Kitcheree
Perfect between work and Spanish class meal–brown rice and red lentil kitcheree made in the rice cooker. Garnished with chopped herbs from the garden–mint, coriander, fennel.

Perfect between work and Spanish class meal–brown rice and red lentil kitcheree made in the rice cooker. Garnished with chopped herbs from the garden–mint, coriander, fennel.

Part of my daily practice is to take a walk. Despite the unseasonable cold and the overly scheduled, high stress day I was having, I made sure I still went for a walk. Once outside, I experienced beauty to lighten my heart and to bring freshness to the rest of the day’s work. That’s the purpose sadhana.
I walked over to the Verizon Center to see how the kalachakra was spreading into the space around it. Towards the end of my foray, the traffic light at a corner outside the Verizon Center changed in my direction, and I headed into the crosswalk. A cyclist going north in the southbound lane started cursing and screaming at me for blocking his way. The loudspeakers were blaring their usual commercial fare, the neon were glaringly lit even by day, the big video screens showing ads and offerings of upcoming sports events, and the tourists were jostling down the sidewalk, carrying their plastic containers full of stuff from McDonalds and Starbucks. On the other side of the Portrait Gallery was a special “market place” with silk shawls, t-shirts, silver and turquoise jewelry, thangkas, prayer wheels, and Himalayan food served in styrofoam containers with plastic forks.
I am as certain as it is possible to be that the space inside the Verizon Center is being transformed by the practice of the kalachakra for world peace empowerment inside. We cannot make others receive such an offering if they are closed and uninterested. We can, though, seek to open our own receptivity and our own hearts. As I observed my reaction to the plastics and the noise and having been cursed out when I had the “right of way,” I thought that the axiom “peace starts from within” is counsel that though we may not be able to change others, we can and are responsible for ourselves.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
The Anusara teachings and this community fill my heart and ever challenge mind and body. Much gratitude to John Friend, my teacher, and to all my friends on and off the mat.
Now off to teach Level 2 @ 8:30, Gentle & Therapeutics @ noon, “Free Your Head, Open Your Heart” (celebration workshop) @ 2:30.
I don’t talk much about my front garden because it is not as exciting for me as the back garden with its edibles and herbs. I give a sincere effort to make the front garden beautiful and welcoming since it is my interface with the neighborhood and all who walk past my house. The front is very shady and two maple trees block the rain and drink most of the water that gets past the leaves, so it has taken some effort to find plants that thrive. Much of what is in my garden comes from other gardening friends. Plants that come from friends near-by are likely to do well moved down the street. As my garden has matured, it has needed divisions, thus giving me an opportunity to share, in turn, with younger friends and neighbors. It thus nourishes in important ways, though it offers nothing to eat.