tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70300344456672596872024-02-19T01:57:52.992-05:00SIXTYNI YOGINIlooking at stuff sixtyni yoginihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09584627242347419624noreply@blogger.comBlogger91125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030034445667259687.post-49206268017575474912022-11-13T11:25:00.000-05:002022-11-13T11:25:07.029-05:00Tigers and Strawberries<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEggNwDu-HcYSgspSirsOaUwE8RfYE3meiqpKASMbB9Xk6afIGyzpy05DF3-48A2v8z6FQ0gIDGCJNSCXDwClQTk2qjYhA-3GH0DRm2kfXwL4QciPd8Iwme3KP5vq8UvPtqgeehYJHVau-7mc4R9OxEFc_1_OpVt-hn5ffKacJhViopQ9J0VmpbiS4gd" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1170" data-original-width="821" height="492" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEggNwDu-HcYSgspSirsOaUwE8RfYE3meiqpKASMbB9Xk6afIGyzpy05DF3-48A2v8z6FQ0gIDGCJNSCXDwClQTk2qjYhA-3GH0DRm2kfXwL4QciPd8Iwme3KP5vq8UvPtqgeehYJHVau-7mc4R9OxEFc_1_OpVt-hn5ffKacJhViopQ9J0VmpbiS4gd=w344-h492" width="344" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Horyuji Temple, Japan, Buddha Jataka</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(33, 33, 33); font-family: "Open Sans"; font-size: 16px; text-align: start; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: #cccccc;">A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine sustained him. Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away at the vine.<b> The man saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. How sweet it tasted!</b></span></i></span></div></blockquote><p> </p><p>This morning, the image above came to mind. East Asian Art history grad school was years and years ago, but this image returns often, and with it, the story that Dr. Glen Webb told. His version was somewhat similar to the one above, but was related as one tale in the many past lives of the Buddha (Jataka). </p><p>Dream?: In meditation, my heart <i>knew</i><i> </i>for the first time, the meaning of this Jataka: the tiger is going to devour me whether from above or below. The beautiful and scary tiger, my death—will come sooner or later. </p><p>The tiger and the strawberry (of life) are one. And they can be both sweet and/or sour. May I grasp at life ever so lightly and enjoy it on my way to the inevitable. </p><p>This story with its apparent lesson, may not seem to be much of a realization... But it <i>felt</i> like one. </p><p>How sweet it tasted!</p><p>***. ***</p><p>Dream?: I'm in Venice, lost and wandering, exhausted in the illogical, cobbled streets in search of lodging. Every view is exquisite, there is amazing art, new friends, wonderful food. A sense of anxiety comes and goes. </p><p>*** ***</p><p>Dream?: Cleaning and organizing a friend's room, I am filled with unexplainable sense of joy and enjoyment. Don't want to wake up. I awake and return to the dream several times. </p><p>*** ***</p><p>tigers! strawberries! love!</p><p><br /></p><p style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="color: #cccccc;">The <b>Jātakas</b> (meaning "Birth Story", "related to a birth") are a voluminous body of literature native to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: none;" title="India">India</a> which mainly concern the previous births of <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gautama_Buddha" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: none;" title="Gautama Buddha">Gautama Buddha</a> in both human and animal form.<span style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1;"><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-4" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"></sup></span></span></p><div class="thumb tright" style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34); clear: right; float: right; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0.5em 0px 1.3em 1.4em; width: auto;"><div class="thumbinner" style="background-color: #f8f9fa; border: 1px solid rgb(200, 204, 209); font-size: 13.16px; min-width: 100px; overflow: hidden; padding: 3px; text-align: center; width: 222px;"><a class="image" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:020_Vessantara_Jataka_(33927149585).jpg" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><img alt="" class="thumbimage" data-file-height="1769" data-file-width="4963" decoding="async" height="78" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/48/020_Vessantara_Jataka_%2833927149585%29.jpg/220px-020_Vessantara_Jataka_%2833927149585%29.jpg" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/48/020_Vessantara_Jataka_%2833927149585%29.jpg/330px-020_Vessantara_Jataka_%2833927149585%29.jpg 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/48/020_Vessantara_Jataka_%2833927149585%29.jpg/440px-020_Vessantara_Jataka_%2833927149585%29.jpg 2x" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(200, 204, 209); vertical-align: middle;" width="220" /></span></a><div class="thumbcaption" style="border: 0px; font-size: 12.3704px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 3px; text-align: left;"><div class="magnify" style="float: right; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 0px;"><a class="internal" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:020_Vessantara_Jataka_(33927149585).jpg" style="-webkit-user-select: none; background-image: url("/w/resources/src/mediawiki.skinning/images/magnify-clip-ltr.svg?8330e"); display: block; height: 11px; overflow: hidden; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 15px; white-space: nowrap; width: 15px;" title="Enlarge"></a></div><span style="color: #cccccc;">Vessantara Jataka, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanchi" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: none;" title="Sanchi">Sanchi</a></span></div></div></div><p style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="color: #cccccc;">In these stories, the future Buddha may appear as a king, an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste_system_in_India" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: none;" title="Caste system in India">outcast</a>, a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deva_(Buddhism)" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: none;" title="Deva (Buddhism)">deva</a>, an animal—but, in whatever form, he exhibits some virtue that the tale thereby inculcates. The Jātaka genre is based on the idea that the Buddha was able to recollect all his past lives and thus could use these memories to tell a story and illustrate his teachings.</span></p><p style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0.5em 0px;"><span style="color: #cccccc;">(from Wikipedia)</span></p>sixtyni yoginihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09584627242347419624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030034445667259687.post-87930148290185501732022-04-09T13:44:00.002-04:002022-04-09T15:02:27.234-04:00break like a branch in the wind; make art like Knausgaard in his room: waves and particles<p><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: times; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit;"><div style="color: #222222; font-size: 14.399999618530273px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-size: 14.399999618530273px; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cccccc; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_orQhCAW752nvNATOAqithhR1l8kILK5ji9e_geDGFRROendUf1uAKFsHIWy8j_GPSgw-vftBcVsTB1HpUOHP6f0JqWLcqYwsNj88MpeoHnaYmn3bvcXXsSVuynmKVivXklno4GeTV2lmIeJN3aNqTkbvxRnQqN59KCeA5P69QboeVZwntp9nCV2p/s1308/IMG_1898.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1308" data-original-width="1240" height="294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_orQhCAW752nvNATOAqithhR1l8kILK5ji9e_geDGFRROendUf1uAKFsHIWy8j_GPSgw-vftBcVsTB1HpUOHP6f0JqWLcqYwsNj88MpeoHnaYmn3bvcXXsSVuynmKVivXklno4GeTV2lmIeJN3aNqTkbvxRnQqN59KCeA5P69QboeVZwntp9nCV2p/w278-h294/IMG_1898.JPG" width="278" /></a></span></div></div><h4 style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;">Koan is a riddle with no solution</span></span></div><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit;">used to provoke reflection</span><span style="font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit;"> on the inadequacy </span><span style="font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit;">of logical reasoning</span><span style="font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit;">, </span></div></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit;">and to lead to enlightenment.</span></div></span></span></h4></span><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><p><span style="font-family: times;">Years ago in a dance class at University of Washington - our teacher instructed us to "<i>just walk across the room</i>," in front of the class, which I did—and failed totally—according to her.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;">Until recently, I always wondered why. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;">An impossible task for my (or any) conditioned mind, the assignment was a koan of movement. Over the years it became a recurring and unresolved memory. Now however, I recall it with a smile as I read the prose of Norwegian author Karl Ove Knausgaard, who "walks across the room" with his art —effortlessly and unselfconsciously. Unlike my mannered movements that day, Knausgaard's direct, unadorned writing lacks the mask of trying to make "good" art. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;">He just makes art. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;">And writes like a Zen master. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;">There is a saying or a meme that goes "Dance like no one is watching." Well, Knausgaard <i>writes</i> like no one is watching. In fact, he has said, while writing the first two volumes of "My Struggle" he didn't believe anyone would read it. It must have liberated him to find and express his truth. Truth for me, has always been the domain of poetry, music, and visual art because it is oblique, non-verbal. The finger writing about the moon can never be the moon. But Knausgaard gets so close! His work flows with a natural, intuitive structure. As he focuses on the mundane in all its wonder and triviality, boring detail becomes somehow revelatory and universal: moon to Moon.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;">Believe Knausgaard's and all our—artistic/spiritual energies come from a place of quiet or MU as Zen might call it, free of internal and external judgements. Apparently it was an awareness I lacked when walking across the room that day and in living life. Since then, the freedom of slowly dropping baggage (judging and the inherent violence of grasping) in art/life has been balanced with comical—blips of fretting and trying. Let go and let go and let go...</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: times;"><i>For the heart, life is simple: it beats as long as it can. Then it stops. Sooner or later this pounding action will cease of it's own accord, and the blood will begin to run towards the body's lowest point where it will collect in a small pool, visible from the outside as a dark soft patch on every whitening skin, as the temperature sinks, the limbs stiffen and the intestines drain. </i> </span></blockquote><blockquote><span style="font-family: times;">—Knaaugaard, first sentences of <b>My Struggle </b>Book One</span></blockquote><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span> </span>And death, which I have always regarded as the greatest dimension in life, dark, compelling, was no more than a pipe that springs a leak, a branch that cracks in the wind, a jacket that slips off a clothes hanger and falls to the floor.</span></i></p></blockquote><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"> —Knausgaard, final sentence of <b>My Struggle </b>Book One</span></p><p></p><blockquote><i><span style="font-family: times;">You don't know what air is, yet you breathe. You don't know what sleep is, yet you sleep. You don't know what night is, yet you lie in it. You don't know what a heart is, yet your heart beats steadily, day and night, day and night, day and night.</span></i></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span> <span> —</span></span>Knausgaard, first sentence of <b>Spring</b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioFZboD06te3II1ndy6EYtAXZDSXYnTwvqYRJ_JX9tlh3_laGsOnuCWlWZJWQ9PAWvcUgSduLz6p_v00XLXM6EK9IKT6OiM9Tc5KRAjn0sN_KwfnIhosI-DLDo8syod63DLOUFZVEx94LiTVReaEqsWHsoqGDXkV7ik_nq8uU5aeV9gKNV92c3Q-n7/s1228/MU_by_Hakuin1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1228" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioFZboD06te3II1ndy6EYtAXZDSXYnTwvqYRJ_JX9tlh3_laGsOnuCWlWZJWQ9PAWvcUgSduLz6p_v00XLXM6EK9IKT6OiM9Tc5KRAjn0sN_KwfnIhosI-DLDo8syod63DLOUFZVEx94LiTVReaEqsWHsoqGDXkV7ik_nq8uU5aeV9gKNV92c3Q-n7/s320/MU_by_Hakuin1.jpg" width="313" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;">Note to Bronwyn: when you were near death, you had a realization that you would be </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">dancing with the waves and particles. </span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">May we all be so lucky and wise to transition with such grace and wisdom. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">May we all dance in boundless waves and particles of love, walk across the room, write, make art, bake bread, cry, laugh, dance, chop wood, carry water....and break like a branch in the wind.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">And I miss you.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><b style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></b><p></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p></div>sixtyni yoginihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09584627242347419624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030034445667259687.post-71555787331755837522022-01-17T19:55:00.002-05:002022-01-17T20:19:33.745-05:00perfect imperfection—dunking the duck & the funk<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgNogftxhv2a4UnNI2Zt3zG0GSlbYxKlBULFvwn_Z_fSYfc88sQa24DZJqhOj5yF8Bu8UFv3WlmlCsAqYI_A2nW3I0uHGy2MM4qTUh7fmctiebSAEAtakw4W-IGE6u-pXItpqogMTtoZw4rKi0eTJ9TixCsc14BexEBT0Z2JdAIdQDIE5ixNfe679AG=s2566" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2566" data-original-width="2384" height="339" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgNogftxhv2a4UnNI2Zt3zG0GSlbYxKlBULFvwn_Z_fSYfc88sQa24DZJqhOj5yF8Bu8UFv3WlmlCsAqYI_A2nW3I0uHGy2MM4qTUh7fmctiebSAEAtakw4W-IGE6u-pXItpqogMTtoZw4rKi0eTJ9TixCsc14BexEBT0Z2JdAIdQDIE5ixNfe679AG=w315-h339" width="315" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Today, as I sat (supposedly) in meditation, in a <i>chair</i> <i>not a cushion</i> —with one knee folded traditionally and one "wounded knee" outstretched —the imperfections, disappointments in (my) and all life popped up like ducks in a shooting gallery. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Try your luck! Dunk the duck!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhBxJaN3eQPT7oNaYMmzfCoCg3Bi1EpR7hHBewPAOV3cwCerGkclZtoGrK9AqUMd5ml5xwrsKV5SADxMviAIOJhFYj7nwRGQEbUaMmjLM0iy75ZTL5dh_aRHNYFnCxRd8d9xktCpMHuAbOa0n61SMKk6BCwcPlxGujlaWaQkcoKTdxMFucTLAuRRsjp=s1176" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1176" data-original-width="1163" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhBxJaN3eQPT7oNaYMmzfCoCg3Bi1EpR7hHBewPAOV3cwCerGkclZtoGrK9AqUMd5ml5xwrsKV5SADxMviAIOJhFYj7nwRGQEbUaMmjLM0iy75ZTL5dh_aRHNYFnCxRd8d9xktCpMHuAbOa0n61SMKk6BCwcPlxGujlaWaQkcoKTdxMFucTLAuRRsjp=s320" width="316" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></span></div><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Quacks:</span> </b> <span style="font-family: arial;">will recent hiking fall prevent me from ever sitting in full lotus again? I</span><span style="font-family: arial;">s my yoga practice moving toward <b>more</b> first series adaptations? Will I ever recover the "difficult" ones from second series again? What about running? What about aging? What about love? And everything else?</span> </div></blockquote><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">more:</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: arial;">unconscious and conscious </span><span style="font-family: arial;">shoulds quack what I ought to/"must" do or accomplish daily ingrained quack efforts to please prove (my) "goodness" quack MY goodness!! quack MY yoga practice quack how to fill or fix quack the needs and woes of others quack and so on quack and on and on...</span></div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">definitely</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">infinitely</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">deafening</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">try your luck they said </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">my trying luck </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">was </span><span style="font-family: arial;">running </span><span style="font-family: arial;">out </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">then it stopped</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">and that old/new magic</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">happened</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">again and always </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">all things are beautifully fine</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">no need to try</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">so </span><span style="font-family: arial;">hard </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">or at all</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">ALL IS WELL </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">so well someone </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">allowed everything </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">to be as it is</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">exhale</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">My goodness! What just happened?