Mediocre Middle

New Mexico High Road Santa Fe to Taos

Another point for pondering from Richard Rohr - this time from his Radical Grace: Daily Meditations. He writes:
Action and contemplation are the two polarities that regulate and balance the faith-filled life.  It saddens me that most Christianity is right in the middle. It's neither radical interiority nor radical engagement.  You don't learn much in the mediocre middle and you don't have much to give.  These words have been rattling around in my head since yesterday morning.  Am I in the mediocre middle?  God, I hope not!  I remember my first yoga teacher 45 years ago saying "Moderation in all that you do."  And my thinking - that's not how I get things done - but still, all these years I have attempted to temper my action with some inaction.   And, particularly now, I am learning to intersperse some contemplation within my action.  It's still not balanced, but I'm getting closer.  As the Buddhists say, "The Middle Road."  They DON'T say ' the mediocre middle'.  There's a difference.  Think about that.

Giving Up to Become

Letting Go

I must be willing to give up what I am, in order to become what I will be......Einstein.  .....I ran across this in my study yesterday and want to share the thoughts with you.  That's what makes becoming so difficult - giving up.  I don't give up easily.  The whole first half of my life (maybe three-quarters) was spent NOT giving up but building more.  Accumulating.  Finally I'm getting the notion that I have to give up first to make room for the new.  Piling the new on top doesn't work.  It's not clean.  It's muddled.  Trying to hold on to both fails.  Then neither is pure.  I am still in the process of giving up what I have been and am, and it hurts.  But, AAAHHH the glorious feeling of becoming!!!

Staying Screwed In

Santa Fe Sky

"We're only the light bulbs, and our job is to remain screwed in."  Richard Rohr, quoting Desmond Tutu in FallingUpward.  What a potent sentence!  It speaks deeply to me.   Does it say anything to you?  .....My life has now evolved to the staying "screwed in" phase.  Not that I'm totally there, not even quite sure where I am or where I'm going, but staying screwed in seems like a comfortable place to be.  So I'm working on that.  .......This morning I truly feel screwed in.  First spent 30 minutes in the dark on the screened porch listening to a guru on my laptop leading a meditation session.  Had no idea what his words meant, but they took me there.  Where I definitely felt screwed in.  I continued with my 30-minute trash pickup walk, and then - then green tea in my rocker watching the surface of the Pond vibrate.   This helps me remember that vibrating is what the whole of creation is doing.  Every stick, every stone, every substance.  Perhaps that's what death of the physical body is - it stops vibrating?

Yoga Benefits - Better Breathing

Breathing at the Beach!

Yoga includes breathing practices known as pranayama, which can be effective for reducing our stress response, improving lung function and encouraging relaxation.  Many pranayamas emphasize slowing down and deepening the breath, which activates the body's parasympathetic system, or relaxation response.  By changing our pattern of breathing, we can significantly affect our body's experience of and response to stress.  This may be one of the most profound lessons we can learn from our yoga practice......Yoga Alliance.  A testimonial from a former student about her improved breathing:  "The morning following my surgery when 8 inches of my intestinal tract was removed, the doctor watched me breathing into the little contraption where the breath is tested by how far the little ball floats up.  He was astounded at the power of my breath and asked me how I was able to do so much.  I replied, I've been doing yoga."  You, too, can increase the power of your breath and enjoy the resulting benefits!  And, you can do it while simply sitting in a chair or standing or lying in bed!

