Five Ways to Leave a Legacy

On this last day of the month, as we approach September, and its approaching fall rhythm, I share with you this wonderful piece from Jon Gordon's newsletter, which seems especially appropriate just a couple of days after the burial of Senator Ted Kennedy, because many have been examining his own legacy after having spent and lived the third longest tenure in the Senate...

"Every one of us is going to leave a legacy. It just depends on what kind. So what kind of legacy do you want to leave? I encourage you to think about it because knowing how you want to be remembered helps you decide how to live and work today. Consider the following ways to leave a legacy and then identify other legacies you can share.

1. A Legacy of Excellence - Saint Francis of Assisi said, "It’s no use walking anywhere to preach unless your preaching is your walking." To leave a legacy of excellence, strive to be your best every day. As you strive for excellence you inspire excellence in others. You serve as a role model for your children, your friends and your colleagues. One person in pursuit of excellence raises the standards and behaviors of everyone around them. Your life is your greatest legacy and since you only have one life to give, give all you can.

2. A Legacy of Encouragement - You have a choice. You can lift others up or bring them down. Twenty years from now when people think of you what do you want them to remember? The way you encouraged them or discouraged them? I recently spent a few days with Ken Blanchard, author of The One Minute Manager, and I had the opportunity to thank him for his support, encouragement and the difference he has made in my life. He not only inspired me by the way he lived his life but also by the way he encouraged me as a writer and speaker. Who will you encourage today? Be that person that someone will call five, ten or twenty years from now and say “Thank you, I couldn’t have done it without you.”

3. A Legacy of Purpose - People are most energized when they are using their strengths and talents for a purpose beyond themselves. To leave a legacy of purpose, make your life about something bigger than you. While you’re not going to live forever you can live on through the legacy you leave and the positive impact you make in the world.

4. A Legacy of Love - I often think about my Mom, who passed away a few years ago, and when I think about her I don’t recall her faults and mistakes or the disagreements we had. After all, who is perfect? But what I remember most about her was her love for me. She gave me a legacy of love that I now share with others. Share a legacy of love and it will embrace generations to come.

5. A Legacy of __________________. Share your thoughts on our blog"

(This link takes you directly to Jon Gordon's blog)

Visit Jon Gordon's website:

www.jongordon.com

Gratitude for the Last Few Days

Jeff and I have returned from an exquisite break on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and we ended our too short sojourn there by sipping champagne on an 83 year old sail boat in the late afternoon yesterday, followed by a wonderful dinner in St. Michael's.

The sail boat ride was wonderful. There were only 4 others on the boat besides Captain Iris Clarke and her First Mate, whose sense of humor and knowledge was absolutely delightful. Her love of the Selina II, a boat which has been in her family for several generations was so palpable. We were accompanied by two local Bed and Breakfast owners as well, who shared a lot about the wonders of this little gem of a town, and were absolute fun to be with. I hope to return again and stay at both of their places because they were so passionate about what they do! I feel so lucky to have been so welcomed by three area business women!

I will list the web sites of these wonderful business owners that I met yesterday for those of you who are interested in visiting St. Michael's. I promise to be back online soon!

Sail Selina II
http://www.sailselina.com

Point Breeze Bed and Breakfast
www.PointBreezeBandB.com

Hambleton Inn
http://www.hambletoninn.com/

Relaxing on the Eastern Shore

After a busy summer - and an especially busy last week or so - teaching and subbing a number of yoga classes - I am finally on the Eastern Shore of Maryland for a few days...

After arriving yesterday afternoon, we settled in, became familiar with the surroundings, and slept in. We began the day by visiting the Blackwater Wildlife Refuge near Cambridge, where we were able to observe quite a number of bald eagles and other waterfowl. The first bald eagle we spotted was a magnificent specimen resting on top of a perch in the middle of a marshland. Then we were able to see a number of them flying about - their huge wingspans quite impressive and intimidating!

After that, it was on to explore a number of quaint towns around the area. It is so beautiful here - and laid back! I would love to own a place someday on the water. For now, my room with waterfront views will have to do!

There is something about communing with nature that enables me to feel a deep sense of connection and oneness with all of creation and allows me to simply let go of everything. As we drove around today, I was reminded of my wonderful stay on Cape Cod last summer.

I will be quiet for a few days as I savor the mystery and beauty of the Divine manifested in myriad ways...

