“Sometimes I have nothing to say”
Several years ago, when I still had a working art studio in my house, the favorite thing to do of a friend’s child when the family came over was to go into the studio to see what I was painting. … (READ MORE)
Creating Healing Energy (and communal knitting)
A friend of mine who is an avid and wonderful knitter decided to make a shawl for a friend who is about to have surgery. Instead of whipping out a shawl herself in a few days, she invited other friends… (READ MORE)
Julie and Julia (and “actionless action”)
I went to see Julie and Julia because I, like most other Americans of a certain age who like food, have a history with Julia Child. Seeing the movie brought back an episode from junior high school. By seventh grade,… (READ MORE)
A Happy Life is an Engaged Life (and Sadhana)
I have spent most of my life practicing one thing or the other. What attracts me about practicing in the sense of complete absorption that it brings. For a time, the absorption can be enough. Ultimately, though, the absorption should… (READ MORE)
Rudra (and fierce indignation)
Ruda, who is both the ancestor of Shiva and another name for Shiva, is known as the howler. Rudra is wild and fierce. Rudra rages. I heard Paul Muller-Ortega recently describe Rudra. He said Rudra rages, but offered that there… (READ MORE)
The Swimming Spot (and Karunabdhe)
To find water deep enough for swimming and fresh enough for drinking in the desert is absolutely exquisite, sweet, refreshment. It is love, nectar, and bliss all at once. A half a mile away on foot in certain directions, this… (READ MORE)
An Excellent Sufficiency, Homegrown Tomatoes (and the Isha Upanishad)
The Isha Upanishad starts, “That is fullness (purna). This is fullness. Fullness comes from fullness. Take fullness from fullness, and the remainder is fullness.” My maternal grandfather died when I was just a toddler, so I never got to know… (READ MORE)
Nilakantha (and personal strength and practice)
It takes incredible strength to take on the sorrows and poisons of others. How many times have you witnessed someone who is awe-inspiringly dedicated to bringing out change to society, but does so at the expense of his or her… (READ MORE)
What Grows in a Very Small Space (and living freely within limitations)
Sometimes when I am blogging about my garden — the joys I experience and its wonderful produce — I feel like I might be presumptuous. I am no Christoper Lloyd or Alice Waters. I just have a tiny space behind… (READ MORE)
Upheaval (and Nilakantha)
Last night when I arrived to teach, I found that the room where I teach had been booked with something else (mistakes happen) and the alternative offered by the space just was not viable. I was peeved, but just canceling… (READ MORE)