Found this in a pile of papers when I was cleaning out my work office the other day. It’s pretty free of extraneous paper, but miscellany will creep in. My recollection is that a co-worker brought me a copy of the City Paper because she was excited to see the picture of someone she knew.
I have not felt any calling to get myself into such positions in recent years. My body just doesn’t want that kind of rigor any more. It was joyous at the time.
Last night, I hopped on the bus and went from Capitol Hill to Columbia Heights to go square dancing. I haven’t square danced since elementary school, when we had two week sessions every year from third through sixth grade (I doubt, somehow, that they are still teaching square dancing as a needed physical exercise these days). It was interesting how much of the kinesthetic memory was still there, but it would not have mattered if I had not remembered. There were a lot of beginners, and the emphasis was on enthusiasm and enjoyment, not on getting it exactly right.
One thing that was noticeable about both the complete beginners and those who were very interested in demonstrating that they could do fancy variations was how little awareness there was of how those dancers related to the room as a whole or their squares. Even if there was some awareness of their partners, the beginners were to busy trying to figure out what to do at all to be able to think outside themselves or their partner, much less outside of their own square to the relationship of their square to those around them. Those that were eager to demonstrate their prowess took up as much space as they wanted to do their own dance, making it so that others had to move out of their way.
The truly skilled and aware dancers fostered the fullness of the dance, mindful of their own technique, their relationship to their partners and squares, and how their square fit into the dance hall as a whole, thus optimizing the freedom of the flow of the dance for everyone.
I think this dynamic in the dance reflects how we want to live as an individual within the fabric of being. If we are sluggish with ignorance, we will trod on others, when we could have a better relationship by making the time and effort to learn how to live more rightly and in alignment with the whole. When we just strive to show how great we are, heedless of how we impact other beings, we also disrupt the flow of being. To be truly engaged in the wondrous dance of being in a way that makes not only our own lives fuller, but enriches and enhances life around us, we must not only study and practice for ourselves and develop sensitivity and awareness in our intimate relationships and our relationships to our family and community, but also understand and act from a cognizance of the flow of life and energy outside our immediate world.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
One of the things I am most grateful for in these times is the support of the various practices of yoga, and as I find that gratitude nourishes generosity, with my friend Suzann Lynch, I will be offering an all-levels, all ages on-line yoga practice on Thanksgiving morning.
Time: 10:00-11:30am
Date: Thursday, November 26
Register by signing up through this link: https://www.
Please feel free to invite friends and family–whether or not you’ll be in the same space.
Suzanne and I plan to sign in 30 minutes early and stay on afterward so that there is time to connect via video and chat.
Hope to share the practices with many of you.
1. Still dark, too early to get up; oh right, daylight savings time.
2. Wait; wake up call is Sri Rudrum; here’s the part I’ve learned by heart to help invoke auspiciousness, wisdom, compassion, light, interconnectedness, steadiness, fierce will, etc; good reminder; don’t sleep through it.
3. Nuclear reactors in Japan; wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; Libya; aftermath of BP oil spill, Katrina, and 9-11; budget talks prioritize war and business as usual; no senators or Congress person for DC; mountaintop coal mining; tar sands; diabetes/obesity epidemic.
4. Time to nurture cats and plants and sit for meditation; I am indeed blessed.
5. How do I bring “2” and “4” to my response to “3”?
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
The practice of yoga nidra is a wonderful way to deepen the connection between the full range of consciousness and your physical body. It is enjoyable and helpful to practice it on an occasional basis — we did it for the last class of the session in the Willow Street gentle/therapeutics class and you all are welcome to come to the New Year’s Yoga Nidra workshop on Sunday, January 4th — but it can be even more productive as a regular weekly practice.
Here are some good resources if you have found yoga nidra helpful and want to find out more about it and establish a home practice:
To read more about yoga nidra, I recommend the following books, both of which I believe are available at Willow Street Yoga Center.
These CD’s lead you through yoga nidra practices of various lengths and emphasis:
Tonight (technically very early tomorrow morning), will be the first full lunar eclipse on the winter solstice in 350 years. Part of me wants the sky to be clear so that I can witness this extraordinary event. The other part yearns for a cloudy forecast so I can stay warm in my bed at 3 a.m. without feeling that it would be my own inaction that led me to miss the eclipse.
I think we all feel this way about our practice sometimes. We want to have the great openings that come from a deep and steady practice, but it would be oh so nice if they came without effort. And an excuse not to practice that comes from somewhere out of our control makes it so much easier to accept not getting the benefits.
Unlike a cloud cover blocking our view of the moon, though, there aren’t many things that actually prevent practicing, although they might change what kind of practices we can do at a particular time in our lives.
