Community and Family

thoughts on how we fit into the web of community, family and society

  • | | |

    “This Is Soul Kirtan”

    ByElizabeth

    One of the ways I prepare for a restorative workshop is to spend some time looking for new music to play quietly in the background to enhance the fullness of the experience.  In the past couple of days, I have enjoyed listening to quite a quantity of new and new to me music appropriate for my upcoming Finding the Warmth Inside: Relax Into Optimal Alignment with Anusara Restoratives on February 25th at Willow Street Yoga Center (click on the link for details and to register).  Among the music I downloaded, which I am thoroughly enjoying (though it might be too upbeat for the restorative workshop playlist), is C.C. White’s “This is Soul Kirtan.”

    As I was listening at my desk and swaying to the beat, I thought about the non-dual tantric philosophical principle that exhorts us to find the good in everything, to recognize that in all there is still a “divine” spark that is expressed in the creative effulgence of the universe itself.  The music is joyous, delightful, offered with love, delivered with a high degree of professionalism–both the musical performance and the recording and presentation.  I tried to fathom just how many centuries of human migration, suffering, oppression, bigotry, and then fighting for tolerance, education, equal rights, spirit, and freedom had to occur for this music to be able to exist at all and to be published and embraced, it  being an extravagant blend of Indian spiritual/religious practice, American soul and blues (and all its history), and classical Western musical technique.

     

  • | | |

    Probably a Cooper’s Hawk

    ByElizabeth

    “Wow!” exclaimed the well-dressed woman who was walking towards the Senate office buildings as I was walking in the opposite direction to the DOL through the park on the North side of the Capitol. We had both paused absolutely still to appreciate the drama of the moment.

    A raptor flew in and landed on one of the high tree branches. There were a few warning chirps and calls and then everything froze into stillness and silence. After a few minutes the bird flew off, and gradually the squirrels, sparrows, starlings, etc resumed their usual morning activities.

    “Did you notice how every thing became still?” I replied.

    “Yes,” said my companion in the moment of appreciation and observation. “It hardly seemed real.”

    We then moved on to go about our business, becoming conscious again of the noise of the city as the small animals and birds went back to their usual activities.

    I looked it up when I got to work. It was most likely an immature Cooper’s hawk.

    I did not even think to photograph the moment lest I disturb it. These are the trees after the fact.

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

  • | |

    Eat With Your Hands

    ByElizabeth

    This article about manners and eating with ones hands gave me a big smile.  One of my friends who went on the second India pilgrimage wrote on Facebook right after she returned home that she missed wearing a sari and eating thali meals already.  How wonderful the variety of experience on these journeys.  Personally, I found the sari cumbersome and binding and not worth the prettiness of the fabric and the compliments (more thoughts on sari-wearing perhaps to come).  I was thrilled to get back into my regular clothes (though I was happy enough in salwar kameez).  Dal , kitcheree (spiced lentils and rice porridge), and vegetarian/vegan curries have long been a staple part of my diet, so I am already getting the rice and lentils, and the south Indian thali meal is almost completely devoid of vegetables. I was happy enough to get back to my own diet, including Indian-style food of my own preparation.

    I am missing, though, being able to be in company and eat with my hands (or hand singular would be more accurate as it is horribly rude in India to eat with your left hand) and getting the chance to walk barefoot outside every day.  Though you might not be able to do it everywhere, I highly recommend eating some of your food with your hands and walking without your shoes for some time every day to enhance your sense of touch and your motility.

  • | | | | |

    “Seriously”

    ByElizabeth

    A friend from the DC Sunday contact improv jam (one of my favorite places to play) sent this link showing a clip from a documentary in progress about the importance of play to our health.  One of the things that I love most about Anusara yoga is that John Friend has always described its practice as being “seriously playful.”  I was born serious nature and have worked hard in my adulthood to learn to play spontaneously, and what is being offered here resonates for me.

    This is a long clip, but well worth the time.  Anusara yogis, notice how familiar some of it sounds.  Enjoy!

  • | |

    Asta Vakrasana Variation

    ByElizabeth

    I was working with photos today and came across this shot a friend took a little over a year ago.  Long gone is the memory of exactly why I did not stay fully in the pose.  Perhaps this was the beginning, and I was planning to plant my hand, lift my shoulder and hug my shoulder blades onto my back, and then do enough inner spiral and kidney loop to float off the ground.  Possible, as I have been known to get into asta vakrasana going from the ground up.  More likely, my exit strategy of the moment was releasing all the way to the floor.  What I like about this picture is that it shows me having a really good time, not me being a failure for not being perfectly in the pose.  Though it is always worth striving for the best we can do, for most things in life, the best we can do is try for the full pose and then find the joy and the beauty when we don’t end up embodying our notion of what should have been.

  • | |

    Icy Weather Cancellations

    ByElizabeth

    I participated today in the determination as to whether the noon gentle/therapeutics class at Willow Street should be cancelled due to the weather.  It is hard to know when and what to decide unless the roads are absolutely unpassable or it is clear that that storm is not impacting most roads and sidewalks.  Some students will have wanted to come to class regardless of the weather, even if it would have been both difficult to get the ice off of their cars if driving and very slippery going from house to car and parking spot to class.  If class was held, other students would have wondered why class was not cancelled and felt it unfair that they now had to do a make-up since they were too sensible to go out in the ice.  It is a balance of trying to offer the yoga as committed and making decisions about the reasonableness of trying to hold class given safety and logistical concerns.  For a class with lots of physically intrepid students within walking distance, the determination is different than for one with people who are facing injuries and other challenges of embodiment, which can make it a challenge to get to class on even a beautiful day.

    I’d love to get your feedback on where you think is the weather line between holding class as usual and cancelling.  For me, part of the call was that within an hour of class, my porch, front stairs, and sidewalk were still solidly slick with ice.  It would have been a challenge even to get to the corner, much less walk ten blocks and take the metro.  Things did not really start to melt until mid afternoon.

     

  • |

    Being Thankful

    ByElizabeth

    I gave thanks every day for my good fortune when we were traveling.  On the last drive north, we went through areas of Tamil Nadu hit by the cyclone.  The privilege and good fortune of being on our well-driven bus was even more telling knowing that we were only witnessing the aftermath of the cyclone through the windows from our air-conditioned comfort.  We gave to a collection to repair roof damage that would have closed for some length of time a local school.  I definitely was conscious of how much more we were engaged in the situation and wanted to help because we knew (albeit not well) people who were impacted.