peace is healthy

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

what is the knocking?

what is the knocking at the door in the night?
it is somebody wants to do us harm.

no, no, it is the three strange angels.
admit them, admit them.
~ d.h. lawrence
song of a man who has come through

'tis a world out there..in here..
what do we make of it?
how to we live in it and not of it?

recommendation

promise me,
promise me this day,
promise me now,
while the sun is overhead
exactly at the zenith,
promise me:

even as they
strike you down
with a mountain of hatred and violence;
even as they step on you and crush you
like a worm,
even as they dismember and disembowel you,
remember, brother and sister,
remember;
man is not our enemy.

the only thing worthy of you is compassion -
invincible, limitless, unconditional.
hatred will never let you face
the beast in man.

one day, when you face this beast alone,
with your courage intact, your eyes kind,
untroubled
(even as no one sees them)
out of your smile
will bloom a flower.

and those who love you
will behold you
across ten thousand worlds of birth and dying.

alone again,
i will go on with bent head,
knowing that love has become eternal.
on the long, rough road,
the sun and the moon
will continue to shine.
~ thich nhat hanh
being peace

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

yoga classes with dunja..laconner..

our training of the heart is like this..
after a moment of mindfulness,
it's thinking of this and thinking of that again.
it is agitated and mindfulness is not continuous.
but whatever it thinks about, never mind,
just keep putting forth effort.
start right now.
give it a try.
~ ajahn chah

tuesdays 6:30 - 8:30 pm
MoNA

http://monamuseum.org/event/practicing-art-stillnesshttp://monamuseum.org/event/practicing-art-stillness

wednesdays 9:30 - 11am
crescent moon yoga
http://www.yogalaconner.com

thursdays 7 -8:30 pm
fridays 9:30 - 11am
swinomish spiritual center

when we practice our mind always follows our breathing.
when we inhale, the air comes into our inner world.
when we exhale, the air goes out to the outer world.
the inner world is limitless, the outer world is also limitless.
we say inner world or outer world
but actually there is just one whole world.
~ shunryu suzuki roshi

Monday, July 4, 2016

net of indra

imagine a multidimensional spider's web
in the early morning, covered with dewdrops.
and every dewdrop contains the reflections
of all the other dewdrops.
and, in each reflected dewdrop,
the reflections of all the other dewdrops
in that reflection..and so..ad infinitum..
~ alan watts

if we are peaceful, if we are happy,
we can blossom like a flower,
and everyone in our family,
our entire society,
will benefit from our peace.
~ thich nhat hanh

as the astronauts were circling the moon -
looking back at their home,
the blue white pearl - floating in a sea of stars -
they saw no boundaries...

interdependence day!

since i am here,..
seemingly you are here too.
let us practice!
sitting is a jewel that ornaments our precious life.
~ chogyam trungpa

i am not as good as i would like to be..
seeing others as myself..
my self rears up and claims its autonomy -
yet when gazing on the rose red sky at sunset ..
listening to the chittering of hummingbirds,
catching the wind catching me..
solving crossword puzzles with my pal, nancy..
eating a fresh made gathered salad..
standing in tadasana..
walking the trail or bike riding ..
my independence merges, converges
and my i joins the party..

emptying i me mine
into a bowl of galaxies..
dust, gas, gravity..
i get it, am it..for the briefest of time..
out of time, in time,
in harmony .. balance.. grace.. gratitude..
then - poof!
back to me and them..

begin again!
the practice ..of interbeing

interbeing is a word that is not
in the dictionary yet,
but if we combine the prefix inter
with the verb to be, we have a new verb,
inter-be.
~ thich nhat hanh

Thursday, June 23, 2016

ounce of practice

an ounce of practice

is worth 10 tons of theory

- swami vishnudevananda

here is yet another offering of yoga..

tuesday evenings

6:30 - 8:30 pm

an 8 week session....

beginning july 5th ~

(thru august 23rd)

same low price..

8 classes for $108

or drop - in $15

the added 1/2 hour (bonus!)

will be dedicated

to a sitting practice ~

the golden key..

icing on our yoga cake..

the true reason we stretch

in the first place, eh?

it will get you home before dark..

relaxed calm awake wholesome

fully alive

please visit the link

http://monamuseum.org/event/practicing-art-stillness

join in when you're able..

all are welcome..

bring your yoga mats..

& sitting utensils..

let's eat the quiet skylike mind together ~

yum!

art is the essence of life.

our words and our actions should be filled with art.

the substance of art is complete awareness.

~ thich that hanh

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

the path of great awakening ~

all.. of us..
are on the path of great awakening..

too many still look outwards,
some believing in the illusion
of victory and of victorious power,
others in treaties and laws,
and others again in the overthrow
of the existing order.

but still too few look inwards,
to their own selves,
and still fewer ask themselves
whether the ends of human society
might not best be served
if each man and woman tried
to abolish the old order of
him- or her- self,
and to practice in their own person
and in their own inward state,
those precepts,
those victories which they
preach at every street corner,
instead of always expecting these things
of their fellow men and women..

every individual needs revolution,
inner division,
overthrow of the existing order,
and renewal,
but not by forcing them upon their neighbors
under the cloak of christian love
or the sense of social responsibility
or any of the other beautiful euphemisms
for unconscious urges to personal power.

individual self-refection,
return of the individual
to the ground of human nature,
to their own deepest being
with their individual and social destiny -
here... here ~
is the beginning of a cure for that blindness
which reigns at the present hour.

- carl jung
1918

and again.. joseph campbell's words
(from yesterday)

hail, essence, hail!

fill the windows of my soul

with beauty:

pierce and renew my bones:

pour knowledge into my heart

as wine.

if we can hold to our center ~

move and breathe from our deepest being ~

from essence ~

the path opens before us..

the path of great awakening..

we walk it

step by step

the eye of clear seeing

leading the heart

guiding the footsteps

a beacon..a flash of light..

could these be our feet..our heart..?

on this wretched great path of awakening

worth a try ~

Monday, June 13, 2016

on waking..

sleep, gray brother of death,

has touched me,

and moved on.

i arise, facing the east ~

pearl-doored sanctuary

from which light,

hand-linked with dew and fire,

dances.