Published on Friday, June 20th, 2008
This summer has been dedicated to finding my direction on my yogic path. That means specifically, finding a Yoga Teacher Training (YTT). To that end, Rick and I visited three YTT programs in Northern California: Ananda, The Expanding Light in Nevada City, Ca., Sivanada Yoga Farm in Grass Valley, Ca., and Mt Madonna Center near Gilroy, Ca. Each was a unique and beautiful place. The first two are Ashrams, while Mt. Madonna is more of a retreat center. My goal was to get the “feel” of each environment, speak to those either attending a YTT or staff members who organize it, check out the housing and food (I am interested in tent camping) and figure out if I could spend a month in that place. I feel like I have made a significant start in my decision. Stay tuned for more!
Published on Tuesday, May 27th, 2008
Published on Sunday, May 25th, 2008
Published on Tuesday, May 13th, 2008
In the Buddhist tradition, illusion is the state all of us are in until a time we awaken. I think about this concept more than ever as I watch my Mother with Alzheimer’s struggle with persistent fixed delusions. She has several major delusions and a few minor ones. They dominate her interactions. Actually, they are her interactions. Dealing with them as the non-Alzheimer’s person, is tiring, sad and frustrating.
But that leads me back to the illusions of our lives, of my life. My Mom’s delusions are scary, sad, emotional. She cries. My daily illusions are the experiences that at some point, if I develop Alzheimer’s, may lead to my own delusions. In listening and identifying her delusions (demons?), I have been given a window into what has happened to her during her life and how she processed those experiences. I work daily on awakening thru my mediation and mindfulness in personal interaction. I struggle with my illusions as my Mother struggles with her delusions. We are not so unalike in that.
Published on Tuesday, April 29th, 2008
When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.
Henri Nouwen
Published on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008
California State Automobile Association (CSAA) publishes a monthly magazine Via. They are sponsoring a contest called “The Kindness of Strangers”. The contest requires a very short description of a traveling event where the writer relates an experience where a stranger(s) made a difference in their travel experience. My submission is included here. I did not place in the contest, but I feel the story is timely and relevant to our world today.
Early evening, Christmas Eve 1973. A stretch of Highway 99 between Sacramento and Los Angeles, California. A young couple with a 9-month-old baby in a ‘66 Plymouth Valiant station wagon has broken down near Chowchilla as they travel for Christmas. A desolate stretch of road. No one stops to help. No telephones available. The night is turning cold and hours go by before a car stops. Two Muslim students on their way back to school in Fresno take us in and drive us to their apartment. They feed and shelter us for the night. The next morning, Christmas Day, they help us find someone to fix the car. They forever influenced my worldview. Every time I drive that stretch of road, I remember the most “Christian” actions that came from two Muslim strangers.
Published on Sunday, April 13th, 2008
Published on Saturday, March 29th, 2008
Attention is the beginning of devotion.
Published on Sunday, March 23rd, 2008
Many of you who know me know that I have been practicing yoga for over a year now. While I had intended to learn about yoga for quite some time, it wasn’t until I found my self in pain that I became a serious student. I have also been thinking alot about retirement (not for at least 5 years) and what I will do during retirement. Yoga seemed like a perfect fit with my medical training. I feel that in retirement I would like to do something that still helps others.
I am now searching out yoga instructor courses for 2009. This month, my teacher Cindy (see her link Middle Way Yoga) asked me to teach a class for her so she and her son could take a short (well deserved trip). While a stretch for such a new practitioner, but previous teaching experience was helpful. I had seven yogis. We focused on breath, balance and heart openers. I used Lovingkindness as our meditative focus for the class. I hope this is the beginning of a new direction for my life.
Published on Wednesday, November 21st, 2007
We are madly preparing to host Thanksgiving this year! Even so, I want to take some time to reflect on what giving thanks means. I found this quote which I feel, sums up my feelings about Thanksgiving of the heart.
” Gratitude…goes beyond the “mine” and “thine’ and claims the truth that all of life is a pure gift. In the past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response to the awareness of gifts received, but now I realize that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline. The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as agift of love, a gift to celebrated with joy”. Henri J.M. Nouwen
