YES

Today is overly full - bursting at the seams with so many things I've said "yes" to. Tonight I start teaching a 6 week meditation course. Tomorrow and this weekend Rainey and I co-teach on shoulders. And of course there's all the other stuff of life going on simultaneously.  Consequently, I didn't think I could sit down to write.  But here I am. 

I have been engaged in an ongoing contemplation on what it takes to invite and sustain Inner Body Radiance. That contemplation has taken on a life of its own and demanded I say "yes" and write at least a short bit. 

A true "YES" - it seems to me - is an inner gesture that is both intense and effortless. Getting to Yes may be full of effort. But YES itself is a expansive thing. When YES is in place (and the breakwater of ambivalence and "maybe" is breached) radiance flows in naturally because Shakti is very interested in YES. -  organizes and responds in sequences of unfolding around YES – and is not so interested in MAYBE

The main relationships and work of my life evoke a complete "yes" in me.  Of course there is resistance along the way - but at the end of the resistance it always ends up at "YES". I like to keep an eye on this dynamic - "yes" leading to radiance -  with the aim of applying it to all my doings. If there is something in my life that is requiring significant time, attention, money or energy and towards which I have an attitude of ambivalence, I know that "something" is diminishing Radiance.  I will need to either realign my attitude so I can say "Yes" to it, or I will have to disconnect from it.

The things and circumstances which evoke YES for me are not simply "easy" to say yes to.  In fact - all of them require a great deal of work and energy. More to the point, saying YES - is not about "following your bliss" or some such thing. For me, its about observing myself, from the inside out, and seeing what brings expansion and greater light - over time - and what contracts and dims - over time. and then doing the necessary re-alignment. The expansion and the radiance of each life - feeds the expansion and radiance of the whole. It matters that we do not dim out.

"Yes" is what is at the essence of the exclamation of "Jai Guru"......Jai means. essentially, "yes" or "victory". The phrase as a whole is like saying "YES" to Radiance.  I say Jai to That!

Thanks for Reading!

“Might we not hear…..a call, like ours, needing to be answered…..and call back across the darkness of the valley of not knowing the only word tongues shape without intercession:  “ YES”…”YES….”     ~~~Galway Kinnell

True freedom lies not in the power to say “yes” or “no”, but in the power to say “YES” only.     ~~~Saint Anselm

Doing the 108

Just before the holidays I cleaned my house. (This was itself a cause for great holiday celebration :). When I finished, I drew a card from an inspiration deck to aim my focus for the holiday time ahead. I got "prayer". (I joked to myself, "Woo Hoo.....wild times!)

I didn't resonate with the focus of "prayer" at the time I drew the card but as the month and its circumstances unfolded, the reason I had drawn "prayer" became clear. Situations unfolded - in the lives of ones dear to me - about which there was nothing I could DO.  No fixing. No real influence. No big opinion or brilliant ideas to offer. These were situations that were not mine to do anything about and they yet sat painfully on my heart, as if they were my own. And in a certain way, they were my own, as my heart and karma connection to those involved is strong. 

That's when I resolved to chant 108 repetitions of the Maha Mrytyunjaya mantra daily.   This particular mantra is, in essence, asking for the grace of liberation. It acknowledges the need for, and asks for a loosening from, the narrowness, limitation, contraction and smallness that can rule our perspective and our life. All that smallness, when added up, becomes suffering and bondage, like the small ties that bound Gulliver. (In case you didn't do your high school reading assignment, the image that works here is of Gulliver visiting the Lilliputians.  They tie him - a giant - down with 10,000 small bonds of petty concern).  Just so, the "Big Perspective", the giant wonder and infinite upsurge of spirit in life can be forgotten entirely, leaving us tied down in a clench of smallness (the anava mala).  Lee called it the "cramp" - a word which, for me, evokes a practical, physical understanding. A cramp in my calf quickly narrows and contracts my perspective - as it shuts off the flow of blood and life to the area in question and brings a definite suffering. The anava mala,  or cramp, is the root contraction which has us living in a certainty sure (that is not True) that we are outside of grace and left behind.   

