Aligning with Grace

This quote, from the poet May Sarton's writings, is one that is often repeated and illustrated. It is a favorite of many, and certainly of mine as well: "Help us to be always hopeful gardeners of spirit, who know that without darkness nothing comes to birth, as without light, nothing flowers." You and I, might not be actual gardeners in the traditional sense, but we are all called to be gardeners of spirit - tending our own inner, delicate, souls.  Another famous writer and spiritual figure, John Henry Newman, wrote: "Growth is the only evidence of life." And still another, Francis de Sales, noted in the 17th century, that true growth is often a slow and hidden process. What is to be learned from all this wisdom? We are told that true growth - within and without - is often slow, and perhaps not noticeable to many outside of us. There are difficult and challenging experiences to be dealt with along the way. There are days of both light and darkness, as well as da...

Advent - A Season of Change (A Repost) I make my way down to the river on this rainy morning, and offer my Advent Prayers, on its shores, under an overcast sky... I read this quote by Cardinal John Henry Newman, who began his life as an Anglican, and ended it as a Catholic saint, not that it matters to me. Even as a child, I felt we were all one, and I could not imagine or abide a kind of God that would exclude some of his children from the gift of eternal life, or from sharing at His t able... "To live is to change, and to be perfect, is to have changed often." As I I work through some deep issues, it is obvious that they are once more an invitation to change and to grow. Newman also is quoted as saying that "growth, is the only evidence of life..." Yet change is messy, and painful at times. We can deny what it asks of us - but only to a great cost to our health and well-being. What we bury deep inside has a way of gushing forth out of us ...

It's been a while since I've made an entry. It's not because I haven't wanted to - but sometimes life and responsibilities get in the way, and sometimes our attention is called elsewhere... I've had family matters to attend to, losses to address, and so forth... This week, I have worked with backbends in my classes and have emphasized the engagement of "Kidney Loop." I chose to link these with a theme of "Ishvara Pranidhana, one of the niyamas from Patanjali's Yoga Sutras , which is often translated as "Devotion to the Lord." Nicolai Bachman , in his book, The Path of the Yoga Sutras , which I have been using as a primer for my themes this session, describes this niyama , or observance, as the cultivation of humiity and faith. Anusara Yoga emphasizes the importance of beginning our practice from the back body because it is there that we connect to the universal - to something bigger and greater than ourselves. "Kidney Loop" ...

I make my way down to the river on this rainy morning, and offer my Advent Prayers, on its shores, under an overcast sky... I read this quote by Cardinal John Henry Newman , who began his life as an Anglican, and ended it as a Catholic saint, not that it matters to me. Even as a child, I felt we were all one, and I could not imagine or abide a kind of God that would exclude some of his children from the gift of eternal life, or from sharing at His table... "To live is to change, and to be perfect, is to have changed often." As I I work through some deep issues, it is obvious that they are once more an invitation to change and to grow. Newman also is quoted as saying that "growth, is the only evidence of life..." Yet change is messy, and painful at times. We can deny what it asks of us - but only to a great cost to our health and well-being. What we bury deep inside has a way of gushing forth out of us once again, demanding our attention - it will not be ignored! I p...

A new month arrives - its welcome energies - crisp and clean - signaling a major shift. The days are growing shorter, and I look forward to the coming fall season and all that it will bring. New months always remind me of opportunities to begin again, and new seasons offer that as well. This time of year invariably issues a call to journey into greater introspection as well... We step into the last quarter of the year, and it issues an invitation - like Anusara Yoga - to step into the currents of grace, on and off the mat. My teacher, John Friend , the founder of Anusara , shared these insights on Twitter in the last couple of days: "Grace = Growing Revelation as Consciousness expands." "Our stairway lies on the whispering wind of Grace." This summer brought illness, unexpected time for reflection and reassessments, and a challenge to grow more deeply in many aspects of my life. Change and growth are never easy, but they are, as John Henry Newman once observed, t...