living room yoga

Baby Knees Chest Chin Pose

2011-07-10T16:27:00.003-04:00

A very interesting variation, photographed at the Monument, Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn, NY

What precise form!

Next came an exuberant rendition of Downward dog moving toward Plank.

Makin' my momma proud.

His momma was so proud she flipped!

yeah, whatever, I could do that no problem.

What pose will be next? Stay tuned! Or go to my momma-blog for baby-ness to the max.

*If you are looking at this on my website, come here for the pics!

Living Room Yoga is Alive and Well!

2011-06-08T21:16:00.000-04:00

We have just been to busy standing on our heads to post much these days.....

Christy, impressing us all

flying bear pose!

2011-05-10T19:43:00.000-04:00

teddy-bear-asana?

(if you are on my website, go to the living room yoga blog to see the pic!)

do-ga

2011-05-07T13:37:00.001-04:00

This blew me away.
The focus, and intensity of these doggies, and their handlers (something about that word too) bespeaks of yoga on a much larger scale then we usually imagine.
It is about war, but then Bhagavad Gita was too.

the yoga of man and dog

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/05/04/war_dog

Baby Eagle's Nest

2011-04-30T20:23:00.005-04:00

Here is a neato webcam of an eagles' nest in Iowa, chock-full of cute eaglets!

What prana!
Serious Life Force!

An amazing note: this eagle nest is about 1,000 pounds!, 6 feet across and 4 feet deep.

Eagle Pose: Stand with your feet close together and bend your knees slightly. Wrap your right leg around your left, and if you can, hook your right toes around your left calf. Open your arms wide, and then wrap the arms around each other as well, left elbow in the crook of the right. Place the palms so that they touch. Focus your gaze past the arms, to take in the world all around you.
To come out of the pose open the arms wide stretch the right leg out to the right, and feel yourself soaring! Set your two feet down and enjoy standing tall.
Same thing on the left.
Right and left; mother and father eagle poses.

New Yoga Book - Poser

2011-02-16T22:00:00.003-05:00

Claire Dederer actually manages to talk about yoga and not sound like a cheeseball!
Her new book has many topics dear to me:
My homeland, the Pacific Northwest
New Motherhood
and
Yoga, of course.
I'm only three chapters in, since new motherhood doesn't allow for much recreational reading, but its got me gigglin', and feeling understood.
Thank you Claire!

yoga =love

2011-02-14T20:40:00.002-05:00

I think that the essence of yoga is love.
The very deepest part, the part that escapes a little in Savasana, or in that quiet feeling when you sit tall and press your hands in prayer pose.

Poe's Four Conditions for Happiness

2011-02-05T16:33:00.006-05:00

I just found this, and like it a lot.

1. Life in the open air
2. The love of another human being
3. Freedom from all ambition
4. Creation

Yay Poe!

Headstand Poem

2011-01-17T12:53:00.007-05:00

This poem is by Shu-Ching Jean Chen, Jeremy's friend and former co-worker in Hong Kong.

Headstand

Like a toddler, learning to walk for the first time
I hold up my feet to an unknown sky
The earth is my extended body,
My anchor of sanity

The passing sunlight
Shines on television, lamps, computer
And a transient reality
All disconnected from my senses

The whole world is to be tilted, twisted, slanted,
At my fingertips
Turned upside down, and shredded into dots and lines
Each reflecting on one dimension of an uneven truth

What comes from the heart
Goes straight into the mind
Earth has never be so close
The invisible law of gravity, so clear

winter lungs

2011-01-11T19:09:00.003-05:00

Every winter, I see those beautiful tree branches without leaves and think, "lungs!, lungs are what those trees are!",
"Big huge, mega-lungs."

No New Year's Resolutions in 2011!

2011-01-02T19:13:00.002-05:00

I'm very excited and happy to report, that here, in my living room, there will be no new year's resolutions to speak of, wish for or worry about.
It will be business (life: breathing, eating, loving, sleeping, reading, walking and talking) as usual!

Oh, Snow!

2010-12-27T17:36:00.004-05:00

How I love thee, lovely snow.
You make me see in the snowy way of blankets and quiet.
Hot cocoa inside this ship of an apartment.
And you, snow, looking so pinky outside.

a yoga practice

2010-12-26T11:25:00.004-05:00

If the definition of yoga is union, then doing a yoga practice could be like braiding your hair, everyday.

Or drawing together what you are doing and you who is doing it.
Your breath and your body (of course).
Cooking (always cooking, possibly my favorite yoga practice).
Eating something delicious, really fantastically delicious.
Riding a bicycle in NYC, or anywhere where you must pay attention...
Sweeping the floor smooth.
Hiking in the PNW
Oh the list is endless.
Infinity is yoga too!

mitzvah = karma yoga

2010-12-22T13:02:00.003-05:00

My mom just reminded me that when you do a mitzvah, it is done without thought of getting anything in return.
I said "just like karma yoga!"
Because I love it when thoughts, ways of life, parallel each other like this.

There's a new DVD in town!

2010-12-17T13:25:00.003-05:00

And it combines 2 of my favorite things, yoga, and food.
Yee-haw!

the yoga of motherhood

2010-12-13T19:18:00.003-05:00

Oh, patience, patience, patience, patience.
Big eyes & love.
More patience, patience, patience, patience.
Strong arms, and the rocking back and forth of waves and the yogic 3 part breath.
A little more patience.
Diapers. Lots of them.
Singing, like chanting, to help our (Isaac and my) minds go elsewhere.
And the primordial rhythm of hunger and satisfaction.

Yoga of Isaac

2010-09-29T17:48:00.002-04:00

I wonder what the yogis would say about new motherhood?
Love, pain, lack of sleep. That's what I say, so far.
Good thing he is so cute, or I don't know what I would do.

yoga helps you be happy!

2010-08-23T20:55:00.003-04:00

The doctors say its GABA.
The yogis say its PRANA.
I say its what happens when we pay very close attention and hear something beautiful.

Look here: Yoga prevents Depression (uk telegraph article)

Practice yoga, and you can be as smiley as this guy!

Not forgetting June

2010-07-13T09:32:00.003-04:00

June received no yogic posts from me.

But she was a beauteous month!
There were waves crashing on the Oregon Coast
Gardens chock full of flowers
Mom-cooked breakfasts
Dogs leaping and cuddling, horses running and nuzzling, cats watching and being watched, and a parrot drinking coffee.
People walking and talking, and walking, and talking
A good friend married, so gorgeous and happy

Everything and everyone in that lovely June, was just what they were to the bone (except for the parrot, and that is just one huge mystery).

Enormous Yoga Mat?

2010-05-25T21:39:00.003-04:00

I was thinking about how we are so connected to the boundaries of the yoga mat.
And that in a practice where we (hopefully) are feeling connected to everyone and everything, we are actually in our own little world (mat) of experience.

So I asked, via the LRY facebook page how it would feel to practice on one huge mat, along with everyone else in the class.