</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Goodness! </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Boundless love to the infinite, mundane, everything between, and to those helpful ducks!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>post script: </b> It's been over 2 years! Thought post in 2020 was going to turn out to be the last. However, this p</span><span style="font-family: arial;">utting word energy into the ether</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> is grounding - (for me). </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And the above post may be a partial summary of COVID experience.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">LIFE IS GOOD </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">(even when it's not!)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">boundlessness</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEixLiv0zxwtIeumdgPM_ORhmnUOYjuOZDtNfwdjx2leWtl5ysvgBJTB5eRGd1zHqIIzN1zGntKuu56B3rKO8soUfZ7_4IVF7xvl1HZe-lH4ojBib9TFBBHarFDHNNtAtxTyQDhRnrO7ZG6l-LQ4BFQWNpo1z47egblSKL318lJZDKMqM_ECZ2Kx4OpK=s59" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="59" data-original-width="50" height="96" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEixLiv0zxwtIeumdgPM_ORhmnUOYjuOZDtNfwdjx2leWtl5ysvgBJTB5eRGd1zHqIIzN1zGntKuu56B3rKO8soUfZ7_4IVF7xvl1HZe-lH4ojBib9TFBBHarFDHNNtAtxTyQDhRnrO7ZG6l-LQ4BFQWNpo1z47egblSKL318lJZDKMqM_ECZ2Kx4OpK=w82-h96" width="82" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p></blockquote>sixtyni yoginihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09584627242347419624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030034445667259687.post-29222090632930428072022-01-17T14:41:00.001-05:002022-01-17T14:42:04.794-05:00from November 2020. Hail to the Mask!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This entry was started in November 2020 without comment other than quote below. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The only comment I would add today - is that I enjoyed (and still enjoy) </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">the anonymity of wearing a mask.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> I shall begin another post </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">today.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1WVQEzb2Xr_rJz0ZAlsn-AjF1fookWKOV03LPjssuEVs3FTVUh7Eags7-IHGe9Q6E5XuymEAv2PGJXKRY04SnNDNRpBFtzsv4RFVRzhuNy5sEiXNk-eJL-aqFKyQOanG_5GiXQbMUXJc/s2048/RenderedImage.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1155" height="325" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1WVQEzb2Xr_rJz0ZAlsn-AjF1fookWKOV03LPjssuEVs3FTVUh7Eags7-IHGe9Q6E5XuymEAv2PGJXKRY04SnNDNRpBFtzsv4RFVRzhuNy5sEiXNk-eJL-aqFKyQOanG_5GiXQbMUXJc/w183-h325/RenderedImage.jpg" width="183" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2s4c00IeYpMmLIoLWWCWSolVLB0-r_TsHWBFtm-C_pYwdai9_nNt4QyzPwuLlvZUoL7NoGGlmfs_CBWD597E7ERGvBVUaSkVoxZzG-JheqRc-lSwQZcSB_9z-F-ofRt68B0aJY18eL4g/s1921/IMG_9810.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; 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text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiUVARgV3Q8KkBOmyt_pnPdlijyxXUUF7j5-vVRzlCxQBjKXHn44TIH2oieU-h6ZyIEpfSjahAwCDlWsz12motdhnyJ9lCa0sDctTjq1PgYyFC5TfSgMeyNAgHtCj1AiCm5DFq2KvQkLJ5r6KjUVE7ueBnXvJrL_jzZzBGGs5reUkw_FoZL9FBRnS3J=s794" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="794" data-original-width="571" height="438" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiUVARgV3Q8KkBOmyt_pnPdlijyxXUUF7j5-vVRzlCxQBjKXHn44TIH2oieU-h6ZyIEpfSjahAwCDlWsz12motdhnyJ9lCa0sDctTjq1PgYyFC5TfSgMeyNAgHtCj1AiCm5DFq2KvQkLJ5r6KjUVE7ueBnXvJrL_jzZzBGGs5reUkw_FoZL9FBRnS3J=w315-h438" width="315" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div></div><br /><p></p><br /> <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="page" style="text-align: start;" title="Page 2"><div class="section"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><br /><p><br /></p></div></div></div></div></div><p></p>sixtyni yoginihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09584627242347419624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030034445667259687.post-22652598281146967442019-10-31T19:49:00.000-04:002019-11-01T10:54:50.845-04:00 pumpkin head seeds (on Day of the Dead)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Bummer," said the woman next to me. As I poured water on the broken tea bag, we watched the leaves float up gracefully. It was the end of a silent retreat and it was the first thing anyone had said to me in days. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">And it was the funniest, most brilliant statement I had ever heard. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">BUMMER </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">As we shared a gentle laugh, my brain imploded, and what I truly wanted to do was jump for joy and fall to the floor in giggles.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">What kind of <i>perfect</i> sense/nonsense was this, stumbled upon like Banzan's koan?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>(Banzan was walking though a market and overheard a customer say, "Give me the best piece of meat you have."</i></span> </blockquote>
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<i style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">"Everything in my shop is the best," replied the butcher. "You cannot find any piece of meat that is not the best." At these words Banzan was enlightened.)</i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">And as I write on this All Saints Day eve, the sky is dark with clouds; leaves dive, float, and finally rest, enhancing the earth in fiery color. </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Alight with joy, it's about to rain and the tea bag broke. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Such is the season of transition—and there has been plenty of it lately for all of us everywhere. Have not always been able to endure, float, and land with ease and grace, but this little pumpkin head knows in this moment—all is—and will always be ok, even perfect. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">love</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "cambria";"><i>!bummer! (any word will do)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">amen</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">metta </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">gratitude</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">A monk asked Master Haryo, "What is the way?" </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Haryo said, "An open-eyed man falling into the well."</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy7bQlznPwhzVaGim-UWDsGtd58hn-QyLJiZqvQZAgnj0z1yHGWLGshyphenhyphenOXEhRj1beElflfw_OeNHzSwTgs27a5kCArhdJ94iNWh2Wev32kvOmOcIBg9Q7nIpQQ2inP3o5SAjwvy9EyBeo/s1600/IMG_9213.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy7bQlznPwhzVaGim-UWDsGtd58hn-QyLJiZqvQZAgnj0z1yHGWLGshyphenhyphenOXEhRj1beElflfw_OeNHzSwTgs27a5kCArhdJ94iNWh2Wev32kvOmOcIBg9Q7nIpQQ2inP3o5SAjwvy9EyBeo/s320/IMG_9213.jpg" width="276" /></span></a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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sixtyni yoginihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09584627242347419624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030034445667259687.post-74475209947441572012019-06-15T14:18:00.000-04:002019-06-20T14:58:36.196-04:00song for little birds<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjux5HZ2irAuXFQ4Aii0UhKhPWBBHnRjoYEpdG11JR2O8rcdLbc0aSDyIBwaXAVGQVnJibbsJ2R6fULhkBcuhTdFPv3pzIdLqKW9h0S0CWGQeetVKTNRU5coV5XET6aBS9AvH7LoFzvXF4/s1600/IMG_0063.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="492" data-original-width="640" height="493" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjux5HZ2irAuXFQ4Aii0UhKhPWBBHnRjoYEpdG11JR2O8rcdLbc0aSDyIBwaXAVGQVnJibbsJ2R6fULhkBcuhTdFPv3pzIdLqKW9h0S0CWGQeetVKTNRU5coV5XET6aBS9AvH7LoFzvXF4/s640/IMG_0063.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Mysore rangoli</span></div>
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<b>63 days </b>ago<br />
this one started a sort<br />
of song<br />
named bird song<br />
<br />
<b>yesterday </b>one Dottie<br />
who hunts but does not<b> </b>kill<br />
brought a baby bird<br />
inside<br />
<b><br /></b><i>
how our every heart beat shook our tiny body</i><br />
<i>how we wanted our small life</i><br />
<br />
<b>last night</b><br />
a painted song named<br />
<i>till death</i><b> </b>was hung<br />
and we ached in pain and love<br />
<br />
<b>today </b><br />
wanting not to know<b>—</b>no not<b> now</b><br />
that we—the bitty bird and I (in part) had <b>died</b><br />
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<i>how our heart-beat beat and shook our tiny body</i><br />
<i>how we longed to stay in life</i><br />
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<b>'til death </b><br />
heart will sting and pound <br />
our songs of pain and beauty<br />
and we will fly how we will fly<br />
<br />
<b>while ever now even now</b><b> </b><br />
this one mourns and cries<br />
for one song sung less<br />
far less than<br />
63 days<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.maryaroland.net/" target="_blank">www.maryaroland.net</a></b>
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sixtyni yoginihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09584627242347419624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030034445667259687.post-22343623257513048992019-02-06T12:59:00.000-05:002019-02-12T12:08:35.006-05:00Magic and Mundane<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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note from Ladakh</div>
<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b>
<b>1.</b><br />
<b>Note to Self</b><br />
<i>halahala </i>is<br />
a dark allusion to self<br />
—gotta love Sanskrit<br />
<b>2.</b><br />
<b>Illusion</b><br />
so unwind unbind<br />
your <i>halahala </i>head tricks<br />
—look at mojo go!<br />
<br />
<br />
It's early February and the temperature is in the 60's. A lone morning birdsong has been heard; a bear has been spotted. Primordial possum encounters house cat. Warm sun comforts and thrills. All is gorgeously divine. And some of us are soaring toward the light.<br />
<br />
<b>Except. </b><br />
we have wax wings<br />
and ice is melting<br />
<br />
It's early February and temperature is in the 60's. Slightly creepy. No bear no daffodil no fly should reveal her face this early. Mating birdsongs and peeper's peeps should be saving their chants for future dates.<br />
<br />
<b>Except</b>.<br />
Ready or not, I want to trill a song, sprout green wings, lumber through forest, and fly, fly fly!<br />
<br />
<br />
*********<br />
<br />
<b>Unwind Unbind</b><br />
Very earthbound here lately and bingeing on The Sopranos. It has helped me see—we all live (with varying degrees of awareness) in our little worlds. Each reality, whether it be mafia, art, military, religious, business, yoga, environmental, academic, or other—has its own rules, beliefs, ideas of success. Illusory aspects of our realms are not easy to spot unless they belong to <i>others'</i> systems. (An overly obvious example is the crumbling codes and concepts of Trump-mind and Trumpism.) So thanks, Sopranos. (brilliant television IMHO)<br />
<br />
<b>Unwind Unbind</b><br />
Lola sleeps a lot, even for a cat. She has cancer. She is being showered with huge amounts of love, attention, food, and neck scratches and then even more love.<br />
May all creatures feel the magic, be well, and transition peacefully.<br />
<br />
<b>Unwind Unbind</b><br />
Have been chewing on a trauma relating to a lifetimes ago failed friendship. Miles of mind tapes and tangled heart strings unwind. These words:<br />
<br />
<i>In trying to create a sense of comfort and relief from her own suffering this person made others responsible</i>. —paraphrased words from a student of Adyashanti<br />
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Thinking most of us have been guilty of such illusion/mistakes at one time or another. And this person's comfort and relief, played out in particularly hateful, hurtful ways. </div>
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<br /></div>
<i>"When our wounds cease to be a source of shame...we become....healers"</i><br />
<i>"...how do we hide our wounds?" </i><br />
<i>"How can we put our woundedness in the service of others?" </i><br />
—Thoreau<br />
Seeing/feeling how shame is related to abuse—is a small awakening. Gratitude.<br />
<br />
<b>Unwind Unbind</b><br />
Had to leave Mysore yoga class after only a few standing poses this morning. Back was hurting bad. Felt I needed to <b><i>only</i> <i>do</i> <i>backbends</i></b>. Came home. Did a bunch (of dhanurasanas). Unwound. Feel fine. Go figure. Must be the new moon.<br />
<br />
new moon new<br />
green heart-wings<br />
every minute <br />
unfolding<br />
rebirth renewal<br />
and always metta<br />
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sixtyni yoginihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09584627242347419624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030034445667259687.post-67677654767812505652018-12-04T17:21:00.003-05:002018-12-05T12:21:22.575-05:00INSPIRE : EXPIRE : INSPIRE : EXPIRE : INSPIRE : EXPIRE : INSPIRE : EXPIRE : INSPIRE <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Belur, South India</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large; text-align: left;">"Practice and all is coming," </span><span style="text-align: left;">may be the most famous of Pattabhi Jois's sayings. A beacon of encouragement, it calms and reassures regardless of what one's practice may be—life, for that matter. </span><i>It's all coming, all good, relax, just do your practice. </i></div>
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Recently an insight struck after seeing an Ashtanga post. Marsha was attempting to bind in Supta Kurmasana after having given birth a few months before. Obviously this pose was an easy one for her pre-pregnancy, but there she was in the video—revealing she was no where near the bind. And then there was the conversation with John before Thanksgiving when we discussed gaining and LOSING poses. (My first experience with gain-loss shock was legs behind the head. Had believed that once you did a pose, that was it forever. Truth can be so rude!) The kicker in this flash was the guy on A. Home Practitioners site who posted a video of his "float" through asking for improvement suggestions. <i>You're doing fine—practice and all is coming.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
But the saying felt incomplete.<br />
<br />
<b>Practice and ALL IS COMING </b><b><u style="font-style: italic;">AND GOING,</u> </b>I typed.<br />
Like our breath, all things are always coming and going. Truly we cannot hold on to anything, I thought.<br />
<br />
Three plus years of injuries have come with some insights. When I started this particular yoga practice, poses came easily. It was fun, I liked the challenge, and with the blessing of a beginner's mind, I didn't know or worry if I were doing poses right or wrong. I read some Ashtanga lore, and thought—all good, and nope! you'll never get beyond first series. At some point something changed. I <i>really</i> <i>liked</i> getting new poses and doing them well. No problem if ego got involved because haha—higher self was throwing little self a bone. Of course, I was fooling myself.<br />
<br />
So when injury arose, it allowed me to see that there was a certain psychological forcefulness, a subtle kind of violence present in both my asana practice and life. Though I may not have consciously used these words, the energy can be expressed with <i>getting, acquiring, achieving, conquering, succeeding. </i>I have often used the words <i>finding a pose,</i> a minor semantic improvement. Either way, much was taken away. On or off the mat, that energy does not work for me. It also seems what I am now calling—<i>asana obsession—(</i>any obsession really)<i>—</i>is an inevitable <i>phase</i> of contemporary culture and yoga (another topic altogether).<br />
<br />
I do wonder, did historic yogis strive to "get" and "perfect" poses? Go to big classes? Look around and see if they were "better" than others? <i>I doubt it.</i> (<i>Well, who knows—maybe they did at the Kumbha Mela, begun in 8th C.) </i>My guess from looking at paintings and admittedly, idealizing them—is those yogis and ascetics just did poses as time and their bodies allowed. It was not an obsession, but one part of an integrated spiritual practice.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfvijTWzzd4evMJksbg-VXq9z5qp-H9TBe9WFNSmJtVdqWKt7n5sKAgJMVlvdZNr1Z59LZRTsHrignwSlGknj3LIACVlxm-O8UlXZV2EpLSRzYMiEe0OFyY7VFvHSxqLd1ZFhEdzIFzgw/s1600/yogis.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="828" data-original-width="1135" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfvijTWzzd4evMJksbg-VXq9z5qp-H9TBe9WFNSmJtVdqWKt7n5sKAgJMVlvdZNr1Z59LZRTsHrignwSlGknj3LIACVlxm-O8UlXZV2EpLSRzYMiEe0OFyY7VFvHSxqLd1ZFhEdzIFzgw/s400/yogis.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="text-align: left;">Thinking about these ancient yogis sets me free from many contemporary cultural messages: j<i>ust do it, no pain-no gain, nothing succeeds like success</i>, etc. On the other hand, despite its cons, I am okay with the energy of contemporary democratic, organic yoga culture. It's an awareness practice, par excellence! </span></div>
