sound the bells..

sound the bells for untangling the mangling
sound the bells for waking the children
sound the bells for comforting the elders
sound the bells for restoring the earth

sound the bells for remedying the rising seas
sound the bells for encouraging kindness
sound the bells for untethering jealousy
sound the bells for transforming malice

sound the bells for peals of laughter
sound the bells for sharing the wealth
sound the bells for feeding the hungry
sound the bells for wisely recycling

sound the bells for renewing our pledges
sound the bells for releasing our sadness
sound the bells for bowing to another
sound the bells for refreshing our hearts

sound the bells for sheltering the homeless
sound the bells for tending the wildlife
sound the bells for igniting the wonder
sound the bells for planting trees, trees, trees

sound the bells for revitalizing mama nature
sound the bells for purifying our mindstreams
sound the bells for cherishing all beings
sound the bells for deepening our friendships
                    and much, much more...



new year’s day bell ringing ceremony 

TUESDAY,  JANUARY 1ST 2019
10 AM - 11:30 AM

2  ( TWO ) LOCATIONS NEAR YOU !!

crescent moon yoga
w/ susan schanen & annie taylor
606 morris street
la conner, WA 98257
benefiting 
communityactionskagit.org

AND

ccmp - outcalt chapel
w/ dunja lingwood
4590 carmel valley rd.
carmel, CA 93923
benefiting
peaceofminddogrescue.org


please come!
for yoga, meditation & bell ringing  ~
bring a bell ( even a pot lid and a spoon will do)
we will ring our bells 108 times -
each person will have an opportunity
to place their wish or prayer in the burn bowl
- affirmations for the new year -
- regrets from the past year -
- any prayer from the heart -
prayers and wishes will be burned
at the end of practice  ~

these classes are by donation..
please bring your deep pockets and generous hearts!

may 2019 bring forth
mighty compassion,
great wisdom, 
vital health,
deep peace, 
hallowed harmony, 
unfettered joy 
& kindness, kindness, kindness…

$ 1719

thanksgiving givers..

thank you!

we sent off $1719

to yoga behind bars ~

the small man

builds cages for everyone

he knows.

while the sage,

who has to duck his head

when the moon is low 

keeps dropping keys all night long

for the

beautiful

rowdy

prisoners.

               ~ hafiz

dwane, an inmate, who

is has been a yoga teacher 

for 3 years now,

says :

i am in prison but i am not a prisoner.

the function of freedom is to free someone else.

                ~ toni morrison

THANKS - GIVING

if the only prayer you ever say
in your entire life is thank you,
it will be enough.
               ~ meister eckhart

THANKS GIVING DAY BENEFIT CLASS
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 22   9AM-10:30 AM
CRESCENT MOON YOGA STUDIO 
606 MORRIS STREET
LACONNER

please join susan schanen and me
as we offer up a yoga practice
of thanks and giving -
the class is by donation..
empty your spare change,
bring your gold nuggets
and pieces of eight
to gift to yoga behind bars
yogabehindbars.org
CMY is on the map
gratitude in motion !

in wholeheartedness of presence,
the buddha is realized,
the dharma is lived
and the sangha is shared.
                  ~ dainin katagiri

dia de los muertos II - NOVEMBER 1st

okie-doke!

this just in..
crescent moon yoga
will be in her new location
on november 1..
our 9AM yoga class and 
the day of the dead meditation
@ 11AM will be the maiden voyage!

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN
TO OCTOBER 5 POST
TO GET THE PARTICULARS
IF YOU INTEND TO ATTEND..
all are welcome!


the address is:
606 morris street
east of the current location by 1/2 block
on the south side of the street -
the parking lot between the la conner library
and C M Y is the studios!!!
enter the studio through the lobby -
located up the stairs off morris st.

 (  Open House
Saturday, 
Nov 10th, 
Art's Alive Weekend, 
11 am -3 pm )


don't go outside your house to see flowers.
my friend, don't bother with that excursion.
inside your body there are flowers.
one flower has a thousand petals.
that will do for a place to sit.
sitting there you will have a glimpse of beauty
inside the body and out of it,
before gardens and after gardens.
                ~ kabir

VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

look inward & vote!

too many still look outward, 

some believing in the illusion

of victory and of victorious power, 

others in treaties and laws, 

and others in the overthrow of the existing order. 

but too few look inward, to their own selves, 

and fewer still ask themselves 

whether the ends of human society 

might not best be served if each man 

tried to abolish the old order in himself, 

and to practice in his own person 

and in his own inward state those precepts, 

those victories which he preaches on every street corner, 

instead of always expecting these things of his fellow men.

every individual needs revolution, inner division, 

overthrow of the existing order, and renewal, 

but not by forcing them upon his neighbors 

under the hypocritical cloak of christian love 

or the sense of social responsibility 

or any other beautiful euphemism 

for unconscious urges to personal power.

individual self-reflection, 

return of the individual to the ground of human nature, 

to his deepest being with its individual and social destiny - 

here is the beginning of a cure for that blindness 

which reigns at the present hour.

                       ~ carl jung  1918

please and thanks!

imagine this!

raise your words, not voice..
it is rain that grows flowers, 
not thunder.
                ~rumi

imagine this!
it has been 11 years since this blog began..
peace is healthy..
skipped 2 years..hummmm?
2009 and 2010
wonder about those missing 24 months..

to me,
writing is my way
of being
most fully alive.
              ~ ursula le quin

imagine this!
you can subscribe to this blog
by scrolling down to the last post
and simply signing up..
of course, it is somehow more complicated
than that, i have heard..
yet if you keep on keeping on..
you will be set..

the world of letters
is the true world
of bliss.
           ~ abraham abulaya

imagine this!
if you reply to the post that you receive
in your e-mail, i will not receive it..
don't ask me why,
no clue ~
( i have missed many an epistle
because of this!)
SO ~
you are invited to leave a comment
on the actual blog itself
or send a fresh e-mail
directly to my address..
peaceishealthy@gmail.com

i could
make prayers
or poems
on and on.
          ~ vassar miller

imagine this!
i have recently been asked
if i receive any sort of recompense for my writing...
most certainly !
by you reading it..
thank you ~

writing is the only way
i know how to pray.
                  ~ h.m. viramontes

for those of you who have wanted
to drop a donation in the mendicant bowl
for the missives that nourish you -
the account @ paypal is still active..
paypal.me/dlingwood
i will happily receive and gratefully accept
all and any offerings to underwrite my writings ~

making language is making prayer.
our utterances,
whether silent or voiced,
written or thought,
distinct or vague,
repeated or fleeting,
are always essentially prayer,
even though we seldom realize it.
to speak, to intone,
to form words with our mouth and heart and spirit,
is to reach out and reach in.
what we're always reaching out and into,
even when we don't know that we are,
is the boundless unknowable,
the unnamable.
in the end
prayer is not some specialized religious exercise;
it is just what comes out of our mouths
if we truly pay attention.
debased as it so often is,
language at its core always springs forth
from what is fundamental in the human heart.
                              ~ norman fischer

imagine this!

