August 16th, 2010 by amy

Yes, I’ve gone missing for a while.  I have been spending some much needed time with family,and recently, moved in with my baby.  It has been a time of reconnecting with my source, with what matters, and doing a little reevaluating of everything that I spend my time on.

So when this article came out the other day in the New York Times, I felt like the universe was trying to tell me something.  Moving two people who have each managed to fill out their 1200 square feet comfortably is a challenge…when my things arrived, aside from the areas that we had thought ahead to de-clutter in advance, every cupboard and cabinet and cubbyhole was full.  So now, while most of what we really care about has found a home in the house, there is a vast quantity of things that remain in the garage…

The garage.  The place your car goes.  By snowfall, it is my commitment that cars will once again go in there.  Slowly, things are finding their way into the happy arms of friends and those unknown more in need of those “things” than us.  But we still have a lot of work to do.  And I have a lot of reading to do for inspiration…there are so many fabulous people out there writing about this very thing right now…Rowdy Kittens, mentioned in the article, smaller living, and so many more.

I think what really rings true for me is that experiences are what makes you happy.  Time and time again, that has been true for me.  Taking a cooking boot-camp and meeting life-long friends, flying to an exotic location that gives me a memory to call on whenever I need a break, even just curling up with my cat and my honey on a summer night under the stars.  This is what I’ll cherish the rest of my life, not a new car, or that amazing new pair of shoes (although that is admittedly still a draw for me…nobody’s perfect).

What if I had to hone all of this down to 100 possessions?  What if we had 400 fewer square feet?  What if we could just throw AWAY everything in that garage?  Would we miss it?

Speaking of experiences, however…that cat is purring behind me on the couch, and I think I should go get me some of that fuzzy goodness.

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lifestyle, moving, simplify

May 4th, 2010 by amy

This past weekend, I went for a wonderful walk out in Castle Pines.  Castle Pines is a whole different world from where I live in the center of the city.   There is almost an absence of sounds.  Wind whispering through the pines, the scurry of a squirrel, the crunch of the not-yet-sprouted grass underfoot. Read the rest of this entry »

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quiet mind, silence, walks

April 24th, 2010 by amy

Truth be told, I’ve been playing in the garden since March 8.  I just can’t stay away.  If there is a beautiful spring day that early in the year, I can’t help myself…I got out there to check on my late fall plantings, which seem to have wintered nicely, and turned the earth so that it would be ready when true spring arrived.  And the weekend before last, I just couldn’t help but believe that it was time for all those early spring plants to get in the ground!

I am probably way ahead of myself…I have carrots, beets, radishes, lettuces and peas in the ground, but really, I’m not sure that it was quite time yet to plant additional onions and my green beans.  But I’ve ignored my intuition for a long time and it was calling to me, calling and saying it is time.  While cold weather may come, it won’t freeze the ground, it won’t frost.  So far, I think I’m OK, and little plants are forcing through now.  Even through this snow from Friday, because it was wet and heavy and likely exactly what the doctor ordered for my little kiddos.

But the plants you see above are safely indoors…craning their little necks up to the heavens like little yogis until the day I let them land in the ground.  What magic it is to watch seeds sprout, become green and unfurl themselves.  It’s like the echo of our own song as we step each day out into Spring, hoping for it to be a coatless, maybe even sweaterless day.

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garden, seed, spring, sprout

April 21st, 2010 by amy

I’ve been back in the yoga swing in a big way in April – trying new teachers, classes, styles, to make sure that I always have new things that get me excited.  I think that finding new teachers often times reawakens my desire to practice at home too, because I play with new poses and want to make them my own.

But one of the big things that has happened to me lately is I’ve been attending classes where the teacher lays you into savasana, talks a bit, then says namaste, and leaves.  The class starts to pick up and leave, and I’m just at the beginning of my settling phase.

At first I was irritated.  Don’t you people know what you’re missing?  Then I resigned to the fact that it didn’t matter…they were getting what I needed, I could stay as long as I liked.  Who cares?  …once I got over all the ruckus. Read the rest of this entry »

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rest, savasana

March 26th, 2010 by amy

so…

I’m kind of reworking things here.  Beginning a new space where yoga will still be important, but the rest of life is too.  Because I have to be honest with myself – I have a myriad of interests, and I want to write about my garden this time of year as much as I want to write about yoga.  And having enjoyed a barrel tasting at Infinite Monkey Theorem earlier this week (more on that later) I want to tell you all about it.  And perhaps my forays into those other worlds have kept my scribbles to my personal notebooks and off the web for the last few months.  I’m not sure.

