant open Materia Magicke seeps through. Ageless wisdom thresholds To take the hand Inward to the earth’s center. Out by the birdbath and ancient Oak. The royal sky spreads skeletal in Ice-dark diamonds. Glistening through shadows Patterned on hoar frost. Winter’s constellations; Hydra, Cepheus, Cassiopeia, Prick memory of time-travel Far away homes Once known in other births. Tonight Akashic Records open  Hoped for memory briefly glistens As the Great Horned cries, Time stops -Soon enough daybreak return. To honor the sacred mysteries of the year’s shortest day, the Winter’s Solstice, along with a Full Moon Lunar Eclipse, stop! Breathe! Dream!  Moving forward into unknown, mystical territory, retain strong, stalwart bones of the past as you dance into the magic and the mystery of returning light.  May Grace, healing, joy, peace, solace, redemption, and love be yours.