.....a stick

Yogis,

Thanksgiving is a chance to pause and notice all of the amazing things around us to be grateful for, and I was most grateful to have my grandson share that with me over the long weekend at the beach.

All it took was a walk…………………….

He and I headed out for a simple walk around the block.  First order of business……find a stick.  There are endless possibilities for stick activities. We swept the leaves with them, brushed the mulch, used them for walking and stuck them in the ground. They are wonderful for hitting the bushes and holding high in the air, until eventually Phoebe grabs one and chews it to pieces.  

With tiny little feet forward movement is slow which provides the chance to notice all that is right around you.  Ahhhh acorns!  I demonstrated how to find the acorn ‘hats’ and put them back on.  Plump yellow marigolds still in bloom beckoned us to get down in the dirt to touch and smell. The brightly colored ‘For Sale’ sign in front of one home kept us put for a good 20 minutes.  Playing peek-a-boo behind it, pointing at the letters, and of course……drumming a beat on the metal top with our sticks.

I noticed again the beauty of a simple pinecone and as we looked up into the tree above us the red berries were thick and heavy.  Old tree stumps made for great climbing and if I weren’t keeping my eyes down in line with his I would never have noticed the stray tabby cat curled up in a leaf nest under the bush soaking up the sun.  A four foot piece of bamboo found on the side of the street worked great for both pushing and pulling with a little effort. 

Halfway around we stopped for a break, sitting on the curb to eat some grapes. We were quiet as we watched the squirrel antics in action.  Chasing, dodging, leaping and wrestling. That’s when we heard them.  Far in the distance at first.  As their chorus grew louder and louder, we looked up to see the geese flying overhead in a perfect V shape against a crystal blue sky.  

I am grateful that Johnny slowed me down. That I was able for that hour to see the world as he does…..with ‘childlike wonder’. On the spiritual path, many of the practices are intended to help us strip back the many layers that life has piled on in order to again see the world as a child. Seeing everything as if it is the first time. Limitless and pure. To be enjoyed, not conquered. Johnny gave me that gift this weekend. 

“Through the eyes of a child you will see the world just as it ought to be.”

                ~Unknown

Time to find another stick,
SARAH

.....chaos

Yogis,

This is how I choose to be this week………………..

This Buddha sits in the east corner of my back yard overlooking the fire pit. I refer to this Buddha as she since I sense such a feminine receptive energy when I am in her presence. The sun rises each morning over her left shoulder and illuminates her as it settles into the western sky. The moon too rises over her head and sets, as if bowing, at her feet. 

The wild raspberry bushes vine around her during their fruiting season and the tree stump on which she rests decays as the insects feast.  Leaves are now brushing her back as they float downward, and rain collects in her open palms.  Today the wind is howling around her and snow may soon cover her entirely. Thunder. Lightening.  All four seasons. The consistency of change.

And all the while she sits. Undisturbed.

What do you think?  Do you think this mean she doesn’t care?  That she sits passively by the side?  What do you see in her face?  Do you believe she will be taken advantage of…….  That she is not acting…….  Where is her anger? Why isn’t she doing anything?

But she is. 

I can see her from where I sit right now. When I look, what I see is courage. Compassion. Healing.  Surrender. If I become drawn from my center, one glance and I remember. 

Then my role is to go out and be that for one other person. So that they can be it for the next…….and the next…..and the next. 

Today I went to a two hour 5 Rhythms conscious dance event for the first time. It is based on awakening the five rhythms of the Universe that we each also carry in our body. Flow, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical, Stillness.  At the end we all sat and the teacher shared.  She spoke of the chaos that many are feeling right now. Her words were ‘in chaos we must surrender. Only then do we uncover truth.’ 

We had just finished dancing that transition, but it’s so much more challenging out in the bright lights of life. We want to plan, do, act. But only when these are done from that still point in our center are they fruitful.  First we must experience the chaos. Surrendering to the sense of confusion and to the falling away of all that we were so certain that we knew.

But my Buddha already knows all this.  Can you see the small beginnings of her smile? She will keep reminding me……..and I will keep reminding you……..

Watch out for the quiet ones.   They can move mountains. 

Surrendering,
SARAH

.....duality

Yogis,

Where do I even begin…….

These past few weeks I have been sharing three of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali in class. The Yoga Sutras are considered somewhat of the bible for yoga.  Comprised of 196 short statements/sentences/sutras that together weave the entire picture of what yoga is at its very essence.  It begins by stating that yoga is “the stilling of the fluctuations of the mind”. Wait a minute!  Isn’t yoga about being able to put your foot behind your head?

Of all of the sutras, only 3 mention the asana practice. The physical yoga classes that we all go to.  And this week we worked with the final of those three sutras which offers us a glimpse into the power available from continued practice …..

II.48

From that

perfection of yoga posture,

duality, such as reacting to praise and criticism,

ceases

to be a disturbance.

How fitting a lesson for this week.

We live in a world of duality. Hot and cold, sad and happy, rich and poor, up and down, you and me. And it is this duality that causes us suffering. We attach emotions and judgments of good and bad, clinging to what we ‘like’ and reacting with anger or fear to that which we ‘dislike’. When I am praised my ego puffs up and I am riding high, only to deflate and crawl into a corner when criticized.  This has been a week of heightened duality with all of our pots stirred up. Divisions now even stronger – us vs them. The others. Good and bad.