dia de los muertos ~ sitting with our ancestors

mark your calendars !
ALL ARE WELCOME!
thursday, november 1..
11 AM 
in the new CMY studio
kitty-corner from present studio
~ 521  morris street  ~
(will get NEW address soon!)

looks like we'll be christening
the new crescent moon shala
with our 9AM thursday morning yoga class..
hurrah! hurray!

thereafter ~
we will have an opportunity
to sit in stillness with our ancestors..

those who wish to stay will ready the altar
w/ pictures of our loved ones
dead yet alive with presence..
any other altaring holy moly objects..
(bring your sitting accoutrements)
those who wish to leave after class
 will have time to slip away..

we will begin sitting @ 11AM

those not attending class, yet planning to sit..
please arrive a bit early
to take your seat and place your altar offerings..
chairs are available for those who prefer them..
we will have 2 sits.. about 20-25 minutes -
with a walking meditation betwixt
 ~ this is a freeeeeee offering  ~

HIGH NOON-ish  ~  COWGIRL TIME-ish
will be our finish-ish time

bring anything that you'd like to offer to
the silence,
the ancestors,
each other
~ for the altar ~
bring your bright love,
your great care,
your empty vessel,
your letting go,
your opening up,
your easy-breezy..
your devotion,
your crazy wisdom,
your inconceivable nature..

with this tradition of dia de los muertos
we have a splendid opportunity
to honor the dead and awaken remembrance...

in the words of clarissa pinkola estes ~
las almas valientes,  dear brave souls, 
this is our time of dia de los muertos.

this we deeply understand as 'the day of our ancestors' 
whom we love and who love us
and who guide us by example 
and intuitions and sudden insights, 
and often by other means.
who we continue to pray for,  as well as for the living -- 
and to nourish this relationship between two worlds, 
with our familiares, relatives, and ourselves.
this way of life...

far away and yet so near to you, 
we old women 
who still carry the root stock,
our old women who know how to
pray paint off walls, 
who grow and bring 
the fresh flowers, 
the yerba buena
who know how to bless 
the living and dead,
who know how to bless 
and light the sumerio, 
who know how to bring 
the smoke of blessed copal, 
who stand and kneel 
in many conditions, 
who offer and consume
the old foods of the ancestors 
with the heaven of los angelitos
in their hearts 
no matter where they live...

we pray for you, m'hijos y m'hijas,
we pray for you the living,
our sons and our daughters 
that you have tender memories 
of the good of your own ancestors
who have walked onward 
making their transition, 
who have left without ever leaving ...

many of us old women say -
the ancestors visit through 
the fragrance of the copal,  
in the scent of the golden flowers, 
in the earth smell,
of the autumn of dried leaves,
in the swirling sacred smoke,
for those with eyes to see, 
ears to hear
or a heart that longs --

may you all be watched over
by the gentle,  smart,  protective
and perfected souls of your antepasados, 
your own people who have walked onward
and are in many good ways, still here
with you, and for you....

this comes with love for you to find a fragrance 
or a flower or a little bowl of water 
or food of your ancestors, 
an item from your farback people, 
a piece of sweet bread and a fruit like orange, 
and to just sit gently and ask for goodness, 
and then listen through your many senses... 
say what you wish to say, 
ask what you wish to ask, 
bless all.
simple is often most direct.

apple season - yoga practice schedule

BLESSED EQUINOX !


 flame apples
         ~ amy lowell
little hot apples of fire,
burst out of the flaming stem
of my heart,
i do not understand how you quickened and grew,
and you amaze me
while I gather you.

i lay you, one by one,
upon a table.
and now you seem beautiful and strange to me,
and I stand before you,
wondering.

               

apples..
a seasonal treasure..
and a national one!
applesauce..
remembering the fragrance of sauce
burbling on my mama's stove..
day in and day out for days..

now i make my own..
and happily receive a jar or two from
another mama who conjures sauce
day in and day out..
such good fortune..

i await the apple pie
someone
somewhere
will make for me

i hope it's not like the peach pie..
that sadly never showed up..

dried apples by the bagful..
for travel and munch and gifting

ciders, crisps and tarts..
just plain themselves..
from the rose family,
imagine ~


it's autumn!
the apples are falling ~

here's the equinox yoga schedule..
by the by,
the seasons - spring and fall
are the best seasons to study..
to practice..to receive wisdom and training..
these are the seasons of change and growth
and of course, harvest..

all practices continue at
crescent moon yoga
6th and morris streets
laconner WA
~ the schedule is the same!
thursday mornings @ 9 - 10:30 AM
and..in the spirit of reciprocity..
FREE COMMUNITY YOGA PRACTICE
2ND AND 4TH SUNDAY 
5:30 - 6:30 PM
here are the dates to mark your calendars -
* SEPTEMBER 23
* OCTOBER 14
* OCTOBER 28
* NOVEMBER 11


ANNUAL THANKSGIVING DAY BENEFIT
9 AM * THURDAY* NOVEMBER 22
this class is by your generous donation
please be thinking where we might 
offer the monies collected..
last year we gifted a hefty sum (over $600)
to community action of skagit county
together susan s. and i will share
in offering this thanks giving practice ~

what does an apple and a yoga practice
have in common, you ask?
one (1)  a day keeps the doctor away 
(for awhile, anyway!)
ha! it will be one year since the titanium
hip has been part of my anatomy...

one last apple poem :

in orchard country
years ago on a dirt road in orchard country,
a farmhouse burned to the cellar-stones.
that night i stood with the other fruit-pickers
watching flames roll and thunder down the walls.

the next day we found near the ruin,
still warm, a tree with baked apples. and so
after a night too close to the fire, a poet
may hold something delicious in a scorched hand.
                        ~ thomas r. smith


may this harvest season bring good will and love
straight into the hearts of all beings..
may apple pies flourish on kitchen counters..
may we, each of us, share the delights we have ingathered..
our love, our mirth, our great acceptance of all that is..

