State of the Garden


A friend who was a skilled gardener whose taste in gardening ran to the subtle and quiet (think Vita Sackville-West’s all white garden at Sissinghurst), used to tease me for my attraction to lush, tropical blooms.
There is a time and place for everything in this world–the quiet and demure, the loud and outrageous.
The wider range we can appreciate, and the better we can know the optimal use and place for things, the better we will flow and dance and integrate into the joyous possibilities in the fabric of being.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
The key concept of yoga–satcitananda can be elusive, like all abstract concepts in the yoga philosophy and in other philosophies or areas of study. We are given metaphors and analogies in the texts to help us recognize when, through our practice, we experience in our self the manifestation of what had just been theory (book knowledge).
It is hard to describe, for example, what it truly means to be fully present and aware in the moment and thus suffused with bliss
(satcitananda).
There was a moment, standing in the hot sun, when I tasted a sun-warmed, perfectly ripe blueberry that I thought, this is a moment many of my students might imagine to be able to extrapolate the abstract concept of satcitananda.
Notice also the volunteer purslane at the base of the blueberry bush. Weeding and harvesting greens for salad and stir fry can be coextensive. Don’t poison or discard your purslane (or your dandelions). Pick it and eat it; purslane is a great plant source of omega fatty acids.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
For the past week, I have been meditating on, practicing with, and teaching the water element in classes. Our health and the health of the planet depend on the water element being balanced. When our water element is in balance, we are fluid, open, well-nourished, malleable, and life-supporting. Too much or too little water is immediately a problem. Dehydration and drought wither life; flooding overwhelms.
Yesterday, I developed the symptoms of a rather watery head cold that is going around. Did it come from invoking the water element? Doubtful; probably just a virus. I treat the watery symptoms of not merely with more water (as in plenty of liquids), but more truly with fire: hot soup, hot tea, steam to clear the head, a hot water bottle under the covers. The heat balances the excess of water and the missing fire that comes from a cold in winter.
This week I have really noticed the light changing. When I start my morning meditation, the day is just dawning, not full daylight. The cat is not waking me up an hour before the electronic wake-up call, but is rather showing up just before it goes off (he is acting in sync with my routine rather than with the birds’). Even though the days are still hot, there are hints of autumn in the smell of the leaves and certain breezes. The first of the late summer fruits and vegetables are starting to come.
Are you noticing the subtle shifts? Has it changed what you want to practice and how you are feeling when you practice?