This sign was posted in a corridor in a federal government office building I went to this morning for a meeting. Without getting into any details, a colleague and I acknowledged how telling the need for the sign. The sound was not really that much like gunfire.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
These workers were caulking the fifth floor windows of my building today. It was snowing. (the flakes were too fine to show up in the photograph.) I wish them (and will donate money and sign petitions, write letters, etc to back up my wishes for all workers) health care, child care, retirement benefits, and a safe (as it can be) job free from discrimination, harassment, and wage theft.
If you are looking for a good way to practice and enhance your standing poses, please check out this video by John Friend. If the link doesn’t work for you, go to Yoga Journal on-line and go to their videos section.
I never cease to marvel at the wonders of technology. I never cease to be grateful for my teacher and the teachings. Don’t take anything for granted.
As regular readers may have noticed, last Sunday I was inspired to blog about Arjuna’s dilemma on the battlefield in connection with local events. Later that day, I was reminded that this coming Sunday, January 16th, will be the first meeting of the new book club at Willow Street Yoga Center (Takoma Park studio). The book for the first meeting is Ram Dass’s Paths to God, Living the Bhagavad Gita. Perhaps I was thinking about the Gita because in the back of my mind, I knew that the reading was on my to do list. Perhaps, the book club reading was just energetically connected to where my thoughts were already going. Perhaps it was just a coincidence (though I do not much believe in coincidence).
Although the date had crept up on me unawares, I did already have Paths to God on my shelf and began reading it upon getting the reminder about the book club. The book, which is taken from a series of lectures at the then newly opened Naropa University, is rich with stories about Ram Dass’s own spiritual journey, recommendations for a wide range of practices for discovery of our own spirit, and has lots of juicy thought about taking the study of the Bhagavad Gita and other spiritual texts out of our heads and into how we live our lives and embrace the world.
I hope to see many of my local yogi friends at the book club meeting, not just to expand ourselves by reading and discussing this beautiful text, but to deepen our yoga community and practice by being together. I am sure you are welcome, too, to bring your needlework. If you cannot join us this time, do think about adding the book to your list of yoga books to read. Ram Dass is always thought-provoking, inspiring, and delightful to read.
There is a google group for the book club if you want to get updates. I trust that you will be added to the group if you email: willowstreetbookclub@googlegroups.com
A friend from dancing whom I like and respect wrote what I found an inspiring book on improving workshop offerings, both for the person offering the workshop and those attending. I don’t offer yoga workshops any more, but from my studio teaching days and my wide range of acquaintance, I have lots of friends who do offer workshops or offer programs in the public interest, and I always like to check out what my friends are offering. On reading it, I immediately saw its usefulness for the not-for-profit for which I am on the Board of Directors, as well as for friends who have great offerings, but may need a little help on how to get the value of their offerings known.
Here’s more info to check it out: @Leslie Zucker’s new book called “Deliver Workshops That Bring in Clients: A How-To Guide for Coaches, Consultants and Entrepreneurs”. She’s offering the chapter on marketing your workshop for free. You can get it here: www.lesliezucker.com/
I had lunch the other day with a friend whose life is suddenly brimming full with a variety of opportunities. Any one of them by itself would feel like a bounty. With multiple ones arising simultaneously, because they are not necessarily in perfect sequence with each other, making decisions seems like a conundrum rather than a blessing. Over a rather delightful lunch, my friend gave me many details of the various things that were going on, and the places where they seemed not to synchronize in a way that would allow her to have it all with ease. “Any words of wisdom?” she asked. When I was younger, I might have tried to make specific suggestions. Specific suggestions, though, are always colored by our own particular preferences, prejudices, and desires. Instead, I said, “In the style of yoga I practice, the first principle for starting every pose, which I find works for what I do off the mat as well, is to ‘open to grace.’
“Opening to grace means to soften, to listen, to open ourselves to the universal in which the details arise, to allow what is to be in the flow,” I added.
“Without getting into the details, the essence of the next alignment principle [muscular energy] is the application of proper boundaries. Even though we want to be soft and open, we still do not say ‘yes’ to everything. Although open to everything, we steady ourselves and use our knowledge to discriminate and find a good container for ourselves so that we can act with more light.”
“Ah,” my friend replied, “I’ve been trying to control everything without allowing things to unfold. What you are saying makes sense.”
My friend will find her own way, and I look forward to witnessing the great joys potentially unfolding for her. Any time she invites me to share some of the wisdom I’ve received from my teachers, it will be my delight to pass it on.
