Wet Paint Week 25 and Week 26

As summer rolls by I find my fingers and toes smattered with paint and a little dirt. Life is fine when there is time to make art and practice yoga until my heart's content. That it is. 

Whitman says, "To me, every hour of light and dark is a miracle." 

How do we capture something as fleeting as time? 

One way is to be an observer, like a "fly on the wall" in your own world. We talk so much about breath in yoga. What happens when you take full breaths? 

Your body starts to slow down. Time is no longer important.  You are in the Flow. 

Just like when I'm painting. 

I don't think that you need to be an artist to consider yourself a creator. You might be a writer, a dreamer or a singer. My sister Cece finds her flow when cooking her favorite dish. 

So, don't let society fool you into thinking that you are here to consume, and consume alone. 

See if you can find a miracle in this moment! 

t.

btw: The bridge above is of the one on Lake of the Isles (near the dog-park)

Wag More - Bark Less - Wet Paint Week 24

And we're rolling down

the windows for this ride... and there's not much time 

to take things slow...

-Lyrics by Widespread Panic

Today I was walking to the Co-op and I saw a bumper-sticker that said, "Wag More --Bark Less" on it and I thought that it went perfectly with this week's theme. 

When I look at my dog and ask him if he'd like to "go for a ride," his ears perk up and there is nothing more that could make him happy than to jump in the car and stick his nose out the window for a sniff as we cruise down the street. A perfect example of living in the moment. 

Similar to my furry friend I have been working with my tongue to cool myself of in the mid-summer heat. Sitali Pranayama is a breathing technique done by sitting tall and sticking your tongue out in the shape of a straw. Inhale through it then close your mouth. Exhale through your nose.

Stay cool. 

t.

Endless Sky

In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; 

people create distinctions in their minds and 

believe them to be true.  

- Buddha

This season has been filled with unbelievable skies and clouds to match. It always takes me aback, and made me want to paint it. The above painting was my first attempt to juxtapose a human-made structure with the endless sky. 

This quote by Buddha, reminds me of the difference in talking about/labeling yoga and living it for myself to find the truth in it.

What's the point in labeling when you can instead be in awe that here we are floating through the universe with a blue bubble that hooks us up?

t.

Truth in Water...

The water in a vessel is sparkling; the water in the sea is dark. 

The small truth has words which are clear; the great truth has great silence. 

- Rabindranath Tagore

This week's focus is on taking out what is not needed. I started with my closet this morning. I've decided to remove everything and only put back what I really wear. Two large garbage bags later, I have a new closet. Let me tell you, dropping those bags into the clothing drop off box truly felt like a form of detox. It is funny to think about the "need" to surround ourselves with stuff, when all it really does is weigh us down. 

Another form of detox can start the ol' fashion way. Slice up an organic lemon and put it in your room-temp. water for a cleansing drink first thing in the morning. Then give yourself some time before you eat breakfast... This can help with hydration, digestion as well as many other things! 

 t.

Yoga this Week:

Yoga Center - Saint Louis Park - Monday Vinyasa 2 @ 5 - Canceled b/c Memorial Day

Yoga Center - Saint Louis Park - Thursday Hatha Flow  @ 6 pm

Yoga Center - Saint Louis Park - Thursday Beginning Hatha  @ 7:30 pm

Yoga Center - Saint Louis Park - Saturday  Vinyasa 1/ 2 @ 8am (subbing)

Yoga Center - Saint Louis Park - Saturday  Vinyasa 2 @ 4

 Yoga Center - Saint Louis Park - Sunday ABC 9:30am

 Yoga Center - Saint Louis Park - Sunday  Vinyasa All Levels 4pm

 Hiawatha Yoga- Sunday Candle Light Flow 6:15 pm

Butterfly Effect - Wet Paint Week 21

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful,
committed citizens can change the world...
Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. - Margaret Mead

This week was filled with butterfly sightings; monarchs to be exact. It seems every time I took a walk there they were seemingly aimless in the direction that they were flying in, yet they've got the basics figured out. What to eat, who to mate with, where to go on "vacation" --- Mexico of course.

