Category: Calendar - RockStarYoga

Happy New Year - or is that Ostara - or Alban Eiler?!?

20/3/2013

No matter how you cut it, or call it - Happy Spring! In our modern reckoning, this is the calendar day when Winter finally yields and Spring triumphs.

Today, finally, after a long season, our days and nights meet in parity. And, for all of the forthcoming days, day will win over night as we see more and more sun.

Here in ATX, most everyone I know was up late last night - or early this morning, depending on which side of the clock you choose - due to an enormous thunderstorm that swept through. It was house-shaking, roof-rippling, earth-washing natural drama and excitement at it's best. And, it felt like something was happening, like really happening.

For me, I liken it to a strong shaking off of the 'dead of winter'... a sloughing off of what hasn't worked, was has been stalled. With Mercury just coming out of retrograde, a lot has felt tense, bound up, incomplete. Last night and the tempest that arrived seemed like a release; a mighty release.

Winter is a the season of deep reckoning. We look at what we endeavored for in the prior year; we take up the fruits of the labors that came to bounty, but we're left looking also at the dried husks and dead stalks of what didn't bear, what didn't blossom - of seeds planted and nurtured, but with no outcome.

It's time to let that go, to separate the chaff and to rid ourselves of whatever we're hanging on to. No point in holding onto the by-product, the cast off, the over-burden. We need to seek the new growth.

Not angrily, but with some understanding that no effort is wasted. Even that which is discarded after the harvest becomes the fertile soil for next year's planting. And that is where we are at, now, on this day.

"Behold, my friends, the Spring has come; the Earth has gladly received the embraces of the Sun, and we shall soon see the results of their love!"

Sitting Bull

So, what can you lay to rest, and what can you whither down to husk and seed, where you might just find the germ, the kernel, the bij... and plant again?

Tend, and let go; reap and harvest, but also let some lay fallow and let that which should pass to decompose. From that, build strong roots and reach high.

Spring is upon us; the energetic shift has announced itself. Whether you reckon it as the Equinox, or the longer days; as Ostara (the predecessor to Easter) or Alban Eiler (the Light of the Shining Earth), celebrate this time of transition!

Let the season change, let the cycle spin, let the circle be unbroken.

Give thanks and praise!

If We Can Be In Love With Someone Who Is Away From Us, Can't We Be In Love With Someone Who Is Gone From Us?

14/2/2013

A letter to his dead wife...

I've posted this before, but it's so resonant and on point for this day... I'm a bit of a sentimentalist when it comes to loving your partner, and the desire to know and experience connection unbound, unending and unseverable.

I'm not enough of a sentimentalist to think it's clouds and harps, but I'm always inspired when one of my heroes and mentors (and most rational and excellent bongo-playing man of science) gets me weepy with his words.

From the incredible Richard Feynman... here's the story. In June of 1945, Arline Feynman — high-school sweetheart and wife of the hugely influential physicist, Richard Feynman — passed away after succumbing to tuberculosis. She was 25-years-old.

16 months later, in October of 1946, Richard wrote his late wife the following love letter and sealed it in an envelope. It remained unopened until after his death in 1988.

October 17, 1946

D’Arline,

I adore you, sweetheart.

I know how much you like to hear that — but I don't only write it because you like it — I write it because it makes me warm all over inside to write it to you.

It is such a terribly long time since I last wrote to you — almost two years but I know you'll excuse me because you understand how I am, stubborn and realistic; and I thought there was no sense to writing.

But now I know my darling wife that it is right to do what I have delayed in doing, and that I have done so much in the past. I want to tell you I love you. I want to love you. I always will love you.

I find it hard to understand in my mind what it means to love you after you are dead — but I still want to comfort and take care of you — and I want you to love me and care for me. I want to have problems to discuss with you — I want to do little projects with you. I never thought until just now that we can do that. What should we do. We started to learn to make clothes together — or learn Chinese — or getting a movie projector. Can't I do something now? No. I am alone without you and you were the "idea-woman" and general instigator of all our wild adventures.

