IMAGINING/spring

Spring is slowly approaching. Very slowly. I love the anticipation and how there's a daily presentation of something new. The other day I went to the Arboretum in Jamaica Plain with an old friend. We climbed trees and rejoiced in blue skies and the light, warm air. Then yesterday I saw crocuses poking up through a remaining patch of snow. Today it was 40 degrees, then it snowed, then it turned into sunny blue skies, and now it's 32 degrees and dropping. Oh what a smorgasbord of wonder nature offers New England!

I've been in Boston almost 6 months now, and I feel like I'm finally arriving here. Im making friends, I don't get lost as often and my yoga clases at South Boston Yoga are going great!

My new years commitment to create more art and make more love has changed the way I see and relate to the world. More and more I see the world as an interactive museum of art that asks me to touch and smell and look and listen; invites me to play and take delight. Everyday I fall in love with something or someone. Creating more art has also helped me to see, feel and accept my sorrows, my challenges and my fears. It has helped me to gracefully surrender to life just as it is.

And isn't that the practice of yoga? Doing more and more of the things that bring joy, inspiration and contentment while accepting that life has ups and downs, moments of connection with times of isolation, times when we stand on top of the world and times when we enter the cave of grief.

David Whyte says, "Absent the edge we drown in numbness." Just like in the physical practice of yoga we meet the edge of a stretch and we are invited to linger and to wait. Eventually-- in that moment or maybe months down the road-- something loosens, something shifts and that muscle lets go a little, that heart ache softens, that resistance to life disappears. If the edge is too painful then it's time to back off a little, come out of the pose or take a break. Then when we are ready we come back to the edge and explore again.

The spring equinox is approaching. This is a great time to reflect upon the first quarter of the year. How have you been doing with your new years intentions? What has inspired you? What has challenged you? Perhaps it's time to re-commit to your intentions, or maybe it's time to create a new intention for this next quarter of the year. Remember to reflect with compassion.

Wishing everyone a happy and joyful seasonal transition! Happy Spring.

DEEPEST/fear

Our Deepest Fear

Marianne Williamson

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, “Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?” Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of god. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to manifest the glory that is within us. And as we let our light shine we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

CONTAGIOUS/joy

I was in Tampa last weekend with 40 awesome students who are in The Lotus Pond Yoga Teaching Training. Wow. Amazing. One of things that inspired me from the weekend is “Contagious Joy.” It has become my mantra for the week, and I'm taking it with me into my weekend. Have you ever noticed how joy really is contagious?

The day after the workshop I was sitting outside at a cafe drinking, um, tea. Yeah, tea. There was a couple sitting near me and they were laughing and laughing and carrying on about something. I have no idea what it was about, but I was completely drawn in. I was smiling real big and on the verge of laughing myself. One of them looked up and caught me staring and smiling. There was a moment of pause before we both burst out in spontaneous laughter. We didn't say anything to each other. They carried on with their conversation, and I sat there smiling and chuckling to myself-- about nothing. I closed my eyes and noticed the joyful feeling in my body. There it was that tingling sensation, that feeling of connection.

So, I've been thinking about it. If joy is contagious then it probably means that other feelings are contagious: confidence, peacefulness and love as well as their opposites: fear, negativity and aggression. You probably know people who make you feel good in some way just by being around them; and there are others who make you feel anxious or irritated in some way without saying a word.

We communicate with people in various different ways. In fact, only 15 percent of how we communicate is verbal. The biggest factors are body language, facial expressions and eye contact. Oftentimes, we are not even aware it, which is one of the huge benefits of practicing yoga-- it puts us in touch with our body and gives us access to the feelings that show up. Those feelings that show up in our body can be happening underneath of our conscious awareness and because the body speaks those feelings are expressed and interpreted. Whether we are aware of it or not we easily pick up on what body language. The more you are aware how feelings, thoughts and emotions are expressed in your body the more you start to understand and trust your gut feeling.

What is your body saying right now? Listen. Listen. It's telling you everything important that you need to know.

SIMPLE WAYS YOGA CAN HELP YOU:

Use your yoga practice to cultivate deeper awareness and find balance. For example, If you have a tendency to roll the shoulders forward or you want to be more open-hearted practice more back bends. If you want to cultivate more joy in your life put on some fun music, throw your arms in the air and dance! Let that be your yoga. If you're feeling chaotic or ungrounded practice poses that focus on the feet, forward folds or twists. If you want more adventure sign up for an arm balancing workshop or take a dance class.

THE/swan

The Swan

by Mary Oliver

Across the wide waters

something comes

floating—a slim

and delicate

ship, filled

with white flowers—

and it moves

on its miraculous muscles

as though time didn’t exist,

as though bringing such gifts

to the dry shore

was a happiness

almost beyond bearing.

And now it turns its dark eyes,

it rearranges

the clouds of its wings,

it trails

an elaborate webbed foot,

the color of charcoal.

Soon it will be here.

Oh, what shall I do

when the poppy-colored beak

rests in my hand?

Said Mrs. Blake of the poet:

I miss my husband’s company—

he is so often

In paradise.

Of course! the path to heaven

doesn’t lie down in flat miles.

It’s in the imagination

with which you perceive

this world,

and the gestures

with which you honor it.

Oh, what will I do, what will I say when those

white wings

touch the shore?