Category: Beautiful Places

Categories
Beautiful Places

“August”

Gift from Vancouver for someone’s 18th birthday:)
Beautiful purple box his brother brings over to share –
No Sugar diet on temporary hold as life’s too short? If you must monitor sugar intake then good news is –
Purdys have NO SUGAR versions.

When the blackberries hang
swollen in the woods, in the brambles
nobody owns, I spend

all day among the high
branches, reaching
my ripped arms, thinking

of nothing, cramming
the black honey of summer
into my mouth; all day my body

accepts what it is. In the dark
creeks that run by there is
this thick paw of my life darting among

the black bells, the leaves; there is
this happy tongue.

– A poem by Mary Oliver

It’s hard to find those blackberries for the very berry plate – Blackberries !
Should we go berry picking into the woods?

Categories
Beautiful People Beautiful Places Yoga

Niroga

What I Have Learned So Far

Meditation is old and honorable, so why should I
not sit, every morning of my life, on the hillside,
looking into the shining world? Because, properly
attended to, delight, as well as havoc, is suggestion.
Can one be passionate about the just, the
ideal, the sublime, and the holy, and yet commit
to no labor in its cause? I don’t think so.

All summations have a beginning, all effect has a
story, all kindness begins with the sown seed.
Thought buds toward radiance. The gospel of
light is the crossroads of — indolence, or action.

Be ignited, or be gone.

– Mary Oliver

Categories
Beautiful Deeds Beautiful People Beautiful Places Beautiful Rituals Healthy Living Yoga

Authentic 

Equipped with so much wisdom and knowledge ! That’s how I would describe Saraswathi Devi, who has been inspiring and teaching yoga for over 40 years. She is known in Berkeley as founder and lead instructor of CalStar Yoga program on UC Berkeley campus. 

Such a treat to learn from her this weekend at Niroga Institute with other Karma Yogis!  

One of the cohorts, always profound Ms. J, expressed our sentiment so well when she said

“Thank you for doing what you do.”

When we see a yogi in service, it’s instantly recognizable – that feeling of reverence we have when we are in presence before one who serves with love, compassion and equanimity even when faced with adversity. I can only hope to cultivate that kind of generosity in my service to others… besides, I appreciate the humor she shares with “unbridled joy”. (her words – ah… her voice has the deepest rich vibrations she could have been an opera singer; her flowing language so poetic, her humor so dead-on.)

Thank you for the training Niroga; thank you for the teachings Saraswathi Devi.
& Thank you for her students who came and shared their stories with us so that we know to recognize their whole being, their humanity – they are no different than us, just more brave, more patient, more …amazing!