Entries by tag: my practice
It's been nine months since I posted here?! That tells me I'm overbusy. I generally post when I have time to reflect and no time for reflection is bad.
We're just back from a Middle Fork Salmon self-support trip. Self-support means we were in kayaks and canoes and carried all our gear and food for a week in the wilderness in our boats. I like that better than going with rafts that bring "the kitchen sink" and many other things that are truly unnecessary. It was a good trip though the water was very low due to the megadrought in the West. We only had one night of bad air quality due to wildfires.
Not a lot has changed at the home base. Covid meanders on. I'm still wearing a mask to work in the clinic, which stinks but I've gotten used to it. I have a new job, doing remote lab interpretation. I still have a patient every now and then for my private naturopathic practice. It's plenty.
I'm still working on an assortment of writing projects. I write articles for the local canoe club and for American Whitewater now, about safety on the river. I have several different books in brainstorm/outline form. That form can persist for years, but once I have all the points I want to make arranged in the right order with all the supporting documentation the writing part goes pretty quickly. I've yet to be published in book form. Somebody is going to publish my stuff though, because it's good and there's a lot of it fomenting.
Kitten is dead. My beloved wild feline finally gone. I just returned from a trip and felt the usual worry about her, wanting to see her when I got back. All that was there waiting was a house full of old smells and some photos which I cried over. She was with me for many years.
We're just back from a Middle Fork Salmon self-support trip. Self-support means we were in kayaks and canoes and carried all our gear and food for a week in the wilderness in our boats. I like that better than going with rafts that bring "the kitchen sink" and many other things that are truly unnecessary. It was a good trip though the water was very low due to the megadrought in the West. We only had one night of bad air quality due to wildfires.
Not a lot has changed at the home base. Covid meanders on. I'm still wearing a mask to work in the clinic, which stinks but I've gotten used to it. I have a new job, doing remote lab interpretation. I still have a patient every now and then for my private naturopathic practice. It's plenty.
I'm still working on an assortment of writing projects. I write articles for the local canoe club and for American Whitewater now, about safety on the river. I have several different books in brainstorm/outline form. That form can persist for years, but once I have all the points I want to make arranged in the right order with all the supporting documentation the writing part goes pretty quickly. I've yet to be published in book form. Somebody is going to publish my stuff though, because it's good and there's a lot of it fomenting.
Kitten is dead. My beloved wild feline finally gone. I just returned from a trip and felt the usual worry about her, wanting to see her when I got back. All that was there waiting was a house full of old smells and some photos which I cried over. She was with me for many years.
--Winston Churchill
Your confusion is not pathology, it is path. It has something to show you that clarity could never reveal. The nature of chaos is wisdom, but you must provide a home for it to receive its mysteries.
Your feeling of disconnection is not neurotic, it is intelligent. It has something to show you that oneness could never reveal. If you will practice the yoga of non-abandonment and provide safe passage – it will disclose an unmet doorway.
Your loneliness, your shakiness, and your fear are not mistakes. They are not obstacles on your path. They *are* the path. The freedom you are longing for will never be found in the eradication of the unwanted, but only in the core of the love and information it carries.
There are surges of somatic activity that contain very important information for your journey. If you will offer safe passage for the unknown aliveness, you will meet the messengers of illumination. Nothing is missing, nothing is out of place, and nothing need be sent away.
Yes, you may burn until you are translucent, but it is by way of this burning that your wholeness will be revealed.
~ Matt Licata
“Do not ask your children
to strive for extraordinary lives.
Such striving may seem admirable,
but it is the way of foolishness.
Help them instead to find the wonder
and the marvel of an ordinary life.
Show them the joy of tasting
tomatoes, apples and pears.
Show them how to cry
when pets and people die.
Show them the infinite pleasure
in the touch of a hand.
And make the ordinary come alive for them.
The extraordinary will take care of itself.”
― William Martin
to strive for extraordinary lives.
