A Hawk
At one point, during this walk with a friend at the National Arboretum, four hawks were circling. I wondered what was on the ground. It was a gloriously temperate day.

At one point, during this walk with a friend at the National Arboretum, four hawks were circling. I wondered what was on the ground. It was a gloriously temperate day.

If you are a true renunciate yogi, then the horsemen of the apocolypse don’t phase you. The ultimate bliss is leaving your body anyway. For those of us who are engaged in the world, care about what we eat, care where we live, care about the well-being of family and friends, then learning, understanding, and acting — knowing of course that we can control that and how we act, but not the outcome — is a critical part of a tantric yoga life.
It’s great to know how to place one’s hands for optimal alignment in downward-facing dog, but do you know how your tax dollars are spent? Here’s a little overview worth sharing widely. And perhaps it will make all that noise in Washington about the budget and the debt ceiling seem a little more important. Check out the “People’s Budget,” which enhances domestic programs, increases participation in paying for our society by the rich, and decreases defense spending and military action.
And then I highly recommend standing on your head or balancing on your hands or otherwise going upside-down, getting twisted, and knowing that the practice will help you stay sane and steady and able to act.
Sully and Uma have been here for 10 days. It’s true that the cat tree came with them, but it is amazing how quickly they adapted to a new space and a new person, given that they are middle-aged. Part of their resiliency is due to how affectionate they are and that they came together (though I suspect she would be happy as an only cat). I can definitely learn from witnessing them.
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.