"Finding love or joy in unlikely places"

In essence, this thought or mantra is one of the messages I took home with me after my six week insight meditation course. For the past year, I felt myself finding wonder in the simple things and in the great outdoors, so I have been traveling a more mindful path than I could have imagined- before ever taking this course. I’ve found myself stopping to investigate  things like a four year old, and I have shared many of my deer encounters (while hiking)  with friends who sometimes think I am nuts to talk to these gorgeous and graceful animals. “Run up a tree and get away from them, you’ll get gored or kicked in the head!”, they say to me.

A fellow yogi passed along this poem today, I experienced the energy of insight and metta meditation when I read this poem... it’s kinda odd in some respects but it does drive home the point that all that is adoring or lovely is not necessarily clean and beautiful...or alive.

Life Shared.

Aimless Love

This morning as I walked along the lakeshore,
I fell in love with a wren
and later in the day with a mouse
the cat had dropped under the dining room table.

In the shadows of an autumn evening,
I fell for a seamstress
still at her machine in the tailor’s window,
and later for a bowl of broth,
steam rising like smoke from a naval battle.

This is the best kind of love, I thought,
without recompense, without gifts,
or unkind words, without suspicion,
or silence on the telephone.

The love of the chestnut,
the jazz cap and one hand on the wheel.

No lust, no slam of the door –
the love of the miniature orange tree,
the clean white shirt, the hot evening shower,
the highway that cuts across Florida.

No waiting, no huffiness, or rancor –
just a twinge every now and then

for the wren who had built her nest
on a low branch overhanging the water
and for the dead mouse,
still dressed in its light brown suit.

But my heart is always propped up
in a field on its tripod,
ready for the next arrow.

After I carried the mouse by the tail
to a pile of leaves in the woods,
I found myself standing at the bathroom sink
gazing down affectionately at the soap,

so patient and soluble,
so at home in its pale green soap dish.
I could feel myself falling again
as I felt its turning in my wet hands
and caught the scent of lavender and stone.

~ Billy Collins ~

(Nine Horses)

Pursuit of Dhyana

Step Back from the Asana.

Set the New Year on a stable track

“But I’m addicted to it. I have been working on pincha for nine months, I can’t back off now!” Does that response speak to you? During this first quarter of the new year step back from the asana and be still. How? By practicing fewer poses...practicing restorative yoga...practicing seated poses to ground and prepare yourself. And do what? Meditate or meditate more. Why? For the peace, connection, and clarity from meditation feed your spirit and transform your asana practice. Join me in this path of enrolling in an insight meditation course, or some form of mediation workshop even if you meditate at this time. Scout around your local yoga studios as well as the universities and holistic centers to find a workshop near you and enroll in one.

Just as we ‘begin from the beginning’ occasionally in our asana postures, take yourself back to the bottom rung of meditation with a mentor or guide. I have enrolled in a six-week meditation course because I have found the power of attention by stepping back to an environment of simplicity to strengthen me in many ways. I have found this from my own meager (version of meditation for dummies, I suppose) and virtually unguided pursuit of dhyana. But now, I seek more direction and understanding from a mentor who has studied and practiced 

for many years, I guess I also enjoy being a student!

My class begins in two weeks and the enthusiasm is building, but I avoid building expectations. Good or not so, or indifferent, I should have a few blogs to document this adventure. I look forward to hearing about  your journey as well. 

Life Embraced