But there’s only one way to find out.

So…to those who followed my musings around yoga, I hope that you still find these “muses” amusing, and perhaps can relate to them as a part of your larger self as well.  And of course, yoga is still central to my life, so my nibblets on that are still there, and you can specifically subscribe ONLY to yoga if you wish, but as any yogi(ni) knows, yoga comes out in daily life, too.  Maybe you’ll enjoy what comes out through other explorations and find some yoga within it.

And for those who find me anew, or who followed more tangentially, welcome to my crazy, ecstatic path.

I look forward to sharing what I see with you.  I hope that you will engage in the conversation with me as well, for as my teacher, Douglas Brooks, says, there is limited value in the conversation of one.  Only through conversation with one another can we both grow, and have the world expand infinitely before our eyes.

I bow deeply to each and every one of you, and invite you to enter in this bent and crooked path with me…as we encounter the world in its riches, its sorrows, and its spectacular unknowns.  Namaste.

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infinite monkey theorem, new path, yoga

December 27th, 2009 by amy

I love the holidays. They are full of joy, tradition, love, family and friends…all good things. Very good things. But the bustle of it all can sometimes wear me out a bit. Having just arrived home from a wonderful week reconnecting with family, I am now ready to reconnect with my internal source, and to all the rituals that feed me. Fitting, then, that this is the day that I pulled out my the journal I tucked away at my boyfriend’s house to begin writing here again. To begin anew. A blank book, blank pages, calling to me to be filled with musings, emotions, creativity.

Before I left for the holidays, I recreated a new altar space here, so that I can have just as strong of a sacred space as I have at home. A favorite deity given to me by a faraway friend, a candleholder gifted by a fellow yoga instructor, my old mala from my meditation retreat so long ago, tinshas, little glass eggs that glow from within, and more.

The little wooden box upon which it all rests has a little red up printed on it, with a similarly pointing arrow, which I also find appropriate…that is what drew me to it in the first place…now matter how much grounding I might need, I am always here for that lilt of spirit, the rising bliss, that meditation and writing carry for me.
I light some Hinoki incense, and am immediately transported back to a retreat, many years ago, the labyrinth of raw hewn wooden walls, the deep sense of reverance for something much greater and deeper that they hold. Loving hands, warm hearts, and sacred healing waters. A place that revives and renews, and heals the spirit.

So many things in this small space with such deep meaning. A glow, a resonance, and so much promise. So for me, the new year begins right now. Now that the bustle of the holidays is over, now that my time is once again my own, the space has cleared to create, and to manifest for ME. Let the doors unfold, let the song begin, let the wings unfurl, and a new year of promise arrive…balanced, grounded, and steeped in that which I believe in, that which I hold to be true.

May the same happen for all of you, as well. In radiance…amy

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altar, journal

September 11th, 2009 by amy

I am really excited to say that I am FINALLY getting to do my first Anusara Immersion. I have been practicing yoga for a little over 10 years now, and have been practicing Anusara for several of those, but have never been able to make the timing work.

I thought it was about to happen again – I was trying to work out Madhuri Martin’s immersion this month, but the timing conflicted all over the place. I was trying to figure out if there was any way that I might be able to rearrange my life and perhaps do part of the workshop through private study, and sat with it for several days. Last week, I went to Madhuri’s class, and found out that the timing had changed to accommodate those going to Burning Man. Not me, but nonetheless, the new schedule works! It just goes to show the power of positive manifestation.

Immersions are for students and teachers – anyone looking to deepen their practice and better understand the principles being provided. I personally find that immersions provide the opportunity for me to break through previous challenges that were insurmountable from my previous vantage point.

From Madhuri’s site about this immersion:
During this era of radically changing global awareness and values we find ourselves with more questions then answers. Through our yoga practice we can toss ourselves into the confusion or our shared waters, in such a way that our concentric rings of hope, steadiness and love, move outward though these uncertain times. This world of yoga, of practice, of showing up for our community, friends and family; that is the source of our true wealth. Please join us in deepening our greatness, something the world so desperately needs.