Co-creating With God

.....you are sad because you are not fulfilling your function as co-creator with God, and are therefore depriving yourself of joy........A Course in Miracles.  I discovered these words a couple of days ago and have been reacting and acting upon them ever since.  For fifteen years I have known that creativity was one of my basic needs - along with connection, challenge, commitment, control and contribution.  Since the quoted words came to me on Thursday, I have felt a surge of creativity that has brought me much joy.  Why is it that we lose sight of who we truly are?  Why we are really here?  What clearly makes us happy?  Somehow we get distracted easily and fall into a trap of busyness that gets in the way of our true purpose.  Yes, we all must eat, sleep, wear clothes and pay bills.  I think Julia Cameron has an excellent tool for NOT letting our creative juices dry up.  She suggests an "Artist's Date" weekly.  That is, some action that spawns your creativity - something that "fills your well."  It can be anything from visiting a textiles shop to a museum to a walk in the woods.  Whatever starts your creative juices flowing and gets you moving.  One of my basic tricks is to keep the word "CREATE" in front of me - each day in a different place so that I SEE it.  And, equally important, I hide those activities that stifle my creativity.  This may sound strange, but one of my most joyful creative activities yesterday was - I powerwashed the screened porch!  The bare wood posts and floor look absolutely beautiful now that four years of scum have been removed!  Perhaps my most fruitful creativity-producing action is 30 minutes of meditation first thing in the morning.  What is yours?

Yoga Benefits - Pain Relief

Savasana

Pain Relief.  A second Yoga Benefit.  Yoga can ease pain.  Studies have shown that practicing yoga asanas (postures), meditation or a combination of the two, reduced pain for people with conditions such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, auto-immune diseases and hypertension as well as arthritis, back and neck pain and other chronic conditions.  (Source:  Yoga Alliance).  What I have observed over the many years I have been studying, practicing and teaching yoga is the clear connection between the mind and body.  Particularly with relation to pain - both physical and mental.  One of the strangest happenings for me is with regard to my own stress headaches.  Accidentally I discovered my headaches disappeared when I went into a shoulder stand.  I am not recommending, prescribing, or otherwise claiming medical knowledge that suggests you do this - only that for me it has worked many times.  As a matter of fact, my stress headaches almost never occur any longer - perhaps once or twice a year for a day or two.  I seem to have gained control over them.  Granted, I have made many lifestyle changes - any number of which or even the total collection may be involved, probably are.  I do know that I have not taken any kind of "pain pills" for many years now - even following some minor surgeries.  That does not mean I haven't had pain--it just isn't severe enough to require drugs--at least so far!  "Knock on wood."........Six geese just flew away from the Pond.  The mist is beginning to lift.  Now I can walk safely.  Most of the people have already driven the road to work.

Yoga Benefits - Stress Relief

This week has been another busy one.  I can't seem to avoid busy days - my own fault, of course.  I keep saying Yes when I should say No once in a while.  I think the rainy mornings messed up my schedule - couldn't walk three days in a row because of rain and finally this morning - I walked again and picked up trash again and now things seem a bit more normal. .......Part of what has been keeping me busy is developing handout materials - long overdue.  This morning I'm working on Yoga Benefits.  One of the most important needs of many people these days is stress relief and, according to the Yoga Alliance, The practice of yoga is well-demonstrated to reduce the physical effects of stress on the body.  The body responds to stress through a fight-or-flight response, which is a combination of the sympathetic nervous system and hormonal pathways activating, releasing cortisol--the stress hormone--from the adrenal glands.  Cortisol is often used to measure the stress response.  Yoga practice has been demonstrated to reduce the levels of cortisol.  Most yoga classes end with savasana, a relaxation pose, which further reduces the experience of stress.  This is only one of ten benefits I will be writiing about.  Only one Yoga for Any Body class will allow you personally to enjoy the benefit of stress relief and keep you coming back for more!

Drum Circle Indoors

Missed my walk this morning - raining.  I'll try when I get back from class at the Y if we get a break in the rain.  Rain began again last evening just as people were arriving for the drumming circle.  So, we met inside the Yogatorium and it worked just fine.  Even the candle flame instead of a roaring fire - still that feeling of finding Spirit and communing with the Universe as we meditated, burned our spirit arrows and drummed.  Next month's will be scheduled for September 22, the beginning of Autumn. .........The Autumn equinox signals the beginning of Fall. It is the point where there is exactly 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness at the equator. If you live anywhere else, however, you will see a little bit more or a little bit less than 12 hours of daylight. The daylight hours are dwindling and will continue to do so until we reach the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year and the start of winter.......so says a  google search.  FYI, as the daylight hours dwindle, so does chlorophyll production--so the other colors begin to become unmasked in tree leaves.    Enough lesson for today.  

Who is a shaman?