BLESSED, BLESSED EQUINOX!

practicing ~ compassion

i am a dharma practitioner,
having studied the Way for
many moons now..
my practice began long before
i read the first dharma book (16)
on a very long list i had conjured..
living zen 
     ~ robert linssen

we had moved from chicago to anacortes (10)
from the midwest to the great northwest -
walking was my first physical practice..

the road has two rules:
begin and continue.
          ~ christmas humphreys

above all, do not lose your desire to walk:
everyday i walk myself into a state of well-being
and walk away from illness:
i have walked myself into my best thoughts,
and i know of no thought so burdensome
that one cannot walk away from it...
             ~søren kierkegaarde

those solitary step, step, steps
would settle my zippity-do-dah mind..
thoughts would cool and calm..
quieting the recycled inner chatter -
i could wear my bones and flesh more easily..
soo much energy to balance ~

yet..
one must take that plunge into the abyss
of thought to no-thought
~ think no thinking ~
where one finds one self
resting comfortably with a cuppa
in the sitting still of meditation..
(this would arise a whole lot later!)

human thought is awareness in motion;
samadhi is awareness at rest.
             ~ philip kapleau

sitting still was no easy task ~
jumbling and bumbling
running skipping swinging bicycling
walk walk walking..
tree climbing wrestling
skating - ice and roller
tap dancing acrobatics
tumbling turning twisting
swimming skimming..
practice was being in a body
that sizzled zip, zing and pep
to the point of burning up..

what is to give light must endure burning.
              ~ viktor frankl

my mama had quite a time with me..
my sister wisely ignored me..
teachers were fed up with me..
school mates were enamored and confused -
i was roiling..
poetry spoke volumes of deep visions and confiding notions -
dostovevsky opened the dark spaces i crawled in and out..
having realized i was an illegitimate child -
(adopted by loving parents.. sallie and ralph.. at 3 months)
i took that to the mat and wrangled it down
until i was blue in the face..
( and not the  holy enlightened blue 
of krishna or samantabhadra!) 

growing up
one of my wings beat faster,
i couldn't help it -
the one away from the light.

it hurt to be told all the time
how i loved that terrible flame.
            ~   w. stafford

traveling solo on a greyhound bus
at 16 in 1966 grew me out of much
of the angst and selfie selfishness..
though that is a life long practice,
is it not?

in order to practice compassion,
we have to know our own darkness
well enough so that we may sit 
in the dark with others..  
~ brene brown

it seemed i was a good listener
on that bus ride around the united states..
99$ for 99 days!
(though we all know i am full of the blarney
and like nothing more than to hear myself talk...)
my sense to actually place some one else before me
started to seed up and germinate..
this started my sitting stillness ~
one had to be still to listen, eh?
and..
where could i go on a moving greyhound bus?

o my o!
the stories i heard wore a thin patch
on the self-centered sweater of i, me, mineness..
bearing witness to inconceivable trauma and tragedy,
sagas of love and loss,
tribulations and injustices,
high drama and dark nights of the soul -
it was the historic time of martin luther king..
often taking my seat at the back of the bus,
i became aquainted with a brilliant fresh
species of suffering humanoids..
those days the bus was a cheap vehicle
to get low-incomers, scallawags and hobos
from hither to thither..

i loved it..
it soothed and frightened me..
i felt in the midst of real life..

compassion literally means embracing the suffering of others.
to embrace the suffering of others 
is to be liberated and opened by that suffering, 
to the point of finding love.
compassion is impossible if we can't learn 
to bear our own sufferings and difficulties -
if our old habits of denying and running away 
continues to have its way with us.
so the practice of mind training begins with the effort 
to turn toward the difficulty rather than away from it.
when we are no longer daunted by difficulties 
but are willing to engage and make use of them, 
we become truly resilient individuals.

our very difficulties and sufferings, 
if we hold them the right way, 
can be wedges to pry open our smallness.

remember:
dealing with others isn't just dealing with others...
dealing with others is dealing with ourselves dealing with others.
               ~ norman fischer


 ~ TO BE CONTINUED

in the interval..
how about a reading list?

training in compassion
norman fischer

the great path of awakening
ken mcleod

enlightened courage
dilgo khyentse rinpoche

buddhism with an attitude:
the tibetan seven-point mind training
b. alan wallace

training the mind 
and cultivating loving-kindness
chögyam trungpa

stop! look! listen!

i hope whatever you're doing
you've stopped now and then
and not doing it at all.
          ~james fadiman

i want to encourage you to step out of the normal "bounds"
of your life and begin to see yourself differently.
i want to encourage you to live your life at the ... edge of time,
allowing yourself to be born into a new life every minute.
i want to encourage you to allow your life experience
to be lightly dusted with form.
                     ~ barbara brennan

so..
instead of adding time to yourself,
remove time.
the elimination of time
from your consciousness
is the elimination of ego.
it is the only true spiritual practice.
          ~ eckhart tolle
      


tree mountain zen

it's so fine, it's sunshine

Say the word and you'll be free
Say the word and be like me
Say the word I'm thinking of
Have you heard the word is love?

It's so fine, it's sunshine
It's the word, love

In the beginning I misunderstood
But now I've got it, the word is good
Spread the word and you'll be free
Spread the word and be like me
Spread the word I'm thinking of
Have you heard the word is love?

It's so fine, it's sunshine
It's the word, love

Every where I go I hear it said
In the good and bad books that I have read
Say the word and you'll be free
Say the word and be like me
Say the word I'm thinking of
Have you heard the word is love?

It's so fine, it's sunshine
It's the word, love

the beatles
the word
rubber soul

give it a listen !

gate guardian..nandi.. the bull

it was a day like any other day these days..
hot, hot and more hot..
mila rubie ~ the finest prius in existence ~
and i were traveling up bay view road
heading who knows where..
we reached the crossroads @ farm to market ..
stopped at the sign..
i drew a deep, mindful breath..
onward.. mila invited me..
yet
looking up to turn..

across the road
behind a chain link fence
i catch sight of a mammoth dark figure ambling..
no, limping toward the gate..
what could this massive movement be?
we wondered aloud..

driving forward to the gravel inlet
a bull -
black and lame -
heading straight toward us..

i meet him at the portal..
he is ginormous ..
he is foaming at the mouth
he is covered head to hoof in flies
he is soaking wet
he is seemingly in immense pain

we are face to face
eye to eye
deep in we go
into one another's presence
momentarily transported
beyond form to essence
we wait and watch and see and listen
breathing in..breathing out..
in a spell
a unified field..
the radiant ground of being

behold the one in all things
it is the second that leads you astray.
                          ~ kabir

the flies rise and fall from his angus flesh
breathing with us
in, out..
up, down..

as easily as we fell into one another we fall away..
his left leg is weak and dwarfed in comparison to the right..
he turns away ..
circles a wide berth
hobbling from the entry
from our prayer

witnessing his slow and tortuous path
into a ravine
only his back now
hillocking
until he finds the road once more
until he is no more

what movie am i in?
what planet am i on?
where am i?
who am i?

nandi
नन्दि
the gate - guardian deity of kailasa, 
the abode of shiva. 
a mighty bull who serves 
as the mount to shiva ~

i have met the gate guardian
and he is me..