Natasha wrote, "I think it is more a state of mind to be everywhere while standing in that defined space...at least that is how I like to practice."

I still think that in this current age of yoga 2010, a matless class might really open our minds (and hearts!), but Natasha's words help my mat-acceptance.

:)

a yoga question ~

2010-05-13T22:52:00.002-04:00

I'm wondering if yoga practice is a way to have a break from reality, or a way that we dive right in?

Yoga is for your Whole Body

2010-05-06T14:40:00.002-04:00

You are more than just a head!
You have a body that has needs and wishes and messages, but it doesn't speak as loudly or as obviously as your head.
We must get very, very quiet to listen...

the layers of you ~

2010-04-29T15:39:00.004-04:00

Yoga philosophy says that we are like an onion (I like to imagine a Walla Walla sweet oninon) with many layers.

The outermost layer of our onion is the Annamaya Kosha, or physical self. This is the layer we hydrate, stretch, strengthen, and worry about. The Annamaya Kosha is what at first glance, makes us very unique.

In from the Annamaya Kosha is the Pranamaya Kosha, or energetic sheath. This layer is compromised of breath and energy. It gives us life, power, the ability to do.

Next is the Manomaya Kosha, or the mind layer. This layer is what makes us interesting and causes many problems. It jumps around like a monkey, having fun and exhausting us all at once. When we meditate, this is the layer we try to let go of attachment to, since it pulls us around so much.

The layer of wisdom comes next, the Vijnamaya Kosha. When we meditate and study and look inward, we nourish this layer. This is the layer of “I am”. When this layer grows clear, we come very close to the truth of who we are.

The final layer moving inward is the Anandamaya Kosha, or the blissful sheath. This is where joy and love reside, without any doing or trying, just being.

At the very center of our onion - self, is our true Self, called Atman. Atman is light. Atman is at the very basis of understanding and being. Atman is indescribable because its light changes quality as it shines through all 5 layers.

Atman is beyond your cells, beyond your actions, beyond your worries, beyond your studies, and beyond your happiness. When all of your layers become clear through yoga practice, study, and meditation, the true light of Atman will shine through you in a most amazing way.

let me know when that happens!

Back Pain ~ help from the yoga world, and beyond!

2010-04-25T19:57:00.010-04:00

I wrote a long blog post about back pain on intent.com
It's a serious topic, and one very present in my own life.
Do check it out for help ideas and more!

And while you are there, feel free to vote for me on their yoga blog contest, I sure do need all your good yogic vibes :)

vote here: I love living room yoga!

read about back pain here: Help my back to feel better, please!

*

Yoga and the Earth (Day!)

2010-04-22T15:21:00.012-04:00

In yogic thought, our bodies are a microcosm of the macrocosm of the earth.

If we are able to find calm in ourselves through practicing yoga, can we find calm in the world through yoga as well?

The gurus say that when our minds are jumping all over the place, we are like a broken mirror, not reflecting what it is really there. But when we calm our minds, the mirror pieces become whole again and able to reflect.

Our world is not a calm place. It's certainly having a hard time now!
(Hey, our persons know all about that)
Its loud, and its crowded with people and stuff.
There is competition and the need to survive in challenging places and unfriendly times.
But could the earth become calm?

When we practice hatha yoga, we calm ourselves by combining our intention (to do the pose, the breath, the movement) with awareness (now, what were we doing again?:)).

If we are a microcosm of the macrocosm, then we the microcosm must have some idea how we can help to calm the macrocosm, The Earth!
We can also let it calm itself.

Here are a few ideas:

remove distractions (stuff!)
touch it, lay down on it
notice it
Plant trees (trees are like the lungs, they even look like lungs!)
Connect the different parts to the whole

*

Becoming a great teacher

2010-04-20T10:32:00.010-04:00

I heard that if you can heal yourself, then you can become a great teacher.

This can take years I think, not just days.

I also think that when you are great, you don't want anything from your students. You are just like the sun and the rain, giving without expecting. Teaching really is (or can be) *karma yoga.

*from wikipedia "Karma Yoga is described as a way of acting, thinking and willing by which one orients oneself toward realization by acting in accordance with one's duty (dharma) without consideration of personal self-centered desires, likes or dislikes. Acting without being attached to the fruits of one's deeds."

cilantro and yoga

2010-04-13T21:40:00.006-04:00

This has (almost) nothing to do with yoga, but has solved a major mystery for me.
And because yoga is about enlightenment, freedom and mystery solving, or at the very least mystery viewing, I want to share what I have found ~

The question is this: Why do some people (myself included) hate cilantro and think it tastes like tarmac (me again), and other people love, love, love it?

And the answer can be found in The (lovely) New York Times column, the curious cook.

Now, yogically speaking, it is good to remember that some people love, love!, to be in a Sarvangasana (shoulderstand), and others can't stand it.

Those same people might switch preferences completely in Virabhandrasana II (Warrior II).

Now this may not be for the same reasons that some of us are anti-cilantro, but it is interesting, satisfying, and calming to celebrate our uniqueness.

Garden Yoga

2010-04-08T17:09:00.003-04:00

Lately gardening feels to me more like yoga than yoga itself!

moving dirt = circulation

waiting for seeds to sprout = patience

getting dirty = working hard

breathing of plants and trees = pranayama

dying, beginning new = savasana and getting up from savasana

enjoying the beauty of what you have planted and knowing that the plant sprouted because that is what plants do = yoga

*Upavista Konasana

2010-03-23T21:42:00.004-04:00

The name of this pose always sounds like a party to me, especially when you accent the "vista" part. This is also a pose that turns just about anyone who does it into a 3 year old child.
Try it with a friend. Sit with the legs open to a comfortable width. Sit up on a blanket or cushion if your legs are really tight. Face your friend or your own lovely self in a mirror and smile really wide ~ you'll see, you will turn back the clock for that luscious moment, years and years and years.

This **picture is a few years old, but upavista konasana joy is everlasting.

ooopaveesta konasana to you all!

*The full Upavista Konasana pose is to bend forward in this shape, and if you want to quiet your mind and stretch your hamstrings more, please do. For fun, and lengthening core strength, do it this way.

**if you are on my website please go to my blog to see this picture ~

An idea to combat speeding

2010-03-16T22:49:00.006-04:00

To slow down, we need to open up to what is right before us.

To speed, we shut all our doors and windows and just zoom.

The zooming can be a defense mechanism, a habit, or a combination of both.

When we are open, we have no choice but to slow ourselves. Speeding in an open state would be dangerous and uncomfortable.

A good place to practice being open is in final relaxation pose, Savasana.
Imagine as you lie on the floor that your body, mind and breath are open like a window, and let the breeze come in and ruffle your curtains.
Remember that you have nowhere to be and nothing to do but to just lay there, open.

Speeding

2010-03-12T18:14:00.003-05:00

Why are we all moving so very quickly!?

Try this: Sit down and stop moving your eyes,arms, legs, mouth, just for a moment. See if you can still feel the speediness.