I’m so excited to attend – Madhuri is a luminary in our community, and the principles of Anusara are deep and life changing. The immersion starts September 17 – come play with me!

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Anusara, madhuri martin, vital yoga

September 8th, 2009 by amy

Last week I saw the movie, The Cove. It is a very disturbing documentary about the dolphin slaughter in Taiji, Japan. Don’t worry, I’m not going to go into the details here. Anyway, it really moved me – you should really see it.

One of the lines in the movie that I loved was “you’re either an activist or an inactivist”. I thought that was a really amazing statement. Because truly, every time something moves us and we don’t do anything, we are making a choice not to. Regardless of why – perhaps it isn’t a high enough priority. But one of the things that we learn in yoga is that we need to live our lives consciously. The word yoga means “a call to battle”. Not just yoking two things together, which is the most commonly quoted meaning.

The call to battle is a directive to take note of what is happening in your life and to react to it consciously. To pay attention to your breath. To pay attention to your movements,, understand why they are the way they are, and if there is something that you could change to make them more potent, do so. And then, because the yoga that we practice is not the practice of the ascetic, but of the householder, to bring that consciousness off the mat and into your daily life. To feel how you carry your body, to notice how you interact with others, to choose who you are in relation with. Take a moment to think about what in your life you may have unknowingly chosen inaction about that you might actually wish to approach differently. Or…what lights you up and calls you to battle?

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the cove, the cove movie

September 5th, 2009 by amy

The medieval Irish calendar celebrated four festivals to mark the changing of the seasons. Lughnasadh is the first of August, and represents the beginning of fall. Personally, I love fall as much as anyone, with all the colors, the crispness of the air, the harvest, and the like, but it has been 90 degrees here until just recently, so as this holiday came and went, I initially resisted the idea of August 1 marking the beginning of fall – it just didn’t feel like fall.

So I did a little research into the concept of Ludhnasadh. The Irish calendar, like many of the ancient calendars, is not just based on the lunar and solar cycles, but also the vegetative cycles. As a gardener, without reading any further, I understood. I have always conceptually thought of fall as the time for going back to school, falling leaves, changing colors, etc. But that is the belly of fall. While I’ve been harvesting vegetables from my garden all summer, now is the time that I start harvesting more things to squirrel away for the winter. There are more tomatoes ripening than I can eat in a week, so I roast and freeze them. I’ll be doing the same with all those beets, cucumbers, zucchini, onions…The medieval Irish calendar celebrated four festivals to mark the changing of the seasons. Lughnasadh is the first of August, and represents the beginning of fall. Personally, I love fall as much as anyone, with all the colors, the crispness of the air, the harvest, and the like, but it has been 90 degrees here until just recently, so as this holiday came and went, I initially resisted the idea of August 1 marking the beginning of fall – it just didn’t feel like fall. Read the rest of this entry »

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fall, festivals, season change

May 28th, 2009 by amy

The other day, I sat down for meditation as I usually do, lit my candles, spoke with my murtis, and settled in.  I always meditate with a timer, one that I can’t see, but will alert me when the time is “up”.  I do this because when I used to try to go with it free of anything, I sat and wondered how long I’d been sitting, rather than just sit. 

This meditation was unusually juicy for some reason, however, and there was no question of when it would buzz at me…it felt like it was only a few minutes.  And at this point, I did something I had never done before…I doubled down.  I pressed the timer again, and settled in for round two.  Which also went by easily, but by the end, I felt “just right”. 

It’s not as though that is the first time that I had a great, juicy meditation where I felt the perfect combination of calm and vibrant.  That happens, or it doesn’t, but either way, I come out of meditation, go through my rituals, and get up to do whatever it is that my day holds. 

Wait, isn’t this exactly why I do this?  To find the bliss, to calm my mind, to energize and bring the moments of this experience closer and closer together so that they happen more and more often?

So why not?  Double down.  And it’s not just at the meditation cushion.  When we find bliss in our daily lives, we often tend to compartmentalize it.  We take that moment of bliss, but then move back to the daily grind.  But why not take a few more moments with the sunset, or smelling the rain, enjoying a bite of chocolate or laughter with friends?  It’s what this is all about, after all…

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bliss, meditation