OM NAMAH SHIVAH

mooning!

it's the buck moon..
(according to some..)
is that where mooning comes from..
pulling down our knickers
and exposing a buck naked derriere ?

or is it the raspberry moon?
is that where raspberrying comes from?
the puckering of lips and fluttering
a sound of heaven knows what..!
my olde and dear friend, rainier,
would often raspberry me by putting me on..
offering some piece of wisdom or factoid
that was none of the above..

maybe it's the salmon moon..?
where those deep true
gill-bearing aquatic craniate animals
that lack limbs with digits,
forming a sister group to tunicates,
together configuring olfactores..
those inspiring ones who die for love..
show us how it's done..
~ unconditional love ~

all i know is that the moon was very, very full
this very, very early morning when i hit the trail
- the moon glade upon the water -
guiding my step by step  by step
until it went introvert behind the morning fog bank..

at first light...
in a nearby field
hay rolls presented themselves
ragged in van gogh colours ..
muted dunes of caramel -
looking rather like random ancient rock formations..
perhaps the callanesh standing stones..
or a cattywompus zendo
of haphazard nuns and monks
sitting the morning star awake ..

my second name..
(the first being susan, by my birth mother..)
the name my adopted parents dubbed me
...dianna..
(the extra N keeps my cloaking device activated)
...is after the goddess
of the hunt,
of the moon,
and of nature..

no wonder moons have their way
with me upon fullness  ~

all this is full,
all that is full, 
from fullness, fullness comes..
when fullness is taken from fullness,
fullness still remains..
               ~ upanishads

i am not alone..
the moon in fullness seems to affect our 60 % water human forms ..
the ocean's tides and a swelling earth’s crust cannot help but
wheedle awhile awoo away at our essence..

to be ensconced in reciprocity..
with nature and moon stuff and stoned haystacks
while hunting for the senseless sense in the sensate
makes me loony ..

may i always be ever so ever so grateful ~

note: the third moniker awarded me..
on a bus in turkistan by a whirling dervish
from my traveling dictionary is dunya..
in arabic/turkish meaning world or rather.. worldly..
it was re-arranged and re-tagged and re-spelled
in yugoslavia by an innkeeper in sibenik
as dunja to denote another spherical entity -
a small, fuzzy melon or quince..
still in the shapely orb of moon ~

all we need is love

only love matters, friend.
all our spiritual knowledge and attainments,
all the drama of the "i know more than you" mind,
all the spiritual posturing of the frightened ego,
just pale in comparison to the simple joy of true connection,
and the peace that comes from knowing that you are
nothing less than a burning sun.

for billions of years, the sun has given us
its awesome power for free.
(can't buy me love!)
think of all the burning it has had to endure
in order to shine so brightly and give us life.
                       jeff foster
                          italics: beatles

even

after

all this time

the sun never says to the earth,

  

"you owe 

     me"

look

what happens

with a love like that,

it lights the 

whole

sky.

~ hafiz - the gift

there is nothing to practice.

to know yourself, be yourself.

to be yourself, 

stop imagining yourself to be this or that.

just be.

(let it be!)

let your true nature emerge.

don't disturb your mind with seeking.

                    ~ sri nisargadatta

                      italics: beatles

I dig love
I dig love in the morning
I dig love in the evening
I dig love and I want you to know I dig love

Small love, big love, I don't care
Love's all good love to me
Left love, right love, anywhere love
There's a rare love, come on and get it, it's free

Bought love, short love, in any port
Love's always there to see
Make love, take love, but you should give love
And try to live love, come on that's where you should be

Yes, I want you to know I dig love
To know I dig love
Yes, I do
I dig love 
                     ~ george harrison
                     all things must pass
                  

switching roles

gray wolf said,
why do we always do everything
in exactly the same way?
raven said,
steady on.
gray wolf said,
maybe we should switch roles sometimes.
somebody else could be the teacher and
you could just be one of the students.
raven said,
it's happening.
          ~ zen master raven
              robert aitken

i am often asked why i do not
offer a teacher training program..
actually, i have..
years, i mean..years ago in los angeles
(when i had no business doing so!)
a one-on-one
teacher training course
with a few practictioners..
they were certified thru my teacher's
yoga shala in delhi..

and actually...
i do have a teacher's training course..
whenever i take off
~ leaving a studio or a class behind ~
another blossoming teacher takes the reins..
this is the very best training!
they are in the present moment
actualizing the practice..
of teaching..
of learning ..
of studying self while studying others..
( is there really a difference?)

when i return,
finding another studio or
generating yet another class..
it begins again..
students
practitioners
teachers
~ certified thru
the flying elephant
wing and a prayer
yoga dharma shala
!!!
nothing to hang on the wall -
simply an imprint and a blaze
in heart and bone .....

the question also arises as to why
i no longer offer workshoppes and retreats..
does anyone remember
year of the fire tiger?
1986
summer solstice 
full moon
energi mountain
7 days 7 hours a day
! 49 hours !

these days,
it's the quotidian i savor ~
(average, run-of-the-mill, standard, typical, 
middle-of-the-road, workaday, undistinguished, 
commonplace, mundane, prosaic, garden-variety)
a weekly practice ~
with dharma friends ..
together - practicing what is rare to practice..
each session is retreat..
each practice - a workshoppe -
a most stunning and unimaginable way
to be with one another ~

sooner than soon perhaps
i'll be a barista whipping up mantras in the creme -
maybe walking frisky dogs to the metronome of meditation
or polishing electric cars running on OM ~
certainly one day
i'll be mulching my way
back to earthclay
under a shade tree
of jeweled compassion....

gray wolf made one of her rare visits to the circle,
and after a talk by raven she remarked,
the goal of practice seems to be just more practice.
raven bobbed his head, well?
gray wolf hesitated, then asked,
so there's no end to it?
raven hopped down from his perch 
to a little hummock beside gray wolf,
put his beak to her ear,
and murmured,
thank goodness.
                  ~ zen master raven
                        robert aitken

one by one, all is coming..
             sri pattabhi jois

serpent politics

if i seem to take part in politics,
it is only because politics encircles us today
like a coil of a snake
from which one cannot get out,
no matter how much one tries.

i wish therefore
to wrestle with the snake.
                   ~ mahatma gandhi


will you stand by me?
june 30.. HIGH NOON ..12 PM
in anacortes
corner of 12th and commercial
(this is a national/international stance..
please..if you wish..
find your place to stand )
to be the ground for compassion,
lovingkindness, courage and clarity..

as the t-shirt says:
WE ARE ALL IMMIGRANTS
how do we separate out who's who
and what's what?
we are a human-humane species,
are we not?

truth has drawn me into politics; 
and i can say without the slightest hesitation, 
yet in all humility, 
that those who say that religion has nothing to do with politics 
do not know what religion means... 
                      ~mahatma gandhi, 
                     the story of my experiments with truth

NO YOGA - JULY 12 ~ dates, days, times & numbers..

