MUSIC | Bassnectar : When I Grow Up Remix

ROGER WRITES | Part Two; The Turn Around

The following is the second part to my last posting re: my pledge of three days of love and the two women who provoked all my judgements.  Please read Part 1, as there is a real turn-around below in Part 2.

It was Friday, Winter Solstice, late morning.  I had just stepped off the bus and was heading to teach a yoga class at noon.  I was dressed in my rainy, winter Portland garb: hat, hoodie, coat, and striped scarf. Yoga Boogie was that night, Christmas was in a few days, and the world was engulfed in a maelstrom of chaos, which swirled and vibrated around me.   However, I had my headphones on listening to music preparing for the Yoga Boogie Winter Stolstice Shake Down, and I was texting with several people co-ordinating rides and directions.  I crossed the busy street only half paying attention (read: not really pay attention, at all).  As I neared the other side of the street I looked up and I was startled to see a stopped van waiting for me to cross. I scuttled quickly to the sidewalk recognizing the nearly potential distaster that I had just avoided.  I got dressed for class, and went upstairs to teach my class.

My theme for class that day was "three days of love," and I told the story that I wrote last week about how quickly my mood of love quickly turned to scowling judgements of the women who weren't paying attention in front of me at the coffeeshop.  After class, I was talking to a man who just recently started coming to my class.  He thanked me for class and then said, "Your story was perfect for me today because as I was driving to class there was this idiot talking on his phone and texting and not paying attention as he crossed the street and I had to stop in the middle of the road.  I almost ran him over."  I looked at him for a moment before I asked, "Were you driving a gray van?"

We both paused before we totally cracked up.

MUSIC | Battleme : Hey Hey, My My

PLAYLIST | YoYoYogi

PLAYLIST | YoYoYogi : Bad Ass Yoga

POETRY | Mary Oliver : The Snowshoe Hare

The Snowshoe Hare
-Mary Oliver

The fox
is so quiet—
he moves like a red rain—
even when his
shoulders tense and then
snuggle down for an instant
against the ground
and the perfect
gate of his teeth
slams shut
there is nothing
you can hear
but the cold creek moving
over the dark pebbles
and across the field
and into the rest of the world—
and even when you find
in the morning
the feathery
scuffs of fur
of the vanished
snowshoe hare
tangled
on the pale spires
of the broken flowers
of the lost summer—
fluttering a little
but only
like the lapping threads
of the wind itself—
there is still
nothing that you can hear
but the cold creek moving
over the old pebbles
and across the field and into
another year.

MUSIC | Glass Candy : Warm in the Winter

INSPIRATION | Anis Mogjani : Shake The Dust

MUSIC | Macklemore & Ryan Lewis : Thrift Store

MUSIC | Mac Lethal : Ode to the World

ROGER WRITES | Pledge of Love

An invitation to a world-wide event has come across my radar. It is called: Three Days of Love; A Global Celebration of Love and Kindness. The pledge is simple, I commit to share words and actions of love on December 20, 21 and 22, 2012. I pledged my devotion to the cause. I made the commitment partly because I believe in putting more love out in the world, and partly cause it sounded sweet.

The pledge triggered something in me, though, and as the day went on I became aware of the ways in which I harbor negative thoughts, criticisms and judgements, and how they affect my interactions with the world. I noticed it looking at Facebook, at the grocery store, and just simply walking down the street. I even noticed it in yoga class.

So. I decided to give it a test run. What would it be like if I looked at people and the world at large with love and compassion, and then interacted from that place? No fake, new age bullshit. A real, honest love and compassion. First, I had to pay real attention to my thoughts, which is where our words and actions derive from. I had to decipher what was a negative thought and what was a real, healthy emotion.

This is a true story: As I was mulling all this over I was standing in line to buy a coffee. The two women in front of me were both debating about what kind of short fat tall skinny double edged latte they wanted. The one was on her phone and the other was asking lots of questions. I just wanted a small coffee to go. I was on my way to a yoga class. My impatience grew. A line formed behind me, and very quickly my exploration of love and compassion went out the window and got soaked in the rain. I think I thought of every judgement possible, and I started to create bad scenarios. Then I remembered my practice. I literally laughed out loud a little at myself. I consciously softened my face, which had grown tense, and I unclenched my jaw. I looked at them-- really looked at them, and I saw their humanity.

