Hare Om Ganesha
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
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What Do You See?
What do you first notice when you look at this photo? What do you notice next? Do you find yourself making aesthetic judgments or comparisons? What about moral judgments?
Is it possible truly to witness without judgment? To see the good (or at least the potential for good) in everything, even if it does not please us or fit in with how we would like the world to be?
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
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Art and Culture | Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Meditation
“I Don’t Care If It Rains or Freezes…” (and freedom from the pairs of opposites)
When I was walking into work in the cold rain this morning, the song “Plastic Jesus” arose in my head. I thought that I didn’t know many of the lyrics, but when I got back and checked for recordings to see just how much I was missing, I realized it was because there aren’t many lyrics. Here is Paul Newman singing it in Cool Hand Luke. The Levellers have a great cover (with some variations on the lyrics–listen carefully), as do the Flaming Lips. The original is harder to find.
With it’s gentle tongue in cheek message, the song invites us to contemplate the real purpose of any spiritual practice (including the yoga — see, for example, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra, at 2.46-2.48): to be sufficiently full of love and devotion and recognition of spirit, that we are not ungrounded or driven to suffering when faced with discomfort or inconvenience. And if we get really good, freedom from suffering in the face of true pain, loss, and outrage. That is, of course, a key reason for practicing.
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Art and Culture | Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Meditation | Photos | Poetry
Making Beauty
My top word for the week is “dank,” which evokes so much in so little space.
I was attending a conference for much of the early part of the week and simultaneously needed to meet a combination of expected and unexpected deadlines.
I had the delight and nourishment, though, of my daily practice and teaching.
Through making art — however we do it — we find the beauty that is there. Even in the circa 1974, tied for the second ugliest building on the National Mall, Frances Perkins Department of Labor Building before 8am on another dank morning.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
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I have had a more stressful than usual couple of weeks at the office. While I was walking into the office, I was thinking about how the more deadlines I needed to meet and the more difficult interchanges I had to bring to the most optimal resolution, the harder it was also to have energy to give to those who are in far greater need, though I seek ways to be of service.
When I saw the oversized half moon dwarfed by the cherry blossoms, it helped put things in perspective. Nothing I do immediately impacts life or death. A hard week does not mean much in my life as a whole, my tribulations are only so much play in the midst of the outrageous ground of all human being, human being is only one small part of life on this planet in this galaxy in this universe, and who knows how vast is the realm of consciousness. I smiled at the moon and the blossoms and thought of their beauty throughout the day.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
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Art and Culture | Community and Family | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Gardening | Photos
Cherry Blossoms at the Japanese Memorial (and Abhuta)
When I was walking home in the gray chilly day, astonished and awed by the beauty and effulgence of the cherry blossoms as if experiencing them for the first time though I have been witnessing them blossom here for over 25 years, I thought about the principle of abhuta.
Abhuta, which means wonder, is one of my favorite sanskrit words. It is one of the important aspects of the Anusara alignment principle of “opening to grace.” When we approach things freshly and with wonder, then we will not only experience more delight in our daily lives, but we will be more open to learning something new from what we experience over and over again, both on and off of our mat.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
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Cherry Blossoms with Senate Office Building
Om namah shivayah.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
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Archimedes
“We all know that distance gives perspective. Archimedes said that if he had a lever long enough and a place to stand, he could move the world.” Anodea Judith, Waking the Global Heart.” (Willow Street Yoga book club reading for March–meets the third Sunday of each month; I will let you know what is the reading for April).
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 Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Meditation
My First Five Thoughts (Compound) Before Getting Out of Bed This Morning
1. Still dark, too early to get up; oh right, daylight savings time.
2. Wait; wake up call is Sri Rudrum; here’s the part I’ve learned by heart to help invoke auspiciousness, wisdom, compassion, light, interconnectedness, steadiness, fierce will, etc; good reminder; don’t sleep through it.
3. Nuclear reactors in Japan; wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; Libya; aftermath of BP oil spill, Katrina, and 9-11; budget talks prioritize war and business as usual; no senators or Congress person for DC; mountaintop coal mining; tar sands; diabetes/obesity epidemic.
4. Time to nurture cats and plants and sit for meditation; I am indeed blessed.
5. How do I bring “2” and “4” to my response to “3”?Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
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The News
The photos of the aftermath of the earthquake are horrific. I cannot really imagine what it must be like. I found myself today thinking about how it is that I trust that the images are real even though those who offer us “entertainment” give us similar pictures through the same media. How do we stay keenly open to truth and sympathy when our receipt of truth and fiction comes through the same channels? My heart goes out to all those suffering.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.