Peace My Heart

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

For my friend Lynda Lou… who always lit the way for me.

Peace, my heart, let the time for the parting be sweet.
Let it not be a death but completeness.
Let love melt into memory and pain into songs.
Let the flight through the sky end in the folding of the wings over the nest.
Let the last touch of your hands be gentle like the flower of the night.
Stand still, O Beautiful End, for a moment, and say your last words in silence.
I bow to you and hold up my lamp to light you on your way.

~ Rabindranath Tagore

 

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

 

Rainbow Wisdom

Summer Rainbow. Audubon Park, New Orleans. July 5, 2016. Photo: MBuffett
Summer Rainbow. Audubon Park, New Orleans. July 5, 2016. Photo: MBuffett

“The thing to do, it seems to me, is to prepare yourself so you can be a rainbow in somebody else’s cloud. Somebody who may not look like you. May not call God the same name you call God – if they call God at all. I may not dance your dances or speak your language. But be a blessing to somebody. That’s what I think.” ~Maya Angelou

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

Let. Life. Turn. You.

Hanging Between Shifts at Romney Pilates Center. New Orleans.  January 2016. Photo: MBuffett
Hanging Between Shifts at Romney Pilates Center. New Orleans. January 2016. Photo: MBuffett

 

“Try not to resist the changes that come your way. Instead let life live through you. And do not worry that your life is turning upside down. How do you know that the side you are used to is better than the one to come?”
-Rumi

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