I'm not sure why, but she suddenly turned and looked at me. I had sweetness and honesty in my eyes. She said to me, "Oh my God. Look at us. We're holding up the line. Go ahead of us." Then she said to her friend, "Tell her you'll call her back."

Wishing everyone one a safe and love-filled holiday season. Remember to take a breathe, get to a yoga class-- you probably need it, and, by jove, DANCE!!

INSPIRATION | Recycled Instrument Orchestra

This is the story of an orchestra that uses instruments made with recycled materials excavated from landfills in Cateura, Paraguay.

INSPIRATION | Terry Jones vs. the Beatles

Let your commitment to love be stronger than their words of hate. Seriously, this is the time to be more authentic, more intentional, and more loving. Hug the person next to you and tell them you love them just the way they are-- and mean it!!

EVENT | Yoga Boogie; Solstice Shake Down

Yoga Boogie; Solstice Shake Down
Friday, December 21st 8pm 
$15 advanced | $20 door 

Although it's the end of the world as we know it, let it all begin at Shakti House for an event like no other -- Yoga Boogie! This two hour blast of meditation-in-motion, pranayama, asana, and trance dance will guide you into the wise and powerful arms of these ancient truths. You are invited to allow world beats, psychedelic rhythms, and electronic grooves to unleash your hunger to move and to make your tribal spirit flourish!

Pre-registration at http://shaktihousepdx.com/

PLAYLIST | Detox

POETRY | Rilke : The Man Watching

The Man Watching
-Rainer Maria Rilke

I can tell by the way the trees beat, after
so many dull days, on my worried windowpanes
that a storm is coming,
and I hear the far-off fields say things
I can't bear without a friend,
I can't love without a sister

The storm, the shifter of shapes, drives on
across the woods and across time,
and the world looks as if it had no age:
the landscape like a line in the psalm book,
is seriousness and weight and eternity.

What we choose to fight is so tiny!
What fights us is so great!
If only we would let ourselves be dominated
as things do by some immense storm,
we would become strong too, and not need names.

When we win it's with small things,
and the triumph itself makes us small.
What is extraordinary and eternal
does not want to be bent by us.
I mean the Angel who appeared
to the wrestlers of the Old Testament:
when the wrestler's sinews
grew long like metal strings,
he felt them under his fingers
like chords of deep music.

Whoever was beaten by this Angel
(who often simply declined the fight)
went away proud and strengthened
and great from that harsh hand,
that kneaded him as if to change his shape.
Winning does not tempt that man.
This is how he grows: by being defeated, decisively,
by constantly greater beings.

MUSIC | The Drums : Down By The Water

INSPIRATION | Fiona Apple : I Just Can't Leave Her

It's 6pm on Friday, and I'm writing to a few thousand friends I have not met yet. I am writing to ask them to change our plans and meet a little while later. Here's the thing. I have a dog Janet, and she's been ill for almost two years now, as a tumor has been idling in her chest, growing ever so slowly. She's almost 14 years old now.I got her when she was 4 months old. I was 21 then, an adult officially - and she was my child.

She is a pitbull, and was found in Echo Park, with a rope around her neck, and bites all over her ears and face. She was the one the dogfighters use to puff up the confidence of the contenders. She's almost 14 and I've never seen her start a fight, or bite, or even growl, so I can understand why they chose her for that awful role. She's a pacifist.

Janet has been the most consistent relationship of my adult life, and that is just a fact. We've lived in numerous houses, and jumped a few make shift families, but it's always really been the two of us. She slept in bed with me, her head on the pillow, and she accepted my hysterical, tearful face into her chest, with her paws around me, every time I was heartbroken, or spirit-broken, or just lost, and as years went by, she let me take the role of her child, as I fell asleep, with her chin resting above my head. She was under the piano when I wrote songs, barked any time I tried to record anything, and she was in the studio with me all the time we recorded the last album. The last time I came back from tour, she was spry as ever, and she's used to me being gone for a few weeks every 6 or 7 years.

