Art and Culture | Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Community and Family | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Photos
Signs Around Town (With Selfie)
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Art and Culture | Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Community and Family | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Meditation | Quaker
The Power of Mantra (and “Alice’s Restaurant”)
Yesterday morning, on the listserv for the Friends Meeting of Washington, someone shared a link to the original recording of Arlo Guthrie singing “Alice’s Restaurant” as part of an email about Thanksgiving festivities. Usually, I scan listserv emails quickly and delete, especially when they relate to events that I am unable to attend. I saved this one for later, though. I’d woken up from some anguished dreams that were hard to shake, and on being reminded of it, I was sure that when I could make the time, listening all the way through Alice’s Restaurant (it’s long) would cheer me up.
This morning I did indeed listen, and remembered why we (at least those of us who attended Quaker Youth Camp in the early 1970s) memorized most of Alice’s Restaurant. It spoke to us and inspired us and invited us to feel that we were not alone in thinking that things could and should be more gracious and peaceful.
And the refrain is catchy and easy to sing. This morning, at the end, when Arlo invites the audience (the 1967 album version was a “live” recording), I started singing along just for the delight of it, which led me to think about the power of mantra.
Chanting or silently repeating mantra is one of the key yoga practices. The purpose, roughly, of mantra is to replace one set of thoughts with another. Repeating even just “om,” the simplest mantra, over and over again is meant to shift you from whatever mind state you might have been in (at least to the extent that you are having repeating troubling thought patterns) and into or towards a more beneficent state. In my own years of practice, I have found much power in practicing Sanskrit mantras, but many of the songs we have been singing for years, especially those that we associate with ritual can serve similar purposes.
If you’re so moved and feeling that you’re having thoughts around this Thanksgiving holiday that you’d rather replace with more cheerful ones, invite the power of mantra and perhaps sing, along with Arlo for the refrain in Alice’s Restaurant.
Oh yes. Happy Thanksgiving.
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Thanksgiving Day Yoga Practice to Benefit Oxfam (Web Version of Email Invitation)
Dear Friends,
I hope this email finds you as well as possible under your personal circumstances. Here, up front, are the details for the Thanksgiving Day fundraiser. A longer story follows, if you want to scroll down and read it. I hope many of you who will be in town can make it, and I wish all the healthiest, most joyous, delicious, and abundant holiday you can have:
Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 28, 2013. 11th Annual Thanksgiving Day Fundraiser for Oxfam.
Location: William Penn House, 515 East Capitol Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003.
Time: 10:00 a.m.-11:15 a.m.
Yoga Details:
- All levels class. Just how we will align and flow to get the energy moving and supporting us will depend on who comes and how many, but be sure that it will be designed to be simultaneously soothing and energizing to help you bring your best self to the formal start of the winter holidays. Alternatives will be provided for those working with challenges of embodiment. Advanced variations may also be offered to expand the experience of the abundance of the day.
- For Most Ages–Children old enough to pretty much stay on their own yoga mat and enjoy trying the grown up poses–depends on the child–are welcome, and then it’s all ages up from there.
- Props. We have plenty of blocks, straps, and chairs; a modest supply of blankets; and a limited number of loaner mats. Please bring your own mat if you have one and any other props you may need (such as multiple blankets). Donations of your no longer used props are welcome.
Benefit for Oxfam: Suggested donation $20. As in most of the previous years I have offered this class, I will collect checks made out directly to Oxfam, America (preferred over cash); even better, you could make an on-line donation before the class. I will then forward 100 percent of the proceeds to Oxfam, America. I also will match any individual donations over $20 up to $200. As always, the amount is suggested; what is within your means is a sufficient amount.
No Advance Registration. Just show up at the door. Though I enjoy the spontaneity of teaching whoever appears, the more the advance knowledge of who and how many plan to attend, the better I can design the class to suit more of your needs and desires, so I welcome your letting me know by replying to this email, sending me a private message, or by liking and then commenting on the Rose Garden Yoga page on Facebook.
This is the 11th year for this yoga practice. The first time I offered this practice, I was mostly through the year-long teacher training then at Willow Street Yoga and teaching at a studio on the Hill that has long since moved and reconfigured itself. My initial intention was to remind myself (and anyone else who wanted to share and listen) that one of the most effective ways to kindle appreciate for the abundance in one’s own life is to commit an act of generosity (even if one that is relatively modest and also provides benefits to the giver).
These are, for so many I know and for countless more I only read about in the news, challenging and unrestful or even unimaginably painful times. I am thankful that my resources are sufficiently abundant that I can draw on the practices and work and community and creative pursuits of various sorts (including here cooking and gardening, though perhaps those would go under practices, too) to find my soul, to reconnect with my inner strength, and remember how much good I have in my life.
Being able to share the yoga with friends old and new with a shared intention to be generous to ourselves and others and make our thanks giving that much more nurturing and powerful a holy day certainly is on my gratitude list for this holiday season. Come join us at William Penn House on Thanksgiving morning or for the regular Tuesday night practice (100% of student donations go to benefit the work camp program run by William Penn House). If the current limits of time, space, or circumstance make not possible sharing the yoga face to face, do please still be in touch.
Peace and light,
Elizabeth
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Art and Culture | Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Community and Family | Gardening | Meditation | Photos
Still More Color (An Appreciation)
Today, when I was thinking about that for which I am most grateful and taking a lunchtime walk through the neighborhood, I decided that my persistent appreciation for beauty is worthy of the highest gratitude. The ability always to be entranced by beauty has gotten me through many a moment of potential suffering.
Though many of the trees have lost their leaves, the spectacular color show continues. Some of the trees are still sporting green leaves, so there is more to come. And then will come the time to enjoy the exquisite architecture and shape of the branches themselves against the winter sky–it’s own kind of beauty.
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Art and Culture | Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Community and Family | Dance/Contact Improvisation | Food for the Body
Found Exhortation
Unless it is a bad idea, in which case choose not to make it happen and open yourself to a better possibility.
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Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Community and Family | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Photos
Uma Washing
Uma the goddess combining tapas with sauca.
See Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra II.32
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Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Gardening | Meditation | Photos
Thoughts on Sadhana
Part of my daily practice is to take a walk. Despite the unseasonable cold and the overly scheduled, high stress day I was having, I made sure I still went for a walk. Once outside, I experienced beauty to lighten my heart and to bring freshness to the rest of the day’s work. That’s the purpose sadhana.
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Walk to Wm Penn House For Tuesday Night Group Yoga Practice
The trees are magical in the dark and the light.
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Remembrance and Recognition
On this anniversary of my Grandmother Rose’s leaving her body and her daughter, my mother, entering hers, on this Armistice day though none in my lineage were warriors, I made in remembrance and recognition of my ancestors, this mala with a locket (still empty of pictures) that my grandmother bought at the Brooklyn Museum’s shop in the early 1970s–
Rudraksha Seed – auspiciousness and oneness
Iolite – connecting with angels
Laboradorite – perfection and protection
Amethyst – gentle, tranquil, soothing healing
Pyrite – fierce creativity, ingenuity
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