Mindfulness

Outside a gentle rain is falling on the tin roof of the cabin. Curled up in bed with my laptop, the slanted ceiling of the bedroom loft is alive with the sound of rain. My gaze lands on the sloped hillside outside the second story window where the colors of fall light up the landscape even through the rain. The leaves of the trees blow freely in the wind. I am present, tuned into the clicking of the keys as I type, the rhythm of the breath inside me, and the changing beat of the drops on the roof. In this moment, the world is safe and quiet, a simple heaven of sight, sound and touch.  

This week I am spending a few days in a cabin in the woods, hiking, writing, and watching the stars. For a time, the rhythm of the days are not determined by the ping of the phone, the arrival of emails and the busy preparation for yoga class, offering my energy and presence to others; for a time I am offering the gift of presence to myself. The reward of this attention is clarity, inner quiet, and the exquisite sweetness of moving slowly. The morning rain is an added bonus, a message from nature to take my time. Read More »

At the end of my recent nine day training at the Kripalu Yoga Center in Lenox, Massachusetts, I was asked to reflect on what I wanted to remember about being there and the teachings I learned. If I reduced this to two words, they would be “patience” and “letting go.”

For me, patience most often happens when I have taken the time to center myself in the morning in preparation for the day ahead. Then, throughout the day, using my breath to relax and soften into life just as it is has been invaluable. Maybe it’s a “letting go” breath (deep breath in, big exhale with a sigh) or maybe it’s a longer meditation that’s required and it can mean the difference from being caught in striving or centering softly into the present. Read More »

Yesterday I accidentally used the phrase “loves here” instead of “lives here”. A wise friend commented “shouldn’t loves here and lives here be one in the same?” This morning I woke thinking of these words that I found to ring true. Whether in a physical structure or in a more ethereal realm, lives here and loves here represents the essence of “doing and being” in harmony. During the past year the sun appeared to be obscured by clouds that would never pass over. Wakened by the gentle sun I thought I would never see again, summer flowers have bloomed and grown with tender attention on my back porch for the first time in years. Each flower is a bud of hope, a sign of new life, blooming forth from the seed that lay dormant through the winter. Life blooms here again. Love blooms here again. Love lives here. I love here. 

Jai Bhagwan. Victory to the Love in each of our hearts.  ~Susan

March 12-18, 2017