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Awareness: Some time ago Greg noted that this one doesn't like to do a pose unless it's done perfectly. What? Ok, true, and where did that idea come from? As Christine pointed out today, it comes <i>from the<u> outside</u>.</i> More coming and going. Recalling and tapping into beginner's mind—I rediscover open, non-judgmental, accepting energy.<br />
<br />
Deep bow to the teachers named in this post.<br />
<br />
And so in yoga, as in life, while I am a perfectly imperfect manifestation, there is another theme—one of balance between effort/desire and acceptance; between indifference and allowing all things to be as they are. And beneath it all, is an infinite well of gratitude and love.<br />
<br />
<br />
metta<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Belur, South India</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqhDCMqqbTz__ti755r-1jm0op7WSh9-geutl0gV2yyPSrG7aZ2sr02VR5vj9gGAIgT-342FRWpHHeolP80Utp5BdTERQxG9-LgkfI6jEwMsNq7L6ENPZM-hgFkkFkNAX1QQ621WhyphenhyphenSPU/s1600/IMG_0111.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqhDCMqqbTz__ti755r-1jm0op7WSh9-geutl0gV2yyPSrG7aZ2sr02VR5vj9gGAIgT-342FRWpHHeolP80Utp5BdTERQxG9-LgkfI6jEwMsNq7L6ENPZM-hgFkkFkNAX1QQ621WhyphenhyphenSPU/s640/IMG_0111.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Middle image is from the British Museum</span></div>
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sixtyni yoginihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09584627242347419624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030034445667259687.post-11698860375527415702018-09-09T15:19:00.000-04:002019-02-11T11:22:27.842-05:00Balancing Acts and —I Love You Raggedy Ann!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR7I4bBj-kQgmcGR6HnaVEncKpyoricI7gt-TDYabja_FaZLa6x6tcuaXarA59Ve_FaAzFVQg5qe-Vz78AE4_bcAlRmj88OfGT5fV6x9OzYTCeX1LaGrcFR1T39yrSjeHB2tTpXJiqQOk/s1600/raggedyannmary.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1053" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR7I4bBj-kQgmcGR6HnaVEncKpyoricI7gt-TDYabja_FaZLa6x6tcuaXarA59Ve_FaAzFVQg5qe-Vz78AE4_bcAlRmj88OfGT5fV6x9OzYTCeX1LaGrcFR1T39yrSjeHB2tTpXJiqQOk/s640/raggedyannmary.jpg" width="419" /></a></div>
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from the Bechtler Contemporary Museum show in Charlotte, NC:</div>
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"Wrestling the Angel" </div>
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(art and religion)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvfaVeK0gi734PLHKezK9k4yRIe4ojVX9jB5ZQgiy_DaEI6rfaFz_XH7DrlNXzWm8sbR1UhhX9IY7ogGdzK0QEoGwQjnrykX-b_Q5TEy3pAv54lzwuS6imNP0s9gQxHPK2sxrTSpRP6DA/s1600/ginagilmore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="685" data-original-width="1355" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvfaVeK0gi734PLHKezK9k4yRIe4ojVX9jB5ZQgiy_DaEI6rfaFz_XH7DrlNXzWm8sbR1UhhX9IY7ogGdzK0QEoGwQjnrykX-b_Q5TEy3pAv54lzwuS6imNP0s9gQxHPK2sxrTSpRP6DA/s200/ginagilmore.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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Hints of fall today. As I considered the over ripeness of this late summer day, I thought of last Saturday when contemporary art, the heart (Raggedy Ann, my beloved childhood doll) spirituality, religion, seasons/change, and circles/wheel of life and rebirth—came together, as they always seem to do.<br />
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The painting above is part of an art and spirituality exhibition featuring artists such as Chagall, Roualt and regional artists, Gina Gilmour and others. Also included was Niki De Saint Phalle's "Cathedrale." It's a contemporary interpretation of a Gothic cathedral sculpture like the one at Strasbourg, and both remind me of the 12th Century temple at Belur, South India. Connections.<br />
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ALL ONE! </div>
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"Cathedrale" by de Saint Phale, 20th C</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnGIi8gCew8pxICiPE1yGMVTl5GxgPvwtCheuQiiX2-xPxj9pN9qtDFD7IpMp8Ud9VGcIJd9sc4ScUca5EGxPpXTfHmaVdWLTkA8b7JMQakMg4_iE4Agn-vLfMoOMWGGulQYniR9J3HNw/s1600/belur.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="871" data-original-width="674" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnGIi8gCew8pxICiPE1yGMVTl5GxgPvwtCheuQiiX2-xPxj9pN9qtDFD7IpMp8Ud9VGcIJd9sc4ScUca5EGxPpXTfHmaVdWLTkA8b7JMQakMg4_iE4Agn-vLfMoOMWGGulQYniR9J3HNw/s400/belur.jpg" width="308" /></a></div>
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Belur, South India 12th C, Channakesava temple</div>
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Cathedral of Notre Dame de Strasbourg tympanum, 11-15th C</div>
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But I have digressed (into an art personna). Full circle in another way, came after the museum, when we went to John Bultman's workshop. John's teaching - asana practice and conference felt very open and accepting. With all the changes in my mind, body, and heart after shoulder surgery, I felt his spaciousness allowed and reinforced what had happened to me: the dropping of the <i>perfect and more</i> asana-obsession. Without that overriding focus, there is now space in my head and heart for the other limbs to more fully enter and enlighten—from Yama to Samadhi.</div>
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It's about balance, also. There is a yoga sutra verse (2:46) that says asana should be relaxed but stable ("steady and comfortable"). Another middle way—is asana breath or "free breathing" as Sharath calls it. Asana breathing is NOT Ujai.* It is a breath with just enough sound for the practitioner to hear/be aware of. Ujai is a special and loud Pranayama breath. (Apparently Pattabhi Jois did not have the English words to explain this distinction.) </div>
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So we balance effort and relaxation in yoga poses and with the breath in doing those poses—in all of the limbs, <i>and in life</i>. </div>
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Coincidentally, in my meditation practice I am focusing on another type of balance, the union of opposites. It's been blissful and terrible - which I guess is exactly one of the unions to go for. Though I've still got some icky stuff from long ago to work through, it feels like I've burned through a LOT in the last ten years. </div>
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<i>I am crystalline over ashes.</i></div>
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<i>I teeter in balancing poses.</i></div>
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<i>I am the Virgin and Raggedy Ann.</i></div>
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<i>The Equinox nears!</i></div>
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<i>The Middle Way. Balance. 8 Fold Path. 8 Limbs.</i></div>
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ALL!</div>
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ONE!</div>
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metta</div>
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*Ujai creates heat, and might be used in asana practice on a cold day or as one needs it. The breath info comes from Sharath via John Bultman. 🙏🏽 </div>
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Also, interestingly, David Garrigues newsletter yesterday featured his answers regarding breath. Garrigues said the same thing about ujai - but with different words. </div>
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sixtyni yoginihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09584627242347419624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030034445667259687.post-39268437733004087522018-06-20T16:01:00.000-04:002018-06-22T16:03:20.418-04:00 Once upon a Time and the Big Bang<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">How did it come to be almost summer?</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Where is yesterday's snow? </span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>In the all at once? </i><i>In the every little thing?</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Was there a huge </i><i>cloud?</i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Was there a big crowd?</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Isn't the heat oppressive?</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Do you remember that time? </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Wasn't it a windless, cloudless day? </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Do you remember that sound? </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Was there a big bang?</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Isn't the heat oppressive? </i><i>Shivering from the cold?</i></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> now forever now </span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>ever becoming</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>finished</i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">inhale </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">the exhale</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> infinitely finite</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">know naught</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">we astronauts</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">k n o w n o t</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>the endless knot</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>the imponderable</i></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">m e t a</span></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxpcJu-CrdsSknZ7Sg8HCpWFnvwh1qTJUclWBqRNy9jX4MB-K8ub4fvH78TUvCqXSAXipnStESTKAzzrqrkHamXuO1AB_6qVM5_z17sXI5q5bpHqJBeQvtb4CT_ZzwfWzi-k1aFOKiyR0/s1600/infinity.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="121" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxpcJu-CrdsSknZ7Sg8HCpWFnvwh1qTJUclWBqRNy9jX4MB-K8ub4fvH78TUvCqXSAXipnStESTKAzzrqrkHamXuO1AB_6qVM5_z17sXI5q5bpHqJBeQvtb4CT_ZzwfWzi-k1aFOKiyR0/s1600/infinity.jpeg" /></a></div>
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In my little universe, the novel <b>Buried Giant </b>comes to mind right now. Ichiguro's focus on memory and writing style made me wonder if I had forgotten part of the story. It felt like I was experiencing the same memory gaps as his characters. What an example it is of art expressing the truth of our human reality, worlds better than any explaining could ever do.</div>
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So...wondering if it's time to quit all this wordy stuff. The truth, from cosmic to mundane cannot be expressed—pointed, glimpsed at maybe—as the moon is reflected in water. Nevertheless, here's my little world of—healing shoulders, yoga mats, art, music, meditation, changing relationships, growing awareness and joy. </div>
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Have learned so much humility and acceptance from this rascally and injurious shoulder! 10 months (since surgery) and every single day I get on my mat - <i>not knowing or having a clue</i> how it will feel or if what I do to "regain" my practice will injure it. </div>
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An adventure it is. Outer space it is. And is this not true about (my) life in general? I think so. </div>
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Every day, if we are open (or forced to be open to it, like YT) is a completely new experience and discovery. Why you are fearing, Sharath used to say to me. No answers yet, my Teacher, just the freedom that comes from walking into and experiencing a garden.....variety of fears. </div>
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And more—every day I grieve, am outraged, and feel helpless during these times of political turmoil and cruelty. Nightmares come true. Surely beyond voting in November there must be a way right now in particular to relieve suffering and affect change. </div>
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Have been fostering cats, thinking about all of the above, and watching how the ultimate clarity of a retreat becomes altered as "ordinary" life resumes. I am open to wherever things lead and to what ever role appears in this journey. Hope it shows up soon. I'm not young. </div>
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LOVE</div>
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sixtyni yoginihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09584627242347419624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030034445667259687.post-27692508783790753412018-02-03T17:43:00.000-05:002018-02-04T13:40:52.865-05:00The Animism of Catechism<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">from Ajanta Caves, India</span></div>
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Got snowed-in a lot these past two months and started streaming various movies and TV shows. Among them were Breaking Bad and Big Little Lies. Both TV series dealt with degrees of dishonesty in all their characters. In Breaking Bad, there were examples of extreme forms of corruption in characters who had lost connection to conscience and heart.</div>
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<b>INTERESTING</b></div>
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balancing these excellent studies (IMHO) of our dark sides, was a wonderful documentary about Buddhist nuns. Several western women who, led by a Rinpoche, visited various remotely located nunneries in Tibet. The contrast between the complexity of the westerners' lives seemed to highlight the clarity, wisdom, and naturalness of the Tibetan nuns. I went to sleep that night and woke up the next morning and the next—repeating</div>
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<b>SIMPLICITY</b></div>
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This one-word mantra is calming. </div>
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There is so little simplicity in social media these days. It has become a place where we put up only posters/memes. I've come to miss the days when people posted pictures of their meals! But sometimes there are cracks in the wall. A friend posed a New Year's question, what are your personal concerns? She got lots of honest FB answers, every one of which resonated with me. The</div>
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<b>QUESTIONS</b></div>
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for me are on-going investigations into relationships past and present, and the heart of service. Am feeling answers to these and to <i>all </i>questions may be found in nothing special or may actually BE nothing special, simple things like listening and sharing anything—money, time, good energy to individuals and groups, art that raises awareness, and by living all 8 limbs of yoga and sitting in silence. Will see.</div>
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<b>SEEING</b></div>
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both cosmic and everyday truths have been a transcendent gift these days. My mind scrambles and shuts down at the inability to grasp infinite vastness and smallness, no beginning no end. </div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-small;">"</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">MU" </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(enough said)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">artist: Hakuin</span></div>
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And here I digress to the subject of grade school Catholic catechism that may have prepared me, in its own uniquely rote way for an <i>Advaita </i>view of our existence in the cosmos. </div>
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<b>Q: Where is God?</b></div>
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<b>A: God is everywhere.</b></div>
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OMG! </div>
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God is in ALL things. Everywhere.</div>
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LOL and LO! The beautiful but unsuspecting </div>
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<b>animism of catechism! </b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKgTHklul2NHUG2h2j1iy_tcio2QNcjH6QN1hEptyHZlywKF2vYk0HZoNV9CUlcKCPWsCEpekxl9s_t1GLvVVVEUagQ_xYHUnOEJH3pEeFzTHwN3L2XtAB6eRJwCZm9o9pUG5k4YUYp5g/s1600/supercluster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1205" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKgTHklul2NHUG2h2j1iy_tcio2QNcjH6QN1hEptyHZlywKF2vYk0HZoNV9CUlcKCPWsCEpekxl9s_t1GLvVVVEUagQ_xYHUnOEJH3pEeFzTHwN3L2XtAB6eRJwCZm9o9pUG5k4YUYp5g/s320/supercluster.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Laniakea </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The Laniakea supercluster is home to Ikea and the Milky Way—and about 100,000 galaxies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Red dot is site of our galaxy.</span></div>
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<b>Q: Had God a beginning?<br />A: God had no beginning; </b></div>
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<i><b>He always was and He always will be.*</b></i></div>
