Art and Culture

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    A Happy Coincidence (and the new Willow Street Yoga book club)

    ByElizabeth

    As regular readers may have noticed, last Sunday I was inspired to blog about Arjuna’s dilemma on the battlefield in connection with local events.  Later that day, I was reminded that this coming Sunday, January 16th, will be the first meeting of the new book club at Willow Street Yoga Center (Takoma Park studio).  The book for the first meeting is Ram Dass’s Paths to God, Living the Bhagavad Gita.  Perhaps I was thinking about the Gita because in the back of my mind, I knew that the reading was on my to do list.  Perhaps, the book club reading was just energetically connected to where my thoughts were already going.  Perhaps it was just a coincidence (though I do not much believe in coincidence).

    Although the date had crept up on me unawares, I did already have Paths to God on my shelf and began reading it upon getting the reminder about the book club.  The book, which is taken from a series of lectures at the then newly opened Naropa University, is rich with stories about Ram Dass’s own spiritual journey, recommendations for a wide range of practices for discovery of our own spirit, and has lots of juicy thought about taking the study of the Bhagavad Gita and other spiritual texts out of our heads and into how we live our lives and embrace the world.

    I hope to see many of my local yogi friends at the book club meeting, not just to expand ourselves by reading and discussing this beautiful text, but to deepen our yoga community and practice by being together.  I am sure you are welcome, too, to bring your needlework.  If you cannot join us this time, do think about adding the book to your list of yoga books to read.  Ram Dass is always thought-provoking, inspiring, and delightful to read.

    There is a google group for the book club if you want to get updates.  I trust that you will be added to the group if you email:  willowstreetbookclub@googlegroups.com

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    Guidance on How to Respond in the Highest (from MLK)

    ByElizabeth

    I have been deeply touched by how so many have been inquiring of themselves how we can best respond from the light to the tragedy in Arizona.  I received an email from Common Cause today with this beautiful quote from Martin Luther King, Jr.:

    “When evil men (and women) plot,
    good men (and women) plan.

    When evil men (and women) burn and bomb,
    good men (and women) must build and bind.

    When evil men (and women) shout ugly words of hatred,
    good men (and women) commit themselves to the glories of love.

    Where evil men (and women) would seek to perpetuate an unjust status quo,
    good men (and women) must seek to bring into being a real order of justice.”
    – Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

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    Another Encroachment on Individual Liberties (and Arjuna’s dilemma)

    ByElizabeth

    When I was waiting for the metro to go to Willow Street Yoga this Saturday morning to offer a free gentle/therapeutics class (new session starts for the class next Saturday, January 15th–all welcome), I heard a very disturbing announcement on Metro.  I only take Metro once or twice a week.  I am pretty certain I would have noticed it if I had heard it before; in rush hour, of course, it is hard to hear the announcements when the platforms are full.  What I heard was this:  “Metro police have advised that all passengers are subject to random searches of their carry ons.”  A reasonable person might want to know what is a “carry on” for these purposes.  My first question to myself was “don’t random searches of this type violate the Constitution?”  (Yes, the American Civil Liberties Union is actively engaged in the issue).

    I find random searches just for boarding the metro with a carry on an unfortunately not particularly shocking example of how far we have allowed the “war on terror” to be waged against all of us.  Perhaps there are readers of this blog who are not shocked or perhaps believe that these searches are warranted; I am open to listening to why.  I know that it was not front page news, and my friends have not been talking about it.  This was just another one of those awful things we have started taking for granted, which is something that I hope is getting progressively harder to do.

    My biggest question for myself was what I would do if the police asked to search my handbag.  The odds are slim to none that “random” would in practice include a reasonably well-dressed, clean, small, middle-aged, middle class, fairly evidently American-born, white woman.  But what if random was really random and I happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time?  Would I refuse to let my bag be searched on principle?  Would I be willing to lose my job and possibly go to jail for my conviction that such a practice misses the mark completely for its intended purposes and tears at the very fabric of a free society and our individual liberties?  I find that I do not know the answer.  Partly it is attachment to my own security.  Partly it is that I do not know whether it would be better just to allow my bag to be searched and not engender conflict than to engage in conflict that will certainly harm me, severely limit my ability to give financial support for important fights and causes, and potentially could harm others around me, even if ultimately, with the help of many I am sure, I were to be a participant in reason prevailing and the practice ceasing.

