Meditation Instructions?
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Signs and Blossoms Around Town
Part of the reason “around town” is within several blocks of my house since the pandemic began is the limits on being able to find a safe bathroom. I prefer that to dehydrating prior to going out. I’m lucky to have the choice.
One sign reads: “Our lives begin to end the day we are silent about the things that matter.” The other sign reads: “Biden/ Harris/ text “UNITED to 30330”
On the Walk Home From Work (Outside the Department of Labor and Across the Street From the Shelter for Those Without Homes)
Thinking about privilege, including the privilege to choose whether to take time away from the conflict and not think about it. I’m trying to be conscious of that particular privilege whenever I find myself instinctively trying to turn away and then to gather myself from the recognition of my good fortune and reengage.
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.
