POETRY | Nan Witcomb

There was a time
when I was so restless,
I could not remain still
long enough
to realize
I was searching
for peace. . . .

PLAYLIST | Yo Flow! Monday, June 10

MUSIC | Mr Rogers Remixed : Sing Together

POETRY | James Broughton : Shaman Psalm

an excerpt from Shaman Psalm

-James Broughton

Arouse a new era

Disarm the Cutthroats

Sever the loggerheads

Offset the history

of torment and curse

Man is the species

endangered by man

Quick while there's time

Abandon your rivalries

or mourn

Deflate pugnacity

Magnify friendliness

Off with your mask

Off with your face

Dump the false guides

who travel the warpaths

Uncover your loving

Discover surrender

Rise in your essence to

the tender occasion

Unwrap your radiance

and brighten your crew

Value one another

or fall

Come forth unabashed

Come out unbuttoned

Bury belligerence

Resurrect frolic

Only through the body can

you clasp the divine

Only through the body can

you dance with god

In every man's hand

the gift of compassion

In every man's hand

the beloved connection

Trust one another

or drown

Banish animosity

Summon endearment

you are kindred to

each one you greet

each one you deal with

Hold nothing back

Hold nothing in

Romp and commingle

POETRY | Danna Faulds : Let It Go

Let It Go
--Danna Faulds

Let go of the ways you thought life would unfold:
the holding of plans or dreams or expectations – Let it all go.
Save your strength to swim with the tide.
The choice to fight what is here before you now will
only result in struggle, fear, and desperate attempts
to flee from the very energy you long for. Let go.

Let it all go and flow with the grace that washes
through your days whether you received it gently
or with all your quills raised to defend against invaders.
Take this on faith; the mind may never find the
explanations that it seeks, but you will move forward
nonetheless. Let go, and the wave’s crest will carry
you to unknown shores, beyond your wildest dreams
or destinations. Let it all go and find the place of
rest and peace, and certain transformation.

RETREAT | The Call to Adventure : Yoga & Hiking in the Colorado Rockies

The Call to Adventure
Yoga & Hiking in The Colorado Rockies
w/ Roger McKeever & Shari Feldman

September 21 - 25, 2013

Rocky Mountain National Park is beloved for its wildlife and majestic mountain views, and is now home-base for this retreat in September! In the arms of nature, we will practice yoga and meditation, journey into the mountains on guided hikes, and dive into philosophical discussions 'round the evening fire to bring about profound and lasting transformation.

No previous experience is necessary.  Beginner yogis and hikers of all levels are welcome. Just bring an open mind and an open heart, and leave with a fully nourished spirit. Come frolic with us!

• Guided hikes in Rocky Mountain National Park

• Morning yoga and meditation

• Healthy meals (vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options available)

• Cooking demonstrations

• Hot tub

• Evening talks around the fire

• Thai Yoga massage (available)

For more info, detailed pricing and the fine print Click Here

PLAYLIST | YTT Sadhana Thurs

INTERVIEW | Mary Oliver : A Thousand Mornings

I Happened To Be Standing
-Mary Oliver

I don’t know where prayers go,
or what they do.
Do cats pray, while they sleep
half-asleep in the sun?
Does the opossum pray as it
crosses the street?
The sunflowers? The old black oak
growing older every year?
I know I can walk through the world,
along the shore or under the trees,
with my mind filled with things
of little importance, in full
self-attendance.  A condition I can’t really
call being alive.
Is a prayer a gift, or a petition,
or does it matter?
The sunflowers blaze, maybe that’s their way.
Maybe the cats are sound asleep.  Maybe not.

While I was thinking this I happened to be standing
just outside my door, with my notebook open,
which is the way I begin every morning.
Then a wren in the privet began to sing.
He was positively drenched in enthusiasm,
I don’t know why.  And yet, why not.
I wouldn’t pursuade you from whatever you believe
or whatever you don’t.  That’s your business.
But I t hought, of the wren’s singing, what could this be
if it isn’t a prayer?
So I just listened, my pen in the air.