How can we/I (!) slow down?
Oh I try, but I feel like a wind-up doll that an overactive child can't stop playing with.
Its seriously exhausting.

What lies beyond your bones

2010-03-08T20:38:00.006-05:00

Beyond your body is your mind. And beyond your mind is your Self.
The lovely body you get from practicing yoga is really just a bonus, and possibly even a distraction! :)
The real thing happening as you press the foot bones down and lift the arm bones up, is that you learn to find equanimity in the face of adversity, and that brings you closer to your Self.

That is really why I fell in love with yoga in the first place; yoga can take you from the far reaches of your own personal pendulums, and lets you float right there in the middle.

In the middle there is clarity, space, and many heartbeats.

~

the yoga of blog posting!

2010-02-04T17:55:00.005-05:00

It comes in waves, these feelings of being more yogic, or less.
Especially the wanting to share ideas.

There is:
Writing, and not writing.
awake, asleep
inhaling, exhaling
sweating, restoring
smiling, crying
stopping, going
rightside up, upside down
computer on, computer off

Hatha yoga is:
ha = sun, tha = moon, yoga = union

I feel much better! I hope you do too :)

yoga and digestion

2010-01-13T22:30:00.002-05:00

Aryuvedic medicine practitioners say that our digestion is like a fire.
You want to stoke the fire and give it the wood that it needs to keep burning, but if you put too much wood on, the fire smothers.
They say you should have 1/3 food, 1/3 water, 1/3 god(whatever that may be for you!)

Familia and Buddhism

2010-01-05T20:38:00.009-05:00

I was just scooping my homemade version of the tasty swiss cereal Familia (recipe below!) from its mixing bowl, into a jar and feeling impatient.
It was taking a while! I was dropping oats on the floor and my hand was cramping.
Then I thought, how would I be scooping this Familia if I had to fill one thousand jars?
How would I go about scooping if there really was no end in sight?
If there were 1,000 jars I wouldn't, or couldn't think about the end. And as a result, I'd probably move more slowly and have more awareness of the grains falling from the little red scoop into the glass (really quite pretty!)

From that moment on, my scooping became much more enjoyable.

I think about this with food and eating sometimes too ~ Like what if this chocolate-chip cookie I am eating was the size of of the borough of Brooklyn!? Would I still be devouring it as quickly? I really can't imagine that (both a bklyn sized cookie, plus devouring).

So there you have it, a Buddhism inspired kitchen experience, and a Familia recipe.
Enjoy! :)

Eva's Homemade Familia~
(all of this is very approximate!)

6 cups rolled oats
10 dates, chopped fine (may be mushy its ok!)
handful of dried apples, chopped fine
handful of raisins or currants
1 cup almonds
1 cup roasted hazelnuts
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
3/4 cup wheat germ
1 packet (about 3/4 cup) dried milk powder
a little salt
sugar (optional - I like to leave it out so eaters can choose their own sweetness)

Toast the oats in a 350 deg. oven for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.
Add the dates and apples to the oats and mix well
Turn the oven down to 200 and bake oat mixture 15 minutes longer, take out from the oven and let cool.

While the oats are toasting, grind the hazelnuts and almonds. A food processor helps, or you can be very yogic/buddhist about it and chop them mindfully until they are teeny-tiny.

In a big bowl mix the almonds/hazelnuts with all the other ingredients and add in the oat mixture.
Stir well.
Scoop, with awareness and love and a never ending sort of feeling into glass jars.

Serve with cold milk (better if you let it sit 5 or 10 minutes), or with hot water, a little milk and maple syrup - yummmmm

light on life

2009-12-28T21:47:00.006-05:00

I just started (again) to read Mr. Iyengar's book Light on Life.
It's good! I highly recommend it, though I should admit I'm only on page 16.
But what a page it is ~
I especially like this sentence:

"Asana [yoga postures] bestows the firmness to live with equanimity in the vicissitudes of the world's hurly burly."

He's got passion and is very to the point, a lighthouse in the storm of hurly burly!

teacher please!

2009-12-21T10:31:00.003-05:00

Does a person need to have a great teacher to become a great teacher?
I'm in the market, myself.
I'm calling out to the world, "looking for a great teacher!"

dance

2009-12-13T15:22:00.002-05:00

I went to see the Alvin Ailey dance company perform last night.

It was amazing to watch the dancer's bodies defy the notion of what bodies are supposed to be able to do.

It also felt odd to be sitting still and watching such defiance, such movement. The audience and the dancers were experiencing the two opposite sides of an enormous spectrum.

I think its important to remember that we are the whole spectrum (that is what the yogic sages would say!) , and we happen to be where we are inside of it, i.e. sitting, leaping, spinning.

Not that I am able kick my leg up to my ear, right now, on this rainy Sunday afternoon. But it is in the realm of possibility, with a little practice...

the yoga of...

2009-11-23T22:35:00.003-05:00

I often try to think in this way.
Like for example: What is the yoga of waking up early? It is a new day, and a new breath; you can surround yourself with quiet.
What is the yoga of animals? They are present in each moment, and don't know if they are pretty or silly looking.
The yoga of biking? Relaxing as the bumps come and go. There is concentration and grace in action.

Now with Thanksgiving in two days and with my baking skills warming up, I am wondering now: What is the yoga of Cheesecake!?

:)

Remember this~

2009-11-18T22:50:00.002-05:00

Yoga does not = Perfection!

pulling silk

2009-11-10T21:56:00.006-05:00

I try to teach my students how to use enough muscular effort to be in a pose, but not so much that they squeeze the possibility out from what it is that they are doing.

There needs to be some tension, but just enough to vibrate the energy within them.

I learned recently that in Tai Chi, there is a way of moving that is called pulling silk.

Besides the fact that I like to say "pulling silk", I think that imagining the idea of pulling silk can soften your yoga practice into something even more beautiful than it is already.

yoga health

2009-11-03T20:30:00.006-05:00

I'm thinking about how health is not gained by beating yourself up.
Yoga is not the pursuit of strong muscles.

Yoga can be what roots you to the earth so that your tree isn't blown over quite so easily,
The health that comes is effortless, in the fruit of that tree.

Resistance

2009-10-29T18:42:00.003-04:00

happens when you come up to something and then back away from it.

Within your person, resistance can happen when you come up to a sensation and your body/mind changes the subject. It happens in a snap.

Then what happens after the snap!?

where your spine begins

2009-10-28T21:13:00.004-04:00

Your spine doesn't begin in the back of your head.
It begins the very center. *

Close your eyes and mentally map where your spine begins.
Does knowing it's location change how you hold your head?

I find this so fascinating!

*for those of you reading this on my website, see the image on my blog!

The key to happiness as quoted from the Buddha

2009-10-21T21:50:00.003-04:00

"Learn to let go. That is the key to happiness."

Its cool. I'm cool. We are cool..., :)

Or as my friends and I used to chant in middle school,
"I wanna, I wanna, I wanna be a buddha!"
Though of course we really had no idea yet what it was we were aspiring to.