She has Addison's Disease, which makes it dangerous for her to travel since she needs regular injections of Cortisol, because she reacts to stress and to excitement without the physiological tools which keep most of us from literally panicking to death.

Despite all of this, she’s effortlessly joyful and playful, and only stopped acting like a puppy about 3 years ago. She's my best friend and my mother and my daughter, my benefactor, and she's the one who taught me what love is.

I can't come to South America. Not now.

When I got back from the last leg of the US tour, there was a big, big difference. She doesn't even want to go for walks anymore. I know that she's not sad about aging or dying. Animals have a survival instinct, but a sense of mortality and vanity, they do not. That’s why they are so much more present than people. But I know that she is coming close to point where she will stop being a dog, and instead, be part of everything. She’ll be in the wind, and in the soil, and the snow, and in me, wherever I go.

I just can't leave her now, please understand.

If I go away again, I’m afraid she'll die and I won't have the honor of singing her to sleep, of escorting her out. Sometimes it takes me 20 minutes to pick which socks to wear to bed. But this decision is instant. These are the choices we make, which define us.

I will not be the woman who puts her career ahead of love and friendship. I am the woman who stays home and bakes Tilapia for my dearest, oldest friend. And helps her be comfortable, and comforted, and safe, and important. Many of us these days, we dread the death of a loved one. It is the ugly truth of Life, that keeps us feeling terrified and alone. I wish we could also appreciate the time that lies right beside the end of time. I know that I will feel the most overwhelming knowledge of her, and of her life and of my love for her, in the last moments. I need to do my damnedest to be there for that. Because it will be the most beautiful, the most intense, the most enriching experience of life I've ever known. When she dies.

So I am staying home, and I am listening to her snore and wheeze, and reveling in the swampiest, most awful breath that ever emanated from an angel. And I am asking for your blessing.

I'll be seeing you. 
Love, Fiona

POETRY | Mary Oliver : Lilies

Lilies
-Mary Oliver

I have been thinking
about living
like the lilies
that blow in the fields.

They rise and fall
in the wedge of the wind,
and have no shelter
from the tongues of cattle,

and have no closets or cupboards
and have no legs.
Still I would like to be
as wonderful

as that idea.
But if I were a lily
I think I would wait all day
for the green face

of the hummingbird
to touch me.
What I mean is,
could I forget myself

even in those feathery fields?
When Van Gogh
preached to the poor
of course he wanted to save someone-

most of all himself.
He wasn't a lily,
and wandering through the bright fields
only gave him more ideas

it would take his life to solve.
I think I will always be lonely
in this world, where the cattle
graze like a black and white river -

where the ravishing lilies
melt, without protest, on their tongues-
where the hummingbird, whenever there is a fuss,
just rises and floats away.

PLAYLIST | YoYoYogi Detox

MUSIC | Macklemore & Ryan Lewis: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

DANCE | Nothing Is Something - #1 The Bench

DANCE | DO try this at home!

POETRY | Jane Hirshfield : Three Times My Life Has Opened

Three Times My Life Has Opened
-Jane Hirshfield 

Three times my life has opened.
Once, into darkness and rain.
Once, into what the body carries at all times within it and
  starts to remember each time it enters the act of love.
Once, to the fire that holds all.
These three were not different.
You will recognize what I am saying or you will not.
But outside my window all day a maple has stepped from
  her leaves like a woman in love with winter, dropping
  the colored silks.
Neither are we different in what we know.
There is a door. It opens. Then it is closed. But a slip
  of light stays, like a scrap of unreadable paper left on
  the floor, or the one red leaf the snow releases in March.

POETRY | D. H. Lawrence : Deeper Than Love

Deeper Than Love
-D. H. Lawrence

There is love, and it is a deep thing
but there are deeper things than love.

First and last, man is alone.
He is born alone, and alone he dies
and alone he is while he lives, in his deepest self.

Love, like the flowers, is life, growing.
But underneath are the deep rocks, the living rock that lives
alone
and deeper still the unknown fire, unknown and heavy, heavy
and alone.

