The following was shared on Easter … it does not matter if you are Christian or Buddhist or Atheist or Martian & so I re-share to serve as a reminder as we begin this week, Shelter @ Home, Week #5:

Prayer for a Pandemic

May we who are merely inconvenienced remember those whose lives are at stake.

May we who have no risk factors remember those most vulnerable.

May we who have the luxury of working from home remember those who must choose between preserving their health or making their rent.

May we who have the flexibility to care for our children when their schools close remember those who have no options.

May we who have to cancel our trips remember those that have no safe place to go.

May we who are losing our margin money in the tumult of the economic market remember those who have no margin at all.

May we who settle in for a quarantine at home remember those who have no home.

As fear grips our country, let us choose love.

During this time when we cannot physically wrap our arms around each other, let us yet find ways to be the loving embrace of God* to our neighbors.

Amen.

-Cameron Bellm, Sisters of Charity

*If you are agnostic or atheist, then “God” as in greater Powers beyond ourselves and any rational, beyond the human comprehension. Powers and mysteries – that pure consciousness – that provides salvation when there’s love and compassion and intuitive wisdom rather than hate, fears and ignorance. If that makes any senses…

***

When you cannot hug a person … Call a family member or a friend; Beyond the remoteness, Hug a tree; marvel at the beauty of blooming trees all around us. Imagined in a dream or … in real.

Potatoes Croquets …

Good Morning Avocado Toast … Smile:)  Week #5 begins.

Bucket list … dreamy sakura lit promenade in Kyoto …

While in California making medicinal teas … to moisten and relieve; to wash away what your body can do without.  Wash away, detox, cleanse … Amazake Chai, Green Tea followed by …

Today’s Yoga practice …

Easter Eggs Golden Sun

Within hope shines no matter

Resurrect in Beauty

Sequence in the Morning – Sun Salutation visualizing colors of reds, oranges and yellows – remembering how it felt when you faced up to the sun with eyes narrow … how the sun warmed your face and lines of blurred heat filled up your head … your forehead saw rainbows of colors dancing – then you move into – Warriors to muster courage, be grounded, be balanced, feel the breath move – Down and Up dogs to play with animals we love to befriend – bears sitting in chair?  – What else?

Flip – Take a Seat – surrender into child to move on to heart and hip openers … Open – Light – Expansive beyond the time and space that imprisons us especially now, to again find that boundless, limitless Universe… Breathe Deep … effortless … Be.

 

 

 

We are experiencing disruptions and uncertainties in our lives. In Ayurveda, a sister science to Yoga, when we experience fear and anxieties associated with upheaval and vulnerabilities, we call such state or condition as being “Vatta”. When we are in Vatta state, we need everything that’s opposite in our yoga practice. We need to feel a sense of stability, control/power, and … the CALM. While it is true that for some, when there’s quite a bit of tension and you are one tight ball of nerves, you cannot just be “calm” and for those, warm-up exercise … for some maybe a little firey practice of heat is helpful. That does not have to mean “intense” and pant and run out of breath into shreds. No … to instill the sense of power and control in your breath by coordinating gentle movements with breath. Perhaps, using the calming resonance of chanting, can be very helpful in down-regulating nerves that may be on edge or in over-drive.

If chanting is ??? to you, how about howling into the night, this PINK SUPERMOON moving in the way I taught you in my gentle yoga class. If you need a review, reach out to me and we can go over. Remotely. but Together.