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<b style="font-style: italic;">*</b>Law of physics (and catechism?): matter can neither be created or destroyed. </div>
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Then all matter always was and always will be. </div>
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Glory be! So everything at least, in part— </div>
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including us—is infinite. </div>
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Because god is EVERYWHERE</div>
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SIMPLE</div>
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LOGICAL</div>
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CONCISELY HUGE </div>
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<b>IMMENSE</b></div>
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yes, (and joyous) are the implications.</div>
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As for another concern, it's time. Will save it for later </div>
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to save it. Am beginning to believe that </div>
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everything IS happening </div>
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<i>all at once</i></div>
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is it real? b/c it's </div>
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always </div>
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n o w</div>
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and then there's me trying </div>
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to save time save more save more.</div>
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Mental perceptions measure movement, it's time</div>
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parts of universe are moving at unbelievable </div>
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speeds...the speed of </div>
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l i g h t...</div>
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particle or wave? </div>
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what is real, real time?</div>
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brahma god everything nothing </div>
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no-time no-thing is more </div>
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(immense) than </div>
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what time </div>
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calls</div>
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l o v e</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRvQ7wNnpIAl_YfN0fVdl1OApXvKP1PvMo0SIYUm_htn_wfST4Jt9ZxOTySJBFt3diBsKDx9TXCs3c3jC07MwH7MHoNLFM6QdYy4YCaTpvFx8_wOqr7e-lkcFV09tquELVSpQL7urIeF0/s1600/Maharshi+quote.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="409" data-original-width="956" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRvQ7wNnpIAl_YfN0fVdl1OApXvKP1PvMo0SIYUm_htn_wfST4Jt9ZxOTySJBFt3diBsKDx9TXCs3c3jC07MwH7MHoNLFM6QdYy4YCaTpvFx8_wOqr7e-lkcFV09tquELVSpQL7urIeF0/s320/Maharshi+quote.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>IKEA</b></div>
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store is in Laniakea and so is my shoulder, and my shoulder feels very real and good right now. So I will get real: I am mostly—if I don't push getting somewhere too hard—pain free! Since there were so many things wrong with my shoulder, (have I listed them here before?) surgery HAD to fix something! <i>Torn labrum, 4 bone spurs, tendinitis, shredded tissue, bursitis, and osteoarthritis.</i> </div>
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Whether the stem cells worked or not I will probably never know because fixing all the other things may have done the job (and osteoarthritis doesn't always manifest pain.)</div>
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Very pleased and slowly getting back to a fuller, deeper home practice. Know I'm much better—because feeling need for group energy to jump-start (haha literally) chaturangas and other shoulder stressing poses. Mysore at AYA is on the list. YAY!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbcyntzJFh6pH5M5FLaHh-CgHDIs2gzutGQmv1y-63wucheI75mYQtSt0lb94P_Ww_9SEWnetBXkh6naIa3y4H7Iygawl5K_isLedY4NVtd-3xlXoNOpoT6zALDpJPkWHiKidbIXxCCHw/s1600/yogi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1430" data-original-width="1297" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbcyntzJFh6pH5M5FLaHh-CgHDIs2gzutGQmv1y-63wucheI75mYQtSt0lb94P_Ww_9SEWnetBXkh6naIa3y4H7Iygawl5K_isLedY4NVtd-3xlXoNOpoT6zALDpJPkWHiKidbIXxCCHw/s320/yogi.jpg" width="290" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Image of Yogi on cover of <b>Roots of Yoga</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">which I am loosely reading now.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Wonder how this guy's shoulders feel.</span></div>
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<b>SIMPLE</b></div>
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<b>loving blessings to all</b></div>
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<b>metta</b></div>
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sixtyni yoginihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09584627242347419624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030034445667259687.post-49303380934307448152017-12-10T20:23:00.000-05:002017-12-18T15:12:57.966-05:00cabin fever : singularities <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtlGYT8LhyphenhyphenKNc1oMfW7oAa2Fc6PE5ANOlIwI0ivMJZxoH7208hDPwQKVZqwdpsBb-kvi7h84l-pdAN4OO0U5tmMFr04J-qTT4lZfJHwYW0G_pK-KZZaRSmX7FEFOd4vaBQ96AlnBSoPyU/s1600/morning+snow72dpi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="501" data-original-width="576" height="345" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtlGYT8LhyphenhyphenKNc1oMfW7oAa2Fc6PE5ANOlIwI0ivMJZxoH7208hDPwQKVZqwdpsBb-kvi7h84l-pdAN4OO0U5tmMFr04J-qTT4lZfJHwYW0G_pK-KZZaRSmX7FEFOd4vaBQ96AlnBSoPyU/s400/morning+snow72dpi.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">December morning view, Waynesville, NC</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Friday morning, I awoke to </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">falling snow</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">crystalline so pure</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">so perfect—its mounds exude </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">galaxies of hush</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This little haiku and cabin fever got me. All I wanted to say was that there are no words (or photos) for this experience of new snow, but I couldn't just SAY that because only the poetic allusion and brevity of haiku could begin to express... or maybe Mary Oliver gets close in <b>First Snow</b> * —</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-align: center;">"such an oracular fever" </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-align: center;"> "—not a single answer has been found—"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So snow level reached 14" by Saturday morning, making it impossible to get to or from this house on Balsalm Mountain. I caught up on business; took 2 or more hours with yoga practice; worked on art projects; started writing (this); laughed about cabin fever (this is day 3); walked in the snow with the cats; got snow in my boots; and took loads of pictures. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFU3pTqeEcDqWYBjK1dVvM6MKVuK8nL5UlOR5BFoCu0GiMuJZIKhhO3TMmug9fQMspvjLDhF7DqU2Uxs9EI2sqwrJ0OMmgXxMCny6X2wAQBtf03UqKASb-V0YYEjohSPUGbj4ZsFQLSbA/s1600/snowkitsch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="282" data-original-width="576" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFU3pTqeEcDqWYBjK1dVvM6MKVuK8nL5UlOR5BFoCu0GiMuJZIKhhO3TMmug9fQMspvjLDhF7DqU2Uxs9EI2sqwrJ0OMmgXxMCny6X2wAQBtf03UqKASb-V0YYEjohSPUGbj4ZsFQLSbA/s640/snowkitsch.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">friends taking a snow day</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Maybe I have "oracular fever," not cabin fever? Thinking they are the same.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Either way, what I love about these kind of events is that they make a dent in everyday reality—habits, thoughts, patterns, schedules, everything! Forced to stay inside, having transportation restricted to walking in snow shoes, I start to look more closely at what I usually do and what I am able to do right now, and both take on new meaning. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There is nothing like surprises, radical interruptions (and travel) to jump-start awareness and mental clarity. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And sometimes these singularities—the second definition below is particularly fabulous and pertinent—appear/disappear in an instant and take on </span><i style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">infinite value. </i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">1. The state, fact, quality, or condition of being singular.</span> </blockquote>
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<i style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><u>2. physics mathematics: a point at which a function takes an infinite value, especially in space-time when matter is infinitely dense, as at the center of a black hole.</u> </i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">{to me this means black holes are truly form AND emptiness.*} </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Who knows when a "singularity" in consciousness may occur? Several years ago, after one of my first experiences with Ashtanga yoga (Jason's class), I went to do some shopping at Earth Fare, an ordinary health food store on an ordinary day (though I did feel a little spacey). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Looking at a shelf of sugar substitutes, s</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">uddenly I heard the most amazing sounds.</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Music so brilliant and exquisite I was awestruck, ecstatic (no adequate words.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Then something rearranged itself, and I was hearing a very ordinary, familiar tune, the health food store equivalent of Muzak, maybe. How deeply and sweetly I had traveled in such a short time! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I have experienced more than a few of these singularities, interruptions, or interferences with "normal" consciousness. Some deep, short, scary, euphoric, or wide. I am grateful for them all, from snow induced oracular fever, to transcendent Muzak. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Are divine and mundane so different? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Is the answer in the silent galaxies or the mound of snow? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the sound of Aum or the advert jingle?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As Mary Oliver said, "—not a single answer has been found—"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*Heart Sutra: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Form is emptiness. Emptiness is form." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Gate gate paragate parasamgate Bodhisvaha" </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Gone from forgetfulness to mindfulness. Gone from duality into non-duality. Utterly beyond to awakening.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*Thanks, Kathleen H., who posted Mary Oliver's <b>First Snow</b> poem on FaceBook today. Perfect: Oracular Fever!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Rishikesh friend with keys </span></div>
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sixtyni yoginihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09584627242347419624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030034445667259687.post-2048381312900097652017-11-14T17:58:00.002-05:002018-01-22T23:20:25.213-05:00Playing Hard Ball in Ice Water<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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some people are </div>
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lucky</div>
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they get things </div>
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deeply—not just in the mind<br />
Truth embraces them </div>
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oh </div>
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so </div>
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gently</div>
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You get it</div>
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coos Truth </div>
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No need to drop you </div>
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in the icy rapids</div>
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Never been one of those </div>
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Not I </div>
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No </div>
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take me to the river</div>
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drop me </div>
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in the sky </div>
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and back </div>
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so I can see </div>
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de-</div>
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light</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">spiritual hard ball</span></div>
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It has been a year of seeing the light, but not the easy way—the hard way. After an extremely painful episode of shoulder pain, another epiphany struck/forced itself on me.<br />
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I had been setting deadlines and goals in my yoga practice for quite a while. Very shortly after surgery I was cruising toward some of them, bending my arms back in prep for Kapotasana and doing (shoulder) weight bearing asanas. By a certain time or event (I told myself) I will do all the 65 push-ups in First Series, bind with my "bad" arm in Marichasana D; and my practice will be back to the "perfection" it was before the injury.<br />
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All very clear.<br />
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Of course, none of these things happened, but worse—because I overdid a certain physical therapy exercise with the certainty it would speed progress, I ended up not at square one, but far behind it.<br />
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My heart broke in tiny<br />
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icy pieces.<br />
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Gasp.<br />
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Inhale.<br />
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Exhale.<br />
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Grace—amazing<br />
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I am stepping onto my mat and into life—<i>without</i> a voice telling me what I should do, where I should be, ways to be better, and <i>how</i> <i>I must always be something other than what I am</i>.<br />
<br />
Goodbye, Shoulder Soldier.<br />
Hello, Soldier Pacifist.<br />
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Yes, there are some joyous and beautiful Surya Namaskars these days.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>The idea of karma is that you continually get the teaching you need to open your heart.</i> —Pema Chodron</blockquote>
<i>...and the teaching needed to loosen your damn grip</i>, I would add. We can get it the hard way or the easy way.<br />
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I'll take it either way—with gratitude.<br />
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<br />
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metta love</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Hakuin's MU</span></div>
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sixtyni yoginihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09584627242347419624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030034445667259687.post-45572951900782081832017-10-27T19:20:00.001-04:002017-10-28T11:16:14.350-04:00karmic dissonance : inferior glide<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">back yard gold</span></div>
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In the Western North Carolina mountains there has been a disagreement with calendar and trees lately. As time marched on, the mountains stayed stubbornly green until a few days ago, when leaves finally turned to gold and crimson. It is autumn; therefore it follows that colors will change in early October. This year that would be<br />
<br />
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wrong<br />
a seasonal dissonance</div>
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(global warming?)</div>
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Other points of disharmony—less sweet and more jarring to me personally—are everywhere. The most obvious is #45 who presents himself one way and acts in another. Bluntly put, he lies to the point of making many of us gaslight-crazy.<br />
