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108 CONTEMPLATIONS: DEVOTION & RITUAL
As you read this, I am leading a two-week yoga retreat at the fabulous Samata Holistic Retreat Centre in Goa, India (www.samatagoa.com). Throughout the two weeks of the retreat, we are reading the Bhagavad Gita, a classic India text, and exploring the rich themes found in the recounting of a conversation between a young warrior, Arjuna and his wise chariot driver, Krishna.
108 CONTEMPLATIONS: INTENTION SETTING
I was always reluctant to set goals. I was much more interested in going with the flow of life and seeing where I ended up. And then a few things happened to impact this idea. In my late 20s I considered taking a professional development course laid out in a number of modules over three years. I chose not to take it, thinking that I would not know what could happen over the time of the course.
108 CONTEMPLATIONS: AN INVITATION
I have been a bit absent in blog-land lately. In the last while, I have been contemplating how to use the blog as a forum for a deepening contemplative practice. I have a desire to be part of a community of individuals wishing to live authentically, to seek out truth and to delve into their shadows in service of the Light.
INSPIRATIONS FOR PRACTICE
Labour day weekend has passed and we are in the midst of the back to school vibe of early September. Conscious of the energy this time of the year can generate, I asked my class to contemplate why they practice yoga. What is the energy that moves them to come to the mat and to class. Half of the class volunteered to share their responses. As people spoke, the room grew quiet and attentive.
AN IDEAL ORDER TO THINGS
Once upon a time, a long time ago, I spent almost a month in Bali. Okay, so it was not a long time ago. It was two months ago but it feels like another lifetime. The time in Bali was deeply significant as I felt something, a weight I had been carrying, release. I experienced a deep sense of connection to the Divine as expansive, joyful and heart-wrenching energy washed through me.
SUMMER BACKBEND PRACTICE
It is hot here in Montreal, and I love the summer weather and the impact it has on my body and mind. It is always interesting to see how the warmth lives in my body. A friend described coming from back Chile in February and then was in a weekend workshop. People at the workshop commented on how she must have been practicing a lot in Chile, and she said no, she just had a “summer body.”
SEASONS OF CHANGE
Everything changes. We know this to be true and yet we deny it. We sit in the same place in our yoga class, we do the same asanas, we order the same meals at the same restaurants, we think the same thoughts. We try hard not to change. I am in Nova Scotia taking care of my elderly parents as a I write this.
BALI MEETS MONTREAL - THE RETURN
I have been a bit absent from the blog as the transition from Bali to the realities of daily life in Montreal took energy and focus, in the way that these transitions do. In observing this shift, I have been considering how the resonance of Bali has stayed present internally in a certain way. I realize as I move into the pace of life in Montreal that the time in Bali was deeply restorative.
MORE FROM BALI
Tomorrow Oscar and I head back to Ubud and the last leg of our time here begins. It is hard to believe the end is in sight!
This is really about catching you up on what we have been doing post-retreat. On the Saturday following the retreat, we left Ubud for a small series of islands off the coast of Lombok, a close neighbour of Bali. We left the hotel at 7am.
A MONKEY ON MY BACK
The retreat wrapped up a couple of hours ago with warm good-byes and the slight feeling of loss that the end of these experiences can bring for me. Carole, the other participants and I have shared many moments together and now it ends. There are the usual promises to maintain connections and even to return for another retreat, but as we all know, life may or may not adhere to any of those wishes. So, it ends.