love poem. (robert bly)

The Third Body

A man and a woman sit near each other, and they do not long
at this moment to be older, or younger, nor born
in any other nation, or time, or place.
They are content to be where they are, talking or not talking.
Their breaths together feed someone whom we do not know.
The man sees the way his fingers move;
he sees her hands close around a book she hands to him.
They obey a third body they have in common.
They have made a promise to love that body.
Age may come, parting may come, death will come.
A man and woman sit near each other;
as they breathe they feed someone we do not know,
someone we know of, whom we have never seen.

~ Robert Bly ~

Kids Yoga

Some Hindu texts say babies perform all of yoga's 108 postures while in the womb. So if kids are born yogis, how can they stay yogis for life?

I've been teaching children yoga, 5 days a week, 4-5 classes a day for about a year now. Its been interesting to learn to tailor the practice, philosophies and lessons to children, ages 4-12, and to watch them grow. My favorite thing about teaching kids yoga is the amount of Joy there.....something adult yogis can really learn from!



<-----(must have started as a kid)

Here's an interesting article on kid yoga. The "new soccer?"

Kate Braverman: writer's bootcamp

I've decided I like her.

Her work:



Her Bootcamp:


She's probably made students cry, but burns through the extraneous. She has a blow-torch-pen. Bukowski said she "writes like a man." What does that mean? Direct, forceful? She was flattered.

Happy New Year!

New York seems to explode with yoga on the 31st of December and 1st of January.....I guess as the old year exhales to a close and the New year inhales, NY yogis find ways to do the same. Studios lit till midnight with music and intention setting and reflection, teachers falling back into NY after their travels like Times Square balls dropping with light and movement. Song. Prayer. Silence. Laughter.

Letting go of 2008 was a Huge series of exhales...so happy and grateful to make space for the New!

One of my favorite New Year's rituals is the chanting at Dharma Mittra Yoga Center. This year, Krishna Das led, which was extra eardrum bliss. For those who didn't get to marinate in the melodies in person, a gift:



I also got to check out one of David Life's classes. Jivamukti isn't my normal scene, and the owners aren't normally in town, so it was largely curiousity that led me. Getting into his sold-out class was like trying to get past the velvet ropes of some elite nightclub.. at first a turn-off, but I'm glad I made the cut. I was pleasantly surprised by his creative sequencing and his humor. The guy was drawling deadpan into a mic to reach the 100 or so students who were there. He delivered original asanas and kooky jokes that had us literally laughing on our backs. David Life reminds me of Sid Vicious, if Sid Vicious had lived to teach yoga and delivered joke-asanas on mics instead of lyrics. I would've liked to have seen Sid in Headstand.

But anyway, I left with my heart lighter and the space in back of my heart, in between my shouder-blades where I imagine wings would sprout, strangely sore. I guess all the humor distracted me from all the jump-backs. Chaturanga dandasana!

Speaking of jumping back...what a year! When I look back to this day last year, my world was vastly different. A herneated disc had me largely out of New Year's Yoga-commission. I had a different profession, different home, had different relationships and circumstances, questions and answers. What a wild ride between Januarys. A lot of loss, a lot of opportunties. Exhale. Inhale. So thankful to have landed in 2009 intact, flowing into sequences, and a whole new set of circumstances for a whole new year.

Jai!

Sid:


David:

Yogue

Why do I love Laughing Lotus?
This video says it all...
Strike a Pose...Yogue!




"Cast all your votes for dancing."
-Hafiz

Celtic Blessing for the New Year

May your body be bless​ed.​
May you reali​ze that your body is a faith​ful
and beaut​iful frien​d of your soul.​
May you recog​nize that your sense​s are sacre​d thres​holds​.​
May you reali​ze that Holin​ess is mindf​ul gazin​g,​
mindf​ul feeli​ng,​ mindf​ul liste​ning,​ and mindf​ul touch​ing.​
May your sense​s alway​s enabl​e you to celeb​rate the unive​rse
and the myste​ry and possi​bilit​ies in your prese​nce here.​
May Eros bless​ you.
May your sense​s gathe​r you and bring​ you home.​