*

How should it be taught?

2009-10-21T16:35:00.010-04:00

"In the spirit of a grand tea party!" was how Alexander answered when asked how his technique should be taught.

My teacher Chloe recounted this story, and now I tell you.

Learning in a forced environment can only scare a person away from performing at his or her best. While a tea party environment encourages relaxation and effortless being!

Joy creates many more wonders, and besides, its just so much more fun!

Yoga in the News 10/06

2009-10-07T22:57:00.004-04:00

Check this out!

Yoga for dowager’s bump

it works!, yes it does. If you practice, a lot.

Lovely students

2009-10-07T22:13:00.005-04:00

I just received the nicest email from Carolyn. She is doing a challenge to get fit with 3 friends and using the LRY video to yogify herself.
She has lots of energy and excitement for the practice, so if you need a little inspiration/infusion, look at her blog!
Her words make me really happy. Making the videos was a lot of work. And then I sent them off into the world like baby birds.
Knowing that they are flying about, and finding good homes is really quite wonderful.

settling in

2009-10-04T23:13:00.004-04:00

A favorite professor of mine said that one should never feel badly about taking the time to go through piles.
Or moving those piles from one side of the desk to the other.
He said that those little things may seem like procrastination, but are actually our way of figuring out where we are in relation to the world around us.

In yoga we take a lot of time moving a foot forward, and then back, and then over to the side.
All just on one little mat.
And in the end we figure something out about where we are in relation to the world around us.
Its all the same!

yoga of housework?

2009-10-01T14:40:00.002-04:00

I'm thinking/hoping that washing dishes, sweeping, and organizing can be a yoga practice in and of itself. I keep reminding myself that cleaning is movement in action; an opportunity to do without rushing or stressing.
I still feel stuck beneath a mountain of boxes these days, and each time I get to the top, I fall back to the bottom again.
Its definitely good for staying humble.

pavritta janu sirsasana

2009-09-30T12:19:00.003-04:00

This *photo (and pose!) make me happy. Maybe they will you too?

The yogini pictured is named Aditi. Aditi will be one of the teachers for Living Room Yoga's mobile yoga studio, coming to homes (maybe yours?) near you. This pose is called pavritta janu sirsasana, or revolved head to knee pose.

If you would like to try this pose, warm up a little first, and then sit down (in a park is nice!)
Open your right knee out to the side with your heel tucked in toward your groin. Straighten your left leg out to the other side, toes pointing up.
Lay your left arm to the inside of your left leg. Using the arm like a lever, spin your torso toward the ceiling (or sky!) Reach the top of your head and your right arm toward your left foot. If you can reach your toes, wonderful. If not, just as wonderful, just make sure to breathe. Hold for 5 deep breaths and then repeat on the other side. You will feel renewed!

*For those of you on my website go to my blog to see!

breathing exercise

2009-09-28T21:56:00.004-04:00

I began an Alexander Technique master class on Sunday (ooh la la!).
Try this exercise; it is the beginning of my studies.

Imagine there is a big blossom on the top of your head. Whatever blossom you imagine is perfect for you.
Imagine big petals, maybe even say the word petal to yourself.
Imagine inside all those petals an opening, and that opening moves all the way to the base of your pelvis.

As you inhale, draw the breath from above you into the space within the petals.
As you exhale image the breath moving into, but not through your lovely sitting bones.
Continue to breathe like this, in through the top of your head, the opening of your blossom, and out filling the bowl of your pelvis all the way to your sitting bones.

I'll explain the importance of this later. For now, here is this exercise, sweet and simple, for you.

tai chi moves

2009-09-22T22:00:00.004-04:00

I was at the park with my (new!) husband Jeremy this morning.
He practices tai chi, and was teaching me some basics. I felt calm and smooth and relaxed from the practice.
I liked it. Actually, I reluctantly liked it; A lot of the warm ups seemed the exact opposite of what I have learned in yoga is healthy for the body.

Jeremy was bouncing while he stretched, turning his feet at odd angles before bending forward, and leaning back and whipping forward.

But the thing is, he has had major injuries in the past, and this practice was a huge part of his recovery.

So the moral of this story is just to move, not too worry too much about rules, and just move.
Really, just move your body and your mind and your health will follow.

A Garden

2009-09-11T06:42:00.003-04:00

is really wonderful.
sky + trees + a stone path + grass + a hill + water = magic
whoooooo~

the yoga of wedding planning

2009-08-26T23:17:00.003-04:00

The main thing is to be with people that you love, celebrating love.
Everyone keeps reminding me of that.

I'm also thinking that you must gently ride the wave of the day.
Even when there's a hurricane forecast for the outdoor ceremony. (aaah!)

In yoga they say that we often get confused between what is real and what is not. And then we feel pain when we think that we mistakenly take the unreal for the real.

Love is real! Napkin choice is not!

grace

2009-08-04T21:52:00.003-04:00

A long time ago a favorite yoga teacher of mine said that "The body likes to be graceful"

I've been thinking lately a lot about what grace means.
I've always thought of grace in a physical sort of way, like a ballet dancer is graceful.
Jeremy says that grace means forgiveness.

I like both but wonder how it all works, how does grace happen?

circulation

2009-07-30T14:57:00.003-04:00

If you listen closely to the sound of your beating heart you will find your rhythm.
This rhythm travels to the tips of your toes and to the edges of your skull, filling you with blood, oxygen, and energy.
Buckets-full move like waves, from the precious spot behind your breastbone into the ocean.

the knot

2009-07-28T14:47:00.006-04:00

I couldn't sleep last night. Everything hurt and no position felt comfortable at all.

I lay there with many thoughts and frustrations. Time passed by like this for a while, until under my closed eyes, I saw a knot. It was low inside my belly, tied tight, and made of thick whitish rope. I imagined my two index fingers prying themselves into whatever space was there and slowly, very slowly, loosening it.

When the knot loosened I felt so much better and finally fell asleep.

Entrainment

2009-07-22T22:20:00.004-04:00

From Wikipedia:

Air entrainment, the intentional creation of tiny air bubbles in concrete
Brainwave entrainment, the practice of entraining one's brainwaves to a desired frequency
Entrainment (biomusicology), the synchronization of organisms to an external rhythm
Entrainment (chronobiology), the alignment of a circadian system's period and phase to the period and phase of an external rhythm
Entrainment (engineering), the entrapment of one substance by another substance
Entrainment (hydrodynamics), the movement of one fluid by another
Entrainment (meteorology), a phenomenon of the atmosphere
Entrainment (physical geography), the process by which surface sediment is incorporated into a fluid flow
Entrainment (physics), the process whereby two interacting oscillating systems assume the same period

From me:

Entrainment is what I teach! The entrainment of the mind and the body and the universe.
Yoga Entrainment

Relax your belly

2009-07-15T23:34:00.008-04:00

*

Engaging a muscle a lot of the time is not a good thing.
Constant holding creates strain, weakness, tightness, mental stress too.
Your skeleton will hold you up. You won't fall apart if you relax.

