Vasistasana!

For some reason this January I have been feeling particularly moved to go after my New Year’s “anticipations” with some pretty serious energy. In a manner like I cannot remember for past January’s. Maybe it is about the stage of my emptying nest, and I am somehow feeling particularly vulnerable (age), as well as particularly capable (youthful, and feeling a taste of more freedom). It begins to feel something like, all right, DO it Donna. Now or never! In many ways this is my life’s moment of prime. Now is the moment to make my body stronger, find an extra hour for yoga, take some time to walk daily, lose that bit of weight I keep talking about wanting to lose, go after that bigger client base I want to develop, and nurture the growing wisdom that continues to evolve from the years of single parenting and all the other events that have lead to my graying and thinning hair. All of this at once; right NOW!

And then the Divine within me speaks up and offers a soft quieting voice reminding me of the fine edge of change. The edge of change that straddles acceptance with the desire for movement. So, how do I navigate this edge? How do I balance my eagerness with what I understand and know are my limitations? How do I use what I know about myself to make my way in a manner such that I can anticipate a level of success I can feel good about, and yet not become so ambitious that I will feel defeated before I put my first foot forward?

As I ponder this, I bring myself back to my yoga practice, where I find a sweet combination of direct and metaphorical assistance to just about everything. As I consider some of my edges in yoga, I come to this beautiful, “Ah ha” of Vasistasana (Side Plank Pose). This is the pose that will become a focal point for my practice for the next stretch of time. The metaphor of Vasistasana, and the challenges it offers me are very apt. It is a balancing pose that requires strength, confidence, and a determined spirit. I generally bring myself into it, no problem, but fall out quickly, and then, the tendency is to walk away and not come back to it for a good long time. Not so unlike some other struggles in my life!

The benefit of taking care of business through yoga is that, not only is yoga a serious practice that brings me to a depth of understanding and insight about both myself and the world around me, but it is also a friendly, playful practice, that is patient, kind, and forgiving. So I will honor and nurture my space in Vasistasana, allowing it to become my play; the play that will help me guide my determined spirit with balance, strength, and confidence.

Donna

Quietly I sit

Good intentions:
Empty my mind; create a
Loving Focus
Surely this is the making of the positive changes I seek.

My mind is a wander.
Gently, I pull the restlessness back.

Loving Focus; Doubts
Intent on anticipated, desired Movement.

Stillness persists, Mind moves
Change: inevitable, unpredictable
With a mask of stillness I fuss, protest and
Quietly allow all that is, just is.

Donna

New Year's Anticipations

Less than half way through January, it is not yet too late to be contemplating what some refer to as New Year’s “resolutions”. I have decided this year not to call them that. In deference to the side of me that looks forward to looking forward, I am contemplating my New Year’s “anticipations”.

Also, being a therapist, being a human being that has lived on this planet for something more than 40 years, I understand that those pesky “resolutions” we make for ourselves are all about the desire for, not just change, but healing change. Well, change happens whether we plan on it or not, and whether or not the change is healing is often a matter of our state of mind. So, rather than approaching the inevitable with an underlying sense of punishing myself for all the things that “need” to be improved, I will anticipate that my past, whatever it is, will serve me well as I approach and look forward to what lies ahead for me in 2007.

As we resolve we are requesting healing of ourselves. As I anticipate, I approach my resolve with hope as well as confidence in my own capacity to understand myself, and make choices that will ultimately offer the healing I am most able and ready to receive. Not that I anticipate all things will necessarily come up rosy for me in the New Year. However, as I approach resolutions with an air of anticipation, I give myself a vote of confidence, rather than a punishing shake of a finger. I suspect that if more of us thought of our past with a mixture of forgiveness and gratitude, moving forward into healing changes would come more naturally, and with less suffering. If I can offer myself such compassion, I can offer that compassion back to the people I love and thereby the healing I give to myself is also offered back to the relationships that are most important to me.

Here’s to 2007, and all of its as yet unrevealed mysteries, and to our ability to anticipate with confidence the healing power of compassion.

Donna

Teaching Yoga in January

January 8, Monday; 5:40PM at Bellvue

January 17, Wednesday; 5:40 at Rockefeller

January 22, Monday; 5:40 at Rockefeller

January 31, Wednesday; 5:40 at Rockefeller

Monday mornings, 10:30.... call to confirm class and for location: 315-885-3057

See November class postings for location of Monday and Wednesday evening's classes.

