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    Train Ride Home

    ByElizabeth

    It is hard to believe that having arrived home only two weeks ago from my trip to India that I have already gone on and returned home from another trip.  As I looked out the train window at the landscape that still holds my interest though I have seen it hundreds of time, but yet is restful in its very familiarity, I thought about how strange and wondrous it would seem to one newly visiting from a place like Tamil Nadu, especially the rural areas.

     

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    My “Black Friday” Spending

    ByElizabeth

    I paid to take a yoga workshop with Paul and Sommer Sobin back in town for their annual day after Thanksgiving workshop at Willow Street Yoga, which was just delightful.  I spent the money for round trip transportation between Union Station and Silver Spring.  I had lunch with friends and paid for my share of lunch:  green tea salad, ginger salad, and tofu with sour mustard at Mandalay in Silver Spring.  I am grateful for what Willow Street Yoga offers me and the community, for easy access to public transportation (I wish we would spend some of our defense budget on public transportation), and for a wide variety of restaurants with delicious vegetarian and vegan alternatives near to my home.

    I chose to spend money today to have a refreshing and rejuvenating vacation day before teaching tomorrow and to support people whose livelihood is providing services and goods that make the community a better place to be and that enrich my own life.  I express my gratitude by, in the method created by the consumer society, contributing to the livelihoods of those who will, in exchange for livelihood, provide life-enhancing services and creative gifts to the rest of us.

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    Snowdrops and Crocuses (and Spanda)

    ByElizabeth

    Snowdrops have been showing up for more than a week, but crocuses?  They seem a little incongruous with the bitter winds and as much a reminder of global warming as of spring.  I feel a bit confused seeing them, though delighted.

    It has been a good winter.  I have learned to appreciate the cold and dark, which gives us time to enjoy the pleasures of home and introspection.  Now, I am looking forward to spring, the effusive colors, the warmth, the ability to get back out into the garden.

    This time of year, with the radical contrasts of cold winds and flowers does highlight the play of opposites, the very pulsation of existence — in yoga terms, the spanda.  This time in society seems to have a similar play of bitterness and sweetness.  Staying steady with our yoga practice and our community, we can delight in what we see and what we have, even as we may be worried and working for change.  That too, is part of the play (lila).  To invite in a steady warmth and support from our practice and our community, even as we see difficulties and challenges, want things to be different, and know that our work may not necessarily bring about the change we seek.

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    Maitri Getting Ready to Help Me Lead Saturday Morning Yoga Class

    ByElizabeth

    Send me a message if you want to join.

    Also, don’t yet have exact details, but I will be leading a free Zoom practice on Thanksgiving morning and hope to see some. Making a donation and sharing about it in chat will be welcomed, but not required. Details to come.

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    Akasha (space)

    ByElizabeth

    When we can connect to the essence of the element of akasha, space, within ourselves, we feel less crowded by things pressing in on the outside, whether it be actual confinement or overcrowdedness or the sense of crowding from having too many pressing things to do.  For those of us who live in the District of Columbia, this weekend, with the extra million or two or three people in our neighborhoods and using our transportation systems is a great opportunity to discover the spaciousness within.

    Practice dwelling in a supremely spacious place in your heart when you meditate this week.  Start by visualizing a vast space just beyond your third eye (the point between the eye brows).  Once you can visualize that space, the chidakasha, draw the space into your heart and rest there.  Then, when you go out onto to the Mall or onto the metro or onto crowded streets, bring enough of your consciousness into the vast inner space that you can feel comfortable with the crowding outside.  When dwelling in the inner and outer at the same time, it will be easier to marvel at the outside crowds.

    For those of you who are extroverts who get exhilarated by crowds, of course, this practice would seem less critical.  I invite you to give it a try anyway.

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