Similar Posts

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    Blossoms Around Town

    ByElizabeth

    Today I was filled with grief and anxiety, having taken in the pictures of India and Palestine and Iran and New York and Italy and for-profit prisons in the US and cages of refugees at the border and the over-burdened and under-supported health care workers and and and. And being out walking is strange.

    First, I counted my blessings. Then because I know what helps me, I did it:

    I sat myself down and did pranayama and meditation, made healthy simple meals, worked with focus all day, gave more money to those out helping and trying to change things for the better, spent some time cleaning and gardening, and soon will return to practicing, putting aside the influx of information for the remaining hours before bed.

    Blessings to all of you.

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    State of the Garden (Rescue Orchids)

    ByElizabeth

    These orchids were left out with the trash in the neighborhood yesterday.  Though my bags were full from a walk to the farmers market, I did not want to leave them to perish when they could yet offer more beauty.

    Despite what looked like months of neglect–the plants evidently owned only for their blooming time and not their full growing cycle–there was optimistic new growth. 

    Time will tell whether they will rebloom.  For now, they look pretty happy to have a new home.

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    The Search Continues (based on some dreaming)

    ByElizabeth

    In 2000 or 2001, shortly before I started practicing Anusara yoga, a teacher who regularly played music in class, played for us a recording of Alice Coltrane singing a tantric chant to Siva and the Goddess Bhuvaneshvari.  I only heard the chant once while we were in savasana — corpse pose/final relaxation.  Although I only heard the chant once, for several months afterwards, I found myself having a recurring dream that I was wondering in a neighborhood that looked like the one where I grew up and went to high school and chanting the full chant.  At the time I merely found it curious that I seemed to have learned the sanskrit just by hearing the chant one time.  I have since learned that the recording may have been done right near my high school; that is where the Coltrane’s had a recording studio.  I also learned that the chant was a tantric chant.  At the time, my teachers were coming from a classical yoga perspective.  Did I actually learn the chant by osmosis?  Was having the very vibration of the chanting near where I lived and studied the catalyst for me, as a receptive being, discovering a path of tantric yoga?

    I have found other recordings of the chant.  One is Atman’s “Dancing to the Goddess” on the Eternal Dance CD, which is an electronica version.  The other is Ragani’s “Om Mata” on the Best of Both Worlds, which is a very nice kirtan/pop version.  I have several of Alice Coltrane’s recordings, which are great jazz, if you aren’t familiar with Alice Coltrane as a fabulous musician in her own right.  Recently I searched again on the internet to see if the bootleg had become available.  There was nothing on YouTube (though some good Alice Coltrane things to watch).    I bought Alice Coltrane’s “Radha-Krsna Mana Sankirtana,” which was originally recorded in 1977 (when I was in high school) and reissued in 2005, as I thought that was a promising source.  It has some good things on it, but no luck finding the recording I wanted to hear.

    The chant goes like this:

    Samba sadasiva, samba sadasiva, samba sadasiva, samba shambo.

    Om mata, om mata, om sri mata, jagade mata.

    Om bhuvaneshvari, sri bhuvaneshvari, hari parashakti, devi bhuvaneshvari.

    It is a chant to the benevolent, auspicious one within, the radiant goddess, the creatrix of the world.  Bhuvaneshvari is one of the ten wisdom goddesses.

    Please advise if you have access to the Alice Coltrane or another recording of this beautiful chant.

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    Yoga for Our Troops

    ByElizabeth

    It is too far from my current world and beyond my temporal limits at the moment, but if you are interested, please contact my friend Robin through the website link below, who writes:

    Dear Friends and Colleagues,

    As some of you may know, the last 5 years or so I’ve been fortunate to have had the opportunity to take yoga way beyond the reach of a yoga studio and teach yoga and iRest meditation at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. It’s been a life-changing experience.
    Though its only 5 minutes away from the WSYC Takoma Studio, Walter Reed is a world away in many ways. I’m sure you’ve heard the news reports about the soldiers suffering from trauma, brain injury, loss of limbs, etc. And their families carry enormous burdens that are not all met by military services. I regularly see 22 year old women with a baby on back and toddler beside them pushing a young husband who is seriously injured in battle. And these wounds may be more readily addressed than the wounds that are invisible to the eye — depression, flashbacks, anxiety, sleep deprivation, mood swings and isolation.
    One piece of good news is that the military is now beginning to embrace mind-body approaches such as yoga and bring them into healthcare settings.
    Several teachers, including Karen Soltes, and I have created a training program that helps (200 hr +) yoga teachers to teach safely and effectively in military settings. Our experience shows that one must have a respectful understanding of the culture of the military AND a basic knowledge of the signature war-related conditions and injuries.
    Part One: Fundamentals of Teaching Yoga and Meditation in Military Settings is a 7- week teleconference program that you can take from anywhere with just a phone and email. It runs  Wednesday June 8 – July 20. If you miss a class, we record every one of them so you can listen at your convenience.
    Please visit our website at www.warriorsatease.com.  I’ve attached a flyer, if you feel inclined to post this at your yoga studio. Let me know if you have any questions.
    Also, please pass this message on to anyone in the country or Canada who might be interested in working with the military community.

    Take care and thanks so much, Robin

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