arrival time

there's a subtle avoidance
a searching outside myself
a refusal to acknowledge
to take time
that falls away
as i observe my feet
place themselves on the mat
i arrive back within myself

working on gratitude

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity… It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow. -Melodie Beattie

Witness

When I can be the witness
all manner of miracles occur -
old wounds heal, the past
reveals itself to be released,
present dramas play themselves
out without sinking emotional
talons into my soft skin. The
witness welcomes truth and dares
to meet reality on its
own terms. It is the ground
in which the seeds of
transformation take root
and finally flower. When
the witness is awake, the
lake of the mind is still, and
in that mirrored surface,
I see my own true face
as Spirit smiling back at me.
-Danna Faulds, from Go In & In

carrying the buddha

"A rabbi asks his students, "How do you know the first moment of dawn has arrived?" After a great silence, one pipes up, "When you can tell the difference between a sheep & a dog." The rabbi shakes his head no. Another offers, "When you can tell the difference between a fig tree & an olive tree." Again, the rabbi shakes his head no. There are no other answers. The rabbi circles their silence & walks between them, "You know the first moment of dawn has arrived when you look into the eyes of another human being & see yourself." - Mark Nepo


















last year, about this time, i went to see a friend in Toronto. i bought a 2-foot tall, 30-ish pound concrete buddha in some funky Eastern-inspired store on Queen Street & carried it quite a ways back to the car. the reception that i received from people along the way struck me... people moving aside to let buddha pass, others with hands together acknowledging, or sending big grins in my direction. as i put Buddha in the trunk, i realized i had just experienced full-blown Namaste... and i wondered why it isn't always this way, why a stone statue was nec'y to create a sense of connection amongst urban strangers... and heaven forbid it be nec'y for me to routinely carry a heavy statue to directly experience interconnectedness!

shopping for Thanksgiving foodstuffs yesterday, i was struck by the communal sense of holiday, glee, smiles, politeness, well wishes... and that's when i decided i want to live like this 365!

starting now! so this year, i'm embarking on Holiday Namaste 2009! you're invited to join me in carrying the buddha. you will be supported in this venture in my classes & in my posts here. i encourage you in turn to share your experiences with me & thereby the others journeying with us. the holidays can be a trying time for many, when emotions ramp up and many of us shut down or wallow in what we perceive lacking in our lives. this year, it's about choosing to allow that holiday feelin' in! this is beyond materialism. i'm not even telling you to put a few coins in that bell-ringing red kettle... but look the Salvation Army volunteer in the eye & acknowledge them! let your heart-lovin' shine out to all the strangers and people you encounter. live the yoga, the union. live Namaste. it's the time of year that no one will think you crazy, others' high spirits will encourage your own, and this will be training for continuing such mutual respect long past when the last of the tinsel is swept out of the house. gaze into the light of your fellow human beings while you gaze upon the holiday lights. allow the levity of the season to lift you a little higher. "it is in giving that we receive and in receiving that we give..."

happy holidays. here's to cracking open even wider,
c.

how to do this.

Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.
~ John Wesley

thank you.

i'm so grateful for:

this body that moves!















the amazing work i'm called to do!















ordinary moments that reveal epiphanies!















blissful inspiring company
















paths that teach the lessons i need to learn














daily opportunities to be in the flow, say yes!,
& crack open a little more!
















... He plays His flute & we all dance along...
I felt the light of the sun
and this heart that I thought had just died
Started coming slowly alive
I believe in faith
Only in the darkness can you see the stars ablaze
-T.H.

humbled & overflowing with gratitude,
c.

Tensions of Awakening

To live a spiritual life we must first find the courage to enter into the desert of our loneliness and to change it by gentle and persistent efforts into a garden of solitude. This requires not only courage, but also a strong faith. -Henri Nouwen

"More than once I have encountered what I thought was failure, only to realize later that had I been given what I asked for, it would have buried my soul - work that wasn't really mine, upholding relationships that were never really what I thought they were, loyalties to maps bequeathed to me by lonely dreamers who wanted me to find what they could never. For a loving person, I must confess I have had a lot of relationships fail. Of course, over a lifetime, relationships will fail or run their course. But still, as I walk on yet another morning shore, watching the gulls fight and ride the wind, I can't help but wonder, was it me?
I think in most cases, I was standing by my core, finding myself inevitably in a place where loving on the terms required began to violate and damage that core. I suppose those beautiful souls I was drawn to love thought they were standing by their core. What if both are true? Is this another paradox about heartache to bare and bear? Is this all part of the inevitable journey toward the brutally exquisite fact of being here?"
- excerpted from Facing the Lion, Being the Lion - Finding Inner Courage Where It Lives by Mark Nepo