Donna

New Year's Eve Muse

I find myself alone this New Year’s Eve. This is the classic social holiday, and in fact it is not unusual for me to find myself alone as the old year rings out and the New Year rings in. Teen age and young adult children commonly want to be with their friends. Generally I either let them go, or I have also been known to offer our home for their New Year’s Eve gatherings. Tonight, I find myself with one child visiting a friend in Alaska, one child visiting a friend in California, and the other 2 at local parties their friends invited them to, with plans to stay overnight. My night therefore, to muse alone, and take in where my life has brought me to this point, and to fantasize about what 2007 might offer. It is a pleasant opportunity for being quiet and alone in the midst of the flurry of comings and goings that accompany this time of year. The household has been particularly busy expanding and contracting this year. A symptom of my nest that is emptying, but still full, some of the time anyhow.

As for my being alone tonight, it is much better to be home than to worry about how to get myself someplace and then safely back home again after the magic midnight hour. Kids do overnights; grown-ups, generally not! So, I remain this evening in the quiet comfort of my home, not needing to think about myself or my kids safety as the party goers tonight make their way home.

Here’s wishing you and yours a Safe, Happy, and Prosperous New Year!! Warm Wishes to All!

Donna

Sounds of the Holiday

My fondest memories of Christmas are of the music. Despite the overdoing of Christmas songs on some radio stations, and in the malls, and in almost every other public place you might find yourself, I still find that when I want to sink myself into the mood of the season, I look for the music. There is a deep resonance within as I quiet myself and allow the music to fill me. Something deeply familiar in the music recalls the innocence of childhood, and it's eager anticipation of what just might be offered. A time in life when the surprises of gifts and the mystery of Santa Claus filled childish fantasies, sometimes bringing wonderful gifts equal to the anticipation, sometimes offering disappointment. At that time in life however, disappointments in general were minor and easily recovered from.

So now as I find myself all grown up, and the Holiday approaching, the childish eagerness is replaced with, "Will I be able to do enough?", “Why do we have to do this every year?”, or “What can I do or offer to somehow bring meaning into this unavoidable event?” That childishness and eager fantasy seems, oh so far away. Yet, I know I can stir a sentimental place inside of me if I pull out of the most commercial and consumer driven venues and into either the quiet of my own home and my music, or find a holiday concert that will offer a public reassurance that the holiday can be more than spending money and driving the economy with unrealistic, unhealthy materialistic desires.

This weekend there were a couple of nice offerings….. the Gay and Lesbian Chorus held it’s holiday concert, as did the Syracuse Vocal Ensemble. Too late to attend those now. However… Next weekend:

The Syracuse Community Chorus, under the direction of Karen Mihalyi, will be offering their annual concert:

“A Call for Peace.”

Saturday the 16^th of December at 7:30 PM
Plymouth Congregational Church, 232 E. Onondaga St., downtown Syracuse.

Also, a very beautiful musical discovery I made a couple of weeks ago, is a CD available from the Syracuse Cultural Worker’s: Lullabies from the Axis of Evil. A deeply moving CD with 15 lullaby selections from the various countries that our President targeted as “The Axis of Evil” shortly after 9-11-01. This will be a hot item on my list of gifts to give this year. A good choice for those on your list who have trouble finding their tears.

Where ever you find it, I hope the season offers an occasion for the joy and remembrance that music stirs inside of you.

Peace of the Season to All.

Donna

Teaching Yoga in December

Wednesday December 6, 5:40PM at Rockefeller Church in Syracuse, corner of Tecumseh and Nottingham Rd.'s

Monday, December 11 and 18, 10:30 AM, call for directions; 315-885-3057

Monday December 11 and 18, 5:40 PM, Bellvue Heights Church on Geddes St. in Syracuse

From Dana Faulds', Go In and In:

The Soul of Yoga

What is the soul of yoga?
Follow your heart into the
center of the pose and find
in the midst of detail and
precision, in breath, alignment
balance, bliss, fear and sadness-
at the very core of all of this
is love. Touch upon your
truest nature even once and
the experience of what you
really are sears the psyche
like the surface of the sun.
The soul of yoga, the gift
within the pose is the
moment of communion,
resting in pure essence,
the awakening as if from
sleep to the face of
unmistakable divinity;
the ineffable wonder and
living reality of spirit- oh
yes - the soul of yoga is love.