Category: Beautiful Rituals

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Beautiful Deeds Beautiful People Beautiful Places Beautiful Rituals

Relief Efforts on another scale…

BEFORE:

AFTER:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dix9QGqgA8A
Eight million people in Nepal have been affected by last last weekend’s devastating earthquake. Remembering the outpouring of good will and aid from around the world, during the time of Japan’s 3/11 earthquake four years ago, feel compelled to send prayers and donation to the people of Nepal. There are other organizations I am sure but this is what I received so sharing…

To make a donation:
Below are a few organizations aiding those affected by the disaster. When making your donation, add a designation for “Nepal Earthquake.”
· American Red Cross

· Mercy Corps

And these I excerpt from local news:

Nepal Association of Northern CaliforniaBank of America account number: 000175928463
Contact: Uttam Karki at uklax.nca@gmail.com

Sunny Sagarmatha Society
Sunnyvale
Wells Fargo account number: 82015 86040
Contact Harihar Dahal at hariharnp@yahoo.com

Motherland Nepal
Contact: Anil Pandey at anilmelvin@hotmail.com

One of my favorite musicians Manos is from Nepal … Purchased a bansuri flute awhile ago after a concert so inspired by its sound BUT it is sooooo difficult to have any decent sound come out of this very simple flute… I must have been blowing into it until I was turning blue (LOL) and still … only an occasional and erratic peep would come out much less a note – so all the more respect for someone like him – in fact, I respect all musicians who bring so much light into this world. Each strum, each breath, is a note – a vibration.

You can find this on UTube – it’s from 5 years ago… hate to think what the place looks like today.

It is so weird because I was just talking about my desire to visit Nepal (some day far out in the future at the rate things are going) influenced by this documentary I saw on TV-Japan referenced in my recent post. That documentary tried to capture how Nepalese live – where life and death are so intertwined with little dividing line (shows a funeral celebrating life and death) and part of everyday life is a prayer and acts of creation celebrated and treated as sacred in their worship practices. It’s a place of pilgrimage. Praying from afar for their recovery and restoration. Gassho.

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Beautiful People Beautiful Rituals Yoga

Transformational Power of Relaxation

is what I try to share by just holding that space… and knowledge and techniques studied under so many great teachers, integrated into our family’s medicine box handed down for generations, and meshed with my inner guru, my life experience. Sheer gratitude to all my great teachers who allows me to blossom, living like the lotus, at home in the muddy water:)

Speaking of teachers and a lovely teacher-student relationship unfolding before your eyes …

This is an amazing Mother – Daughter yogini duo … Judith is one of the first American students of late BKS Iyengar and her daughter Lizzie, in a way ironically is Ashtanga trained under Maty Ezraty, one of first American female students under Sri K. Pattabhi Jois … even though Lizzie had one of the most well known yoga teacher in America as her mom at home:) which reflects the rich diversity of teaching and learning traditions within one family as it’s the case with all things yoga. We may train in one lineage and then cross-over and broaden to include more and more to complete the picture, “the design”. Her jewelry is beautiful in its zen simplicity (her mother’s influence?) and here’s her site:) It’s inspiring to see this legacy in this mother-daughter dynamics – so much of America’s yoga history coming down the generations to continue to enrich the lives of so many, living yoga, on and off the mat, today.

Yoga in American today is the fruits of harvest from seeds planted generations ago … originally from gurus in India but interpreted and integrated into American fabric by pioneering teachers like Judith among so many of the first generations of yoga teachers in America. When yoga was not considered so mainstream, these first generations of yoga students were willing to be labeled a little different, really innovative, curious and dedicated … and passed on their knowledge and passion to the second generations. I think Judith said in her workshop that it’s onto third-fourth generations since yoga landed in America and she is thrilled to see how its become more and more accepted – well, beyond accepted – embraced. And its all due in part by the dedicated teachers all over the world who spread the benefits of the practice… hoping to make even a little difference in our daily struggles for the better – for more meaning and connection:

Sigh … so beautiful. Feel the tranquility…

May we exist like a lotus, At home in the muddy water.
Thus we bow to life as it is.

– Zen saying

Which Judith puts it more succinctly. That is, simply …

May we live like the lotus at home in the muddy water:)



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Beautiful Rituals Healthy Living

The Elixir

sm_IMG_6416

In Native American or in many shamanic societies, if you sought out a shaman or medicine man due to inexplicable ailments, it is said that they would ask one of four questions.

When did you stop dancing?

When did you stop singing?

When did you stop being enchanted by stories?

When did you stop finding comfort in the sweet territory of silence?

Where we have stopped dancing, singing, being enchanted by stories, or finding comfort in silence is where we have experienced the loss of soul.

Dancing, singing, storytelling, and silence are the four universal healing salves. I find all four elements within my own yoga practice and add-on few other elements… Feelings of gratitude for blessed are those who find the way to navigate that territory. Sweet.

sm_IMG_6718The BEST Chai at the most unlikely remote place…
sm_IMG_6459Shiva rides this peace loving white cow named Nandi:) Nandi is therefore also sacred as she is the vehicle, Shiva’s vehicle, as Shiva passes through the gates to that temple alter…love these stories. I am definitely “enchanted by stories”:) Love the narratives of these folklore and mythic stories passed down for centuries.

AND

Today, We all have a story to tell…enchanting narratives are abundant as we share our humanness.

OR today, how about a recipe instead? Experiment with spices … some complement each other, some do not…it’s chemistry:)

Chai

3/4 cup water plus 1/4 cup almond or soy milk (making your own almond milk is not that hard – learned in Mt. Shasta)
Dates, agave or maple syrup to taste
Roughly ~2 teaspoons per cup loose black tea leaves (Ideally Assam or Ceylon tea if traditional but if herbal, found this to be good.)

Some or all of the following (measurements are per cup or per medium-sized mug):

2 green cardamom pods
2-3 whole black peppercorns
1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds
1-2 pieces cinnamon (“real cinnamon”)
Fresh ginger (2-3 thin slices)

Heat water and milk. Before it comes to a boil, add fresh ginger and any or several of the following: a few pods of green cardamom, Cinnamon stick, fennel seeds, peppercorns and/or cinnamon. When the milk / water mixture boils, add loose black tea. Turn off the heat and let steep for 2 minutes. Pour into a cup through a sieve to strain out tea leaves and spices. Add sweetener of choice to taste.