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More close to home are examples that led me to an epiphany and a namaste of gratitude. One is a teacher, who specializes in anatomy; who did a study on yoga and injuries; and who said, on the first day of a workshop, that he didn't want to change anyone's practice. It would follow that I (with recent shoulder surgery) might therefore, trust his adjustments and feedback and disregard my newly found caution with unknown (to me) teachers. I would be<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
wrong</div>
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a cognitive dissonance</div>
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A friend wrote a book on spiritual friendships. Therefore it followed (to me) that she would be open to discussing issues of concern to me and between us. Again,<br />
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wrong</div>
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a cognitive dissonance</div>
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Two months post surgery, I expected strong recovery of my Ashtanga practice and progress in chaturangas, jump backs, poses, strength, and stamina. I was<br />
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WRONG</div>
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cosmic karmic cognitive dissonance</div>
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After a very positive check-in with the Duke Sports Medicine team this week, I was given some shoulder exercises for the <b>"inferior glide."</b> As per my usual MO, I figured doing more and faster repetitions of that exercise would improve not just my shoulder but everything! Completely<br />
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WRONG</div>
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cognitive dissonance<br />
later</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
EXTREME PAIN</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
not an iota of<br />
INFERIOR OR SUPERIOR GLIDE</div>
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<br /></div>
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However, other parts of me did glide.</div>
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Realizing the disunities are infinite, I am released from caring and fretting over my own (abbreviated) list of them. Discord is part of life. Maya is dissonance on both common and cosmic levels. And is there any one of us in the common realm—who unconsciously or consciously presents him or herself with total honesty? (A post on FaceBook today nailed it, suggesting everyone dress themselves for Halloween the way they appear in their FB photos and posts.)<br />
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And so I am gliding: if I feel anger toward people and experiences that are incongruent to me, would I not then resent almost everything? Forget that. We are all at different places on the path, doing our best. We are going to meet and exude dissonance until we awaken. Accepting this part of life brings peace.<br />
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wrong...</div>
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well </div>
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maybe... </div>
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<br /></div>
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.... not. Because I am so broken hearted about this new shoulder pain, I am tormented by the fear the operation has been nullified, stem cells are quitting, and I'll never get back to the garden (my former Ashtanga practice.) And yet, am I not always in the Garden? Today for a short time on the mat, something in me just <i><b>gave up trying </b>and moved without any thought of gain, progress, or self-comparison</i>. It was I believe, superior harmonic glide and totally</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
RIGHT</div>
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perfect</div>
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miraculous</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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metta</div>
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GRATITUDE</div>
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<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<br /></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: -0.11999999731779099px;">to feel the goal of yoga is finally possible."</span></blockquote>
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sixtyni yoginihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09584627242347419624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030034445667259687.post-17889569486610238452017-10-02T11:57:00.001-04:002017-10-08T15:09:27.140-04:0073 Mayas<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></b></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCMnlgxMdQblK4OEqNlyMQEwO4ZsztvD2UbVvM1khu6Zd4oeFAzp5ldaYUycYwdWtiQl5s3o0NEdvruoJXKKMi7Ht8K4rPyA880bXAQweuoIjHioYo0hZhQ2ObW0Yvnf1sihFOUDIkCTg/s1600/rose.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="540" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCMnlgxMdQblK4OEqNlyMQEwO4ZsztvD2UbVvM1khu6Zd4oeFAzp5ldaYUycYwdWtiQl5s3o0NEdvruoJXKKMi7Ht8K4rPyA880bXAQweuoIjHioYo0hZhQ2ObW0Yvnf1sihFOUDIkCTg/s640/rose.JPG" width="480" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #fce5cd; font-size: xx-small;">fall rose at Lake Junaluska, NC</span></span></td></tr>
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</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Tao Te Ching - Lao Tsu - from chapter 16</span></b></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Empty yourself of everything.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Let the mind rest at peace.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The ten thousand things rise and fall while the Self watches their return.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">They grow and flourish and then return to the source.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Returning to the source is stillness, which is the way of nature.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The way of nature is unchanging.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Knowing constancy is insight...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Being at one with the Tao is eternal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">And though the body dies, the Tao will never pass away</span></div>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The ten thousand things rise and fall while the Self watches their return.</span></i></b></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><i>Today, now, this week, this month, lately - not feeling any sentences, paragraphs, themes.</i></b></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Though a lot has happened. So much has happened. Ten thousand things. Ten thousand.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><u><u><br /></u></u></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><u><u>Starter list of 73:</u></u></span></div>
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<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">fall </span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">shoulder</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">surgery</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">yoga </span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">strength</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">pain</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">the blues </span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Buddy Guy</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">fall sounds</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">windfall</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">prana</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">prajna</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">heart beats</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">deep red</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">gold leaf</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">bagging</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">baggage</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">leafing</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">raw carrots </span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">sprouted oatmeal cupcakes</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">earthy</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">leaving</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Bon Iver</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">winter is coming</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">daggers</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">heartbreak</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">therapy</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">aging</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">ashtanga homies</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">friendship</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">falling</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">letting go </span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">FaceBook</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">politics</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">#45</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">vises</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">headaches</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">purple </span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Lululemon underwear</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">raking </span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">unwanted poplar saplings</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">granite </span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">skylight</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">sun</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">birthday</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">stem cells</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">roses </span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">long stem </span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">handstand</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">balance</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">equinox</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sharath</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Mysore </span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">idlis</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">fermented</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">backbends</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">shoulder soldier</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">making peace </span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">loving</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">warfare</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">open hearted</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">sleep</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">cat nap</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">cat eyes</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">blind mice</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">running</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Tesla</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">yearning</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">betrayal</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">heartsong</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">bird song</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Om mane padme hum</span></li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">one song</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">metta</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>The ten thousand things, the boundless multiplicity of Maya (illusion) is a Chinese expression used to mean the indefinite multitude of all forms and beings in manifest existence. - </i>Internet</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Form does not differ from emptiness; emptiness does not differ from form. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Form itself is emptiness; emptiness itself is form. </i>- Heart Sutra</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtoUoRtI6xvdi2B9raS0j5QjE8kmLD4GPr69r4dy3g0NsWNkK5U8Nlf2XFCiczf-MtNFxQhpJ_Dlqxj-IPPyb2flwQc6jIYSP47Zgw4o1u8-IBsDK82In22TUs9-MKsgCtI6s5G1mbvbI/s1600/rubin+museum.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1480" data-original-width="1148" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtoUoRtI6xvdi2B9raS0j5QjE8kmLD4GPr69r4dy3g0NsWNkK5U8Nlf2XFCiczf-MtNFxQhpJ_Dlqxj-IPPyb2flwQc6jIYSP47Zgw4o1u8-IBsDK82In22TUs9-MKsgCtI6s5G1mbvbI/s400/rubin+museum.jpeg" width="310" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;">from Rubin Museum, NYC</span></td></tr>
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post script: I originally intended this blob or blog to be for older Ashtangis to share what was going on with them. That never happened! Better suited for FB in this page —Ashtanga Home Practitioners (#50AY) and I am pleased that Ashtangis 50 and up are now sharing there.<br />
Yoga, art, and everything else have so much blended together in this head/heart, that I've lost track of why I started blogging in the fist place . -M<br />
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sixtyni yoginihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09584627242347419624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030034445667259687.post-88382047529582328132017-07-22T20:20:00.000-04:002017-07-23T08:30:54.017-04:00The Yard Buddha and a Meat Purchase <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Yard Buddha</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Above is an ordinary, nothing special Buddha (with lichen spots) who has been sitting in my yard in Asheville for several years, and throughout it all, he has been consistently still and calm. In all circumstances and weather, covered in snow, leaves, poison ivy, or pounded by rain and heat waves, </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">his subtle smile is unwavering</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">. He has been completely unruffled by Trump's election, greed, twitters, corruption, and narcissism. He calmly faces threats to climate and civilization, and as for changes in immediate landscape—new moss carpet, pine needles, flowering plants—and his appearance—coats of spray paint (to cover lichen), Windex baths, he is completely indifferent. His smiles at me serenely, regardless of my changing moods, illusions, and suffering. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I am in awe of him for these things and particularly struck by his disregard of bitter cold, something I cannot bear. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If it sounds like I view him as a living being, </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I do</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In one flash of awareness he was this remarkable creature of pure equanimity, chilling out in the yard for years on end, and in the next, he was the unchanging being/truth inside me and us all. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Yes, alive! Outside and within. And at the same time, an idea I had always considered this way: pictures or statues of deities, enlightened and holy beings are merely attractive symbols for the religious</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">-minded and the hipster to display or masterpieces for art historians to study (the latter—me, now and then.) </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And so</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> it follows that if I had met</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> this Buddha guy coming down the road at one time in the past, I would have killed him. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Maybe.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;">Note: “If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him” is from a koan attributed to Zen Master Linji, founder of the <em>Rinzai</em> sect. There are various interpretations, but I prefer - <i>whatever your concept or image of the Buddha and enlightenment is—get rid of it!</i></span> <i> </i>IMO using the word "kill" is just shocking enough to stun the Buddhist-trained mind into silence/emptiness. </span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Maybe not. </span><br />