Ishta-Devata Murtis and Other Musings

This past Sunday morning, I had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Manoj Challam lecture on "Ishta-Devatas," and the symbolism of Hindu Deities and murtis.

Manoj also sells very beautiful and rare murtis - statues that are infused with spiritual energy. It is believed that one can experience transformation as a result of meditating before a murti.

I had bought a murti of an upside down Siva doing a one-handed handstand when I was in Denver in May. This particular piece is about liberation, and I feel Siva transmitting his energy to me. I also bought a very beautiful murti of Siva Nataraja - the Lord of the Cosmic Dance, which is the manifestation of Siva most commonly depicted and recognized.

Manoj described the Hindu deities as archetypes which reside in the collective unconscious which we can all tap into.

I bought three other murtis on Sunday. One is of Shakti by herself - Siva's consort - who is the expression of Divine Consciousness as Creative Energy. I also bought a murti of Siva and Shakti embracing. And finally, I purchased one of Siva meditating for my altar. In this murti, Siva is portrayed as meditating on a Tiger skin, which contains the Shakti energy of his meditation. He is sitting on the top of Mount Kailash, which is revered as the mountain where Siva lives in the Himalayas.

Manoj told this wonderful story about a conversation that Siva and Parvati - one of his consorts had on Mount Kailash, where the details of everyone's life story was discussed and disclosed. It is said that seven sages listened in on this conversation and wrote these details down on parchments.

These parchments are kept in Vaithesswaran Koil in India, not too far from a great temple dedicated to Siva. Manoj, who is a scientist by training visited this place in search of his scroll. A thumb print is taken from an individual and then a series of questions is asked of the person so that the proper scroll can be found. It can take hours, or days to find. Sometimes it is not located in one's first visit.

Manoj found himself wondering if he was wasting his time after a long period had transpired. Finally, his scroll was located, revealing all the important details of his life in three year increments, including the time of his death, which he chose to know.

I was fascinated by this story. At one point Manoj looked at me, as if he was making sure I wrote down the details of where one needed to go to find one's scroll. There was this connection - this knowing between us - and I sensed a deep desire to go there one day.

An Ishta-Devata is a manifestation of the Divine to which we are drawn. It is believed that this embodiment of the Divine resides in our very energy fields and guides us. Many religious traditions have saints of one sort or another to which its adherents may be drawn. I have a collection of many of them on my meditation altar.

When I sit in my meditation room - which also serves as a practice and work area - as well as a healing space - I am surrounded by a collection of statues and murtis from many different traditions. I feel their energy and their support for they represent many different things to me. I was drawn to each and every one of them for different reasons. Sometimes I was drawn to one long before I really knew anything about it. It makes sense if one considers what an archetype is. If one is open, one taps into a rich reservoir of grace.

In A Different Relationship to the River

In the midst of so much busyness, I steal away to the river for a little while. I cannot remember when I was here last - it has been at least a week...

It is hot and hazy, and threatening to rain, and I find some time to visit the river between teaching a private lesson, and heading off to sub two classes for my own teacher this evening...

I paddle without effort. The surface of the river is blanketed by vast swaths of hydrilla poking through it. It has multiplied with great abandon since my last visit.

I head straight up the middle of the river and the feeling comes to me that this river is different. I am in a different relationship to the river - because I am different...

Only a year ago, I was paddling upstream working through very strong emotions. Now I simply paddle upstream...

Yesterday, I worked with a gifted craniosacral therapist and we both acknowledged that in the months we have begun to work together again after a hiatus of about a decade, incredible work has been accomplished and taken root. So now I will see her just a few times a year for maintenance work...

I reflect on the theme I am using in the classes I am teaching this week, and it seems appropriate that I will invite students to let go of their limitations and illusions to open to greater possibilities.

I think of how much difference a year or two can make if we are willing to do the hard work that is required of us to evolve and grow. In the end we are rewarded, not only by a changed perspective, but by a deeper sense of peace and contentment...

A year ago I would have been repulsed by the river. Now, I simply accept where it is on its own journey. The river too, cycles through its own seasons and periods.

I do not need to visit the river any more frequently than I need to do anything else. I am less attached to schedules and patterns, to outcomes and needing to know what is coming next in my life. I simply enjoy where I am - how things are - and the incredible opportunities coming my way - since I decided to make a shift in my teaching and work. I find myself more in demand and and my work is currently flourishing...