When you were sick you worried because you could not give me something that you wanted to and thought I needed. You needn’t have worried. Just as I told you then there was no real need because I loved you in so many ways so much. And now it is clearly even more true — you can give me nothing now yet I love you so that you stand in my way of loving anyone else — but I want you to stand there. You, dead, are so much better than anyone else alive.

I know you will assure me that I am foolish and that you want me to have full happiness and don't want to be in my way. I'll bet you are surprised that I don't even have a girlfriend (except you, sweetheart) after two years. But you can't help it, darling, nor can I — I don't understand it, for I have met many girls and very nice ones and I don't want to remain alone — but in two or three meetings they all seem ashes. You only are left to me. You are real.

My darling wife, I do adore you.

I love my wife. My wife is dead.

Rich.

PS Please excuse my not mailing this — but I don't know your new address.

For the loved, the beloved, those here in arms and those lost to us and only held in the heart and mind. Here's to love, across the units we can measure and beyond those we can comprehend.

Give thanks and praise, and be loved, loving and beloved. Say it, it won't hurt you: mean it and it will fulfill you.

Mindfulness - In Your Observations, Your Abstentions and Your Relationships!

11/2/2013

Big month out there - lots of energetics in the planets, we've got the Mardi Gras and beginning of Lenten Season, and of course, the holiday where we are extolled to show our love by doing arcane actions in a mindless and pointless way - one romantic's opinion.

These times remind me that I work with a concept, personally and in my teaching - it's simple, but as all disciplines, in its simplicity is its challenge. Here is my premise, I've posted this before, but this past week I said it in context in class, and then it was quoted on FB - given the times, it's on point:

Do what you are doing while you are doing it - that's the entire, simplistic and yet most complicated point of this post. Let's break it down.

Do what you are doing - that means approach it like yoga - rather than union, think of linking. Linking yourself completely to the action or moment at hand. Not in projection or obsession on the outcome, but just in an engaged and present way. That also means leaving history in the past; don't approach it with all of the former experiences or occurrences, both good and bad at the forefront of your mind, for in doing so, you are repeating history, not crafting the present.

Let me make it a little more tangible - right now; is your singular intent reading this? Really, I'm flattered, but are you eating or drinking something? Listening to music? Have multiple windows open and actively panning for excitement, or simply just hanging out somewhere in public but checking out some blogs and then some people, then whatever?

The question is, is that how your practice goes? Are you elsewhere, making big or small plans? Checking out ideas in your head, remembering the good times, thinking about what you'll eat later? It's natural, it's the practice, to understand that tendency to disassociate and pull away into reflection, distraction, projection - anything but the experience or sensation at hand.

Can you use the breath, as the yuj - the link - the one thing that binds you to what you are doing? Can you experiment with simply trying to give your fullness to one thing alone? In the asana practice, the linking of breath and body and engagement; perhaps in your life for a selected experiment. A time without multitasking, without rampant sensory input, perhaps driving while not listening to music and making a call while texting!

Perhaps, just to be present to your loved one, to only listen to a song, to just simply read a book. To just do what you are doing while you are doing it.

Perhaps that can be working experiment for you as you transcend your practice from the safety of the laboratory and into the screaming mess we call life. Where do you most easily get distracted? What are your multitasks that are productive, but which are the ones that are distracting... when is the last time that the only thing you did was listen, or read, or think?

Give it a try, let me know what it feels like to feel what you’re doing and do what you're feeling!

Give thanks and praise.

Happy Imbolc - Groundhogs, Bonfires and Brigid...

2/2/2013

Today is a special day, not because of a Groundhog, but he has some twisted role in it! Read on...

Today it Imbolc, or Imbolg! Imbolc is the name of the pagan festival celebrated on what was the first day of the Old Spring. Sometime centuries thereafter, it was appropriated and in Christian times it was transferred to Candlemas, but we'll get there later.

