Sunflowers in the Rain
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Small Things
A minor upside of global climate change. Fresh mint and lemon balm for tea in mid-winter.
I left the house this morning around 7:30 to go up and teach my regular classes at Willow Street, Takoma Park. In the afternoon, I led a restorative workshop. It was delightful to be with two dozen yogis who decided the best way to spend the last Saturday in July was to take a mini-break from the heat and the bustle resting deeply and exploring inside. I felt wonderfully supported, having had amazing assistants, an excellent work-study helping at the desk and with clean-up afterward, and truly enthusiastic students. I could not have asked for more, especially given how long a day it was following an intense return to work immediately upon traveling back from the retreat with Paul Muller-Ortega all in the same week. After the workshop, I went out for an early dinner at Woodlands (Indian food) with a friend who had taken the workshop.
When I got home, feeling ready to do my own deep relaxation, I found tall ladders leading up to the roof. I had been warned by the project manager for the solar panel installation that I am having done that the roofer who was working on putting up the parapet structure to hold the frame might be here today. I hadn’t expected the roofer to be here at 7:30 pm, though. As long a week and day as I might have felt that I had, these guys, whom I am sure worked hard outside all week in the heat, were really having a long day.
You may have noticed that I do not say what I will be teaching. In my blogs and classes, when referring to the philosophy that inspires me, I speak of what I will be reading, what I will be contemplating, and what I will be exploring. It is not false humility. It is a recognition that reading and contemplating a work even several times over a few years is not enough to be “teaching” it. My teaching can, however, authentically be inspired by that level of exploration. I make offerings of what sparks me to think, to practice, and to want to continue to delve ever more deeply into the yoga practices.
This session, I will be reading, contemplating, and inspiring my own practices and my class plans from the Pratyabhijnahrdayam.
Pratyabhijnahrdayam: The Secret of Self-Recognition, J. Singh (Motalal Banarsidass Publishers, Reprinted 2008)
The Splendor of Recognition: An Exploration of the Pratyabhijna-hrdayam, Swami Shantananda with Peggy Bendet (SYDA Foundation, 2003)
A minor upside of global climate change. Fresh mint and lemon balm for tea in mid-winter.
