ripeness

Posted on October 22, 2009 by carolyn

What is it that I am waiting for? Why do I think I am not good enough or strong enough or smart enough or beautiful enough or kind enough? Why is the ripeness, the fullness of my existence so difficult to accept?

Why do I think someone is more ~ or less ~ then my self? Why do I not see the wholeness in the world around me?

Why is union so elusive?

There is a beauty and joy as the trees in the northeastern US give up their leaves every fall. The world ripens. My prayer is that I may accept and be grateful for the ripeness that is me ~ that is you. However momentary that may be.

Here is a video produced by A Network for Grateful Living (ANG*L) of Poet Jane Hirshfield performing at the Poetry of Gratefulness event at the Herbst Theatre, San Francisco, CA, February 3, 2008. I recommend a visit to: http://www.gratefulness.org…a non-profit organization dedicated to the practice of gratitude. You may want to check out some of the other very worthwhile videos while you’re there!

Mediterranean Mushroom and Onion Soup

Posted on October 16, 2009 by carolyn

A Yogin’s Cuisine,

Recipes for Health & Happiness

Icy Chrysanthemum blossom (barefoot photos)

It’s chilly.The first snow has fallen. It was only graupel, or what we call “ball snow” mixed with bone-numbing rain, but hey, the psychological effects were significant!

Thoughts turn to warm SOUP.Try this Mediterranean Mushroom, Onion, and Tomato concoction ~ it slides down easily, is wonderfully heart and soul-warming, and has lots of garlic to ward off winter colds.

Mushroom and Onion soup (barefoot photos)

INGREDIENTS

1 TBS olive oil

5 cups sliced sweet onions

1 lb. mushrooms, sliced

4 cloves chopped garlic

1 bay leaf

1 tsp.pepper

2 tsp. thyme

1 TBS oregano

1 TBS dried parsley

1 can (15 oz. or 425 g.) crushed tomatoes

1 can (14.5 oz. or 411 g.) petite diced tomatoes

8 cups veggie broth

Parmesan cheese (omit for vegan version) and/or Parsley to garnish as desired

DIRECTIONS

Heat oil in large pan and add onions and mushrooms. Cook over medium heat about 15 minutes.
In the meanwhile, chop garlic and add to soup. Add thyme, bay leaf, parsley, oregano. Continue cooking, with cover over lightly and stirring occasionally on low heat for 30 minutes until soft.
Add broth. Then reduce heat and simmer, covered 30-40 mins.
Garnish with freshly slivered Parmesan cheese, or chopped Parsley.

Frosty Lupine Leaf (barefoot photos)

Happiness and Mind Training

Posted on October 15, 2009 by carolyn

flower seed head (ckg photo)

For Sean P. O’Rourke (1985-2009)

This has been a season of death. On Saturday, three young men died in a tragic car accident. One of them was the son of a long-time friend and writing group buddy, a member of the extended “Penelope Writers” family.

Watching the faces of the O’Rourke family as they followed the coffin wrenched my heart. What sadness! Sadness heaping upon sadness these past three months.

What’s a YOGINI to do?

It’s healthy to feel emotions, to give them space to exist and pass through. It’s not so beneficial to hold onto them or to stifle them — though that is EXACTLY what I’d often like to do. Sometimes I just want to wallow in negativity, feeling sorry for myself, feeling a victim to circumstances, wishing the world would shake its collective head and join my sad little pity party.

Fortunately,yoga and meditation are such life-changing tools that these depressing emotions can flow through me as if they were rain water washing through sandy soil. I don’t need to IDENTIFY with and embellish the stories that coincide with these emotions. I cringe at how I did exactly that in the past though!!

FURTHERMORE, science is now clearly showing the plasticity of the mind that yogis have claimed for hundreds of years. I’ll collect some of this research in a future post, but for now, check out Buddhist priest, Mathieu Ricard’s take on happiness and mind training from TED. Some call Ricard the “happiest man alive” because of the results of his brain scans.

I’m sure many of the readers of LY have seen these sorts of changes happen in their life. How have you dealt with overwhelming grief? Have you noticed any effects of your practices on your emotional life? Please share them with us!

