What We See: A Practice in Choosing
My daughter is messy. Very messy. It never crosses her mind to pick up the clothes she flings on the floor, to put away her plate or cup, or to clean off her desk so there’s actually a usable surface. We live in a small space so everything is amplified, and minor messes become unmanageable…
What I Carry: Final Tales from Alonnisos
I carry the places I’ve been like a layer of fine silk that initially sits on the surface and eventually absorbs into the fabric of my being. I carry with me the sights of beauty and sometimes tragedy that I always fail miserably to capture on camera. I invite in the different flavors of…
Birthing Stars: More Tales from Alonnisos
You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star. Friedrich Nietzsche In Greek mythology, the term Chaos refers to the “formless void” that eventually became the Cosmos. It represents the nothing that created everything – water, earth and air. Initially an indiscernible mess, transmuted by the force of progress to…
Into the Heart of It: Tales from Alonissos
In the past 36 hours I’ve traveled through New Jersey, Zurich, Athens, and Skiathos (a large Greek island) to get to Alonnisos (a small Greek island). I’ve been on a large plane, a medium-sized plane, a small plane, a boat and several taxis that ranged from a Mercedes sedan to a beat-up Fiat. I’ve climbed…
Yoga and Ecstasy
She reminded me of a cat. Not a skittish house cat, but a fierce African jungle cat – a cougar or leopard perhaps. Muscular and lithe, with nary a wasted movement, she wore what one might find on a Brazilian beach so that we could view the entirety of her perfectly formed body. Lisa, our…
Your Body Speaks
Did you know that blind athletes, even if they’ve been blind since birth, upon learning of a victory, will assume the following pose: How does the body know that this means exhilaration, excitement, and victory, without ever having seen or learned it? Let’s investigate… Whether you’ve won a race or the lottery, whether the team…
Life Through a Clean Lens
“Before fixing what you’re looking at, check what you’re looking through.” Mark Nepo said that, in his breathtaking work, The Book of Awakening. I’ve always had a tendency to let my eyeglass lenses get really dirty. My ex-husband was great about gently taking them off my face and giving them a thorough scrub-down. …
Let’s Get Excited!
I was recently gifted with a whole bunch of free time. (Gory details here and here.) A funny thing happened. Life got bigger. And fuller. And funner. (With apparently no effect on my habit of making up words.) Of course, there was a period where the cavernous opening in my life threatened to swallow me…
Meditation Monday II – The Art of Change
For most of us, change is worrisome. It touches the parts of us that dislike uncertainty and crave consistency and comfort. Whether we are turning the calendars over to a new year, watching nature bring on a new season, or praying for the next sunrise, we are surrounded by the energy of change. There is…
Meditation Monday I – A New Beginning
Silence is the language of the soul.- Dadi Janki Welcome to our inaugural Meditation Monday. At the start of every week, I’ll be posting an audio or video meditation that will bring greater ease and grace to your week. Join me for a 15-minute practice into new beginnings. Starting now…