How to be a little more instinctual on my mat this week was the underlying theme.

Also, thanks to my friends at Wikipedia, I found this info...

In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions, where a small change at one place in a nonlinear system can result in large differences to a later state. The name of the effect, coined by Edward Lorenz, is derived from the theoretical example of a hurricane's formation being contingent on whether or not a distant butterfly had flapped its wings several weeks before.

Sounds like the interconnected sense a person can get from practicing yoga to me...

t.

 

Improve Your Vision - Svadhyaya - Wet Paint Week 19

Improve your Vision

Your vision becomes clear when you look into your heart. 

Who looks outside, dreams. 

Who looks inside, awakens. 

- Carl Jung

The next Niyama that I'm focusing on is Svadhyaya (self-study). This is a tricky one because in order to do it we need to go inside. What if we don't like what we find once we get there? There are a million ways to do this and yoga is just one of them. Other examples include: focusing on your breath, making music etc... It is important to do something that is authentic to you. 

Some of my yoga teachers have told me that your gurus (teachers) find you when you aren't looking for them. I like this train-of-thought because it doesn't seem forced. 

I was watching a 20/20 episode the other night about the book called "The Secret." James Arthur Ray, a self-proclaimed, self-help guru used the ideas in this book to take supporters on a $10,000-per-person retreat in Sedona, Arizona. This climaxed in a sweat-lodge event that injured dozens and left three dead. This is an extreme situation, and has helped give the term "guru" a negative connotation. It also got me thinking about the importance of going inside to find your truth rather than searching for it through other people.

I remember the day that I first got my glasses. The clarity was something that was new and strange. How fun is it to find this on your mat?

-t.

Life is Sweet - Santosa - Wet Paint, Week 17

When you do things from your soul,
you feel a river moving in you, a joy. 

-Rumi

All week as I considered a focus, honey/nectar/bees kept popping up.
As a student in a yoga class, I listened to my teacher describe a nectar flowing through my system.
It makes me think about Santosa (Contentment). How could I be anything but content when thinking about nectar flowing through my veins!

In a time when we can go out to the grocery store and buy a tomato; any time of the year -from clear across the world.  In a place where bus stops and magazines scream things like, "Buy this product... You need it... It will make you happy."

Where do we find contentment? 

Let's start with a cup of tea with a bit of honey. Sit with the tea. Consider its journey. Sit with the honey. Where has it been? How many flowers and how many bees did it take?
Feel the temperature and taste it.
Take time away for this screen that you are reading for a spot of tea.

t. hutch

As a result of contentment, one gains supreme happiness. 

Patañjali, Yoga Sutras

Find Your Balance - Sauca - Wet Paint, Week 16

Find Your Balance through Sauca

Time for some spring-cleaning. Sauca (sow-cha) or purity is a good place to start. I was thinking that it is like the daunting idea of cleaning my entire house; including my basement! Don't do it all at once, instead just pick a closet.  

Cleanliness of the body and mind develops disinterest in
contact with others for self-gratification. 

When the body is cleansed, the mind purified and the senses controled,
joyful awareness, needed to realize the inner-self, also comes. 

Patañjali, Yoga Sutras

It all starts with awareness and a little faith. Think of your body as sacred and remember that the chemicals that we consume and the processed food that we eat isn't as good as the real thing; fresh out of the ground at the farmer's market. 

So hop on your bike and breathe the air. 

t. hutch

Wet Paint - Week 9

I've been lucky enough to be doing a lot of yoga recently. Good thing, since this is what I call the "dog days of winter." I was feeling kind of blue when I wrote this, which may sound surprising. 

I do love to swing. The feeling of being weightless and weight-full and then weightless again takes me back to being a kid.

All of the troubles in the world melt away. 

I'd like to take this feeling into my Week 9. Going back to the here and now. 

Nothing to do, with nowhere to go. 

- t.