Star, Star, Teach Me How to Shine, Shine

Light fixture I liked on recent trip to Budapest-key word, LIGHT

Just had to throw in a little Moldovan love. My host sister, Diana, in traditional dress at the Cricova Hram, or city day, in May. She danced the hora with her friends for all the town. It was awesome!

So. It's been a while. I have been asking myself almost daily at this point, "Why aren't I writing on my blog?" It's not that I don't think about writing. Perhaps it's more that my thoughts don't come together in any way that I see worth sharing. Usually, an entire blog post is written in my head while I do some mundane task like showering or making breakfast. Once I finish said task, I open my notebook and viola. It hasn't been like that lately. I can't quite put it into words, but it goes alongside a post I had written last summer about processing. There seem to be long periods of time where I just can't share enough. Life seems, well, novel. It's all churning and epiphanies and pondering. And then there are other times. When life seems just plain confusing. Nothing seems to connect, it's all swirling and whirling and there's no making sense of it. As you can guess, this has been life for me over the past few months...whirling and twirling and staying afloat.


Don't get me wrong. It's not as though I have been sitting on my tush, down and out, nor depressed. I have in fact been so busy with my work here and with keeping my health at a reasonable place, that I have to remind myself to come up for air every once in a while. Like today for example. I have been waking up with mild fevers in the morning the last few days and just feeling all-around pooey. I called my partners to say I was going to take a day to just stay home and rest. Wow. Look what happens when I do that...I actually write a blog post. I needed some hours to be with just me to put it together, to be able to communicate what I am going through, and as to why I haven't been sharing. 


I want to share. It's the greatest joy in life-right? I mean, you experience something, you learn something from that, and then you share.  Whether to warn the other about that type of experience, to tickle them with the laughter of your story, or to share a valuable insight about the nature of life, sharing our experiences connects us all in a profound way.


I hope that with this "breaking of the ice" I can re-open my conversation with you all and start to share again. I am not so sure that the clarity has returned, I am still in somewhat of a fog (more on my suspicions of the WHYS for another post)...but the intention is there. And isn't that what matters most? The reasons WHY we do what we do...


In respect to what I have just shared, I realized I was listening to  The Frames as  I wrote this post. And thus, the title of this post is from one song (and it's a full moon right now which isn't quite a star but DOES shine!), and another has inspired me with following refrain/reminder:


We have all the time in the world, to get it right, to get it right.
We have all the love in the world, to shed a light, to shed a light.


I suppose it doesn't really matter much that I have taken this time away from writing, from sharing. Just so long as I do shed some light. 


XOm

Thinking About Not Thinking?

What would happen if we dropped the notion that there is anything to do, anywhere to go, something to attain, anything that needs to be different than what is in this very moment?  


What if we forgot about things like enlightenment and ascension?  If we stopped the search? If we stopped intellectualizing, thinking, ruminating? If we just "let it be"?


Food for thought (or lack thereof!)


I invite you to listen to satsanga (Sanskrit सत्सङ्ग sat = true, sanga = company) (8:41) with Mooji where he talks about enlightenment in a different way. Take a few deep breaths before watching the clip and enjoy.  OM!





Now I am off to bed, to (hopefully) allow my dreams to do my thinking for me :) What thoughts seem to take over your mind? Do you know how to slow them down? Or why you would want to?

XOm

Books to Blow Your Mind: A New Year's List

So it seems as though everyone likes to make lists as the year ends.  The top 10 this, the top 20 that.  And it makes me realize that I have been meaning to put a list out there for those of you who might find some of my points of view interesting-a book list!  I have compiled a list of my Top 10 Most Influential Books thus far in my life-in no particular order.  There are dozens more that would make it easily into my "favorite" list, but these are those books that parts of which will pop into my mind at times and help me to make choices or to relate to something differently.

Many of the books I have chosen to share are controversial in the sense that there is a line blurred between fiction and non-fiction, and the media has been fond to point this out.  Rather than try to weed out what is 100% true or not, I simply enjoy taking the beautiful messages from each.  We always have the choice of what to keep and what to leave behind.  What I can say 100% is that these books left behind a profound shaping of my current life.  I would love to hear about your favorites too so please do share!

Enjoy &Happy 2012! 