    In thinking about how unsure I was of my ability to act if I were to be put to the test, I was reminded of the situation at the beginning of the Bhagavad Gita, where Arjuna is paralyzed by inability to act in the face of the hideous spector of violent death and destruction that would result from going to battle even to rectify an injustice.  Arjuna looks out on the battlefield where battle is enjoined because of the injustices that have been done (we’ll leave it for another day as to whether the violations of law in the Mahabharata are ones that a modern thinker might agree should give rise to the epic battle in the Bhagavad Gita.)  Krishna explains to Arjuna that it is his dharma to go to battle; he is a warrior and these wrongs must be rectified.  The general day to day principle that governs the life of a yogi — ahimsa or non-harming — is trumped by the greater need to rectify the societal injustice.  Arjuna must join in battle because leaving the injustice uncorrected will in result in greater harm to the order of society, even the cosmological order itself.  See Stephen Phillips, “Yoga, Karma, and Rebirth” (discussing the interrelationship between the individual practice of ahimsa and the need for cosmological order in Indian philosophy).

    I am not likely to be put to the test here, but that is part of the evil of the practice.  What can I do?  What should I be doing in the face of a direction in society that gives rise to policies like these and the gunning in Arizona yesterday?  It takes great discrimination (viveka), more perhaps than I have, to know how and when to act.  I do know that it is not right for me as a citizen or a yogi to stand aside.  I offer this very public statement of my beliefs and I gave a generous donation to the ACLU yesterday.  I am sure that is not enough, but it is a start.  As our society moves in the direction it is moving, more and more of us must contemplate, evaluate, and begin to expand how we act and participate to see a world where ahimsa is not just personal, but all persons and beings have the possibility of being free from suffering.

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    Prayers for Gabrielle Giffords

    ByElizabeth

    I received the following email last night from Move-On.  I pass it on to all of you, who, I am sure are also grieving deeply and praying for those who were the direct victims of these hideous violence, and who also are concerned for all who have been and continue to be impacted by the policies and mindsets that contribute to the environment in which such acts arise:

    Dear MoveOn member,

    This is a tragic day for America.

    As you may have already heard, Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and 17 other people were shot today at an event near Tucson.

    Right now, Rep. Giffords is in critical condition, and there are reports are that at least five people have been killed, including a young child of about nine years old and Justice John M. Roll, the chief judge of the United States District Court for the District of Arizona.

    Our hearts go out to everyone affected by this terrible tragedy. We’ve created a Facebook page where we can all post prayers and thoughts for Rep. Giffords, the other victims and their families. You can find it here:

    http://www.moveon.org/r?r=205705&id=25753-1983776-0_o0QGx&t=1

    Gabrielle Giffords is an up-and-coming, shining star in Congress. Anyone who’s been around her will tell you that she’s smart, passionate, and one of the hardest working members of Congress. Robert Reich, one of her mentors, once said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s the first or second female president of the United States.”1

    Judge Roll started his legal career as a bailiff in the Pima County Superior Court and worked his way all the way to the federal bench. He was appointed by President George H. W. Bush in 1991 and began serving as presiding judge in 2006.

    This is such a terrible, confusing, awful thing. Please join us in sending your prayers and wishes to those who are suffering tonight. Here again is the link:

    http://www.moveon.org/r?r=205705&id=25753-1983776-0_o0QGx&t=2

    –Justin, Adam, Amy, Anna, Annie, Carrie, Christopher, Daniel, David, Duncan, Eli, Emily, Gail, Ian, Ilya, Ilyse, Kat, Laura, Lenore, Mariana, Marika, Matthew, Melanie, Michael, Milan, Nita, Peter, Robin, Ryan, Susannah, Stephen, Steven, and Tim

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    A Secret Garden

    ByElizabeth

    I was at a meeting at another agency that was built in the years when civil service was a respected nd honored activity. The garden is clearly maintained, but I have never seen anyone in it, and wonder whether entrance by anyone other than maintenance is permitted. Does the solitary air of the garden make it feel more personal and sweet? Or does it seem isolated and less intriguing because of the absence of people?

    I wonder whether people who are naturally drawn to meditate would be the ones who would answer yes to the first question and no to the second.

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    Lunchtime Idyll

    ByElizabeth

    I did not have much time for a break today as I had a meeting scheduled for 1:30 pm. I always try to take at least a short break from work in the middle of the day, including a walk and some time to sit quietly. I am far more productive and have a better day all around when I do.

    One of my favorite places to go is directly across the Mall to the US Botanical Gardens. When I sit and close my eyes, it feels and smells like I have gone someplace warm, beautiful, and exotic. I had only time to take a few good breaths and write a couple of sentences in my journal, but that brief interlude can be all that I need to bring renewed enthusiasm to my work.

    Do you have an idyllic place you can go for a few moments? If you cannot leave your office, do you remember to close your eyes and breathe or engage in other simple meditation?

