Yoga Closing 10/28/20

artwork source: Anon

artwork source: Anon

“The Buddhists speak of developing an abiding calm. A centeredness that is unshakeable. Like a tall tree so rooted in the Earth that great winds cannot topple it. This for me is the image of contentment. It means not riding the waves of the ups & downs of life. It means that we not only agree to what is in the moment, but we actually welcome it. It means that in all the noise and demands of modernity, we stay in the abiding calm center. This is the mastery of life that contentment invites us into. The practice of gratitude and “non-seeking” can help us stay rooted in this jewel.”

Deborah Adele, The Yamas & the Niyamas

Yoga Closing 10/16/2020

Artwork: Pablo Picasso

Artwork: Pablo Picasso

“The physical world is our creation: we each create our own version of the world, our particular reality, our unique life experience. Because my life is being created through my channel, I can look at my creation to get feedback about myself. Just as an artist looks at her creation to see what works well and what doesn’t, we can look at the ongoing masterwork of our lives to appreciate who we are and to recognize what we still need to learn. We’re creating our lives as we go along; therefore our experiences and needs give us an instant ongoing reflection of ourselves. In fact the external world is like a giant mirror which reflects both our spirits and our forms clearly and accurately. Once we have learned how to look into it and perceive and interpret its reflection, we have a fabulous tool.”

Shakti Gawain from her book Living in the Light

October

 
triciaschwaba.com
“I will cut adrift—I will sit on pavements and drink coffee—I will dream; I will take my mind out of its iron cage and let it swim—this fine October.”
— Virginia Woolf
 

Free Writing by Elliott

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Aptitude test 

Bees scare the shit out of me

Cinemas are a thing of past

Dragnet 

Excellent choice of a word. 

Fuck

Gorillas 

Harmony 

Illusion

Jack of all trades 

Flying a kite as a kid

Laughable loons

Memory fails in old age

Nonsense

Outrageous 

Perpetual 

Quite at night

Resting sound asleep 

Standards in life have been altered

Train wreck of the year 2020

Victory for blue in November 

Weather related

X marks the spot

Yellow mustard on my sandwich 

Zoom meetings suck

Elliott From 9/2020

Do Your Thing

Photo source: Anon

Photo source: Anon

“Do what you are called to do,
what you truly want to do
‘cause it isn’t going to go away, this feeling.
It’s just going to grow stronger. ”
— Tricia Schwaba

Yoga Closing 9/21/20

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“There is a seen order unfolding in front of us every day on our streets and in the news. In this visible order, violence reigns and children are shot in their schools and warmongers prosper and 1% of the world hoards half of all we have. We call this order of things reality. This is “the way things are.” It’s all we can see because it’s all we’ve ever seen. Yet something inside us rejects it. We know instinctively: This is not the intended order of things. This is not how things are meant to be. . We know that there is a better, truer, wilder way.That better way is the unseen order inside us. It is the vision we carry in our imagination about a truer, more beautiful world — one in which all children have enough to eat and we no longer kill each other and mothers do not have to cross deserts with their babies on their backs. This better idea is what Jews call Shalom, Buddhists call nirvana, Christians call heaven, Muslims call salaam, and many agnostics call peace. It is not a place out there — not yet; it’s the hopeful swelling in here, pressing through our skin, insisting that it is all meant to be more beautiful than this. And it can be, if we refuse to wait to die and “go to heaven” and instead find heaven inside us and give birth to it here and now. If we work to make the vision of the unseen order swelling inside us visible in our lives, homes and nations, we will make reality more beautiful. On Earth as it is in heaven. In our material world as it is in our imagination.”
— Glennon Doyle, from her book Untamed

Well

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The well runs deeper than I could have imagined.
It dives, not just to the depth of me but to the depths of the Earth.
I have tried to sever the cord to my own frustration and to no avail.
I am here connected until other entities decide
It is time for my return.
So I continue to practice.

Tricia Schwaba, September 2020

Yoga Prayer 9/8/2020

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“I sat in the garden that night & I thought about the most important thing for me. That we love & are loved. All the time in every moment, no matter how it looks to other eyes that don’t remember quite yet. That’s why I think remembering is one of the most important things we can do right now. It’s how we stop & see the world again for the very first time. In all of its aching beauty & joy & pain. the immensity of all of it. It’s how we open to being loved wildly & deliciously until we are filled beyond anything we ever thought we could hold.”

Brian Andreas, Something Like Magic

Nothing More

Art source: ancello.com

Art source: ancello.com

I feel a rush as I take in the air 

I’m approaching the North and my nostrils they flare. 

I’m a racehorse trapped in the starting gate tight

Hearing the gunshot it’s time to take flight. 

I shake off the saddle & break from the reins 

Freedom from both limitation and pain

Skimming the Earth my spirit it soars

With grace and excitement, I need nothing more.

Tricia Schwaba August 2020