Energy is the source of life.
Energy comes from a higher power than this "I".
When my mind disassociates from this higher power, my energy depletes, life dissipates, unsupported.
A higher power is my source, an endless well of wisdom and strength.
"I" am never alone.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Notes on the journey
"The way is long and difficult for everybody; and to change the physical nature is a big job - but it has to be done.
The only way to make it quicker is to keep an unshaken faith in the Divine and a great intensity in aspiration - the rest is done for you."
- The Mother [p-167, White Roses, Sixth Edition, 1999]
The only way to make it quicker is to keep an unshaken faith in the Divine and a great intensity in aspiration - the rest is done for you."
- The Mother [p-167, White Roses, Sixth Edition, 1999]
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
In love, there are no opposites
Opposites such as like/dislike, mine/yours, joy/sadness do not exist in love.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Stillness
"We can make our minds so like still water
that beings gather about us, that they may
see their own images, and so live for a
moment with a clearer, perhaps even with
a fiercer, life because of our quiet."
-William Butler Yeats
that beings gather about us, that they may
see their own images, and so live for a
moment with a clearer, perhaps even with
a fiercer, life because of our quiet."
-William Butler Yeats
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
To see
"Nobody sees a flower, really - it is so small - we haven't time, and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time."
-Georgia O'Keefe
-Georgia O'Keefe
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Simply seeing
"How much virtue there is in simply seeing" - H.D. Thoreau
At the Kalahari Desert in South Africa last year, I found myself the witness of a blanket-ceiling of blue crowning above a flat line of concrete with no obvious end, surrounded by hills of barren red sand.
It was all I could see at first. I glanced on occasion at my husband, looking for signs of disappointment in the elusive eyes that scanned the landscape outside the car window. After all, it was I who had insisted on the Kalahari over Capetown. It was I who was looking for a different experience. "A work in progress", Pieter, our guide, said - of me, I thought, or the landscape, but no - of the road, it turns out, which, sure enough, ended in a pit of gravel, but not before Pieter let some air out of the tires. Well before that though, when the road still seemed as infinite as worries and possibilities, Pieter abruptly stopped the car in the middle of the road. "I want to show you something," Pieter said. I put down my notebook as I opened the car door. Pieter glanced back at the notebook and remarked: "everyone does something: video, photography, speak on recorder. You write." I wondered what would happen if I didn't do anything.
The silence was screaming outside the car; the space around the car was slowly closing in. "Look up," he said. Up where? "There." Above us, power lines. On the power lines, a cotton candy-shaped bird condo at least 3 feet wide. And sure enough, a white blur quickly tucked its wings before gliding into a small round hole, one of dozens of black dots that if connected would form crooked and somewhat parallel lines. As we held up the gaze, Pieter directed it to notice other critters by their movement instead of their color, to detect which and how many birds were allowed inside the bird suites. The storyboard puzzle of the sociable weaver slowly became visible piece by piece. All that was required on our part was patience and, well, simply seeing.
Yoga teachings also provide tools for simply seeing. Because we live inside our heads so much, planning, rehearsing, conceptualizing, we can easily miss it - what we are looking for. Is it beauty? Is it laughter? Is it intrigue? Focus your vision, inner and outer, and see what happens.
At the Kalahari Desert in South Africa last year, I found myself the witness of a blanket-ceiling of blue crowning above a flat line of concrete with no obvious end, surrounded by hills of barren red sand.
It was all I could see at first. I glanced on occasion at my husband, looking for signs of disappointment in the elusive eyes that scanned the landscape outside the car window. After all, it was I who had insisted on the Kalahari over Capetown. It was I who was looking for a different experience. "A work in progress", Pieter, our guide, said - of me, I thought, or the landscape, but no - of the road, it turns out, which, sure enough, ended in a pit of gravel, but not before Pieter let some air out of the tires. Well before that though, when the road still seemed as infinite as worries and possibilities, Pieter abruptly stopped the car in the middle of the road. "I want to show you something," Pieter said. I put down my notebook as I opened the car door. Pieter glanced back at the notebook and remarked: "everyone does something: video, photography, speak on recorder. You write." I wondered what would happen if I didn't do anything.
The silence was screaming outside the car; the space around the car was slowly closing in. "Look up," he said. Up where? "There." Above us, power lines. On the power lines, a cotton candy-shaped bird condo at least 3 feet wide. And sure enough, a white blur quickly tucked its wings before gliding into a small round hole, one of dozens of black dots that if connected would form crooked and somewhat parallel lines. As we held up the gaze, Pieter directed it to notice other critters by their movement instead of their color, to detect which and how many birds were allowed inside the bird suites. The storyboard puzzle of the sociable weaver slowly became visible piece by piece. All that was required on our part was patience and, well, simply seeing.
Yoga teachings also provide tools for simply seeing. Because we live inside our heads so much, planning, rehearsing, conceptualizing, we can easily miss it - what we are looking for. Is it beauty? Is it laughter? Is it intrigue? Focus your vision, inner and outer, and see what happens.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Opening to the way of life, without expectations
Have you ever felt disappointed when things do not go your way? Have you ever resisted trying something new out of fear it will not go your way? Maybe there is a better way - the way of adventure. The "just do it" way, to one open to "whatever" happens. What? Allowing life to unfold without following your script? Allow me to share a few incidents that remind me of the value to let go of wanting to control (as if I could!) the fruit of my actions:
1. I dropped off some books at my sister's friend's house with the purpose of getting my sister off my back quickly enough to join some friends. I met my husband there.
2. After years of not driving (living in Manhattan), I forced myself to practice with no destination, even though here in Miami Beach many necessities are walking distance away. As I was starting to get comfortable again, I received an invitation to attend (at no cost) a yoga intensive 2 1/2 hours driving distance from home.
I was ready!
3. One day I overslept, I was feeling stressed out about falling behind schedule. My dog sorely needed exercise though, so I took her to the park. I met my first yoga therapy client there.
1. I dropped off some books at my sister's friend's house with the purpose of getting my sister off my back quickly enough to join some friends. I met my husband there.
2. After years of not driving (living in Manhattan), I forced myself to practice with no destination, even though here in Miami Beach many necessities are walking distance away. As I was starting to get comfortable again, I received an invitation to attend (at no cost) a yoga intensive 2 1/2 hours driving distance from home.
I was ready!
3. One day I overslept, I was feeling stressed out about falling behind schedule. My dog sorely needed exercise though, so I took her to the park. I met my first yoga therapy client there.
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