So what took so long to realize this!? I always thought I should hold my belly in; loads of pressure to have a flat tummy.

But I've been experimenting lately (a little embarrassing with it being summer, the season of little clothes) and have found that as the belly is going, a new sense of calm is coming.
I never knew how much anxiety could be held in the belly, but there it is.

Give it a shot. If you are worried, wear a flowy and loose (and fashionable!) dress or shirt, and completely release. Soften your belly. Relax your belly. Let energy and circulation move through your belly.

Can you imagine the Buddha with a flat belly? No way!

*

Letting Go

2009-06-29T21:57:00.004-04:00

Its good to imagine something falling through your fingers - water, sand, miniature people, ideas, dreams.
It sounds depressing but its hopefully it is not; its realistic, yogic.
Its not like you cannot hold them again. You can hold them again, and then let them go again too.

*

the yoga of relationships

2009-06-22T15:45:00.001-04:00

A few yogic rules to go by ~

1. Let your mate be exactly who they are, otherwise you are squeezing a bud that wants to bloom. Enjoying the flower is much more exciting.
2. The truth is much bigger than 1/2 of a relationship can imagine.
3. There is a lot of quiet needed to listen to your body in yoga. Listening to your mate takes as much quiet concentration.
4. Both of you are very small and the world is huge.
5. A lot of prana or energy is passed from skin to skin. Touch, a lot!
6. Pets can help you remember to laugh and love ~

things that ground a person: a list

2009-06-11T22:30:00.003-04:00

1. Lying on the earth: on the grass, on the sand of a beach.
2. Sitting on a stoop and watching people, cars, bikes and dogs go by.
3. Washing dishes
4. Doing laundry
5. Cooking
6. Child's Pose
7. A cool eye pillow draped over the eyes.
8. Weight - Iyengar style sandbags on the legs, a cat on the belly
9. Writing!

the third eye

2009-05-31T19:53:00.008-04:00

The third eye is in between your eyebrows.
It doesn't see like your regular eyes see; it sees the inside of you.
It sees consciousness.
Here is a exercise to help you feel the power of your third eye:

Close your two eyes.
Focus on the top of your head.
You can imagine a blossom right there, open toward the sky.
From the very center of that blossom travel down over your forehead until your awareness rests right between the eyebrows.
Take this awareness a 1/2 and inch back to exactly where your third eye is. The color is thought to be blue, and the name is Ajna.
Now mentally massage your third eye, waking it up.
Let it's energy move toward the center of your head, and then flood your body with its consciousness.

Remember the third eye sees what your regular eyes do not!

the cannon-like flight

2009-05-26T21:48:00.009-04:00

Jeremy said something really good on Friday night. Just out of the blue he said:

When we are born its like we are just shot out of this cannon and even when we think that we aren't doing anything we still are moving and changing. Our bodies are burbling and digesting and growing or shrinking. We are spinning with this earth around and around. Day after day. It never stops. There really is no such thing as doing nothing, because its like we are part of this force that begins the day we are born and goes until we die.

And my yoga-fying brain thinks that stopping for a moment to watch that cannon-like flight is fascinating.

And, in case you are wondering, Jeremy is my husband-to-be! Wahoo!

*

Newton's Yoga

2009-05-13T22:12:00.007-04:00

Today, my student was telling me how yoga is rooted physics; he said that to whatever we do, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
I totally agreed with him.
Ooh!, but now I wonder what is the equal opposite reaction of "totally agreeing with him"?

*

blue sky meditation

2009-05-09T20:13:00.004-04:00

Close your eyes and imagine an endless blue sky underneath your eyelids.

When your mind begins to think, for example, "I wish I was sitting on the beach with this blue sky instead of in my bedroom", see the thought on a puffy white cloud and watch it float through the sky.

When your mind asks, "Should this puffy white cloud be big or small?", label that as a thought and put it on another cloud. Watch that cloud float along.

Judith Hanson Lasater said in her restorative yoga trainin that we shouldn't worry about how our mind keeps on thinking when we try to meditate.
She said that thinking is the brain's job. Just as you can't ask your skin not to sweat, or your lungs not to breathe, asking your brain not to think is impossible.

The key is to not grab onto the thoughts. The key is to watch them for what they are, only thoughts. They are not you.

You are the blue sky.

oh well

2009-05-04T18:53:00.007-04:00

I have a friend named Annie. She was my roommate two times (!) in college. I realized during the second time that she was a natural born yogi, with no Asana practice necessary.
When she did her homework, she did it. When she watched TV or goofed off or whatever, she did that too. She wasn't worried about homework when she was playing, or wanted to be playing while she was working.

She also taught me her secret mantra that I still think about: "oh well."

You can put it at the end of any and all sentences for a super-yogic effect.

1. I left the lights on in my car and now it won't start and I have no time to move it, oh well.
2. I missed the train and now I'll be late, oh well.
3. I can hold a handstand longer than anyone else, oh well.
4. I lost $20 bucks, oh well.
5. I ate too many cookies, oh well.

Try it, and notice if you feel a little more even, and a little less like holding on.
For a physical practice, try this: go to the beach and scoop up and handful of sand. Let the sand fall through your hands back onto the beach. Pick up another scoop of sand and let the second scoop fall through your hands back to the beach. Continue for as many scoopfuls as it takes until you realize that here is an endless amount of sand for you to scoop and drop.

the you!

2009-04-30T06:45:00.005-04:00

The you who is really you, was the you that you were when you were 2, and is still the you now that you are the lovely age of __.
You are still that cute, lovable, with big open eyes, or howling with tightly closed eyes.

I was listening to an interview on the radio yesterday, and the interviewee, Ruth Reichl, told something that her mom used to say.
I thought the quote so lovely that I stopped in the middle of washing my bowl, and messily wrote with wet hands and happy self,

"When you find yourself, when you know who you are, you will be beautiful."

vacation!

2009-04-18T09:18:00.008-04:00

A few thoughts on vacation through the eyes of yoga:
1. Change what surrounds you, and then, "Who are you!?" in this new place.
2. Because everything is constantly changing; changing our locale floats on that swelling wave.
3. The universe is vast, and we are small.
4. Our eyes are much bigger than our bellies.
5. Health is wealth (as Swami Vishnu Devananda was so fond of saying).
6. Vacation stirs up prana.

And now, a short exercise on #3.