Yesterday was a serious writing day.  Trying hard to develop handouts to explain shamanism and the practices of illumination, extraction, soul retrieval and other rites that I now use.  In October my basic training will be finished and my initial experiences will become solidified into a more well-developed skill I can use in my healing work.  I am so very grateful to all who have volunteered their time and energy to my learning during this past year.  At this stage, I am asking for a $10 fee for any of the energy healing processes which may take anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours.  Ordinarily an hour is sufficient time.  Here is a brief   definition of a shaman from Alberto Villolda, PhD, founder of The Four Winds Society (TheFourWinds.com):  The shaman is one who mediates between the visible world of form and matter and the invisible world of energy and spirits.  These rainy days make great study time!  My brain now feels on overload!  Hope the sun shines soon!  Did have a delightful early-morning walk in the mist this morning - and yes, more trash!  The roadside was recently mowed and I am so fortunate I had picked up most of the trash before it got chewed up into little pieces!

James is Home

My nephew James is home (Washington, DC) just this morning from a tour of duty in Yemen (State Dept. Security).  Tomorrow he will be with his parents in Hilton Head.  This brings so many emotions to the surface I must write about it.  Why is it that we feel lost when loved ones are unavailable? Not only lost, but consumed with concern, worry, or perhaps fear and anxiety.  Our love expresses itself in concern.  Discomfort at least.  We need to SEE each other.  We need to touch each other - a hug, a smile, a kiss - some physical action that acknowledges presence and exhibits our caring.  And when we can't do that, we are unhappy.  We feel out of control and yearn to satisfy the urge for contact - at least visual.  Skype is a remedy but not a totally satisfying one.   We want the actual physical feeling of being "in their space."  Or, having them "in our space."  And, of course, the distress is exacerbated by the loved one being in some place of danger.  Particularly, I think, when the danger is not clearly defined, which leaves us in a state of anxious wondering.  .......Perhaps the rain today is dampening my spirits a bit - and causing me to ponder personal relationships more deeply.  ..........There is a mist rolling across the surface of the Pond while the rain is coming down making millions of tiny circles on the surface.  Circles.  Reminding me of the closing of a time of absence, a coming together.  Oh, JOY!  James is safe at home!

Yoga at AYC

Getting a slow start this cloudy morning.  First sitting on the porch in a while,  cool enough to do so.  A few sprinkles hitting the surface of the Pond and making little circles.  First time to be comfortable in jeans  - fall must be coming.  Skipped my walk this morning in favor of just sitting and watching the morning break open.  The photo is from the Asheville Yoga Center Therapeutic Teacher training this past weekend -just to give you a picture of what a room FULL of 52 yoga students looks like.  Great course, great teacher, facility, weekend!

Perseid Meteor Shower

My alarm went off at 4:30 am.  I pulled on my jeans and a denim jacket and sandals and went out in the dark to watch the meteor shower.  It took some time for my eyes to adjust so that I could see things other than the stars and there were some interruptions - like the cat walking by the motion sensor light on the carport a couple of times and lots of noisy animals - a rooster, frogs plopping into the water, even cars passing by on  highway 248, dogs barking, birds chirping, but mostly quiet.  Sitting in a plastic yard chair with my neck bent backwards didn't work very well so I shifted after a bit to the hammock.  I was shocked to learn, the first time I glanced at my phone clock, I had been watching for an hour!  It seemed like no more than 15 minutes.   During that time I saw over two dozen flashes of light!   How can one be so absorbed in something that time simply disappears from the mind?  I can understand this happening when I'm DOING something - but doing nothing?  Also surprising to me was the seeming regularity of the appearance of the "falling stars".  Just as I got a bit lazy about seeking, along came the next flash to grab my attention again.  Some were like quick pencil lines in the sky and others like paint brush strokes.  And all this time, only about a tenth of the sky was visible to me from my vantage point under a tree in the hammock.   I didn't think about grabbing a ground cloth before the show began, but I will in the morning so I can lie on the ground out in the open.  NASA says the show will be good again in the morning.  I understand this event doesn't happen but every 133 years and I guess I won't be around the next time.  But, who knows?  I may have an even better vantage point!