The Maha Mrytyunjaya mantra is said to bring an energetic blessing and dissolving of cramps of various sorts - for ourselves and for those to whom we are connected by bonds of great love or by bonds of blood. This blessing serves as a wind in our sails - releasing us from the doldrums of forgetting, freeing us from at least some of the infinite small bonds of karma, simply and gently. In the mantra there is an image of a cucumber loosening from the stalk. Naturally, spontaneously and at the right moment the cucumber and the stalk mutually release one another. The stalk retreats away from the fruit when it is ripe.  Our contractions of various sorts - which served us at one time - can loosen and recede - when the time is ripe....when we are ready. But we do need help. The loosening and release is a big deal.  If it were easy to loosen - we would find the dying process to be easy. It is not. It's big work. We need help. (One of the circumstances that got me serious about "doing the 108" is my mother's situation - so close to death......and her hard work - and lots of help - loosening from life).

When I chant I typically do not think about all of the above, about the meaning of the words, about the teachings regarding the chant. I just chant. The chanting reveals the energy of the chant.  Revelation from Participation.

So - I have been diligently "doing the 108".

Once, while chanting 108 Mrytyunjayas, I felt as if I were walking a baby at night.....easing it over the threshold to peaceful sleep. That was a powerful and direct experience of what I had been taught about the chant.  The direct experience allowed me to understand at a deeper level the teaching which says that  this chant is one to do for a loved one who is transitioning - whether that transition is a more ordinary one like a child from waking to sleep - or a bigger one like a loved one passing over.

Another direct experience I had "doing the 108" was of it's powerful housecleaning (samskara burning) action in me. I was ostensibly chanting / praying for others. And yet I felt a steady and strong loosening, melting and untangling of something in me. This powerful and direct experience of the energy of the chant allowed me to appreciate the teaching that this chant is to be done for those with whom you have blood ties or to whom you are bound by great love.  In the circumstances for which I was chanting / praying, there were bonds of both karma and great love....and so it is no surprise that chanting like this would set me up for an interior housecleaning. Once again, the participation in the practice revealed the power of the practice. 

Chanting and the other forms of sadhana I practice have linked study. Asana involves knowing the body, alignment, anatomy and poses. Similarly, pranayama, meditation, chanting, puja, formal contemplation (bhavana) all involve study, discernment, translation. And all these forms of sadhana have beautiful, inspiring and poetic descriptions of their practice, written by someone who has participated in - and directly experienced - the beauty of their practice from the inside out..

From an "outside in" perspective, sadhana can look very odd - even superstitious. Without  participation, even the picturesque shapes of asana can seem a bit pointless and not the most optimal means to - for example -  create cardiovascular health or flexible and toned muscles. Chanting, meditation etc definitely can look oddly pointless from the "outside in". 

From the inside out, however, the practice is anything but odd or pointless. Participation is the ends and the means.

Participate. Life wants me to participate. God wants me to participate.  In the participation is the revelation. "Understanding" according to Lee, "is the booby prize".

As usual, all of this reminds me of some of my favorite poetry. Copied below. Enjoy.

Thanks for Reading!


From Rilke
God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.
These are the words we dimly hear: 
You, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing
Embody me. 
Flare up like flame
and make big shadows I can move in. 
Let everything happen to you:  beauty and terror.
Just keep going.
No feeling is final.
Don't let yourself lose me.
Nearby is the country they call life.
You will know it by its seriousness.
Give me your hand.

from Mary Oliver

Have you ever tried to enter the long black branches of other lives --
tried to imagine what the crisp fringes, full of honey, hanging
from the branches of the young locust trees, in early morning, feel like?

Do you think this world was only an entertainment for you?

Never to enter the sea and notice how the water divides
with perfect courtesy, to let you in!
Never to lie down on the grass, as though you were the grass!
Never to leap to the air as you open your wings over the dark acorn of your heart!

No wonder we hear, in your mournful voice, the complaint
that something is missing from your life!