Read this through, and then close your eyes. Sit comfortably. Take 5 slow breaths, in and out. Now imagine that you are 100 feet above where you are sitting, and look at yourself sitting there, in space. Really look. Look at where your edges meet the space around you. Notice how far away you are from the closest furniture, from a wall, from the structure of your building. Now see yourself in relation to your neighborhood, to your city, to your state, your country, the world we live on, then finally the universe.
If you keep this up, you may be enlightened by the time you get to the universe part!
Now begin.

note: the reason I write of vacation is that I am about to take one, so if I don't write for a few days, this is why!

small avocado

2009-04-16T21:35:00.006-04:00

I saw a small avocado when I was walking home from the train yesterday. It was perfect, simply resting on the corner of the sidewalk, where the slope met the street.
The avocado looked so ripe and lonely there; it looked like an orphan, round and soft and little, especially compared to all the cement that surrounded it. My heart really felt it's situation.
And then I had a little round epiphany; we are all like that avacado, just talking and moving and making stuff.

listen

2009-04-13T15:04:00.004-04:00

Everything is so loud. And its not just the cars and jackhammers. Its the lists of things to do and places to go and millions of people and physical pain.
I'm thinking that when there is this storm swirl of noise, and you are feeling wrong and you don't know why, you must listen very carefully to you.
Put earplugs in if you have to, wrap your head with a scarf, relax your belly and listen like you have never listened before.
You might hear something really good.

living advice

2009-04-06T20:02:00.010-04:00

I keep thinking about what my Alexander Technique teacher Chloe told me.

She said, "Try to walk with an unheld heart."

That was on Saturday. And now, whenever I try that, I feel so mysteriously happy.
So I offer the advice to you and your respective, lovely, warm, beating, hearts.

pace

2009-04-04T18:28:00.004-04:00

Remember that you are in no rush.
Really, no rush at all.

Bumblebee breathing

2009-03-31T17:14:00.009-04:00

I've been teaching Bumblebee breathing a lot lately. I'm not exactly sure why. Maybe springtime inspiration? Or by the plight of the honey bee?
There have been some funny reactions in my classes: all out laughter, a sudden opening of the body and mind to chant Om, the sense that the room was still buzzing after we all stopped, and an intense focus for the rest of class on a deeper level than usual.

All from buzzing like a bumble bee!

The pranayama, or breathing exercise is called Bhramari in Sanskrit. Bhramari will help to control and calm the flow of prana (energy) in all layers of your person. This exercise is supposed to be especially beneficial for your sense organs of eyes, ears, nose and mouth.

Here is how you do it:

Find a comfortable sitting position and close your eyes.
Rest your hands in your lap*.
Take a deep breath in through the nose, as you exhale, also through the nose, making a soft buzzing, or humming sound for the entire exhalation. Notice how the roof of your mouth vibrates with the sound.
Inhale again softly through the nose, and again exhale with a humming sound.
Repeat for at least 10 breaths, or more.
When you finish sit in quiet for a few breaths. Be aware of how the area right above the roof of your mouth feels. Notice if the room has a new vibration or energy.
Open your eyes and begin your day anew!

*Some people will close their ears with their thumbs and block the light from the eyelids with the last two fingers, placing the index and middle fingers on the forhead. This I would say is the advanced version of the pose and might be a little too intense if you are just starting out.

Balancing Opposites

2009-03-24T18:17:00.006-04:00

Imagine your body and mind like the string of a cello. The energy that lives in a string pulled from the base of the cello to its scrolling top can create a lovelyvibrating sound.

Same with you! Energetic balance in a yoga pose sounds rich and full. Pulled too tight, you might sound sharp, too loose could sound flat; the middle ground is where your body will vibrate right on key.

The words hatha yoga translate as sun(ha) and moon(tha) union(yoga). Too much sun would burn us; too much moon and we would be unable to grow, to wake up. The balance, or union of the sun and the moon creates life. The balance can be found in your tadasana (mountain) pose as well. Your feet root you to the floor. Your head is in the clouds. The balance of the two is what you breathe into to create life.

The opposites that can be balanced in yoga are endless: there is cool and warm, energy and relaxation, effort and surrender, remembering and forgetting. Yoga lies in between heaven and earth, liquid and solid, noise and silence, movement and stillness.

How do you find the balance between the opposites? By being very quiet and listening to where one element begins and merges into its opposite. That in itself is enough practice for a life time of yoga.

Greedlessness

2009-03-20T18:47:00.005-04:00

In yogic terminology, greedless-ness translates as Aparigraha. It is the last of the 5 Yamas, first recorded by the sage Patanjali thousands of years ago. The Yamas, or disciplines, are the foundation for travelling the Yogic pathway to freedom. To practice Aparigraha is to give to yourself freedom from the tyranny of stuff, freedom from your wallet, and freedom from the perception that the acquisition of wealth and its outcomes are what makes us worthwhile beings.

To practice Aparigraha, ( a good practice for these cash-strapped times, and much cheaper than a class!) try for one day not to shop. For that one day, when you feel the urge to buy candy, to buy another cup of coffee, to buy another pair of shoes, try saying to yourself, "I have everything I need to be a complete person, and anything else is unnecessary".

This is not easy to do. You might feel a little weird at the beginning, and a little empty. But the knowledge that you don't really need all that stuff can be much sweeter and more filling than anything you would find on a shelf.

The Yoga of Effortless Standing

2009-03-16T14:35:00.018-04:00

Since posting on the lifting of the kneecaps, I have had a simple, yet major revelation: In yoga practice we create energy and move into difficult poses by engaging and lifting our muscles. While this is helpful in an Asana practice, lifting these muscles too often will result in strain. Muscle strain produces injury.

Chloe Wing, a senior teacher of the Alexander technique, taught me this: Yoga alignment instructions are not daily life alignment instructions. She said (as I remember it) "Yoga is an ancient and mystical practice created to open the body to [divine] energy. It does not translate to daily function."

I expected a clap of thunder as she said this! I expected her statue of Shiva to leap off the windowsill and disagree! None of this happened. The only changes were my own eyes widening and my engaged shoulders releasing.

In daily life, the body should stand as effortlessly as possible.

Your muscles do not need to grip your bones.

The architecture of the bones can hold you up.

For you to try: Stand tall with your two feet on the floor. Feel the feet, not just what you think they feel like but truly how they feel: warm or cold, heavy or light, asleep or awake. Become aware of your toes and notice how they stream out from your foot without needing to grip the floor. The legs are even and steady. The leg bones stack on top of each other in a comfortable way. Relax your ribcage and shoulders. Forget what you have learned about proper posture, and instead rest and stand in comfort and ease. Let your arm bones hang loose and feel them growing very very long.

Breathe as if you were floating on your back in a clear lake. Stay here for as long as you like and float, effortlessly.

Thank you Chloe!!

a yoga practice tip!

2009-03-12T14:12:00.005-04:00

While I was teaching the daughter of my student Lisa yesterday, Lisa came in to tell her daughter that the very best thing she learned from me in yoga class: to lift her kneecaps up.
She said that in yoga class she could do anything if she lifted her kneecaps up. I was impressed, and inspired myself, since I am a classic accidental knee-locker. A lot of knee-lockers (ahh!, You didn't know there was a club!), don't really know how to lift the kneecaps. This is not good at all because locking puts too much pressure on the knees, and stops the flow of energy, or prana through your legs.
Besides, Mr Iyengar (in my opinion the god of yogic alignment) is a big fan of lifting the kneecaps up, and I go with him on issues like this.

