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The word busy in Japanese character looks like this:

忙

It’s a combination of two characters “leaning in” side by side.
The character on the left is 人　meaning a person and the character on the left is…
亡　… meaning “dying” … so it does not take a rocket scientist to decode this any further. The sign of losing one’s essence is when you are just busy busy busy.

That’s when I take a deep breath, stop – then turn inward to find (not lose, lol) myself.
There seems to be a general conditioning among us that unless you are busy, you are not a valuable important human being
based on a notion that doing lots of stuff and more you do lots of stuff is equated to your self-worth.
It’s a mindset ingrained in us… it would be nice to strike a balance.

It’s interesting to observe that someone who is very very busy is the one who gets asked to do even more – whereas there’s someone who is doing very little. The theory is that if you want to get something done, you ask the one who appears to be overloaded not someone who is not busy because? The one who is overloaded is the hard-working most capable one and the other one is just lazy and slow… REALLY? Our perceptions are sometimes so askew.

“Everything observable by the senses is subject to change and therefore in motion….there are interlocking cycles of change…. One cannot bid the winds and waves to cease, but one can learn to navigate treacherous currents by conducting ourselves in harmony with the prevailing processes of transformation…..and thus weather the storms of life.”

-I Ching (The Book of Change)

We are not always the same – at times, more dynamic and charged and wakeful, at another time, more static, steady and constant …a lull … sometimes there’s movement and sometimes there’s stillness… Living mindfully, calibrating an equilibrium, through the practice of yoga in my case. My intention is an offering to students who find me in a serendipitous ways, that space set aside, sometimes a hideaway to be left alone, other times a social place of connections. Different vibes dependent on many variables. I realize some classes are conducted with no music, no sounds… and that can be more relaxing at times. Sometimes that is what you need – that feeling of being under and in the water… submerged in “silence”… whatever the preference, they are all good. I cannot answer to everyone’s preferences and invite all to have an open generous heart … and be receptive. It might help lighten the load you carry if you loosen up. There’s no need to clutch onto things… There will always be a style and mood that suits you out there & it may not necessarily be my class and it’s all good. My intention is only to hold that space of safety and peace – a place where you just “notice” and “release”.

OM OM OM Be a chewy cookie, soft and rich in the center – sometimes a bit “nutty” … crumbling… but never a hard cookie, no. Aum, um, om, OM… yum Yum says the belly. I mean, YAM for the heart… Bija mantra for the Anahata chakra is … Yam … happy belly is a heart opener:) Noshing on a cookie for a treat today?