there are 5..count them..5..
baby swallows in the nest
on the lintel at the front door..
they are still mostly mouths
yet rapidly becoming too big
for their mud-straw-feather abode..
mamas and papas and helpers
are feeding them constantly..
what it takes to grow - o my o

june 30 a saturday
will be an opportunity
for all of us to practice
corporeal politics ~
chapter 13  on tyranny 
high noon..
known in my circle
as cowgirl time
12 PM
to stand with/for
our brothers and sisters
and mamas and papas
in the practice of kindness
and compassion
for all beings without one (1) exception..
anacortes - corner of 12th and commercial
mt. vernon - the courthouse..
cheque out your community
to see where you stand..
as the book
on tyranny 
chapter 8 
tells us..
stand out 

july 4
interdependance day!!!
let's make it so ~

july 7 - september 23
VIVA PATTY!
MoNa -laconner
july 7  a saturday
opening reception 2-5 PM
paths that cross will cross again ~
                          patti smith

JULY 8 and JULY 22 (tom robbin's 86 th birthday!)
sundays both..
5:30 - 6:30PM
free community yoga classes
@ crescent moon yoga in laconner

NO YOGA CLASS
THURSDAY - JULY 12th..
heading to montana
to be in the garden of 1000 buddhas
in arlee, montana!

may all our thoughts and actions
be beneficial and relieve suffering..
may all beings, without one exception
have happiness and the causes of happiness..


stills
i have nowhere 
to go and

nowhere to go

when i get back from there.
                ~ a. r. ammons

free community yoga

gratitude bestows reverence, 
changing forever
how we experience
life and the world 
                   ~ john milton

 ~ to embody a place is to engage
in a reciprocity where physical and spiritual
sustenance depends on the generosity of gestures ~

                       
in the spirit of encouraging acts of reciprocity
and generosity within the practice and art of yoga..
CMY and dunja lingwood gratefully offer
the gift of a free community yoga/meditation class..
the 2nd and 4th sunday of each month..
5:30 - 6:30 PM
beginning june 10   
ALL ARE WELCOME!
Crescent Moon Yoga 
LaConner

for a forest to be green -
each tree must be green...
               ~ maharishi mahesh yogi

in reciprocity, we fill our spirits...
                    ~ braiding sweetgrass

i've seen it....

more than once, more than twice..
the seduction of a hummingbird

faster than the speed of light

The hummingbird: a seduction
(to be read aloud lustily)

If I were a female hummingbird perched still
and quiet on an upper myrtle branch
in the spring afternoon, and if you were a male
alone in the whole heaven before me, having parted
yourself, for me, from cedar top and honeysuckle stem
and earth down, your body hovering in midair
far away from jewelweed, thistle, and bee-balm;
And if I watched how you fell, plummeting before me,
and how you rose again and fell, with such mastery
that I believed for a moment you were the sky,
and the red marked-bird diving inside your circumference
was just the physical revelation of the light’s
most perfect desire;
And if I saw your sweeping and sucking
performance of swirling egg and semen in the air,
the weaving, twisting vision of red petal
and nectar and soaring rump, the rush of your wing
in its grand confusion of arcing and splitting
created completely out of nothing just for me;
Then when you came down to me, I would call you
my own spinning bloom of ruby sage, my funneling
the storm of sunlit sperm and pollen, my only breathless
piece of scarlet sky, and I would bless the base
of each of your feathers and touch the tine
Of string muscle binding your wings and taste
the odor of your glistening oils and hunt
the honey in your crimson flare,
and I would take you and take you and take you
deep into any kind of nest you ever wanted.
                                      ~ Pattiann Rogers
                                    Song of the World Becoming:
                            New and Collected Poems, 1981-2001


there is something that pulls your eye..
some flash and flicker
some fast and vast verve of air..
whish and woosh
some clickity ratcheting clackity
up and down and inside out
a mantra
a yantra
 that glints in the ear
as well as an eyeful..

and before you know it..
the ascent of some
psychedelic firecracker
rises higher and loftier
than you'd ever imagine that
this delicate winged harlequin
could and should and would -

rocketing thru space
straight up..
straight up..
straight up..

without so much
as a flip
of a whip
the descent
a nose dive..
 aiming for the
very center of our earth
and it is..
as a winged version of Eros..
( the asteroid that comes nearer
to this planet than any celestial body..
except the moon)
to shower its brilliant boldness
on the chosen princess

bleep!
one brisk short reverb..
like the beginning of a fire alarm
caught in mid sentence..
bleep!
an electric staccato hey! 
pitched high and mighty as the flight itself..
look alive, my beauty!

the quick deep dip into the tail feathers
seed planted

faster than the speed of light

tussle

my sis and i got into a tussle..
not unusual for siblings..
this was not the biting, scratching, hitting kind..
we did not bonk each other on the head
with our dolls or books..
our tussle was the tussle of words..

stinging our four ears
suddenly saddening our hearts
pinpricks afflicted without mindful consideration..
our tussle was a tussle of points of view,
of opinions for and against..
and as we parted, they hung heavy
in the "brightening air"
i, for one,  slept on barbs
trying my best to get comfortable
with my own voice..

the next morning i received this in a  newsletter from
https://8limbsyoga.com

W. A. I. T.  Why Am I Talking?

It asks us to check our assumptions and motivations before we open our mouths. It requires us to honor the humanity of those with whom we're in conversation with - to be honest, humble and compassionate.

Is what we have to say actually in service to the greater good?
Below are four questions, known in Buddhism as the Four Gates
of Speech. These questions can help us wait before speaking to help foster understanding and connection.

1) Is it true?
Determining truth is more than ensuring a lack of outright deceit. It involves releasing narratives, filters, biases and evaluations. We're asked to observe what actually has transpired, watching out for conditioned tendencies.

2) Is it necessary?
Is it useful? Will voicing it, in Gandhi's words, "improve upon silence?"This question can help us keep our ego in check. We're invited to keep the big picture in mind - to distinguish between our capacity to add more detail, to correct, object... in the moment from what will lend to the most good in the long run.

3) Is it kind?
Similar to the concept of ahimsa in yoga, this question highlights the importance of doing no harm. Will sharing further connections with others? Will everyone's dignity be upheld? We're asked to do our due diligence in proceeding with care and compassion.

4) Is now the right time to say it?
On a practical level this can look like making sure folks have the time and are in a good place to digest what we have to say. This can also look like checking to see if we're really the ones who should be taking up air time in the moment. Are there other voices that deserve to be heard? It can also be useful to consider if actively listening would be more beneficial.

holy mackerel! - did it resonate..
sharing this w/ my sis ~
we discovered our great and mighty ability
to blurt without alert..
making promises to one another that
..in the future..
we would hold or bite our tongues
(ouch!)
of course, also knowing without a doubt..
we would find ourselves in another tussle down the road..
after all, what are sisters for?

pulling out william stafford's
the way it is
for a wee bit of solace
i opened straight away to next time 
and heard him say ...plain as day ~
here you go, darlin'..

next time
next time what i'd do is look at
the earth before saying anything. i'd stop
just before going into a house
and be an emperor for a minute
and listen better to the wind
      or to the air being still.

when anyone talked to me, whether
blame or praise or just passing time,
i'd watch the face, how the mouth
had to work, and see any strain, any
sign of what lifted the voice.

and for all, i'd know more -- the earth 
bracing itself and soaring, the air
finding every leaf and feather over 
forest and water, and for every person
the body glowing inside the clothes
like a light.


sharing all this with the yoginis of thursday morn -
after a full, fine practice of ujjayi breath
to make clean and clear our throat chakras,
airing out our heart chakras ~
this beauty from yet another wise website
http://www.turtlehavensanctuary.com
placed in the ring of the palm..
gracing the open waiting heart..