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    Kvelling and Kvetching

    ByElizabeth

    It started before yesterday’s Tuesday night class.  There was a piece of fuzz next to one of the students mats–a schmutz.  We then decided that the yoga outfit, especially the old raggedy one, was a schmata. Tonight, I was in an uncharacteristically silly mood.  With birds falling out of the sky, fish washing up on the shore, and the Republicans taking back “control” of the house, I could weep or I could find the laughter in small things.  Tonight, with a practice theme of the Anusara’s “first principle” — opening to grace — I spontaneously and giddily came to the latter.

    I mentioned the idea of yiddish for yogis, and the class took off.  We were all women tonight, so it was “yoga for yentas.”  The word one utters when going into the first forward bend of the practice, is of course, oy, which can be lengthened to oy vey is mir. When we are truly opening to grace, we are kvelling; when we are noticing our aches and pains and forgetting to move towards the good, we are then kvetching.

    Just FYI, I learned after doing a cautious internet search before posting this blog entry, that it turns out that the phrase “Yiddish Yoga” has been trademarked.  I am pretty certain we can still have fun talking about using yiddish vocabulary words in yoga class without violating any laws, though it has been over 20 years since I took class in copyright and trademark law.  So feel free to think of your favorite yiddish word and how it should be used in yoga class.  You never know how it will enhance your practice, for whom it will bring a smile or a laugh, and what other thoughts might arise.  I’m pretty sure that there isn’t a yiddish equivalent for satcitananda, any more than there is an English equivalent for weltanschauung or schadenfreude, or a French word for sandwich, but at least one student wants to give it a try.

  • Rothko in the Tower Closing This Sunday

    ByElizabeth

    Walk quietly and meditatively to the National Gallery’s East Wing right away if you have not yet seen the Rothko in the Tower exhibit and you are in town.  Exquisite.  I have been many times while it has been open (one of the best things about my job is its proximity to the National Gallery, allowing me to go visit a painting or two at lunch), but have left if more than a couple of people are in the exhibit with me.  Sometimes it is others who appreciate the subtleties and then we get the joy of communal appreciation and connection.  More often with a group of visitors climbing the steps to the Tower gallery space, it is tourists who come up, see that the paintings are mostly black and loudly exclaim that they don’t get it.  The act of not getting it without effort tends to make them louder and more inclined to just chat about whatever and not look at the art.  When I find an art exhibit that is not to my taste, it is my practice (as I was taught) to make an effort to appreciate the technique and intention, if not the aesthetics, and then move on with some insight gained for the broader art world–knowing there is another opportunity just down the hall or the street for me to find deeper delight and inspiration.

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    My Top Yoga-Related Reads of 2010

    ByElizabeth

    These are not in any particular order.  Nor have I attempted to make a list of round numbers, such as “top 10,” though I could have found 10 to be “top” if I had really tried.  The emphasis here, with the exception of the new edition of the Yoga Sutras is my continuing contemplation and study of the intertwining of east and west and how it has created, informed, and shaped my studies and teaching over the years.  There is an emerging body of scholarship on this topic, and this list has the highlights I have read.  I have put one book of older fiction on the list.  I have consistently made it a practice to read modern Indian literature to gain another perspective on Indian society other than the westernized yoga we practice.  Here’s the list.

    1.  Ram Das, Be Love Now.  Be Love Now is a beautiful expanding spiral of reflection from what started in Be Here Now. I got my first copy of Be Here Now when I was 13 or 14, not long after it was first published.  I learned about it from friends at Quaker Youth camp, and it was a not insignificant part of my youthful spiritual thought and growth.  Be Love Now is full of love and sweetness and a wonderful reflection on the relationship of a spiritual leader to his guru.  For those of us for whom Be Here Now was an important book early on, I think it is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on our own spiritual path and studies.  When I was reading it, I wondered whether Be Love Now, which seems to assume a certain basic level of understanding of yoga philosophy terms and readings and familiarity with a group of modern teachers and practitioners, would feel less accessible to someone who was moved by Be Here Now in their younger days, but never really followed up with the practices or studies advocated except on a most ethereal level.

    2.  Robert Love, The Great Oom. I found this biography of Pierre Bernard absolutely fascinating.  I have long been interested in the interrelationship between colonialism and Western practice of eastern spirituality and religion.  This book highlights a previously unexplored aspect of the relationship between east and west.  Of note for me, was that Pierre Bernard, though clearly an important influence on the practice of hatha yoga in America, did not himself travel to India.