This is a special time of the year; in addition to the four solar events of the Equinoxes and Solstices, most of the ancient cultures had an 'eight-spoke wheel of the year'. So, it was not unique to the Celts in seeing this time as a beginning of vernal stirrings.

In the archaic Roman calendar, February was the last month of their calendar year- the name derives from februa, which means "the means of purification or expiatory offerings." We call this 'svaha' in the yogi culture. February marked a turn of season bringing the renewal of agricultural activities after winter. This day is the center point between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere.

In Ireland, Imbolc was the feis or festival marking the beginning of Spring. During this time, large gatherings and great feasts were held as is attested to in some of the earliest Old Irish literature, appearing from the 10th century onward. Imbolc was traditionally aligned with the start of the 'lactation of ewes and the beginning of lambing season'. Since the Northern Hemisphere is large and the range of Celtic culture broad, this could vary by as much as two weeks before or after the start of February.

This holiday is a festival of the hearth and home; it stands as a celebration of the onset of the lengthening of days and the early promises of spring. That’s how it got associated with Groundhog’s day and all of the trapping, but I believe it was originally a badger…

Celebrations often involved hearth-fires or bon-fires, special foods of the dairy-variety, clairvoyance, scrying, divination or watching for omens, and the lighting of candles – hence Candlemas. These ideas of fire, of seeing and of burning all show that purification is an important part of the festival. The lighting of candles and fires represented the return of warmth and the increasing power of the Sun over the coming months, as well as the burning away of the old – that’s a little yoga right there.

The word itself, imbolc derives from the old Gaelic, i mbolg meaning "in the belly” referring to the lambing season and the pregnancy of ewes. Imbolc is immediately followed by Candlemas; therefore, sometimes the names are used interchangeably.

Imbolc is also call Saint Brighid’s Day, or Lá Fhéile Bríde or Là Fhèill Brìghde or Laa’l Breeshey, all festivals honoring Brigid. Since each of these represent the first promise of spring, fertiliity and life, they all are held at the place halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. One of the eight-spokes of the year.

So, celebrate - enjoy, light a candle or make a fire. Consider what should be left behind, and with intention, place that in the fire. Propitiate, make offering and give it up! Svaha! Enjoy your Imbolc!!

Give thanks and praise!

Dream a Dream - Today and Everyday...

21/1/2013

"Sleep
Sleep tonight
And may your dreams
Be realized
If the thunder cloud
Passes rain
So let it rain
Rain down on him
So let it be
So let it be

Sleep
Sleep tonight
And may your dreams
Be realized
If the thundercloud
Passes rain
So let it rain
Let it rain
Rain on him.." - U2

Vulnerability, Confessions and Lessons...

15/10/2012

Had a really nice weekend - my wife came home from her Seva trip to India on Saturday and we have just been catching up, telling and hearing stories, trying on lungis and dhotis and salwar kameez and just being together.

Truth be told, we normally share just about everything - especially travel. While it's not uncommon for us to travel separately or take business trips, we predominantly choose to travel together and to discover new places in each others company.

This wasn't one of those times - Susannah got selected to be on her Seva trip through the Whole Planet Foundation. The timing of the trip wasn't set early on, and there were options for spouses or family members to apply to serve on the trip, as well. So, I did and was accepted.

Then, two heavy revelations followed; the first was that I would have to pay all the expenses to attend (this wasn't made clear up front, and while the folks from WFM who were attending were only required to pay for their airfare, family or guests needed to pay all. The second issue was the timing of the trip was set for the exact same time we had committed to GaneshFest, here in ATX.

Given these two factors, and given that GaneshFest was the fundraiser for my Global Seva Challenge (and if successful, would have me going to do Seva in India in February of 2013), it only seemed prudent at the time to have Susannah do her thing, and me do mine. It was not without some sorrow - neither of us had been to India, and had planned to for quite some time, so to not go together was a little sad and painful.

Then, while GaneshFest was a rocking collaborative and joyful success as an event, as a fundraiser it was not as successful and leaves me and my collaborator quite shy of the goal. As in - potentially not going to happen.