Love is a thing of twoness.
But underneath any twoness, man is alone.

And underneath the great turbulent emotions of love, the
violent herbage,
lies the living rock of a single creature's pride,
the dark, naif pride.
And deeper even than the bedrock of pride
lies the ponderous fire of naked life
with its strange primordial consciousness of justice
and its primordial consciousness of connection,
connection with still deeper, still more terrible life-fire
and the old, old final life-truth.

Love is of twoness, and is lovely
like the living life on the earth
but below all roots of love lies the bedrock of naked pride,
subterranean,
and deeper than the bedrock of pride is the primordial fire of
the middle
which rests in connection with the further forever unknowable
fire of all things
and which rocks with a sense of connection, religion
and trembles with a sense of truth, primordial consciousness
and is silent with a sense of justice, the fiery primordial
imperative.

All this is deeper than love
deeper than love.

MUSIC | Of Monsters and Men : Love Love Love

POETRY | Rumi : A Necessary Autumn Inside Each

A Necessary Autumn Inside Each
~Rumi~

You and I have spoken all these words,
but as for the way we have to go,
words are no preparation.
There is no getting ready, other than grace....
Inside each of us, there’s continual autumn.
Our leaves fall and are blown out over the water.
A crow sits in the blackened limbs
and talks about what’s gone....
There’s a necessary dying,
and then Jesus is breathing again.
Very little grows on jagged rock.
Be ground. Be crumbled, so wildflowers
will come up where you are.
You’ve been stony for too many years.
Try something different.
Surrender.

MUSIC | Mishka : Above the Bones

PLAYLIST | Saturday AM at YoYoYogi

MUSIC | Willy Moon : Railroad Track

PLAYLIST | YoYoYogi DETOX

MUSIC | Olafu Arnalds & Nils Frahm : Live Improvisation

Ólafur Arnalds & Nils Frahm creating a song live in front of an intimate audience at Roter Salon, Volksbühne Berlin on July 26, 2011 as part of Ólafur's solo tour.

ROGER WRITES | Creating a story

Last week Doug and I went to see David Byrne & St. Vincent at the newly restored Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall here in Portland.  I want to admit right upfront that I had moderate to low expectations.  I love David Byrne just fine, and I like St. Vincent, though I didn't know much about her.  We entered the beautiful theater and took our seats.  They were pretty good seats.  As soon as we sat down, Doug got up to get us drinks.  Literally 30 seconds after he left, a couple took their seats behind us.  The woman, whose seat was directly behind Doug's, said to the man she was with, "I hope some tall asshole doesn't sit in front of me."

Doug is 6'3".

I immediately started to create a hypotheical story about what could happen when Doug returned.  I won't go into the entire story, but it ended up with the four of us in a huge screaming argument that would have ended with physical violence had I not caught myself.  I immediately brought myself back into the theater, which was filled with sounds and people and lights and anticipation.

During the time that I was creating the story I was no longer experiencing my environment.  I no longer heard the sounds around me.  I was no longer present.  I laughed at myself.  When Doug returned to his seat nothing was said.  No argument happened.  We did not get into a fist fight with the couple behind us.

I would ask if you can relate to this kind of story making, but I already know the truth:  it's part of our human experience to create stories-- true or untrue.  Since then, I've been aware more and more of when that happens-- walking down the street, in the grocery store, riding my bike.  Spontaneous stories start being told.  What I've noticed is that in those moments my body and breath are reacting as if the story in my head were actually true.

Here is the invitation:  Notice when you check out from the present moment and start creating stories-- ones where you relive the past, twist the present, or predict the future.  When you notice this phenomenon, very simply and gently bring yourself back to the present moment by noticing your environment, connecting to your breath, and listening to the sounds around you.  Then continue with what you were doing, embodying a state of being that more completely matches the present moment.

Omar Khayyam says, "Be happy for this moment.  This moment is your life."  I like to modify this quote slightly because I don't think it's always possible to be happy, but I do think that it's possible to be present.  So.  Be present for this moment. This moment is your life.

