Coming of Age in America
We raised our son in the shelter of our Santa Fe community, his school but a mile from our home. He attended a Waldorf school where the early childhood curriculum focuses on imaginative play and fosters in the child “a sense that the world is good”. In 5th grade they …
Read More
The Light Within The Dark
In a time that cracks and splinters everywhere around, when vile men lose their minds in pursuit of gold, oil and fame, when the very ground you walk on trembles from windstorms and earthquakes, when trepidation wakes you at 3AM and your faith in humanity is on trial, you must do the …
Read More
The Samsara of War
In times of war, sorrow courses through our veins and our hearts bleed droplets of grief. In the face of such immense suffering, we are perplexed and deeply saddened. How could people wreak such ruin upon each other? War evokes such existential sorrow as violence, divisiveness, terror and hate perpetuate samsara. …
Read More
Getting Out Of Your Own Way
In the long winding journey on the path of practice, you inevitably come to a place where the best thing to do is get out of your own way. At some point you have to stop engineering your life and allow a force greater than yourself to enter. But how …
Read More
Reading the Text of the Body
It is astonishing how little people read today. These days we read only bits and snippets on the digital screen, mostly on the move, not enough to support deep digestion. When reading is limited to texted fragments, we don’t drop in. When was the last time you curled up on …
Read More
Consecrate The Space Within
Each day the most profound and nutritive thing to do is rest in the open space of stillness. When you enter the first gate and come into the temple of your body-mind make your breath tactile, sense the weight of your bones and soften your skin. Mostly what you need …
Read More
Realizing Your Buddha Nature
It’s funny how we all look outside of ourselves for fulfillment. These days we need not look far. In fact it begins right off the bat, when you pick up your phone first thing in the morning. With each tap of the screen we kindle hope that a new message …
Read More
Breathing Water
As yoga practitioners, we spend a lifetime following our breath– relaxing it, expanding it, and deepening its flow. Patanjali’s Yoga teaches that in pranayama, the breath should be “prolonged” (dirgha) and “refined” (sukshma). However, breathing in general is a tricky thing because for many the initial “air born” breath is …
Read More
Firm Back, Soft Front
When you wake up in the morning to meditate, sit with a firm back and soft front. Then in the course of your day, the spirit of firm back/soft front will stay with you. With firm back you are resilient, solid, unswerving. When the world goes topsy turvy, you “have at your …
Read More
You Don’t Have to Prove Yourself
It is funny how we spend a lifetime trying to prove ourselves. We go for the grade, strive to be successful, do all we can to be liked. We all want to appear good in the eyes of others. When you look back, it is astonishing how much time you have …
Read More