<span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Maybe I'm not an iconoclast any more, or just a selective one. Am thinking of the power of Tibetan Buddhist images and how they are intended for the creator and viewer to transcend ego/illusion. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My heart and soul need these masterpieces, but apparently spirit can also be moved by a mere lawn ornament or a piece of meat(!)* (See story below)</span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #fff2cc; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTze0KITWNNbugVqjcajZS-eohANWrYBoDH2XyBMrtJ4uMZwgp3cau6EUWP0E5UtRr09bdxqN1HoIrKh3W-E7gl88gDv2uaTQ-IIpe0fGu_7R0LePAuNURQqXeTKqddbuEBdek9Bb4h38/s1600/rubin+museum.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1480" data-original-width="1148" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTze0KITWNNbugVqjcajZS-eohANWrYBoDH2XyBMrtJ4uMZwgp3cau6EUWP0E5UtRr09bdxqN1HoIrKh3W-E7gl88gDv2uaTQ-IIpe0fGu_7R0LePAuNURQqXeTKqddbuEBdek9Bb4h38/s400/rubin+museum.jpeg" width="310" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">17th C. Tibetan thanka of Guhyasamaja Akshobyavajra, Rubin Museum of Art</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Anyway— this nothing-special Buddha led to something </span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">recognition</span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">gratitude</span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">whatever</span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">much needed.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the midst of the political and world messes and my personal joys, euphoria, heartaches, and physical and psychological pain (shoulder/yoga practice/surgery) there is something unchanging and forever. It's there like the Buddha's smile, no matter what. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I've scheduled surgery with stem cell therapy in August.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;">Yard Buddha: still smiling.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*Story : Equanimity : Enlightened by Meat:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When Banzan was walking through a market he overheard a conversation between a butcher and his customer.</span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Give me the best piece of meet you have," said the customer.</span></span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Everything in my shop is the best," replied the butcher. "You cannot find here any piece of meat that is not the best."</span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At these words Banzan became enlightened.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">deep bow</span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">metta</span></div>
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sixtyni yoginihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09584627242347419624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030034445667259687.post-43317745640635036802017-06-04T16:09:00.000-04:002017-06-06T16:37:38.965-04:00Nothing Special : Valley View Part 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Rajaji National Park, Uttarakhand, India</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif;"><b>"You don't need to try so hard."</b> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Years ago in Seattle, I went with my friend Anita to see someone whom she described as a "seer" of sorts. Hearing him say, "You don't need to try so hard," I exhaled with relief and felt infinitely lighter. Since then I've come to believe that many, myself included, who exert large amounts of effort, are overcompensating and avoiding a fear that perhaps we are not good or not capable. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"How you do one thing is how you do everything." </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A once-teacher of mine was fond of saying this. True or not, it's an interesting consideration.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"What's true on the mat is true off the mat." </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ashtangis often say this, and in my experience it is true.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"<b>But as long as you think, 'I am doing this,' or 'I have to do this,' or 'I must attain something special,' you are actually not doing anything.... When there is no gaining idea in what you do, then you do something." </b> - Shinryu Suzuki </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">hotel stairwell, Aurangabad, India</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Nothing special that's how I feel—not in a bad way, but in an everyday Zen way. So I am finishing this post after letting it sit for several weeks, and indeed, the post and I are—nothing... special. No gaining idea/not trying (so hard) resonates and tastes of freedom to me. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Guru Sharath says it in a yogic way. (Substitute "practice" for any activity or "life"): </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You should not be practicing to have a "good" practice.... We should do practice happily regardless of whether it is good or not.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sharathji and (many) scriptures have also said the divine can take any form:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In Indian philosophy they say Nirakara—this means that the Divine, the Supreme.... can come in any shape. It can come as human, it can come as a dog, it can come as an elephant, it can come as a tiger. So there is no... specific form... It is just an energy which we have to experience.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He is saying essentially that everything is an expression of the divine and—not to get off topic but—that would include #45 and other Rakshasas, ALL beings, and all we experience. To me, this is also liberating (even as I resist politically—with awareness, or so I hope.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Saying everything is a divine manifestation may sound like parroting the cliche, "It's all good." However, at the same time, no, it's not all good! Will leave it there. Gotta love what defies "logical' thinking. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Well, the mat, cushion, and life are (mostly!) always there for us. Just watched a David Garrigues video in which he describes what he calls the "arc of Ashtanga." Basically, as we change, our practice changes; and just so in life, as we change, so does life/our life. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And lately, while experiencing freedom in so many ways, I have also felt stuck and longing for change. The shoulder improves or worsens and the mind obsesses or lets go, often focusing on relationships of all kinds, past and present. All the ghosts of unknown, unspoken, withheld, refused words and interactions appear before me—without resolution. Stripped to the core, this feels like one of the last layers of the the onion-ego (duality.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And how healing it is to come to my mat, to art, to life, to this writing—to come home to Truth. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Nothing special.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Love and blessing to all! (And a big smile to my political, personal, and inner Rakshasas.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">metta</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #fff2cc; font-size: 14px;">“Once you realize that the road is the goal and that you are always on the road, not to reach a goal, but to enjoy its beauty and its wisdom, life ceases to be a task and becomes natural and simple, in itself an ecstasy.”</span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: yellow;">―</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #fff2cc;"> </span></span><a class="authorOrTitle" href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/172897.Nisargadatta_Maharaj" style="font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;">Nisargadatta Maharaj</span></a></span></span></blockquote>
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sixtyni yoginihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09584627242347419624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030034445667259687.post-24658649946486517322017-04-22T18:51:00.000-04:002017-04-22T18:51:28.702-04:00Seeing Heaven from the Valley<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Go Blank: Encinitas, California, February 2016</span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Rock exuding Zen wisdom? Implied profanity? </span><span style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">Enlightenment on the beach?</span><span style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">EMPTINESS : FORM</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> An Ashtanga teacher stops teaching in a graceful, wise way. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> A father passes away in a beautiful, peaceful way. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Yogis and yoginis learn when to let go, when to go blank. and when to push: </span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> that suffering ceases when attachment to desire ceases. (Samadhi and Third Noble Truth):</span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>"I wrote and thought a lot about the wish to be invincible, the wish to always be healthy, the wish not to age, not to die….about how yoga does not make us invincible physically or mentally, that we must age and die. Here is the magical blessing that yoga gives us: equanimity and peace with whatever comes. This is truly magical. This is powerful."</i> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>—</i>Karen Cairns</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">GRACE : CHANGE</span><br />
<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">A yogini close to my age whom I greatly admire, always has her eye on the prize. </span><br />
<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">And what is the prize? <i> </i>I believe it is accepting <i>what is</i> in the present moment,<i> an </i><i>"e</i><i>quanimity and peace with whatever comes." </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">For most of us, isn't the prize the perfect something or other? Perfect achievement: asana, money, solo "show," love, likes, and so on. For me it has been about progress, getting somewhere<i> else</i>, or returning to a previously attained state—anything but where I am right now.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">So like yogini Karen, scheduled for her second hip surgery in May, I contemplate (shoulder) surgery while I learn, observe, accept, and find the way to truth in my own body and spirit day by day. </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Karen's essay (shared with her permission) below astounds and inspires me. It reveals that she and perhaps all of us—can access yoga's Eighth Limb. </span><span style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">I am grateful for the reminder and proof that<i> in </i></span><span style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;"><i>aging/change, there are inherent gifts. </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">My elder ashtanga is a deeply satisfying practice. I don’t think about it; I just do it. Gone is any struggle over doing it or not. There is nothing I am working on. No new poses. Nothing to “deepen” in any way. No adjustments needed. Whatever I do is fine. I actually practice more these days, just taking Moon Days off. Elder ashtanga is everday ashtanga, nothing special ashtanga. This is truly magical. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">.... No need for renunciation- things just peel off when no longer needed, without struggle, without loss. Endless talking about asanas? About teachers? About Guruji and Sharath and Saraswati? About the practice? Less and less… I think I was noticing a space to talk about everyday ashtanga, about elder ashtanga, which anyone can do. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Really, this ashtanga can be done at any age, with any body, with any mind, anywhere. You do not need to be old for elder ashtanga, but perhaps it helps. <span style="font-family: inherit;">As we age, we tend to learn firsthand that “it’s okay until it’s not okay”….and that this can happen at any time. It is not an “if” but a “when.” Some learn this earlier, while young, of course, through illness or injury, perhaps. When recovered, sometimes we forget and once again feel invincible. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">With aging, this is no longer possible. We know we are permanently more vulnerable, fragile- our skin thins and tears easily, eyesight may get dim, hearing less acute. We can fall more easily and we know that recovery is both more problematic and partial. Our practice becomes even more important but changes fundamentally. It becomes everyday…nothing special but completely special.</span></div>
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</span></span><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px;">Before my left hip replacement in 2014 I was very apprehensive. I’m not a fan of surgery- well, who is. Before this surgery I made a Yatra or pilgrimage, my first one to northern India, to the Himalayas…to be blessed. And I was indeed blessed. The surgery went well and practice healed me on every level. I wrote and thought a lot about the wish to be invincible, the wish to always be healthy, the wish not to age, not to die….about how yoga does not make us invincible physically or mentally, that we must age and die. </span><span style="letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px;"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;">Here is the magical blessing that yoga gives us: equanimity and peace with whatever comes. This is truly magical. This is powerful. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;"> <span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px;">—Karen </span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px;">Cairns</span></span></span><br />
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sixtyni yoginihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09584627242347419624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030034445667259687.post-72529046904835848482017-03-20T12:54:00.001-04:002017-03-28T15:18:54.451-04:00 forty-five. taxes. escape.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzQXE6oWhTh1X1m4ZKSwYltupUAD3VYczJU5FRfG6CDplo8T6F5qgZaz8Vrc0SeG01r44-VN-pn7YPS2TeRoWXlyQO7t5c-D_nWz7jJ_Tintlt1hIXG7kKZs-FhkZmwlW-D2YOKfUs7Co/s1600/laniakeatrumpfinal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"></span></a></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://tentryingdays.blogspot.com/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikcas7U3_Ed0n2wEEF7lBN8rQ44mqcIjxDtuu7wHK8U9gyHmh0hgUFQZrizqIsY6NYz-I4B4sght7HhnxaXjDJL59G1ak6O2JOpvQZfScm18PTJ9b8sOxw7iPTuRZwTtCq-INfGP3qiJY/s400/trumpuniversefinal.jpg" width="340" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;">We are in the universe and the universe is in us—in the most unlikely places</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #fff2cc;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span style="font-family: "century gothic"; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-size: small;">For 10 days I:</span></span><br style="font-family: 'IM Fell Double Pica'; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "im fell double pica"; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "century gothic";">1.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "century gothic";">sat quietly for at least 15 minutes with focus on #45's higher self;<br /><o:p></o:p></span></span><span style="font-family: "im fell double pica"; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "century gothic";">2.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "century gothic";">made note of processes, failures, and epiphanies;<br /><o:p></o:p></span></span><span style="font-family: "im fell double pica"; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "century gothic";">3.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "century gothic"; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-size: small;">made simple images relating to this process. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span style="font-family: "century gothic"; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span style="font-family: "century gothic"; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-size: small;">link to what happened next:</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #fff2cc;"><a href="http://tentryingdays.blogspot.com/" style="font-family: '"times"', '"times new roman"', serif;" target="_blank">Ten Days of #45</a> </span><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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<span style="color: #fff0c1; font-family: "century gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">March 26</span><span style="font-family: "century gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "century gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">I'm avoiding tax prep today. Such a tedious unpleasant
chore from which I seek to escape!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span style="color: #fff0c1; font-family: "century gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"> </span><span style="font-family: "century gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"> </span><span style="font-family: "century gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "century gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Ah, escape. It's much more than taxes I wish to elude.
After the #45 focus (see above), felt both clear and peaceful about life and politics. That is, until
some dormant parts of self awoke from their sulk in the dark. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "century gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Feeling things so deeply, I cried helplessly after
reading the story of a cat called Ugly. Later, sensing other energies, I felt
sad, bad, irritable, and miserable. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "century gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">I am all things (as we all are) And though ALL things
are neutral, they lose their innocence through the spin story we put on them.
