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    A Happy Coincidence (and the new Willow Street Yoga book club)

    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

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    They’re Almost Here (Way Too Soon)

    The cherry trees are starting to flower–two weeks earlier than an average spring and likely to set a record.

    In my own yard, the greens that over-wintered and are newly coming up are suffering from lack of rain and May/June temperatures. Though it is still technically winter, the lowest lows are in the high 40s F in the 15-day forecast. It is still risky to take out the tropicals, though if the 15-day forecast looks the same in mid-April, I will go for it, even though historical last frost is in May.

    What cannot wait is planting cool weather vegetables such as snow peas. They still might not thrive if the unseasonable warmth and lack of rain do not level off. But Spring is so early that now is the chance to catch the growing season.

    As I can go to the grocery store and the farmers’ market, I could just let the season pass me by, ignoring the realities of the season we are getting.

    Much of the reason I garden is to heighten consciousness and connection to nature. If I do not make sudden adjustments the way a farmer would to, then I am missing out on a great opportunity. That meeting the unexpected time constraints imposed by abnormal weather patterns is not in sync with my schedule just highlights the importance of us needing to shift ourselves to be aligned with the great flows of energy.

    Enjoy your gardens (strawberries will be early too–i already have some plants starting to form fruit).

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

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    Received Exhortation (Tantra?)

    I’d seen a photo on-line, and discussion before and after a friend took to the street and the park to write exhortations, prayers, pleas.

    I might not have seen it live had it not been directly on my way home later in the day. Though I had not gone looking for it, I recognized it when I saw it–the exhortation triggered by a planned display of bigotry, rage, ignorance and hate.

    The exhortation to embrace diversity is a fundamental precept of the tantric yoga philosophy (my friend was making the exhortation based on different practices, but it hardly matters from what source one gets a true teaching). I always benefit from contemplating ever more deeply that the only way to experience unity/union is to ever more fully embrace diversity (while still, of course, practicingviveka–discrimination).

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

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