Its been grey and rainy, here is a song FOR YOU!

Feel uplifted, and remember you are powerful beyond measure! Right now I feel so much gratitude to sticking to what I knew in my heart to be true.

“ In the woods, we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life,—no disgrace, no calamity, (leaving me my eyes,) which nature cannot repair. Standing on the bare ground,—my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space,—all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am the lover of uncontained and immortal beauty. In the wilderness, I find something more dear and connate than in streets or villages. In the tranquil landscape, and especially in the distant line of the horizon, man beholds somewhat as beautiful as his own nature.”~Ralph Waldo Emerson

All things are of God
and all consciousness
eventually knows
its oneness with God.

The natural flow of consciousness
is towards Light.
The only resistance to Oneness
is within your own consciousness.
Here is the struggle.

As awareness expands, it cannot contract.
It can be distorted, but it cannot contract.
Once one has known a human consciousness
there would be little use
in being a blade of grass again,
for the karmic structure of the human being
is far more complex and aware.

Experiences manifested in your life
by the resistance you still possess
are there in the interest of truth and Light.
They show you the pain of these obstructions
so you will move through them.

In the faith of knowing that all things are moving towards God
the obstructions take on
a different meaning and form.

They are there at a human level
to obstruct,
bu at the ultimate level
to instruct.

from Emmanuel’s Book by Emmanuel with Pat Rodegast

-

This morning Reno and I spent time on our deck. We live on the top floor of a heritage house, overlooking a playground, community gardens & a church. It is a blissful spot. We have a hammock & Reno read to me as I drank my coffee – sunlight kissing both of us. It is warm, but there is a heaviness in the air and looking at the figs next door, they look heavy too. Warm & Sweet, ripe and the juices run down your chin… mmmm

Late Summer. I love this time of year. I feel really relaxed after receiving so much sun energy the past few months, putting that added energy into the things I love, my work & my relationships. Late summer is a time for slowing down and gathering in. It is a time when we recognize and hold the fruits of our labor.
In our spiritual lives, the Earth element grants us the ability to internalize the mother by learning to nourish and care for ourselves. The plants and gardens all around look relaxed too – coming into the peace that the time of production is coming to an end – and soon it will be time to rest.

It is part of my practice to live in Harmony with Mother Nature and the cycles of the seasons
Here are some suggestions for living in harmony with the late summer season:

Enjoy the abundance of fruits and fresh vegetables.
Be aware of their special qualities, each succulence different from the next. Carrots are crisp, cucumbers cool, tomatoes luscious, peaches sweet. Look at the seeds, and reflect on the fact that within each harvest lie the seeds of the next.

Be thoughtful of how you can nourish others.
In this season when nature gives her bounty, we also rejoice in giving, with attention to the special needs of others. You need not wait until you can give a “great gift.” A word, a courtesy, a thoughtfulness – given today – is a great gift.

Be conscious of the harvest of your life.
Think about yourself, your relationships, and your work. What parts of your life are bearing fruit? Where is the harvest rich? Where do you find it stunted?

Consider what you need to do to make ready for the letting go of autumn.
Holding your harvest in mind, ask what is overgrown or unneeded. What distracts you from your dearest concerns? What might you wish to simplify in yourself or in your life?

May you soak up the most of these late summer days. Take in that sun energy so you can turn it into all kinds of great creative output during The Grey! Spend time at the park or at beach with friends & bring fruit to share! Most importantly – be present to the beauty around you, even the smallest simplest things – this special season doesn’t last too long!

those
sprouted seeds
grown to
fragile buds
holding
vibrant potential
seeking nothing
only hamony
as they wait
patient
maybe not
either way,
the potential is still there.
being still.

In light of the media buzz around the death of O.B.L, I felt called to post this beautiful poem by Thich Nhat Hanh.

Call Me by My True Names

Do not say that I’ll depart tomorrow
because even today I still arrive.

Look deeply: I arrive in every second
to be a bud on a spring branch,
to be a tiny bird, with wings still fragile,
learning to sing in my new nest,
to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.

I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,
in order to fear and to hope.
The rhythm of my heart is the birth and
death of all that are alive.

I am the mayfly metamorphosing on the surface of the river,
and I am the bird which, when spring comes, arrives in time
to eat the mayfly.

I am the frog swimming happily in the clear pond,
and I am also the grass-snake who, approaching in silence,
feeds itself on the frog.

I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,
my legs as thin as bamboo sticks,
and I am the arms merchant, selling deadly weapons to
Uganda.

I am the twelve-year-old girl, refugee on a small boat,
who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea
pirate,
and I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and
loving.

I am a member of the politburo, with plenty of power in my
hands,
and I am the man who has to pay his “debt of blood” to,
my people, dying slowly in a forced labor camp.

My joy is like spring, so warm it makes flowers bloom in all
walks of life.
My pain if like a river of tears, so full it fills the four oceans.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can hear all my cries and laughs at once,
so I can see that my joy and pain are one.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can wake up,
and so the door of my heart can be left open,
the door of compassion.

Fredrik Soderberg

Okay, so then what’s the point of purification? What, in fact, is the point of any of these practices if we already are the Brahman? They’re to get rid of whatever in us prevents us from really knowing who we are at this moment. See, from a practical point of view, we’re faced with an interesting paradox. At one level of our intellectual understanding we know that we already have all the riches—we know that we are the atman, that we are the Buddha, that we are free. We know all that. But if we look inside, we’ll notice that although we know it, we somehow don’t believe it. And that’s what all the purification methods are about: getting us from where we seem to think we still are, to where we don’t think we’re anywhere anymore. Hence we have all these practices, like karma yoga and jnana yoga, like sacrifice and mantra, like renunciation and purification. All of them, by one route or another, are designed to get around that roadblock between our knowing and our believing.”

Ram Das
Paths to God: Living the Bhagavad Gita

An elevation of awareness is often an intentional part of our experience in yoga class… or possibly just a side effect of connecting breath to movement so that your thoughts seem to dissolve and your just left being, in the moment. I feel the music should match the vibes you want to create more of. Whether it’s to energize the room or just a great song everyone knows and loves to groove too — if it feels good, has a vibrational energy that lifts you up, conscious lyrics to inspire you – play it in your practise!

I’m all for no music too. Breathing breath. I’m Super down.

Just as nature is always evolving, so is our practice, Sometimes we go beyond our tastes and preferences, sometimes beyond the senses… If you don’t appreciate the music in your yoga class the same way the person next to you may, Pratyahara. Tune it out. Tune into the uplifting power of every inhale, or plug into the heart of the being next to you that is beaming cheek to cheek through each vibrant pose.

Choosing music is like choosing the energy we want to line up with. Like our practice, what we put in, we get back – so if we listen to music about love and breathe what love feels like and create more space to give & receive love – its love we will see in the world, expand our capacity to share love with all beings. If we are listening to “sad bastard” music all the time then the chances you will be a sad bastard.

In Phoenix, this song we loved this song!! When they played it in yoga, we were rocking out!! haha. It has a happy vibe and positive message that is totally relevant and catchy! Its a fab song to move around to! Enjoy!