Welcome to the entire truth—neutral AND illusory—whether grasped,
avoided, or observed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span style="color: #fff0c1; font-family: "century gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">I sit quietly and do yoga practice for the
equanimity to observe. And there are things I don't want to look at—far
beyond the annoying drag of tax materials**—my own and humanity's cruelties, heartbreaks,
helplessness, judgements, mostly heartbreak....</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "century gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Sigh! True. </span><span style="font-family: "century gothic";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_FRyhjWegUnR5PAhGDUEaPk1pP-nEnnia6-jm8nFJS0keJZnxgX_8H4m2H7DaA84-WpPU-Th82rJc7pnzQE4cVvy7P2HL51iUOLcMya8FNcmSJbH4ZhVnakZn78iqLJrSfvAd9rZPJmw/s1600/sanskrit+heart+sutra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_FRyhjWegUnR5PAhGDUEaPk1pP-nEnnia6-jm8nFJS0keJZnxgX_8H4m2H7DaA84-WpPU-Th82rJc7pnzQE4cVvy7P2HL51iUOLcMya8FNcmSJbH4ZhVnakZn78iqLJrSfvAd9rZPJmw/s400/sanskrit+heart+sutra.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: left;">image of the Sanskrit version of the Heart Sutra (</span><i style="font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya)</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px;">metta</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">** And on that note—why should I pay taxes to support #45's trips to Florida? </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">OK, back to taxes... </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">or study the Heart Sutra for a while—yes!</span></span></div>
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sixtyni yoginihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09584627242347419624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030034445667259687.post-65995561901237333462017-01-29T14:43:00.000-05:002017-01-31T11:08:37.478-05:00Burning Down the House: politics-yoga-spirituality<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvwt3hLih7c0ZE3d7Uha0PVaJuJ9Q8eRp4Oo_skZGr_NkQkYvoca2NjKQ5qJpA7TfUl5NoIY_vFZMw02jZSvjAqjprXddANDcACSMBH6wWSG-S_e6FZVs6dZn20JYV6iz31AtVOnfjaK8/s1600/fire1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="361" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvwt3hLih7c0ZE3d7Uha0PVaJuJ9Q8eRp4Oo_skZGr_NkQkYvoca2NjKQ5qJpA7TfUl5NoIY_vFZMw02jZSvjAqjprXddANDcACSMBH6wWSG-S_e6FZVs6dZn20JYV6iz31AtVOnfjaK8/s640/fire1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;">Talking Heads, "Burning Down the House" </span></div>
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<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;">(full lyrics below)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVv94T5LF0c" target="_blank">"Burning Down the House" youtube</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;"><i><span style="text-align: left;">Hold tight wait till the party's over</span><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;" /><span style="text-align: left;">Hold tight we're in for nasty weather</span><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;" /><span style="text-align: left;">There has got to be a way</span><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;" /><span style="text-align: left;">Burning down the house</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">House as metaphor for ego.... and politics. What a mess. Heartbreaking and frightening (for me) just one week after inauguration and the women's march in DC.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">So - Adyashanti has a story. It goes something like this. In the early days of his teaching he held retreats at a location where the early morning was graced by the sunrise, bird song, and peacefulness.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"> Later, local residents blasted Led Zeppelin and others at full volume out on the streets. As Adya says:</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #fce5cd;">It is easy to stay conscious to the birds, to the pleasantness, to the beautiful manifestation of the Divine, to your own true self...until the first power chord... And there it is. There's the invitation.</span> </div>
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<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: left;">Well the political powers are shrieking at me right now. I see how easy it was to stay in a state of peaceful awareness of self, others, etc during Obama's presidency. Now I am put to the test:</span></div>
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<li><span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="text-align: left;">Can I maintain </span>equanimity and awareness now that the "sweet sounds" have ended?</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Can I keep an open heart while at the same time feeling outrage and heartbreak? </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Can I engage in a way that is positive, pro-active? </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Can I refrain from reacting in-kind to energy that feels negative or bad?</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Have I closed my heart to some as a result of pre-conceived ideas about certain people with whom I disagree? </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">And if so, am I not doing something essentially similar to what the head of the US government today wants to do to Muslims? </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Can I view the US president as "bad" in a neutral, matter of fact way? That is, without the added injection of hate and anger?</span></li>
<li><b><b><i><span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">What can I DO that promotes inclusion and peace on both an individual and governmental level?</span></i></b></b></li>
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<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'm watching, looking for answers. I will say for certain that being open to "those" people FEELS much better than shutting down as I learned in DC after the march. Two women got on the trolley we were riding. One carried an anti-choice sign and the other, roses. We muttered among ourselves about them, and then chatted joyfully with some other pussy-hatted women, all the time eyeing the two. (And I, sending them some evil-eye.) When we got off, I did something I can only attribute to my (unconscious) higher self. I smiled at them from the heart and smelled their roses.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The result of good energy from march, meditation, and yoga practices?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #fce5cd;">Don't know, but yoga practice in particular seems vital to clarity, equilibrium, and equanimity for me—particularly since resuming regular practice after dealing with shoulder injury/pain.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #fce5cd;">And here I should interject what I've learned since Andrew Hillam's workshop in India about the integration of bhandas and breath. Amazing! Breathe right and your bandhas will be there; if your bandhas are present, you will be breathing correctly. Aaaah, the breath. Everything said about it is true! </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #fce5cd;">And to also interject—have learned about <i>everything </i>since injuring my shoulder. One down to earth thing: at Duke they will do arthroscopic surgery AND stem cell treatment at the same time. Amazing! So excited by that I signed up and scheduled immediately. (But at this moment with shoulder so much improved wondering if it wouldn't eventually resolve for the better on it own. To be decided after consult this week.)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #fce5cd;">Questions! Answers! Some say questions are far more important than THE answers.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #fce5cd;">METTA</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><div style="text-align: center;">
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<i style="color: black;"><span style="color: #fce5cd; font-size: medium;">May prosperity be glorified. </span></i></div>
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<i>May administrators rule the world with law and justice. </i></div>
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</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><div style="text-align: center;">
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<i>May all things that are sacred be protected. </i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">And may the people of the world be happy and prosperous.</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">(Ashtanga closing mantra)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Talking Heads</span> – Burning Down The House Lyrics </span></h3>
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<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Watch out you might get what you're after</span><br />
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Cool baby strange but not a stranger</span><br />
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I'm an ordinary guy</span><br />
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Burning down the house</span><br />
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></span>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Hold tight wait till the party's over</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Hold tight we're in for nasty weather</span><br />
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">There has got to be a way</span><br />
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Burning down the house</span><br />
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></span>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Here's your ticket pack your bag: time for jumpin' overboard</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Transportation is here</span><br />
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Close enough but not too far,</span><br />
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Maybe you know where you are</span><br />
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Fightin' fire with fire</span><br />
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></span>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">All wet hey you might need a raincoat</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Shakedown dreams walking in broad daylight</span><br />
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Three hun-dred six-ty five de-grees</span><br />
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Burning down the house</span><br />
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></span>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">It was once upon a place sometimes I listen to myself</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Gonna come in first place</span><br />
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">People on their way to work baby what did you expect</span><br />
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Gonna burst into flame</span><br />
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Burning down the house</span><br />
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></span>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">My house's out of the ordinary</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">That's might don't want to hurt nobody</span><br />
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Some things sure can sweep me off my feet</span><br />
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Burning down the house</span><br />
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></span>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">No visible means of support and you have not seen nuthin' yet</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Everything's stuck together</span><br />
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I don't know what you expect staring into the TV set</span><br />
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Fighting fire with fire</span><br />
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Songwriters: BYRNE, DAVID / WEYMOUTH, TINA / FRANTZ, CHRIS / HARRISON, JERRY</span></div>
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<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Burning Down The House lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.</span></div>
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sixtyni yoginihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09584627242347419624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030034445667259687.post-12281038621143331472016-12-12T13:24:00.000-05:002016-12-13T12:05:40.886-05:00Falling into Grace*<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV4_r0lgI7GhbNj3QkpJ1Hd3Ap0l6fNfmQ1-81EaWNDf7C27PmxvVbwzTYKn9J1AQxeLWe3qBQIA89QmsAOf0B8MOtjGM3FDn_apD-trE6X9i2vgZqQGoQaCUtJN1Vsm2x1Q8MeGrp510/s1600/ajanta1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV4_r0lgI7GhbNj3QkpJ1Hd3Ap0l6fNfmQ1-81EaWNDf7C27PmxvVbwzTYKn9J1AQxeLWe3qBQIA89QmsAOf0B8MOtjGM3FDn_apD-trE6X9i2vgZqQGoQaCUtJN1Vsm2x1Q8MeGrp510/s640/ajanta1.jpg" width="537" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-size: x-small;">Ajanta Caves, monk's cell</span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;">Central themes of India trip—releasing/falling—are showing up even in the paradoxical present as I wonder whether the desire to write about it has also vanished!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;">Will see by starting with the trip itself. A total last-minute Plan B, it could not have worked out better for my ailing shoulder and awareness practice. First of all, studying with two excellent, certified teachers in India, freed me from the "shoulds and musts" that are: study must be <i>only</i> in Mysore and <i>only</i> with Sharath.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;">Maybe I can relate this major <i>oh-so-important</i> to the mundane <i>oh-so-important, </i>the latter being<i> </i>concern about my hair, looks, eating certain things, and with having things be a <u>certain</u> way. But like the Plan B trip, or tumbling off a ledge, I had <i>no choice</i> but to relax and enjoy. So I simply stopped caring what my hair looked like or if I looked old, tired, or god forbid—uncool.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;">This was and is liberating. Travel in India (or any place that makes us more aware) can be like taking the fast track to pratyahara or samadhi, release of all attachments. (Not holding out for total freedom—I still really hate bucket baths in cool weather.)</span><br />
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;">As for the subtle, am seeing the many small, almost imperceptible ways on and off the yoga mat that internal thought reactions to (<i>judgements</i> is another word) or about <i>what is,</i> leads away from harmony with truth and is restrictive/causes suffering.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYCU49LwHljgen27ggPKbdasnOFRFbm3hW_fRn9qGHI0peWWPqSJkhuOSlpuJ5XfoBfqgkt1PWW43lmADJuubjS1r7TA7PUBsapalAJOyjk_RgR0YE6DNN5p77ljqUHMWhNts9bFIX-4o/s1600/ajanta2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYCU49LwHljgen27ggPKbdasnOFRFbm3hW_fRn9qGHI0peWWPqSJkhuOSlpuJ5XfoBfqgkt1PWW43lmADJuubjS1r7TA7PUBsapalAJOyjk_RgR0YE6DNN5p77ljqUHMWhNts9bFIX-4o/s320/ajanta2.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-size: x-small;">Ajanta Caves</span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;">Letting myself be a tourist was also a good thing, and it was fun! The Ajanta and Ellora caves have a been a dream of mine since graduate school. They did not disappoint. Both places vibrated with sacred, spiritual, and ancient energy.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;">Started this post a few weeks ago before it disappeared with my IPad at the Mumbai airport. That event seems to fit with the theme of being forced to let go<i>. </i>However, I shall not let go of the fine memories of the chill morning wind blowing my shawl as I walked along an open ditch alley to Louise Ellis’ Rishikesh shala. Once there, I was welcomed by the shala’s warm colors, the practice, and Louise’s teaching style. It felt gently yin after Andrew Hillam’s gently yang style in Gokarna, where the warm mornings were a predictor of the day’s heat.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-size: x-small;">two images in Louise Ellis' shala</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IN" style="color: #fff2cc; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Gratitude to both teachers who were of great support and help to my
shoulder-hampered Ashtanga practice. Andrew provided a Bhanda epiphany, if
there is such a thing—by putting our focus on breathing by expanding the
chest only, resulting in an automatic
contraction of the bhandas. This is big!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It bypasses the (useless for me)
obsession with <i>trying </i>to contract them<i>. </i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Anyway I
could go on—the chanting, yoga sutra study, the fun group, and Andrew’s dryly
hilarious wit. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Louise’s additional twice weekly yin
yoga classes, and the energetic tone she set with her supportive presence. </span>Deep bow to
Louise and Andrew!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;">Here's to letting go.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;">And grace.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;">metta</span><br />
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-size: x-small;">Ellora</span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;">*Falling into Grace— Wanted to use the word "fall" and I had originally used "truth" but grace seemed so much more lovely. Realized after putting the words together - it is also the name of one of Adyashanti's books.</span></div>
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sixtyni yoginihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09584627242347419624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030034445667259687.post-37140372797802776492016-11-14T06:04:00.000-05:002019-03-06T12:24:53.513-05:00Before, During but mostly AFTER THE FALL<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-size: x-small;">Siva, Yogi, and Destroyer at Murudeshwara Temple, Karnataka, India</span><br />
<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-size: x-small;">(may he destroy my and all illusions!)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;">Falling – physically, emotionally, spiritually, politically - is what I'm thinking about most lately in this amazing, edgy place called India. With eyes turned inward and outward, tonight I will observe the setting sun and rising so-called super moon from the deck of our homestay in Rishikesh. But right now it’s all about a fall – and that includes the season when leaves with exquisite grace and ease, descend to earth.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;">In Gokarna, I descended recently, from an open-aired bench that had an elegant downward slope to its side. As I slipped down the curve, amused, I thought of a child’s playground slide and was certain I could correct myself, but could not. I tumbled backwards and downwards a few feet (3 to 4) to earth where I intuitively righted my body with a chakrasana (backward somersault) finial.</span><br />
<span style="color: #fff2cc;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #fff2cc;">What fascinates me is in those few seconds before landing, there was complete release into the fall and a kind of curiosity as to what the landing would be like. There was absolutely nothing I could do to change what was happening and that was oddly liberating.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;">In Seattle in the 80’s I witnessed the 5-story fall to death of a Sankai Juku Butoh dancer. This man uttered not a sound as he fell. Etched in my memory, it has always seemed tragic and horrifying. I think now that even though this young man knew he might die – he may have enjoyed the ride down. Perhaps like the story in the Buddhist sutras, he savored the view, sensations, and was curious about landing. Here's the story (I never truly understood it in grad school):</span><br />
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;">A man, while out walking one day, is confronted by a ferocious, man-eating tiger. As he backs away from the animal, he realizes he is trapped at the edge of a high cliff just as the tiger snarls and pursues him. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;">His only hope of escape is to suspend himself over the abyss by holding onto a vine that grows at its edge. As the man dangles from the cliff, two mice begin to gnaw on the vine he is clutching. If he climbs back up, the tiger will surely devour him; if he stays, there is the certain death of a fall onto the rocks. The vine begins to give way, and death is imminent. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;">Just then the precariously suspended man notices a ripe wild strawberry growing along the cliff’s edge. He plucks it, pops it into his mouth, and says, “This lovely strawberry, how sweet it tastes.”</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #fff2cc;">This story helps me put all things - Including this week's political train wreck- in some perspective. And to quote another Buddhist sutra: </span><br />
