ITCH

Generally one wants to be still while meditating, as this facilitates going deeper.  So, if you have an itch, don't scratch; you learn that it eventually goes away.  Same with those thoughts that keep running through our minds while meditating.   Don't scratch--just notice and let them move on through.  (Note:  reacting in some way to them would be the same as scratching them.)

Enjoy the practice!

Exciting Class

It's not too late to sign up for the exciting self-illumunating study of the yamas and niyamas, yoga's ethical guidelines for life--a life of integrity, joy, and freedom. Check the website at Yoga North Duluth.com for details and to register.  Our book is Deborah Adele's fabulous book on these guidelines--"The Yamas and Niyamas: Exploring Yoga's Ethical Practice"--and the class is taught by yours truly.

The first class is October 28th and will be held on the 3rd Sunday of each month following through May from 6:30 - 8:00 pm.  

I would love to have you join our study!

KARMA YOGA

The other day, I was feeling pressured to "get all of the things/tasks done before I had to leave the house.  My spouse has been somewhat under the weather, so that added to my list.  I could feel me "gripping" in my body.  Thinking that would not do, plus it wasn't any fun, I decided to practice "Karma yoga."  Everything I did, and was going to do, was in service--to my spouse, to others, to humanity.  What a lovely switch I experienced!  Peaceful, even joyful.  Every time I felt myself tightening, I just remembered to breathe and that I was doing karma yoga.  My tasks were accomplished easily and peacefully.

Trust

I've been thinking about ways to deal with unpleasant things in my life.  Just naming them "unpleasant" reveals my attachments to not wanting them at all.  Some of my Parkinson's symptoms are very unpleasant and even painful and do affect my life.  Luckily, they seem to come and go.  Lately, we've also had some real worries about certain family members, fearing for them.

Turning to my yogic philosophy--everything is good and perfect--which is not always easy for me to  believe, I am experimenting with a new practice.  When I am confronted with pain, unpleasantness, fears and worries, I thank God.  Here's how it might go:  "Thank you God for my (specific symptom here) Parkinson's Disease.  I don't know what good will come from it, but I thank you; I trust you God."  Or, "Thank you God for (name here) problems (state specific problems).  I don't know what good will come from it for (that person), but I thank you and I trust you God."

Whatever concerns me doesn't go away, but I am lifted and eased in a small way, and more open to what is.

"HEART-BURN"

While meditating, I experienced heartburn.  "Heart burn" is an apt name, as it was at my heart center.  As I breathed into it, I wondered when in my life I may have experienced pain that burned a place in my heart.  I recalled the extreme, and extremely painful, bitterness I felt in my heart after our little Karen died.  That bitterness was so hard to bear, it had such a grip on me, I couldn't let go of it.  (Or I had such a grip on it?)  Did I "burn" a hole of bitterness into my heart?  I was released from that pain--instantaneously-- through prayer.  But the effects may linger.  

I can welcome my "heart-burn" as a painful, but truthful, reminder of such a momentous time in my life.  I can feel deep compassion for me and for that wound in my heart.  It reminds me of the immense and overwhelming pain I felt, as well as the beautiful and grace-filled healing I experienced.

Now, for more grace ~

WE ARE ONE

Something like the Aurora, CO killings is so hard to talk about.  Really, what can one say?  What can one say to those who lost treasured members of their families, dear friends, or who were injured themselves?  What about those who were, and are,traumatized by this inexplainable and horrible event?

We lost a baby who lived for 2 weeks, and that was so hard to bear at the time.  Now I think of her birth and death in a totally different light, but I couldn't do that then.  

Yet I am comforted by remembering that we are all one--EVERYTHING is God/Supreme Consciousness.  The image that mosts comforts me is the one of the vast ocean--water as far as one can see and as deep as one can imagine.  We are drops of water, and when we fall into that ocean, we merge completely, our individuality disappears, and we are one with all that is holy.  

May those who are suffering from this horrible event, eventually find comfort in family and friends, and

faith in remembering their loved ones live on in the oneness of all, as we are part of that same oneness.  

Blessings and Love.

Flash

As I was meditating yesterday morning, my mouth and toe were moving slightly and involuntarily due to Parkinson's.  Then deep in my heart I had a flash--I am God, and I am Love, no matter what is happening on the outside.  I have "known" this for a long time, but in this moment I experienced it!