suddenly I see why the hell it means so much to me…

you may recall i got all excited about going to the squam art workshops retreat last september – it was such a big step with all the assoicated drama that comes with commitment, facing fears, acknowledging hidden parts of myself, y’know…all that hard stuff that’s good for you. i ended up not going for a variety of reasons, all of them surmountable individually, and most in concert, but the fear monster got the best of me and i stayed home in my cozy little rut.

well as luck {angels, spirit-guides} would have it, elizabeth ~ the founder of squam ~ showed up at my studio this week. as it turns out we were twins seperated by years and birth-mothers, long lost sisters of the earth, tribemates…i knew this of course from our first email exchange…but sometimes you need a whack on the side of the head in order to get your vision working again. silly robot.

we spent friday afternoon together – being girly, catching up, shopping, daydreaming and masterminding {read: outwitting my fear monster} my trip to squam this year. elizabeth is AMAZING {sing this loudly!}…beautiful clear-blue-green eyes, passionate, together, kooky, validating, loving and inspiring.

and suddenly i see!

the power of art is clearly no different than the power of yoga – it’s all about divine energy and creation. mary jo, one of the gifted, amazing, powerful, sensational teachers at my studio sent this quote to me:

“Your skill as a yoga teacher is not in teaching your students sophisticated technical asanas. It is in your application of yoga as a breakthrough practice for overcoming personal inhibitions, fears, and insecurities. It is in fearlessly comunicating to each one of your students their greatest possibility, to see themselves as divinity. It is by being in the passion and fire of yoga.” ~amrit desai

replace “yoga” with “art” or “creativity”…and you’ll understand elizabeth. i’m thankful, and honored, and thrilled to have her in my life…please – check out the squam site, and come join me in september!

lovelovelove!

*m

Honoring Guruji…

Sri K. Pattabhi Jois 1915-2009

As one person wrote today “my heart needs company…”

Guruji, as he is affectionately know, died today in India at the age of 93. He is one of the guiding lights of Yoga and the leading force behind Ashtanga Yoga. I believe he’s gone on to some place wonderful and I know the beauty of his teachings will live on through the many gifted men and women he has touched…

some of his wisdom…

~ Ahhh Samdhi. Yoga is Samadhi. God is One. Yoga is One. Philosophy is One. That is All.

~ Practice. All is coming.

~ Yoga is 99% Practice. 1% Theory.

~ Yoga is possible for anybody who really wants it. Yoga is universal. Yoga is not mine. But don’t approach yoga with a business mind looking for worldly gain. If you want to be near God, turn your mind toward God and practice yoga. As the sutras say “without yoga practice, how can knowledge give you moksha (liberation)?

~ Inhale, and God approaches you. Hold the inhalation, and God remains with you. Exhale, and you approach God. Hold the exhalation, and surrender to God.  (from Krishnamacharya – Guruji’s teacher)

Safe travels, beloved Guruji…

…

(one) of the loves of my life…

painted by one of the most inspiring yogini artists i know – the divine shirley ruff!

this surprise portrait of me with my loveboy…little duncan…showed up today. i’m so honored and love it so so so much. she was able to really capture the essence of this sweet doggie. the studio walls are filled with shirley’s work and i love her colors and lines and vision. thank you shirley, from the bottom of my heart.

lovelovelove

today i choose authenticity…

my first crush…

screened at lunafest…

a new sense of wonder…

Everything leads to awakening. Even that which your mind may see as harmful is reminding you of another possibility. Simply give up your attachment and fascination with the story of your personal life and let it happen. Something of immense significance will take the place of all your worries and you will be overrun by a new sense of wonder. Everything will reflect a quality of benevolence. This is the natural way for life to be.

~ Tony Parsons

happy easter!

love, love, love…

How deep is your foundation?

“Whence come the highest mountains? I once asked. Then I learned that they came out of the sea. The evidence is written in their rocks and in the walls of their peaks. It is out of the deepest depth that the highest must come to its height.” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche from Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Commentary by Brian Johnson of Philosophers Notes: I love that. I like to look at it two different ways: First, Nietzsche’s talking about suffering here. It’s out of our greatest suffering that our greatness rises. Look at a Lincoln or an Oprah. It’s out of their deepest suffering that their greatness (and compassion!) rises.

I also think of the “foundation” on which a skyscraper is built. You’ve probably heard the truism that if you want to see how tall a building is going to be you need to look at how deeply they’re digging the foundation. Want a 2-story house? No big deal. Don’t need to dig too deep. Don’t need to spend much time or energy on the foundation. Want a 200-story building? Totally (!) different story. Your foundation is perhaps your most important work. It had better be deep. How about you? Are you willing to go deep?

…More Friedrich love:

“I overcame myself, the sufferer; I carried my own ashes to the mountains; I invented a brighter flame for myself.”

“It is out of the deepest depth that the highest must come to its height.”

so i thought i’d let you know…

love!

…

…a 19th century american view of mindfulness…

There were times when I could not afford to sacrifice the bloom of the present moment to any work, whether of the head or hands. I love a broad margin to my life. Sometimes, in a summer morning, having taken my accustomed bath, I sat in my sunny doorway from sunrise till noon, rapt in a revery, amidst the pines and hickories and sumachs, in undisturbed solitude and stillness, while the birds sing around or flitted noiseless through the house, until by the sun falling in at my west window, or the noise of some traveller’s wagon on the distant highway, I was reminded of the lapse of time. I grew in those seasons like corn in the night, and they were far better than any work of the hands would have been. They were not time subtracted from my life, but so much over and above my usual allowance. I realized what the Orientals mean by contemplation and the forsaking of works. For the most part, I minded not how the hours went. The day advanced as if to light some work of mine; it was morning, and lo, now it is evening, and nothing memorable is accomplished. Instead of singing like the birds, I silently smiled at my incessant good fortune. As the sparrow had its trill, sitting on the hickory before my door, so had I my chuckle or suppressed warble which he might hear out of my nest.

~ henry david thoreau, walden