1. Essays on Death and Dying by Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross.  I found this book in a box in the attic when I was about 16.  I read it and it changed my life.  I remember crying and crying as Dr. Kubler-Ross described her experiences working with dying children.  Their accounts of what they saw as they were near death moved me so deeply.  My quest for understanding the mysteries around life and death started here and continue today.  
2. The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield.  Another tear-jerker for me (at the time).  I first tried to read this around the same time as the above.  I have two uncles who are ministers and on our family summer vacation that year it was the hot topic.  But it wasn't until a friend gave me a copy when I was 21, just weeks after the passing of my brother in a car accident, that the book not only made sense, but made a big impact.  It is written as a fictional book but the message is quite beautiful.  There are more books in the series, some I have read and some not.  I have enjoyed them all.
3. The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran. Simply amazing.  Read each line again and again-never gets old. Full of wisdom.  A gift from a friend-thanks Andrea!
4. Siddhartha by Herman Hesse.  This was a book I had heard of but up until my Peace Corps experience hadn't read.  Thankfully another volunteer found a copy in our library and strongly suggested I read it (thanks Maryam!).  It was the perfect story for me at the time and I am sure I will read it again and again, as it confronts the issues of living IN the world vs. OF the world.  A topic I can't seem to get enough of!
5. The Witch of Portabello by Paulo Coelho.  I actually read this Coelho book before his more famous one, the next on the list.  My roommate when I lived in Providence just loved him and had a bunch of his books.  The Alchemist was on loan so I read this one.  I still often think about that girl, twirling on stage, bringing her magical energies to every business, practice, and town she traveled.
6. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.  Another book of magic!  An adventure for sure, but with a beautiful message around dreams and destiny.
7. Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu (as translated by Stephen Mitchell).  Just as with The Prophet I can open this book at any time and gain some new insight, some fantastic reminder, some wisdom-imparting knowledge.  There are many translations of the Tao and some can be quite different from others.  I like the messages in this one and it was given to me by a friend while I was living and studying at the Yoga Farm in California.  (Thanks Gary!)
8. Pantanjali's Yoga Sutras.  Pantanjali is the author but there are a vast number of books out there  by the great yogic sages  with translations and commentaries .  I can't say that I have sat and read all 194 sutras, but the study and dispersion of the wisdom from them has molded my life significantly.  This is where we obtain wisdom of Raja Yoga, the Eight Limbs of Yoga, and henceforth the Asana practice so many of us partake in today!  
9. Healing with Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford.  If you have ever had a health problem that no matter what you did, who you talked to, you couldn't get to the bottom of, then you would understand how I felt at 25 when I was covered with hives.  Taking my health into my own hands, I enlisted an acupuncturist and signed up for a holistic health training course.  One of the books we received in the course was this one and it completely changed my view of how both food and emotions help or hinder our health.  I don't follow this book's philosophy 100% but know that in times of need health-wise, this will always be one of the first places I go.
10. Mutant Message Down Under by Marlo Morgan.  Another controversial one but again, one that shaped how I see the world.  I think I found this in the same box as book #1.  (I am thinking it was books from my older sister's college philosophy classes...)  This book explores one women's journey with an aboriginal tribe and their relationship to the Earth and to the world of spirit.  It's quite beautiful regardless of whether it is based on a true story or not.

 Wishing you all the joy, love, and peace in the world and beyond.


XOm

Technique 6: Lunar

This part was written during my recent trip to Greece:


In the background I can hear an accordian, as someone, most likely a child, walks up and down the streets of Athens begging for money.  Next door I hear the voices of men in their work day chatter as they together build what will be a stack of condos, ushering new neighbors into my friend Shiva-Shakti's life.  Noticing, noticing.  


In my own mind, I can hear the chatter around not doing my November Acension post, the Lunar one.  Life picked me up and carried me around for a bit, unsettled so as to write my thoughts on such a vast subject.  But today, in my friend's house in the ancient city of Athens, freshly returned from a magical trip to the island named after the ancient Greek word for water, Ύδρα (Hydra), I turn my attention first inward to find the truth of water and the moon, and then outward, to share that with you.


