Caught in the Web
Sometimes it feels like my heart will just melt, and my blood will spill onto the street and mix with those who struggle, those who cry out, those who want for a better world. When the heart breaks, it releases an elixir, an exquisitely fine substance that spreads throughout both …
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The Mystery of the Breath
Time for a deep breath. A deep, spontaneous breath is suggestive of our very first breath when we emerged from a watery, maternal, uterine environment. But often the first breath at birth is labored, strained and gasping. The strain imprinted onto the respiratory rhythm may continue for a lifetime. Many …
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The Feet are the Foundation to the Temple of the Body
Do you like your feet? Do you think they are too crooked, too big, too misshapen or too ugly? Many people have an antipathy toward their feet and assume that their feet are best âout of sight, out of mindâ. Yet, it is only by strengthening, stretching, balancing and yes…loving …
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Spring, and the Upside of Change
Spring, and the Upside of Change by Janet Curry Yesterday the Sun inched across the equator, making its journey northward in the sky, and here in this northern hemisphere, marking the onset of Spring. In Colorado, the vernal equinox is a tease; spring plays a âhide-and-seekâ game that in this …
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Best Enemy
Best Enemy shared by Guest Teacher: Janet Curry When my son was 5, he came home from preschool one day and asked if Emily could come over to play. âEmily?â I inquired, surprised. I had heard about Emily beforeâhow she intruded on his games at recess, ran through forts heâd …
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Be Humble
In this day and age true humility is a rare commodity. Around the world today, societies put on a pedestal self-promoting Big Achievers, who are loud and bombastic. There are many leaders in power today who are conceited, over-confident, born of hubris. In the journey of the soul, hubris has …
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The Culture of Craving
In this topsey turvey time when everything seems to be coming to pieces, I often feel shadows of doom and despair creep over me. Some days it is hard to just stand upright in tadasana, so instead I crawl into a little ball in childâs pose. Fires, hurricanes and drought …
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Right Effort
Right Effort is part of the Eightfold Path of the Buddhaâs teaching. It suggests not pushing too hard and not going slack. I find that every day and in every situation I have to practice right effort. In every pose, every pranayama breath I must find âright tensionâ. It really is an art, an internal art and I caution to others in this chapter not to push too hard in their practice.
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How Speed Gets Trapped in the Body
One of my friends made a bumper sticker that read: Dare to Go Slow. In this era of speed people are likely to feel urgency and “rush hour” goes on all day long. This is unfortunate for it is only by slowing down that healing can occur. When I slow down I feel that I can heal my body and heal my relationships. Slowing down enables me to pay attention. When I slow down my breath and slow down my mind I enter into a vast open realm, just outside the pressurized speed trap of the daily grind.
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Always New
Can we live a life open to the new? Around the globe we are confronted by this question, how can we adapt and change, open to a new way of being? Can we break the habit of identity that we have assumed for the last 100 years? Yogis have always sought to rewire the habit body and habit making mind to discover a life that is alive, clear, flowing and full of discovery.â
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