    3.  Louis Bromfeld, The Rains Came. This is the only book on my list that was not published in 2009 or 2010.  It is also not a yoga book.  Although dated in some respects, it is a deeply engaging exploration of how Westerners (both religiously inspired do-gooders and colonial profiteers) and Indians (Hindus, Muslims, and Christians) collectively react to, respond, and in part cause the extremes of catastrophe in the wake of monsoon flooding.  All too timely in its own way as we watched what happened with the flooding in Pakistan.  I think of it as yoga-related because it provides perspective on the intertwining of religion, community, and society with colonization, which I think is an essential part of our understanding of our own western practice of hatha yoga and eastern styles of meditation.

    4.  Mark Singleton, The Yoga Body:  Origins of Modern Posture Practice. My friend Jane — fellow yogini and ever intelligent conversationalist on yoga philosophy and practice, and frequent commenter on this blog — lent me this book to read after we had been talking about our reactions to The Great Oom. It’s a bit of a tough read, as is common for dissertations turned into books, but it provides fresh perspective and interesting research and insights on our modern physical practice of yoga and, yes, still more information on the dance between east and west.

    5. Edwin Bryant, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali:  A New Edition, Translation, and Commentary.  I haven’t read this through cover to cover, as that is not the point for books like this, but I have been dipping in and out of this translation and commentary from the moment I got it and expect to be doing so for years to come.  The scholarship and perspective is an excellent supplement the many translations and interpretations of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras that I already have in my library.

    6. Stephen Phillips, Yoga, Karma, and Rebirth: A Brief History and Philosophy.  I bought this book several months ago after having overheard Dave Kennedy mentioning it to John Friend.  I am still working my way through it.  Like Singleton’s book, it is another slow read, but useful in its tying together and giving perspective on the relationship between traditional eastern thought and western practice and understanding.

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    Web Version of E-Newsletter “New Year’s Greeting”

    ByElizabeth

    Dear Friends,

    The changing of the calendar gives us a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the past year and think of how we might wish to grow or shift to best serve ourselves and others in the coming year.  2010 was such a difficult year for so many, with suffering of a magnitude of which I can hardly conceive, even though I have had my own struggles.

    In the midst of the challenges we are facing globally, societally, and locally, 2010 was a good year for me, although it had some partings and disappointments that were painful.  With all the challenges and suffering of so many, I am especially conscious of how fortunate I am.  John Friend, at the weekend workshop in Bryn Athyn, reminded us that with the privilege of having the material, physical, and intellectual well-being to be able to study and practice hatha yoga as we do, comes the responsibility to serve, to share in the best way we can and to seek to illuminate not only our inner world, but the world around us.

    In 2010, most important of what filled my year was that I deepened and committed further to my studies of meditation and tantric yoga philosophy with Paul Muller-Ortega.  I have been invigorated by my continuing studies with John Friend and other senior Anusara yoga teachers.  I am almost overwhelmed by how much joy I get from practicing and studying and the community of fellow practitioners and look forward to going deeper and sharing my explorations in 2011.

    Three new things that were not part of my formal yoga practice brought great joy into my year, and I am sure, in the years to come.  The magnificent and enormous middle-aged cats, Uma and Sully, who moved into my house on an emergency fostering basis, quickly became permanent inmates and  unceasingly offer entertainment and comfort.  I had a solar array installed on my roof, which was an inspiring way to see technology in a positive light.  I look forward, as the days start lengthening, to watching the electric meter run backwards. Most recently, I was led to the DC Contact Improv Jam, which I am finding just wonderful.  I am sure the delight of dancing and the freedom and play of contact improv will shift my own practice and expand the offerings for class.

    What I have learned during my time practicing is that when I am sick or injured or feeling excessively challenged my practice supports me and helps me remember what is good and nourishing and sweet.  When I am feeling exuberently full of life then my practice just expands the joy.  Most of the time it is somewhere in between.  With the expansion of my own studying and practice, I will be teaching a little less and, in my offerings at Willow Street, emphasizing healing, nurturing, and a sweet opening to supportive shifts; all are welcome both to the Gentle/Therapeutics Saturday noon-time class (registration preferred, but drop-ins always welcome) and to one or all of the restorative workshops that will be held the last Saturday of January, February, and March.  The William Penn House class is as all levels an embrace and invitation  as you need it to be for your support and delight–from chair yoga to drop backs, depending on your practice and the day. Drop in any week; no advance notice required.

    Proceeds from the house classes will continue to go 100% to environmental causes in 2011.  In March, I will again be offering at Willow Street, “Yoga for Gardeners,” with my profits going to benefit the Youth Garden at the National Arboretum.  And if you are ever looking to browse for used books — or looking for a good place to donate some of your own — please visit the Lantern Bookshop in Georgetown, where I have been volunteering one Sunday a month for 15 years or so.

    Whether 2010 was a more a year of challenges or joy and expansion, I wish you the best in 2011 and hope to see you soon, sharing in the joy and support of the yoga.

    Peace and light,