Forest Bathing Upside Down


Signs with intelligent, thought-provoking, and action-inspiring quotes are proliferating in my neighborhood. I took this photo last night when I was walking home after getting a Friday evening massage in the neighborhood.
This morning, after practicing, I took care of cat, house, and garden, reading the news, signing petitions (not as helpful as visiting/writing to a Senator/Congressperson–but I don’t have those as a DC resident) and doing targeted giving (today to support a free press) in addition to my expanding monthly giving. This afternoon, I am attending “Active Bystander” training. Then off to share dinner and then watch friends I know from Contact Improv perform works in progress at Dance Exchange. I will get time outside by traveling as much as possible on foot.
How are you spending your Saturday? Did it help you feel more engaged, connected, and grateful or less? If less, what small shift could you decide to make that would be easy enough that you would actually do it?
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.
Today I joined others at Kingman Island to help with invasive plant removal. Licensed destruction can be very satisfying. It was a beautiful to be outside.