Who can open the door who does not reach for the latch?
.............................

Listen, are you breathing just a little, and calling it a life?

While the soul, after all, is only a window,

and the opening of the window no more difficult
than the wakening from a little sleep.

.............................

For how long will you continue to listen to those dark shouters,
caution and prudence?
Fall in! Fall in!

Almost a Rant

I have been thinking about the recent New York Times article on Yoga.   So.......I will write what I think  (and try to avoid a long rant).

I partly agree with this article.  Going to extremes in service to ego or ignorance is stupid.  And the extremes that are mentioned are ridiculous. For example, why did a young man sit in vajrasana for "hours a day" and think that he would NOT be injured??!!

The article just talks about "Yoga" but does not define what Yoga is   It leaves the reader thinking Yoga and Asana are synonymous. That's a huge omission. That's such limited knowledge that it falls over the fence into ignorance.

Good teachers teach what IS good alignment, and what is NOT. They teach you how to listen to your body. All of us who teach should know anatomy and alignment well.  It's our responsibility. If you know basic anatomy and are knowledgeable about alignment  and if trust what you know - you will not teach shoulder stand with the chin smashed into the chest because that just does not make sense for the cervical spine.  

In part - this article is another  "Yoga Hit Job" of which the New York Times has done a few recently.  After stating that 20 million people are doing Yoga, it sites 3 or 4 cases of injury.  You don't have to be a genius in quantitative research to know that the argument in this article is seriously weak. And yet the tone of the article is such that one might think it is "SCIENTIFIC" and so must be TRUE.  Of course the article makes no mention the overwhelming percentage of practitioners for whom Yoga has changed their lives and bodies irrefutably for the better.

Another thing that the article is biased towards is this: it implies that injuries and deterioration will NOT happen if you are not doing Yoga. But you know……people injure themselves hiking,  People have strokes having sex. People create repetitive strain injury from swimming, biking, walking, dancing. etc.  I have not seen any major articles telling us to stop doing those things.

Part of the problem here is the puere syndrome - the eternally youthful male - or Peter Pan syndrome - which is an attitude we tend to have about our bodies in America. We somehow think that if we are doing everything right we will not age or wear out. People involved in fitness and healthcare often feel morally negligent and embarrassed if they get sick or injured. This is simply nuts. Bodies wear out. People get sick. Hips wear out. We all die at the end of our story.

I've heard Yoga practitioners and "others" - look at  older Yoga teachers, whose backs are worn out or whose hips have arthritis and say YOGA DID THAT!  When it's a Yoga person making the indictment they will say "bad Yoga did that" (implying that their yoga is more evolved and smart and therefore "good" and will keep their bodies from aging or getting injured)  But wait!  SO many older people who have never stepped foot inside of a Yoga studio have the same injuries pointed to by the critics of Yoga.  LIFE wears bodies out. Your genetics or your Jyotish (astrology) chart may determine how fast or slow that happens.....but happen it will. That's the way it is. bodies wear out just like cars wear out. But when our old car begins to wear out, we don't go into red alert and conclude that we should not have been driving that car. It's just life as it is. Hopefully we have some kind of steady connection to the Mystery which gives rise to cars and bodies and newspaper articles and blog posts.

The real question is - what are you wearing out FOR?  I want the alchemy of life to wear me out in the process of making Gold of my spirit.  I am quite willing (although I might not enjoy it so much)  to sacrifice my back, my teeth .....and eventually everything to that great Work.

This "almost rant" deserves to end with a Bukowski poem.

air and light and time and space

"–you know, I’ve either had a family, a job,

something has always been in the

way

but now

I’ve sold my house, I’ve found this

place, a large studio, you should see the space and

the light.

for the first time in my life I’m going to have

a place and the time to

create."

no baby, if you’re going to create

you’re going to create whether you work

16 hours a day in a coal mine

or

you’re going to create in a small room with 3 children

while you’re on

welfare,

you’re going to create with part of your mind and your body blown

away,

you’re going to create blind

crippled

demented,

you’re going to create with a cat crawling up your

back while

the whole city trembles in earthquake, bombardment,

flood and fire.

baby, air and light and time and space

have nothing to do with it

and don’t create anything

except maybe a longer life to find

new excuses

for. 