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;">gate gate paragate parasamgate, Bodhi svaha</span><br />
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;">Master Ashtangi, Andrew Hillam, put it this way: All is maya (illusion), you take practice and know truth!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;">So, after the fall, as it were, with a thud - and getting real, I have been hoping I'm just politically paranoid. However, hearing about the Trumpster’s cabinet choices, his refusal to take a salary as president, his followers with all their 2nd amendment guns in hand, his role as commander in chief, his plan for rallies - I'm filled with dread. It sounds like a perfect set up for positioning himself as dictator and with the help of the angry masses moving into a neo-Hitler state. Please let this be paranoia!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;">And sadly, I think the jokes I see on FB around all this are good, brilliant even, but I can't laugh.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;">Okay, enough of heaven and earth! I am thrilled to be in India doing Ashtanga (more on this later) and <i>I need to eat a strawberry.</i></span><br />
<i><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><br /></span></i>
<span style="color: #fff2cc;">metta</span><br />
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sixtyni yoginihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09584627242347419624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030034445667259687.post-40696175179356076242016-10-16T18:20:00.002-04:002016-10-17T09:46:43.835-04:00PLAN B — THRILLS and GRATITUDE <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-size: x-small;">Lake Junaluska: bridge closed, what to do?</span></div>
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</span> <span style="color: #fce5cd;">So much floating in consciousness. It takes time and patience to find words. </span><br />
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</span> <span style="color: #fce5cd;">Guess first, I will stick with basics: that is, how Plan B was liberating and amazing.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="color: #fce5cd;">Decided on Ashtanga in India at last minute and that my shoulder could handle it. Plan A was to warm up with Andrew Hillam, then go to Mysore to study with Sharath or Saraswatihi. Due to my own errors and various snafus at the Shala, the latter part was not possible this year. </span><br />
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</span> <span style="color: #fce5cd;">What to do? Ke garne? (getting into the N. Indian lingo of things - oops that is Nepali!)</span><br />
<span style="color: #fce5cd;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: #fce5cd;">Such exciting prospects! How about study with certified Ashtangi Louise Ellis in Rishikesh? How about a visit to Ellora and Ajanta, a dream of mine since grad school? How about some spare days that are wide open? All fabulous! </span><br />
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</span> <span style="color: #fce5cd;">And so Plan B became the best plan ever.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="color: #fce5cd;">As for life here, there is no Plan B if Hillary does not win this election. There is a world-wide energy now, that I believe originates in the first chakra (issues of <span font-family:="" new="" roman="" serif="" style="background-color: <span style=;" times="">physical survival, safety and security fueled negatively by fear and insecurity.) It has a nasty crocodile-brain edge to it where action and words of violence, illusion, and hate have been awakened to varying degrees in almost all of us. I certainly will cop to it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #fce5cd;">So much to say about all this. Briefly, it seems the opposite of the youth, left wing culture of the Sixties when the Red Guard in China and the hippie culture in the West held sway. Be that as it may, right now the situation is causing me great anxiety, dread. </span><i style="color: #fce5cd;">What happens if this mad man wins? </i><br />
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<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-size: x-small;">image at Lake Junaluska</span></div>
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<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-size: x-small;"> my own (First Chakra) portrait of the other presidential candidate</span></div>
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<span color:="" fce5cd="" font-family:="" new="" roman="" serif="" style="background-color: ><span style=; color: #fce5cd;" times="">I've been losing sleep over it, but have discovered a Plan B for insomnia (and perhaps even politics.) Usually after 2 to 5 hours of sleep, I awaken and—this is key—at some point <i>give up trying/waiting</i> to release again into slumber. I begin to observe my mind with curiosity, as if it belonged to someone else. At times, waves of universal love wash over and emanate from me (haha so far, only at night.) One time, I did something that I always thought was so corny: I counted blessings, or said another way—acknowledged gratitude. </span><br />
<span color:="" fce5cd="" font-family:="" new="" roman="" serif="" style="background-color: ><span style=;" times=""><br />
</span> <span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And you know what? The last of many things I truly saw/</span><span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">felt filling me with joy and gratefulness—was my breath. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span background-color:="" style="background-color: </span></span> <span style=;" white=""><span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">metta metta metta</span></span></span>
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sixtyni yoginihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09584627242347419624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030034445667259687.post-22960698854414694932016-09-12T14:58:00.005-04:002016-09-13T10:13:10.290-04:00for the eyes, ears, and heart<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Encinitas</span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">1. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">photography as spiritual practice</span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">A few times a week these days, I run or walk around Lake Junaluska, and most of the time, everything there seems unremarkable—trees, clouds, flowers, water, signs, paths, bridges, etc. the usual outdoor stuff. I am focused on a sort of moving meditation, counting breaths, running at a certain pace, avoiding eye contact with others, and often, just getting around the lake quickly.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">However, recently I grabbed my phone and car key; threw them in a little bag around my neck; took a deep breath; and walked—<i>without naming and unconsciously dismissing what I saw. </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Observing surroundings without the presumptive lens of knowing, (with mu-mind) unlocks worlds, universes. In Encinitas last winter, it just happened, spontaneously and continuously. First, at the beach I noticed that every day, every minute was different. I began to take pictures of every magical (to me) object or phenomena—no matter how small, monumental, terrible or cosmic it was—from planets, clouds, water, a dead seal, seaweed, plastic, and rocks—to grains of sand. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">After I returned to North Carolina, the nonjudgemental, unflinching seer continued for a while; then faded as shoulder pain dominated just about everything. So, when last week I brought my phone-camera to the lake—I did not expect to see much of anything. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I was wrong! That little three mile walk turned out to be full of wonder and realization: what is present at Encinitas and the lake is <b style="font-style: italic;">everywhere. </b>All things change as much as the seashore, and are <i>never ever</i> the same. <i>What is </i>more, w<i>e don't have to go anywhere to be inspired by "beauty." </i>It is here, even in the distasteful or "ugly"! It is present in the most ordinary most overlooked surroundings. Even inside the home or office—the spectacular is happening.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Methodist sign, Lake Junaluska</span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I am NOT at all a photographer, though smiling as I write—but I do know what good art does—it expands consciousness, first artist's and then, viewer's. Hmmmm, so which comes first, greater awareness or the camera? </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Maybe Elin Slavick* knows. The many photos she shares on FB and elsewhere are great examples of "seeing."</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">* <a href="http://www.elinoharaslavick.com/">http://www.elinoharaslavick.com</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Joshua Tree, CA</span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">2.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">sound as spiritual practice</span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Last Friday I attended a performance by a group called Battle Trance at the Black Mountain College Museum + Art Center. These four saxophone players, true to the traditions of Black Mountain College and John Cage, provided another transport to consciousness for those of us in attendance, (those who did not walk out.) </span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">This sound art is not for everyone, and is not conventional music in any way. It pushed me right to the edge! At several points in the performance, and I cannot say why—I wanted to cry, to sob. The only experience I can liken it to is the intensity of the MRI that I had a while ago ( <a href="http://60niyogini.blogspot.in/2016/06/mu-hand-moon-solstice-clapping.html" rel="">mu-moon-MRI</a> ), because basically, in a far more wonderful way, it emptied my brain! </span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">And the breath. These guys are pranayama masters! They blew Blade of Love all 3 parts of it for about 45 minutes without a break, and at some points - they merely breathed into their instruments or whistled. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Of course, live performance is very different from a recording, but here's a link, if one cares/dares to listen: <a href="https://battletrance.bandcamp.com/album/blade-of-love">blade-of-love, part 1</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Encinitas</span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">3.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">art as spiritual practice</span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Here is something I wrote in response to a radio conversation between my teacher and an artist:</span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Creativity and spirituality are the same.</i><span style="text-align: center;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Creativity comes from emptiness.</span> It is accessible and present in everyone. Being present in the moment is part of it.<span style="text-align: center;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I believe Truth can only be expressed and grasped through what we might call “art." However, art as it is a culturally defined, is a limited outlet because not only is art present in the traditionally accepted suspects —painting, sculpture, music, theater, dance, poetry etc., but <i class="">whenever we are aware and present - we are making art/living creatively in truth.</i> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">On a non-verbal level this conversation fueled my trust in creativity/spirituality and in the ability to accept all things. </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I yield gratefully to this energy.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Asheville, my house</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">yoga as spiritual practice</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Now let's get real—my shoulder! This injury has been a VERY *difficult* and enlightening adventure. I have connected with some wonderful people who have provided support and information— an Ashtangi MD, Orthopedist, Physical Therapist Eileen Reihman, Ashtangis Karen Cairns, Larry Hobbs, and Lewis Rothlein, to name a few. Oh, and an MD in Asheville named Groh with some answers and a plan (other than shoulder surgery and giving up yoga—NOPE and NOPE!!) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Am also connecting with doctors at Emory if all else fails, to see if ligament replacement (transplant) or stem cell </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(my own) </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">therapy might be an option.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">So issues relating to ego, pain (what is it? just very strong sensation?), aging, attachment, adapting, acceptance, perseverance and just about everything else have come up. Glory be! What's true on the mat is true off the mat.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> And if, after trying everything, I have to give up (Ashtanga) asanas, I will become a<i> runner yogi, a breathing yogi, a meditating yogi, a healing yogi, a laughing yogi, a bad yogi, a silly yogi, a nothing-yogi and/or a <u>WHAT</u> —EVAH YOGI.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Encinitas</span></div>
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everything as spiritual practice</div>
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EVERYTHING</div>
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my brother died august 4</div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Encinitas</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">metta </span></div>
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sixtyni yoginihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09584627242347419624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030034445667259687.post-14093586588555353662016-07-28T16:58:00.001-04:002016-09-19T14:29:11.583-04:00soldier shoulder : stage 4 <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhksDNdArA7jJ5EnOVhDw_AHimZ45Ffkb7QSsjKxX1cn7ygk0dWGlrg39vZIzpXPs-yBJxmZ7lmdEU2uaWP_0zQALWFQVFgBT_uG5Qwz7FL-RQylGmnsqvrzNBmF-gQRSeqZNEKYy1Ru10/s1600/wrathful+deity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhksDNdArA7jJ5EnOVhDw_AHimZ45Ffkb7QSsjKxX1cn7ygk0dWGlrg39vZIzpXPs-yBJxmZ7lmdEU2uaWP_0zQALWFQVFgBT_uG5Qwz7FL-RQylGmnsqvrzNBmF-gQRSeqZNEKYy1Ru10/s640/wrathful+deity.jpg" width="441" /></a></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Perhaps the most important thing to understand is that a wrathful deity is but the other face of a benevolent and peaceful deity, and that the message of each is</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Do not be afraid. Nothing is happening." -from Open Space Forum</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><i>Don’t get so attached to the
asana thing… Your body will change but your state of mind shouldn’t change.
Become wiser in your thoughts… I used to be able to catch the backs of my
knees. Now I can’t. So what?… Asana practice is just physical at first, until
you develop wisdom… The yoga is what happens inside you – that should be alive
all the time. - </i>Sharath Jois</span> </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #fce5cd;">Today I pushed up from floor into backbend and did a headstand!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #fce5cd;">So what's the big deal about that? Well, I'm elated, for one. It feels like I'm starting Ashtanga all over again: hey, I just nailed a new pose! True, neither was pretty, but getting into a solid backbend (other than ustrasana) felt magnificent.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #fce5cd;">For months intense shoulder pain has said, "No!" and "Stop!" The MRI results showed "effusion" (fluid) in the joint area, tendonitis, a spur, and—"stage 4 chondromalacia." Without a clue about most of the language, went to internet where I found this:</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Stage 4, the most severe grade, indicates exposure of the bone with a significant portion of cartilage deteriorated. Bone exposure means bone-to-bone rubbing is likely occurring...</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Yikes, no wonder I've been in pain. So, I got the dreaded steroid shot. And the needle experience which had me quaking in fear, was not a problem.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #fce5cd;">Currently not pain-free, but so much improved, that I'm smiling. (Nice also, to lose subtle, background depression.) Will definitely get another shot if pain increases again, and I will also have arthoscopic shoulder surgery, if needed. (They can clean out the junk in there.) No more playing around with this.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #fce5cd;">Hooray for the shoulder soldier! (Tibetan wrathful deity! See above image.)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #fce5cd;">Have a great physical therapist</span></span><span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "\22 times\22 " , "\22 times new roman\22 " , serif;">*</span><span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">, also. Just happened to mention that my brother has been in hospice for over a year (15 months), and she noted I am carrying a lot on </span><i style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">my shoulders</i><span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">. Although I know about body pain relating to life issues, and am aware of being a "fixer," it had never occurred this idea might apply to </span><i style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">me</i><span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">. Felt lighter and freer since that session.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #fce5cd;">I do rejoice in getting back some poses, but I also hear Sharath's words:</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Don't get so attached to the asana thing...yoga is what happens inside you." </span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Deep bow to you, wise guru. One of the many things that has happened inside me is increased clarity<i>, </i>compassion, and a slowness to respond in conditioned ways. There are so many troubling things going on in the world today—from national politics to acts of individual and terrorist violence. It often feels overwhelming. However, I do not have to <i>shoulder </i>the weight of the world, I can contribute by being aware, showing kindness to ALL (ha! even Trump supporters), and doing my best in small or even large ways. And small <i>is</i> powerful, like the <a href="http://360circleproject.net/" target="_blank">360 Project</a> where it all comes together. (And where, sadly we have had to add new origami cranes for Nice, Orlando, Brussels, among other distressed sites.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #fce5cd;">Gratitude in sharing here in the ethernet—where words and ideas can hang waiting to be picked as needed or drop into the vast emptiness. Either way—</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #fce5cd;">metta!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Spiritual awakening is a remembering. It is not becoming something that we are not. It is not about transforming ourselves. It is not about changing ourselves. It is a remembering of what we are, as if we'd known it long ago and had simply forgotten. At the moment of this remembering, if the remembering is authentic, it's not viewed as a personal thing...But in a true awakening, it is realized very clearly that even the awakening itself is not personal. It is universal Spirit or universal consciousness that wakes up to itself. Rather than the 'me' waking up, what we are wakes up from the 'me.' What we are wakes up from the seeker. What we are wakes up from the seeking.</span><span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">~ Adyashanti</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #fce5cd;"><a href="http://360circleproject.net/" target="_blank"><img alt=" 360 Project" border="0" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaa3tiEnoXFFD22Rw_ZPYoDB9RiQCHy7ekv-cTZMRCBwzeFHZggBcJjl4EpGldFsNU6XExsIcxyfJDvWyVUanvIHi1-xkd191M81lJoRlIQhql1q68Iq7MGFy1QRW0Pv2TVaR7s08SMPg/s200/orlando.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #fce5cd; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">*Physical Therapist, Eileen Reihman</span><br />
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