Such striving may seem admirable,
but it is the way of foolishness.
Help them instead to find the wonder
and the marvel of an ordinary life.
Show them the joy of tasting
tomatoes, apples and pears.
Show them how to cry
when pets and people die.
Show them the infinite pleasure
in the touch of a hand.
And make the ordinary come alive for them.
The extraordinary will take care of itself.”
― William Martin
BE IMPECCABLE WITH YOUR WORD
Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.
DON'T TAKE ANYTHING PERSONALLY
Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering.
DON'T MAKE ASSUMPTIONS
Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama.
ALWAYS DO YOUR BEST
Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.
Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.
DON'T TAKE ANYTHING PERSONALLY
Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering.
DON'T MAKE ASSUMPTIONS
Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama.
ALWAYS DO YOUR BEST
Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.
When I have a morning at home alone I work on my lists and I fall into my practice more easily. The sun is streaming in and I am doing triage on piles of "urgent" items which have become buried under a stream of distractions and amusements like my nonstop study of public health. One observation this morning is that the strong balancing poses which I find so elusive when surrounded by empty air and other students are more accessible when I am alone in my office. Here I can step into a warrior 3 knowing that the sunny windowsill is right there to hold me up, and yet confidently not needing it. This strength and balance that I find in my own small office is something I would like to take with me into the world.
I've been trying to be polite. I am more dedicated to my own practice than to any teacher. I've studied under many teachers, and in many schools. Some new teachers were far better than some veterans. Every teacher teaches me something. Every school has taught me something.
Sometimes the thing I learn is a negative. Part of growing up and separating from your parents is deciding "I don't want to ever do that." What I have been learning recently is that many teachers are so busy teaching that they don't take the time to breathe. That is to say, the best teachers are the ones who are truly present with us in the practice, and not simply filling airspace with instructions.
My yoga practice involves tuning in to my own inner voice, and being present with my breath and body. This was a great learning for me, because I grew up very American, unaware of my body, or worse, in denial of it.
( Exhale, inhale...Collapse )
Sometimes the thing I learn is a negative. Part of growing up and separating from your parents is deciding "I don't want to ever do that." What I have been learning recently is that many teachers are so busy teaching that they don't take the time to breathe. That is to say, the best teachers are the ones who are truly present with us in the practice, and not simply filling airspace with instructions.
My yoga practice involves tuning in to my own inner voice, and being present with my breath and body. This was a great learning for me, because I grew up very American, unaware of my body, or worse, in denial of it.
( Exhale, inhale...Collapse )
Having a relaxed mind is very useful in meditation. Relaxation is the foundation of deep concentration. When the mind is relaxed, it becomes more calm and stable. These qualities in turn strengthen relaxation, thus forming a virtuous cycle. Paradoxically, deep concentration is built on relaxation.
A similar mechanism works in the practice of mindfulness. I found lightness to be highly conducive to mindfulness. Lightness gives rise to ease of mind. When the mind is at ease, it becomes more open, perceptive, and nonjudgmental. These qualities deepen mindfulness, which in turn strengthens lightness and ease, thus forming a virtuous cycle of deepening mindfulness.
--Chade-Meng Tan in Search Inside Yourself; The Unexpected Path to Achieving Success, Happiness (and World Peace), (a 2012 book on meditation by an emotionally intelligent Google engineer), page 69.
A similar mechanism works in the practice of mindfulness. I found lightness to be highly conducive to mindfulness. Lightness gives rise to ease of mind. When the mind is at ease, it becomes more open, perceptive, and nonjudgmental. These qualities deepen mindfulness, which in turn strengthens lightness and ease, thus forming a virtuous cycle of deepening mindfulness.
--Chade-Meng Tan in Search Inside Yourself; The Unexpected Path to Achieving Success, Happiness (and World Peace), (a 2012 book on meditation by an emotionally intelligent Google engineer), page 69.
Comments