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On Looking at Clouds
One reason to look up is to avoid the troubled response to a view of highway and homeless shelter. The other is because I am captivated by the never ending exquisite beauty of sky and how much I can learn about my environment from the sky if I pay steady and open attention to it.
Sometimes I practice because I want to move my attention away from something unpleasant. More often it is because to practice is an abiding joy.
- Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Community and Family | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Photos | Quaker
Bhakti
I went down to the White House and joined a prayer vigil for ceasefire and disarmament in the Middle East led by the Franciscan Action Network. Another group was beginning a march on front of the World Bank, pointing out the conflation of oil and gas dependence, continued bombing, and ecocide. Such action is bhakti (spiritual devotion), not empty prayers combined with a niceness that passively allows the status quo.
How are you living your faith?

- Art and Culture | Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Meditation | Miscellaneous (blog matters, etc) | Photos
Curiouser and Curiouser…
Last night, I took some lovely photos in the rain when I was walking to get a massage (it is pretty awesome to get a massage on a Monday night; try it sometime and see how it changes your perspective on the work week). After I came home and had dinner, I resisted the temptation to curl up on the sofa with a book. Instead, I got on the computer to take care of email correspondence that had accumulated over the day and the weekend while I was at the workshop with John Friend. I uploaded the photos from my walk and tried to post an entry. I got a message when I was in WordPress saying that the photo upload had failed. I exited from that screen and tried to access the file uploader. I could not get in. I then exited the prompt that I had failed. It would not let me cancel. Next, I exited the admin portion of my blog. The computer was not happy about that, but eventually it seemed to close the program. After that, I could not get back either to my public page nor to the admin page. I tried several times, but to no avail. I sent an email to my website designer–could she get in?
I woke to an email from my website designer saying no problems for her. After I did my morning practice and before heading into the office, I tried again. On my home computer, no access at all to either the public or administrative portions of the site. I reloaded Firefox. That did not do the trick. I scanned my computer, but it showed no errors. I have access to the blog from my Blackberry, my office computer, and my IPad, but not from my home computer–my central place, the place where all my files and photos and bookmarks and maximum computer capabilities are one.
As Alice (in Wonderland) would say, “curiouser and curiouser.” I am sure with research and trying lots of alternatives, we will find a solution to this peculiar glitch.
I think staying fully connected to the ultimate loving ground of our being can feel like this strange denial of access to my blog. We get glimpses. We have studied enough to know what it is on an intellectual basis. We feel connected when we are at a big workshop (or sometimes it looks like every one else has found the bliss and we are the only ones who are not tapping in–note to self, usually that’s not true) or are in class or practicing, but not when we get challenged by daily life.
Two things serve to bring us back to center–the first is to keep practicing and making the effort, just as expanding knowledge and trying different strategies will get me back my full blog access; the second is grace (and being open to receive it). And when grace comes, we then need to keep practicing so that we stay connected and can live in and from grace more and more of the time and remember and reconnect more easily when we get disconnected.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
- Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Community and Family | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Meditation
Vacation
Yoga clothes–check
Meditation shawl– check
Hiking boots–check
Head lamp–check
Bathing suit–check
Insect repellent– checkWill be on retreat. Not to escape, but to reinvigorate and reconnect so that I can be more fully present and available for work and community and seeking to change what is possible on my return.
No cell phone service until Monday. Will have stories, I’m sure, when I get back.