© Charles Bukowski, Black Sparrow Press

The Generosity of the Sun

To honor Solstice I focused studio classes on the theme of "The Generosity of the Sun" which moves in us – as us. I used the following thoughts to fund the theme and sequence of the classes. (Some of this is inspired by Brian Swimme's work. See quotes and info at end of post).

• The Sun pulls billions of tons of hydrogen to it’s center every second. (Think Muscular Energy)
• This hydrogen is transformed into helium - (Think Yoga as the Alchemy of Transformation).
• Helium is released from the center of the sun as light (think Organic Energy)
• Each second, 4 million tons of the sun is transferred into light.  OCEANS of matter are transformed every day- (Think radical generosity - Think God)

Photosynthesis transforms this light into plants. Animals eat the sun through plants. Humans feast on the energy of the sun through plants and animals…..Humans ARE the generosity of the sun, stepped down to muscle and bone.

We feast on the generosity of the sun not only through the food we eat but also  through common everyday blessings, like:

• Waking up in a warm bed
• The kitchen light
•  That nice cup of hot tea or coffee
• The warm bath or hot shower
• The heat moving through the house in winter

Maybe early in the day we do a Yoga practice. We feast on the light of the sun when we light a candle for puja, pranayama or meditation. And as we practice, the Light of Consciousness grows gradually but inevitably brighter. When we do the work of asana or exercise, we feast on the generosity of the sun as our muscles engage and warm. The fire of the sun is at work in every part of us from atom to organ - from ATP in our cells to our body temperature.

After practice its time for breakfast.

The metabolic fire of digestion makes us hungry as well as able to digest and assimilate.

It is the light of the sun, come down to the kitchen, that cooks the food and serves it up as a hot meal. 

The work-day starts and the light of the sun steps down to the office as we do our mental work - the light of the computer - the fire of synapses firing. Hopefully we love our work and draw from the fire within that makes us passionate about our work.

Most days we connect with friends, co-workers, teachers, students, loved ones. Our friendships and relations are full of the warmth of the sun which might be reflected in the warm glow that happens when you think of a friend. It rises up like a sunrise, lifts the corners of your mouth in a smile and brightens a light in your eyes.  Even our less than happy relations are fueled by the sun -  our angers and irritations have a definite heat to them.

We simply and naturally give the generosity of the Sun back out from ourselves. How can we not? We ARE the generosity of the sun.  Even the most twisted of us gives light back out - perhaps with great stinginess or as if by accident - but gives out light nonetheless. Just look at an infrared photograph. We are blazing suns, each of us.

Extending light generously can infuse simple daily gestures: 

• We feed the birds with seeds that are quite literally the compacted light of the sun.
• We prepare food. Often a simple warmth of kindness goes into a meal that we prepare for others and also - hopefully -  that same kindness goes into the food we prepare for ourselves.
• We leave a light on for the loved one coming home late. (I have heard that in Germany on one day of the year all the mothers put a candle in the window for their sons who died in war – so those young men can find their way home).

With every breath we replenish our energy all over again….and this is possible –  our human energy is possible -  because at the center of the solar system, stellar generosity pours forth energy all the time. As Brian Swimme says: “If we burn brightly today it is only because some energy was burning brightly as the sun a month ago.”

Yoga is designed to line us up to That - a great generosity that burns at the center of everything.

We practice in a way that encourages us to open to and align with That.  We even praise That through mantras like the Gayatri. The longer we practice, the more we fine tune our alignment with the Great Light……the nature of which is unstinting, radical generosity.  That is a GOOD thing to line up with and the moment we re-member ourselves to it, we become less obstructed – more transparent. Generosity, as a natural, innocent and unstoppable impulse flows outward from us like daylight.

 Thanks for reading!

