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    A Graywater Inspiration from Friends (and opening to grace/muscular energy)

    ByElizabeth

    When we are on our mats, being open to grace — the first Anusara alignment principle — includes being open to the teachings so that we can receive and act on them in a healing and loving way.  Adding to that muscular energy by lovingly embracing skin to muscle to bone in a conscious embrace, drawing into our center to recognize our inner spirit, and drawing from periphery to the focal point brings us into optimal balance.  This pulsation serves as a way off the mat to open, inspire, and engage us in progressively more intentional and uplifting ways of living.

    Being open to inspiration from friends and about town, open to learning new ways to be kind to the earth and to ourselves, is a way of bring the principle of “opening to grace” off the mat.  Actually keeping the intention and acting on it has the attentive embrace of muscular energy, which draws us onto our inner light in a loving embrace so that we can better serve.

    I was thinking about Anusara principles off the mat, yesterday when I went visit a friend in NW one of whose roommates fosters cats.  There is a community garden in the back and the house is warm and friendly.  In the bathtub were two buckets filled with water leftover from showers.  Instead of using fresh, potable water to flush the toilet, when it is time to flush (honoring the drought axiom about yellow mellowing, etc), the house residents fill the tank with the gray water from the shower.

    Find it too complicated an idea to shower with a bucket in the bathtub with you?  You can still save water by filling your watering can or bucket when you run the water to warm up enough to get into the shower.  That will save a few gallons.  Not up to using the water to flush the toilet?  Use it to water houseplants or for cleaning floors, etc.  Or take it outside to water potted plants.

    First step is opening and witnessing the possibilities and understanding where you are ready to expand.  The second step is to try to more consistently live your inspiration.  I know when I see people living with such intention I take better care to move in that direction, even if I am not ready to go as far.

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    Observing Another Storm Pass without Raining (and a moment of truth)

    ByElizabeth

    The third front in a row.  It is starting to be a long while not to rain in the summer.  It is a tough gardening year:  extreme drought conditions all winter, overly cool and wet spring, now no rain again.

    Watching how the erratic weather patterns are impacting my garden, I am reminded that I am not a purist about gardening or food or my impact on the earth.   As much as I enjoy tending my garden and eating its fruits, there is no hesitation in my mind that if my garden does not produce, I will buy more food at the farmers’ market.  If the pickings are slim at the farmers’ market because of local conditions, I am in no doubt that I will buy food from whatever source, even if I try to make sure it is first local, then humanely picked, then organic.

    When I write about gardening and eating and yoga, I am sharing what I enjoy, what makes me feel healthy.  I do not think of myself as trying to set an example.  In some senses, my yoga practice is similarly about what works for me personally and no more.  The yoga teachings are fairly clear that the design and purpose of aligning with the subtle energies, including living in a more peaceful, less destructive way, is for the enlightenment of the individual practitioner and not for “making the world a better place.”  If by seeking to live in a healthier, more aligned, more peaceful and compassionate way ourselves also brings more global benefits, that is a bonus.

    Looking at our lives from this perspective could cause discouragement.  I hear this question all the time:  “why should I change what I am doing [consuming/eating/driving]?  My behavior is not going to change the world when there are all of those billions not changing.”  In some senses, looking at shifting our behavior from a completely selfish perspective makes it more accessible and meaningful.  If we see our choices having the possibility of making ourselves healthier, happier, and more at peace with ourselves and the world around us, why would we not want to try to live more consciously?

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    The Nyaya of Watering the Mango Tree (and tantric yoga multi-tasking)

    ByElizabeth

    “Practical Sanskrit” just did a post on its Facebook page that discusses the nyaya (maxim) of watering the mango tree.  When we water a tree with the intention to honor our ancestors and the earth for its gracious offering, we are simultaneously taking care of the tree and honoring our ancestors, the earth, and the tree.  The post continues by inviting us to be more conscious of trees, especially in the city, and to be more engaged in caring for them.

    Practical Sanskrit’s post reminded me of a comment on this blog a couple of weeks ago.   A commenter on stated that most of the things that I write about doing to live more lightly on the planet require substantial financial means and education.  That is true in certain cases–obviously, if I wasn’t blogging, I would not have any need to try and go “carbon neutral” with the blog (although it is no more expensive to have a carbon-neutral web host than one that is not).  And as I explained yesterday when chatting with a cabinet-maker who was at the Amicus Green stand at the Green Festival yesterday, with the grant programs, tax credits, and loans available, we can now put solar on our houses with virtually no cash outlay in Maryland and the District (other states may not make it so easy).  In that case, one still needs to be a homeowner, but can still do it without significant money to burn.

    But most of the things I do to try and live more lightly, while still being comfortable, I learned in the years when I was truly poor (and I didn’t much like having always to worry about how I was going to pay the bills):  not having a car; not having cable tv; turning off the water while I soap the dishes and brush my teeth; taking short showers and turning the water off while lathering; keeping the thermostat between 59-63 in the winter and dressing warmly; keeping the thermostat between 78-82 in the summer and dressing and eating lightly; shopping for clothes at the consignment shop; furnishing my house from flea markets, auctions, and neighborhood sales; doing my own sprouts on the kitchen counter; having much of my diet be dried grains and pulses bought in bulk; turning off all the lights in the house except for the one I am using at the moment; bringing my own lunch to work as a regular activity and saving eating out for special occasions; avoiding buying and wearing clothes that require regular dry cleaning.

    What is nice about being financially comfortable is I now can do all those things with loving intention, rather than feeling constrained by my lack of material well-being.  I am not forced to do them.  Tantric yoga, with its emphasis on being in the world, invites us always to act with intention, to make all of living an offering and a recognition of spirit.  It is easier to do when we are educated, aware, and yearning for spirit, than when we are forced to do something out of material poverty.  It is also easier to do when we do it for love rather than a sense of guilt or obligation.  Being able to live with intention, picking and choosing how we live and what we consume, can truly enhance grace in our lives.  I am sure there are those who grumble about having to go out and water the mango tree to make sure it fruits when they would rather be watching tv.  How much more life-enhancing to water with love for the tree.

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    On the Bus

    ByElizabeth

    on the bus 2Shortly after I took this picture, a young couple came and sat down in the two seats in the photo, which are at the back of the bus — they were the only seats together.  The couple just sat down quietly and held hands; they weren’t even talking.  The woman in the corner immediately sat upright and began cursing at them.  She threatened them with calling the police because they were harassing her by following her.  The bus driver, who was having a hard enough time dealing with cars cutting in and out of lanes in the stop and go traffic jam created by the Marine Corps Marathon street closings, advised her to calm down.  She got louder and louder.  The woman in front of me kept turning around to stare.  I sat quietly, trying to send soothing energy.  The bus driver suggested to the woman that the police were located just around the corner.  He said he’d stop so that she could go get the police.  “No, no,” she cried, “we are almost at my stop.  I’ll be quiet,” and she became completely still and quiet.  At the next stop, she stayed on and a few other people got off, so that the couple was able to find a seat elsewhere on the bus.  For the rest of the trip, even with people standing, these three seats stayed open.  Later, I went up front to ask the driver what exactly was the route for the marathon detour.  It turned out to be a good detour for where I was going.  I commended the driver on how quickly he calmed down the woman, acknowledging what a challenge it is to be a metrobus driver.  He obviously appreciated my simple gesture (mostly people just criticize bus drivers) and shared a few recent stories.  When I got off, I thanked him and wished him a good day.

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