A dear friend reminded me several times in brief notes during my lowest moments that all shall be well. We often quoted this saying by Julian of Norwich to each other over the years. I didn't really believe things would be well - somehow losing hope for a while. But it is true - God does not abandon us - seeing what are striving to become - and now, all invariably is well...

I paddle back to the launch area, embraced by a new sense of freedom and peace I have not experienced for a long time...

"The soul that is attached to anything,
however much good there may be in it,
will not arrive at the liberty of Divine Union.
For whether it be a strong wire rope
or a slender and delicate thread that holds the bird,
it matters not, if it really holds it fast;
for until the cord is broken,
the bird cannot fly."
~ John of the Cross

"Attachment to spiritual things is...
just an attachment
as inordinate love of anything else."
~ Thomas Merton

"The tighter you squeeze,
the less you have."
~ Zen Saying

Happy Birthday Anusara Yoga!

Twelve years ago today, John Friend founded Anusara Yoga, on a day that was already auspicious for many reasons.

It was also twelve years ago that I started teaching yoga, and that I took my first workshop with John Friend, and was blown away in more ways than one!

Today is also the birthday of the teacher who introduced me to Anusara Yoga, and this wonderful community, and who also gave me my first job as a yoga instructor. I was blessed to be able to complete my first teacher training with her, which I began in 1996.

Betsey Downing is today, one of the pillars of Anusara Yoga. She is currently the co-chair of the Anusara Certification Committee, and she has been a primary teacher to me in these last twelve years. She is a woman who exemplifies both humility and grace and it has been both a joy and an honor to witness her own evolution as a teacher and as a spiritual human being. I can think of very few people as committed to her own spiritual practice and growth.

I would not be where I am today, had it not been for Betsey. She not only touched my life, but my students' lives as well. Her gift is to carry this wonderful practice to all the ends of this nation, scattering it as seeds that her student teachers nourish and in turn plant in their own students hearts.

On this day, I honor all of my teachers - and most especially John Friend and Betsey and Downing. I honor their teachers - and their teachers' teachers as well - going back to the dawn of time - for their teachings have all born fruit in my heart - and in the hearts of all those I touch as well.

John wrote a wonderful blog today on the story of Anusara Yoga and I would love to share it with all of you! Enjoy!

http://bit.ly/jeikE

Visit Betsey's web site for more information on her and her schedule:
www.betseydowning.com

The Fruits of Silence

I am off to a very full day away - subbing, visiting, and joining the group that I meditate with a couple of times a month...

I wish to share this poem that was inspired by a couple of postings, or "Tweets" by a woman whose posts are very inspirational and who goes by the name of @iamwun on Twitter...

Silence

God’s hand
embraces me
In Silence—
and draws me
deeper inside
of His Heart
in the Stillness
of the Night

“Deep inside the Silence
there is a seat of silk
and music and breath.
It patiently awaits my visits.”

All is well here—
in the Silence
and all is possible.
I can release the past
and dwell more deeply
in the Present Moment

“Let me bathe the past
in a waterfall of love.
It has been starving
for my appreciation.”

In due time,
all pain is transmuted
and the wisdom
of all experiences
is revealed—
if one is willing
to wait patiently
in Silence,
and trust
in the Divine
Order of Things

(Tweets from Elsa Joy Bailey, @iamwun, 8/9/09)

A Day and Life Filled with Blessings

I began this day by having coffee with a woman who came into my life a year ago, first as a yoga student, and now as a friend. I went to her lovely house, perched high above a creek that feeds into the very river that I paddle on. It was beautiful to behold a small arm that feeds the very body of water that has sustained my own journey...

My friend is a woman of faith and we shared our respective journeys with each other. Both of us have faced immense difficulties in the last couple of years, and have had to begin our lives anew and re-create our communities at a time when most at this stage are simply more settled...

My friend shared with me the impact that both my teaching and the reading of this blog has had on her. I was very humbled to hear what she had to say, for I began my writing so unexpectedly, not knowing or foreseeing that it would become an essential part of a long healing process.

After teaching yoga to a wonderful couple later in the morning, I decided to just do something totally fun, so I went to see the movie "Julie and Julia." While I knew the movie was about one woman deciding to cook her way through all the recipes in Julia Child's cookbook, the movie also profiled the life of the legendary cook, Julia Child.

