Yoga Props

this is quite long and equally worth reading ...

ARTICLES OF FAITH

Faith is a priceless treasure which some would invest in money and power, seeking private gain. Others of us invest in a vision of a world which may yet come to be: a world of justice, peace and beauty. We place our faith in life itself.

We Believe

That life is infinitely creative, resourceful, reliable and ultimately good.

That human beings are an expression of that life force and, as such, are creative, resourceful, reliable and fundamentally good.

That all life is inextricably connected - what happens to any of us happens to all of us.

That evil exists as a potential in all human beings and it derives from the illusion that we are separate from each other and from the fountain of life.

That evil cannot be vanquished by force of arms or by fear. It can only be conquered by love.

In the power of love and direct non-violent action to
transform institutions, social systems and the human heart.

That the arc of human history moves toward democracy, justice and an appreciation for our wondrous multiplicity of expression.

That it is the right of all people to enjoy life, liberty and the security of person; to be treated equally under the law; to enjoy freedom of thought, conscience and religion; to free expression and association; to have free access to clean water and air.

That it is possible for all human beings to be free from economic want and poverty and to live with dignity.

That peace among and within nations is only possible when these rights are assured to everyone.

That the most fundamental responsibility of government is to ensure the health and well-being of the land and of all its inhabitants.

That individual rights and must be balanced with responsibility for the well-being of the community.

That the success and survival of our civilization and, possibly, that of the human race are in increasing jeopardy because of our commitment to an unsustainable pattern of resource consumption, particularly our dependence upon fossil fuels.

That while our planet’s physical resources are finite, the resources of love and imagination are without end.

That it is indeed possible to create a society which lives sustainably and harmoniously within the parameters of our planetary life support systems.

That we have a responsibility to live in such a way that we do not diminish the opportunity for future generations to enjoy the same quality of life which we enjoy.

That a human birth is a precious gift that is accompanied by a responsibility to act with generosity, sensitivity and compassion for all living beings.

In doing our best to leave a better world for our children.

That all people, individually and collectively, are capable of learning from their mistakes.

That life inherently includes suffering, but we have a responsibility as members of the human family to do what we can to ease that suffering and to structure our social institutions in such a way as to minimize unnecessary suffering due to poverty, disease, war, injustice and environmental degradation.

That joy is also an inherent feature of life and it is possible to participate joyfully in the suffering of the world.

That each and every life has inherent value and is worthy of respect.

In poetry, art, music, dancing and the spirit of play.

In the power of truth.

That at the heart of all things is an ineffable mystery worthy of awe and wonder.

It is this faith which informs, guides and sustains our work in the world.

- Larry Robinson

http://www.seattlepi.com/comics-and-games/fun/6Chix/

“Be joyful though you have considered all the facts.”

- Wendell Berry

Pulse Night Club Orlando, FL 6/12/16, 1:49 am

I am Xavier, I am Juan, I am Enrique
You are Amanda, Frankie and Angel
We are Mercedes, Christopher and Luis
We are 6 degrees of separation
Which means there is no separation

If I could have been there at 1:49 am
I would have taken each person by the hand
Led them outside said, Look at those stars
Go home now - be safe

If I could have been there at 12:49 am
I would have kept Omar Mateen
From entering
Instead I’d take his hand
Say go home, go home
To your heart
Go home to your humanity
There you can find safety
There you will find you are not separate

I would, if I could, turn his hate into tears
I would say the distance between
Your dreams and my longing is
The distance between
Each heartbeat
I would say that we are all us
There is no you and them
Only the disconnections
of you/them in your own heart

It’s the truth that hurts the most
If I had been there at 1:49 am
I could not have done a thing

Nor could God
God gave us choice and will
We choose what we will
God says choose life
Choose life

This night
God cries with us
And asks us to remember
They are us

Choose love
Choose life

- Sally Churgel

zen proverb:

You should sit in meditation for 20 minutes a day, unless you’re too busy. Then you should sit for an hour. ...

ok all you farmers out there - here's my question:

how does one propagate SEEDLESS watermelons?

❤️ from the wonderful Gemma Correll or fries...she's British ;)

To Be a Slave of Intensity

Friend, hope for the Guest while you are alive.
Jump into experience while you are alive!
Think. . .and think. . .while you are alive.
What you call “salvation’ belongs to the time before death.

