A Leap of Faith

I've been thinking lately about Dumbo's feather.  You remember, Dumbo wakes up high in a tree with the crows (after a drunken escapade -- Disney blackout!!), and the explanation of how they got there is, well, Dumbo, you must have flown!  The crows convince the baby elephant that if he holds a “magic” feather in his trunk, he can fly.  It works!  Dumbo soars merrily about on his huge ears, until the feather is whooshed out of his grasp and he panics, hurtling toward the ground.  The crows must make fast work convincing Dumbo that the feather was an unnecessary crutch, and the flying is in him, not in the feather.  Just in time, Dumbo believes them and swoops upward again.

So, did the feather make Dumbo fly?  It’s true that without it, he would never have taken the step off the high limb. But think: It wasn’t the feather that let Dumbo fly, but his belief, his faith, in the feather.  He believed, and so he flew.  When the feather got away, his belief in the feather stayed fast, and he started to fall.  

Okay, so it wasn’t the feather itself, but his belief in the feather . . . Wait, it was really his ears that made it possible for Dumbo to get airborne.  Not the feather, or even the belief in the feather.   True, without the feather  he would not have tried to fly, but he probably had the skill for a while before it was discovered/uncovered.  It was an innate ability; Dumbo was born with the tools for flight.

So the ears have it!

What skill were you born with that is waiting for a feather? 

A Poem

Space Between

I just learned

That it is the space between heartbeats

That knows you.

Between the beats

Lie the emotions you thought you’d hidden

From the World.

No empty spaces.

Your heart propels the vital life forces:

Blood and Love.

Me and My Tattoo

I have a tattoo on the back of my neck.  I got it when I became certified to teach yoga.  It is a beautiful lotus flower, in the traditional sailor-tattoo blue.  It makes me very happy.

My thousand-petaled lotus represents yoga to me.  Each petal is imbued with compassion, love, and gratitude, and I can visualize sending a petal floating off to people around me.  The lotus helps me remember why I practice yoga instead of step aerobics:  I strengthen my body while I elevate my spirit.  Sounds lofty, I know, but it’s true.  Yoga has many “limbs”, and although I began with the practice of poses (asana), I was soon led to practice compassion and gratitude, to meditate, and to live a life of awareness.  (Note the use of the word practice -- I ain’t perfect, but I am trying!)  My lotus tattoo is always with me to remind me of the life I aspire to lead.  

Not everyone appreciates my tattoo, and I understand that.  My mom likes it, though.  In fact, she came along with me and got a tattoo herself, a nice ankle bracelet that matches the silver bracelet she wears on her wrist.  To answer a popular question, yes it hurt.  But not so badly that I wouldn’t get another one, if the spirit moves me! For now, my thousand-petaled lotus blooms on my neck, reminding me to greet everyone around me with compassion and love -- and to float a petal for myself once in a while, too! 

The Nature of Yoga; or is it The Yoga of Nature?

Our bodies pulse with the rhythm of the tides, and dance to the music of the stars.  We are not only connected to Nature, we are an integral part of Nature.  When we breathe out, trees breathe in.  As we witness the sun set, our emotions rise.  Hand in hand with a child, resting in the shade of a tree, the sound of the wind, the sweetness of summer’s first strawberry – all these are connections to our world. All these make us a participant in Nature, not merely a bystander. To nurture your body with good food and delicious movement, to use nature’s gifts to find shelter and joy, is to give thanks for Life.

Yoga brings an awareness of the body that some other forms of exercise neglect. Yoga demonstrates the connections that your body makes instinctively – breath to movement, stretch to release.  Yoga encourages you to find ease within the effort, softness around the holding, connection to the stars above and the earth below.  Yoga reminds you that your body is a gift that responds to nurturing, care and attention.  Yoga is not simply exercise. Yoga builds the connections between body, mind, and spirit, and strengthens our attachments to nature.  So pulse with the rhythm of the tides, and dance to the music of the stars.  Shake that booty and open your eyes to see that Nature is within and without – offering love, sustenance, protection, and more love.

Now, Then, Later

Ask yourself this:  What is it that I’m trying to do?