 Brian Swimme, Ph.D. a mathematician and cosmologist, brings the context of story to our understanding of the 13.7 billion year trajectory of the universe. Story, he feels, will assist in the emergence of a flourishing Earth community. Several years ago I came across his thinking and teaching on the nature of the universe when I watched his video - "The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos". It changed my life. 

 

Some quotes from Brian Swimme:

The earth was once molten rock and now sings operas.

Each person discovers a field of allurements, the totality of which bears the unique stamp of that person's personality. Destiny unfolds in the pursuit of individual fascinations and interests ... By pursuing your allurements, you help bind the universe together. The unity of the world rests on the pursuit of passion.    

The primary challenge of this cosmological transformation of consciousness is the awareness that each being in the universe is an origin of the universe. “The center of the cosmos” refers to that place where the great birth of the universe happened at the beginning of time, but it also refers to the upwelling of the universe as river, as star, as raven, as you, the universe surging into existence anew. The consciousness that learns it is at the origin point of the universe is itself an origin of the universe. The awareness that bubbles up each moment that we identify as ourselves is rooted in the originating activity of the universe. We are all of us arising together at the center of the cosmos.

The break-through moments are unimaginable until they happen. 

I have a sense that something amazing is at work… I think our planet is actually moving into a time of profound harmony and fecundity and peace but whether that’s going to take 600 years or 6 days I don’t know. I mean, I think that as humans begin to take seriously… the planetary dimension of conscious self-awareness, then we will become homonized versions of natural selection — so that we will begin to make decision with the large scale dynamic of the planet in mind. So I see that we’re actually entering into a transformation of the human species out of the modern period into this new era… It may take centuries… but like the past and it’s catastrophes I think that’s… what’s taking place in the midst of so many hardships. -

There’s a great phrase from Eric Jantsch… and he says, “these self-organizing dynamics are in every place in the universe, waiting at their marks”. I love that phrase because you get that… the power for making water exists everywhere in the universe but the conditions have to be right. But if the conditions are right, then these self-organizing dynamics leap to it. So I think it’s something like that, that the possibility for sentience has always been there but has been waiting for a chance to really display.

The more I learn about light the more I realize, man, we don’t know anything about light… It’s just bizarre… a particle has it’s own proper time which slows down as you speed up. But at the speed of light… there’s no time. That’s bizarre… that we can, right now, as you know, see — interact with the light that has come from the birth of the  universe. So… from our point of view, that light traveled for 14 billion years but from the point of view of the light it’s the moment of creation.

Sanctuary

Last week in my Hohm Sahaj Mandir study group (Lee's teachings) we talked about the idea and reality of Sanctuary.  And so I decided to teach on the theme of sanctuary and in that way connect the dots of my life. (To which the dots replied: "Good luck! We will connect ourselves just fine and then make you laugh with surprise at our genius and synchronicity!)  

Anyway! "I" decided to connect two of the dots of my life and make my class theme for the week be sanctuary, working with the image of a cathedral. It works so well in the body - like this:

•  Practice to cultivate your capacity to be like a cathedral - grounded, spacious, in service to the   Sacred, a sanctuary for your own bright spirit and - as you grow in capacity - a sanctuary for others to remember their own bright spirit. This includes practicing with impeccable alignment - just as both practical and sacred architecture employ specific and impeccable alignment in the building of a temple or cathedral in order to make a physical space in which a brightness of spirit can abide.
• Practice to make possible in heart and mind a vibrating silence and an abiding deep Presence - as within a cathedral.
• Fill the space of your body, mind and heart with beautiful sound.......refined speech, music, chanting. Find sanctuary inside the sound of Ujjayi breath and the remembrance that God....."is the breath inside the breath".  ~~Kabir. 
• Practice to be so deeply grounded that a great space can open in you (root to rise / organic energy), reminding you that "Inside you are so sweet......Beyond telling. The cathedral there so deeply tall." ~~ Rumi    
• Practice to tend the light of consciousness within. In the sanctuary at the heart of a cathedral, as in your own center, is a flame that must be tended and kept eternally burning.

