SIMPLE SATISFACTION

Somerville, MA - As my friend and teacher once said during a men's circle, 'perfect wrecks good.' I am writing today from a cafe in Davis Square, a neighborhood business district near Tufts University and taking a moment to feel simple satisfaction in accomplishing simple tasks today such as updating the links on this blog.

The underlying lesson is that far too often I've created lofty expectations and experienced more self-disappointment than success which has led to a chronic sense of "being behind" or low-level stress.

Today, I slept-in after enjoying great conversation with Dazza and Jane, two yogis among my Boston-area community. Then, I took a phone call from my dear friend Lucy who is driving through Boston on her way back to Montreal, Canada after visiting Rhode Island School of Design with her daughter.

So, today I am reveling in simple satisfaction and acknowledging that I go through periods of productivity balanced with phases of recouperation.

MY BODY IS A TEMPLE

"Wonderer, worshipper, lover of leaving.
It doesn't matter.
Ours is not a caravan of despair.
Come, even if you have broken your vow
a thousand times
Come, yet again, come, come."
Inscribed at the tomb of Jelaluddin Rumi

In preparation for a workshop which I'll be teaching this winter, I've been spending time contemplating the theme of viewing the body as a temple.

Seeing the body as a temple is a perspective shared by many faiths, most notably Hindu Tantra a perspective in which Prana Flow yoga is rooted and that is reinforced many times by my teacher Shiva Rea.

What I'm specifically unravelling like you do when you untangle a 100-foot extension cord that is filled with many knots is the process in which I as a yoga practioner have come to embody this teaching below the superficial level. taking the statement and developing a palpable connection to it, so that whenever I invoke it as I teach, the words carry truth and experienced as authentic.

While I don't know the exact answer, I do think that the only practice is to maintain a constant, self-loving, just-right vigilance including all the waking hours off my mat of holding my body in the highest regard and offer self-forgiveness whenever the sight is lost. There are many times in the past where I've beaten myself up over missing a practice (or not practicing hard enough) or eaten food that wasn't the best for me, but as the inscription on Rumi's tomb reminds us, that we must begin again and again.

Just like breathing, this re-minding and re-focusing on the highest will always be with me because to forget would be to assume and to not practice at all.

Note: Credit for blog entry goes to Christina Sell who has a recently published book called My Body Is A Temple

MUDDY WATERS

Boston, MA - What a journey life has been in the past twelve months! So many people, places, experiences. But my reality is that it's a Monday morning, I have a fog much like the fog that shrouded the city's skyline this morning, and I'm paralyzed into inaction.

It doesn't help that in switching over my website account this past weekend, I discovered my website was out of commision this morning. No problem, right. I hastily created a temporary one-page site but what's another thing to add to the growing list of to-dos.

Perhaps I should wash my hands clean of "all this" and blame it on Mercury Retrograde but that would be claiming no responsibility and falling prey to inaction.

So, I am reminded to initiate movement in my life, begin again with my breath, and re-connect with the rest of the world. As I was talking with my friend, Dazza, last night, life is so precious and to be living at this time in the span of history is so so special.

FLOATING IN A TUBE DOWN THE ESOPHUS RIVER

I had the blessing of floating in a tube down a river with my beloved teacher, Shiva Rea, on Friday, August 20 before making our way to the Omega Being Yoga Conference.

We rented from Town Tinker Tube, a well established outfit in Phoenicia, NY. We rode in a bus with 20 or so teenagers and their chaperones up the Esopus River to the put-in point.

The bus ride began with an update on the water levels (low) and some instructions from the driver who was wearing a bandana much like a famous male yoga teacher, aviator sunglasses, and a fu-manchu mustache. The only thing missing was a 70s classic rock soundtrack blaring from speakers.

With water levels being on the low side, our ride began slowly but we experienced about half a dozen dynamic sections on the river. At one point, the rapids nearly tossed me off my tube. Shiva described me later to Coral and Debbie with my legs pointing directly upwards. I thought for sure that I would flip but I was able to right myself.

During the slow and flat portions of the ride, I stared up at the blue sky with puffs of cloud recognizing the tranquility of the moment especially after having just picked up Shiva the JFK Airport in New York City. Shiva and I had a rambling conversation whenever we drifted close to each other. At one point, she shared with me that teaching of the river - how we can't control our direction or speed and our task is only to relax especially during the dynamic journey through rapids.

I highly recommend taking an afternoon off and floating down a river. So many lessons and opportunities to unplug from the river of life back in the city.

RELISHING THE JOURNEY AND LIFE'S VINYASAS

Every now and then when you slow down from moving between jobs, teaching gigs, sleeping, waking, eating, etc. you experience an upwelling of happiness, love for life, gratitude, and empowerment from a well lived life. This is also matched by other experiences of confusion or stagnation, and emotions of anger or sadness.

