FALLING APART

HAPPY EARTH DAY! ( In my opinion, we should honor mother earth CADA DIA - every day!) but It's nice that the earth has a day, like lots of other things have special days!

So,....first off, let me begin by saying,.... I am SOOO appreciate of ....many things during this time,... daily meditation ( Thank you, Jeffrey C), my amazing nearly 6 foot mini me ( who is ... much wiser than I am sometimes ), thankful for dear, dear friends, students who are courageous to jump into the tiny zoom square! I appreciate the birds ( if you've been in the Yoga Tree zoom studio... you know what I mean!) I appreciate that Caroline doesn't yell at me while I practice harmonium! I appreciate this gorgeous weather ( if you are in the appalachian mountains right now, you know what I mean!) I appreciate music, and laughter and I appreciate my parents, Poseidon, books and many, many more "things" and people...but,.let's get on with it ... I am typing today,...

to share some thoughts and what I feel to be "wisdom",... I must give credit to an old friend: a wrinkled, battered, barely held together, BOOK! It's FALLING apart literally and... I'll quote a little here... There is a term for how we react when the rug is pulled out from under us, when we feel we have "lost" things that are "good". Here's where some direct quoting comes from Pema Chodron..."We've been thrown out of the nest, We sail through without a clue as to what's going to happen next. We're in no man's land: we had it all together ( uhm... or DID WE?) ...things were working nicely, when suddenly...." "We don't know what's going to happen next or even where we are.

Then we re-create ourselves. We return to the solid ground of our self-concept as quickly as possible" "Our whole world falls apart, and we've been given this great opportunity. However, we don't trust our basic widom mind enough to let it stay like that. Our habitual reaction is to want to get ourselves back-even our anger, resentment, fear or bewilderment. So we re-create our solid, immovable personality as if we were Michelangelo "chiseling ourselves out of marble.....Instead of struggling to regain our concept of who we are, we can touch in to that mind of simply not knowing, which is basic wisdom mind......When everything falls apart and we feel uncertainty, disappointment, shock, embarrassment, what's left is a mind that is clear, unbiased, and fresh. But we don't see that. Instead, we feel the queasiness and uncertainty of being in a no-man's-land and enlarge that feeling and march it down the street with banners that proclaim how bad everything is. We knock on every door asking people to sign petitions until there is a whole army of people who agree with us that everything is wrong......." In this way we USE our emotions,...."we use them to try to make everything secure and predictable and real again, to fool ourselves about what's really true. We could just sit with the emotional energy and let it pass. There's no particular need to spread blame and self justification. Instead, we throw kerosene on the emotion so it will feel more real." SO,... enough quoting WHEN THINGS FALL APART,... If you've read this far, you are interested or aggravated (ha, either way, yay!) . We all are having our own unique experience with life at the moment, and do not take this quoted text out of context ( or do if you need to.... it's up to you really). As a Yogi, I am ALWAYS practicing, ... not "perfecting"... we PRACTICE as yogi's but,..as yogi's, we are activists and stewards,... care-takers, care-givers, we are in service but we also OBSERVE,...so...

why did I take the time today to write this? I could have been listening to the birds while I snuggled my dog and looked at the flowers and ate yummy vegan food and had inspiring conversation with my son while preparing for zoom Yoga, listening to music,... HA.... you get the drift! So, I was just PAYING attention today and thought it would be good to shake the container a bit, maybe shift the attention a little bit, ... maybe I'm saying, "hey out there, just be aware that when things fall apart, we are sometimes so busy to pick up the pieces and put it all back together ,... we get so damn caught up in the emotional self, that we,...well,... maybe we forget,... that things needed a little shake up and it's time to pay attention,... let go of what hasn't been working, take a deep breath and look inside,... absolutely stand up for what you believe in and research and learn,....but also,... don't be in a crazy hurry to just get it all back to how it used to be,... and I do not mean the state of affairs, or economy, etc.... I am talking about inside YOU! ... only YOU know what's going on inside of you...." well, ... there you have it,... NOW,.... I'm off to look at flowers, listen to music with my dog, get my ass kicked at checkers one more time and take my own advice about just being happy for space. ( not between us,... but in my mind). If you are curious,

My intention is to share peace, and if you read this far and you are still really perplexed, join us for class.