Mathieu Ricard’s blog is also enjoyable as well as thought provoking. The link is a page translated from the French.

Practice smiling breath

Posted on October 14, 2009 by carolyn

Orange Chysanthemum (ckg photo)

I am so grateful that yoga is in my life, teaching me to appreciate each moment fully so that when life jigs its inevitable cruel dance tugging at me to partner-up, I can connect with my breath and remember that there is a beautiful, calm, loving place within me. Through continual practice I have found it is possible to live more deeply—beyond the “rat race of survival.”

One way is to awaken each morning with awareness centered on the first inhalation. Then, exhaling, invite a smile to fill your face. Even on the mornings when you don’t feel like it, SMILE and BREATHE. You embody the essence of happiness. Let that be your first prayer and intention.

As you move through your day observing the gardens and lawns that may be shriveling, remember that the sky has blessed us nearly every evening with glorious sunsets whose pinks, purples, and apricot splash in gay abandon overhead.

Spending an evening enjoying a sunset is yoga in action! With every inhalation try to radiate some of the colors of the sun. Open your heart to the people around you, whether at work, at home, or on the beach. Be aware of how your color enriches every one of those lives –and many more that you are unaware of. You are a child of the universe; every sun salutation celebrates that.

change

Posted on October 7, 2009 by carolyn

Studio Panterra garden fairy (ckg photo)

What is certain in this life?

CHANGE. Only change.

If I am filled with utter happiness, I can sure that at some point, I will no longer enjoy the feeling.

If I am crying my eyes and heart in grief, I know too that that sadness will not last.

You will not last. I will not last.

The stress of this moment will not last, neither will the relaxation.

We are constantly shifting energy in a decaying body thinking fleeting thoughts and feeling a constant flow of emotion.

Whew! There’s something to observe during your next asana practice.

In the meanwhile, here’s a poem:

autumn storm

sliding on

a leafy

mess

underfoot

touching

whirlwinds

of leaves

crisp curled

past lives

living

my sky

so much

like yours

endless too

charged sun-

light’s warmth

& frisson

drew us

towards

the cronk

cronk cronk

of geese

instinctual

flight

and call

what happened

to us

unsettled

milkweed

seedpods

shatter

scattering

embryos

my life

and yours

flying

apart

the skyscape

darkens

every

shade of gray

sleet

needles

blow

MANTRA

Posted on October 1, 2009 by carolyn

compressed During the workshop at Studio Panterra last weekend, a question surfaced regarding mantra. Since Francois Raoult is an ethnomusicologist by training, it is perhaps natural that mantra and sound are components of his practice and study. Here is some of his discussion:

The mantra doesn’t need to be polished; there is often a rough quality to it. It is not a song. Kirtan is somewhere between mantra and songs.

In old Indian temples mantra is alive and intense with old people chanting in crackling voices, sweating, etc.

Mantra of sound is a bindu or seed form. We’re not interested in meaning of word, but in the SOUND itself, such as Alleluia or Amen. Early Gregorian chant (in Latin) was very mantric.

Mantra is a shamanic power tool – don’t mess around with it foolishly.

When to begin mantra practice: Don’t do something too esoteric until you have some mastery of the exoteric. For example, if your trikonasana really stinks, don’t add jnana mudra! Side note: Mudras can devolve into gimmickry, but if you are aware and use them sensitively, they may be a powerful addition to your practice. Interestingly, most mudras Westerners can’t do because our fingers are too tight.

When chanting mantra, your voice has to be free of any gripping or holding. The sound has to well from deep within.

The Iyengar take is that ASANA IS THE MUDRA and BREATH IS THE MANTRA.

You should not repeat a mantra audibly without responsibility; you have to feel it deep inside. First you have to project your voice – there has to be some juice. Then you shape the sound, and then go introverted.

Every sound is a mantra, even the rain.

The percussion of acorns falling on skylights and a steady beat of rain augmented the continuous brahmari humming of a roomful of yogis stretched individually upon blankets, palms turned skyward.

F. played the singing bowl as we relaxed, healing our grief and stress. Ahh, savasana!

BarefootAndUpsideDown

Yoga as coming home to the Self.

Monthly Archives: October 2009