Again

What arises is impermanent

So dance on the skyline like

Chagall’s fiddler.

Hold space.

Be space. Wrap yourself in love.

Soften. Breathe. Watch. Be.

Give space and love to all that arises

Again and again and again

The permanent becomes impermanent,

Lift up the veil,

Waking up to the preciousness;

The being-ness of to be; the be-ness of being.

A morning walk in the snow

The pink coloured skies

Crack the night.

Space. Spaciousness. Stillness.

Aware of the heart; the breath.

Soften. Soft. Softest. I hold my heart,

Holding ground. Being ground. Deepening.

This is the suchness of life; the muchness of the suchness.

The being; the non-being; the no thing; the nothing.

The space. The stillness.  The openness. Spaciousness.

The such-ness of such.

How precious a life.

 

Big Sur #1

Silence is the container for an unwritten love.

Shall we rise up and dance?

untitled

a long bridge over the river;

this way and that; in between and beyond;

i follow the path into an open heart — to awareness.

skulls dance before my eyes

as together in the forest

we waltz.

 

 

 

 

We Could Have

I could have taken that turn
that one over there — where the road tweaks to the left —
there in the distance I am with you still
after all these years our love deepening, maturing, never-ending.
Our love could have stayed true, not eviscerating, not piercing,
not haunted by ourselves or others.
We could have been happy – if we stayed in Paris,
traveled to Greece, danced under the stars,
let the crystal night envelop us.
We could have been one again – if not for the other –
Always present, always haunting, always dividing, always.
We could have been more —
more than this simple story;
more than two china plates set on the table, lonely, waiting, cracked, empty.
We could have; should have gone to India,
sat on a bench in front of the Taj Mahal,
weeped in each others arms, embraced our love, prayed, said our wedding vows
before that blue blue blue crystal palace
built by an ancient Raj to his beloved wife.
We could have been happy – you and I
if only the other had not pieced, not shattered our lives
around and around – an evil seed turning left; turning right; coming here; then
there; my brain buzzing; my heart two shards of glass.
We could have danced on the hills of Paros
drank ouzo at sunset; lived out our lives wrapped
in the heat of the day
and the chill of the night.
We could have tried harder, longer, sweeter, deeper.
We could have been anything — you and I.
We could have been.

A call for meditation and mindfulness

A daily practice of meditation — even if it’s only for a few minutes — helps you stay focused and present.
Sitting in meditation for even five minutes a day can be a wonderful, grounding experience, keeping you in the moment. Imagine how we could change our city, our country, the world, if we all sat in meditation and watched our breath and felt our hearts beating; then watched the space in between our breath and the space in between the beating of our hearts.
Practicing yoga isn’t just about the asana practice; equally important is meditation and mindfulness.
When was the last time you sat on the floor or on a chair and just watched your breath.
I’m heading to my meditation pillow now.
You?

Musings on a Saturday night

When’s the last time you sat and just watched the world go by or better sat in meditation and followed your breath, your heartbeat, breathing in and out, reducing life to its simplest essence?

Yoga is hard, but it’s not cardio!

So often I hear people saying they’re going to a yoga class as if it’s the same as going to the gym. And I expect as 2015 approaches there will be a lot of people contemplating going to yoga practice as a way to get in shape. But consider this: Yoga is not the same as going to the gym. It’s not a cardio work out. It’s not designed to get your heart beat racing necessarily. There may be some gratuitous benefits from yoga, but it’s really not a cardio work out. If that’s what you want you should try biking, running, swimming, walking.

Yoga is a spiritual practice. I know that is frightening idea for some. But it was originally conceived as a way to prepare the body to sit in meditation. The same holds true today. Yoga is a moving prayer that prepares you to sit in deep contemplation with oneself and the universe. An asana practice is a tool to get you to sit in meditation. It is an undoing of one self — a kind of unknitting of one’s soul, body and breath to allow you to sit and breathe. Try practicing yoga with that in mind and see the difference.