Clearing
by Martha Postlethwaite

Do not try to serve
the whole world
or do anything grandiose. 
Instead, create
a clearing
in the dense forest
of your life
and wait there
patiently,
until the song
that is yours alone to sing
falls into your open cupped hands 
and you recognize and greet it. 
Only then will you know
how to give yourself
to the world 
so worthy of rescue.


shhhhhh..
the world is listening for our silence..

ring of the palm

enso
single brush stroke
zen circle
orb of mindfulness
embodying the unity
of all things -
the endless boundless
transformation of the all..
an inclusive sphere
marrying
hidden and visible
simple and profound
beginning and end
empty and full

one full and empty circle

often in the yoga practice..
we focus on the ring of the palm..
our very own
(if we own anything!)
enso
the circumference
of the palm..
the band that encircles
the heart of the palm -
our generosity.
the palm..
the hand
that gives
and receives..
our tool of reciprocity  ~

downward facing dog
full arm balance
crane
o so many
earth touch postures
brings us hand to heart to clay
o ye practitioners of yoga!
what a blessing we receive..
what a blessing we bestow..

* LIKE ROOTS
our hands imbibe like roots,
so i place them on what is beautiful
in this world.

and i fold them in prayer, 
and they
draw from the heavens
light.
         ~ st. francis
no one lives outside the walls of this sacred place, existence.


* THAT LIVES IN US
if you put your hands on this oar with me,
they will never harm another, and they will come to find
they hold everything you want.

if you put your hands on this oar with me, they would no longer
lift anything to your
mouth that might wound your precious land --
the sacred earth that is your body.....

exhuberant is existence, time a husk.
when the moment cracks open, ecstasy leaps out and devours space;
love goes mad with blessings...
              ~ rumi

* TENDERLY
tenderly, i now touch all
things,
knowing one day we will
part.
          ~ st, john of the cross


in my studies of late i have come across
the most sensual, tender and awake expression -

opening the hand of thought

- coined by kosho uchiyama
here is his meaning :
dwelling here and now in this reality,
letting go of all the accidental things
that arise in the mind opens the hand of thought.

and his practice poem -
like a sunbeam on a bright autumn morning, 
i would like to become completely one,
body and mind,
with transparent, wholehearted practice.


piggybacking thought
upon thought
upon thought
and holding it tight, tight, tight..
becomes mere storytelling which we claim as truth -
our truth and nothing but the truth so help me...

imagine! the clear sky of samadhi..
releasing our grasp on thought
opening the hand of thought
we practice thusly,
and the ring of the palm
becomes the
lotus basket of generosity ~
the full and empty circle of life


* poetry from 
love poems from god
daniel ladinsky

prayer chant before meals

from tara mandala..

this is the new grace @ my table ~
(sometimes it's not what you eat
but how you eat it!)

i receive this sustenance gratefully,
appreciating all the forms of life
that have offered themselves
for my benefit.

i eat and drink with awareness
in the experience of  one taste -
realizing my body is a sacred mandala.

may all my actions be beneficial
and relieve suffering.
may all beings, without one exception,
have happiness and the causes of happiness.

BON APPETITO !

good grief!

o so many friends..
friends of friends..
family friends are
making the transition
moving across the threshold
some whisked away
by disease
olde age
some making choices
to say sayonara
and free themselves
of body, speech and mind..

as hafiz says so graciously -
death is a favor to us
reminding us of our mid-air flight
from vessel to wine glass to..clay..

those of us..
left behind in bones
and flesh
and heartache
reel from the news

let go..
~ our only instruction
at the time of our birth ~
let go..
of the umbilical cord..
let go..
of the wee fisted palm
let go..
of our bladders and bowels..
let go..
of the milky breast
on and on...
letting go -

until we let go of the very shape
and bone and heartbeat and memory
that we have called home for..
how many years?

clearing out my mama's closet
one morning after her death i found
the black cordory jumper she loved to wear
for fine dinners and outings ..
i drew in the fragrance of her..
and found myself slipping the
open arms around my neck.
- it embraced me like the cape
of some action figure..
i wore it all day..
this tender cloak of my mother -
witnessed by a bemused neighbor
as i emptied the recycling outside..
it was dusk when i realized
i had been en-wrapped in her all day..

i step out of her essence
let go
place it on the pile for soroptimist

AND
 that same day..

making applesauce
peeling, coring, cutting
my fingers working
fleeting fast
much quicker than my mama's moved
toward the end of her sauce days
knowing the slowing
will come to my own fingertips
i stop
find my age
this moment
let go
and pace myself


grief..good grief..
these recollections
birdwings rumi calls them..

your grief for what you've lost lifts a mirror
up to where you are bravely working.

expecting the worse, you look and instead,
here's the joyful face you've been wanting to see.

your hand opens and closes and opens and closes.
if it were always a fist or always stretched open,
you would be paralyzed.

your deepest presence is in every small contracting 
                                                                    and expanding,
the two beautifully balanced and coordinated
as birdwings.

phones....keeping quiet...

phones killed the sexiness of the streets..
     - joel meyerowitz

walk the streets in any city,
the paths of a wooded land,
the trails along oceans and around lakes..
aisles in whole foods and co-ops..

where is the
appealing,
beguiling,
enticing,
foxiness
of the human race?

glued
plastered
affixed
pasted
to a
smart phone in hand,
blue tooth in ear..
eyes - glassy
ears - listening
to a
small voice
on the line
in a box
while all the while
we have gone AWOL
for one another
in the flesh..
the flash of a smile -
the catch of the eye..

chapter 12
ON TYRANNY
- timothy snyder
make eye contact and small talk

instead we are eavesdropping
on hundreds of conversations
that have nothing whatsoever
to do with us..

she told him NO a million times..
use the big orange saucepan -
don't tell mom about this, promise?
i sold all my shares this morning -
where is the toilet paper you just brought home?
how many downdogs can you do in a day?
pick up the mess in the front yard before i get home or i'll...
cancer, i think..?
i looked at the house..way too much money..
meet me in the deli by the olive bar -
she's on some kind of drug that makes her..
what a sunset! you are missing out here..
alaska?

remember the days when we would actually
meet someone new at the car wash?
on a bus?
in the cereal section?
tree-dancing?