Here is a short exercise that you can try to experience your knee lifting capabilities:

Stand on your two feet and bend your knees as if you were going to sit back onto a chair. Place your hands on the muscles of your thighs. Slowly start to straighten your legs and as you do, root your feet into the floor, and use your hands to encourage your thigh muscles (quadriceps) to lift up. Try not to push your legs back in space (locking them), but lift them up toward the sky. Squeeze them up like this for 5 breaths, and then release, and just notice how you and your legs feel. Stand in your Tadasana (mountain) pose.

Now you can do anything!

snow-ga

2009-03-02T09:36:00.005-05:00

Snowflakes are perfect without trying.
They just fall down like that, with symmetry and impermanence, making children happy and frustrating drivers. Good little soldiers of the sky!

Yoga is this

2009-02-27T09:08:00.005-05:00

I found this quote on one of my favorite teacher's websites. I have seen it there before, and every time I do, I smile, and understand yoga a little bit more. My teacher's name is Genny Kapuler, and the quote is from the poet Elizabeth Bishop (that is her lovely profile in the picture)

"It is like what we imagine knowledge to be: dark, salt, clear, moving, utterly free."

my grandmother's yogic story

2009-02-21T15:09:00.006-05:00

My grandma told me how she used to work in an office in New York with a blind woman. This coworker liked to sit in her office chair with her hands on her lap, palms turned up toward the ceiling.

When my grandmother asked her why she sat like that, the woman answered that it was a gesture of acceptance. My grandmother was a pretty tough cookie, but this really made her feel, and retell the story to me, long before I was a yoga teacher.

If you would like to try, sit tall and close your eyes. Place your hands on your thighs, palms facing up. Imagine one small bird resting on each upturned palm. Take a few breaths and under your closed eyes imagine the color of the bird's feathers and the delicacy of their faces. Now imagine the small birds gently flying up and away, leaving your hands as light as their feathers were.
Stay for as long as you like and breathe.
I think my Grandma would approve :)

karma?

2009-02-14T08:40:00.003-05:00

I have a student who gets really frustrated and stressed by the world around her. She's yells at it. She yells at the family dog. She yells at the housekeeper.
The thing is, when she yells at whomever, she is really yelling at herself. It is her own body and mind that reverberates with negative noise.
I told her that if you throw a ball against a wall like that, it's going to come back to hit you in the nose. It will produce stress.
The flip side of this dilemma is very beautiful and easy. You only have to practice being gentle. Then you will find yourself sweeter to yourself.
Its why giving someone a present can make you feel so good.
Give love and you will feel love!

(happy valentine's day)

yogi words

2009-02-11T14:43:00.003-05:00

my friend amy, a most fabulous illustrator just sent an email asking for yogi word suggestions. I wrote a bunch down, and then I thought they looked so pretty I wanted to put them here too, for the lovely you.

present
space
open
stretch
strengthen
lift
root
asana
surrender
sit
the names of the poses...
heart
body
mind
relaxation
om

Try not sweating at the gym

2009-01-28T23:23:00.009-05:00

Its just an idea.

I don't think that sweating is a bad thing. I do it often!
Not sweating is really not about good or bad. It is about not pushing yourself, and instead being in cool calmness.
The yogic way doesn't make your heart race. The heart stays steady as the yogi moves through or holds difficult postures

Here is an example from the ocean. We bicycle to the beach in the morning and see waves licking the shore. We rest in the sun and the waves still lick the shore. We go swimming and the waves lick the shore (and us!). We throw the frisbee and beside us, the waves lick the shore. We eat lunch and watch the waves lick the shore. We swim again and the waves lick the shore (and us!). We finally go home and the waves ignore our leaving, still licking the shore. All night with no people or volleyballs and only the moon as light, the waves lick the shore.
The waves can be our breath, our sweat, our energy.

And we! We can be as beautiful as the waves, coming, going, splashing, licking, soothing.

obama's hands

2009-01-23T13:51:00.002-05:00

Did you know that obama is a lefty??
I'm not sure why that makes me happy, but it does.
Stay tuned for more on Obama's yogic-ness, to go along with his left handedness...

the yoga of forgetting your cell phone

2009-01-14T22:27:00.025-05:00

I found an advertisement in People magazine that went a little something like this:

(imagine a pretty lady running on the beach with a blackberry in one pumping fist)

"I take my family everywhere I run, I hear from them once a mile. Luckily [praises of the cell phone company's service] which is important, if I get a crisis call about a missing binkie..."

The ad upset me, and still upsets me!
I think we are in serious need of a Forget Your Cell Phone at Home Day

This could be a very exciting day. There could be confusion about plans to work out and worries about meeting who we are supposed to meet. Separation anxiety from our friends and family and the realization that we are actually solo.

This is where yoga comes in. Deep yogic breathing to assuage worries and steady confidence that the day will be as it will be. Maybe the forgetter would even feel the warmth of knowing what is important and what is not so important.

Being a little scatter-brained, I've tried forgetting the cell phone more than once.
You can run around, and no one can catch you.
Really, just like being a puppy off-leash.

The yoga of food

2009-01-12T21:43:00.007-05:00

Last night I ate pizza at delicious Amorina. Delicious and classic with red checkered tablecloths, flowery wall paper, warm chandeliers & people.

The girl sitting next to my friend and I was eating her very own pizza. She was by herself and enjoying her food a lot. She also had a journal on the table that she was writing in.

The journal, the pizza, the contented woman would have been enough, but then after dinner she ordered a cappuccino. It was lovely and foamy. I was really impressed.

Then she ordered dessert. Maybe it was ricotta cheesecake? I'm not sure. It didn't matter what the dessert was, only the fact that she ordered it. Though I do remember little caramel swirls on top.

I wanted to be her friend. Actually I wanted to be her, sitting alone with something to write on and enjoying, luxuriating over an incredibly complete meal.

That would have to be the yoga of food, exactly!

the best yoga teaching advice that anyone ever gave me

2008-12-29T13:47:00.004-05:00

"eva, you just gotta love 'em."

-Jonathan Gordon, The Yoga Center of Brooklyn

the inside and the outside

2008-12-21T09:20:00.012-05:00

I talked to Erin at her little party last night.
Erin is a painter with very lovely hands. When she spoke, she painted the air around us with her fingertips. It was like watching a work in progress, very fascinating!
This is what she said, paraphrased, as I remember (it was late...)

You know, sometimes its good to remember with all the stuff that goes on here, [imagine long thin fingertips swirling around the temple/forehead area] that real life happens out here. [imagine now, same fingertips swirling the air around and in front of her, my neighbor, and myself]

We talked about how, while being in a serious muddle, we see our friends, or snow, or a cat tucked into the recycling box and it (whatever your it may be) really doesn't seem so bad.

My quandary here is that yoga philosophy says that "reality" does happen in our heads. The world is an illusion. An illusion that is put there to teach us something, but still an illusion. And everything out there is colored by what is in here.
Maybe its a give and take? Our thinking paints the illusion brighter or darker, and that illusion does the same to our paint?

good stuff to ponder...but outside pondering or in??! Oy!