TED | Amy Cuddy: Your body language shapes who you are

Body language affects how others see us, but it may also change how we see ourselves. Social psychologist Amy Cuddy shows how “power posing” -- standing in a posture of confidence, even when we don’t feel confident -- can affect testosterone and cortisol levels in the brain, and might even have an impact on our chances for success.

Amy Cuddy’s research on body language reveals that we can change other people’s perceptions — and even our own body chemistry — simply by changing body positions.

MUSIC | David Byrne & St. Vincent : Who

artist: David Byrne & St. Vincent
song: Who
album: Love This Giant

MUSIC | Chelsea Wolfe : The Way We Used To

We were first introduced to Chelsea Wolfe just by chance. It was October of last year during CMJ in NYC and after spending the day checking out the Occupy Wall Street movement, we decided to head to a BrooklynVegan day-party at Public Assembly in Williamsburg. Her set was sandwiched between J Mascis and A Place To Bury Strangers. For us, she stole the show.

Several months went by and we didn't see her again until SXSW, where one of us met up with her to shoot a portrait for a SXSW series. She promised she would let us know whenever she would be in Philadelphia.

Sure enough, Chelsea dropped us a line letting us know she'd be in Philly in mid-August for a show at Union Transfer. With that, we decided to seek out the perfect location for the shoot. After an unsuccessful attempt to get into an abandoned church, we decided on Underground Arts, which was right around the corner from the venue she was set to play.

POETRY | David Wagoner : Lost

Lost

David Wagoner

Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.

MUSIC | alt-J : Tessellate [Video Remix]

artist: Alt-J
song: Tessellate
album: An Awesome Wave

MUSIC | alt-J : Fitzpleasure

artist: alt-J
song: Fitzpleasure

MUSIC | Davie Byne & Brian Eno : Regiment

TED | The LXD: In the Internet age, dance evolves ...

The LXD (the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers) electrify the TED2010 stage with an emerging global street-dance culture, revved up by the Internet. In a preview of Jon Chu’s upcoming Web series, this astonishing troupe show off their superpowers.

The LXD (the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers) are building an interactive web series that represents the next evolution of dance.

POETRY | David Whyte : Everything is Waiting For You

Everything is Waiting for You
-David Whyte

Your great mistake is to act the drama
as if you were alone. As if life
were a progressive and cunning crime
with no witness to the tiny hidden
transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny
the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely,
even you, at times, have felt the grand array;
the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding
out your solo voice You must note
the way the soap dish enables you,
or the window latch grants you freedom.
Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
The stairs are your mentor of things
to come, the doors have always been there
to frighten you and invite you,
and the tiny speaker in the phone
is your dream-ladder to divinity.

Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into
the conversation. The kettle is singing
even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots
have left their arrogant aloofness and
seen the good in you at last. All the birds
and creatures of the world are unutterably
themselves. Everything is waiting for you.

POETRY | David Whyte : What to Remember When Waking

WHAT TO REMEMBER WHEN WAKING
-David Whyte

In that first
hardly noticed
moment

to which you wake,
coming back
to this life
from the other
more secret,
moveable
and frighteningly
honest
world
where everything
began,
there is a small
opening
into the new day
which closes
the moment
you begin
your plans.

What you can plan
is too small
for you to live.

What you can live
wholeheartedly
will make plans
enough
for the vitality
hidden in your sleep.

To be human
is to become visible
while carrying
what is hidden
as a gift to others.

To remember
the other world
in this world
is to live in your
true inheritance.

You are not
a troubled guest
on this earth,
you are not
an accident
amidst other accidents
you were invited
from another and greater
night
than the one
from which
you have just emerged.

Now, looking through
the slanting light
of the morning
window toward
the mountain
presence
of everything
that can be,
what urgency
calls you to your
one love? What shape
waits in the seed
of you to grow
and spread
its branches
against a future sky?

Is it waiting
in the fertile sea?
In the trees
beyond the house?
In the life
you can imagine
for yourself?
In the open
and lovely
white page
on the waiting desk?