'tis time to put the thing down..
leave it in the car..
leave it at home, for that matter ~

get sexy again..
even if you are olde and broken..
make it real as santana advises ~
fall in love
with the sound of the waves
the rasp of the streets
your very own footprints


keeping quiet

now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still.

this one time upon the earth,
let’s not speak any language,
let’s stop for one second,
and not move our arms so much.

it would be a delicious moment,
without hurry, without locomotives,
all of us would be together
in a sudden uneasiness.

the fishermen in the cold sea
would do no harm to the whales
and the peasant gathering salt
would look at his torn hands.

those who prepare green wars,
wars of gas, wars of fire,
victories without survivors,
would put on clean clothing
and would walk alongside their brothers
in the shade, without doing a thing.

what i want shouldn’t be confused
with final inactivity:
life alone is what matters,
i want nothing to do with death.

if we weren’t unanimous
about keeping our lives so much in motion,
if we could do nothing for once,
perhaps a great silence would
interrupt this sadness,
this never understanding ourselves
and threatening ourselves with death,
perhaps the earth is teaching us
when everything seems to be dead
and then everything is alive.

now i will count to twelve
and you keep quiet and i’ll go.
                 ~ neruda

by the thousands

they came in the dusky eve..
oodles of them..
winged and strong
in the pinkening sky..

and then..
they landed ..
in the field that i  see
just outside my door..

today..
they rise ..
taking the earth with them..
they hover..
like holy levitating rollers
a rock concert concerto
of snow geese..
coming from the north

when they land
they bring the sky
down
to clay
and all is one
and white

it is the season of renewal..
a revival of the survival
of great flight

one -
only one..
one lone hummingbird
slurps the nectar
from the feeders now..

while the blare and flare
and high rise
saturate the air, the earth
with a dharma teaching
of community..

yoga practice - thursdays - beginning april 5

the unthinkable / is thinkable.
             ~ wislawa szymborska

dear yoginis and yogis..
it is four months soon
since the titanium infusion ..
astoundingly-some,
i am ready and willing to try
my hand and heart,
my feet and thighs,
bones, blood and breath
at sharing the practice of yoga..
yet again..

if you have the inclination and intention
to practice with a mended mendicant..
o ..
that would please me no end (in sight)

here are the particulars ~
beginning APRIL 5
THURSDAY MORNINGS
9 - 10:30 AM
CRESCENT MOON YOGA
LACONNER

THE CLASS IS NOT PRICED
THRU CRESCENT MOON ~
therefore ~
THE CLASS PRICE FOR DROP-IN
IS THE SAME AS BEFORE -
$18
THE SERIES PRICE IS
THE SAME AS BEFORE -
$108 FOR 7 CLASSES

if you have classes left over from
a series anytime in the past..
they are redeemable always..

please know deep in your beating hearts
that i am sincerely grateful
and much moved to reams of admiration
for all of you who have supported me
and kept me afloat these many months...
( how do i love thee? let me count the ways..)

i have tested my wings down here
in rainy california & i feel it's a go -
this fledgling is ready to fly..

please cheque the blog
for any news or lack thereof..
peaceishealthy.blogspot.com
text or call - for queries -
360 770 7891

aiming for an anacortes class
when
the perfect spot finds me..

as always, within my address book there
are holes and crevices and craters
and clothes dryer bermuda triangles ..
so please feel free to share this e-mail
with the great many..

every creature on earth has approximately
two billion heartbeats to spend in a lifetime.
you can spend them slowly, like a tortoise,
and live to be two hundred years old, or
you can spend them fast, like a hummingbird,
and live to be two years old.
                                 ~ brian doyle
                                 the wet engine

you will understand the wonder

i saw the first of the boughs
carried to the lacy limbed tree
and wondered if the branches would hold
a hearty nest of eagles..

days and days ..
boughs and branches
fashioned in a roost
of such robust stock and beauty..
i now have no doubt..

even still i see the aerie
being refined and refurbished
to hold the tenderly tucked in eggs ..
the pair of eagles sit out on their deck
holding vigil, keeping watch ..
on the lookout for robbers and rogues
who might go after the precious nestlings
snestled deep in the feathered weave of home..

there then -
in the deep of my own heartnest..
yours too?
such a softness..
sadness and joy.. coalesce ~
how does that happen?

the crafting of a nest..
the love play mid-air -
creation and wild wisdom ..
egg making.. my goodness!
the silhouettes of the great bodies,
eagle eye awareness and presence..
waiting.. waiting.. waiting..

a vast patience unknown to me -
care - far beyond my capacity..
tenacity.. tirelessness..
companionship to the nth
it breaks my heart in two..

and that.. 
that.. is the wonder..
the awe in awesome ~

stunned into heartache
broken open to the evanescent
witness to the fleeting
this ~
this is the wonder and the grace of all things..
our response to the all is the sense of wonder

no wonder the wise instruction
is to allways be kind..
to the eternal flight each of us make
into the next moment and the next..
until..
we turn sideways into light and disappear ~

tortoise moves - yoga class coming soon

MY HERO
just as the hare is zipping across the finish line,
the tortoise has stopped once again
by the road side,
this time to stick out his neck
and nibble a bit of sweet grass,
unlike the previous time
when he was distracted
by a bee humming in the heart of a wildflower.
                              ~ billy collins

it is 3 months now since i was sliced and slivered
to implant the porcelain  ball and titanium socket..for hip hooray!
to slip the slim lean metal into my own femur bone..
merging and melding and minding their business..
it is slow going..
bone receptive to the metallic element
in it's own time..
slow..
Ti is deemed a transition metal..
a common element in the earth's crust..
it is strong.. it is light..

the healing comes unhurried and is hard won..
the challenges of going slow ~

having been dubbed a hummingbird..
a whiz-bang fast whirl of a girl..
now..
i am slow..
a plodder..a plunker..pokey..
and yet..

what a gift to walk again..
in the woods, on the trails..
to practice the yoga moves
that have been in cells and marrow
from lifetimes of remembering..
soon i will be on my bike peddling the breeze
when the pavement dries
and the warm sun assures some safety ..
in balance
and uprightness..

and..
though it is a month or so away..
i will dare an atttempt to share
the practice of yoga..
as it arrives to me..
now in turtle time
with all who would like to join in..
starting slow with one class a week..
beginning april 5
thursday mornings
9 AM
@ crescent moon yoga in laconner
it is not part of the pay program of CMY 
so ~
the rates of class are the same..
$18 for a drop-in..
$108 for 7 classes..
if you have classes left on the books,
you know they are good as gold..