Julie Powell decides to cook all the recipes in Julia's cookbook in 365 days, and to blog about her experiences along the way. In the process, she discovers that she touches many lives. I was very interested in this subtext of the movie - for it moved me very profoundly, perhaps more than the rest of the story, for obvious reasons!

After the movie, I stopped in at at Borders next to the theatre to pick up some books to read, including a novel a friend of mine had recommended. I realized it has been a very long time since I've read one, and it was time to lighten up on my usual fare of reading materials!

I came home and reflected a little more on the movie, and how we never really know the impact we have on other people's lives. Sometimes one small act of kindness can have a tremendous ripple effect, and often we have no idea where it will end...

About a year and half ago, when I was in the midst of a deep depression that I would not even admit to myself - and worked very hard to hide from those closest to me, two wonderful angels, both very intuitive, always called me at precisely the right moment and time. One would coax me out to go to Starbucks on days when I could hardly get myself out of bed. Today is the birthday of that angel. The other blessed soul simply knew when I was at my lowest low, and would call when I just could not reach out to anyone else. But their small acts of kindness had a profound impact on me and enabled me to begin the healing work I needed to do.

Now, a couple of years down the road from so many changes, I can look back and see God's hand in all of it. I am grateful to all the people whom I have met since who have been so supportive, and to those relationships that endured and remained steadfast throughout it all. I am just as grateful to all the healers I worked with and to my gifted therapist.

For the first time in several years, I realized that I have once again begun to live my life from a place of gratitude and joy that had eluded me for a while. The fruit of my practice has also provided needed sustenance.

Last night, I woke up a few hours before dawn. This has become a pattern of late for me. I awoke and let myself float easily into a meditative state. I simply let God come to me - and He entered my soul as dawn enters a darkened room and filled me with His Light. I felt enveloped in a Love I cannot begin to describe, and drifted off to sleep eventually, sinking deeply into a pool of blessings and bliss.

It was a night of blessings. It has been a day of blessings. I have lived a life as well lived as I have been capable of, and it too has been filled with blessings...

The River in Summer Stillness

Today was a day I had to myself, and after sleeping in for a bit, I made my way down to the banks of the river...

It was warm and breezy this morning, and I immediately noted that the hydrilla has grown quite a bit in the last week - masses of these underwater grasses have overtaken parts of the river - staking a prominent claim to various spots.

The river I have encountered this summer is much more different from the one I entered for the first time about a year ago. Truly, the river has taught me a lot about impermanence and what it means. This river is different - but then - so am I. I am not the person I was a year ago either...

I paddled about for an hour, simply enjoying the river, and observing the activity of the bass. A whole lot of them were happily flipping about - some jumping around quite close to me - but I was never able to actually see one. The river has been pretty murky all spring and summer and quite opaque so that it is much harder to see below the surface.

Nobody was out on the river most of the time I was there. I saw some folks fishing at a distance, and noted a couple of kayakers who were getting ready to launch when I paddled back to the launch area.

My thoughts did not focus on anything in particular today, and at some point I was struck by the fact that for the first time - the river had no urgent message or lesson to impart. It seems to me that our relationship has also changed. I am no longer its apprentice - I no longer have crucial insights to grasp and internalize. Instead, the river has become my companion of sorts - we are almost on equal footing. The river and I fully enjoyed the present moment together - without a sense of time passing or anything major pending...

I have noted before, that this river has been a silent witness to my own interior journey and healing. I have turned many corners in the last year and recent months and I am forever grateful to have the time to come to this river just about whenever I want...

Truly, the river has spoken - throughout the course of nearly two years - but the dialogue has changed considerably. There no longer seems to be the need for major lessons to be learned. Instead, it is now simply a time for stillness. It is a time to sit quietly in the silence and to just expand, go with the flow - and step into the next great adventure of my life...

A Song I Heard in My Soul

Yesterday, before I left for Willow Street Yoga Center to teach a two day class in "Shoden," the first level of Japanese Reiki, I was mesmerized by a series of "tweets" or postings, by a woman who goes by the name "@planethealer" on Twitter. Her real name is Becky Bills, and she is a very sweet soul.

