Thanksgiving Roses
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
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Art and Culture | Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Community and Family | Food for the Body | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Meditation
This Morning’s Randomly Selected Puja Card
Wishing all a safe, healthy, and joyous holy-day of thanks giving.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
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Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Community and Family | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Meditation | Photos
Signs Around Town/Found Exhortation
An exhortation if we take it as a reminder that every moment is an opportunity to act gracefully and to respond graciously and to find and offer the highest good, no matter the challenge. Oh yes, I exhort myself.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
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State of the Garden (Out of Doors and Inside)
ripe cayenne, unripe cayenne, arugula, black cherokee tomato, kale, red leaf lettuce, snow pea shoots, grape tomatoes, spinach, leaf lettuce, carrots, more snow peas, licorice mint, marigold, romaine lettuce, turnip, beets, green garlic, rose, orchids, night-blooming cereus, various tropical plants, spider plants, oregano, rosemary, lemon grass, lemon verbena
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Untitled
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
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Crescent Moon
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
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Why I Stuck With Tradition for the Thanksgiving Day Yoga Fundraiser
When I selected Oxfam to be the donee of the proceeds from my first Thanksgiving Day Yoga Fundraiser ten years ago, I took into account that its mission is to “create[] lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and injustice,” which seemed to me deeply related to what I believe is the best aspect of the history and tradition of making a holiday of thanks giving (leaving aside the shadow side of the history). Last night, when I was writing the newsletter inviting all to come and join me for the fundraising class, I thought about whether some readers would wonder why the donee of the proceeds wasn’t being changed to the Red Cross or Doctors Without Borders or other reputable organizations that are out in the field helping those known to us who are closer to home and are still suffering from the ravages of Hurricane Sandy.
Over the past few months, in ever increasing quantity as the elections approached, I received several emails a day and sometimes in an hour (and if I had been willing to answer the phone, calls) pleading for me to donate money and time. For some, it was asking again and again, even though or perhaps especially because I had given generously already. In the face of an unexpectedly large disaster, we cannot help but wish we could do something to help. Not surprisingly, I am feeling a little of what they call in the business “donor fatigue,” and I expect that many others feel the same. It is important, when faced with urgent cries for help, to remember that the preexisting calls on our resources have not gone away (newspaper reporting and the absence thereof notwithstanding). I do not question for a minute that those who are able to do so should share some resources with those whose homes and lives have been turned upside down by Hurricane Sandy, but it is also important to remember and continue to support the causes that are not today’s news.
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Art and Culture | Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Community and Family | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Meditation
Thanksgiving Yoga (Web Version of E-Newsletter)
Dear Friends,
I am perhaps a little late in sending out this announcement. The time when I usually would have sent it was smack in the middle of the enmeshed and engulfing energies of the election and Hurricane Sandy. In contemplating what I should write in my invitation to the annual Thanksgiving Day Yoga Fundraiser for Oxfam, I had such an assortment of ideas about gratitude, about abundance, about service, about expressing and receiving thanks, especially when so many are experiencing conflict, hardship, pain, and loss, that I found myself as if I had nothing to say. It occurred to me, among my many musings, that as long as I have something to give, it wouldn’t matter if I have nothing to say.
One of the key reasons I meditate and practice asana is to spend defined periods of time being intentionally one-pointed (ekagrata) in my focus. Out of the apparent maelstrom of experiences, sensations, emotions, and ideas to which we are exposed and in which we can be immersed or even submerged, a point of focus can arise for speaking or acting that frees us from being so caught up in the whirl that we cannot move. Being intimate with and knowing how to get to the space of stillness and focus–and remembrance of what is most important to us, which I think is a critical element of true gratitude–can help us better take care of ourselves and the society and ecosystems with which we are intertwined.
In a light of focused intention to make offering, I invite those of you who will be in town to join me for an all-levels class at Willow Street Yoga, Takoma Park, from 10:00-11:30am on Thanksgiving to celebrate the day and to share our abundance and gratitude with those in need. A tradition for me and for Willow Street and a perfect way to expand the holiday. Friends and family of all levels welcome, including teens, tweens with yoga experience, seniors and everyone else in between. All proceeds go to Oxfam.
To all of you, I wish you much spontaneous experience of gratitude. I think of all of you and send my well wishes, especially those who are facing difficult challenges.
Peace and light,
Elizabeth
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Art and Culture | Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Community and Family | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc)
Signs Around Town
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
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Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Community and Family | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Meditation | Photos
what Does It Mean?
What does it really mean when we think, when we say that we have power?
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