How could this possibly not be a disturbance?????  But I am the one that suffers.

I went away for the weekend and did my best to not read a paper, not watch the news and only check Facebook a few times. I took walks. Lots of walks. On one of these walks, as the sun began sinking lower in the sky, its rays shone like a spotlight on the bench above. The bench called to me. ‘Come and sit a while.  Listen.’  I sat.  First I heard my breath. Then I noticed how quiet everything was.  Calm.  Such a contrast to all of the noise going on right now.  So much noise. Too much noise. 

In front of me was a small lake and on it were thirty geese. Twenty of them in one group and the other ten in another group about 20 feet away. Then one duck all by himself. Separate. Them, him and us.  Yet all floating silently. No name calling. The water holding them all the same. Not disturbed by their differences. At peace.

Right now, regardless of which group you are in, or if you are the lone duck there is this sense of duality. Separate. States no longer United.  Yet at our center we aren’t. We are all human. We all have fears, longings, beliefs and dreams. Families, holidays, jobs, chores and bills.  All held by this same earth. All breathing the same air. All a spark of the divine. 

I personally don’t choose to believe that half of our country is ‘dumb’, ‘hateful’, or ‘crazy’.  That is our distaste for duality showing its face.  In fact I realize that I have been living in a bit of bubble to not have had any inkling of how separate and unheard half of our population feels. It makes me sad. I truly don’t understand, but have I tried? The message that keeps coming to me is – ‘Open up and listen. There is still much work to be done.’

So where do we go from here? Anger, verbal assaults and labeling others may make us feel better for a while, but will keep this gaping wound open. Healing will take the courage to get quiet and listen within. Pulling forth the values each one of us hold and living them. Seeing what we want and visioning that world vs all the talk of what we don’t want. Getting involved to reach out and make a difference. Supporting causes that we believe in. Compassionate action that includes vs hurtful divisive reaction that rips the tear further. 

The same moon that I watched rise tonight over the ocean will shine on you, the geese, the duck and every human in these United States. These times ahead may not be easy, but I will remember the messages from the lake and will not be disturbed. I have a life to live and others to embrace……..I see and know what I want and will walk the path forward strongly with complete faith.

Arms around all of you,
SARAH

.....the leaves

Yogis,

Anyone else feel like this?  To me, the day after the clocks turn back feels eternally long.  As if 5 hours were tacked on, not a mere 1.  It starts in the morning after I have “slept in” until 8 and drags on from there.   In the afternoon I glance to the clock sure it will say 3 and its only 1. By 5:00 the sun has set and by 7, well……… I begin to wonder if it is too early to go to bed.

Up until today I am able to pretend that fall will go on forever with winter only some crazy far-fetched idea. But this shift of the clock is a stark reminder. Change is a coming. Where are those fuzzy slippers?

Today I watched a leaf fall from a tree. Then another, then another and then another……  How does a tree make it looks so easy?  With grace and ease it simply lets the leaf go.  The leaves have served their purpose and they must be released so that the tree’s energy can begin its journey back down.  Back into its roots. Where for months it will lie in wait, gathering nourishment until the time comes to rise again and burst forth, creating new life.  

The plants too know when it is time to let go. Flowers don’t have an attachment to their beauty, as they allow their blossoms to brown and shrivel, exposing the seeds that will soon fall to the earth.  The herbs feel no pressure to remain upright, and any remaining vegetables on the vines are not ashamed to simply rot in place and return from where they came.

The birds leave town and the chipmunks have buried enough seeds and nuts to get them through a couple of years in case somehow spring gets delayed. Their social life abruptly comes to an end as they pull some leaves over their burrow opening, almost like a ‘closed for the season’ sign at the beach. Even the sun lays low in the sky no longer feeling compelled to take center stage. 

Fall is a death. A necessary one that provides us all the chance to let go as elegantly as the example the nature around us provides. The exhale that follows the tremendous inhale of spring and summer.  A time to reflect on what leaves we have that should be dropped. Leaving us room to nourish our own roots over the winter which will give rise to that which we choose to create in the light of spring.

Occasionally someone asks me how my neck is doing.  My rote answer is always that it is about 95% healed.  The 5% being the tightness I still often feel in my upper back.  No pain, but there whispering in the background.  Quite livable.  But how often do we do that?  Where we settle for ‘good enough’ after a healing.  Not only physical, but emotional healings as well.  But then over the years all of those little ‘good enoughs’ that we have learned to live with pile up. I don’t want this to be one of them.  And for as long as it is present, it takes up room for new growth. 

The back body is our past.  What’s behind us.  And because it is in the rear view mirror in our constantly forward driving lives, it often goes unnoticed.  I’m sensing that some leaves back there have died and I haven’t allowed them to fall. So I watch the trees. Their steadfastness and calm. The way they move from season to season so effortlessly. What am I clutching so tightly in my back body for fear that if I let it go I may lose it?

This change of seasons gently prods all of us to pick back up in the letting go department.  The imagery I use as I close my eyes is of leaves floating lightly through air as they descend down my back.  One, after another, after another……….

The trees are about to show us how lovely it is to let dead things go…………..

                ~Unknown

Exhaling,
SARAH