THE SPANDANANDA SHOW | Yoga Sequence to Open The Heart

Join me in this 10 minute guided yoga and pranayam exercise, where we explore movements and breath in order to open up to what is.  Courage is taking the action towards what we want in our lives despite our thoughts.  Laugh and flow with me on this wholehearted journey!

ROGER WRITES | Havest Time

When I moved to Portland last spring, I quickly became part of a community garden just down the street from where I live.  It's just one large empty lot between two beautiful houses, but it's home to dozens of small plots maintained by local folks who don't have a yard to have their own garden.  It's a stunning menagerie of plants, flowers, vegetables and fruits.  In my plot, I planted tomatoes, kale, fennel, peppers, lavender and about a dozen different herbs-- even stevia! All summer long I watered and pruned and weeded and watched the little plants grow, sprout leaves, blossom and ripen.  Over the past month I've been harvesting all the ripe veggies and herbs, and I've been cooking with them.  It got me to thinking about a lecture I recently listened to by David Whyte where he says: "There’s a harvest which comes cyclically in your life," and if you don't harvest yourself you will simply rot on the vine.  Everything has a season, everything ripens, and we must take time to harvest.Like most people, you are probably closer to your goals than you imagine, and also like most people you probably have a gremlin voice that tells you otherwise.   There are things in your life right now that are ripe and ready to be harvested.  Take time to enjoy the fruits of all your hard work, dedication and commitment.  There are also things that still need watering.  The voices of negativity and discouragement are poison to your life's garden.  Water your seeds with love, with kindness, with discipline and with forgiveness,  and then, when it's time to harvest, you will be in abundance.

MUSIC | Honey and The Bees Bank : Psychedelic Woman

MUSIC | Solid Space : 10th Planet

POETRY | Mark Nepo : God's Wounds

God's Wounds
-Mark Nepo

Through the great pain of stretching
beyond all that pain has taught me,
the soft well at the base
has opened, and life
touching me there
has turned me into a flower
that prays for rain. Now
I understand: to blossom
is to pray, to wilt and shed
is to pray, to turn to mulch
is to pray, to stretch in the dark
is to pray, to break surface
after great months of ice
is to pray, and to squeeze love
up the stalky center toward the sky
with only dreams of color
is to pray, and finally to unfold
again as if never before
is to be the prayer.

TED | John Styn : Gratitude, Gifting and Grandpa

John Halcyon Styn frequently speaks to audiences about Gratitude but he has been exploring the edges of online expression for over 17 years. Today, while still flamboyant and addicted to over-sharing, Halcyon's path has gone towards self-growth and spirituality. His second Webby award came in 2007 for the video podcast "Hug Nation," originally co-hosted with his grandfather, Rev. Caleb Shikles. HugNation.com is in its 10th year of weekly live broadcasts and archived "Love on Demand."

THE SPANDANANDA SHOW : Return to Love

The Spandananda Show : Season 2 : Episode 2 : Return to Love

With the practice of ahimsa (non-violence) and anjali mudra (prayer pose), we simply and profoundly return to love.  This week's episode encourages you to start with yourself by shifting your perspective from the typical, defeating banter to knowing what you want and embracing the fact that you are fully capable of achieving it.

ROGER WRITES | Yesterday Was Gandhi's Birthday

Albert Einstein said, I believe that Gandhi's views were the most enlightened of all the political men in our time. We should strive to do things in his spirit: not to use violence in fighting for our cause, but by non-participation in anything you believe is evil.

Yesterday was Mahatma Gandhi's birthday.  He was present in my thoughts throughout the day, and I was reminded of my own personal journey of yoga and self-awakening that he inspired.

When I was 21, I went to see a free showing of the movie Gandhi at the University of Delaware where I was enrolled.  I didn't know who Gandhi was.  I had never heard of yoga or civil disobedience or non-violence.  I went to see the movie because it was free and a friend didn't want to go alone.  I didn't know that it would be the single most important and pivotal moment in my life.

After the movie, the action of Gandhi bringing his palms together in front of his heart played itself over and over again in an entrancing loop. I had seen this same gesture many times in church, but seeing this powerful man bow so humbly awakened in me my own longing to feel connected in that way.  I went home and cried.  I couldn't stop crying because I recognized my own life's calling in that moment even though at the time I had no idea what form it would take.