I'm not ashamed to tell you I'm really sad, and I got kinda depressed and shut off. I wasn't with my best friend, I wasn't sharing my experiences and my feelings of shortcoming, and I wasn't getting to share in her experiences and her excitement and new revelations (like hanging with the elephants and those things that only happen in India). I missed her enormously, I wanted to be with her, I wanted to be in India doing Seva, and I was consumed with the thought that I'd made all the wrong choices.

I haven't really felt depressed in decades, and I did my best to stay focused on good things and doing what I needed to do. It didn't help that I felt I'd passed on my chance to go to India - not saying I've given up on my Seva Challenge, but I have been really surprised, and a little disappointed at how difficult it has been to get people's attention for long enough to get them to consider a donation.

And, this is a tough time, with a lot of need, and I get it - it's probably a lot easier to just not think about six-year-old girls getting raped 10-15 times per day but rather just buy some new shoes, go out to a show, drop $50 at Alamo Drafthouse, buy Lotto tickets, or just give another donation to your other causes. I'm not bitter, just really sad that I'm not succeeding at helping.

I'm not used to not succeeding, especially when I put all of my efforts into something. Yet, here I am, 6 months later, teaching classes to 1, 2 or maybe 5 people... having workshops where 1 person shows up, having fundraisers that break even, watching other teachers get classes at studios I've been talking to, and simply wondering when things will break?

They say that the arrow has to feel the backwards draw - the pull back - before it's released into flight. That would be now, and this bow doesn't stretch much farther. And, it's the harvest season; I know I've planted good seeds and I intend to keep tending them. Just looking for that break-through moment.

And, I'm not giving up on my Seva Challenge - and I'm not giving up on asking! So, here's a plea - hit the link and drop a donation! I'd love to serve for you in India, and improve the situation for a small number of the girls there that are in slavery and despondency. Don't make it about me, make it about serving them!!

Thanks and praise!

Ganesh Chaturthi - You Say It's Your Birthday? It's His Birthday, Too!

19/9/2012

It is an auspicious day!!

First and foremost, it is Ganesh Chaturthi - the occasion on which we celebrate Ganesh, his birth and his works! It just also happens to be my beloved teacher, and solid friend, Seane Corn's birthday, and I find no irony in that - Seane has done a lot to remove obstacles and be a support on my own personal growth.

We are celebrating Ganesh's birthday because it is worthy of celebration and contemplation, but also, because we are in the last days of preparation for GaneshFest, 2012 - our "Off the Mat Into the World" Global Seva Challenge fundraiser!

We're hosting three nights of music and two full days of yoga (live music an DJs accompanying) with 20 beloved Austin Teachers sharing the flows. Please come check it out - we need your support to be able to reach our goal, as well as bringing folks from all over together in shared joy, service and purpose.

Why Ganesh?? Well, he's a helpful soul. He sometimes puts obstacles in our way, when we need them most. He may test us, temper us, see what we are made of. He also removes obstacles, he is invoked for good beginnings and fresh starts! He's lovable, jolly and in service to us all.

There's a great legend, as there always is, behind the story of Ganesh. Traditional stories tell that Lord Ganesha was created by goddess Parvati, consort of Lord Shiva. Parvati created Ganesha out of sandalwood paste that she used for her bath and breathed life into the figure. She then set him to stand guard at her door while she bathed.

Lord Shiva returned and, as Ganesha didn't know him, he didn't allow him to enter. Well, Lord Shiva didn't know Ganesh either, and wasn't excited about him standing at the bath of his lover... Lord Shiva became enraged and asked his follower ghosts to teach the child some manners. Ganesha, being born of Parvati, the embodiment of shakti or power was very powerful himself. He defeated the ghost-followers - called the "ganas" - and declared nobody was allowed to enter while his mother was bathing.

