in the eye of the hurricane…or pretty darn close!

August 20, 2008August 20, 2008Leave a comment

hi friend,

storm haiku ... the ominous atmosphere of the approaching storm

today we woke in st. augustine thinking perhaps we’d be struck by hurricane fay sometime later today. fey, she’s being called also, which is ironic, as “fe” (pronounced fay) means “faith” in spanish. right now, at 1pm. she’s been downgraded back to a tropical storm, and we’re beginning to relax a little. the beaches are already in danger of erosion. i’ve just returned from there, and the sea foam is still sticking to my feet.

the atlantic coming onto the road at st. augustine beach

one last stand on the beach

whipped cream-like sea foam so thick it sticks to your ankles!

for me, who has gone through many eyes of hurricanes (being a tropical-loving sailor, among other things), i know that each storm that arrives anywhere near where i live is an unpredictable organism, likely to surprise the hell out of us humans at any second.

and…like the storms that brew in our own emotional lives (either from our own making, or from others’ or life’s actions upon us) … we can learn to sink softly in the comfort of going through each storm that hits us. how? by first of all, being prepared. and secondly, by relaxing, and not sensationalizing these completely natural events of life, but deadly nonetheless, whether hurricanes, tornadoes, cyclones (in the Pacific) or any other type of Nature’s severe weather. or…our own unsettled inner selves.

here’s how i’ve learned to do it:

staying safely in the eye--the 'I'--of all of life's hurricanes

being prepared is the key. doing whatever we must do to make sure we’re in good shape to face any storm, whether internally or externally. and, once you’ve done your work (which sometimes takes a lot of effort, demanding years of processing, but it gets easier the more you practice), then the trick of being happy through any storm is — to totally let go.

in ’04 i went through 4 (count ’em, four!!) eyes of hurricanes. that summer i was teaching incarcerated girls in a central flordia lockup. we went through the eye of hurricane charlie together. of course it scared the living crap out of the girls…but…afterwards, after they’d experienced the uncanny calm in the center of the fierce winds and devastating energy…they could understand in a very personal way the common metaphor used to teach the power of meditation. and that is…

within all of us is a center of peace. no storm, no atrocity, no dis-ease can rock us from our center once we’ve learned to tap that inner power, and keep it close to our heart.

the girls in lockup (there for repeat crimes like drug use, stealing, even attempted murder) experienced the heart-stopping horror of being directly in charlie’s eye: three hours of hell, then half an hour of the eerie calm in the center, then another three hours of hell with winds coming from the opposite direction. the girls huddled together in the dark humid heat, with nothing to cling to but each other. thank god the roof stayed on, because their facility was pretty ancient. when we next met for yoga class and it was time to meditate, called the “dead-person’s pose,” or savasana that all good yoga classes end with, after practicing yoga’s rigorous poses (asanas), they could understand perhaps for the first time what i meant when i said:

go within, reach that place of inner calm that all humans have. and … just like each hurricane revolves fiercely on its center, it’s still-point, we too have a center of calm within us. that is the law of Nature. learn to stay in that place, the inner calm, whenever you need to. don’t allow yourself to be frightened. never let the swirling winds on the outskirts of your center pull you in. stay in the center of your own power. own your own power, not someone or something else’s.

keep safe, my friend! stay in the Light, sing the song of Oneness, lord flea

how it looks, how it feels

August 13, 2008August 13, 2008Leave a comment

everyday i do a little bit of what some call yoga, but i prefer to describe what i do as how i’ve learned to pray with my body. it all started with PAIN. excruciating, nerve-clamping PAIN. in childhood i developed scoliosis in the sacrum area. pain became my “invisible friend” like other kids had angels, little elfs, or fairies (no no no to satsquatch!). i was in college when i taught myself how to do simple poses. there were no teachers back then (oh did you guess i’m no generation x-er?). first i did simple things…then…gradually…i relaxed ….

