The Yogabliss, Two Rivers/RiverTree Yoga on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning. For me, this week’s moving series of inaugural events began with the 400 lights around the Lincoln Memorial Reflection Pool.  We carry the past year’s losses of so many into the days ahead.  Amanda Gorman’s lyrical recitation of The Hill We Climb lifted my spirits.  Her yellow coat seemed to glow with her dancing hands and singing voice.  She made me so happy.  She inspired our practice today.

We also drew on the Alnoor Ladha’s powerful essay, What is Solidarity? Alnoor rights regularly for the Kosmos Journal for global transformation.  He is part of a global network of activists, organizers, researchers and writers focusing on changing the rules that create inequality, poverty and climate change.

We also heard Richard Wehrman’s poem, We Are Still Living. Richard is a designer, illustrator poet and long time Dharma student.

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The Yogabliss, Two Rivers/RiverTree Yoga on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning.  We are living in a country divided.  Our meditation explored the many offerings of circle – especially its potential for inclusivity. We attuned to the intelligence of the body, wisdom of the heart and song of the soul.

Body, heart and mind enable us to envision a future world in which all are welcome in “communitas”.

We explored creativity in the poetic works of Naomi Shihab Nye and John Paul Lederach.  Naomi’s  poem, Two Countries, doesn’t require many lines to convey our visceral need for belonging.  John Paul Lederach’s many, many years as an international peace builder lead him to Haiku.  The shortest of poems arise in the moment of intense presence.  You might discover in his Unfolding Poem for the Moment We Are In, how Imagination’s short leap can reach your heart.  You can listen to a wonderful interview, The Art of Peace, about his life’s work as a peace builder.

We drew on New Dimensions interview, Looking for the Deeper and Greater Unities, with mythologist Michael Meade.  Michael sifts wisdom from myths and stories from around the world.  He speaks to our division and the unifying forces we can build through both individual and collective practice.

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The Yogabliss, Two Rivers/RiverTree Yoga on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning. On our first meeting of the new year we return to our circle of care.  Together we make our way through these troubled times with inspiration and practice.  We ground ourselves with earth stillness.  We feel and move with presence.  We let go of our waiting and greet each moment with awareness.  Again and again we return to our body wisdom to know what is true.  

We drew on our imagination and heart wisdom to reflect on what matters most to us.  We considered what we wish to bring forth in caring for what we hold most dear.  We explored what we might be ready to let go of in service of what we love.

We drew inspiration from Barry Lopez  who died on Christmas day.  Barry was a remarkable human being.  He wrote about his travels to wild places to learn what the land and its inhabitants have to teach us.  Nearly all his writings affirm how precious life on earth is and our responsibility to care for it. Barry Lopez was and still is a gift to the world. His recent book Horizon gives so much insight into his very humble awareness of how inextricably involved we are with what happens to nature and at-risk cultures. He spoke in defense of the life whose voice speaks in languages other than words. He was so very generous in spirit. From an NPR interview:

It’s so difficult to be a human being. There are so many reasons to give up. To retreat into cynicism or despair. I hate to see that and I want to do something that makes people feel safe and loved and capable.

We heard Jane Hirshfield’s poem On Optimism affirm the resilience we share with nature.

We considered the work of naturalist Robin Wall Kimmerer.  In her article, The Serviceberry:  An Economy of Abundance, she describes the profound power of the gift economy as evidenced in nature and traditional cultures.  She describes the natural impulses of gratitude and reciprocity and the wisdom of living in a ways in which we can  flourish together.

In her essay, Skywoman Falling, she describes the deep time of forests arising, dominating and then falling back to earth to renew and sustain new growth.  We can learn a lot from forest ways of inter-dependence, mutual support and a sacrifice to sustain new life.

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The Yogabliss, Two Rivers/RiverTree Yoga on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning.  On the eve of winter solstice we explored the theme of darkness and light. We’re living through dark times that challenge us to keep our inner lights shining.  We explored ways of feeling nature’s rhythm in our bodies with the yoga practices of Prana Vidya, imagination, and Pranayama, yogic breathing.  We also used mythic teaching and poetry to inspire us to use our innate caring and creativity to bring healing and repair into the world.

We begin with U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo’s poem, Remember.  You can listen to Joy read Remember.   As poet laureate Joy has created some wonderful tools and resources to make poetry education more accessible.  You can check out the interactive Map of First Peoples Poetry she co-careated for the Library of Congress.

