Author: Elizabeth

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    Spam, Praise, Criticism, and the Pairs of Opposites

    ByElizabeth

    The yoga teachings say that we need to be unattached to the pairs of opposites–pleasure (sukha) and pain (dukha).  When all of our motivations come from seeking pleasure and avoiding pain, we suffer.  Even the tantric yogis, who invite us to fully engage in the vast array of experience that is being human, say we need to  turn to the auspicious and recognize the divine play in all experience and not get entangled in thinking what we desire is all that is.

    Today’s spam is a nice illustration of why taking any praise or criticism as a reflection of how one should feel about one’s creative output is a recipe for suffering:

    Good post! Your strategies as well as insights happen to be easily worth seeing. You truly others worthwhile content. Thank you for posting this!

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    This website has a great concept but to be honest its too sloppy.

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    Day Trip to the Beach (and My Teaching Theme for the Week)

    ByElizabeth

    “Nothing is more important than that you see and love the beauty that is right in front of you, or else you will have no defense against the ugliness that will hem you in and come at you in so many ways.”  Neal Stephenson, Anathem

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    It’s About the Money (and Solar or Wind Power for Home and/or Business)

    ByElizabeth

    This anecdote is a powerful incentive for those who could not care less about consequences of fossil fuel consumption.

    Total electric  bill this late spring/summer by month so far:

    May 2011:  $6.92 (PEPCO carrying charge); solar output exceeded usage

    June 2011:   $6.92 (PEPCO carrying charge); solar output exceeded usage

    July 2011:  $6.92 (PEPCO carrying charge); usage exceeded solar output, but by less than the extra output in May and June

    Wow!  How much was your monthly electric  bill in the Southern and drought states?  Do you know any one who would be persuaded only by the money?  Tell them what a great investment it is, and they will start thinking seriously about it.  Putting a dollar value on social good is the way to get through to those who only look at the numbers and do not see how budget numbers relate to real living beings and honoring the beauty of the web of creation (this would not be a veiled reference to something going on in that big domed building down the street; definitely, not).

    It may not always work, but putting what you want in the language of those whose actions and beliefs are not in synch with yours is the beginning of communication and change.   These cost savings say, in the language of those who care most about the money, that alternative energies are worth considering.

     

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    Living Mindfully in a Heat Wave, Ahimsa, and “Opening to Grace”

    ByElizabeth

    Ahimsa, which is the first of the yamas in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, and thus is the first practice or principle of the eight-limbed path, is usually translated as non-violence or non-harming.  Over my years of practice and study, I have read and heard many versions–some general, some personal beliefs–as to what it means to practice nonviolence as part of a path of yoga.  As I watch the way people around me are behaving and reacting to the heat and drought, I thought about how, for me, the practice ahimsa is as much about seeking to be in alignment with the movements and shifts around us that we cannot change as about refraining from specific acts of violence (though that is obviously a basic element).

    In terms of aligning with the world arounds us and the cycles of our own body-mind, when we are sensitive to what will best serve our own self while having the least impact on the environment, we are practicing ahimsa, in other words, “opening to grace.”  How does practicing ahimsa by behaving mindfully incorporate many aspects of the Anusara first principle of opening to grace? Opening to grace, as a practice principle, invites us to be open, sensitive, spacious, and radically affirm what is so that we can expand, shift, and serve ourselves and others in the best way possible under the circumstance. To be open in this way, try not to rage at the heat–or whatever is your weather. Soften, listen, and mindfully discover how you can live at your fullest, kindest, and most generous with what you cannot change.

    When the temperature soars above 95F for days in a row, it is an act of violence to rage against it or to consume outrageous amounts of fossil fuels to cool our businesses and homes enough to wear warm clothes, sleep under blankets, cook and eat hot foods, or do an athletic asana practice or workout (lest we feel that we are not fulfilling some externally motivated personal notion of fitness–having external notions of how we should look, act govern us without accepting the actual situation is its own form of violence against ourselves) that we would not do if we could not artificially cool our environment.

    Perhaps I have no call to speak on this: my central air conditioning is on, though I’ve been keeping it between 78-82F and I have been moving, dressing, and eating in a way that honors the fact that those temperatures are as cool as it is going to be until the heat wave breaks. Some might argue that using any air conditioning or even an electric fan or a refrigerator is doing excessive harm to the environment. That may in fact be true, but asking for more than we can do just makes things seem impossible, and then we are less likely to make any shift at all.

    Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

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    Great Gary Snyder Quote (and Sadhana)

    ByElizabeth

    My friend Dan just posted on his blog a great Gary Snyder quote on the need to do maintenance (of the self) in order to be most creative.  The idea that we need to maintain our tools and toolbox, as it were, in order to be most creative, is exactly what we are taught about the tantric yoga sadhana  — practice.  With our yoga practice, diet, lifestyle, work, consumption, participation in community, we seek to live progressively more in alignment with the undulating fabric of space, time, and apparent world so that we have maximum well-being best to serve ourselves and others with delight. In our sadhana, we include both study and experience (experience includes meditation, asana, and pranayama).  As both John Friend and Paul Muller-Ortega teach, we engage in the practices and studies to learn with ever expanding insight how to see and experience the highest first and live from that place.  Living and practicing with such an intention is, I think, the maintenance done so we can live out all of our lives as a reverential and creative act.

    Dan–I look forward to reading the sermon.

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    Guacapacho — or is it Gazpamole?

    ByElizabeth

    Puree in a blender or food processor:

    peeled cucumber (seeded if necessary; use peels to garnish drinks if peels aren’t bitter)

    tomatoes of any mix of colors:

    assorted garden herbs and greens (based on taste and availability);

    a sweet pepper of any color or variety (and a jalapeno or other hot pepper to taste)

    a little minced sweet onion, white of scallion and a hint of garlic if desired (even if you are a garlic junky be gentle with the garlic lest it overwhelm the subtlety of the other flavors)

    avocado

    chilled vegetable stock or water

    a little fresh lime or lemon juice (the acid in the juice helps keep the avocado from discoloring when the soup is chilling; a splash of white wine would also serve)

     

    Chill the soup for 1-2 hours; do not let sit longer; garnish with chopped herbs–chive flowers are nice

     

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    More Things to Like About Extreme Heat

    ByElizabeth

    1. A fine appreciation for anything that provides shade–even a highway.
    2. The most outrageous of outfits is perfectly acceptable as long as it simultaneously is cool and provides protection from the sun.
    3. Homemade popsicles.
    Last batch–creamy cantelope-orange (pureed cantelope, orange juice concentrate, unsweetened soy milk, no fat greek yogurt); current batch–grape lemonade (whole red and green grapes, juice of fresh lemon, infusion of fresh stevia (could be replaced with water and a little sweetener of your choice); upcoming–minty watermelon lime (watermelon; fresh spearmint leaves; fresh lime juice; sweeten to taste).

    Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.