In Praise of Trees – Rabindranath Tagore

Tree of Life, Audubon Park. August 2016.
Tree of Life, Audubon Park. August 2016. Photo: MBuffett

“O profound, silent tree, by restraining valour with patience, you revealed creative power in its peaceful form. Thus we come to your shade to learn the art of peace, to hear the word of silence; weighed down with anxiety, we come to rest in your tranquil blue-green shade, to take into our souls life rich, life ever juvenescent, life true to earth, life omni-victorious.”  ~From ‘In Praise of Trees’, by Rabindranath Tagore

To Be Awake Is To Be Alive ~Henry David Thoreau

Bhujangasana, Cobra Pose. Photo: MBuffett
Yoga Practice. Bhujangasana, Cobra Pose. Photo: MBuffett

Even in the midst of a world weary with heavy and depressing events, I still, everyday, aim to live as fully present and awake as possible. On occasion it comes easily. Most days I rely on practices of meditation and mindful movement to illuminate the path that reawakens me to the realities of joy, love, and bliss.

Today is the 199th birthday of Henry David Thoreau. His timeless wisdom on what it means to be fully awake…

We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us in our soundest sleep. I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.

~HDT from WhereI Lived, and What I Lived For

 

Happy International Yoga Day

Salamba Sirsasana II (Tripod Headstand). Photo Credit: Maddy Rose at Romney Pilates. May 2016.
Salamba Sirsasana II (Tripod Headstand). Photo Credit: Maddy Rose at Romney Pilates. May 2016.

“A lamp does not flicker in a place where no winds blow; so it is with a Yogi, who controls his mind, intellect and self, being absorbed in the spirit within him. When the restlessness of the mind, intellect and self is still for the practice of yoga, the Yogi by the grace of the spirit within himself finds fulfillment. Then he knows the joy eternal which is beyond the pale of the senses which his reason cannot grasp. He abides in this reality and moves not therefrom. He has found the treasure above all others. There is nothing higher than this. He who has achieved it, shall not be moved by the greatest sorrow. This is the real meaning of yoga – deliverance from contact with pain and sorrow.” ~BKS Iyengar

Time Is Now

Parivrtta Surya Yantrasana (Sundial Pose). New Orleans. March 2016. Photo: MBuffett
Parivrtta Surya Yantrasana (Sundial Pose). New Orleans. March 2016. Photo: MBuffett

Ksana Pratiyogi Parinama Aparanta Nirgrahyah Kramah
-Yoga Sutra of Patanjali 4.33

There is no longer a need to focus on the past, or even the future. All unfolds as it should. The yogi finds peace in the present moment.

Love Light

Love Light. New Orleans. October 2015. Photo: MBuffett
Love Light. New Orleans, October 2015. Photo: MBuffett

 

In your light I learn how to love. In your beauty, how to make poems. You dance inside my chest, where no one sees you, but sometimes I do, and that sight becomes this art. ~Rumi

For Seekers

Seeking Sunset. Beverly Hills CA. October 2015. Photo: MBuffett
Seeking Sunset. Beverly Hills CA. October 2015. Photo: MBuffett

 

What you seek is seeking you.

-Rumi

Practice Notes …

Adho Mukha Vrksasana, Upside-Down Tree Pose. New Orleans, October 2015. Photo: MBuffett
Adho Mukha Vrksasana, Upside-Down Tree Pose. New Orleans, October 2015. Photo: MBuffett

“I would say that the thrust of my life has been initially about getting free, and then realizing that my freedom is not independent of everybody else. Then I am arriving at that circle where one works on oneself as a gift to other people so that one doesn’t create more suffering. I help people as a work on myself and I work on myself to help people.”

-Ram Dass

Hope and Fear

Bastille Vault, Canal St Martin, Paris. September 2015. Photo: MBuffett
Bastille Vault, Canal St Martin, Paris. September 2015. Photo: MBuffett

“One of the classic Buddhist teachings on hope and fear concerns what are known as the eight worldly dharmas. These are four pairs of opposites–four things that we like and become attached to and four things that we don’t like and try to avoid. The basic message is that when we are caught up in the eight worldly dharmas, we suffer.

First, we like pleasure; we are attached to it. Conversely, we don’t like pain. Second, we like and are attached to praise. We try to avoid criticism and blame. Third, we like and are attached to fame. We dislike and try to avoid disgrace. Finally, we are attached to gain, to getting what we want. We don’t like losing what we have.
According to this very simple teaching, becoming immersed in these four pairs of opposites – pleasure and pain, praise and blame, fame and disgrace, and gain and loss – is what keeps us stuck in the pain of samsara.
We might feel that somehow we should try to eradicate these feelings of pleasure and pain, gain and loss, praise and blame, fame and disgrace. A more practical approach is to get to know them intimately, see how they hook us, see how they color our perception of reality, see how they aren’t all that solid. Then the eight worldly dharmas  become the means for growing wiser as well as kinder and more content.”
-from Comfortable With Uncertainty, by Pema Chodron

Source For Soaring

Practice. Everyday. Steadfast. Clarity. Romney Pilates, New Orleans, September 2015.
Practice. Everyday. Steadfast. Clarity. New Orleans, September 2015.

There is joy, a winelike freedom that dissolves the mind and restores the spirit, and there is manly fortitude like the king’s, a reasonableness that accepts the bewildered lostness.

But meditate now on steadfastness and clarity, and let those be the wings that lift and soar through the celestial spheres.

-Rumi