POETRY | Mary Oliver : Spring

Spring
-Mary Oliver

Somewhere
   a black bear
     has just risen from sleep
        and is staring

down the mountain.
   All night
     in the brisk and shallow restlessness
        of early spring

I think of her,
   her four black fists
     flicking the gravel,
        her tongue

like a red fire
   touching the grass,
     the cold water.
        There is only one question:

how to love this world.
   I think of her
     rising
        like a black and leafy ledge

to sharpen her claws against
   the silence
     of the trees.
        Whatever else

my life is
   with its poems
     and its music
        and its glass cities,

it is also this dazzling darkness
   coming
     down the mountain,
        breathing and tasting;

all day I think of her—
   her white teeth,
     her wordlessness,
        her perfect love.

PLAYLISTS | YTT Monday Ahimsa Sadhana

POETRY | Mark Nepo : Where is God?

Where Is God?
-Mark Nepo

It’s as if what is unbreakable—


the very pulse of life—waits for


everything else to be torn away,


and then in the bareness that


only silence and suffering and


great love can expose, it dares


to speak through us and to us.

It seems to say, if you want to last,


hold on to nothing. If you want


to know love, let in everything.


If you want to feel the presence


of everything, stop counting the


things that break along the way.

POETRY | Mark Nepo : Accepting This

Accepting This

-Mark Nepo

Yes, it is true. I confess,

I have thought great thoughts,

and sung great songs-all of it

rehearsal for the majesty

of being held.

The dream is awakened

when thinking I love you

and life begins

when saying I love you

and joy moves like blood

when embracing others with love.

My efforts now turn

from trying to outrun suffering

to accepting love wherever

I can find it.

Stripped of causes and plans

and things to strive for,

I have discovered everything

I could need or ask for

is right here-

in flawed abundance.

We cannot elminiate hunger

but we can feed each other.

We cannot eliminate loneliness,

but we can hold each other.

We cannot eliminate pain,

but we can live a life

Of compassion.

Ultimately,

we are small living things

awakened in the stream,

not gods who carve out rivers.

Like human fish,

we are asked to experience

meaning in the life that moves

through the gill of our heart.

There is nothing to do

and nowhere to go.

Accepting this,

we can do everything

and go anywhere.

PLAYLIST | Funk Yoga : 29 May 2013

POETRY | Mary Oliver : The Sun

The Sun
-Mary Oliver

Have you ever seen
anything
in your life
more wonderful

than the way the sun,
every evening,
relaxed and easy,
floats toward the horizon

and into the clouds or the hills,
or the rumpled sea,
and is gone--
and how it slides again

out of the blackness,
every morning,
on the other side of the world,
like a red flower

streaming upward on its heavenly oils,
say, on a morning in early summer,
at its perfect imperial distance--
and have you ever felt for anything
such wild love--
do you think there is anywhere, in any language,
a word billowing enough
for the pleasure

that fills you,
as the sun
reaches out,
as it warms you

as you stand there,
empty-handed--
or have you too
turned from this world--

or have you too
gone crazy
for power,
for things?

~ Mary Oliver ~

POETRY | Mary Oliver : The Turtle

The Turtle
-Mary Oliver

breaks from the blue-black
skin of the water...
to dig with her ungainly feet
a nest...
and you think
of her patience, her fortitude,
her determination to complete
what she was born to do-
and then you realize a greater thing-
she doesn't consider
what she was born to do.
She's only filled
with an old blind wish.
It isn't even hers but came to her
in the rain or the soft wind,
which is a gate through which her life keeps walking.
she can't see
herself apart from the rest of the world
or the world from what she must do
every spring.
Crawling up the high hill,
luminous under the sand that has packed against her skin.
she doesn't dream
she knows
she is a part of the pond she lives in,
the tall trees are her children,
the birds that swim above her
are tied to her by an unbreakable string.