Dem Bones

Only one more half day.  I could study with Cora Wen for weeks!  Even years! I am learning so much about my body's specific bones - particularly the sacrum and femurs.  How could I live so long and do so much yoga and know so little?  Why is it we talk so much about the muscles, most of which most of us know less than nothing about, and so little about the bones?  If we know what happens to the bones, what happens to the muscles follows more easily.  I am all set to do some more basic anatomy - more and more and more until I begin to feel more comfortable talking about the body.  How can we possibly safely teach asanas (poses) without teaching what is happening to the bones?  Anyhow, students: get ready for some help in gaining this understanding - not just physically, but mentally also!  Look out!  The professor has something new to profess - and you are in my sights!  Of course, those of you who teach understand that the most efficient way to learn is to teach - so I'm really being selfish, no, self-caring!  By the way - anyone interested in watching the meteor shower early in the morning - really early - come on out to the open sky here about 5?

Sunday, August 18, Drum Circle at The Yogatorium

A reminder - next meditation-labrinth-drum circle coming up on Sunday - the 18th - you don't want to miss this.  It's a chance to communicate with the invisible world in a setting that makes it easy!  If you have visited The Yogatorium, you know what this means.  If you haven't yet visited The Yogatorium, you can't imagine what you are missing!  Come join us at the Circle.  Inside if it's raining.  Contact: Jaquie at 864-506-4063

Three-Day Asheville Trip

Yesterday was a delight!  Yoga class in the morning, then off to Landrum, SC to meet new friend Harris for a delightful 3-hours at the Stone Soup Restaurant outdoors under the trees.  Then on to Hendersonville to spend the night with Faye and Frank in their absolutely beautiful mountain home.  Much glass, beautiful vistas all around, and beautiful people - all day long.  What more can anyone ask?  Well, today was a great one two.  Spent the day in Therapeutic Yoga training at Asheville Yoga Center with Cora Wen as the trainer - an excellent one.  The information was right on target for me and I'm eager for tomorrow's sessions - expecting more great info.  Delighted to see Bess Park (from Greenwood) here too - and several other people I've seen in trainings here before.  The room is full - about 4-6 inches between mats - and it's great - the energy in the room is sooooooo good!  How I love learning new stuff in the company of beautiful people.  Now I'll enjoy a USA Today, pizza left from last night's dinner, and maybe even turn on the TV before I fall asleep.

Therapeutic Silence

Big time coming!  On my way about noon toward Asheville for course in Therapeutic Yoga.  Yes, I do think all of yoga is therapeutic (• having a good effect on the body or mind; contributing to a sense of well-being:a therapeutic silence).  So says the web dictionary.  Would anyone who has ever attended more than one or two yoga sessions of any kind disagree?  That sense of well-being is what we are all after.  I often say (when I'm in my Happiness Specialist role) "What we all want is to feel good."  Notice the part of the definition that says a therapeutic silence.  As anyone who has tried it knows, silence may be the hardest thing we try to do in yoga.  Still, it does become healing as we learn by practicing more.  I admit it - I am still somewhat at a loss in my cottage without the potential to hear the TV voices even occasionally.  Now I know that I was relying on that to avoid silence - even though probably no more than an hour or two a day and often none at all.  I have created more silence and I find myself avoiding it by moving more, doing more stuff, avoiding just being still in the silence.  One day, I will find myself feeling forced to DO something rather than enjoy the silence and connecting to the Source.  Not today.  Not tomorrow.  But someday.

Regrets

"One single regret at the moment of dying makes vain all hope of non-return to this world."  the Brahmin, p. 62 of Lanza del Vasto's Return to the Source.  My regrets are getting fewer as I age.  Still they do pop up when I'm not looking.  And, what I've found, is that I am much more ready to undo the damage quickly rather than let it fester into a horrid sore.  It is at that moment of non-thinking from the heart - instead letting the ego rule - that my regrets arise.  I know that.  Or, sometimes it's fear.  Particularly my regrets when I don't do something that involves what I consider a risk and therefore fear  - of failure, hurt, etc.  What a beautiful world it would be if we never allowed regret to occur.  The only remedy I know when regret arises is recognizing the emotion and asking for forgiveness - not only of the one offended, but especially of myself for erring.  After all, that is what sin means to me - error.  And, as one of my translations of St. Francis's prayer says, "where there is error, let me sow truth".  Truth.  That's another topic for another post.  Just for today, I'll avoid regrets.