After launching the class theme, I was surprised and happy to find myself in a cathedral. I had not planned that, but as usual life offers way more connected dots than I can plan or even notice.  Leo invited us to his choir concert which was held at Saint Aloysius Cathedral, a place deeply tall, with lighted candles everywhere and at the center a sanctuary within a great spaciousness. All of it just begged me to be inspired, lift my heart and deepen my breath within the round vaulted dome of my ribcage, heart and mind.

The choir concert was brilliant. I didn't know I would love it so much. Religion has not been my sanctuary over the years and religious hymns make me nervous. But you know - it is just like my meditation teacher Paul M-O teaches: authentic sadhana (introversive practice) will gradually but inevitably make it possible that extroversive rituals and religion - which may have seemed to be  deadly dogmatic -  can begin to melt open to you, and you will find that ahhhhh! there's bliss in there - radiance and sweetness  - the Sacred moving inside those religious rituals.

So that's what happened. I sat and listened to the choir concert and cried with joy. It seemed that both me and the choir were "suspended from a fishing line hooked at the breastbone, being hauled up toward the heavenly gates". ~ Galway Kinnell



 

Roots

My time at the ashram with Leo was over the top Good.......a strengthening of my roots and  remembrance of what is Real.  And then came Thanksgiving.....also over the top Good with both Eli and Leo home as well as Chris' mother.  As usual, drawing into home and family set my roots more deeply into gratitude for the good fortune of my life.

It seems like this entire Autumn I have been contemplating roots in my life and in my Yoga practices. 
 

The Yoga tradition offers ways to strengthen both our inward roots into our sadhana (spiritual practice) as well as our outward roots into embodied life.  Retreat is one of those ways.  Being on retreat strengthens a fundamental root in me, one that brings essential nourishment into my practice and life and provides me with a sort of food I can't do without.  Likewise my home practice of daily meditation, pranayama, puja, abiding in the "home field" of Blessing Force, etc.  - all of these strengthen this inward root. 

Inner roots are akin to the antar anga or the inward limbs of Yoga mentioned in Yoga Sutra 2.29. They provide me with sanctuary, remembrance and deep nourishment.

And then there's the outward roots of my life as a Yogin: my work, family, parents, studio business; Garden Street and the bright community of teachers and students there; my gradually increasing ability to stand steady in life and live from what I know; my aim to be ethically aligned in personal and business practices; my aspiration to consistently show up for work and for people who rely on me with my heart available .........these are some of the ways I understand the outer roots of my Yoga life. 

There are also involvements and relationships that are inner roots at times and outer roots at other times. For example, my marriage, writing, study, teaching, chanting, etc. - these seem to hold the place in the middle - available as a doorway to inner practice or to outer life. 

And then there's Asana!

In my view, Asana is an obvious and very available root practice for anyone who has a body and is on the Yoga path. It provides the fundamental physical work of getting strong in legs and pelvic core.....developing stamina and patience and an ability to stay in place in inner and outer life..  Being strong in my physical legs supports my ability to stand steady and live from what I know - to set a strong root into the earth and into my embodied life. 

Tantra teaches that the world tells us about the Divine. The way of nature and of the body teaches me the most intelligent sequence of things. Based on this, it is clear that I must cultivate strength in embodied life FIRST, learn how to stand on my own 2 feet, make a living, show up for work, stay in relationship, and be strong in my legs so I can do the heavy lifting of spiritual practice. Sadhana is - literally -  physically demanding Work. Love and the alchemy of transformation is not for weaklings.  

I know that there are many, many physically impaired people who are masters of Love. But my particular karma has given me a body that is unimpaired. With that good fortune - as with any good fortune  - comes incredible responsibility. Part of that responsibility - as I see it - is that I be steady on my feet, cultivate dignity and self-support, stand strong in my life and in my dharma.  Only then do I have a reliable platform on which to sit in meditation, broaden my sadhana, deepen my roots into the Absolute and traverse the great path of remembrance and return.