( kindly spread the word !)


the buddha has said it is more difficut
to obtain a human birth
than it would be for a blind tortoise
coming up from the depths of the ocean
only once every hundred years
to put its head by chance
thru the opening of a wooden yoke
tossed around by waves on the surface..

we have this precious human birth ~
with a propensity to practice
and study the dharma..
moving our bones and flesh..
the very elements of earth..
remembering air..breath..prana
the "holy" wind -
bringing us to the wellspring
of this precious present moment..
inseparable from our earthy, mulchy clay..
hard won and fleeting ..
let us practice!

statistically, the probability of any one of us 
being here is so small that you'd think
that the mere fact of existing would keep us all 
in a contented dazzlement of surprise.
                   - lewis thomas

heart of the matter -

whether you have loved a human being
or whether you have loved god,
if you have loved enough -
you will be brought in the end
to the deep presence 
of supreme love itself..
                    ~ rumi


the practice of waking up is cultivated/generated
by the tuning of the heart..as the sufis instruct us..
by diving thru the veneer of the heart..which is the mind ~
thru that deep discernment
to the heart of the matter ..the heart itself..
when we penetrate the surface of the mind ..
that which thinks..
to that which feels..the tender cave of the heart..
we have entered the culture of the heart ~

as we tune the heart..
change and re-arrange the vibrations of the heart...
uplifting them to a certain octave or pitch..
we find our true pulse - our natural radiance -
and feel the joyful resonance and ecstasy of life..
this allows us to give delight to others simply by our presence..
simply by being tuned..
wow!

when an instrument is tuned..
just plucking a string or playing a key,
a magnetic influence pings! us ~
even from one note of music!
if a well-tuned instrument
might have that enchantment,
how much greater might
the magnetism of a well-tuned heart?

we actually tune the heart by looking/listening
deep within..finding our note and perfecting it..
here we lose our self-importance
and gain a compassionate reciprocity
with all beings and things..
the yoga sutras of patanjali calls it:
right relationship ~
that relationship is love..
supreme love!

may our hearts be captivated by the season of love..
which never fades away..

i'm gonna tell you how it's gonna be
you're gonna give your love to me
i'm gonna love you night and day
well love is love and not fade away
well love is love and not fade away

my love bigger than a cadillac
i try to show it and you're drivin' me back
your love for me has got to be real
for you to know just how I feel
love is real and not fade away
well love is real and not fade away

i'm gonna tell you how it's gonna be
you're gonna give your love to me
love to last more than one day
well love is love and not fade away
well love is love and not fade away
well love is love and not fade away
love - love is love and not fade away
not fade away
not fade away
                    -the rolling stones

   HAPPY HEART'S DAY!

snippets of the divine

all things are full of goddesses and gods ~
                                     - thales


the discourse of birds...
i choose a single singer {hermit thrush}
upon which to focus my listening
and let myself be carried by the song....
.....and it's as though each phrase unlocks
a different vertebra along my spine,
spilling a ray of light into that node,
and then the next phrase unlocks another node -
until all my vertebra have become
transparent crystals trading gleams among themselves.
the song drops to a middle register, and then a higher vertebra,
and then a glimmering tone so high
it's almost beyond the reach of my hearing,
and as it spirals there i feel the top of my skull opening
as i seem to ascend, a single photon, into the sky.
                                 ~ david abram 
                                    becomimg animal


the practicing raja yoginis and yogis
tell us...
never can the forces of grace from the world
of the goddesses and gods come to us,
unless we have attracted them by our own efforts
and prepared ourselves to accept and receive them ...


every morning all over again
only the world guides me.
weather pushes, or when it entices
i follow.  some kind of magnetism
turns me when i am walking
in the woods with no intentions.

there are leadings without any
reason, but they attract;
if i find there is nothing to gain
from them, i still follow - their power
is the power of the surrounding world.

but things that promise, or those
that will serve my purpose - they
interfere with the pure wind
from nowhere that sustains a kite,
or a gull, or a free spirit.

so, afloat again every morning,
i find the current: all the best
rivers have secret channels that
you have to find by whispering
like this, and then hear them and follow.
               ~ william stafford


COMING SOON!
IMBOLC..
(halfway between winter solstice
and the spring equinox)
brigid's feast day
february 1
the goddess, brigid is
a peacemaker and protector..
she breathes new life into winter
heralding the glory of spring..

here's how to prepare..
to accept and receive her grace..
on the eve of brigid's feast day
~ january 31 ~
you might recreate brigid's mantle
by following the traditional celtic custom
of placing a cloth, a ribbon,  a scarf
outside your home on a bush or a tree -
when brigid comes by in the night,
she will bathe and bless it
with the healing properties needed
for you to use throughout the year..


dear gods and goddesses:
please hear my plea ~
please bring compassion
home to me ~

rescue

may all the obscurations be averted! CLAP!!
may they be no more!  CLAP!!
may they all be pacified!  CLAP!!

this is how we wrapped up
our new year's eve bell ceremony ~

obscurations are the dark coverings and conditions
of our very own mind that keep us from embodying
and shining the clear light of our true nature..

our very own mind fabricates (an F word!)
the barriers to a liberated and enlightened life..
our misunderstandings - misinterpretations
of reality itself  ~

obstructions are barriers that keep
any and everything from moving
in a harmonious, beneficial way..

the same only different..
we might think that obstructions
are outside the self..
outside the mind..
outside our bodies..
the world is obstructed by a landslide..
when actually the landslide is the reality
of exactly what is..
( my life is obstructed by a healing hip
which is taking entirely too long to recover!)
~ exactly what is ~

the obstruction..
like the obscuration
is actually within our own view of what is..
the emotional clinging response to what is..

imagine the rescue teams in montecito..
obstructed ..?
their entire work ... life force...what is..
may the force be with them!
is to remove the barriers..to uncover the dark layers..
the obstacles that keep them from rescuing the prize..
the prize of life..

may i take a moment here to praise highly
and mightily the tenacity of rescue teams..?
they are the true warriors of freedom..
tireless, brave, and compassionate..
they have to be, yes?

'tis the same with us..
we are always called to rescue reality..
remove the muddied veil
from our very life - the prize of life -
as it is..

we rescue ourselves from suffering
by a just this wisdom
which keeps us from wanting what is not!
a kind heart and a spacious mind..
liberated into the vast .. and fast..
expanse of what is..

we rescue others by rescuing ourselves..
and know in our deep true self
~ there is no separation ~

may all beings be found..
be safe..
be free..

the everyday practice.. the everyday rescue..
is simply to develop
complete acceptance and openness
to all situations and emotions,
and to all people,
experiencing totally 
without reservations and blockages,
so that one never withdraws 
nor centralizes 
into oneself.
                  ~ dilgo khyentse rinpoche

LIGHT THE CANDLES!
SAY THE PRAYERS!
HOLD THE GREAT MANY
IN THE BRILLIANCE OF LUMINOSITY..
THE CLEAR LIGHT OF LOVE AND COMPASSION ~

CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!