Aligning with Grace

This morning, after rising early, meditating, and going for a long walk, I went down to the river. It is the last day of school in this county, and there were a lot of people and quite a flurry of activity in the park. So I walked down to the boat launch area to survey the river and to do my "river meditations" and practices, which I like to refer to as my "river ablutions." After a while, unbeknownst to me, something perched itself on my arm. I saw it out of the corner of my eye - in my peripheral vision on my right, and I freaked. It looked like some huge spider. I tried to brush it off a couple of times, but it wouldn't leave. Finally, I brushed it off - with my car keys, which I still had in my left hand, and it flew away. Well, I thought it flew away, then I noticed it quivering on the ground towards my left. I watched it, feeling incredibly remorseful. It was a white and black butterfly, like nothing I had seen before. It quivered, and attempted to hobble ...

For over a week, I've enjoyed deep silence, longer periods of meditation, touching base with a few friends, spring cleaning, reading, and delighting in the insights gained and imparted by wonderful teachers. A week and a half ago, I had the privilege and honor of studying with Elena Brower , an Anusara Yoga certified teacher, who shares her heart and gifts all over the country, and also writes a wonderful blog for the Huffington Post , among other talents. For a long time I have wanted to take one of her classes "live" - since I had already experienced her teaching "online," and I was grateful to be able to experience her deep teaching in a beautiful art gallery. One of the most wonderful things Elena told us, was that we have the power to transmute the triggers in our lives into nourishment, through our practices, and most particularly in our bodies, through yoga. She explained that we can choose practice over indulging in our preferences and thus create meani...