This is Erin's painting up above. Click on it to see more!

a present for you!

2008-12-18T17:06:00.002-05:00

I am so excited about these presents!
They are lovely and sweet and of course, a surprise!!
If you would like one, email me your address and I will mail you one as soon as they are ready.
While my supplies last.
my email: eva@livingroomyoga.com

just do it

2008-12-13T15:27:00.017-05:00

I bring this up because I have been meaning to, for the last 6 months (or more!?) dye my ugly brown shoes black to make them cute (er) and wearable.
I just did it.
It took me 8 minutes, and even inspired the dying of other (not so attractive) shoes as well.
Now I feel accomplished, calm, and curious at whatever took so long.

In a yoga class, the teacher says what to do, and the students do it. The simplicity of following clear directions makes them feel so good. It clears their minds, organizes their bones, and energizes a sense of possibility.

If you would like to experience this phenomena in real time, do this:

1. Stand up and lift your two arms up toward the sky, palms facing in.
2. Pretend you are holding a clear tube that surrounds you completely.
3. Imagine that this tube goes straight up into the universe and burrows down into the earth. You are right in the middle of all this.
4. Close your eyes and breathe 5 deep breaths, in, and out.

Lovely, yes?

Left and right peace agreement

2008-12-03T16:10:00.006-05:00

I am trying to declare peace between the left and the right sides of my person.

Here is a little background on the two sides: The right is tighter, smaller and more demanding. She is like a button mushroom that wants to be in control and controlled at the same time. The left is more introspective and relaxed, like an oyster mushroom. She likes to relax and read and sleep late. She can also be a bit of a slug.

The internal war often starts first thing in the morning. Something mysterious will wake me up. The right side is the first to speak. "Out of bed with you!" she says, very similar rhythmically to "Off with your head, you!" The left side pretends not to hear her. She is still considering a dream. There is a woman with the part of her chin that is under her tongue and between the boomerang shape of her jaw and the rise of her neck, gone. Something had fallen through there, or like in a whirlpool, actually sucked through.

The right side doesn't let the left finish thinking about the lady w/ no undertongue part. She insists that she write about the lady from the dream immediately. The left side doesn't want to. She is heavy like potatoes, and besides, one arm is asleep and unable to move. That arm, the left points out silently, knowing that the right has won the fight anyway, is the right arm.

In an alternate universe the two sides of a person could react to each other in the same way that two cats living in the same studio apartment do: reluctantly. The two sides could howl at each other, and then make out all in the same breath. They are cute together. At night they unzip. Then they air out. When they come back together they are able to snuggle once more in the peace and quiet in which they live.

My universe is different. It has something to do with patterning. Faced with multiple left and right situations, they cling to each other to stay afloat but bruise each other in the process.. There is nowhere else for the two sides to be but married to each other. And like any couple that has been together for more than 30 years, they know what the other will say before they say it, even though they don't necessarily like it. They hold serious grudges. That is why this peace agreement is so important.

hope

2008-11-26T12:26:00.006-05:00

The sun is finally peeking through the clouds and it is really dazzling my eyes.
The colors are a little brighter after you haven't seen them for a while, no?
I wonder if we need to feel sadness in order to have happiness, or hopelessness to find hope?
I don't want that to be the case. I want to feel smooth all the time, but that is probably asking too much.
From her book Writings, p. 135, Agnes Martin writes:

When we are unhappy it is because something is covering our minds and we are not able to be aware of happiness. When the difficulty has passed we find happiness again.
It is not that happiness is all around us. That is not it at all. It is not this or that or in this or that.
It is an abstract thing.
Happiness is unattached. Always the same, it does not appear or disappear. It is not sometimes more and sometimes less. It is our awareness of happiness that goes up and down.
Happiness is our real condition.
It is reality.
It is life.

In yoga-speak, the things covering our minds are veils. The veils teach us, they frustrate us, they fill us with sensation and the need to run. In order to see reality, or happiness/bliss, we must work at moving through them, to our middles.

Agnes Martin was so yogic!
Real proof that you do not need to bend your body into a shape to be a yogi.

decidedly unyogic

2008-11-24T12:38:00.005-05:00

I haven't written in a while because I've been feeling decidedly unyogic.
I'm trying to feel differently & maybe that is the problem?, the trying?
The artist Agnes Martin wrote about how when all pride is gone, then you are truly free.
Freedom = ?

a new intent!

2008-11-17T12:20:00.002-05:00

Big news! I am now a blogger for intent.com
I actually just posted my first one about introductions.
Its a good one!
If you would like to read it, click here: Namaste
Please know that I will not ignore this bloga! It's like my baby (if I had a baby~)
Intent is just a way for me to reach a few more peeps.
So feel free, on your yogic computer wanderings, to visit me there. I would love to have you!

Infiniti's pace?

2008-11-12T23:28:00.008-05:00

How would it be to act as if there were no beginning and no end to whatever you were doing.
As if there were only the action itself.
I did sun salutations once for 45 minutes straight. I'm not sure if I just worked myself into a tizzy, or I really did start to feel the pulse of the universe in my bones.
The experience did feel never-ending, and my purpose felt different than usual. Pretty much no purpose.
Acting without end could be like running in a marathon, without all the people cheering. Maybe it would be quiet and your feet would make nice noises pushing off the pavement.

(this is my friend morgan's painting. her website is www.morganmckeehan.com)

the leaves are falling...

2008-11-06T11:45:00.003-05:00

The leaves in Prospect Park finally decided to let go. Of course not all of them, but A LOT.
They've been hovering at the brink for a while, looking like small pieces of fire.
And then last night there was lots of wind, and the beautiful leaves let go of their branches.
They didn't even have to think about it.
They let go, just like that.

President Obama!!!

2008-11-05T00:31:00.003-05:00

I just want to keep saying it over and over again,
We have a PRESIDENT OBAMA!!!!
I'm just so happy I'm not quite sure what to do with myself.

Wow, sometimes its the best thing in the world not to be equanimous~

Obama!

How yoga is like playing music

2008-11-02T21:53:00.006-05:00

You are in a yoga asana and your body fits just right.
You are breathing and the breath is resonating through your entire person.
And you love yoga so much, because the music your body is making, both inside your mind and on the edges of your skin is so incredibly beautiful, you can't help but get really quiet to listen.

That is also why, when you are first learning yoga asana, and your body feels awkward and difficult, or when your hips are tight and won't let you get into a place of comfort, you hear the screaching and shakiness of a beginning violin student. And of course you want to run.

Taking a flowing yoga class is like playing a melody that lifts and dips and travels in spirals and ovals.
A yoga asana in the Iyengar tradition is a single note held steady for a long period of time. Its beautiful, sustained and mesmerizing.

Yoga is called sometimes meditation in motion. Its also really so much about listening. About getting super quiet and listening. Even if it sounds terrible listening, and noticing if it starts sounding goergous listening too.