friday quotation

So you act, so you feel, so you are. 
~India Arie

friday quotation

My motto this past week:

Seems to have worked...thankfully. 

friday quotation

True happiness is an acceptance of life as it is given to us, with its diminishment, mystery, uncontrollability, and all. 

~Michael Gellert  

friday quotation

If ever there was a week for me to light upon this Rumi poem, this past one was it.

The Guest House
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.   

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from above.  

 

friday quotation

Commitment
Until one is committed
there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back,
always ineffectiveness.

Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation)
there is one elementary truth,
the ignorance of which kills countless ideas
and splendid plans:
that the moment one definitely commits oneself,
then providence moves too.

All sorts of things occur to help one
that would otherwise never have occurred.
A whole stream of events issues from the decision,
raising in one's favor all manner
of unforeseen incidents and meetings
and material assistance,
which no man could have dreamt
would have come his way.

I have learned a deep respect
for one of Goethe's couplets:
Whatever you can do, or dream you can...begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
~W.N. Murray (The Scottish Himalayan Expedition)


From a very non-committal place, this seems oddly appropriate as my quotation for the week...if for inspiration to commit if nothing else!

bittersweetness is...

...Yoga Vida 707 closing...getting to practice one last time in that beautiful room (the pictures in this post are taken from that room) with Deralyn, Katie, Vic, Bekah, and Dean (some of my favorite teachers)...all of the wonderful memories I have in there with Amy, Lisa, Malia, and Joan (who was also there tonight). It was an emotional night. Gratitude and love all around. Downward dogs and pigeons and warriors and wheels and trees and eagles and inversions and boats, too.
Dean started us off with Donna Summer's "Last Dance" which just about undid me. I don't know why. I think there's just a lot of change going on within and around me right now and Yoga Vida 707 closing its doors is just one more example of it. It felt in some way like a chapter of my life was closing. The chapter of early morning yoga classes where sometimes it was just Amy and me with Deralyn to guide us. The chapter of 5:30 p.m. yoga classes on Sunday afternoons with Lisa. The chapter where I got brave enough to do a headstand (against the wall!) and to flow up into wheel. Where pigeon became something that I embraced rather than fought. Where I was reminded of why, even after years of not practicing consistently, I return to yoga. Time and time again.
And it was a place where the circle did not get even begin to close with a lot things. Emotions. Aspirations. Challenges. And mantras. 707 is a place where crow still eludes me...most of the time. Where I dream of doing a headstand without the wall. Where I dream of flipping my dog into wheel. Where I dream of floor bow being a flow and not a fight. Where I dream of being more graceful and balanced and grounded.
I'll carry those dreams to Yoga Vida Westlake with me. It's just a few miles away and, for me, well worth the trip.
Because I think that is the other thing that tonight...and a viewing of YogaWoman last week...showed me - that I am committed to this practice. Not because it replaces anything else that I do but because it adds to everything else that I do. I have an ambition to eventually practice yoga daily - even if it's just a few poses in my home by myself upon rising or before going to bed. For now, it's enough to continue to learn and grow, to surrender and stop struggling, to take risks and become stronger...from within and without...on my mat.
Thank you, Yoga Vida 707, for being the space in which that journey really began...

sweetness is...

...a former student getting married...me being invited to the wedding...seeing a handful of other former students (four of whom were my advisees)...all grown up...all still just as funny, kind, and wonderful as ever. My heart was full to bursting. My eyes were brimming with tears. We laughed about old times; I caught up on their whereabouts and goings on right now. I'd seen most of them since their graduation in 2004, but I was still caught off guard seeing them "all grown up" some eight years later. So very proud to know them. Definitely one of those (many) moments when I'm reminded of why I love my job. Because of my students/advisees.