Some Cats and Dogs

ByElizabeth August 4, 2014

Art and Culture | Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Community and Family | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Meditation

Yoga Philosophy Word of the Day
ByElizabeth November 5, 2014

Avidya–ignorance or delusion.

Very roughly stated, the yoga philosophies and guides to practice teach that it is ignorance or delusion that is the root cause of evil and suffering. When we act from ignorance of our essential nature–it’s divinity (whatever that might mean to you)–then we act in ways that move away from spirit rather than towards it (one way of describing evil).

As I interpret the teachings, the point of the practices for a householder is to help us act and respond informed by consciousness of this essential “divinity” in everything we do, including how we care for ourselves, our community, and the ecosystem that we inhabit. The closer we come to achieving this state of acting consciousness, though there will still be pain and loss in this human embodiment, the less we will be the cause of suffering for ourselves and others.

Note: You might say or think it, but I will refrain from actually articulating why this is the word that comes to mind for contemplation today.

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Art and Culture | Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Community and Family | Meditation

Gratitude and Self-Acceptance
ByElizabeth March 28, 2010

On Friday night, Betsy Downing was at Willow Street’s Silver Spring studios leading a weekend workshop. The focus of the weekend was learning how yoga practice can assist us in “interesting times.” In this regard, Betsy invited us to recommit to two practices that we know support us when we fully practice them. I did not feel the need for more meditation or asana or pranayama. I do those steadily.

I have been struggling, though, with where I am lately — I think something was triggered with all the confined time during the great snows. This morning I decided that for me, this invitation would best serve if I allowed it to help refocus my practice. In getting a little off-kilter, I forgot to practice fully gratitude and self-acceptance. Remembering to practice those fully will nourish me well in these challenged times.

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Art and Culture | Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Community and Family | Food for the Body | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Meditation | Photos

Preparing for Thanksgiving Eve Practice
ByElizabeth November 23, 2011November 24, 2011

When I get the studio ready for Wednesday night yoga class, I pick a puja card. I shuffle the cards and then pick a card from somewhere in the middle of the stack. More often than not, the card is aligned in some way with the activity, thought, or emotion that is most present in body-mind. Tonight, the card that came first out of the shuffled pack was krtajnata — gratitude.

I am deeply grateful for my teachers, friends, and family–extensively overlapping categories–and wish a happy thanksgiving to all.

Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

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Meditation | Photos

High Desert (and the Plains of Consciousness)
ByElizabeth April 27, 2011

I am not drawn to the desert. I prefer the lush fullness of a wetter climate, but the very otherness of the desert from my usual environment fills me with awe and appreciation for the immense variety of existence. I went to the desert on this trip because that is where my teacher was teaching, and the teachings were more important to me than any preference for visiting a particular outer landscape. One of the great benefits of combining intensive meditation with travel is that it can demonstrate at the most profound level that the infinitude of the inner landscape is the same no matter where we are and no matter what are the features of any outer landscapes we visit.

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Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Community and Family | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Quaker

Historic Anniversary and Yogic Discernment
ByElizabeth January 6, 2025

January 6 is yet another day so historic it warrants reflection and impetus to action on every anniversary. (That might be resting, by the way, if you spend much of your temporal, energetic, and emotional resources in the efforts to make change and ward off evil.)

One of the yoga practices is exercising discrimination and acting with discernment (viveka) in response to changes in the world, the human collective, and ourselves. Discernment requires learning and admitting to the difficult truths and learning from experts and innovators.

Meditation, contemplation, reflection, and being present to oneself is all very nice, but without study and discriminative participation in the collective, it starts being more like spiritual bypassing than not.

What are your thoughts on this day? How does staying present to the reality of it make you feel? How are you balancing taking care of yourself and participating in shifting the narrative?

It seems somewhat fitting that DC has been crippled today by the first significant snow storm in quite some time.

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Art and Culture | Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Community and Family | Food for the Body | Gardening

Hoppin’ John and Greens from the Garden
ByElizabeth January 1, 2022

May you experience in the coming year, no matter what comes or life calls of you, moments of joy, wonder, and connection.

Peace peace peace.

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