Periodic writings and updates
Tuesday August 13, 2019
dr̥g-darśana-śaktyor-ekātmata-iva-asmitā False-identification is confusing the nature of the seer or Self with the nature of the instrument of perception. In other words, false identification happens when we mistake the mind, body, or senses for the true Self. – Yoga Sutra II.6 So how does an ego-driven being check their ego at the door, anyway? The sutras…
Read PostThursday July 18, 2019
It truly is medicine “Laugh loudly. Laugh often and most importantly, laugh at yourself.” ~ Chelsea Handler This summer I find myself experiencing the subtle and persistent feeling of overwhelm. I’ve been “on the road” for nearly two months now; and though it looks like it’s all mosques in Istanbul, boats and sun-drenched islands in…
Read PostTuesday June 11, 2019
Each drop of water makes the river what it is. I often think of my life as a river. In that river, each practice on and off my mat—each asana, each seated meditation, each recitation of a mantra, each conscious encounter with another—is a drop. This metaphor connects me of the greater purpose whenever it…
Read PostTuesday May 14, 2019
Don’t just do something, sit there. After a thirty-plus-year relationship with sitting, I’ve let go of all extravagant expectations that my whole life will be “solved” and I’ll become permanently enlightened—steeped in divine bliss and released from the gale-like winds of my mind—through daily practice. In that sense, I’ve found freedom: The freedom of realizing…
Read PostThursday April 25, 2019
What is it worth to us, as humans, to consume resources without regard for the reciprocal relationship we have with our environment? I mean the outer ecosystem that sustains life on this planet; but I also mean our own inner ecosystems. It’s overwhelming and it’s easy to go about our daily lives with a woozy…
Read PostMonday April 15, 2019
This ground that supports us. This soil from which we get our sustenance, our water, our very life-force… our very lives. I don’t need to give you the statistics; you’ve heard scientists shouting into the void of capitalism, convenience and complacency for decades. Plastics, fossil fuels, the food and meat industries, ocean acidification, biodiversity loss, population…
Read PostThursday March 14, 2019
Forget. Remember. Forget again. Remember again. Tell yourself not to forget next time. Forget again… and oh, then remember. This is the experience of yoga. Or at least, it’s the one I’m familiar with. The grace of remembering my true nature; the humanness of the forgetting that follows; the drama-chasing and living from my small…
Read PostThursday February 7, 2019
Sustaining the flame of practice The years and then the decades roll by; and to sustain a vigor and passion for the humbling practices of yoga… well, it’s not easy. None of the teachings of yoga say it will be. Indeed, they caution us again and again that dedication will take every last drop of…
Read PostThursday January 10, 2019
What are nutrients and what is waste? This has been on my mind since spending a couple of weeks at an ayurvedic center in India where most of the conversation is about digestion. Every experience or item we take into our bodies can be broken down into nutrients or waste. In an optimal state, we…
Read PostWednesday December 5, 2018
Discomfort. We all experience it. It is a recognition that what is happening is not in accordance with our beliefs about the way things should be.Now, what to do in this moment when that lurking sense of discomfort arises? In my worst moments, I bear witness to my own avoidance patterns and the many forms that avoidance…
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