Signs Around Town


This month’s recipient will be the Environmental Defense Fund. Why? Because in his State of the Union Address to much applause by Democrats (Republicans don’t clap for a Democratic President even if he is giving them everything they want), President Obama announced that part of the support for “clean” energy would be for nuclear power plants, “clean” coal (an oxymoron if I ever heard one), and off-shore drilling.
You might wonder why not have the February cause be an organization that is doing work in Haiti? I feel it is important to support organizations such as the American Friends Service Committee and Doctors Without Borders, who are doing yeoman-like work to ease suffering in Haiti and other places around the globe, and I have given some support. Following disasters or major incidents, though, society as a whole often experiences “donor fatigue.” I want to make sure that in the aftermath, the other changes I seek in the world do not go unsupported by me. So I try to give extra, and I try to remember all the things about which I care.
I took a Zoom asana class this morning, because I like to see how others are leading practices these days. It was a sweet and gentle class. At the beginning, the person leading acknowledged that it was Valentines Day, and then said instead of talking about love, let’s talk about suffering. It was suggested that the attention we bring through the yoga practices to our suffering, can help us ease it. That would be an act of love, wouldn’t you agree?

I’ve been told that the tantric yoga masters said everything is the emanating light of consciousness with a capital “C” (prakasha) and through certain esoteric practices we can come to know ourselves as reflecting back on (vimarsha) this exquisite light. Then we can experience the sublimity of oneness.
Intentional stillness makes reflections easier to witness. And so we sit. And we can reorient our whole view of the world and recognize the emanating light reflected in the play of patterns from our individual and relational embodied dances. And sometimes a trio of dogs and a pond just make a great opportunity for a photo essay.