Almost three seasons have past since my last Thanksgiving post on Gratitude. I've had many adventures and experiences. Life has been full and I've been blessed with many lovely, beautiful people.

My apologies to anyone I've left out but I enjoyed a sweet ringing in of the New Year with my Uhuru Afrika family at their party at the All Asia Bar. Then, I celebrated my 40th Birthday on January 16th with some very wonder-full people, Lucy, Sarah, Erin, Shiva Kumar, Erin, Dani, Bonnie, Bonnie A, Nicoline, Amber, Jay, Gretchen, Sarah, Alice, Charles, et al.

In March, I visited magical India for the first time by assisting my teacher Shiva Rea on her India retreat at Manaltheram Resort in Kerala. By the end of this retreat, the one word that resonated so loudly for my was integration. The teachings that I've been hearing seemed to have finally sunk in.

The other blessing of the trip was meeting some amazing yogis from all over the world and getting invited to teach the practice that I love - Prana Flow - in Copenhagen, Denmark, Florence, Italy and Beirut, Lebanon. Thank you so much to Charlotte Bruun of ZenSensation, Debora Cutolo of Florence, and Mira Siblini for hosting me this November 12-21.

In May, I found myself following adventure to New York City and spending time with Taoin and getting to know the Soulitious Crew. What a great cast of characters, Skye, Nikki, Liz, Todd, Fryske, Eric Tucker, Ella, Perry, Annelies, Heather, et al. The party continued over the July 4th weekend at the Philadelphia Experiment, a grand Burning Man-like experiment organized by a crew of dreamers and lovers of life from Philadelphia. So many late nights and some parties with dancing and laughing lasting well past day break. I was experiencing life to one of its many extremes.

As we know in vinyasa yoga, there are cycles and in between these peaks were regular days of getting up, meditating, going to work, going to yoga, returning home, meditating, sleeping, and starting over.

Starting over is a another great yogic teaching that I intend to channel into "A Great Flame Follows a Spark" blog.

Jaya Jaya Karunabdhe Shri Mahadeva Shambo

Thanksgiving Gratitude

Boston, MA - On the eve of Thanksgiving, I'm taking this moment to share for what I am most grateful. My short list includes: family, teachers (Shiva Rea and Paul Muller-Ortega), friends, a newfound path of health, and abundance in the forms of employment, housing, food, clothing, and transportation.

Highlights of the year with those for whom I'm grateful are a big family reunion in the Philippines in June, assisting Shiva Rea's Summer Pranification Teacher's Retreat in August, meditation retreats in Sedona, AZ with Paul Muller-Ortega, and Uhuru Afrika, the best monthly dance party in Boston created by DJ Adam Gibbons.

At the end of class last night before sitting up to chant OMs, I invited the students to take a moment and bring into their awareness something for what they are thankful. I chose to create that opening because in our fast-paced life we need to occasionally make conscious efforts to connect to the abundance that we already possess rather than experiencing loss because we cannot have something or haven't reached a certain point in one's life.

As pithy as is the story of the Pilgrims, the ritual of family gathering is an important embodied action in which we must participate or else we create our own separation. So, I wish everyone a warm and heart-filled holiday.

ABUNDANCE

Thursday, September 24th - It's just a few days into Fall and I'm still riding the bliss of hosting a wonderful Global Mala on the Boston Common on Sunday, September 20th. With Fall and the associations with harvest, I am reminded to reflect on the many things that make my life so full. 'There is so much magnificence' as the Steve Gold song goes.



In this season with my almost yearlong Neelakantha meditation practice with Paul Muller-Ortega, I am renewed by a quality of abundance rather than the past seasons experiences of deflation and wishing for more or changing things in my life.



I've had a full summer. I visited the Philippines a second time in June. At the end of July and the first week of August, I spent the week in Venice, CA assisting for my teacher, Shiva Rea. Then, I attended the first ever Bhaktifest in Joshua Tree, CA in September.

To top it off, at the 3rd Annual Global Mala Boston, over 100 yogis from the Boston area descended on the Boston Common to practice for peace and raise consciousness as well as funds for organizations working on important environmental and social issues. After last year's event which didn't raise any money, I was reluctant to help organize this year's event but the urge returned in July.

I was cognizant that organizing the event had to come from a well of joy rather than obligation. There are too many things in our life that we sometimes end up doing against our truest Self and we end up deeply exhausted rather than enthused.

I was happy with the turnout and further pleased when it turned out that Gaura Vani & As Kindred Spirits who were in Boston for the Ratha Yatra Festival could join our event ending kirtan (see photo above).

Living in the flow of life take skill and one of the skills that we can easily practice is living in abundance.