Much later I learned about anjali mudra (prayer gesture).  Anjali is a sanskrit word meaning "to honor," or in some instances "to offer."  This joining together of the palms has been used by all spiritual practices throughout time.  It's a representative symbol of all energies coming together at our heart's center.  This mudra awakens our sacredness, where profound wisdom lies.  In recognizing our own heart, our own wisdom and our own divine nature, we can then honor that same quality in others; we can then offer our heart to the world around us.  Like Gandhi.

The movie inspired me to read his autobiography, which then led me to read everything that he was reading: Tolstoy, Thoreau and Emerson.  That propelled me to take my first yoga class, after which I walked out feeling, as many of you have also felt, inspired, calm, energized, connected and alive.  I knew instantly and without a doubt that this was my path.

What I know now is that every one of us has something we are passionate about, something that calls to us "like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -- over and over announcing your place in the family of things." (Mary Oliver)  That calling oftentimes scares us.  We resist it.  There are voices inside and outside of us that chant: You can't do that, you're not good enough, that's not for me, I'll look stupid, I'm not smart enough, pretty enough, wealthy enough, skilled enough, etc., etc., etc...

Your work in life is to connect with your calling, and then no matter what, dedicate your life to it without worrying about outcome, the possibility of failure or success, what others will think, or even death.  Annie Dillard sums it up beautifully in the closing paragraph from her short story Living Like Weasels:

"I think it would be well, and proper, and obedient, and pure, to grasp your one necessity and not let it go, to dangle from it limp wherever it takes you.  Then even death, where you're going no matter how you live, cannot you part.  Seize it and let it seize you up aloft even, til your eyes burn out and drop; let your musky flesh fall off in shreds, and let your very bones unhinge and scatter, loosened over fields, over fields and woods, lightly, thoughtless, from any height at all, from as high as eagles."

POETRY | Mary Oliver : When I AM Among The Trees

When I Am Among the Trees
-Mary Oliver

When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness,
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, "Stay awhile."
The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, "It's simple," they say,
"and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine."

MUSIC | Bombay Dub Orchestra : Monsoon Malabar (Remix)

MUSIC | Alanis Morissette : Utopia

Utopia
Alanis Morissette

We'd gather around
All in a room
Fasten our belts
Engage in dialog

We'd all slow down
Rest without guilt
Not lie without fear
Disagree sans judgment

We would stay and respond and expand and include
And allow and forgive and enjoy and evolve and discern
And inquire and accept and admit
And divulge and open and reach out and speak up

This is utopia
This is my utopia
This is my ideal
My end in sight

Utopia
This is my utopia
This is my nirvana
My ultimate

We'd open our arms
We'd all jump in
We'd all coast down
Into safety nets

We would share and listen and support and welcome
Be propelled by passion, not invest in outcomes
We would breathe and be charmed and amused by difference
Be gentle and make room for every emotion

This is utopia
This is my utopia
This is my ideal
My end in sight

Utopia
This is my utopia
This is my nirvana
My ultimate

We'd provide forums
We'd all speak out
We'd all be heard
We'd all feel seen

We'd rise post-obstacle, more defined, more grateful
We would heal, be humbled, and be unstoppable
We'd hold close and let go and know when to do which
We'd release and disarm and stand up and feel safe

This is utopia
This is my utopia
This is my ideal
My end in sight

Utopia
This is my utopia
This is my nirvana

TED | Louie Schwartzberg : Gratitude

TED | Louie Schwartzberg : Gratitude

Please take time to watch this inspirational TED video. Allow your heart to open to all the uncountable blessings we are given every day.

Wishing everyone a day of peace.

Louie Schwartzberg is an award-winning cinematographer, director, and producer whose notable career spans more than three decades providing breathtaking imagery for feature films, television shows, documentaries and commercials.

This piece includes his short film on Gratitude and Happiness. Brother David Steindl-Rast's spoken words, Gary Malkin's musical compositions and Louie's cinematography make this a stunningly beautiful piece, reminding us of the precious gift of life, and the beauty all around us.