There are so many facets to our lives, each clamoring for the lion’s share of our attention.   While working on one task our minds are already surging ahead to the next job.  While painting the bedroom we are thinking about what color we should paint the hallway.  At work, one project is barely begun before you begin prepping for the next.  Breakfast dishes are hardly cleared before thoughts of what to have for lunch appear.

Let’s alter the original question a bit:  What is it that I’m trying to do NOW?   I am trying to get this room painted.  So paint!  It’s okay to buy the hall paint while you’re in Home Depot, but while you are painting the bedroom, paint the bedroom.  Pay attention to the bedroom.  Do a good job.  Listen to music. Enjoy yourself.

Don’t let your body complete one task while your mind is two hours/days/weeks ahead performing the next task.  Pull yourself together! Don’t lose today in thinking about tomorrow.

What am I trying to do now?  I’m trying to live my life with awareness.  I’m trying to do what I love with enthusiasm and do unpleasant tasks with grace.  I’m trying to take care of today.  Some days it works, some days I’m still working on it!  What are you trying to do now?

Standing on One Foot

It’s all about Balance.   When one foot is off the ground, you don’t want to tip over.  In my yoga classes I advise my students to practice balancing in all sorts of funny places.  Stand on one foot when waiting in line at the grocery store.  Challenge yourself by putting your socks on without sitting down. Revisit childhood by walking on top of the cement things in parking lots.  Improvement comes quickly, and it’s actually kind of fun!

Let’s pull that idea into the rest of our lives.  For instance, I just had a piece of leftover birthday cake for breakfast. (A sliver, really!)  I am now standing on one foot, nutritionally.  So for the rest of the day, I will practice my balance, eating wholesome foods. I’ll still be upright by dinnertime!

And exercise -- an extended four-letter word for many of us.  Step one is to get some.  Step two is to balance it with your own lifestyle, and for the highest good of the ol’ bod.  My preferred exercise is yoga, so balance for me is adding a brisk walk with the dog every afternoon, giving my body the sensation of fast, repetitive movement.  If you are a runner, taking off for miles around town, the addition of a stretchy yoga class will reacquaint you with muscles you forgot you had, balancing your quickness with the awareness of smaller, slower movements.

Finally, look for a balance of information.  Find a way to be aware of what is going on in the world around you without being inundated with negativity.  Look for news media that doesn’t exaggerate the bad and downplay the good; learn to change the subject when conversations turn to gossip; limit your exposure to people or things that drag your spirits down.

Look into all aspects of your life and find balance.  Then, when events come that start to tip you over, you will have the resources to recover from the wobble.  Maybe your hand will touch the wall for a moment; and once in a while life will knock us over completely.  If we have made Balance an automatic response system in our bodies and minds, we will find ourselves upright in the end.

Never Mind When I'm 65, How About When I'm 100

Don’t laugh, but I plan to live to be 100.  And not the sitting in the rocker waiting for a card from the President 100, but a yoga-practicing, blog-writing, trail-walking 100.  In order for this to happen, I first have to successfully deal with being in my fifties.  Here’s what I’ve found so far:

I take Level 2 yoga classes with relative ease, except I need reading glasses to sign the release form.  I can be pleasantly surprised when I look in the mirror, as long as I’ve been using my heavy-duty nighttime moisturizer, and avoid glancing down at my neck.  I thoroughly enjoy my kale and white bean soup now that I don’t have to cajole a 4-year-old into trying it. 

There is nowhere near as much time in the day as I thought there’d be.  I don’t work “full-time” but I work “crazy-time”, so my days are a chopped-up mish-mash of hours.  Keeping my schedule straight is what I do instead of crossword puzzles to keep my brain alert. 

Instead of hanging out with the parents of my kids’ friends, I now hang out with the people I do yoga with.  Luckily for me, that includes my mom and sisters, so I get to see them regularly.

I am WAY less shy than I used to be, and can easily strike up a conversation with just about anyone.  And I’m always willing to try something new because my fear of appearing foolish has vanished along with my smooth hands. 

What is your favorite part about your age decade?