Sensing a growing turmoil, the sage of heavens, Narada, along with the Saptarshi - the seven wise rishis, or sages - went to appease the boy with no results. Angered, the king of Gods, Indra attacked the boy with his entire heavenly army but even they didn't stand a chance. By then, this issue had become a matter of pride for Parvati and Shiva. After the devas were defeated, the trinity - the controller, preserver and destroyer of the universe - launched an attack against Ganesha. Amidst the fight, Shiva severed the head of the child, and brought on Parvati's rage.

Seeing her son dead, Parvati revealed her true self, as the Adi-Shakti, the prime energy that fuels the universe and sustains matter. Taking on a terrible form, she vowed to destroy the universe where her son was killed and re-create a better one. The Gods prostrated before her and Shiva promised that her son will live again.

The trinity hunted the world for a head and came across a mother elephant crying for her dead baby. They consoled the mother and fixed the head of the baby elephant in place of Ganesha's head. Lord Shiva also declared that from this day, the boy would be called as "Ganesha" (Gana-Isha - lord of the Ganas). In this way, Lord Ganesha came to be depicted as the elephant-headed God.

Lovely story - and just for fun, contrast it to the story of Isis - aka Isha, a female diety - who also is served by a family member, once killed and dismembered, and reconstructed, with a Hawk's head. Just sayin', a good story travels a long way.

So, what does it mean for you - it means what needs be meant. Things seem blocked, stuck, in a rut - look to Ganesh for some release. However, if things are going well, don't be surprised if you get a little test.

The GaneshTest we'll call it - just how serious are you about your purpose, your calling and your dream?? Purposeful enough to endure some hardship? Committed enough to stay placid through the moments where nothing is happening? Are you up to the test?

Whatever you decide, make it a sweet day - enjoy, give thanks and praise!!

Tickets for GaneshFest are on sale now - grab them HERE - we need your help to address the shame and disgrace that is human sexual-trafficking in India. Please join us in practice and in Seva!

Yo, Yo, Yogis, It's Yoga Aid Challenge Day!

9/9/2012

Well, if you missed it, Septemeber is National Yoga Month, and Labor Day has become Free Day of Yoga. And, we'll be rounding out the month with our benefit event, GaneshFest!!

So, fittingly, we're here at Yoga Aid Challenge Day! Today it is, and I love this day. Read more about it here, a their site, but simply: Teachers, students and communities from all over the country --- well really, the world! --- will be coming together to raise One Million Dollars for Charities around the world in this global day of Seva (selfless service).

As you know, I'm heavily devoted to conscious activism this year, and as an OTM Global Seva Challenger, I'm personally committed to raising $20,000 through my own collaborations, actions and fundraising activities.

I've still got over $15K to go, so any consideration or support you want to make to either my cause, or supporting the collaborative fundraising of the Austin Yoga Tribe would be appreciated.

You can follow this link to learn more about my cause --- you can follow this one to make a donation to the Austin Yoga Tribe's collaborative effort --- you can support this endeavor by attending GaneshFest, purchase tickets at this site!

Today, you can support this spirit-, consciousness- and fund-raising endeavor by attending an excellent Yoga Aid Fundraiser practice, led by the world class Gioconda, and accompanied by the incredible grooves and vibes of the Austin Bhakti Kirtan Tribe!

Good times, great works, lovely people, and to be frank, tough situations we're trying to address. Please, ask more, learn more, and help us to work towards each of these goals.

Austin Yoga Tribe's motto says it all - Local Action for Global Change.

Give thanks and praise - see you today or on the mat!!

Maybe Once in a Blue Moon - A Gratitude Practice.

31/8/2012

Hey y'all - big things in the air, both literally and figuratively. It's the blue moon today - whether you ascribe to the newer rendition of 'twice in one month' or the more archetypical of 'fourth in one season', it's a special day, with some added gravitas.

I love the solar and lunar cycles - I celebrate the 'eight-spokes' of the wheel year, where the solar equinoxes and solstices, as well as the quarter days are to be celebrated. But, that cycle also takes into account the moon and it's complementary, yet unique cyclical relationship. Irrespective, it gives one a lot to celebrate and time to honor. Time to set aside experience from daily observance, and to mark moments as ritual.