VIDEO | News Anchor's On-Air Response to Viewer Calling Her Fat

WKBT anchor Jennifer Livingston took a moment during Tuesday's morning newscast (Oct. 2, 2012) to directly address a recent email she received from a viewer complaining about her weight.

"To the person who wrote me that letter — do you think I don't know that? That your cruel words are pointing out something that I don't see?" Livingston asked in response. "You don't know me. You are not a friend of mine. You are not a part of my family. And you have admitted that you don't watch this show. So you know nothing about me but what you see on the outside. And I am much more than a number on the scale."

Livingston went on to say that October is National Anti Bullying Month, and that she hopes her response to the email will serve to raise awareness of bullying behavior, which is "passed down from people like the man who wrote me that email."

"If you are at home and talking about the fat news lady, guess what? Your children are probably going to go to school and call someone fat," Livingston said.

Livingston thanked friends, family and colleagues, saying, "I will never be able to thank you enough for your words of support, and for taking a stand against this bully. We are better than that email. We are better than the bullies that will try to take us down."

MUSIC | Winky Winky Bum Bum Song

THE SPANDANANDA SHOW | Neti Pothead

The Spandananda Show : Season 2 : Episode 1 : Neti Pothead

Hygienically caring for our nasal passages is as important as brushing and flossing our teeth!  The ability to smell and breathe deeper, as well as rid ourselves of unwanted blockages will inspire you include this practice in your life.  Come on -- you know you wanna be a Neti Pothead!

Learn more about The Spandananda Show and where you can order your own Neti Pothead T-shirt at:

www.sacredtremor.com

ROGER WRITES | The Temple, Burning Man 2012

Temple. Burning Man 2012

Photo by Roger McKeever

After a wild and whooly summer of fun and transformation I have re-emerged with new inspirations, fresh perspectives and a brand new season of The Spandananda Show.  Plus, The Sacred Tremor Collage Project is back to help you stay committed to your intentions.  And, in honor of Season Two's first episode, an originally designed Neti Pothead T-Shirt is for sale for a limited time offer!

I spent 10 days this summer with 52,000 people at Burning Man breathing, eating and wearing playa dust.  Guess what's the first thing I did when I got home?  I took a very long, hot shower.  Guess what's the second thing I did?  I filled up my neti-pot and doused the inside of my nose!  I've never been so happy to place that cool porcelain spout on my nostrils, tilt my head to the side and feel the warm rush of saline pour through the nasal passageways.  Instant relief!

This was my first time at Burning Man.  Upon arrival at the gate the ticket taker asked me to remove all of my clothes and make "snow" angels in the dust.  I knew immediately that I was home.  It was 10 days of being with people who like to live at the ends of the their imaginations... and their comfort zone.

Out of all the experiences I had at Burning Man perhaps the one that stands out the most to me in this moment is The Temple (pictured above).  It's a sanctuary built to hold people's sorrow, anguish and suffering.  On the outside people write their ache on the walls-- loss of loved ones, break-ups, wrong-doings, pleas for foregiveness, etc..  Inside there is a huge altar in the center where people place their sacred objects- photos, ashes, and memorablia.  On my first visit to The Temple I cried uncontrollably as I circled the outside, and  then looked inside to witness a room full of people expressing their unexpressed or unresolved grief.

I realized that I carry around a lot of unexpressed grief, as well.  We all do.  We live in a culture that isn't comfortable with sorrow, sadness, loss and grief.  How many times have you said or has someone said to you, "Now, now.  Don't cry," when crying is probably what is most needed.  So we hide it, push it down, pretend things don't hurt, and squeak out a tear only when it's appropriate or when we are alone.  Our sorrow is as much a part of our beauty and strength as our joy.  In fact, they are to an extent, inseparable.  We can not have the full extent of one with out fully expressing the other.

So.  Here's to crying, to pounding our fists, to wailing, to sobbing, to expressing our sorrow and loss no matter how small or how large.  Here's to throwing our hands in the air, to shouting, to celebrating, to not holding back our laughter, to the courage it takes to shine when the world around us tries to dim our light.  Here's to all of it..