Abundance

Ahhhhh- the first iconic days of spring....blisters on the hands from clearing out the garden.

So many children on the front porch it seems like they are multiplying by the second.
 (I came out  5 minutes after this picture was taken and there were four more added to this collection of kids)



First official gathering on the deck- wearing short sleeves and sandals even though you have goosebumps.

Looking out onto Mt. Beacon, the snow has finally lost its battle with the sun.

Eggs from our neighbor..... milk, cheese,vegetables from local farms.






A beautiful bottle of Morgon.

Sun kissing my forehead as I move through my salute to it.....abundance.

thank You Universe for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth
day of life and love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any--lifted from the no
of all nothing--human merely being
doubt unimaginably You?
(now the ears of my ears awake and now the eyes of my eyes are opened)
- e.e.cummings

Happy Spring.  Simple blessings are beyond measure.

Thoughts on love, life and other things....

I am often inspired by these thoughts and quotes....I wanted to share! Om Shantih...
Shan

On love......
"Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built."
Rumi

Have only love in your heart for others.
The more you see the good in them,
the more you will establish good in yourself... 
Paramahansa Yogananda

The important thing is not to think much,
but to love much; and so,
do that which best stirs you to love.
Saint Teresa of Avila

Light
Will someday split you open
Even if your life is now a cage...
Love will surely bust you wide open
Into an unfettered blooming new galaxy...
A life-giving radiance will come...
O look again within yourself,
For I know you were once the elegant host
To all the marvels in creation...
From a sacred crevice in your body
A bow rises each night
And shoots your soul into God...
Hafiz

Om Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu

May all beings everywhere be happy and free from suffering!!!!! 

On the One-ness of the universe....

Who you are is absolutely unimaginable.

When you stop imagining yourself in any form,

there is a revelation that has never been spoken,

but is directly experienced.

Gangaji

True communication is communion―the realization of oneness, which is love.

Eckhart Tolle

The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us

Black Elk

 

Misc:

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth
day of life and love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any--lifted from the no
of all nothing--human merely being
doubt unimaginably You?
(now the ears of my ears awake and now the eyes of my eyes are opened)
- e.e.cummings 

Then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts,
the depths where neither sin nor desire can reach,
the person that each one is in God's eyes.
If only they could see themselves as they really are.
If only we could see each other that way,
there would be no reason for war, for hatred, for cruelty ...
I suppose the big problem would be that
we would fall down and worship each other.  

 Thomas Merton 

Oh  I love this one......especially the last two lines.

A Buddhist Prayer Before Practicing

By the power and truth of this practice:
May all beings have happiness and the cause of happiness
May all beings be free from sorrow and the causes of sorrow
May all never be separated from the sacred happiness which is sorrow less
And may all live in equanimity with out too much attachment and too much aversion
And live believing in the equality of all that lives.

-The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

 If you want to become whole,
let yourself be partial.
If you want to become straight,
let yourself be crooked.
If you want to become full,
let yourself be empty.
If you want to be reborn,
let yourself die.
If you want to be given everything,
give everything up.
 

Tao Te Ching

 

WAMC: Yoga: Should The State Be Certifying Instructors? (2010-03-08)

I was interviewed for WAMC! I have to say hearing your voice in the radio or online is er.... not the most wonderful thing. I think I kind of sound like a 13 year old muppet. It was a super cool though.
WAMC: Yoga: Should The State Be Certifying Instructors? (2010-03-08)

5000 miles

Did you know that Maui Hawaii is roughly 5000 miles away from Beacon NY? I know that because I feel that distance every day in my heart. My sister  Melissa lives in Maui and has lived there for over 15 years. Though I grew up with my sister around me, I spent most of my life feeling completely separate from her....she- blonde, freckles, cheerleader, perky...adorable... me- black hair, olive skin, screw school, pissed off....hard to take. I always thought we were so different " we will NEVER see eye to eye." So when my sister left for Maui I was a little sad sure, but completely fine. We would see each other when she would come home...nice to visit- I even lived with her for a bit in Maui when I was in college (my parents thought that shipping me off to a rock in the middle of the pacific ocean would make me change my partying ways....didn't work- sorry Mom and Dad, people are crazy in Hawaii too).  But then something changed- my sister got pregnant. Something in me clicked- this is my sister. My sister is having a baby. My sister- the one person who could always make me laugh so hard I peed a little in my pants. My sister- the coolest person I knew when I was 8 that always let me tag along with her and her friends. My sister- the person who put up with my crap and opened her heart and home to me when I was completely lost in college. My SOUL SISTER.  I started calling my sister almost every day when she was pregnant with Annie. When she went into labor I could barely eat or sleep. It was killing me to be in NY. Those 5000 miles had become so real to me. Soon after Melissa had Annie, I got pregnant...I will never forget the first time we were together with our children- it was the most wonderful thing I have ever experienced.  My sister, my soul sister, my inspiration- sorry it took me almost 30 years to realize this- is not different from me at all. We are the same, we are bonded by more than blood and circumstance....we are family.
I talk to Melissa as often as I can now- though not as often as I like. In those moments 5000 miles can seem so close....I can picture her in her kitchen, smells of upcountry blowing through the windows...Annie and Miles, laughing and running in the backyard barefoot and brown. We talk about our yoga practice, life and missing each other. Sometimes I get mad at her...sometimes she gets frustrated with me- and through it all I feel blessed that I found the sister I had always wished I had....that was there all along.