If you don’t break your ropes while you’re alive,
do you think
ghosts will do it after?

The idea that the soul will join with the ecstatic
just because the body is rotten--
that is all fantasy.
What is found now is found then.
If you find nothing now,
you will simply end up with an apartment in the City of
Death.
If you make love with the divine now, in the next life you
will have the face of satisfied desire.

So plunge into the truth, find out who the Teacher is,
Believe in the Great Sound!

Kabir says this: When the Guest is being searched for,
it is the intensity of the longing for the Guest that
does all the work.
Look at me, and you will see a slave of that intensity.

- Kabir
(version by Robert Bly)

may we all have a year filled with good food, good fortune, good friends, good health, good times, and lotsa yoga ...

Ruth Steiger's "Night Before Christmas" redux

twas the day after christmas and all the thru the store
people were shouting "we need to buy more"
most feared they'd missed out on the best deals of all
so early they got up and drove to the mall
I'm sorry to say it's the 'merican way ...
there's never enough in old Santy Claws sleigh
to fill up that void we buy things we don't need
it's really appalling to witness such greed
I remember when we would behave in this way
only that one late November Friday
we forget to be grateful for all that we've got
so here's an idea; let's give it a shot
maybe next weekend to start the new year
we can relish our good health and those we hold dear
be grateful for everything good in our lives
our sisters our brothers our husbands and wives.
....

Gold, Frankencense, and Whirr, oh my!

excerpted from Nancy Shaffer's longer poem ...
..
'This Making of a Whole Self' . ..
The self is not one thing, once made,
unaltered. Not midnight task alone, not
after other work. It’s everything we come
upon, make ours: all this fitting of
what-once-was and has-become.

oh yeah?

Prayer

Do you really think
that God cares
who wins the Super Bowl
or the lottery or the war
or who gets the parking place
or the promotion?

Don't waste your prayers
asking for special favors
of the One who has given
us our days and our nights,
our time on earth,
sequoias and poppies,
blue whales and blue herons
and - even more - each other.

Here is the only prayer I know
worth the breath.
Say it with me:
Wow!
Thank you!
Amen!

- Larry Robinson

yup - all lives matter

yep - you are what you eat ...

"My way of joking is to tell the truth. It is the funniest joke in the world" ... George Bernard Shaw

The Word That Is a Prayer

One thing you know when you say it:
all over the earth people are saying it with you;
a child blurting it out as the seizures take her,
a woman reciting it on a cot in a hospital.
What if you take a cab through the Tenderloin:
at a street light, a man in a wool cap,
yarn unraveling across his face, knocks at the window;
he says, Please.
By the time you hear what he's saying,
the light changes, the cab pulls away,
and you don't go back, though you know
someone just prayed to you the way you pray.
Please: a word so short
it could get lost in the air
as it floats up to God like the feather it is,
knocking and knocking, and finally
falling back to earth as rain,
as pellets of ice, soaking a black branch,
collecting in drains, leaching into the ground,
and you walk in that weather every day.

- Ellery Akers

As Neil deGrasse Tyson noted, the thing about science is that it works whether you believe in it or not.

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

~ Kahlil Gibran

O, America!

O, America, the blood you are bleeding is oil.

Where is the old red gone
that once infused your flag?
Where is the courage for honesty –
that blue handed out once like a dancer
so generously?

Where is white? Where is the place where color
meant nothing?

O, America, aren’t you ashamed
to place a gun where courage should be?

Aren’t you lost in the insubstantial lies of futures
eaten like vegetables from a dump!

And underneath your skin, are you not still –
like the dove and the wolf
and the spider and the oat –
only human too! And fairly! Fairly!

Spend some heart this way.
Bend with the wind that holds the flag together in the air
for all to see,
not just some.

On this field of promise
make again the palm held out
upon which each of us arrived.

Grant us communion, flag.
Give us a whole.
Give us ourselves together once again
in quality.

Our stars.

- Bruce Moody

June 26, 2015

Rainbow flag goes up
Confederate flag comes down
Still much work to do

- Katherine Hastings

"I wish there was a k**b on the TV to turn up the intelligence. There's a k**b called 'brightness', but it doesn't work."
~ Leo Gallagher

"When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained." ~ Mark Twain

Welcome to womanhood, Caitlyn, hope you enjoy the perks ...