here's what's up !

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.
                ~william stafford

to make a long story shorter..
the yoga classes will run as scheduled
thru the end of april!

in may and june, the same schedule will be available
with new and brilliant teachers and guides..
in july ~
beginning tuesday, the 7th..of july
i'll be back for the next four months..
july thru octobre..
then..
the same brilliant teachers and guides..
(more or less)
will lead you through classes
thru the winter season..thru spring..

i plan to return in may of 2016
(who, in heaven's name can know all this?)
for another 6 months of sharing the dharma..

it will be a spiced up version of a wing and a prayer 
with new vitality..
some younger teachers..
refreshing new classes..
what a miracle!
then the olde teabag and soup pot
will arrive to stir things up..
please stay close, if you can..
let's unfold the mystery together!

the sun came up differently today.
souls move in the changing light.

jupiter, the moon, the good luck house we inhabit,
the friend, all one presence today,
this grand health where we are servants to each other.

one who pours wine and makes toasts
arrives at the banquet just as it is over.

it is the perfect beginning for ending,
as feet become head in this new way.
        ~ rumi

heart sutra sit... february 15

the old man

must have stopped our car

two dozen times to climb out

and gather into his hands

the small toads blinded

by our lights and leaping,

drops of rain.

the rain was falling,

a mist about his white hair

and i kept saying

you can't save them all,

accept it, get back in

we've got places to go.

but, leathery hands full

of wet brown life,

knee deep in the summer

roadside grass,

he just smiled and said

they have places to go

too.

             ~birdfoot's granpa

               joseph bruchac

remember!
we are practicing for the great benefit of all beings..
we are not crossing the great ocean ahead of anyone..
we bow before our ancestors and all sentient beings..
we practice for the great vast!

HEART SUTRA SIT
SUNDAY
FEBRUARY 15
4-6 PM
by donation

the heart of the matter-valentine's 2015

stuff your eyes with wonder ..

live as if you'd drop dead in ten seconds.

                        ~ ray bradbury

there has been some kind of whirly-gig 

with my balance and the gravitational pull and push..

1000 miles an hour, you know ~

after the rib stumble..

and the next two tumbles..

i am paying attention!

withdrawal can be the very best way 

of stepping forward 

and done well, a beautiful freeing act of mercy.

withdrawal is often not what it looks like - 

a disappearance -

no, to withdraw.. 

can be to appear again in the world

in a very real way and begin the process

of renewing the primary, 

essential invitation again.

to remove ourselves...

is often the real and radically

courageous break for freedom.

we make ourselves available 

for the simple purification

of seeing ourselves (and others) 

and the world more elementally

and therefore more clearly again.

we withdraw not to disappear, 

but to find another ground from which to see; 

a solid ground from which to step, 

and from which to speak again,

in a different way, 

a clear...embodied voice.... 

                                         consolations - david whyte

~ withdrawing ~

everything seems to be falling (excuse the pun) into place 

for me to find my traveling boots and set out yet again..

what a run we've had at the studio this stint..

2 years in march!

a new floor..such a beauty..

( and leaving the place better than when we found it!)

6 practice classes per week -

praises and gratitude 

to jeri lancaster for her monday night offering

big benefit for yoga behind bars..

ora mae's elegant quote book ~

sallie's picnic table ..

blankets and blocks..

monthly heart sutra sits ~ om gate gate!

a trunkful of money for the elephant sanctuary ~

thank you, thank you for your brilliance..

your presence and your generous hearts..

(~many heartfelt thanks to ricky knue 

who kept the classes steady and graced

on my last romp around the planet ~)

my dream is to keep the studio a 'flying.. 

though i simply don't know how to go about this ~

i welcome any ideas, suggestions & wisdom

with a wide heart & mind 

regarding a wing's transformation..

my vision is to return 6 months of the year

and share practice w/ those interested..

help! please!

in finding a new flight pattern..higher ground..shared space..

i would have liked very much to 

sit face to face with each of you,

a cuppa in front of us..

sharing the news and the new horizon..

kindly accept this note as just that ~

please know that i am devoted to the practice

of waking up..devoted to the dharma treasures..

devoted to you - the practictioners..

let us practice strong these next few months!

let us remember & actualize our clear light luminosity!

those of you with class series..

you'll be able to clear the books

as i am here thru the end of april..

if you are unable to attend classes, please!

feel free to pass your classes on to family and friends..

the series never expires so perhaps 

we'll meet on the mat when i return.. 

i am - as always - boundlessly grateful

for the breath we breathe in the same vicinity ~

lovers gather and give each other shade,

relief from the direct sun.

stay close by that community

'til you become light like the moon,

then like the sun.

                           ~rumi

i am selling many things..

- giving much away - 

gathering funds..emptying out..

please let me know if you need or want anything..

i must surely have it somewhere!

o how i long to keep the world

from narrowing in on me

and to look at things bigly and kindly.

                 ~william morris

  

~ love is the heart of the matter~

st.brigit

this is the eve  of st.brigit 's feast day..
 ~ february 1 ~
she is a protector of peace and harmony.
hang a piece of cloth or ribbon on a shrub or tree
& she will bless it with her cloak as she walks the night
into her feast day!
every blessing allways ~

you and art ~ william stafford

your exact errors make a music

that nobody hears.

your straying feet find the great dance,

walking alone.

and you live on a world where stumbling

always leads home.

year after year fits over your face -

when there was youth, your talent

was youth;

later, you find your way by touch

where moss redeems the stone;

and you discover where music begins

before it makes any sound,

far in the mountains where canyons go

still as the always-falling, ever-new flakes of snow.

to teach this to your heart ~ heart sutra sit

red bird explains himself
               ~ mary oliver

yes, i was the brilliance floating over the snow
and i was the song in the summer leaves, but this was
only the first trick
i had hold of among my other mythologies,
for i also knew obedience: bringing sticks to the nest,
food to the young, kisses to my bride.

but don't stop there, stay with me: listen.

if i was the song that entered your heart
then i was the music of your heart, that you wanted and needed,
and thus wilderness bloomed there, with all its
followers: gardeners, lovers, people who weep
for the death of rivers.

and this was my true task, to be the
music of the body.  do you understand?  for truly the body needs
a song, a spirit, a soul.  and no less, to make this work,
the soul has need of a body,
and i am both of the earth and i am the inexplicable
beauty of heaven
where i fly so easily, so welcome, yes,
and this is why i have been sent, to teach this to your heart.

HEART SUTRA SIT
SUNDAY JANUARY 18
4-6 PM
by donation

full

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

           ~ invocation from isha upanishad