Yep we come from the same parents!

Advaita Vedanta: We are all pretty great...you just have to accept how great that really is!

I have been thinking a lot about the perception of energy. The universe is energy...we are made of the stuff of the universe- the universe is pretty amazing.....hhhmmmmm- that must mean that we are too! Pretty easy on paper right? So where does it start getting muddied? It is when we start projecting ourselves-our perceptions onto that energy. The energy is there. It IS......kind of like the hot guy vs the kind of er- less hot guy hitting on a woman at a bar- woman thinks with hot guy-"oh, he's so great, seems like a good person- now he's going to buy me a drink- I want to talk to him!" woman thinks with average guy "oohh just leave me alone- I just want to hang out here with my friends...creepy!" So both guys put out the same amount of energy-it's the perception of that energy that makes all the difference. So it is actually is that easy...everything is and will always be. We are all a part of that IS...that I AM. We just make that IS personal in order to understand it. So maybe instead if trying to change the certainty (the energy) instead we can change the perception of the certainty.  Instead of "aaaarrrrgggggg idiot! He cut me off! People need to learn how to drive!!!!"....maybe try" woah- I am so glad I avoided an accident! great reminder to be more mindful when I am driving" the IS of the moment the same....just your perception that has shifted. Sometimes the smallest shifts make all the difference. Cause really since we are all made from the same stuff....we are all pretty great. Cause the universe is who we are, we are all pretty great.  Cause being happy is a CHOICE and not a priviledge...we are all pretty great. Cause happiness is a perception of energy it is a choice. It is that simple. Cause most importantly it is all subjective, it is all an illusion of our creation. The only reality is the energy. Pretty easy on paper- pretty easy in life.
read more about this philosohpy- Advaita Vedanta

Emotions and heart openers and the brain...oh my!

So my favorite podcast EVER is Radio Lab on WYNC...I get a little flat hand clappy every time I hear  one (this is the program that I learned about the link between the domestication of cats and the sharp rise in schizophrenia in western society...Brilliant!!!!!!). If you have been in my class this week you have heard me talk about the fascinating story I  heard about the link of emotions and  physical response...theorizing that the physical response (racing heart, pupil dialation,  rise in blood pressure etc...) is what triggers the emotional response in the brain (ie, the translation of the physical manifestation of these responses). That begs the question to be asked "then what happens to the people who lose the ability to feel their body?" This question along with many others is answered in this article from the NY Times.....This made me think- if people who lose  all sense of feeling in their bodies suffer a profound dulling of the senses, to what extent of "emotional numbness" do those of us who are out of touch with  our bodies experience? It make sense why many people have profound emotional repsonses on their mats when they open up to the sensations of the body in hip openers and backbends.  Ah yoga- you never cease to rock my existence!

So hot today.....

Aaaaahhhh- It was one of those days- sweat pouring off me as I come into crow and slide off my arms. Dry off- better. Sweat coming out of my pores almost with force. Mat drenched, towel drenched, body saying "thank you". Air around me like soup- swimming through the air, breathing the moisture. The sweat dries on my skin during savasana , get up- slide into my sandals...perhaps a swim at the waterfall?
Oh wait. February 17th. snow. snow. snow. studio never over 72 degrees. cold. Okay- so I'm not dripping in the sweat, swimming in the soup,  a human sprinkler- not as bendy, rubber band-y in my practice as I am when summer is in full swing, my body is always warm, loose, willing. Instead my body is creaky, a little angry at me when I come to my mat- oh god not today- too cold...wait noooooo don't take off the socks! sob, sob, really-bind? right now? 5 minutes in? Oh come on Shan. So my practice changes with the seasons....Siff in winter, a little more brittle, heavy like slabs of ice. But like winter- times of profound stillness, quiet beauty, deep introspection. So different than my summer practice....pliable like green branches, light from toxins moving out of me, exhuberent like sunflowers. I love this time...i look forward to these moments of effortlessness...my body doesn't fight me Yes! let's get on that mat! of course take that bind, float forward, face on shins...let's do this for hours Shan!
But though summer is the time I day dream about in my practice, I think that it is in those dark, heavy moments in the heart of winter that I learn some of the greatest lessons on my mat....the times I am forced to be more patient, more understanding, more humble with my body. Hard lessons to learn, even harder to apply, harder still to work through day after day....and I make it through-and I breathe.  I know that the ice will thaw, having given the ground time to rest, and renew. Green shoots appearing in the fertile soil, made fertile by the slow, quiet, release of the winter water deep into the crust.
So though I know these are necessary moments- I still daydream about by summer practice. Tank tops and sweat seem so far away . I know that it will get here though- one day.