After a Rainy Afternoon
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Cat on the Hat
My friend who was driving the car, pointed out the cat on the hat and asked if he should stop the car. I waffled; he encouraged. I already had my camera out in my lap, so it was nothing to run out of the car for the photo.
The cat gave a purring grin (though he wouldn’t keep his face towards the camera, too busy was he looking at something down the street). The guy asked if I would give some money so that he and the cat could get something to eat. Sure; I was happy to give them a dollar for their offering.
I thought about how much I appreciated being reminded of how we can use needing to get by, when getting by can be so challenging, to spur creativity and connection instead of letting it beat us down.
Sculptures Around Town
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
- Art and Culture | Community and Family | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Meditation | Photos | Poetry
Lines
Creating and seeing
Both division and unity
Is awfully human.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
“Magic Carpet Ride”
As I was hefting my heavy day pack over my shoulder to get ready to leave for the airport, I said to my roommate for the week, “now is the time I wish I could just take a magic carpet ride.”
“It would be pretty windy,” he replied.
What I wanted from the magic carpet ride was not to have to sit in traffic to get to the airport or deal with the security check in and boarding and potential delays, etc. The fact that the plane can get me from one climate to another in two hours is pretty magical.
I decided to play “Magic Carpet Ride” on my ipod while I was waiting for my flight to send it magic carpet ride energy–on time boarding, no problems with the plane, a smooth and comfortable ride, which it turned out to be. Usually I listen to quiet music or recorded teleseminars for my studies with Paul Muller-Ortega when I am traveling. Yesterday, I decided to see what ipod’s “genius” function would come up with following “Magic Carpet Ride.” First came something by the Clash, not a bad segue. I wasn’t sure that fit my mood, but decided I would go with it until the plane took off.
To my shock, because one would expect a series of rock and roll songs, the next track was an invocation to Lakshmi–kind of rocked out, but still, not what I would have expected. That was followed by a series of chants to Siva intermixed with three different versions of the maha mrityunjaya mantra. “Ah,” I thought, “genius knows I have been practicing yoga all week and then celebrating mahasivaratri. How very extraordinary sometimes the interplay of the subtle energies and technology!”
Easter Walkabout (Congressional Cemetery)
I took a long walk this morning on this holiday weekend. My walk took me past DC General and DC jail on then to Congressional Cemetery before looping around to Barracks Row and Eastern market.New Spinach (and Udyamo Bhairava)
The fifth sutra in Abhinavagupta’s Siva Sutras, is “udyamo bhairava” — the great upsurge of consciousness. When we are open and aware, we can witness this upsurge, the very pulsing of life energy in all that is in and around us, from the springing up of thought in our minds to the burgeoning of spring. The more we practice and live attentively, the more we will see the joy in this upwelling.
When I go out into the garden on the early spring days to see what needs to be cut back, what is volunteering, and what is coming up from fall plantings, I approach with great openness. When we plant in the fall, we do not know with any certainty what kind of winter we will have. Although the long-range forecast was for colder than normal with precipitation near normal (which translates into more than average snow), who could have expected three mammoth snow storms?
I plant with hope and some expectation, but am ready for the loss of some perennials, the failure of some seeds to germinate, and the unexpected pleasure of experiments working or welcome volunteers. This steady planting without specific expectation, with openness to discovery, with joy and attention to the miraculousness of what rises up in the spring, is a very tangible example of what I read in the yoga philosophy. It is how I, I believe, we most optimally would approach asana and meditation, as well as all aspects of our daily being.
Below: new spinach coming up in a container from seeds I planted around Thanksgiving from an expiring packet.