So, adding some 'gravitas' - that's interesting. In Sanskrit, the planets are known as 'grahas', or points of attraction. The 'gravity' that draws us in, that effects us. We also find 'graha' in 'aparigraha' - often translated as 'non-attachment'. I would give it this - 'a' is the Sanskrit negator, like we say 'asexual' to mean 'non'. 'Pari' is like 'perimeter', or at the edge of, or around. 'Graha' is the planet. So, a translation of 'aparigraha' might be 'don't circle like the moon, a helpless satellite, forever orbiting the earth due to it's gravitational draw'; escape the pull!

But, I digress. It's the blue moon, the Purnima - the night of the full moon that is treated auspiciously. We are past Lammas, but not yet to the equinox. We have seen the first tastes of the harvests... the fruit hangs on the tree, the grains grow on the stalks. Nirali Purnima, or we call it the Grain moon, or Red Moon, or Green Corn Moon, Lightning Moon, or Dog Moon. These are the Dog Days of Summer, with Sirius and Canis Major in full effect.

We say 'once in a blue moon' because it takes about 3 full years for it to occur. That's a long spell, almost a 1,000 days from cycle to cycle. A time for reflection beyond the simple seasonal... And, perhaps a time for ritual and observation.

It's been a great summer, and a heavy one. Doors have closed, windows have opened. Friends of gone, colleagues have emerged. Time has been spent both in the planting and tending, and now the harvest and the reaping. What will truly come from much remains out of sight, but it's been a good season.

This period leading to the fullness of the blue moon has felt really heavy, very gravid, very full of import, but not of motion. All potential, but very little kinetic. What presents as prepared is actually still ripening. It's a time to take time, to wait, to allow the full ripening, the full maturity. Then, will we enjoy the fruits of our labors.

In the meantime, today, tonight, early the next morning... turn your face to the sun, then to the moon. Thank each, for the projection and reflection, their fire and their coolness. Find space in each for gratitude... honor each, give more to that which you naturally tend away from, and come to your wholehearted fullness.

Reap what you've sown, give thanks and praise!

Halfway to Somewhere on the Way Nowhere.

22/6/2012

Hey, welcome to Summer, great to have you here!

Summer is alot of folks favorite season; I'm more of the 'down seasons' --- Autumn, Winter --- kinda guy, but I have a lot of sunshine daydreaming summer loving have-me-a-blast kind of friends, so I get it.

Summer is about doing things, being active, sharing with friends, celebrating and playing. We've made it through the dark nights of Winter, we've come through the deluges and changes of Spring, we've seen what's been planted begin to take hold, to grow, to become fecund and formed. It's a reassurance of life, of goodness, of the cycle coming to fullness.

However, did you ever wonder where the word "Summer" originates from? Turns out, through a lot of development, it comes down to us from the old Sanskrit base language, PIE. Actually, PIE, or Proto-Indo-European, is the acknowledged base language for the majority of language groups on the planet, and one of the reasons we see easy cognates in both Germanic and Romance languages.

So, Summer simply means 'halfway' - think of the great cognate you know and use - 'semi'. Half of something, in this case, half of the year. Reckoning a beginning at the WInter Solstice, when it seems that even the sun itself is born, and coming through the cycle until this point... halfway. Midsummers Night; go ahead, have a dream and celebrate your "Puckyness".

Reckon it then, will you. We're halfway away from something and halfway to something - quite in the middle. In the height of the velocity or the bell curve, out of the rise on the plateau and perhaps headed for a long downslope. Sure, the days get shorter, then the nights become predominant as it cools. The energy recedes in the down seasons, until in the depth of Winter, we find ourselves at the hearth, contained, introspective, reflective and thankful for all those 'acorns' we stocked away for later.

Celebrate the season, and celebrate being halfway to something or halfway away from something else. Recognize the cycles, the seasons, the changes as we watch energy ebb and flow, rise and fall. Enjoy - feel what you are doing and then do what you are feeling!!

Give thanks and praise!