We drew on mythologist and teacher Michael Meade’s essay Light in the Darkness.  Michael’s teachings spring from ancestral sources of wisdom.  His way of storytelling makes them speak to our contemporary hearts.  His essay urges us to awaken our soul’s light in order to help bring healing and repair into the world.

Contemporary Sufi teacher, Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee invites us to listen more deeply to the world around us in his essay, A Ghost’s Life.  His writing moved me to tears over the ghost-like place we’ve found ourselves in today.  He counsels the solace of nature and a deep sense of caring about the world.  He urges us to leave our screens and enter direct experience of wild places.

We ended with part Sufi poet Rumi’s poem A Great Wagon.  You can listen to Houman Pourmehdi’s reading of the whole poem.

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The Yogabliss, Two Rivers/RiverTree Yoga on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning.  We practiced with the Earth and as the Earth today.  We explored the themes of deep time, earth stories and our bodies as earth bodies.

We began with Gregory Orr’s beautiful poem, This Is What Was Bequeathed Us.

Take a moment to watch Taian Lu’s beautiful animated film version of the poem.

We practiced Earth Breathing meditation inspired by Reggie Ray’s Tricycle Magazine article Touching Enlightenment: Digging Deep.

We drew inspiration from Geologist Marcia Bjornerud’s interview with Center for Humans and Nature journalist Anja Katina, Marcia describes us as temporal creatures. Marcia is the author of, Timefulness: How Thinking Like a Geologist Can Help Save the World.  You can check out her book from the library or listen to her Seattle Town Hall talk for more inspiration.

We also heard from The Inner Landscape of Beauty, On Being’s last interview with poet philosopher John O’Donohue.  He died in January of 2008.  This is a wonderful discussion of the human spirit and how we come to know our essence by slowing down enough to allow our souls to be revealed.

We ended with Valerie Hope Cherrin’s poem Earth Dream Body.  Valerie guides mindful movement to help client’s find “ease in your body . . . joy in your heart . . . peace in your mind and  beauty in your soul.”

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The Yogabliss, Two Rivers/RiverTree Yoga on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning.   We practiced ways of deepening body awareness.  We used imagination, sensory experience and deep relaxation to allow life to move through us.

We contemplated Brooke McNamara’s poem Vessel.  Brooke is a poet, dance-theater artist, teacher, and Zen dharma holder.  Her beautiful poem creates a meeting place in our living vessel – our body – in which we can be together in a space of forgiveness.

We practiced an adaptation of the “Flowering Hand” meditation to attune to the life force energy flowing through all of nature.  This practice was introduced to me by one of my teachers, Nate Summers. Nate is a Chinese medicine practitioner. He teaches many forms of movement including Qigong, ancestral movement and survival skills. He is author of Primal: Why We Long to Be Free and Wild among other books exploring our relationship with nature.

We practiced a Budding & Blossoming Hand Meditation adapted from Margaret Rinaldi’s Flower Hand guided meditation.  As a somatic educator Meg offers Body Centered Inquiry to enable practitioners to cultivate awareness of their inner resources.

We heard part of Tibetan Buddhist teacher and writer, Reggie Ray’s Tricycle Magazine Essay, Touching Enlightenment.  Reggie has written a book of the same name.  Reggie teaches somatically based meditation and encourages us to allow our bodies to be our most intimate teachers.

We ended with poet philosopher John O’Donohue’s Blessings for the Senses.

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The Yogabliss, Two Rivers/RiverTree Yoga on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning. We explored the experience of letting life move through us.  We celebrated the moments of recognizing our wandering minds.  We rested in moments of stillness the pauses between thoughts and movements.  We experimented with being present to what surfaces in the space of stillness:  our grief, our gratitude, our joys and our sorrows.

We drew inspiration from poet David Whyte’s poem, Winter Apple from his book, Pilgrim.  His evocative imagery reminds us of nature’s wisdom helps us in the inevitable cycles of life:    ripening, dying and renewal.

We drew from psychotherapist, author and soul activist Francis Weller’s Sun Magazine interview, The Geography of Sorrow.  He poignantly observes the relationship between grief and gratitude and the vital importance of keeping our hearts open. I found reading this interview to be very meaningful.

Finally we received John O’Donohue’s Friendship Blessing.  John O’Donohue was an Irish poet, author, priest and philosopher.  He compassionately encourages us to befriend ourselves and suggests that this might change us.

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