Feeding Spirits

Earth Painting at Omega May 2013

So I missed writing again yesterday.  Just got busy early on following my walk and stayed busy the rest of the day - catching up on bill paying, and a couple other chores in town after my YMCA yoga class, then settled in studying my new book The Coming Interspiritual Age.  If you are interested in inter spirituality - read first The Mystic Heart (by Brother Wayne Teasdale) which is referred to repeatedly in the new book.   Brother Teasdale, coined the word interspiritual and set the stage for the coming interspiritual age.  It was the foundation for my training in the Claritas Institute Interspiritual Mentor Training. ....Raining again....permission to read.....but this time it must be study for the upcoming training in Asheville.  The preparatory words sent via email (what a marvelous tool!) will take some deep thinking to absorb prior to the training.  They make it obvious the training will be at a deep level - which is exciting.  My understanding of therapeutic yoga is an  uneducated one, just a mission at this point.  So I am eager to gain some more technical knowledge.  Don't worry, I'll be sharing with you in yoga classes  as time goes by.  .....My walk this morning revealed NO TRASH except 4 cigarette butts which I brought home and peeled off the wrapper and salvaged the leftover tobacco - not much I must admit.  They were smoked pretty much down to the filters!  The tobacco will be food for my Earth Painting.  Tobacco and corn are favorites of the spirits.  Goodness knows, as much as I'm calling on Spirit these days, they deserve a little food.

Yoga and Such

Donna in Restorative Yoga

Wow!  Here it is Sunday evening - Where does the time go?  Been busy doing fun things  - painted my cottage front door bright yellow today!  Love it!  Makes me think of sunshine and how can I not smile when the sunshine opens my cottage!  ......A note of sadness, though - Millie and Todd have moved out of the cabin all the way down into Florida!  I will miss them something awful.   I feel abandoned!  But it looks like a very good move for them - We all wish them well .......Spirits picked up a bit today when I realized I'll be leaving Thursday for Asheville and a night with Faye and Frank in their new place in Hendersonville, then on to Asheville Friday morning to learn all about Therapeutic Yoga till Sunday noon.  I'm always pleased with training at Asheville Yoga Center and I'm sure they won't let me down this time.  ..... and just had msg from new friend I'll meet on my way up ---so life goes on.  ..... This morning I picked up the last of the trash in evidence on the road.  Be interesting in the morning to see if anything new hit it this afternoon!  .....  A delightful event today - Donna allowed me to do shamanic fluid extraction and illumination with her that appeared to work very well.  I thought so, and so did she.  She is a very agreeable client!  The photo was actually taken some time ago during a restorative yoga class.

Back Care - Sciatica

Bridge Asana

Here's an interesting article related to yoga - my passion - I feel compelled to share with you.
A 2005 article in the journal Pain reported that people with chronic back pain who practiced Iyengar yoga (my style of yoga) for 16 weeks saw pain reduced by 64% and disability by 77%.  Although yoga's effects on sciatica are less clear, gentle forms may be beneficial.  By strengthening muscles and improving flexibility, a yoga practice can help sciatica sufferers "move and function better so they don't fall into a posture that aggravates the sciatica" says James W. Carson, PHD, a psychologist at the Comprehensive Pain Center at Oregon Health & Science University.    And - "when the piriformis muscle (beneath the glutes) gets tight, it pinches the sciatic nerve."   This from the July issue of Prevention magazine.  Our practice of the Pigeon pose works directly on flexibility of the piriformis.
More and more we see research supporting what yoga practitioners know from experience.  The photo is bridge pose - I'll have to get one of the pigeon, don't see one in my collection.  The bridge also is a super move for developing flexibility of the spine plus other numerous benefits - as with most yoga poses (asanas).