Just as this person looks doing the tree pose:

this is how it looks...

but THIS …. this is how it feels … inside!!! … to do that same pose ….

how it feels... power-full, out-of-this-world connected to ALL, throbbing energy, Oneness with Breath, with the Pulse of Being

and so, my friend, this is why lord flea adores not only singing the calypso song of the day, but, as often as i can, to merge with my physical, visit the temple of my body, and allow my Self to become something i can’t in ordinary ways: by going into these (both simple and complex) strange poses, stilling my breath, concentrating on the energy pulsing through my consciousness, my sinewy muscles, my elasticizing tendons, my strong bones…and … holding IT!

in this way, my body has gradually become my greatest teacher. just as i’ve learned that our humanity is the greatest praise of the Divine. does that sound corny? sorry. that is exactly how i feel, after years of “doing” yoga.

oh, and i should mention here that i’ve taught hatha yoga for years to incarcerated juveniles. the very “baddest” of the bad in our so-called civilized society, that are in teenage lock-ups everywhere. i take yoga to them, and guess what? they LOVE it! those who have the guts to appear in yoga class, to the hoots and disses of their bros and sistahs of the hood, that is. but…that’s another subject for another day. they love it because with their own bodies, these kids learn how to tap into the Power Within, and … instantly … they are FREE. Truly. Remarkably. Utterly…FREE. Even while they’re there, in prison.

the pose i’m working on mostly in my practice these days is the handstand. i’m still chicken about getting away from the wall. courage is still not one of my fortes. so i’ve created my own vision to inspire me, help me relax, give me strength to connect both to the earth (with my invisible roots) and to be lifted by the ineffable Source, by holding me up up up to the Ideal–that ideal of successful connection!

getting help with handstand

i really wanted to talk about relationships today. i had something entirely different in mind, like love-relationships, parent-child relationships, person to Planet-relationships, too, when i started writing. but i guess all relationships start with that particularly intimate one each of us either has, or doesn’t, or is in the process of cultivating–that relationship with our own bodies. to be at peace with our mind; our physical self; and our Inner Self, the Spirit–that’s the basis of how we relate to the world around us.

lord flea by the red sea, rightside up

this is why i do yoga. of all the methods of getting-in-touch-with-Truth i’ve experimented with (and believe me! i’ve tried a lot of ’em, not all, but hey–enough to know when a good thing’s a good thing, when you finally hit the jackpot), hatha yoga, the concentrated physical movement of coordinated breathe and muscular poses done with mindfulness, is where i find the most benefit, the best place to worship, and…get relief from any pain–mental, physical, or spiritual–in the meanwhile.

yoga, by the way, translates from its sanskrit as “discipline,” or, more precisely, “that to which one yokes oneself to.”

who, you ask, do i regard as good teachers?

well, above and beyond all my teachers is my beloved meditation master, the living saint, Swami Chidvilasananda, to whom i dedicate this blog. if you’d like to know about the ancient traditions of yogic wisdom that i study, under the tutelage of Gurumayi (Chidvilasananda’s nickname), please check out the traditional yogic philosophy, of which Gurumayi is the current teacher in the lineage of Siddha Yoga. www.siddhayoga.org

but the physical hatha yoga (hatha translates as simply “physical”) that i do is very diverse. here’s a list of some of my favorite hatha yoga teachers.

john friend www.anusara.com

ana forrest www.forrestyoga.com

shiva rea www.shivarea.com

rodney yee www.rodneyyee.com

baron baptiste www.baronbaptiste.com

all the great teachers they bring to kripalu www.kripalu.org

and in my own community, St. Augustine, FL www.discoveryyoga.com and Didier Razon and Ann Kiyonaga-Razon: www.didieryoga.com

most importantly, for those of you interested in exploring the yogic way of living, is to be in touch with your breath. don’t forget to breathe! and try to be aware of your breath whenever you can. right now, in fact.