I was haunted by the beauty of her postings, and last night, before my evening meditation and retiring for bed, I found myself arranging it into a poem. I sent it to Becky this morning, and we agreed to co-author it, and post it on our respective blogs. So here it is...

A Song I Heard in My Soul

my morning came, gently
colliding with inspirations,
offered as blossoms
from the heart of another soul

our souls meet and merge
in that undefined place
known as cyberspace
where our hearts tune in to
the same vibration

I hear the song that is sent
in isolated verses,
scattered like sutras
that my soul delicately gathers,
carefully weaving
solitary strands and fibers
into a exquisite tapestry
and a thing of beauty

I hear the latent music
hidden in each verse,
and the liturgical musician
still very much alive in me
attentively assembles the notes,
composing them into a hymn—
it is a song that I heard
in the depths of my soul…

“I crawled inside
your soul last night
and nestled up
to your breath
so that I would feel
your love on my face.”

my heart is filled
with an ancient longing
for what once was—
but which has eluded me
here,
in this lifetime,
a love that fills every crevice,
and delights all my senses…

“Right HERE…
that is where I lost my breath
upon the sight of your heart
lost in the space
between your soul and mine.”

my heart remembers
this place,
and wells up
with the sacred memories
of another place and time…

“I reached in and pulled myself
out of the darkness not realizing
I was already in the Light.”

all that I have searched for
outside of myself
I have carried deeply within
from one lifetime to another,
only waiting for my recognition…

“You did not know
that silently your words
crept into the pocket of my heart
and decided to take a nap there.”

I wrap my arms around
a love so Divine,
I wrap my arms around
your reflection,
drinking in your Presence,
so delicious and so fine

I wrap my arms around
my heart, which is ever one
with thine,
holding on, for an eternity,
never wanting to let go
until the darkness of night
waxes and wanes
and the stars begin to fade

“The morning mist
heard your whispering heart
and floated off
and kissed every shore
in search of you.”

But then I remembered,
you were never gone—
I have carried you
in my heart across
lifetimes and shores
from one end
of the Universe
to the other

(All quotations were inspirational “Tweets” by Becky Bills, aka @planethealer on 8/8/09.)

A Yoga Pose, the Breath and Other Musings

This week has been busy, so the opportunities to sit as long in meditation as I would like have been scarce, but whenever I do sit, I can "plug" in and go deep, so I am looking forward to spending a little more time sitting next week...

Lately, I have had a wonderful sense of spaciousness and dropping the body during meditation - at times sensing only pure consciousness and experiencing everything as being mere atoms colliding and dancing with each other. It is nothing short of exquisite - or as a dear friend is fond of saying - delicious!

Once more, I feel like something has shifted, and I am enjoying this next stage and phase of my life...

My dreams seem more vivid as well. The night before last, I dreamed of doing the yoga pose - "Niralamba Sirsasana" - or, a "hands free headstand." In this pose, you are balancing upside down - on the crown of your head - with your hands by your side...

Mind you - I have NEVER done this pose - much less attempted it! Yet in my dream - I kept doing it - holding it for long periods of time - and it was effortless! I would come down - and then go back into the pose. I wonder if this means something? Hummm...

I often dream of doing challenging poses that elude me, but this pose was a first. It is not even on my list of poses I would like to do! Often in my dreams, I know exactly how to get into a challenging pose. I can break it down, and when I wake up - it is no easier or anymore accessible than it was before - but still - the "taste" of this pose is very much present and with me. I have this very real sense that I have done such poses before...

I often like to tell my students that a pose is expressed inside of them long before it outwardly manifests. So, on some level, it has already been accomplished even if you've never actually gotten yourself into it. One of your subtle bodies has already attained it. This makes even more sense when one considers that we are actually multi-dimensional beings.

Maybe I had this dream, because earlier in the week I walked the labyrinth with a dear friend, who is an amazing yogini, and her daughter - and I asked my friend to spot me in a handstand in the center of the labyrinth. I love doing inversions in the center after meditating!

I have also been thinking a lot about the breath the last few days as I read the book, The Miracle of the Breath, by Andy Caponigro. Specifically, my reflections have centered on the role the breath plays in meditation. The breath is so important - yet it is that pause between the breaths, which the yogic sages called, "kumbhaka," that I find so fascinating. It is that place that is so impregnated with the presence of God and is sometimes referred to as the "breathless state." It is a state that I am starting to taste as well - and I am getting glimpses into what it is like to spend some time there...