So what do we know about the Moon?  Well, she is like a mirror.  She reflects to us the light recieved from the sun.    She gives and takes, but does not create.  She moves in cycles.  So, what is the knowledge here?  What might we digest of this that allows wisdom to grow in each of us?  I read the passage from the Ishaya's Ascension document:


The Lunar Attitude develops the intuitive power of the sixth chakra, Ajna, the “Third Eye.” Patanjali describes the result of mastery of the Lunar Technique as complete knowledge of the firmament. Another result of this Attitude is the development of Soma, the glue of the Universe that is responsible for the celestial perception of the second stage of enlightenment, Exalted Consciousness. The Moon is called the “Vat of Soma” in the ancient literature, because the focus on the Moon naturally produces this molecule in the body. Mastery of the Lunar connection opens the aspirant to the worlds of the virtuous, to the Heaven of the Forefathers, to the Path of the Gods.


And once again...I wasn't able to "finish" and so now I add even later from my bed in Balti:


I try to make some sense of the above: "complete knowledge of the firmament" seems to speak to a state of knowledge of all that is so vast that the un-attuned mind cannot comprehend.  And Soma seems to be the stuff that binds all together...echhh...who am I kidding?  This is hurting my brain to try to extract some meaning from that...and so...I will just say what I think of the moon!  I do love that orb in the sky!  Last night we had her full and a 2nd lunar eclipse following the one back in June.  


When I think moon, I think surrender.  I accept this light, I shine it.    That we should strive to develop more peace, faith, receptivity, openness and surrender-like the moon.  And for those who sort of hate the idea of surrender, because it sounds something like "losing" or giving up?  Surrender is the opposite of giving up. It is freeing yourself from the desire to be in control, letting go of how you think things should be. Surrender is freedom.  


And when I think of surrender, I think of water.  The flow.  I recently read a beautiful description of water, flow, and surrender by Osho.  And so I will finally finish this blog post with his words of knowledge, imparting more wisdom into each of our souls:
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When I say 'become like water' I mean become flow...Move, and move like water.  


Lao Tzu says: The way of the Tao is a watercourse way.  It moves like water.  What is the movement of water?  One, it always moves towards depth, it always searches for the lowest ground.  


It is non-ambitious; it never hankers to be the first, it wants to be the last.  Remember Jesus says: Those who are the last here will be the first in my kingdom of God.  He is talking about the watercourse way of Tao.  Be the last, be non-ambitious.  Ambition means going uphill.  Water goes down, it searches for lowest ground, it wants to be a nonentity.  It does not want to declare itself unique, exceptional, extraordinary.  It has no ego idea.
-----

And here the moon is like water, having no ego.  The moon doesn't shine bright like the sun, producing it's own worth.  And yet in this non-ambition, the moon still functions fully for its exact purpose.  It still provides light and remains steadfast.  All without trying.  The moon reminds us, to let go more.

Om tat sat.

Mother's Wisdom

My mom took her first yoga class ever with me on Saturday. And by with me I mean that I was the teacher. She said she liked it a lot and that she thought I was an excellent teacher. It is a very cool experience to be able to share a talent, skill or accomplishment with those in your life that have made those very things possible for you. And while it was amazing for me to hear those things from my own mother, it was something else she said that morning that really showed me the deep wisdom that she has.

When I am driving to teach a class, I have a ritual of singing Kirtan on the way. This helps me to remember that everything I am doing in my life is practicing Yoga. And driving is one of them. You can practice Yoga while driving: go the speed limit. Let cars pass you. Sit on your sit bones ect. And breathe of course. Kirtan also helps to lift my spirits ensuring I arrive to class with a light heart. So I turned to my mom in the car and asked if she would mind if I sang some chants. She said of course.

I began with a chant about Ganesha, so obstacles could be removed (and because it's my favorite) and followed up with a Siva chant since it was Saturday (see last post) and it's a Siva day (Saturday=Saturn...and OK I am totally not an astrologer-still figuring that out). I began a chant I really like. "Hara Hara Mahadeva Shambo..." But then I came to a part in the song that goes really high. I did what I always do here and scrunched up my face, looked at my mom a little embarrassed and with eyes that said, "I don't think I can do this". And you know what she said, "Oh who cares Julie, just do it, you have to try. Just push through."

Om tat sat, Mom, Om tat sat.