ALL of the above takes practice....abhyasa....regular practice over a long period of time with devotion. Daily. As Paul Muller Ortega puts it - "random practice, random results". 
Random results just don't cut it. Relying on the results of random practice is like trying to do a long hold of a strong standing pose on weak or poorly aligned legs. Those same legs might be adequate roots if you're just in line at the super market - but not if you want to "stay in place" in ways that matter and not if you want to move forward in a way that means anything.

This contemplation of roots has been reflected in my zealous - "can't-quite-get-done-with-it - enthusiasm for strengthening the legs, hips and lower abdominal core in asana. I mean - I worry that I have almost been torturing people with strength work in the classes lately.

The way I understand it, Tantra insists that both the inward roots and outward roots of our sadhana - our practice - be strengthened and expanded. We ARE the connection between heaven and earth.  Why be only a vague and timid connection with a thin and tenuous root to heaven and a wobbly, weak-legged presence on earth?  Yoga – our participation and true home in that great lineage – presents us with both the invitation (and eventually the demand!) as well as brilliant means, to step up to the enlivening task of being strongly rooted to heaven and to earth. 

As usual, Rilke says it brilliantly - telling us to reach our roots deeper and more strongly to both Heaven and Earth:

“It is not enough to be carried along. Time to take your well-disciplined strengths and stretch them between two opposing poses because inside human beings is where God learns.” ~~Rilke

Thanks for reading!

11.11.11

I'm speeding right along. Happy. Energized. So grateful for my work!

The week long, part I Immersion finished on Sunday night. An amazing group - and I mean it. A deep and ongoing contemplation arose in me - from being with that group and their process. I know I'll write about it. But not now. Too busy.

Yesterday I finally finished the main phase of a rather stretched out Ayurvedic cleanse I've been doing with the guidance of Patricia Berger. It stretched out so long because there was just so much going on - and the main phase (yesterday) was just not something I could pull off unless I had a whole day clear. (I'll spared you the details). Anyway, I got'r'done and am looking forward to regular food. The process was excellent. a strong but reasonable cleanse that I could accomplish during a very busy work schedule It didn't leave me depleted or with a lot of weight loss (I've done a lot of cleanses and also guided a lot of people through Chinese Medicine based cleanses. I  know one can use cleanses to lose weight- but that kind of weight often does not stay off - in my experience - so it's probably best not to have that as a goal).

This Friday we have Friday Night Live - Led Advanced Practice. Then 11.11.11 Enchantmant - which involves chanting until 11:11 pm.  Jenni Fallein, who first taught me the Gayatri 30 years, ago is leading the Gayatri. Patricia Berger, my good friend and Ayurvedic practitioner here in Coeur d'Alene is leading Shiva Shambo - and I'm leading the Maha Mrtyunjaya. It is going to be SO good...... a High that is legal and non-toxic.

Saturday is the extra long Saturday Morning class.....90 minutes Asana and 30 minutes Restorative. Then at 12:30 we have Cami Cote's practicum. Go Cami.

Saturday night Chris and I are going dancing.  No, really!

Sunday morning is Joy Ride - which is 4 hours for Immersion Graduates and - if I may say so myself - is aptly named. We truly deepen into sadhana together - as a community of practitioners who are seasoned.

Sunday afternoon - it's Mom and Dad.....I can't wait. I didn't get to see them last week. Going to visit with them has truly become a sort of darshan (seeing and being seen by the Sacred).  This Sunday I want to read aloud to them a wonderful, satirical essay written by Lee Lozowick - The Divine Path of Growing Old. It's funny and full of Truth.

On Monday I have a full day of being secretary to the business.

Tuesday morning early Leo and I leave for the ashram.

I.......am....so...happy.........This may be what Paul M-O call the condition or "unreasonable happiness". So - I'm that - but also I'm too busy to write the more substantial stuff right now - for example about that Immersion group and what can happen in an intelligent circle of aligned students and practitioners. It was pretty remarkable. Stand by.

Thanks for Reading.