Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
One red and one yellow cherry tomato were ripe this morning. The first of the season in my garden. Just in time for the solstice.
It should come as no surprise that I ate them before I had a chance to take a photograph. And really, they were far tastier than it was possible to photograph.
Being free from worry is not the same as being free from challenges of embodiment–internal and external.
A key point, for me, of living with attention (mindfully), is learning how better to prepare to address challenges or to avoid them, as appropriate, and become more serene in responding when there’s no more preparation that would change what is coming.
At yoga class tonight, a couple of students advised of challenges with neck and shoulders; another was very tired. After we had centered and done some gentle warm-ups, I led the class into this simple restorative backbend. In the pose, a rolled up blanket (or even a towel or two) is placed across the back, right at the bottom of the shoulder blades, so that the roll firms the shoulder blades onto the back and allows the heart to open, the collarbones to broaden, and the shoulders to drape to the floor. The yogin keeps the legs somewhat active in supta tadasana–supine mountain–pose to make more easeful opening the back and chest.
It was a good day for a quiet, nurturing practice designed to move us into our hearts. When we are faced with tragedy and outrage, but are not personally harmed, it is even more important that we choose to get deeper into our hearts. It is a time when it is good to choose to practice (whatever the practice) to foster clarity of vision, improve individual health and strength, and ground ourselves in a space where we can expand the possibility of responding with compassion, generosity, and common sense instead of unthinkingly reacting out of fear and rage.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
What could be more quintessentially American and also generally incompatible with authentic yoga teachings than the desire/exhortation to express one’s individuality? How can we really practice yoga and still honor this inbred privileging of the individual? Are there ways of melding principles of radical individuality with philosophies that say enlightenment is a surrender of that individuality that would serve to harmonize and expand rather than just provide fuel for inner conflict?
Your input most welcome.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
When I was walking home in the gray chilly day, astonished and awed by the beauty and effulgence of the cherry blossoms as if experiencing them for the first time though I have been witnessing them blossom here for over 25 years, I thought about the principle of abhuta.
Abhuta, which means wonder, is one of my favorite sanskrit words. It is one of the important aspects of the Anusara alignment principle of “opening to grace.” When we approach things freshly and with wonder, then we will not only experience more delight in our daily lives, but we will be more open to learning something new from what we experience over and over again, both on and off of our mat.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