My experiences and musings led me to make a series of postings (or "tweets") on Twitter. I share them here for your own reflection and meditation...

"If one meditates on the pause
between the inbreath and outbreath,
one experiences divine consciousness."
~Vijnana Bhairava

"When there is effortless suspension of breathing,
there is pure consciousness.
Who reaches this state does not grieve."
~Yoga Vashishta

"A disturbed breath leads to a disturbed mind.
A steady breath leads to a steady mind.
Cultivate both."
~Hatha Yoga Pradipika

"An agitated mind produces suffering;
it doesn't know how to become quiet or still."
~Swami Muktananda

"Prayer is nothing but inhaling and exhaling
the One Breath and Spirit of the Universe."
~Hildegard of Bingen

"God breathed the breath of life
into man's nostrils and he became a living soul."
~Genesis

Turning Points Noted Down by the River

There is something inside of me that has shifted...It is subtle...There is a clarity and a lightness that was not there earlier...

These last few days have been so special on so many different levels - celebrating birthdays here and there, reconnecting with dear ones, letting go of attachments and the past, quietly reaching and noting milestones attained...So many moments and experiences - some of them very interior - indicating a series of very tangible turning points...

I realize that I am able to feel compassion for someone for the first time - despite a rift that may never be healed in this lifetime...

I realize that I am able to drive down a road I have avoided for a couple of years because of the deeply painful and very emotional memories that it elicited...

I am moved to reach out and make a connection that I had avoided in recent years...

I am able to reunite with dearly beloved souls and feel an ease in our being with one another that had been absent for so long...

I find my meditations yielding much deeper fruit after years of dedicated effort...

I am more comfortable being in the present moment and what it has to offer...

I can delight in the feeling of joy that simple pleasures disclose...

In the early morning I go down to the river and enjoy every moment I spend there - I drink in the experience of the sun beating down on me - and delight in the softest semblance of a breeze caressing my face...I go to the river and I ground and realize for the first time there is no lesson for me to learn there - there is no sense of urgency - only the experience of the river and I deeply communing. Yes, my time on this river feels different. I am not the same - and neither is this river...

I return home after a shorter time spent on the river that I would have desired. There is much yet to do...I come home to chant with my Reiki meditation group and we all feel surrounded by powerful energies and the loving presence of beings drawn to this sacred circle...

I emerge from the river and know that I have reached a turning point that becomes more evident as a dear friend and I go for a walk and I share with her my observations of very subtle changes...

Something is different...I see differently...I feel different...I am not who I was a few weeks or months ago - certainly not who I was a few years ago...Slow growth is hidden...So much work has been done, energetically, in therapy, so much stripping and releasing, and I am truly seeing the magnitude of the work done...

There is a nascent freedom, a lightness, and a clarity, and a sense of direction and purpose that was not previously evident - and that I had yearned for that now surrounds me and embraces me...

The river has been a silent witness to all that has transpired. And while most of my time this past year or so has been spent in solitude, this week - and particularly this day - has been a time for friends...

I meet one friend at the river as I launch Grace...I come home to friends I have been chanting and meditating with for nearly a year and half...I go to meet another friend on a walk that has been incredible support to me these last couple of years...And later in the evening, one more friend comes to practice yoga with me, someone who has also been very supportive...As if to mark all of these blessings, I step onto my new Revolution mat for the first time to practice...It seems fitting to end this day - and mark another phase of my life, with a new mat!

This river that has mirrored my soul and been witness to all of my interior growth, my pain, my sadness, and my newly found freedom and nascent joy is a river of grace and it has been the midwife to my own re-birth. I give gratitude for all that I have been shown on the shores of this river, and within it - and to all that I have experienced - both the special graces and the challenges as well - for they have all contributed to making me who I am today...

It was one year ago yesterday, that Grace and I launched ourselves into this river - with trepidation - and wonder. I could not have imagined the journey we would share together...A year ago, on August 3rd, I baptized Grace and anointed her with prayers, with holy water and sacred oils, with these words...

"Let her be strong...Let her take me places I have not been to yet in my spiritual journey...Let her open doors for me that I have not yet been able to access...let her enable me to surrender more fully to the river...

