Day 218 March 10, 2011

Another day in paradise.  Under gray skies the doggies and I walk out onto the dykes to the river today.  It is muddy and a bit icy but warm enough that you don't feel the sharp burn on your skin that a colder day brings.  The wide river is still completely covered in ice.  One lone coyote walked along the shore of the river on the opposite bank which signalled to me that it was time to turn back.

I took some photographs of the ice, the dogs, and the skull of a coyote on the pastures.  I thought of Georgia O'Keefe finding all those bones out on the desert; those bones certainly inspired some amazing paintings.

I'm off to do a bit of yoga.  And you?

Day 217 March 9, 2011

Day 217  Icy sheets pinned to willow branches

Today the cold wind attempts to freeze your face.  Your skin and fingertips feel hot when exposed to that bitterness.  If you just turn your back to the wind though, your coat takes the brunt of it and you can revel in the new sights that the thawing pastures offer up to you.

Paper thin ice appears to blanket vast areas of the ground.  The ice is supported by a few inches of trapped air underneath and soft, rotten snow.  Ragged sheets of this thin ice seem to float on small willow branches about a foot off the ground.  These icy sheets hang much like laundry pinned to a line, but here it is the branches that pierce the ice and hold it in place.  The pinned ice moves in the wind reflecting sunlight, like  sparkling fishing lures held aloft in the sunshine.

A spectacle indeed.  The brittle ice tastes so pure when you break off a piece and pop it into your mouth, but only after you've held it skyward to examine its crystals.  It melts almost instantly.  Is it the strong sunlight or the thousand and one ice crystals that greet me everywhere that rivet my attention so strongly?

Look around you today.  Is there something that awakens your spirit strongly?

Day 216 March 8, 2011

Today in yoga class I heard a phrase that rang a bell for me.  It really gave me an opportunity to learn something about myself.  Perhaps it will do the same for you.

The phrase was said aloud by our teacher, David, while we had been in savasana for a little while.  We were all resting, with outstretched arms and open chests, and with our eyes closed.  It was the last asana practiced before the end of class, and this is true in every class.  In Iyengar yoga asana practice you always end your practice in savasana.  Today you might say that we were prepared to hear this phrase.

"Length, width, balance, to place the body with awareness.  And now let the body be.  Let yourself be.  Accept yourself just the way you are.  Accept everything else just the way it is.  Surrender to this posture, savasana, allow the relaxation."


Easier said than done, you might say.  I am the kind of person who is perpetually fixing things, fixing myself in yoga asanas, making adjustments to things in my life, and yes, I know intellectually this is due to my tendency to sometimes exhibit OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) behaviours.  Knowing something intellectually is okay.  It helps one's understanding.  But for a person like myself, letting myself "be", now that is harder.

In yoga asana practice, especially in the Iyengar method, there are many fine physical adjustments made throughout one's practice.  You learn to see and to feel nuances of musculature, to acknowledge patterns habituated in your own nervous system, and to awake to subtle signals within your own body.  So to "let myself be" is difficult.   Life is a fluid event, and everything is always in motion, even when we lie still our autonomic systems are moving continuously.

There are times though when we need to just lie down and rest.  There are times when we need to be still.  There are times when enough is enough and we must accept that we are done for the moment.  And one such time is in the wakeful state of rest in the asana we call savasana.

Day 215 March 7, 2011

Okay, I know it's not much to look at, these crowning crocuses, but to me they are a thing of beauty.  You must realize also that the narrow margin of green grass that was visible yesterday is now nearly 100 ft. wide around my little house in the country.  Water is running down my gravel driveway.  Ice is now mainly only a memory. The warm air and rain are making quick work of many feet of snow; our back yard and the sloping garden at the side of the house have only perhaps one foot of snow left.

You're right, there will be more snow to come this late winter.  Perhaps two more storms, or maybe even three.  And then there will be snow squalls, flurries, and then finally, the heat of spring that brings out the bugs and mud season.

But, the thaw is upon us today and we are happy.  I hope that you find some measure of happiness today too :)

Day 214 March 6, 2011

As David and I walked the doggies this morning I exclaimed, "Wow, it feels like Cuba out here!"  David replied, "It's all relative."

Yes it was hot, in comparison to our usual March weather.  Today our snow banks receded by at least a foot or two.  I can see green grass in places and the crocuses I planted in the fall are breaking ground.  As I cruised down the street with David, I didn't wear a hat, or goretex pants, or Arctic quality mittens.  Yes, I still had on my heavy weight hiking boots, winter coat, gloves, several layers of clothing all around, etc., but... the sun was shining and the wind warm.

Hallelujaih!  Spring is in the air.

Day 213 March 5, 2011

People are people.  Why are we surprised when we find out that rich or poor, people are people?  We all make mistakes, have dreams, work too hard sometimes and sometimes get cranky.

Ah, the human condition.  Show some patience towards someone today, even towards a stranger, or even towards yourself.

Day 212 March 4, 2011

Day 212

If you are feeling a bit adrift because there are just so many changes happening in your life currently, just look at your feet.   They will help to ground you and they will show you where you are.  Remember, stay in the moment as much as you can.

Namaste

Day 211 March 3, 2011

Day 211  white sculpture clay, glaze, acrylic paint

May the winds of change blow sweetly upon you today.

Day 210 March 2, 2011

Day 210  Rosa Rugosa

"Hallelujiah" is one of my favourite songs by Leonard Cohen, especially when it's sung by the four Canadian Tenors.  As I started to write my post tonight, this song came to mind.  I could hear it clearly.  The practicing physician and author Dr. Oliver Sacks writes about musicophilia.  This refers to the varying abilities of some people to have an extraordinary relationship to music.  For example, there are people who can hear music so clearly that they can become mistaken and think it is playing out loud while actually it is really only playing within their own mind.  Of course you might think of Beethoven who composed some of his later symphonies while he was deaf.

The practice of yoga asana has similarities to this musical experience Dr. Sacks writes about.  The first time such an experience happened to me I had only been practicing yoga asana for a few years.  I was in headstand in the center of the room.  It was very quiet in the studio, as it always is when a group is in headstand.  A few minutes had passed since we started the pose.  All of a sudden I fell out of headstand and exclaimed to the teacher why this had happened.

I felt like I was lying down resting.  All of a sudden I realized and thought to myself, no Muriel, you're not lying down resting, you're in headstand.  At that moment of realization I fell out of headstand.  I think I was just so honestly surprised by my body's 'mistaken' feeling that it shocked me, so I instantly lost my balance, and fell.

My teacher thought this was wonderful.  He said, yes, that's it.  You are starting to learn.  I was learning how the body reaches a state of relaxation once it is in balance.  Of course an inversion also sends blood towards your head quite quickly and that has a rejuvenating effect also, so you feel rested, even in the midst of your balance.

Interesting perceptions we can have, don't you think?

Day 209 March 1, 2011

Day 209  March 1, 2011

Know the basics.

In visual art that means you need to learn the colour wheel and how the three primary colours, yellow, red and blue, create all the other colours when they are mixed together.  In clay work that means you need to learn what kind of clay to use to make a certain object.  Not all clays are the same; you wouldn't make a tall elegant vase on the potter's wheel out of rough sculpture clay.  In yoga asana work that means you need to learn the foundation of each pose.  In standing poses it is your feet.  Basically, the foundation of each yoga asana is what touches the floor.

Know the basics because that is where you begin.  You have to extend away from something.