What is this gravity that pulls me to earth and roots me here?
My mind and heart may float away at times, but not my body… thanks to gravity!
It helps keep me safe and secure here.
These flights of fancy may take me away from this body for a time.
But then thankfully I catch myself and miss being present in the here and now.
I remember what grounds me… and come back to my body.
Mind and heart, I want you to be here now!
I need you here to enliven this body on earth with all your dreams!
Respect and love are forever dance partners never too far from one another on the dance floor of our hearts.
They are completely dazzled by one another!
The room goes hush when they are on the floor.
Sometimes, a good belly laugh is all that can “cure” the ills of the world and help lessen the everyday pressure of life.
It’s like taking a photograph of the same thing from an entirely different point of view.
Have you ever noticed that when you laugh, your mind loses its grip for a moment?
It lessens its hold on present thoughts, perspective, and even moods.
After the laugh, you somehow feel refreshed, different, renewed… bothered less.
Drink up, my friends!
So many yoga poses like warrior and lions’s breath foster a brave and focused fearless heart.
They that feed the lion within ready to take on the injustices so prevalent in the world and in our everyday lives.
They feed our courage to stand up for ourselves and others rights as though they were our brothers and sisters.
This fierce love needs to be fed like compassion–the yang and yin of the heart.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
May your heart and mine burn bright as we stand up and fight to protect our earth and champion the rights that should be accorded to all people.
So much of yoga and meditation is concerned with the heart and its chakra.
On this Valentine’s Day and in the days and months ahead, remember to do things that care for and feed your own heart and that of those you love.
In a human being, the greatest alchemy of life can occur… compassion brought to pain, or sorrow, or anger, or fear can not only soothe them but literally transform them–accept, hold, and eventually even transmute them like the sun to clouds.
Our consciousness like the sky holds this marvelous drama for us to behold and love.
Giggles are like jiggly lines on the surface of the water.
Belly laughs are deeper ripples,
Like a long series of duck quacks.
What will I be in awe of today?
Like a hiding secret, it will be revealed or spring forth unplanned, unknown before that wondrous moment.
I need to be attentive… or I might miss it.
It may not be flashy. It could be very subtle.
It could be in my cup of coffee…or tea… in a casual conversation in the grocery store line… while pruning in the garden….
It could literally be anywhere, even in my anger or tears….
It cannot be pressured to appear.
It has a funny kind of performance anxiety.
Like meditation, it comes to me. I just need to show up–open and present, welcome to its surprise.
What will I be in awe of today?
Like a hiding secret, it will be revealed or spring forth unplanned, unknown before that wondrous moment.
I need to be attentive… or I might miss it.
It may not be flashy. It could be very subtle.
It could be in my cup of coffee…or tea… in a casual conversation in the grocery store line… while pruning in the garden….
It could literally be anywhere, even in my anger or tears….
It cannot be pressured to appear.
It has a funny kind of performance anxiety.
Like meditation, it comes to me. I just need to show up–open and present, welcome to its surprise.
When you do not own your feelings, your feelings will somehow own you.
Own your fear and hesitation, your anger and humiliation, your sadness and grief as well as your courage and trust, your calm and respect, your joy and peace.
Uncomfortable feelings are just that–uncomfortable!
Despite the desire to avoid and flee from difficult feelings, in yoga and meditation I somehow find the stamina and even the patience to be with them more.
Accepting the discomfort somehow sets in motion the alchemy to transform it.
Like in a difficult yoga pose, I am more able to find the determination and strength to sustain a greater presence of mind and body.
Regular practice of yoga and meditation seems to gradually and inexplicably increase my capacity for acceptance and transformation.
What will come up today when I do yoga or meditate?
There’s really never any telling….
Some new insight or feeling, a different way to do a pose… a teacher assisting me that brings about a new understanding or sensation in a pose… maybe just the wisp of a word that somehow rings true, the smallest thing that makes such a big difference.
The tiniest adjustment of thought, or the body in a pose, of attitude or feeling…like a light ocean mist spray.
The Every Day Yogi 