I journey from having been an observant spectator at the river, to having become a more active participant - and to finally merging and becoming one with the river - satisfying my thirst for wholeness...

I will surrender to the river, and in so doing, I will surrender more deeply to God..."

Karma and the Play of Lila

This morning in the rain, I drove over to the other side of the river to take a yoga class on a wet, but wonderful Sunday morning.

The roads were nearly empty, and the class I went to was exquisite and delicious. Cheryl, an Anusara Yoga certified teacher, is truly gifted. She seamlessly wove her theme of "karma" and "lila" throughout the whole class, in virtually every pose - connecting her theme to every action in the pose in a way that made each one come alive and feel new. Her instructions allowed us to ground and create the container for our energies to creatively and playfully dance throughout the practice.

With great artistry, Cheryl also wove her wonderful knowledge of Tantric philosophy and spirituality with technical instructions that enhanced and deepened the practice. All of this Cheryl did with both grace and compassion, and I thought of how lucky I am to study every week at the feet of so many magnificent teachers that have selflessly fed my soul so deeply. I am blessed to be part of this community, both as a practitioner, and as a teacher.

At the end of class, Cheryl read to us this beautiful poem by the yogini Danna Faulds, and I wish to share it here, because it is simply exquisite, and because it was so appropriate to this day. It comes her book, Prayers to the Infinite:

With You

Consort of clouds, beloved
of the flowers, no boundaries
confine my flight or wanderings.
Slipping through the cracks in
your armor, I am with you, calling
you to come forth and dance with
me in the downpour.

My energy spills out of you no
matter what your circumstances or
mood. Find me in joy or in the
darkness of your worst hours.
Welcome me. Throw your arms
wide and celebrate each time you
find my fragrance in the lilacs.

I am anywhere you focus your
awareness. Call on me, remembering
that you are essential to the universe,
your uniqueness no less precious than
the stars. If you forget, I'll remind you
with a whisper or a dream, or a touch
so soft you'll think a butterfly
just landed on your arm.

At the end of class, like a good teacher, Cheryl bowed and profoundly thanked all of her own teachers and their teachers as well from the bottom of her heart. She also thanked all of her students - for every good teacher knows - that we teach in order to learn - and that it is our students who are often our greatest teachers...

I drove home, filled to the brim...I had stepped out of the downpour that had occurred during class, and which had now slowly given way to a few streams of light...

Rumi - "The Lord is in Me" and "Love Said to Me"

I was sent a couple of poems by Rumi recently, and I wish to share them here. May you find inspiration in them for a glorious weekend!

The Lord is in Me

The Lord is in me, and the Lord is in you,
As life is hidden in every seed.
So rubble your pride, my friend,
And look for Him within you.

When I sit in the heart of His world
A million suns blaze with light,
A burning blue sea spreads across the sky,
Life's turmoil falls quiet,
All the stains of suffering wash away.

Listen to the unstruck bells and drums!
Love is here; plunge into its rapture!
Rains pour down without water;
Rivers are streams of light.

How could I ever express
How blessed I feel
To revel in such vast ecstasy
In my own body?

This is the music
Of soul and soul meeting.
Of the forgetting of all grief.
This is the music
That transcends all coming and going.

Love Said to Me

I worship the moon.
Tell me of the soft glow of a
candle light
and the sweetness of my moon.

Don't talk about sorrow,
tell me of that treasure,
hidden if it is to you,
then just remain silent.

Last night
I lost my grip on reality
and welcomed insanity.
Love
saw me and said,
I showed up.
Wipe you tears
and be silent.

I said, O Love
I am frightened,
but it's not you.
Love said to me,
there is nothing that is not me.
be silent.

I will whisper secrets in your ear
just nod yes
and be silent.

A soul moon
appeared in the path of my heart.
How precious is this journey.

I said, O Love
what kind of moon is this?
Love said to me,
this is not for you to question.
be silent.

I said, O Love
what kind of face is this,
angelic, or human?
Love said to me,
this is beyond anything that you know.
Be silent.

I said, please reveal this to me
I am dying in anticipation.
Love said to me,
that is where I want you:
Always on the edge,
be silent.
You dwell in this hall of
images and illusions,
leave this house now
and be silent.

I said, O Love,
tell me this:
Does the Lord know you are
treating me this way?
Love said to me,
yes He does,
just be totally…
totally… silent